This passage underscores the point I was making. Lee looked at the situation and laid out in no uncertain terms what he thought was needed. He took the extreme measure of going to the CSA congress to ask them to act on his request.

The CSA congress dithered and debated and raised plenty of objections, some even declaring that slaves were not needed as soldiers, and in the end gave Lee little that he asked for, as Oates so clearly explains.

So I guess you posted this passage to prove that the CSA congressmen who said slaves were not needed to fight had the better judgement of the military situation over Lee's assessment?

Either congress has it right and armed slaves were not needed, or Lee had it right and they were needed.