The Bristoe Campaign was a series of minor battles fought in Virginia during October and November 1863, in the American Civil War. Major general George G. Meade, commanding the Union Army of the Potomac, began an unsuccessful attempt to defeat General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Lee countered with a turning movement. Not willing to do battle on ground he did not choose, Meade gradually withdrew his army back toward Centreville. His object was to keep Lee from getting between his Union forces in Virginia and Washington, DC.