Never Such a Campaign

The Battle of Second Manassas, August 28–August 30, 1862

Dan Welch, Kevin R. Pawlak

• Publisher: Savas Beatie
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781611216424
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 19th Century History
• Index: History

Two renowned historians delve into the often-overlooked Second Manassas Campaign and its part in the dramatic evolution of the Civil War.

In late June 1862, Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia drove back Maj. Gen. George McClellan's Army of the Potomac from the gates of the Confederate capital. Richmond was safe—at least for the moment.

Another threat soon emerged when the Army of Virginia, a new command under Maj. Gen. John Pope, moved toward Fredericksburg, threatening Confederate communications, supply points, and Richmond. Pope, who had a reputation as something of a braggart, had scored victories along the Mississippi River at New Madrid and Island No. ten. President Lincoln was hopeful he would replicate that success in Virginia. Pope brought with him a harder philosophy of war, one that would put pressure not just on Lee's army but on the population of Virginia. Alarmed and offended by "such a miscreant as Pope," Lee began moving part of his army north to counter and "suppress" the threat.

In Never Such a Campaign: The Battle of Second Manassas, August twenty-eight–thirty, 1862, historians Dan Welch and Kevin R. Pawlak follow Lee and Pope as they converge on ground bloodied just thirteen months earlier at First Bull Run (Manassas). Since then, the armies had grown in both size and efficiency, and any pitched combat between them promised to dwarf the earlier battle. For the second summer in a row, Union and Confederate forces clashed on the plains of Manassas. This time, the results would be far more terrible.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword by John J. Hennessy
• Prologue
• Chapter One: Glad to See You at Washington
• Chapter Two: The Plan of Operations
• Chapter Three: Pope’s Best Coat
• Chapter Four: Such Troops as These
• Chapter Five: Largesse at the Junction
• Chapter Six: The Road to Brawner Farm
• Chapter Seven: A Regular Stand-Up Fight
• Chapter Eight: A Terrific and Deadly Intensity
• Chapter Nine: Pandemonium Made Real
• Chapter Ten: For My Country and the Old Flag
• Chapter Eleven: As Long as a Man Will Stand Up to the Work
• Epilogue: Never Such a Campaign
• Appendix A: Union and Confederate Cavalry at Second Manassas by Daniel T. Davis
• Appendix B: Miscommunication and Mistrust: Federal High Command at Second Manassas by Kevin R. Pawlak
• Appendix C: How the Destruction of the Chantilly/Ox Hill Battlefield Inspired the Modern Battlefield Preservation Movement by Ed Wenzel
• Appendix D: Second Manassas Campaign Driving Tours
• Order of Battle
• Suggested Reading
• About the Authors