Posted by Joseph Cade on January 18, 19101 at 15:58:05:
In Reply to: Origins of Gettysburg Campaign posted by Mark on March 16, 19100 at 21:08:03:
Lee was intent on invading the North primarily to garnish supplies for a starving Confederacy which was being slowly choked off by the Union blockade. At the start of the Gettysburg campaign, the Confederacy was seriously lacking in "vital consumer goods" and the blockade made pretty much sure that the South wasn't going to get them from anywhere oversees.
Another main objective of Lee when he planned to invade the North was to attract foreign intervention (namely from England, and Spain). Had he succeeded, the North would probably have had to make a peace treaty with the South and the South would have won the war.
While Lee's army was marching towards Pennsylvania, the Northern army was kinda in a rut after being embarred at Chancellorsville. Before its commanding general (Hooker?) learned of Lee's intentions, he first engaged Confederate calvary at Brandy Station, and one other minor, little-known battle. Shortly afterwards, Hooker got canned by Lincoln (who was probably getting a little tired of having to sack incompetent generals) and General Meade was made commander-in-chief of the entire army (not Commander-In-Chief of the entire armed forces which was what Lincoln was). Meade realized what Lee was up to and pursued him to the Pennsylvanian town of Gettysburg.
Most historians believe that Lee thought his army was in great shape (the lack of sturdy shoes not-withstanding). He apparently thought that his army was quite capable of whipping the Yankee army anytime they were willing to fight.