" R. E. LEE:" ' • After Lee had thus crossed the Rubicon to join the southern cause, his wife wrote to a friend: " My husband has wept tears of blood over this terrible war; but he must, as a man and Virginian, share the destiny of his state, which has solemnly pronounced for independence." The key to his betrayal of a patriot's duty lay in his family affection. His wife, from whom he had derived a great estate, exerted a powerful influence over him. The hearts of southern women, like those of the MeGregors, heat high for caste and clan. The grandeur of the United States—the great republic of the wo•ld—palcd before their eyes in the light that shone from the altar.of their local prides and moves.
Lee was molded in the heat of his immediate surroundings. The question arises whether lie could not have molded them instead—casting his influence with such quick and forcible decision for his entire country that he would have carried family and friends by the momentum of his own will, instead of being the reluctant victim of their infatuation.
On April 23. 1861, Lee was at Richmond. receiving an ovation in the legislative hall of Virginia on the occasion of the formal confirmation of his appointment by gov. Letcher to the position of maj.gen. of the forces of the commonwealth of Virginia, which appointment had been made at once on the receipt of news of his resignation from the J. S. army. He remained without any specific command. superintending the fortifica tions of Richmond with a skill proved by subsequent events. His first operations in the field were against gen. Rosecrans in western Virginia, which were ineffective. He was back to Richmond soon after, and was thence seat to South Carolina to meet the move ment of the union forces at Port Royal. The latter pert of May, 1862. when McClellan's army was threatening Richmond from the Chiekahominy. gen. Joseph E. Johnston was commander-in-chief of the confederate forces. At the battle of the Seven Pines, John ston being wounded and disabled front command, gen. Lee became the commander of the army of Virginia. Up to this time Lee had never had opportunity to display his ability on the field. He now maneuvered two considerable divisions of his army so as to give the impression that he intended to reinforce Jackson for an attack on Washington. McClellan was completely deceived. Lee suddenly concentrated all his force on the union lines, and in the battles of June 26 and 27 on the Chickahominy, notwithstanding the equal bravery of the army under McClellan, the superior generalship of Lee won a decisive victory. McClellan showed ability in retreat, and conducted the national army
to a new line. On the 29th ',de ordered renewed attacks on the retreating army, but so skillfully and secretly had the union army retreated through White Oak swamp, and so resolute and skillful was their defense whenever attacked, that no advantage was gained by Lee's army. McClellan had time to complete his retreat, and on July 2 was iutrenched on Malvern Hill. Here a desperate attack was made by Lee to dislodge him, which resulted in a bloody defeat of the rebel forces. Gen. Pope was soon after this put in command of , the national armies in Virginia w. of Washington, while gen. McClellan retained position on the James river. Lee, relying on McClellan's inactivity before Richmond, planned to throw his whole available strength against Pope. A series of rapid and unexpected blows fell upon the outer armies under Pope's command, his depot of provisions was captured, and on Aug. 29 and 30, 1862, Pope's main army was signally defeated on the same field of Manassas that witnessed the first defeat of Bull Ruu. Lee then projected the invasion of Maryland. To use Lee's own words, "the war was thus transferred from the interior to the frontier, and the supplies of rich and productive districts made accessible to our army." On Sept. 7 his entire army was near Frederick City. Lee's tactics were now to draw the union armies after him, and to choose his own ground and time for giving battle. On Sept. 8 he issued an address to the people of Maryland which shows how completely his feelings as a southern man and a stave-holder had dominated his naturally clear judgment. Be uses the hackneyed phrases of secession journals in reminding the people of Maryland of their "wrongs"; in alluding to the supremacy of the national power over the local tendency to rebellion as " usurpation." To use his own language, " believing that the people of Maryland possessed a spirit too lofty to submit to such a government, the people of the south have long wished to aid you in throwing off this foreign yoke, to enable you again to enjoy the inalienable rights of freemen, and restore independence and sovereignty. to your state." This appeal to personal liberty seems strange in the light of the terrorism towards all adyerse opinion which prevailed throughout the confederacy. The proc lamation had little effect. It is creditable, however, to gen. Lee that his army, NI bile in Maryland and Pennsylvania, were constrained to avoid all acts not in conformity with civilized warfare.