General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate States
The General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate States, or simply General in Chief, was the professional head of the Confederate States Army from February to April 1865. The office was effectively abolished on April 9, 1865, when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to the Union Army at Appomattox, Virginia.History
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 was appointed to the position and served in that capacity until the end of the American Civil War. Lee retained command of the Army of Northern Virginia, serving in both assignments de facto until April 9, 1865, when he surrendered to Union forces at Appomattox, Virginia.
The appointment of a General in Chief had been debated as early as February 27, 1862. President Jefferson Davis voiced his rejection 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." 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 and General Braxton Bragg 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."
