A History of the American People

reputation was not improved by a ruffianly stepson, Black Horse Harry,' who specialized in adultery. So Lee set himself quite deliberately to lead an exemplary life and redeem the family honor. That was a word he used often. It meant everything to him. He led a blameless existence at West Point and actually saved from his meager pay at a time when Southern cadets prided themselves on acquiring debts. His high grades meant he joined the elite Corps of Engineers in an army whose chief occupation was building forts. He worked on taming the wild and mighty river Mark Twain described so well. Lee served with distinction in the Mexican War, ran West Point, then commanded the cavalry against the Plains Indians. It was he who put down John Brown's rebellion and reluctantly handed him over to be hanged. He predicted from the start that theWar
between the States,' as the South called, and calls, it, would be long and bloody. All his instincts
were eirenic and, the son of an ardent federalist, he longed for a compromise which would save
the Union. But, as he watched the Union Washington had created fall apart, he clung to the one
element in it which seemed permanent-Virginia, from which both he and Washington had come
and to which he was honor-bound. As he put it, `I prize the Union very highly and know of no
personal sacrifice I would not make to preserve it, save that of honor.'
Lee was a profound strategist who believed all along that the South's only chance was to
entrap the North in a decisive battle and ruin its army. That is what he aimed to do. With
Johnston's death he was put in command of the Army of Northern Virginia and ran it for the next
three years with, on the whole, great success. He ended McClellan's threat to Richmond (insofar
as it was one) in the Seven Days Battle, routed the Unionists at Second Bull Run (August 1862)
but was checked at Antietam the following month. He defeated the Unionists again at
Fredericksburg in December 1862 and again at Chancellorsville in May 1863. This opened the
way for an invasion of Pennsylvania, heart of the North's productive power, which would force it
to a major battle. That is how Gettysburg (July 1863) came about. It was what Lee wanted, an
encounter on the grandest possible scale, though the actual meeting-point was accidental, both
Lee and General George G. Meade (1815-72), the Unionist commander, blundering into it. Lee
had strategic genius, but as field commander he had one great weakness. His orders to
subordinate generals were indications and wishes rather than direct commands. As his best
biographer has put it, ‘Lee was a soldier who preferred to suggest rather than from confrontation.
He insisted on making possible for others the freedom of thought and action he sought for
himself.' This method of commanding a large army sometimes worked for Lee but at Gettysburg
it proved fatal. On the first day the Confederate success was overwhelming, and on the second
(July 2), General James Longstreet (1821-1904) led the main attack on the Union right but
delayed it till 4 P.M. and so allowed Meade to concentrate his main force on the strongpoint of
Cemetery Ridge. Some positions were secured, however, including Culp's Hill. Meade's
counterattack on the morning of July 3 retook Culp's Hill and confronted Lee with the crisis of
the battle. He ordered an attack on Cemetery Ridge but did not make it clear to Longstreet that
he wanted it taken at any cost. Jackson would have made no bones about it-take the hill or face
court-martial. The charge was led by the division commanded by General George E. Pickett
(1825-75), with a supporting division and two further brigades, 15,000 in all. Longstreet
provided too little artillery support and the assault force was massacred by enfilading Union
artillery, losing 6,000 men. Only half a company of Pickett's charge reached the crest; even so, it
would have been enough, and the battle won, if Longstreet had thrown in all his men as
reinforcements. But he did not do so and the battle, the culmination of the Civil War on the main
central front, was lost. Lee sacrificed a third of his men and the Confederate army was never