According to the tale, Lee upon learning that the Union Army was following him northward into Maryland and Pennsylvania, and maybe even was a part of his overall plan from the beginning, was that Lee wanted P.T.G. Beauregard to assemble his forces, then in Southeast Va. which had been left behind to watch the yankees at Norfork, and move those forces to Culpepper, Va.
The idea in doing this is so he (Beauregard) would appear to pose a threat to Washington and cause Meade to be more tenative about moving against Lee.
As the story goes, Davis nixed this plan and sent a dispatch to Lee informing him that he would not permit Beauregard to do this, as he felt that it would leave Richmond too exposed. That the courier which was carrying this message to LEE, was captured by Union scouts and the dispatch was taken to Meade, who read it on July 2nd and that it influenced Meade NOT to withdraw to the Pipe Creek line that night.
Can anyone confirm this story?
It has the sound of a bold more that would be something Lee would try. It also has the elements of good military planning in that it would provide Lee with a base to fall back on if indeed things went bad in Pennsylvania. It would have been risky, as in fact it did leave Richmond exposed, IF the yankees did move aggressively from Norfork. But it would have been in the pattern of Lee's thinking that the yankee's would be too absorbed with things in Pennsylvania to move on Richmond.
The problems I see is timing. If it were part of Lee's overall plan, why was Lee just being informed that Davis didn't approve of this plan on July 2nd? It would have taken a little time for Beauregard to assemble his forces and move to Culpepper, and for the threat to be realized by the Yankees, to have any effect for the Confederates operations in Pennsylvania.