The POD is this: General Joseph Reynolds arrives earlier to the Battle of Cheat Mountain and deploys some of his forces against Henry Rootes Jackson's forces before Lee can call the battle to a close. Lee gets wounded and dies later. As to what happens later - I am undecided.
The Death of Lee
The attack had not gone well. Nothing had been coordinated as he had wanted and no real force had been brought against the enemy. Despite some generally encouraging displays by General’s Rust and Anderson the fact that all they had achieved was rendered worthless by their premature and unneeded withdrawal left Robert E. Lee very disheartened. He had carefully looked over the intelligence reports before the battle and felt sure that the Federal forces on Cheat Mountain were there for the taking, if only he could seize the chance. But with everything going wrong coupled with his own inability to control the generals under his command and his being incapable of directing all his force towards a clear and certain goal the battle had been one big mess and the chance had been lost. The news of the death of John A. Washington of his staff had sapped what little remained of Lee’s remaining enthusiasm for the battle and he had decided to call a close to the matter.
As Lee sent out orders for a general withdrawal from the battlefield he was distracted by the sound of gunfire from his right. Wasting little time he went personally to the front to discover what was going on. Arriving near Camp Bartow, Lee was dismayed to find that the forces under General Henry Rootes Jackson on his right were hard-pressed by seemingly fresh Federal forces marching up the road. General Joseph Reynolds had arrived, leading the Federal reinforcement into battle and against Jackson’s command were two regiments of that force, soon to be increased to four. With Jackson’s men beginning to panic and flee, Lee quickly set into action, rallying the men and sending out orders for General Rust to bring his forces to the right to support Jackson’s command as they fell back.
Standing over the Greenbrier River, Lee maintained order and discipline over the soldiers, appearing for all the world like the very image of a God of War. One man, recalling how Lee appeared that day, said of him later; “I was convinced by the General that if we only stood by him we would emerge victorious” but it was not to be.
With the rout prevented Lee had begun to prepare his men for a tough defensive action and a stubborn withdrawal and was determined to get his men out of that dangerous situation in one piece, with their heads held high that they had accomplished a great feat despite the loss. As he dispatched orders to the officers present and sent out riders to find and issue further orders to General Rust, the Federal forces arrived and fighting began in earnest. Within only ten minutes of the start of the fighting General Lee was struck down as a bullet pierced his left shoulder and another tore through his left side. Lee’s staff that had accompanied him ran to his side all assuming the worst but they were wrong for the wound had not killed him. Stricken but alive Lee lay on the side of the road incapable of continuing to command. H.R. Jackson, now the ranking General at the scene, took command while Lee was carried from the field. Jackson would hold his position until General Rust arrived and the two would manage to withdraw together in order.
Lee was carried all the way to Richmond, alive but in great pain. The surgeon who saw him immediately after the battle said it was a miracle that he had survived the two wounds and predicted that he would not see out the Month. Lee, during a period of clarity and painlessness, had requested to be taken to Richmond to be with his wife. It was a request that could not be ignored. It was not wise however, and on the journey to the Confederate Capitol Lee caught pneumonia and was in a terrible fever when he arrived. He did not recognize his son’s George Washington Custis Lee, William Henry Fitzhugh Lee or Robert E. Lee Jr. when they came to his sickbed, nor did he recognize his wife and daughters when they arrived.
After two weeks of pneumonia induced fever and violent spells of pain from his still fresh wounds Lee’s body finally gave up and he died on October 12th 1861. It was not the wounds that killed him but the pneumonia. Had he not travelled those many miles to Richmond he may have survived.
Once he had learnt of Lee’s wounding General Joseph E. Johnston had refused to visit him. This was not done out of spite. General Johnston still remembered Lee as his West Point Classmate, as his friend and companion and as the man who had supported him when his beloved nephew Preston had died in battle in Mexico. Though they had drifted apart in the years after the Mexican War and shared a somewhat petty rivalry with each other he could not bare to see his old friend in such a state. When the news came of Lee’s death Johnston was beside himself with grief. Soldiers and officers alike saw their commander weep openly at the lost of his friend. “In youth and early manhood I loved and admired him more than any man in the world” said General Johnston “His lost to our cause is immeasurable.”
To President Jefferson Davis the loss of General Lee was “the greatest tragedy yet to befall this nation” and to Adjutant General Samuel Cooper – speaking in hindsight some years after the war had ended - the loss of Lee meant the Confederacy had lost it “most able and devoted servant”.
