tanknetter:
"I’ve never heard the bit about Lee really going after Harrisburg and specifically the rail lines for use as a bargaining chip.
Any further information you have on that - detailed articles you can point me to etc, would really be appreciated."It comes from this book, which I have in paperback, but see now it's also available by Kindle.
The book and its authors are highly regarded in their efforts to provide backgrounds and explanations for what Lee did at Gettysburg, and why.
Among other things, it explores strategic thinking that Lee and Davis shared.
Their goals for this operation went far beyond a mere raid (such as Morgan's raid into Kentucky, Indiana & Ohio).
Instead they saw it as an opportunity to strike a decisive blow and break the Union's will to fight.
In this discussion, they mention a plan to take and hold Harrisburg's major rail yards, and at this point, I'm posting from memory (away from home) and can't tell you more details.
But, for whatever my opinion might be worth: it's a great book, and I think you'll finish it with a higher respect for Robert E. Lee as a general than the common view of his performance at Gettysburg would lead one to expect.
It comes from this book, which I have in paperback, but see now it's also available by Kindle.
Thanks! I'm going to look into getting it (prefer paper to electrons for things like this). I think I may have spotted it on the shelf of my local used bookstore last week (they had Bruce Catton's Army of the Potomac trilogy that I bought instead of the other books I was looking at).
But, for whatever my opinion might be worth: it's a great book, and I think you'll finish it with a higher respect for Robert E. Lee as a general than the common view of his performance at Gettysburg would lead one to expect.
I've never really thought that the common view of Lee's performance at Gettysburg did him enough credit. There were a heck of a lot of mistakes to spread around on both sides of Emmitsburg Pike. One book I really enjoyed on the subject was
"Lost Triumph" by Tom Carhart that, albeit relying on a lot of circumstantial evidence, claims that Lee really did have a winnable plan for the third day. If you haven't read it yet, I'd highly recommend it.