With his army safely headquartered around Culpeper Court House south of the Rappahannock River, on Friday, July 24, 1863 Robert E. Lee wrote President Jefferson Davis, explaining that after returning to Virginia he had intended to march east of the Blue Ridge Mountains, but high water and other obstacles prevented him from accomplishing this task before the Union army under George Meade also crossed the Potomac River into Virginia.
Lee shared with Davis his plans for reorganizing the Army of Northern Virginia, given the loss of several prominent division generals, and most importantly his plans to recuperate and revitalize his army which had suffered so much during and in the aftermath of the failed Gettysburg campaign. Optimistically, Lee focused more on the future than on what had occurred at Gettysburg.