|
Lee met Jefferson Davis when he entered West Point. He graduated a year after the future Confederate president, ranking second in the class of 1829. Entering the Engineers, Lee performed duties such as supervising construction of a fort and flood control work before winning notice (and three brevets) on the staff of Winfield Scott during the Mexican War.
Lee and Davis had considerable contact in the early 1850s while Lee was superintendent of West Point and Davis served as secretary of war. In 1855 Davis granted Lee's wish for a more active command and arranged his transfer to the cavalry.
Lee's personal conflict over what he should do when the Civil War broke out has been well documented. Offered command of the Union army, he chose instead to side with his native state. After serving in western Virginia and South Carolina during the first year of the war, Lee was called to Richmond in March 1862 and became Davis' top military adviser. When Joseph E. Johnston was wounded that May, Davis asked Lee to assume command of what was coming to be known as the Army of Northern Virginia.
Lee deflected George B. McClellan's move on Richmond in the Seven Days' campaign, then transferred his army northward to defeat John Pope at Second Manassas. Following up on his success, he crossed the Potomac in September, but was forced to pull back after fighting to a bloody draw at Antietam. Lee's men repulsed Union advances at Fredericksburg in December 1862 and Chancellorsville the next May, then crossed the Potomac again, only to be turned back at Gettysburg.
Throughout the final year of the war, Lee dueled U. S. Grant across eastern Virginia, with Grant laying siege to Petersburg in the fall and winter of 1864-65. When Grant finally broke through in April 1865, Lee was forced to abandon Richmond and attempt to reorganize his army west of the capital. With the Federals in close pursuit and his men near starvation, Lee finally surrendered on April 9.
Lee, who developed a rapport with Davis during his 1862 stint in Richmond, remained the president's most trusted military adviser. He understood Davis' desire for an aggressive prosecution of the war, and he also made a point of keeping the president well informed of his plans.
After the war Lee served as president of Washington College (now Washington and Lee) until his death. He apparently saw Davis only once more, when Davis was in Richmond in November 1867 for what was supposed to be the beginning of his trial.
For more information, the definitive work remains Douglas Southall Freeman's four-volume R. E. Lee (New York, 1934-35). The most recent biographical study, Robert E. Lee: A Biography (New York, 1995), is by Davis Papers editorial board member Emory M. Thomas. Gary W. Gallagher's Lee the Soldier (Lincoln, Neb., 1996) is an interesting collection of interviews and essays. All three works contain extensive bibliographies. Lee's relations with Davis can be traced in the published volumes of The Papers of Jefferson Davis.
 |
|||||||||||||
|
|
 |
||||||||||||