The Confederacy's Last Northern Offensive

By spring 1864, the administration of President Abraham Lincoln was in serious trouble, with mounting debt, low morale and eroding political support. Confederate troops, led by Lieutenant General Jubal Anderson Early, marched down the Shenandoah Valley and crossed the Potomac as Washington, D.C., and Maryland lay nearly undefended. This Civil War history explores what could have been a decisive Confederate victory and the reasons the invasion stalled.