Robert E. Lee: Civil War General of a trend toward ease-of-use in the computer wargame genre spurred by "Panzer General"s commercial success. He further noted that Impressions " 'borrowed' half the title" from SSI's game. T. Liam McDonald of "PC Gamer US" likewise reported that the "Civil War General" title was chosen to capitalize on the commercial performance of "Panzer General" and "Allied General". "Civil War General" was based on Robert E. Lee's campaign against the Army of the Potomac because of his popularity among Civil War enthusiasts, and because Fiske believed that this confrontation "converts to computer gameplay better than any other" from the period.
Robert E. Lee: Civil War General on SofTrends' reference software chart. By January 1999, "Civil War General" and its sequel together had sold more than 700,000 copies globally. "Civil War General" claimed #2 on NPD's reference software rankings that month, and third place in February. At the time, "PC Gamer US" summarized the series as "very successful". "Civil War General" was a finalist for "Computer Gaming World"s 1996 "Wargame of the Year" award, which ultimately went to "". Similarly, the Software Publishers Association nominated it as 1996's "Best Strategy Software Game", but the judges gave this prize to "Monty Python & the Quest for the Holy