Robert E. Lee
to
Jefferson Davis
Richmond, Virginia
April 20, 1865
Mr. President
The apprehensions I expressed during the winter, of the
moral [sic] condition of the Army of Northern Virginia, have been realized.
The operations which occurred while the troops were in the entrenchments in front
of Richmond and Petersburg were not marked by the boldness and decision which
formerly characterized them. Except in particular instances, they
were feeble; and a want of confidence seemed to possess officers and men.
This condition, I think, was produced by the state of feeling in the country, and
the communications received by the men from their homes, urging their return and
the abandonment of the field. The movement of the enemy on the
30th March to Dinwiddie Court House was consequently not as strongly met as
similar ones had been. Advantages were gained by him which
discouraged the troops, so that on the morning of the 2d April, when our lines
between the Appomattox and Hatcher's Run were assaulted, the resistance was
not effectual: several points were penetrated and large captures
made. At the commencement of the withdrawal of the army from the
lines on the night of the 2d, it began to disintegrate, and straggling from
the ranks increased up to the surrender on the 9th. On that day,
as previously reported, there were only seven thousand eight hundred and
ninety-two (7892) effective infantry. During the night, when the
surrender became known, more than ten thousand men came in, as reported to me
by the Chief Commissary of the Army. During the succeeding days
stragglers continued to give themselves up, so that on the 12th April, according
to the rolls of those paroled, twenty-six thousand and eighteen (26,018) officers
and men had surrendered. Men who had left the ranks on the march,
and crossed James River, returned and gave themselves up, and many have since
come to Richmond and surrendered. I have given these details that
Your Excellency might know the state of feeling which existed in the army,
and judge of that in the country. From what I have seen and learned,
I believe an army cannot be organized or supported in Virginia, and as far as
I know the condition of affairs, the country east of the Mississippi is morally
and physically unable to maintain the contest unaided with any hope of
ultimate success. A partisan war may be continued, and hostilities
protracted, causing individual suffering and the devastation of the country,
but I see no prospect by that means of achieving a separate independence.
It is for Your Excellency to decide, should you agree with me in opinion, what
is proper to be done. To save useless effusion of blood, I would
recommend measures be taken for suspension of hostilities and the restoration
of peace.
I am with great respect, yr obdt svt
R. E. Lee
Genl
SOURCE: Reprinted in Clifford Dowdey, editor,
The Wartime Papers of R. E. Lee (New York: Bramhall House, 1961),
pages 938-939.
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