Alan, thanks, and I agree with you totally. I'd have to find and re-read the section, but I think I read that Corse's Brigade was relieved at Hanover Junction by the 44th North Carolina (Pettigrew's Brigade) and sent to Culpeper Courthouse to draw Federal attention away from Richmond. I knew that all of these brigades never made it to Vicksburg. But they were not with the ANV when they were most needed. Apparently Lee and President Davis argued over the importance of the Eastern Theater in the grand scheme of the war for months before Gettysburg. Lee expressing that the most damage could be done to enemy by the ANV in the east and that the Western Theater and The Trans-Mississippi were of secondary importance. You should read Bowden and Ward's book. They are meticulous in their research. I am sure you would enjoy it. I am also a big fan of Pfanz.

Keith