Lee-to-the-Rear

Accounts differ on General Lee’s personal attempt to lead the charge of the Texas Brigade, and some details may belong to history while others belong to mythology. Colonel Charles S. Venable, an officer on Lee’s staff who witnessed the event, wrote soon after the war that Lee, moved by the men’s greeting and behavior, spurred his horse through an opening in the trenches and followed close on their line as it moved rapidly forward. The men did not realize he was with them until they had advanced some distance, and then the entire line cried out, “Go back, General Lee! Go back!.... We won’t go on unless you go back!” A sergeant seized his bridle rein, and when Venable drew Lee’s attention to General Longstreet on a knoll to the right of the Texans, Lee reluctantly yielded to his men’s pleas and rode up to Longstreet’s position.

Virginia · United States