Robert E. Lee: Letter to Jefferson Davis (1863)

Although Robert E. Lee was engaged in a successful military career in the U.S. Army, he tended to identify himself as a Virginian and sympathized with the interests of the slaveholding South. Regarding slavery itself, his views reflected a mixture of misgivings about the impact of slavery on whites and a belief that the institution was the best that could be done for blacks so long as they lived in the United States. He never doubted white supremacy; he blamed abolitionists for the controversy over slavery. Once he identified his interests with those of the Confederacy, Lee looked to wage aggressive war in order to beat back Union battalions and weaken northern public support for the war effort. He took command of the Army of Northern Virginia on June 1, 1862. After a year of war, he wrote a letter to Jefferson Davis to try once more to persuade him of the political advantages of making an offensive push to the north. He voices his hope that a successful invasion of...