Lee to the Rear!

On May 6, 1864, General Robert E. Lee faced one of the greatest crises of his career when a dawn Union assault routed A.P. Hill's corps and threatened the destruction of the entire Confederate army. As defeat seemed near, gray-clad soldiers emerged through the smoke toward the enemy and identified themselves as Texans from Longstreet's corps, arriving from Gordonsville just in time. Lee, in a rare show of emotion, cheered their arrival as the Texas Brigade formed behind the cannons and began to advance. Determined to join the charge himself, Lee rode forward with them, but the soldiers refused to proceed unless he turned back. After hesitating, he pulled on the reins and rode to the rear, and the Texans charged on. Within minutes, the reinforcements reversed the tide of battle, and Colonel William F. Perry recalled Lee's usually placid and benign countenance blazing with martial ardor, as if his spirit had passed into every man who saw him.

Virginia · United States