ARLINGTON, WASHINGTON CITY, P. 0..
April 20, 1861.
Honorable Si711071 Cameron.
Secretary of War.
have the honor to tender the resignation of my commission as colonel of the first regiment of cavalry.
Very respectfully your obedient servant, It. E. LEL Colonel First Cavalry.
Having once decided the question he never faltered in his allegiance or doubted the cor rectness of his decision. He said to Gen. Wade Hampton in 1869, as they were discuss ing the war and its results: could have taken no other course without dishonor, and if it were all to be gone over again, I should act in precisely the same manner?) Going to Rich mond at the request of the Virginia Conven tion, he was made .major-general and com mander-in-chief of the Virginia forces (23 April.) and when Virginia joined the Con federacy he was commissioned in the Con federate service and made one of the five full generals. In July 1861 he endeavored from a distance to direct the Confederate attempts to hold what is now West Virginia and in August took personal charge of the difficult campaign, but the campaign failed through the fault of others and he was severely criticised by the newspapers. He was then put in charge of the sea-coast defenses in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, and here his knowledge and practical experience in engineering came into play, for there is little doubt but that the heroic defense which that department after ward made was only possible through his skill and energy in placing it in proper condition. In March 1862 he was made military adviser to President Davis and occupied that position till the wounding of Gen. J. E. Johnston at Seven Pines. He quickly demonstrated his power of organization. Everything had to be created— armies organized and the various necessary departments constructed, and on 1 June he was placed in command of the Army of Northern Virginia. He at once determined to drive Mc Clellan from the siege of Richmond. He sum moned °Stonewall* Jackson to his aid, col lected all the reinforcements he could and, after sending J. E. B. Stuart on a scouting circuit of the Union army, on 26 June opened the °Seven Days Battles,* attacking McClellan's lines on the Chickahominy. Several battles were fought (Oak Grove, Mechanicsville, Gaines' Mill, Peach Orchard, Savage Station and Glendale, qq.v.), and, while repulsed in a bloody battle at Malvern Hill (1 July) where McClellan had made a last stand to save his army, Lee had prepared for a combined attack the next mormng, but found that McClellan had retreated during the night under cover of his gunboats at Harrison's Landing, 30 miles below Richmond. He captured 52 pieces of artillery and quantities of stores of all kinds and left McClellan's army in a demoralized condition, and though he had not annihilated it, as he had designed and might have so done but for the failure of some of his subordinates, he had driven it away from Richmond, raised the siege and by a series of manoeuvres brought it to pass that McClellan and Pope,, who had taken command of the Army of Virginia, united forces near Washington. Here Lee completely routed Pope, the campaign culminating in the battles on the old field of Manassas on 28, 29 and 30 August and finally drove him to the fortifications in front of Washington (see BULL RUN, SECOND BATTLE or). Then fol lowed the campaign, in which Jack son captured Harper's Ferry with 11,000 prisoners and large quantities of arms and stores. On 14 Sept. 1862 a part of Lee's army under D. H. Hill was worsted in a battle at South Mountain (q.v.) or Boonsboro because McClellan had come into possession of Lee's orders. Accordingly Lee abandoned his in
tention of invading Pennsylvania, ordering an immediate retreat into Virginia on the 15th and deciding to fight McClellan on the heights and banks of the Antietam near Sharpsburg. At Sharpsburg (Antietam), 17 Sept. 1862, Lee re pulsed every attack made by McClellan's well equipped troops and advanced his own lines, only retreating across the Potomac when he learned that the Union army had received large reinforcements (see ANTIETAM, BATTLE or). On 7 November Burnside superseded McClellan in command of the Union forces and crossing the Rappahannock at Fredericks burg, tried to take the Confederate army by surprise (13 December). Lee, however, had divined his purpose and, occupying a naturally strong position, not only repulsed his attack, but administered a crushing defeat, compelling him to recross the river, where his strong works and heavy artillery rendered him safe from a counter attack by Lee. (See FREDERICKSBURG, BATTLE or). In February 1863 Hooker succeeded Burnside and was de feated by Lee at Chancellorsville (q,.v.). In the Gettysburg campaign of 1863, Winchester was captured by Ewell, and at Gettysburg (q.v.) 1-3 July, Lee faced Meade, gained a de cided victory the first day, gained some ground the second day, but was repulsed with heavy loss on the third day. He remained in line of battle all day the 4th of July and for several days at Hagerstown, but Meade did not attack him, and he later retreated into Virginia, in November and December 1863 compelling Meade to withdraw after the Mine Run cam paign (q.v.), though the latter had 70,000 men to Lee's 50,000. In March 1864 Grant was made commander-in-chief of the Union army, °which • was to crush Lee and capture Rich mond.* He had 120,000 well-equipped and provisioned troops, while Lee had not more than 62,000 men, badly armed, wretchedly equipped and poorly supplied with rations, clothing, ordnance stores and transportation. And yet he outgeneraled and defeated Grant in every battle in that campaign from the Wilderness to Petersburg, from the Rapidan to the lines in front of Richmond, compelling him to camp before Petersburg and remain practically idle for several months, or until March 1865. (See WILDERNESS; TODD'S TAVERN; Po RIVER; SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE; NORTH ANNA; HAWES' SHOP; PA MUNKEY and ToTororomov; DREWRY'S BLUFF; PETERSBURG; TREVILIAN STATION; SAINT MARY'S CHURCH ; WELDON and SOUTH SIDE RAILROADS; JERUSALEM PLANK ROAD; DEEP BOTTOM; GLOBE TAVERN; REAM'S STATION; FORT HARRISON; POPLAR SPRING CHURCH; HATCItiat'e Rux; FAIR OAKS). These great contests against enormous odds are a monu ment of the strategic and tactical ability of Lee as well as to the courage of his troops. His defense of Richmond and Petersburg alone was a marvelous example of defensive warfare. Now the supply of money was ex hausted and the question of feeding the soldiers was daily becoming more troublesome. A discontinuance in the supply of arms and ammunition was imminent. His gallant army had been exposed in a violent campaign to overwhelming numbers and he no longer had °Stonewall* Jackson and J. E. B. Stuart by his side. During the remainder of the war Lee had to guard 40 miles of breastwork with a bare skirmish line and yet meet every move of the enemy, to supply his army, to recruit his thinned ranks from a country already stripped of its men, and to witness the starving out of his army — yet he met and overcame all these obstacles with a resourcefulness which was born of the highest order of military genius.