ith brevity and reserve--then absolutely necessary--but also
with sufficient clearness, in his official report. The position of
the enemy opposite Fredericksburg was, he says, such as to render an
attack upon him injudicious. It was, therefore, desirable to manoeuvre
him out of it--force him to return toward Maryland--and thus free
the country of his forces. A further result was expected from this
movement. The lower Shenandoah Valley was occupied by the enemy under
General Milroy, who, with his headquarters at Winchester, harassed the
whole region, which he ruled with a rod of iron. With the withdrawal
of the Federal army under General Hooker, and before the advance of
the Confederates, General Milroy would also disappear, and the fertile
fields of the Valley be relieved. The whole force of the enemy would
thus, says Lee, "be compelled to leave Virginia, and possibly to draw
to its support troops designed to operate against other parts of the
country." He adds: "In this way it was supposed that the enemy's plan
of campaign for the summer would be broken up, and part of the season
of active operations be consumed in the formation of new combinations
and the preparations that they would require. In addition to these
advantages, it was hoped that other valuable results might be attained
by military success," that is to say, by a battle which Lee intended
to fight when circumstances were favorable. That he expected to fight,
not merely to manoeuvre the enemy from Virginia, is apparent from
another sentence of the report. "It was thought," he says, "that the
corresponding movements on the part of the enemy, to which those
contemplated by us would probably give rise, might _offer a fair
opportunity to strike a blow at the army therein, commanded by General
Hooker_" the word "therein" referring to the region "north of the
Potomac." In the phrase, "other valuable results which might be
attained by military success," the reference is plainly to the
termination of the contest by a treaty of peace, based upon the
independence of the South.

These sentences, taken from the only publication ever made by Lee
on the subject of the Gettysburg campaign, express guardedly, but
distinctly, his designs. He aimed to draw General Hooker north of the
Potomac, clear the Valley, induce the enemy to send troops in other
quarters to the assistance of the main Federal army, and, when the
moment came, attack General Hooker, defeat him if possible,