LEE
LEE
designated Manassas Junction, where, on July 21,
1861, the first great battle was fought and won
by the Confederacy. After the death of Gen.
Robert S. Garnett, Lee was ordered to assume
command of the troops in western Virginia com-
prising about 60OO men commanded by Generals
Johnson, Loring, Wise and Floyd. He had be-
fore been commissioned a general in the Confed-
erate army but was out-ranked by both Generals
Cooper and Albert Sidney Jolmston. He found
the Federal forces commanded by Gen. W. S.
Rosecrans, who like Lee was a skilful engineer,
but now in command of an army double the
number under Lee, and both commanders acted
on the defensive, chiefly on account of incessant
rains and the state of the roads. After the season
for active operations in the mountains was
over, Lee was put in charge of the defences
of South Carolina and Georgia. In the spring
of 1862 he was made military adviser of Pres-
ident Davis. On June 1, 1862. after Gen.
Joseph E. Johnston had been severely wounded
and the command of the Confederate army
had devolved on Gen. Gustavus W. Smith, who
renewed the battle of Seven Pines with but
partial success, President Davis appointed Gen.
Robert E. Lee to the command of the Army of
Northern Virginia and he drove the army of Mc-
Clellan to the protection of the Federal gunboats
at Harrison's Landing on the James river. Lee
had inflicted on his adversary a loss of 150 ord-
nance and commissary wagons and 12,000 stands
of arms, burned to prevent change of ownership,
and 15,900 killed and wounded, 10,800 prisoners,
54 pieces of artillery, and 36,000 stands of arms
captured by the Confederate army. On July 13
he detached General Jackson with 10,000 men to
operate against Pope who had succeeded to the
command of a Federal army and was holding the
line north of the Rappahannock river. In Aug-
ust Lee advanced with the main body of his army,
about 35,000 strong, to give battle to the new
commander. The issue was joined at Manassas,
Aug. 29-30, and Pope's army made a leisurely
retreat toward Washington. Lee then moved
into Maryland, crossing the Potomac, Sept. 8, 1862,
at Leesburg ford. He issued a proclamation to
the citizens of Maryland to rally to the flag of the
Confederacy, closing hisappeal with these words:
" While the people of the Confederate States will
rejoice to welcome you to your natural position
among them, they will only welcome you when
you come of your own free will." Meanwhile
Pope had been relieved of the command of the
Army of Virginia and General McCIellan was
appointed his successor and had under liis com-
mand 87,161 men. General Lee had an army of
35,255 men and had taken position near Sharps-
burg, Md., between the Potomac river and An-
tietam creek. On September 17, McCIellan opened
the battle along his entire line and the conflict
continued during the day, and under the cover of
the next night Lee withdrew his army to the
Virginia side of the Potomac witliout disorder,
completing the retreat Sept. 19. 1862. On October
8, Lee ordered Stuart with 5,000 horsemen to re-
cross into JIaryland and harass McCIellan 's army,
and he accomplislied his purpose and entered the
state of Pennsylvania almost unopposed. On
Oct. 26, 1862, McCIellan crossed the Potomac and
encamped in Loudoun count}', Va., and on Nov.
2, 1862, he was succeeded by General Burnside.
Then followed the battle of Fredericksburg, where
Burnside mustered 116.683 men and was opposed
by Lee with 78,513 men. The battle was fought
and won by General Lee, Dec. 13, 1862. In 1862
General Lee executed a paper emancipating all
the slaves held by his estate, 196 in number, in
accordance with the will of his father-in-law,
G. W. P. Custis, by which, five years after Mr.
Custis's death, which occurred Oct. 10, 1857, all
his slaves were to be freed. This was Lee's
second act as an emancipator, he having freed
the slaves owned by himself in 1854, while an
officer in the U. S. army. On May 2-5, 1863. the
Army of the Potomac, under Hooker, recruited
to the strength of 138.378 men, opposed General
Lee's army of 53,000 men, 170 pieces of artillery
and 2700 cavalry at Chancelloi'sville, and the
force of Hooker was first placed on the defensive
and finally forced to intrench on the Rappahan-
nock. On June 2, 1863, Lee moved liis army
northward toward the Potomac, and on June 13
Hooker followed. The Army of Nortliern Vir-
ginia invaded Pennsylvania late in June to re-
lieve Virginia of the burden of war. Lee reached
Gettysburg July 1, 1863, by way of Carlisle and
Chambersburg, where he found the Army of the
Potomac under General Meade, who had suc-
ceeded General Hooker. Meade brought into
action an army of 89,000 men with over 15,-
000 in reserve and Lee faced him with 62,500
men and no reserve. Each army lost over 20,000
men and the battle was won by the Federal army
after three days' incessant fighting. The Army
of Northern Virginia retreated up the valley and
General Lee acted on the defensive for nearly a
year. On Aug. 8, 1863, General Lee tendered
his resignation to President Davis by reason of
physical disability. President Davis, in declining
to receive his resignation, under date of Rich-
mond, Va., Aug. 11, 1863, says: "To ask me to
substitute you by some one in my judgment
more fit to command, or who would possess more
of the confidence of the army or of the reflecting
men of the country, is to demand an impossibil-
ity." General Lee confronted General Grant at
the Wilderness, May 5, 1864, and the battles that
