I also heard the rumor that he was suffering from dysentery when the battle was fought. “Marse Robbert has got the runs,” so to speak!😀
That comment came from the British tourist Arthur Fremantle, who accompanied the Army of Northern Virginia for two weeks before crossing the Union lines and traveling on to New York.
I see no reason to doubt his account. Lee being sidelined by shigella or dysentery during this critical time doesn’t seem like something his subordinates would include afterwards in their memoirs.
If he had come down with a severe case of the runs, that would explain much.
