Thomas T. Munford but, despite being described as a general in several sources, he was never officially commissioned and confirmed as a brigadier general. He took command of Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry division late in the war with that general's promotion to cavalry corps commander and fought at Five Forks, High Bridge, and Sailor's Creek. He led men away from the Army of Northern Virginia prior to General Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House and escaped with a goal of reaching North Carolina to link up with the army of General Joseph E. Johnston during the Carolinas Campaign. However, hearing that Johnston
Joseph E. Johnston Tennessee. Davis immediately appointed Lee to the position, but refused to restore Johnston. In a lengthy unpublished memo, Davis wrote, "My opinion of General Johnston's unfitness for command has ripened slowly and against my inclinations into a conviction so settled that it would be impossible for me again to feel confidence in him as the commander of an army in the field." Vice President Alexander H. Stephens and 17 senators petitioned Lee to use his new authority to appoint Johnston, bypassing Davis, but the general in chief declined. Instead, he recommended the appointment to Davis. Despite his serious misgivings, Davis