Editing Robert E. Lee (section)

===Battle of Gettysburg===
{{Main|Battle of Gettysburg}}
Critical decisions came in May–June 1863, after Lee's smashing victory at the Battle of Chancellorsville. The western front was crumbling, as multiple uncoordinated Confederate armies were unable to handle General [[Ulysses S. Grant]]'s campaign against Vicksburg. The top military advisers wanted to save Vicksburg, but Lee persuaded Davis to overrule them and authorize yet another invasion of the North. The immediate goal was to acquire urgently needed supplies from the rich farming districts of Pennsylvania; a long-term goal was to stimulate peace activity in the North by demonstrating the power of the South to invade. Lee's decision proved a significant strategic blunder and cost the Confederacy control of its western regions, and nearly cost Lee his own army as Union forces cut him off from the South.<ref>Stephen W. Sears, "'We Should Assume the Aggressive': Origins of the Gettysburg Campaign", ''North and South: The Official Magazine of the Civil War Society'', March 2002, vol.&nbsp;5#4, pp.&nbsp;58–66; Donald Stoker, ''The Grand Design: Strategy and the U.S. Civil War'' (2010) p.&nbsp;295 says that "attacking Grant would have been the wiser choice" for Lee.</ref>

[[File:Thure de Thulstrup - L. Prang and Co. - Battle of Gettysburg - Restoration by Adam Cuerden.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.4|Battle of Gettysburg, by [[Thure de Thulstrup]]]]
Lee launched the [[Gettysburg Campaign]] when he abandoned his position on the Rapahannock and crossed the Potomac River into Maryland in June. Hooker mobilized his men and pursued, but was replaced by Gen. [[George G. Meade]] on June 28, a few days before the two armies [[Battle of Gettysburg|clashed]] at the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in early July; the battle produced the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War. Some of Lee's subordinates were new and inexperienced to their commands, and [[J.E.B. Stuart]]'s cavalry failed to perform effective reconnaissance. The first day was a surprise affair for both sides, and the Confederates managed to rally their forces first, pushing the panicked Union troops away from town, and towards key terrain that should have been taken by [[Richard S. Ewell|General Ewell]], but was not. The second day unfolded differently for the Confederates. They took too much time to assemble, and launched repeated failed assaults against the Union left flank over difficult terrain. Lee's decision on the third day, going against the advice of his best corps commander, Gen. [[James Longstreet]], to launch a massive frontal assault on the center of the Union line, was disastrous. It was carried out over a wide field, and has come to be known commonly as [[Pickett's Charge]]. Easily repulsed, Pickett's Charge, named after the [[George Pickett|general]] whose division participated, resulted in severe Confederate losses. Lee rode out to meet the remains of the division and proclaimed, "All this has been my fault."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/fremantle/fremantle.html#p135|last=Fremantle|first=Arthur James Lyon|title=Three Months in the Southern States|publisher=University of North Carolina|access-date=October 15, 2010}}</ref> He had no choice but to withdraw, and he escaped Meade's ineffective pursuit, slipping back into Virginia.

Following his defeat at Gettysburg, Lee sent a letter of resignation to President Davis on August 8, 1863, but Davis refused Lee's pleas to retire. That fall, Lee and Meade met again in two minor campaigns, [[Bristoe Campaign|Bristoe]] and [[Mine Run Campaign|Mine Run]], that did little to change the strategic standoff. The Confederate Army never fully recovered from the substantial losses incurred during the three-day battle in southern Pennsylvania. Civil War Historian [[Shelby Foote]] once stated, "Gettysburg was the price the South paid for having Robert E. Lee as commander."{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}