by Rod Gragg
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“A Thorough Soldier in Appearance”
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In December of that year, he inflicted a disastrous defeat on the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Fredericksburg. In May of 1863, he once again defeated the Army of the Potomac—this time under the command of Major General Joseph Hooker—at the Battle of Chancellorsville. It was his most heralded victory, but it came at great cost: his invaluable subordinate, Lieutenant General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, died of complications from wounds suffered at Chancellorsville. “I know not how to replace him,” Lee admitted. Shortly thereafter, despite the loss of Jackson, Lee began seriously contemplating and planning a campaign to take the war to the North. It would be risky, but Lee had the confidence and support of his superiors, his officers, and his soldiers. While he was respected and feared in the North, he was revered in the South—for his character and devout faith as well as his military genius. Typical of the Southern attitude toward Lee was a description of him recorded in 1863—not by a Southerner, but by a British military observer, Lieutenant Colonel Arthur L. Fremantle.
General Lee is, almost without exception, the handsomest man of his age I ever saw. He is fifty-six years old, tall, broad-shouldered, very well made, well set up—a thorough soldier in appearance; and his manners are most courteous and full of dignity.
He is a perfect gentleman in every respect. I imagine no man has so few enemies, or is so universally esteemed. Throughout the South, all agree in pronouncing him to be as near perfection as a man can be. He has none of the small vices, such as smoking, drinking, chewing, or swearing, and his bitterest enemy never accused him of any of the greater ones. He generally wears a well-worn, long, gray jacket, a high, black felt hat, and blue trousers tucked into his Wellington boots.
I never saw him carry arms; and the only mark of his military rank are the three stars on his collar. He rides a handsome horse, which is extremely well groomed. He himself is very neat in his dress and person, and in the most arduous marches he always looks smart and clean.
In the old army he was always considered one of its best officers; and at the outbreak of these troubles, he was lieutenant-colonel of the 2d cavalry. He was a rich man, but his fine estate was one of the first to fall into the enemy’s hands. I believe he has never slept in a house since he commanded in the Virginian army, and he invariably declines all offers of hospitality, for fear the person offering it may afterwards get into trouble for having sheltered the rebel general....
Lieutenant General Thomas J.
“Stonewall” Jackson.
Library of Congress
It is understood that General Lee is a religious man, though not so demonstrative in that respect as Jackson; and unlike his late brother in arms, he is a member of the Church of England. His only faults, so far as I can learn, arise from his excessive amiability.3
“There Is Always Hazard in Military Movements”
Lee Makes the Case for Invasion of the North
If the South did not win the war soon, Lee believed, it would not win at all. Despite Southern victories, such as Chancellorsville in the east, Federal amphibious operations and an increasingly effective Northern naval blockade were closing Southern seaports one by one. Meanwhile Northern forces were steadily overrunning the South in the war’s Western Theater, with disastrous consequences. Kentucky and most of Tennessee had been conquered and occupied by Northern forces, which now also held most of the Mississippi River, including New Orleans and Memphis. Between the two port cities, a massive Federal army under Major General Ulysses S. Grant threatened the Confederate river bastion of Vicksburg. The fall of Vicksburg would split the South and ensure Federal control of the Mississippi.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
Library of Congress
Even Confederate victories came at a disturbing price: the Battle of Chancellorsville resulted in 13,000 Southern casualties, for example, and was a sobering reminder that the South was steadily being bled of manpower. The North’s superior resources meant that it was just a question of time before the South was defeated. “We should not, therefore, conceal from ourselves that our resources in men are constantly diminishing,” Lee advised President Davis in correspondence. On May 14, 1863, Lee left army headquarters near Fredericksburg and traveled down to Richmond to personally meet with Davis, Confederate Secretary of War James A. Seddon, and Davis’s other cabinet officers. For three days, Lee reviewed the existing military situation and possible options. At one point Davis wondered aloud if Lee should send part of his army to the war’s Western Theater in order to help defend Vicksburg.
Lee disagreed, believing the South would be best served if he could immediately take the war to the North. A successful invasion of the North would allow Lee to move his army from war-ravaged Virginia and to provision his troops and horses from the rich farmland of Pennsylvania. It could trigger a financial panic in the North, bolster the growing Northern peace movement, demoralize the Northerners, and result in official recognition of the Confederacy by Britain or France. The capture of Washington, Philadelphia, or even Pennsylvania’s capital of Harrisburg might be enough to produce a negotiated end to the war and to win Southern Independence. Another Confederate victory such as those at Chancellorsville or Fredericksburg—but on Northern soil—might achieve all of these objectives.
Eventually Davis agreed and issued directives reinforcing Lee’s army. On Wednesday, June 3, 1863, Lee ordered the Army of Northern Virginia to begin the march northward. As the great campaign began to unfold, he sent a message from army headquarters to Secretary of War Seddon, summarizing his argument for invasion of the North. “We might hope,” Lee observed in an understatement, “to make some impression on the enemy.”
