While not all Southerners saw themselves as fighting to preserve slavery, most of the officers and over a third of the rank and file in Lee's army had close family ties to slavery.
Premda se nisu svi Južnjaci upustili u bitku isključivo zbog očuvanja ropstva, većina časnika i preko trećine Leejeve cjelokupne vojske bili su, obiteljskim vezama, usko povezani s ropstvom.