Photo By Lori Stewart | Map of Pope’s area of operations in August 1862. The Rapidan and Rappahannock Rivers...... read more read more
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by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian
TIMELY INFORMATION SAVES POPE'S ARMY ON THE RAPIDAN
On Aug. 18, 1862, Maj. Gen. John Pope, Union commander of the Army of Virginia, received a bit of troubling information from one of his appointed spies. This information about the positions and intentions of the Confederate forces facing his own across the Rapidan River led him to reposition his forces, thwarting the Confederate plan of attack.
Following their clash at Cedar Mountain, General Pope and Maj. Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, commander of the II Corps in General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, positioned their forces on opposite banks of the Rapidan River. Both awaited reinforcements. By Aug. 16, General Lee had moved most of his army from Richmond and linked up with Jackson on the south bank of the Rapidan. Pope, on the north bank at the confluence of the Rapidan and Rappahannock rivers, received daily reports from his scouts on the reinforcement of Jackson’s forces. He had yet to receive sufficient reinforcements himself and understood his position, particularly his left flank, was precarious.
Fortunately, a month earlier, Pope had directed all his corps commanders to redouble their efforts to gain sufficient intelligence of Lee’s movements. To Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel on his left, he directed, “Send out some scouts and spies to ascertain if there is a considerable force of the enemy in the neighborhood of Staunton or east of Staunton.” Sigel gave this important task to Thomas O. Harter, a 28-year-old sergeant in the First Indiana Cavalry, who had enlisted in Terre Haute the previous year. On Jul. 21, Sergeant Harter left his company for a three-week reconnaissance of the area between Gordonsville and Staunton. A railroad engineer in civilian life, he posed as a refugee looking to gain work on one of the region’s railroads.
In a string of equally unfortunate and fortuitous events, Harter was arrested, relieved of his money and weapon, and imprisoned in Richmond for two weeks. Along the way, however, he made the acquaintance of the Virginia Central Railroad superintendent. Once released from prison, Harter immediately secured employment with the railroad, the very line assisting in the movement of Lee’s forces to the Rapidan.
Meanwhile, on the night of 17th, Lee advanced to the river prepared to launch a surprise attack on Pope’s left flank to trap his forces in the fork of the two rivers. Unfortunately, Lee had to postpone his attack for two days until new arrivals got into position and necessary provisions arrived, but he was confident Clark’s Mountain concealed his forces from Pope’s view. Lee, however, was unaware Sergeant Harter had detrained in Gordonsville and used the confusion of the moment to fall in with Lee’s army as it marched to the Rapidan.
While Lee paused on the bank of the Rapidan, Harter snuck out of camp, swam across the river, and arrived at Union lines the morning of Aug. 18. To Harter’s further good fortune, General Pope was there and received the spy’s report that Lee’s army “was on the point of marching, had their teams all ready to hitch up, and were evidently to move at an early moment to turn our left.”
Historian Edwin C. Fishel described Harter’s report as possibly “the timeliest single product of espionage received by any Union commander during the entire war.” Throughout the day, Harter’s report was corroborated by those of another spy and an infantry detachment who, upon raiding a Confederate signal station on Clark’s Mountain, had a clear view of Lee’s forces. Additionally, Pope’s cavalry scouts had captured Confederate cavalry commander Jeb E. Stuart’s adjutant and found among his official papers a dispatch from Lee detailing his positions and intentions. By the time these additional reports arrived in camp, however, Pope had already decided to withdraw his men, depriving Lee of his opportunity to execute a surprise attack. While Pope may have saved his army on the Rapidan, he would clash with Lee during the Second Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) a week later.
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| Date Taken: | 08.15.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 08.15.2025 13:22 |
| Story ID: | 545744 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 16 |
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