LEE 



3367 



LEE 



next six years in Texas, away from his be- 

 loved Arlington, but happened to be at home 

 in 1859 at the time of John Brown's raid, and 

 was placed in command of the troops sent to 

 suppress it. This accomplished, he returned 

 to his regiment and there remained until 1861, 

 when Texas seceded, and he was summoned 

 home. 



Lee was opposed to the breaking up of the 

 Union; he felt that slavery was an even 

 "greater evil to the white than to the colored 

 race;" and he had several years before freed 

 the few negroes which he had inherited; but 

 loyalty to his state made him refuse the com- 

 mand of the United States army when it was 

 offered him in April, 1861, and he accepted the 

 leadership of the army of Virginia. It caused 

 him the greatest grief to part- from his com- 

 panions in arms, for he had always felt "that 

 the cordiality and friendship in the army was 

 the 'great attraction of the service," and the 

 break with General Scott, his commander-in- 

 chief, was particularly hard. Appreciating his 

 military genius, President Jefferson Davis very 



ROBERT E. LEE 



shortly raised him to the highest rank in the 

 Confederate army. 



The Great Struggle. For a time Lee had no 

 army under his command, but remained with 

 President Davis as his military adviser and 

 thus had no active part in the first Battle of 

 Manassas, though his plans were in large part 

 responsible for its success. Later in the sum- 

 mer of 1861 he took the field, but not for al- 

 most a year was he engaged in any movements 



of primary importance. Then, in June, 1862, 

 he took command of the Confederate armies in 

 the Peninsula, and in a series of sharp engage- 

 ments in the neighborhood of Richmond drove 

 the Federals from the Confederate capital. 



Afterwards he turned his attention from Mc- 

 Clellan toward Pope, who commanded the Fed- 

 eral army in Western Virginia, and on August 

 29 and 30 he and "Stonewall" Jackson won a 

 decisive victory over Pope the second Con- 

 federate victory of Manassas, or Bull Run. 

 Assuming the offensive, Lee next crossed into 

 Maryland with the intention of threatening 

 Washington, but his army was checked at An- 

 tietam, and he was compelled to retreat across 

 the Potomac (see ANTIETAM, BATTLE OF). 



On the Defensive Again. Intrenched at 

 Fredericksburg, Lee awaited the Federal army, 

 which was again being directed against Rich- 

 mond. Burnside, the Federal commander, at- 

 tacked on December 13, and Lee's army drove 

 him back with great loss, but Lee was unable 

 to take advantage of his victory because the 

 Federals had been so placed that they could 

 fall back without endangering their line of 

 communication. Lee knew that the Confed- 

 erate reserves in men and in supplies were 

 shrinking rapidly, and that victories which 

 simply held the enemy's forces but did not 

 destroy them were too costly to be indulged in. 

 Yet another defensive battle had to be fought, 

 and on May 2-4, 1863, at Chancellorsville, Lee 

 won over Hooker one of his most brilliant vic- 

 tories. Lee suffered in this battle an irrep- 

 arable loss, for Stonewall Jackson, his most 

 efficient aid, was fatally wounded by some 

 Confederate marksmen, who fired upon him by 

 mistake. 



A Losing Fight. Determining now on a 

 more aggressive campaign, Lee led his forces 

 into Pennsylvania, and on July 1 began the 

 most famous conflict of the war the Battle of 

 Gettysburg. In three days of fighting he 

 showed the most distinguished ability and his 

 army the utmost bravery, but they were over- 

 borne by the Federals under Meade, and were 

 compelled to retreat across the Potomac. The 

 greatness of Lee's character was as evident in 

 this defeat as in his most brilliant victories, 

 for he insisted on taking upon himself all the 

 blame for the failure of the campaign, just as 

 at Chancellorsville he had given all the credit 

 for the victory to Jackson. 



After a hard winter, Lee's forces found them- 

 selves in the spring of 1864 called upon to face 

 a new Federal leader the determined General 



