Editing James Longstreet (section)

====Campaign plans====
[[File:Longstreet at Gettysburg.tif|upright=1.2|right|thumb|Longstreet at Gettysburg {{circa}} 1900]]
Following Chancellorsville and the death of Stonewall Jackson, Longstreet and Lee met in mid-May to discuss the army's summer campaign. Longstreet once more pushed for the detachment of all or part of his corps to be sent to Tennessee. The justification for this course of action was becoming more urgent as Union Major General Ulysses S. Grant was [[Vicksburg campaign|advancing]] on the critical Confederate stronghold on the [[Mississippi River]], [[Vicksburg, Mississippi|Vicksburg]]. Longstreet argued that a reinforced army under Bragg could defeat Rosecrans and drive toward the [[Ohio River]], which would compel Grant to break his hold on Vicksburg.{{sfn|Wert|1993|pp=242–246}} He advanced these views during a meeting with Seddon, who approved of the idea but doubted that Lee would, and opined that Davis would be unlikely to go against Lee's wishes. Longstreet had criticized Bragg's generalship and may have been hoping to replace him, although he also might have wished to see Joseph Johnston take command, and indicated that he would be content to serve under him as a corps commander. Lee prevented this by telling Davis that parting with large numbers of troops would force him to move his army closer to Richmond, and instead advanced a plan to [[Gettysburg campaign|invade Pennsylvania]]. A campaign in the North would relieve agricultural and military pressure that the war was placing on Virginia and North Carolina, and, by threatening a federal city, disrupt Union offensives elsewhere and erode support for the war among Northern civilians.{{sfn|Piston|1987|p=44}} In his memoirs, Longstreet described his reaction to Lee's proposal:

{{Blockquote|His plan or wishes announced, it became useless and improper to offer suggestions leading to a different course. All that I could ask was that the policy of the campaign should be one of defensive tactics; that we should work so as to force the enemy to attack us, in such good position as we might find in our own country, so well adapted to that purpose—which might assure us of a grand triumph. To this, he readily assented as an important and material adjunct to his general plan.{{sfn|Longstreet|1991|p=331}}}}

There is conflicting evidence for the veracity of Longstreet's account. It was written years after the campaign and is affected by hindsight, both of the results of the battle and of heavy postbellum criticism. In letters of the time, Longstreet made no reference to such a bargain. In April 1868, Lee said that he "had never made any such promise, and had never thought of doing any such thing".{{sfn|Coddington|1968|p=11}}{{sfn|Wert|1993|p=246}} Yet in his post-battle report, Lee wrote, "It had not been intended to fight a general battle at such a distance from our base, unless attacked by the enemy."<ref name="Lee Gettysburg">{{cite web |url=http://facweb.furman.edu/~benson/docs/lee.htm |title=Lee's Report of the Gettysburg Campaign |last=Lee |first=Robert E. |date=January 1864 |publisher=Furman University |access-date=September 20, 2017 |archive-date=February 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224143252/http://facweb.furman.edu/~benson/docs/lee.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Army of Northern Virginia was reorganized after Jackson's death. Two division commanders, [[Richard S. Ewell]] and A.P. Hill, were promoted to lieutenant general and assumed command of the Second and the newly created [[Third Corps, Army of Northern Virginia|Third Corps]] respectively. Longstreet's First Corps gave up R.H. Anderson's division during the reorganization, leaving Longstreet with the divisions of Hood, McLaws, and Pickett.{{sfn|Coddington|1968|p=12}}{{sfn|Wert|1993|p=248}}

After determining that an advance north was inevitable, Longstreet dispatched the scout [[Henry Thomas Harrison]], whom he had met during the Suffolk Campaign, to gather information. He paid Harrison in gold and told him that he "did not care to see him till he could bring information of importance".{{sfn|Longstreet|1991|p=333}} Ewell's corps led the army north, followed by Longstreet's and Hill's. The First Corps crossed the Potomac River from June 25 to 26.{{sfn|Coddington|1968|pp=114–117}} Harrison reported to Longstreet on the evening of June 28 and was instrumental in warning the Confederates that the Army of the Potomac was advancing north to meet them more quickly than they had anticipated, and was already gathered around Frederick, Maryland. Lee was initially skeptical, but the report prompted him to order the immediate concentration of his army north of Frederick near [[Gettysburg, Pennsylvania]]. Harrison also brought news that Hooker had been replaced as commander of the Army of the Potomac by Meade.{{sfn|Coddington|1968|pp=188–190}}