The Death of Lee
The attack had not gone well. Nothing had been coordinated as he had wanted and no real force had been brought against the enemy. Despite some generally encouraging displays by General’s Rust and Anderson the fact that all they had achieved was rendered worthless by their premature and unneeded withdrawal left Robert E. Lee very disheartened. He had carefully looked over the intelligence reports before the battle and felt sure that the Federal forces on Cheat Mountain were there for the taking, if only he could seize the chance. But with everything going wrong coupled with his own inability to control the generals under his command and his being incapable of directing all his force towards a clear and certain goal the battle had been one big mess and the chance had been lost. The news of the death of John A. Washington of his staff had sapped what little remained of Lee’s remaining enthusiasm for the battle and he had decided to call a close to the matter.
As Lee sent out orders for a general withdrawal from the battlefield he was distracted by the sound of gunfire from his right. Wasting little time he went personally to the front to discover what was going on. Arriving near Camp Bartow, Lee was dismayed to find that the forces under General Henry Rootes Jackson on his right were hard-pressed by seemingly fresh Federal forces marching up the road. General Joseph Reynolds had arrived, leading the Federal reinforcement into battle and against Jackson’s command were two regiments of that force, soon to be increased to four. With Jackson’s men beginning to panic and flee, Lee quickly set into action, rallying the men and sending out orders for General Rust to bring his forces to the right to support Jackson’s command as they fell back.
Standing over the Greenbrier River, Lee maintained order and discipline over the soldiers, appearing for all the world like the very image of a God of War. One man, recalling how Lee appeared that day, said of him later; “I was convinced by the General that if we only stood by him we would emerge victorious” but it was not to be.
With the rout prevented Lee had begun to prepare his men for a tough defensive action and a stubborn withdrawal and was determined to get his men out of that dangerous situation in one piece, with their heads held high that they had accomplished a great feat despite the loss. As he dispatched orders to the officers present and sent out riders to find and issue further orders to General Rust, the Federal forces arrived and fighting began in earnest. Within only ten minutes of the start of the fighting General Lee was struck down as a bullet pierced his left shoulder and another tore through his left side. Lee’s staff that had accompanied him ran to his side all assuming the worst but they were wrong for the wound had not killed him. Stricken but alive Lee lay on the side of the road incapable of continuing to command. H.R. Jackson, now the ranking General at the scene, took command while Lee was carried from the field. Jackson would hold his position until General Rust arrived and the two would manage to withdraw together in order.
Lee was carried all the way to Richmond, alive but in great pain. The surgeon who saw him immediately after the battle said it was a miracle that he had survived the two wounds and predicted that he would not see out the Month. Lee, during a period of clarity and painlessness, had requested to be taken to Richmond to be with his wife. It was a request that could not be ignored. It was not wise however, and on the journey to the Confederate Capitol Lee caught pneumonia and was in a terrible fever when he arrived. He did not recognize his son’s George Washington Custis Lee, William Henry Fitzhugh Lee or Robert E. Lee Jr. when they came to his sickbed, nor did he recognize his wife and daughters when they arrived.
After two weeks of pneumonia induced fever and violent spells of pain from his still fresh wounds Lee’s body finally gave up and he died on October 12th 1861. It was not the wounds that killed him but the pneumonia. Had he not travelled those many miles to Richmond he may have survived.
Once he had learnt of Lee’s wounding General Joseph E. Johnston had refused to visit him. This was not done out of spite. General Johnston still remembered Lee as his West Point Classmate, as his friend and companion and as the man who had supported him when his beloved nephew Preston had died in battle in Mexico. Though they had drifted apart in the years after the Mexican War and shared a somewhat petty rivalry with each other he could not bare to see his old friend in such a state. When the news came of Lee’s death Johnston was beside himself with grief. Soldiers and officers alike saw their commander weep openly at the lost of his friend. “In youth and early manhood I loved and admired him more than any man in the world” said General Johnston “His lost to our cause is immeasurable.”
To President Jefferson Davis the loss of General Lee was “the greatest tragedy yet to befall this nation” and to Adjutant General Samuel Cooper – speaking in hindsight some years after the war had ended - the loss of Lee meant the Confederacy had lost it “most able and devoted servant”.