Where General Lee Directed the Firefighters

General Robert E. Lee was directed by President Davis on Nov. 5, 1861, to travel to Charleston to take charge of the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida, and there supervise the strengthening of coastal defenses. After Lee graduated from West Point, he had been appointed to the U.S. Army engineers, of which fact Davis (Secretary of War, 1853–1857) was aware. General Lee arrived in the city on November 7, and proceeded to the Mills House, Charleston’s finest hotel. He secured a room on the second floor, at the corner with a balcony overlooking Meeting Street. Lee would be a resident of Charleston until March 5, 1862. During this time, the Great Fire erupted on December 11, 1861. When it broke out he was dining in the hotel restaurant. After hearing cries of “Fire!” and the clang of bells, from the balcony shown here Lee tried to direct firefighters rushing to combat the blaze.

This is the caption as printed in 100 Significant Civil War Photographs: Charleston in the War. It has not yet been through this site’s research and fact-checking pass.