Amidst numbing cold and stinging rain in late 1863, Union General George G. Meade and the Army of the Potomac attempted a year-end stroke against Robert E. Lee that climaxed along Mine Run, two miles away. Since Gettysburg, much had happened but little had been accomplished by either side, and in late November Meade tried to change that by crossing the Rapidan below Lee's right flank, turning westward, and fighting Lee in the open spaces of Orange County. The Union columns started on November 26, but the effort went awry from the start when part of the column was delayed and then took a wrong turn, while Lee responded faster than Meade anticipated. Lee had expected Meade to run for the vital railroads south of Fredericksburg, but instead watched as the Federals turned west toward him. Lee marched quickly out of his camps along the Rapidan, and by the time the Union columns reached Robinson's Tavern, his army was contesting their every step. The Federals pushed to Mine Run and stopped, the Confederates dug in on the high ground west of the stream two miles away, and Meade prepared to attack.