He had put an inferior force within reach of an enemy who
held the interior lines, and had ordered two armies, separated by
several marches, to effect their concentration under the fire of the
enemy's guns. And if Pope's strategical position was bad, his
tactical position was even worse. His left, covering Raccoon and
Somerville Fords, was very weak. The main body of his army was massed
on the opposite flank, several miles distant, astride the direct road
from Gordonsville to Culpeper Court House, and he remained without
the least idea, so late as the morning of the 18th, that the whole
Confederate army was concentrated behind Clark's Mountain, within six
miles of his most vulnerable point. Aware that Jackson was based on
Gordonsville, he seems to have been convinced that if he advanced at
all, he would advance directly on Culpeper Court House; and the move
to Pisgah Church, which left Gordonsville unprotected, never entered
into his calculations. A sudden attack against his left was the last
contingency that he anticipated; and had the Confederates moved as
Lee intended, there can be no question but that the Federal army,
deprived of all supplies, cut off from Washington, and forced to
fight on ground where it was unprepared, would have been disastrously
defeated.
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