On the morning of May 3, 1863, on the cusp of one of the most remarkable tactical battlefield victories in American military history, Gen. Robert E. Lee rode to a crossroads clearing in Virginia known as Chancellorsville amid the cheers of his high-spirited Confederate troops.

Few in that moment of triumph could envision the South’s complete defeat in less than two years. Ethan S. Rafuse of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth discusses the factors and events leading to Lee’s surrender in April 1865, including an examination of Lee’s legendary generalship.