Leaders: Myth and Reality

by General Stanley McChrystal

Within the Army of Northern Virginia, Lee was held in particularly reverent repute, a fact that is worthy of further contemplation. Although his veteran campaigners savored some of the highest-profile victories of the war highlighted by physical privation—soldiers often marching staggering distances barefoot—serving under General Lee was also a frighteningly lethal prospect. Even while routing their Union foes, Lee’s ranks bled profusely. Over the course of his years in command, an infantryman in the Army of Northern Virginia had a 67.7 percent chance of becoming a combat casualty or being killed by disease. For those who joined Lee’s Army in 1861, 74.4 percent of infantrymen would die of disease or become casualties, and for those who joined in 1862, the chances were 83.1 percent.