Video: 'Ken.Burns.The.Civil.War.5of9.The Universe of Battle.' (Lee offers to resign at 46:58)
(Saturday, August 8, 1863; during the American Civil War) — One month and five days after his defeat at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Confederate General Robert E. Lee sent a letter of resignation as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia today to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
In the Battle of Gettysburg, Union Major General George Meade’s Army of the Potomac had defeated attacks by Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, halting Lee’s invasion of the North and forcing his retreat.
The battle involved the largest number of casualties of the entire war and is often described as the war’s turning point, due to the Union’s decisive victory and its almost simultaneous concurrence with the victorious conclusion of the Siege of Vicksburg.
As the press began to openly speculate about Lee’s leadership, the great general reflected on the campaign at his headquarters in Orange Courthouse, Virginia.
“I have been prompted by these reflections more than once since my return from Pennsylvania to propose to Your Excellency the propriety of selecting another commander for this army,” Lee wrote. “I have seen and heard of expression of discontent in the public journals at the result of the expedition. I do not know how far this feeling extends in the army. My brother officers have been too kind to report it, and so far the troops have been too generous to exhibit it. It is fair, however, to suppose that it does exist, and success is so necessary to us that nothing should be risked to secure it. I therefore, in all sincerity, request Your Excellency to take measures to supply my place..”
Lee not only seriously questioned his ability to lead his army, he was also experiencing significant physical fatigue. He might also have sensed that Gettysburg was his last chance to win the war.
Regardless, President Davis refused the request, writing on Aug. 11, 1863: “To ask me to substitute you by someone… more fit to command, or who would possess more of the confidence of the army… is to demand an impossibility.”
