Lt. Gen. Stephen D. Lee

[jkBluesman]

Lt. Gen. Stephen Dill Lee (b. 1833, d. 1908). Not related to Robert E. Lee, Stephen D. Lee was the youngest Confederate lieutenant general ever, commanding all three arms during the Civil War. While his able service in the first half of the conflict led to well-earned promotions, he did not justify them when being confronted with more responsibility. Born in Charleston, South Carolina he graduated from West Point in 1850 together with future generals J.E.B. Stuart and Oliver O. Howard. Lee served as artillery officer at the frontier rising to the rank of 1st lieutenant before the Civil War. After South Carolina’s secession in February 1861, Lee resigned from the army and offered his service to the Confederacy which he supported from the outset. Serving on Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard’s staff he witnessed the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter and thus the beginning of the military conflict. In June 1861 he was made artillery commander in Hampton’s legion but arrived too late with his battery in Virginia to fight at First Manassas. During the Peninsula campaign from April to July 1862 Lee’s performance earned him the promotion to colonel and the transfer to the cavalry of his former classmate Stuart. However for the ensuing Maryland campaign he returned to the artillery, commanding a battalion in the I corps. He distinguished himself at Second Manassas. At Antietam, his guns rendered valuable service on the Confederate left near the Dunker Church. Because the Union long-range artillery inflicted 86 casualties in his battalion Lee described the battle as “artillery Hell”. In November 1862 he was promoted to brigadier general and sent west to Vicksburg. He ended Gen. William T. Sherman’s attempt to capture the city at Chickasaw Bayou on December 29, 1862 and fought well during the failed Confederate breakout attempt at Champion’s Hill the next May. Lee kept his troops in relatively good order during the siege of the Mississippi stronghold but was captured after the surrender on July 4, 1863. Paroled and exchanged he was promoted to major general in August. Placed in command of the cavalry in Mississippi and Alabama he tried to oppose the movements of Sherman in the area as best as he could. In June 1864 he became overall commander in the two states and was promoted to lieutenant general on June 23. His first major decision was to attack the Federals at Tupelo, Mississippi on July 14 when he did not realise that they were retreating anyway. In a frontal attack his men suffered high casualties and were repulsed. Lee was made corps commander in the Army of the Tennessee nevertheless the same month. He failed in his two first major engagements in the new capacity. At Ezra Church on July 28, his attempted surprise attack on Howard’s corps was repulsed, his troops suffering five to six times more casualties than the Federals. A month later in the Battle of Jonesboro, Lee did not wait for his Gen. Patrick Cleburne to attack but attacked in violation of his orders before Cleburne. The results were more casualties and almost a collapse of moral in Lee’s corps and more important the Southern evacuation of Atlanta. During Gen. John B. Hood’s ensuing Franklin-Nashville campaign, Lee was wounded at Spring Hill but stayed with his corps for the battles of Franklin and Nashville, in which his corps did not play a significant role. But it formed the army’s rearguard for two days until the cavalry took over that role. Lee went on a sick leave but returned to his men in North Carolina for the final days of the war, surrendering with Gen. Joseph E. Johnston on April 26, 1865. After the war, Lee settled on a plantation in Mississippi, served as president of what is today Mississippi State University and from 1880 to 1889 as state senator. For the last four years of his live he acted as commander of the United Confederate Veterans.

Ldr: 4
Tact: 5
Init: 3
Cmd: 3
Cav: 3

Teaches: Sustained Volley, Oblique Fire

As there is no rating for artillery I decided to give him a five in tactics although he does not deserve it for his counduct as infantry commander. Cav might be reduced to two as the service was only for a short amount of time.

[Gil R.]

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