“All over these United States we recognize him as a great leader of men, as a great general. But, also, all over the United States I believe that we recognize him as something much more important that that. We recognize Robert E. Lee as one of our greatest American Christians and one of our greatest American gentlemen.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936
If the war is judged as “an intellectual exercise rather than a match of brute force, that title will be given to Robert E. Lee above all men in America, and the Confederate commander will be declared to have been much greater in defeat that Grant in his boasted victory.” – Edward A Pollard, 1866
“Since the Son of Man stood upon the Mount, and saw ‘all the kingdoms of the earth and the glory thereof’ stretched before him, and turned away from them to the agony and bloody sweat of Gethsemane, and to the Cross of Calvary beyond, no follower of the meek and lowly Saviour can have undergone more trying ordeal [than Lee].” – John W. Daniel, 1883
“A man who butchered his way to success.” Andrew Johnson, 1866
“The devastation wrought by Sherman’s army stands as a testament to the horrors that can be inflicted under the guise of military necessity.” – Alexander H. Stephens
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The Lie
One of the first things I remember being taught about the Civil War in that 8th grade North Carolina History class was that the Confederacy never stood a chance. The Union had more men, money, and material – the Confederacy knew this but stood up for their rights to self-govern anyway. And, as the Legend goes, despite all their shortcomings economically and militarily, the Confederacy dragged the Union into a long and costly war due to the gallant efforts of their brave and courageous generals, officers and soldiers. The only reason they were ultimately defeated was due to the overwhelming manpower and industrial capacity of the north, who just kept throwing men into the breach until the Confederacy had nothing left to give.
Grant was painted a drunken monster who wasted thousands of lives on his relentless march to Petersburg in 1864. Sherman was a craven villain despoiling lands, buildings, and ladies (*gasp!*) as he marched from eastern Tennessee to Georgia to North Carolina.
Despite the best efforts of Lee and Longstreet, there was nothing that could truly be done to stop the northern horde. Grant and Sherman would have every man in their army killed on Tuesday and be restocked for attack by Friday. The Confederacy was doomed from the start, only gallantry and strong, Christian bravery allowed them the brief time they had.
That’s the Myth.
The Truth
Except…
Grant
– Total number of men: 1,000,000
– Killed or wounded (1861-1865): 200,000
– Casualty Rate: 20%.
Sherman
– Total number of men: 500,000
– Killed or wounded (1861-1865): 53,000
– Casualty Rate: 10.6%
Lee
– Total number of men: 650,000
– Killed or wounded (1861-1865): 170,000
– Casualty Rate: 26.15%
The genius Lee, despite commanding a smaller force with a smaller base to pull from, lost a higher percentage of his men than his northern opponents. Not just in defeat, but in victory too.
Men under Lee: 78,513
Total killed/wounded/captured: 5,377
Casualty Rate: 6.84%
Men under Burnside: 122,009
Total killed/wounded/captured: 12,653
Casualty Rate: 10.37%
After Fredricksburg, Lincoln reportedly said that if such a battle were fought every day for a week, “the army under Lee would be wiped out to its last man, while the Army of the Potomac would still be a mighty host.”
Chancellorsville
Men under Lee: 60,298
Total killed/wounded/captured: 12,764
Casualty Rate: 21.16%
Men under Hooker: 133,868
Total killed/wounded/captured: 17,287
Casualty Rate: 12.91%
One interesting little nugget that the entire Battle of Chancellorsville turned on (not Stonewall’s march around the flank) is that Union General Hooker was the recipient of an epic concussion after a cannon shell knocked the roof of the porch he was standing on down and onto his head. He was out cold for 30 minutes while the flank attack was raging, and when he came to, he wasn’t removed and didn’t relinquish command. General Hooker basically didn’t know where he was for most of the battle. As so often happens in war, the best laid plans (and Hooker’s Chancellorsville Campaign is largely considered a good plan) are upended by the smallest incident. Had Hooker retained his senses – or had General Couch been given command – Meade’s Corp likely moves south to smash Jackson.
That, friends, is called luck.
And are you tracking the percentages? A great general preserves his army – especially when fighting with fewer men and resources. Even in victory, Lee was losing men roughly on par with his enemies. How does a supposedly great General lose the same amount of men as the bunch of dummies in blue?
We haven’t even gotten to Antietam and Gettysburg yet, two battles celebrated as evidence of Lee’s tactical genius.
