Existing comment:
Lee's Headquarters at Gettysburg
The Headquarters Complex
"This house was within the Rebel lines. Occupying an elevated position from which the Federal lines could be seen with a field glass, and being at a safe distance from our guns, it was selected by General Lee and his staff as his headquarters. Here he lodged all night and took his meals."
-- - Professor Michael Jacobs, Pennsylvania College, 1864
Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee arrived here on the afternoon of July 1, 1863, just in time to see Confederate forces drive the Union army from the fields west of town. Because this site was located on high ground near the center of the new Confederate line, Lee's staff selected it for army headquarters. Lee's headquarters tent and the many tents of his staff were soon spread out in the fields around the house. Here, Lee made decisions that led to the Confederate assaults for the next two days and ultimately his retreat on the evening of July 4.
Fighting his largest battle, Lee was a busy man at Gettysburg. He spent a significant amount of time on horseback, riding around the battlefield. He performed certain headquarters functions in the Thompson house but he most likely slept and performed other tasks in his tent. While the best primary evidence places Lee's headquarters complex at or around the Thompson house, no verifiable account specifies the location of his headquarters tent. |