The fighting 49Area of operations for the Peninsula campaign, April-July 1862
ended in tactical stalemate. More than
6,000 Confederates and 5,000 Federals fell in
the two days, most notably Johnston, who
suffered a severe wound in the chest. On
1 June, Jefferson Davis named Robert E. Lee
to succeed Johnston. Thus did the man who
would become the greatest Confederate
general step into the limelight.
Lee possessed impeccable credentials.
Fifty-five years old, he belonged to one of
the nation's first families and had compiled
an exceptional record at West Point, as an
engineer in the ante bellum years and as a
member of Winfield Scott's staff in Mexico.
Superintendent at West Point for several
years in the 1850s, Lee followed his native