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GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE

THE VANQUISHED AT GETTYSBURG

"It is good that war is so horrible, or we might grow to like it."

General Lee won a great victory over Union forces at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May of 1863, in which he defeated a larger army led by General Joe Hooker.

This victory led Lee to launch an invasion of the North that July. Lee planned for his army to destroy the Union forces and then march on Washington to hand President Lincoln a letter asking for recognition of the Confederacy. Lee invaded Pennsylvania.

The greatest land battle in the Western Hemisphere was fought at Gettysburg, Pa., on July 1, 2, & 3. 1863. The Army of Northern Virginia led by Lee, and the Army of the Potomac led by newly appointed General George Meade, hammered each other. On the 3rd day of battle General Lee, hoping to end the war, ordered the great frontal assault popularly known as "Pickett's Charge." It was a disaster and his army ws devestated.

General Lee blamed only himself for the defeat, but Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia fought on for two more years. General Lee surrendered at Appomatox Court House on April 9, 1865. This effectively brought the American Civil War to an end as other Confederate field commanders followed Lee's example.

The battle at Gettysburg did not end Civil War but so weakened the Confederate army that its defeat was inevitable.

This monument stands in Richmond, Virgina.

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Biography
Images
Lee's Farewell to the Army of Northern Virginia
Famous Quotations
The Offcial Battle Report Written by General Lee
The Robert E. Lee Boyhood Home and Virtual Museum
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