Cecily Zander

And when he finally does get around to the attack, he believes that he has fewer men.

He doesn't really fully commit his troops.

This is going to be where an accusation of cowardice comes from.

You don't fully commit your men.

And then the retreat that he conducts in the aftermath is absolutely disastrous.

I mean, the militia, they come running back.

They're sort of tripping over themselves.

They're they're looking for cover.

I mean, it just looks on soldierly.

It looks on military.

And Lee is sort of deemed the cause of all of this failure.

He had disobeyed orders.

He hadn't followed what Washington had told him to do.

And he hadn't kept his men safe or let Washington know he was retreating.

Washington, at the same time as Lee's troops are streaming away from the battlefield, is still trying to maneuver his men into place, assuming Lee had done his job.

So he also puts the remainder of the army at risk.

Exactly.

He has a property in Virginia.

He goes there.

He was probably someone who believed that this war was a springboard to a great political career, perhaps success in life.