New York City was in the tumult of political discussions, while Baltimore was quieter than at any earlier point in the war. Washington, D.C., seemed secure for the moment, and the Northern states were breathing a sigh of relief that Lee’s autumn invasion of Maryland had failed.

Ambrose Burnside was still commander of the Army of the Potomac, but this would not last long. Most people in the know expected that he would be replaced by General “Fighting Joe” Hooker, who had roundly criticized Burnside for the failure at Fredericksburg. On the Confederate side, the three-part combination of Lee, Jackson, and Longstreet was now so strong that these men carried the hopes and expectations of the South on their backs.