First Battle of Rappahannock Station
In early August 1862 Confederate Army General Robert E. Lee thought that Union Army Major General George B. McClellan's army was leaving the Virginia Peninsula to help Major General John Pope. He sent Major General James Longstreet's wing from Richmond to join Thomas J. Jackson's wing near Gordonsville and came to take over command himself on August 15, 1862. From August 20 to 21, 1862, John Pope's army went to the Rappahannock River. On August 20, Pope spread his army along the northern part of the Rappahannock River from Kelly's Ford to Rappahannock Station and was ready to defend the river crossings.