Raid on Chambersburg

Raid on Chambersburg
	Part of American Civil War
	; The rebels under Stuart leaving Chambersburg, by John R. Chapin
Date	October 10, 1862–October 12, 1862
Location	Western Maryland; South Central Pennsylvania
Result	Confederate victory
Belligerents
United States (Union)	CSA (Confederacy)
Commanders and leaders
George B. McClellan; Alfred Pleasonton	J.E.B. Stuart
Strength
2,000+	1,800
Casualties and losses
280 captured and paroled	"a few" wounded ; 2 missing

The Raid on Chambersburg, often identified as J.E.B. Stuart's Chambersburg Raid, was a Confederate States Army cavalry raid into Maryland and Pennsylvania on October 10–12, 1862 during the American Civil War. It became known as Stuart's "second ride around McClellan" because it duplicated Stuart's reconnaissance ride completely around the Union Army of the Potomac under Major General George B. McClellan during the ill-fated Peninsula Campaign.^[1]^[2]

After McClellan failed to pursue the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia commanded by General Robert E. Lee from Maryland to Virginia after the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, Lee planned to achieve some of his thwarted objectives from the Maryland Campaign through a cavalry raid. He asked Major General J.E.B. Stuart to lead the raid. Stuart took 1,800 men and a four-cannon light artillery battery on the raid. Stuart crossed into Maryland west of the Army of the Potomac's encampments, raided Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania and locations along his way, and returned south on a longer route which first took his men to the east of the Union Army positions.

Stuart achieved his objectives of securing fresh horses, mules, arms and supplies; capturing about 30 civilian officials to exchange for captured Confederates; destroying important railroad equipment, buildings and track in the vicinity of Chambersburg; capturing and paroling about 280 convalescing Union soldiers; gathering information; and avoiding a significant battle through evasion of pursuing Union cavalry. His men did fail to destroy the important railroad bridge over Conococheague Creek near Chambersburg which they were told, falsely, was made of iron. The raid contributed to President Abraham Lincoln's decision to replace McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac less than a month later.^[1]

^ ^a ^b Norris, David A. 'Chambersburg Raid (9–12 October 1862)' in Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History, edited by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000. ISBN 0-393-04758-X. Retrieved October 11, 2012. p. 391.
^ Cooling, Benjamin Franklin. Counter-thrust: From the Peninsula to the Antietam. Lincoln & London: University of Nebraska Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-8032-1515-3. p. 277.

[Norris391-1] Norris, David A. 'Chambersburg Raid (9–12 October 1862)' in Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History, edited by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000. ISBN 0-393-04758-X. Retrieved October 11, 2012. p. 391.

[Cooling277-2] Cooling, Benjamin Franklin. Counter-thrust: From the Peninsula to the Antietam. Lincoln & London: University of Nebraska Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-8032-1515-3. p. 277.

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