Until the last months of the war, there was no commander to oversee the overall strategy and logistics for the entire army. In essence, Davis did that himself, with nominal help from his Secretary of War. Davis finally appointed Lee to the position. Until then, Lee mainly served as the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia.
There were several generals during the Civil War who were leaders of confederate troops, but probably you are thinking of Robert E. Lee, who commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
The highest ranking (full) generals in the confederacy after the outbreak of the civil war were appointed by Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States and were the founding five members of the Confederate States Army (CSA). This first group of full generals were, by rank, Samuel Cooper, Albert Sidney Johnston, Robert E. Lee, Joseph E. Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard.
The highest ranking Confederate general throughout the civil war was General Samuel Cooper. He is perhaps the least known of the initial CSA generals, largely because he never saw military action as a commander. Still, his organizational skills were instrumental in the prosecution of the Confederate campaign, to which Robert E. Lee was dutifully grateful after the war. The very brave and likely most able field commander and second highest ranking full general was General Albert S. Johnston. He was killed early in the war at the Battle of Shiloh which elevated Robert E. Lee to the position of highest field commander of the CSA. Johnston was the Patton of his day and would have added a very different complexion to the war.
Confederacy.
The Iroquois Confederacy leads the Seneca Indians
Robert E. LeeThere was no position of General-in-Chief until January 1865 (too late to make any difference), when it was given to Robert E. Lee.Before that, the Confederate president Jefferson Davis had tried to perform this function.
The Commander in Chief of the Confederacy was his President, Jefferson Davis. Robert E. Lee became the commander of the Army of the Northern Virginia in 1862 and General in Chief of the Confederate Army on February 6,1865.
Union
Because if they hadn't, Robert E. Lee would have been a senior Union general, probably General-in-Chief before long.
Confederacy.
No he was the Commander in Chief of the Union.
Union: Commander-in-Chief President Abraham Lincoln. General-in-Chief Lieutenent General Ulysses Simpson Grant, appointed on March 9, 1865. Grant's predecessors were: Major General Winfield Scott, Major General George McClellan, Major General Henry Wager Halleck. Confederacy: Commander-in-Chief President Jefferson Finis Davis. General in Chief Army General Robert Edward Lee, appointed on Feb.6,1865. Lee didn't have any predecessor because Jefferson Davis didn't appoint anyone to that office before him.
President Jefferson Davis
Tecumseh
The confederacy never surrendered, General Lee the general of the army of Northern Virgina surrendered his portion of the army at Appomattox.
The most important man to the Confederacy is the general.
Unlike the Union, the Confederates did not appoint a General-in-Chief until near the end of the war. This was Robert E. Lee - the right choice, but it was too late to make a difference.
There was no overall General-in-Chief until 1865, when that new post was created for Robert E. Lee. The only other General of comparable seniority was Joseph E. Johnston, who fell foul of his President, Jefferson Davis - an ex-regular officer who thought he himself ought to have been General-in-Chief, and still fantasised about it.
Chief Comcomly was the principal chief of the Chinook Confederacy who befriended Lewis and Clark and their 'Corp of Discovery' in the Columbia River region.
Confederacy. Lee's most trusted subordinate general.