When the war began, Lee, as general, had command of the Virginia troops. After the battle of Fair Oaks, in which General Joseph E. Johnston was wounded, General Lee took charge of the army defending Richmond.
Compels McClellan to retreat
Invaded Maryland and Pennsylvania
172. Lee Fights Battle after Battle. Lee at once attacked the Union army which was trying to take Richmond. In a seven days' battle he forced McClellan, the Union general, to retreat. He then struck the army of Pope a fatal blow and marched with his victorious soldiers into Maryland. A great battle was fought at Antietam (1862) and Lee returned to Virginia. He won two great victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. In the latter battle he lost Stonewall Jackson, his best general. After this, his army rested and ranks filled, General Lee moved rapidly through Maryland and into Pennsylvania. The North became alarmed, but a great Union army was already hurrying to meet the Confederate forces.
Greatest battle of the war
Pickett's charge
The loss
The two armies met at Gettysburg, and there for three days was fought the greatest battle of the Civil War. On the last day General Pickett made his famous charge. Fifteen thousand southern soldiers charged across the valley—more than a mile wide—right up to the muzzles of the Union guns. But the help they expected from another direction did not arrive, and they had to retreat. Lee's army was defeated. More than fifty thousand men—including the killed, wounded, and missing on both sides—were lost at Gettysburg.
PICKETT'S CHARGE AT GETTYSBURG