General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate States

General in Chief of the Armies
of the Confederate States
General Robert E. Lee
February 6, 1865 – April 12, 1865
War Department
Style General
Reports to President of the Confederate States
Secretary of War
Appointer The President
with Senate advice and consent
Term length
No fixed term
Formation January 31, 1865
Abolished April 12, 1865 (de facto)

The General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate States, or simply General in Chief, was the senior-most officer in the Confederate States Army in 1865.

History

General Orders No. 3 (1865)

On January 31, 1865, the 2nd Confederate States Congress provided “for the appointment of a General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate States.” On February 6, General Robert E. Lee, Confederate States Army, was appointed to the position and served in that capacity until the end of the American Civil War.[1] Lee retained command of the Army of Northern Virginia, serving in both assignments until he was paroled as a prisoner of war on April 12, 1865.

The appointment of a General in Chief had been debated as early as February 27, 1862. President Jefferson Davis voiced his rejection (and veto) of creating this position to the 1st Confederate States Congress on March 14, 1862, believing that such a general could "command an army or armies without the will of the President."[2] Davis performed many of the responsibilities of a general in chief himself throughout the war, acting as both a military operations manager and commander-in-chief. Lee (from March to May 1862) and General Braxton Bragg (from February 1864 to January 1865) also performed related duties, as they were military advisers to Davis, or "charged with the conduct of military operations in the armies of the Confederacy."[3]

See also

Notes

References

  • Cooper, S. (1865), General Orders No. 3, C.S. War Department, Richmond, Virginia
  • Eicher, John H.; Eicher, David J. (2001), Civil War High Commands, Foreword by John Y. Simon, Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3, LCCN 2001020194, OCLC 704488651

Further reading

  • U.S. War Department (1880–1901), War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, series III, volume V, Washington: Government Printing Office, p. 688, LCCN 03003452, OCLC 427057, retrieved September 22, 2018 – via Internet Archive
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