"Receding Tide" In the Trenches at Williamsport, MD
JULY, 1863 - Robert E. Lee's defeat at Gettysburg still hauntingly fresh, the Army of Northern Virginia has little time to collect itself and lick its wounds. North of the Mason-Dixon and facing a larger foe, the objective is now to withdraw back into the borders of the Confederacy. The once-jaunty army haggardly steps off with wagon trains carrying the wounded back to Old Virginia.
The Army of the Potomac, as battered in victory as the Confederates are in defeat, gathers itself together for the pursuit. Many of its best leaders are gone and its new commanding general, George Meade, is balancing the immense pressure on him to follow up his victory with not squandering that victory with another defeat. Nevertheless, the men of the Union are optimistic in the wake of a decisive victory. Perhaps, they think, this string of lackluster commanders and defeats is coming to an end.
As the high tide of the Confederacy ebbs from Pennsylvania and back through Maryland, Lee discovers the pontoon bridges used to make his incursion into the North have been destroyed by the raging Potomac. Knowing he needs to buy his army time to wait for the waters to lower and prepare to cross, he decides to commence digging in to establish a defensible position in Williamsport, Maryland, making the best of his desperate situation. The result is a 5-mile line of entrenchments.
When Meade's army arrives, it encounters a wounded animal caught between two Potomac’s: one swollen with heavy rain and the other, an army, filled with the pride of victory at Gettysburg...
Join us and our partners, Tuebor Historic Events, on July 28-30, 2023 as we too dig in and pursue the “Receding Tide” In The Trenches At Williamsport!
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