The Maps of the Bristoe Station and Mine Run Campaigns

Few historians have examined what happened to the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac during the critical months following Gettysburg, when both armies assumed the offensive in a pair of fascinating campaigns of thrust and counter-thrust. This careful study breaks down these campaigns (and all related operational maneuvers) into 13 map sets or “action-sections” enriched with 87 original full-page color maps. These spectacular cartographic creations bore down to the regimental and battery level.

The Maps of the Bristoe Station and Mine Run Campaigns includes the actions at Auburn and Bristoe Station, where Meade’s II Corps was nearly trapped and destroyed and the Confederates were caught by surprise and slaughtered; the seminal actions at Rappahannock Station and Kelly’s Ford, where portions of Lee’s army were surprised and overwhelmed; and the Mine Run Campaign, during which an aggressive Confederate division at the battle of Payne’s Farm held back two full Federal corps and changed the course of the entire operation.

At least one—and as many as twelve—maps accompany each “action-section.” Opposite each map is a full facing page of detailed text with footnotes describing the units, personalities, movements, and combat (including quotes from eyewitnesses) depicted on the accompanying map, all of which make the story of these campaigns come alive.

This original presentation offers readers a step-by-step examination through these long-overlooked but highly instructive campaigns. Coming on the heels of the fiasco that was Lee’s Bristoe Station operation, the stunning Union successes at Kelly’s Ford and Rappahannock Station demonstrated the weakened state of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia following the debilitating Gettysburg campaign. The Mine Run Operation that followed, with its extensive display of field works and trenches, foreshadowed the bloody fighting that would arrive with the spring weather of 1864 and highlighted once again Meade’s methodical approach to battlefield operations that left the authorities in Washington wondering whether he possessed the tenacity to defeat Lee. This detailed coverage is augmented with fascinating explanatory notes. Detailed orders of battle, together with a bibliography and index complete this exciting new volume.

Perfect for the easy chair or for walking hallowed ground, The Maps of the Bristoe Station and Mine Run Campaigns is a seminal work that, like Gottfried’s earlier atlases on Gettysburg, First Bull Run, and Antietam, belongs on the bookshelf of every serious and casual student of the Civil War.