First Saturdays: Contrasts In Command

Surprisingly little has been written about the key Battle of Fair Oaks. The bloody two-day affair, fought on the doorstep of the Confederate capital, was the first major battle in the Eastern Theater since Bull Run. At the head or the Confederate army was Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, and fate intervened late in the day on May 31,  one Of the men who would lay gravely wounded General Johnston. His replacement would be Gen. Robert E. Lee — a decision that changed the course of the entire war.