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Civil War.The Opponents
x Lee embodied the stereotype of the southern gentleman. He came
from one of the most aristocratic families in Virginia. His father had
been a renowned commander during the Revolution, was a friend of
George Washington, and had served as governor of Virginia. At the
outbreak of the Civil War, Lee’s strong allegiance to his home state
caused him to decline a high position in the Union army and instead
offer his services to the Confederacy.
x After General Joseph Johnston was wounded on June 1, 1862,
Lee was appointed commander of the Army of Northern Virginia,
operating in the corridor between Washington and Richmond. One
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in his troops, which enabled him to demand much of them even
under conditions of severe hardship. He had a talent for using bold
troop movements to outmaneuver and often defeat numerically
superior opponents.x Lee’s undoubted abilities as a general were sometimes undermined
by a failure to consider the overall strategic picture; as the war
progressed, he clung far too long to a reliance on crude frontal attacks
that, even if successful, were wasteful of his limited manpower.x Lee’s opponent at the Battle of Antietam was George McClellan,
whose early career had a number of similarities with Lee’s.
McClellan was born into an old, respected Pennsylvania family and
attended West Point, where he was a serious and studious cadet. He
specialized in engineering and had served with distinction in the
Mexican-American War.x After the shocking northern defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run,
McClellan was summoned to Washington and placed in command
of the forces defending the capital. Here, McClellan displayed what
would be his greatest talents as a general: training and logistics. He