cating war, he could take no
part in an invasion of the southern states.

Curiously enough, the southern press, which was to end by idolizing him,
began by abusing him. His first campaign was in western Virginia and was
a woeful failure, due partly to the splendid way in which McClellan, on
the Union side, managed it, and partly to blunders on the Confederate
side for which Lee was in no way responsible; but the result was that
that section of the state was lost to the Confederacy forever, and Lee
got the blame. Even his friends feared that he had been over-rated, and
he was sent away from the field of active hostilities to the far South,
where he was assigned to command Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. He
accepted the assignment without comment, and went to work immediately
fortifying the coast, to such good purpose that his reputation was soon
again firmly established. Early in 1862, he was recalled to Richmond to
assist in its defense. He found his beautiful estate on the heights
opposite Washington confiscated, his family exiled, his fortune gone.

General Joseph E. Johnston was in command of the forces at Richmond, and
was preparing to meet McClellan, who was slowly advancing up the
peninsula. But Johnston was wounded at the battle of Seven Pines, on May
31, and on the following day, Lee assumed command of the army. He got it
well in hand at once, sent Stuart on a raid around McClellan's lines,
and gradually forced the Union army away from Richmond, until the
capital of the Confederacy was no longer in danger. Flushed with
success, Lee threw his army to the northeast against Pope, routed him,
crossed the Potomac into Maryland, threatened Washington, and carried
the war with a vengeance into the enemy's country. A more complete
reversal of conditions could not be imagined; a month before, he had
been engaged in a seemingly desperate effort to save Richmond; now he
had started upon an invasion of the North which promised serious
results.

But things did not turn out as he expected. The inhabitants of Maryland
did not rally to him, McClellan was soon after him with a great army,
and on September 17, overtook him at Antietam, and fought a desperate
battle; from which Lee, overwhelmed by an army half again as large as
his own, was forced to withdraw defeated, though in good order, and
recross the Potomac into Virginia. Three months later, he got his
revenge in full measure at Fredericksburg, routing Burnside with