Antietam
Men under Lee: 30,646
Total killed/wounded/captured: 10,337
Casualty Rate: 33.73%
Men under McClellan: 53,632
Total killed/wounded/captured: 12,410
Casualty Rated: 23.14%
At Antietam, Lee took the low ground with his back to a river and a single crossing to escape. McClellan left two-fifth’s of this army out of the battle. A.P Hill showed up at just the last minute and just in time to hold the bridge so the Army of Northern Virginia could escape. Once again, that’s called luck – and a really bad opponent.
Gettysburg
Men under Lee: 75,000
Total killed/wounded/captured: 28,000
Casualty Rate: 37%
Men under Meade: 104,256
Total killed/wounded/captured: 23,049
Casualty Rate: 22.10%
At Gettysburg, Lee stumbled accidentally into a battle, let his opponent take the best defensive ground, and still insisted on repeated attacks. The last attack was a frontal assault on fortified positions that could only be attacked by crossing a half mile of flat, open ground.
In the end, he wasted over a third of his army, and the Army of Northern Virginia never recovered. The main reason Lee’s army survives its retreat to Virginia is due to the legend that surrounded Lee, and Meade’s concern that Lee would lash out like a wounded animal if threatened.
By the way, if you’re keeping score at home, that’s two battles where Lee lost over a third of his Army. The supposedly gallant and genius Lee, fighting for a country with few resources and manpower, lost over a third of his army. Twice. Both of those battles were on enemy ground fought by an Army whose job it was to defend the Confederacy.
One additional footnote to Gettysburg is that John H. Reagan, Confederate Postmaster (and the only Confederate cabinet member to actually be successful) strongly opposed Lee’s move north and instead felt it more prudent to send men west to hold Vicksburg. He said “If we lose the Vicksburg, we lose the Mississippi. If we lose the Mississippi, we lose the war.” He was overruled, Vicksburg falls the day after Lee is defeated in Gettysburg and the Confederacy has about 18 months to live.
The great and powerful, the all-knowing Lee was out-generaled by a Postmaster? Don’t remember that in my middle and high school history books.
And one more for funsies because I can’t believe this General had bases named after him.
Franklin
Men under Hood: 31,000
Total killed/wounded/captured: 6,252
Casualty Rate: 20.16%
Men under Schofield: 27,000
Total killed/wounded/captured: 2,326
Casualty Rate: 8.61%
The Battle of Franklin happened after the fall of Atlanta and before the fall of Savannah. General Hood marched his men to Franklin, in the cold and without proper equipment, to besiege the city in an attempt to draw Sherman out of Georgia. He then attacked an entrenched force of equal size, essentially lost his Army in the process, and came away shattered – the written records of Hood after the Battle of Franklin are a reminder of the haunting effects of PTSD. General Grant said he couldn’t comprehend the move to Franklin; if it had been him, he would’ve marched to St. Louis where no Union Army was and really have caused some trouble.
Why it Matters
Know how a religion starts? Someone, or several someones believe that a certain person, place, or thing is holy or has some kind of special powers. They are able to observe their truth in some way and then explain how to see it to someone else. If the original tellers are convincing enough, more people will decide that said person, place, or thing is special and align their beliefs accordingly.
This is rough math, I’m not a sociologist.
Convince enough people to believe that Lee and his fellows in gray were gallant defenders of virtue – while Grant and the villains in blue were only out for blood – then it’s not too far a leap to convince those new believers that, obviously, so noble a man as Robert E. Lee would never fight for a cause as unjust and evil as slavery.
To glorify these men is to whitewash their cause and frame victors as villains. Even today, millions of Americans revere the names of Lee, Longstreet, and Jackson and despise the names of Grant, Sherman, and Thomas. And, to some of the most indoctrinated, the thought has to be: if these super awesome dudes were fighting for slavery, maybe slavery wasn’t so bad after all.
This is the consequence, the slippery slope we stand upon when we choose to write the history we enjoy rather than the truth – a war was fought between the states and hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives. In the end, the southern Confederacy was defeated because of a lack of industrial base, manpower issues, wasteful generalship, narrow-minded political leadership, and as unjust a cause as man has ever fought for.
That is our American history – we struggled, with each other, to end slavery. Our best and brightest strapped on blue uniforms and marched into battle. They fought to preserve the union, or to end slavery, or just to see the elephant. But they fought well, bravely, and largely with honor. Their efforts reduced a strong and defiant rebellion through the use of arms and politics. In the end, we should have been rewarded with a more equitable future for all, but we let the losers frame the conversation and so much effort was simply…wasted. History should challenge us, not comfort us. The truth is hard – but it’s ours. And if we’re brave enough to face it, maybe we can finally begin to honor the right side of that terrible war and move to correct what they ultimately fought and died for.
SO WHAT ABOUT HISTORY? 
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