CONFIDENTIAL
HDQRS. ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
June 8, 1863
Honorable JAMES A. SEDDON,
Secretary of War, Richmond, Va.:
SIR: I have had the honor to receive your letter of the 5th....
There is always hazard in military movements, but we must decide between the positive loss of inactivity and the risk of action.... As far as I can judge, there is nothing to be gained by this army remaining quietly on the defensive, which it must do unless it can be re-enforced. I am aware that there is difficulty and hazard in taking the aggressive with so large an army in its front, intrenched behind a river, where it cannot be advantageously attacked. Unless it can be drawn out in a position to be assailed, it will take its own time to prepare and strengthen itself to renew its advance upon Richmond, and force this army back within the intrenchments of that city.
In May of 1863, General Lee met with President Davis and his cabinet here at the Executive Mansion in Richmond—later known as the Confederate White House—to strategize Lee’s proposed invasion of the North.
National Archives
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“We Might Hope to Make Some Impression on the Enemy”
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This may be the result in any event; still, I think it is worth a trial to prevent such a catastrophe. Still, if the Department thinks it better to remain on the defensive, and guard as far as possible all the avenues of approach, and await the time of the enemy, I am ready to adopt this course. You have, therefore, only to inform me.
I think our southern coast might be held during the sickly season by local troops, aided by a small organized force, and the predatory excursions of the enemy be repressed. This would give us an active force in the field with which we might hope to make some impression on the enemy, both on our northern and western frontiers. Unless this can be done, I see little hope of accomplishing anything of importance.
All our military preparations and organizations should now be pressed forward with the greatest vigor, and every exertion made to obtain some material advantage in this campaign.
I am, with great respect, your obedient servant,
R. E. Lee,
General4
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�We Whip the Yankees Every Time We Catch up with Them”
The Army of Northern Virginia Readies Itself for Another Victory
“There were never such men in an army before.” So said General Robert E. Lee of the troops who comprised his Army of Northern Virginia. “They will go anywhere and do anything if properly led,” he observed. Lee was not alone in his opinion. “I believe they will compare favorably with those of the Romans or of Napoleon’s Old Guard,” concluded one of Lee’s colonels. “The army that he has now can not be whipped by anything in Yan-keedom.”
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“Moving So Smoothly Along, with No Order, Their Guns Carried in Every Fashion”
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In preparation for the campaign into Pennsylvania, and in reaction to the loss of “Stonewall” Jackson, Lee reorganized the Army of Northern Virginia from two corps into three corps. The First Corps would be commanded by Lieutenant General James Longstreet; the Second Corps—General Jackson’s former corps—would be led by Lieutenant General Richard Ewell; and the Third Corps would be commanded by Lieutenant General Ambrose Powell Hill. The army’s artillery was also restructured, and its cavalry division—commanded by Major General J. E. B. Stuart—was reinforced to a troop-strength of about 10,000. Additional reinforcements increased the army to approximately 75,000 men.
Despite his best efforts, Lee knew that the Army of Northern Virginia had its weaknesses. Even with new reinforcements, the army would likely be outnumbered. Providing rations—always a problem for Confederate troops—would remain a challenge. Generals Ewell and Hill had never before held corps command, several division and brigade commanders were novices at their posts, and, most troubling, General Jackson—Lee’s “right arm”—was no more.
Although “as ragged as could be,” the soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia were renowned for their fighting abilities. Said Lee: “There were never such men in an army before.”
Library of Congress
Lee hoped restructuring the army would minimize the loss of Jackson. Even if some of his commanders were new to their posts, they were all seasoned combat veterans. He expected to amply provision his army from resources in the North, and his troops were used to fighting—and winning—against superior enemy numbers. Lee had confidence in his troops, and—flushed with victories at Chancellorsville and Fredericksburg—they had confidence in themselves and in “Uncle Robert,” as some reverently called him. Observed a soldier in a letter home, “We whip the Yankees every time we catch up with them....”
The soldiers in the ranks did not look like a spit-and-polish body of troops. “Their clothing is serviceable,” noted an observer, “but there is the usual absence of uniformity as to color and shape of their garments and hats . . . [gray] of all shades, and brown clothing, with felt hats.” Some were shoeless. Few had knapsacks. Many wore blankets rolled and looped over one shoulder and around the chest with the ends tied together at the waist. Most “were as ragged as they could be,” a veteran would recall, “some with the bottom of their pants in long frazzles, others with their knees sticking out, others out at their elbows, and their hair sticking through holes in their hats.” Despite their scruffy appearance, Lee’s troops were well-armed with imported British Enfield rifles and captured U.S. Springfields, and they carried themselves with an air of confidence and professionalism—as noted by a Unionist letter writer who had observed the Army of Northern Virginia the year before as it marched through Maryland.
