Background
Shortly after Lee's Army of Northern Virginia defeated Hooker's Army of the Potomac during the Chancellorsville Campaign (April 30 – May 6, 1863), Lee decided upon a second invasion of the North. Such a move would upset Union plans for the summer campaigning season, give Lee the ability to maneuver his army away from its defensive positions behind the Rappahannock River, and allow the Confederates to live off the bounty of the rich northern farms while giving war-ravaged Virginia a much needed rest. Lee's army could also threaten Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, and encourage the growing peace movement in the North. Lee had written to his wife on April 19,
... next fall there will be a great change in public opinion at the North. The Republicans will be destroyed & I think the friends of peace will become so strong that the next administration will go in on that basis.The Confederate government wanted Lee to reduce Union pressure threatening their garrison at Vicksburg, Mississippi, but he declined their suggestions to send troops to provide direct aid, arguing for the value of a concentrated blow in the Northeast.
In essence, Lee's strategy was identical to the one he employed in the Maryland Campaign of 1862. He had discovered only recently the secret of how Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan had defeated that invasion, by intercepting Lee's famous lost order to his corps commanders, which compelled him to fight in the Battle of Antietam before he could fully concentrate his army. This revelation improved his confidence that he could succeed in a northern invasion against another man he considered a timid and ineffective general, Joseph Hooker. Furthermore, after Chancellorsville he had supreme confidence in the men of his army, assuming they could handle any challenge he gave them.
Read more about this topic: Gettysburg Campaign
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