John Esten Cooke

In the early summer of 1862, the Confederate army found itself in southeastern Virginia, defending Richmond against a much larger Union force. The Union army under George B. McClellan had been transported by ship to a peninsula of land that stretched from the mouth of the Rappahannock River to the southern capital. Although McClellan had the advantage, he was reluctant to attack because he overestimated the size of the Rebel army around Richmond. Instead the Confederates mounted a surprise assault which was played out in a series of bloody but indecisive battles.

John Esten Cooke, a distinguished Southern writer, took part in this Peninsula Campaign in the company of General James Ewell Brown ("Jeb") Stuart, a brilliant Confederate cavalry commander. On June 12, 1862, Stuart was ordered by the new Southern commander, Robert E. Lee, to make a reconnaissance of the Union army's...