I wish, my dear Minnie, you could have witnessed the transit of the Rebel army through our streets a day or two ago. Their coming was unheralded by any pomp and pageantry whatever. No burst of martial music greeted your ear, no thundering sound of cannon, no brilliant staff, no glittering cortege dashed through the streets; instead came three long, dirty columns that kept on in an unceasing flow.
I could scarcely believe my eyes; was this body of men moving so smoothly along, with no order, their guns carried in every fashion, no two dressed alike, their officers hardly distinguishable from the privates, were these, I asked myself in amazement, were these dirty, lank, ugly specimens of humanity, with shocks of hair sticking through the holes in their hats, and the dust thick on their dirty faces, the men that had coped and encountered successfully, and driven back again and again, our splendid legions with their fine discipline, their martial show and color, their solid battalions keeping such perfect time to the inspiring bands of music?
I must confess, Minnie, that I felt humiliated at the thought that this horde of ragamuffins could set our grand army of the Union at defiance. Why, it seemed as if a single regiment of our gallant boys in blue could drive that dirty crew into the river without any trouble.
And then, too, I wish you could see how they behaved—a crowd of boys on holiday don’t seem happier. They are on the broad grin all the time. Oh! They are so dirty! I don’t think the Potomac River could wash them clean; and ragged!—there is not a scarecrow in the corn-fields that would not scorn to exchange clothes with them; and so tattered!—there isn’t a decently dressed soldier in their whole army. I saw some strikingly handsome faces though; or, rather, they would have been so if they could have had a good scrubbing.
As if ready for the march, an unidentified soldier in the Eleventh Virginia Infantry—part of Longstreet’s First Corps at Gettysburg—rests on a model 1841 Mississippi rifle.
By the summer of 1863, Lee’s veteran troops no longer displayed the spit-and-polish look of this new recruit.
Library of Congress
They were very polite, I must confess, and always asked for a drink of water, or anything else, and never think of coming inside a door without an invitation. Many of them were barefooted. Indeed, I felt sorry for the poor, misguided wretches, for some were limping along so painfully, trying hard to keep up with their comrades. But I must stop. I send this by Robert, and hope it will reach you safely. Write to me as soon as the route is open.
Kate5
“A Soldier by Instinct, Intuition and Profession”
In Charge of Stopping Lee’s Invasion: General Joseph Hooker
Major General Joseph Hooker, commander, Army of the Potomac.
Library of Congress
A cross the Rappahannock River from Fredericksburg and Lee’s army lay the Federal Army of the Potomac and its commander, Major General Joseph Hooker. A forty-eight-year-old West Pointer born in Massachusetts, Hooker had distinguished himself in the Mexican War, and in the first two years of the Civil War had risen in rank from brigadier to major general, and from brigade commander to army commander. He was a gifted army organizer and a capable strategist, but his fondness for gambling and camp women showed him to be “wanting in character,” according to one critic, and his enthusiasm for the bottle caused him once to topple from his horse.
Inadvertently but appropriately nicknamed “Fighting Joe” Hooker by the Northern press, he was a bold, aggressive commander whose troops were known for engaging in ferocious fighting and for incurring heavy casualties. He was shamelessly ambitious, often at the expense of other officers. When introduced to President Abraham Lincoln shortly after the Northern loss at the First Battle of Bull Run, he brashly stated, “I am a damned sight better general than you, Sir, had on that field.” In late 1862, after a disastrous Federal defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Lincoln promoted Hooker to commander of the Army of the Potomac—even though Hooker had publicly opined that “both the Army and the Government needed a Dictator.” Said Lincoln,“What I now ask of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship.”
General Hooker was a good judge of horseflesh, but he severely misjudged Lee’s ability to react at the battle of Chancellorsville—with disastrous results.
National Archives
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“Outspoken and Fearless in Speech”
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In the spring of 1863, Hooker launched a bold offensive that caught Lee off guard. “My plans are perfect,” he boasted, “and when I start to carry
them out, may God have mercy on General Lee, for I will have none.” However, it was Hooker who would need mercy; on May 1–4, 1863, Lee inflicted a humiliating defeat on Hooker and his army at the Battle of Chancellorsville. With his reputation as battered as his troops, Hooker put his army into lines north of Fredericksburg and waited for Lee’s next move. The defeat at Chancellorsville, admitted one of Hooker’s subordinates, “has shaken the confidence of the army.” Another described Hooker as the object of “universal disgust among the officers,” while another critic branded him “a used-up man.”
In early June of 1863, as Lee readied his army for the march northward, Hooker was still commander of the Army of the Potomac—and still had his supporters. One of them was his chief of staff, Major General Daniel Butterfield, who recorded a glowing profile of “Fighting Joe” and his martial attributes.
At field headquarters near Fredericksburg in 1863, General Hooker’s staff officers pretend to enjoy a smoke and a drink for the photographer.