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Robert Edward Lee
One of the most revered of American soldiers, Robert Edward Lee (1807–1870) was born
at Stratford in Westmoreland County, Virginia, in
1807, the son of Revolutionary War general Light Horse Harry Lee.
Prior to the Civil War, few men could match Lee's record of
achievement in the army. Graduating without a single demerit and
second in his class from West Point in 1829, he served for
several years with distinction as a military engineer, steadily
rising in rank and reputation.
During the Mexican War, his
extraordinary bravery and ability won him the lasting confidence
of fellow Virginian and American commander, General Winfield
Scott. Later, Lee was appointed superintendent of West Point;
then he returned to line duty with the 2nd U.S. Cavalry on the
West Texas frontier. Early in 1861, he was recalled to
Washington by General Scott.
Politically a moderate, strongly attached to the Union, and
with no special sympathy for the institution of slavery, Lee
watched with growing anxiety as the lower South seceded from the
Union and formed the Confederate States of America. When
Virginia left the Union, Lee made the most difficult decision of
his life. His old friend and mentor General Scott offered him
principal command of the United States Army. But Lee maintained
his conscience would not allow him to bear arms against his
native Virginia. He submitted his resignation and traveled to
Richmond where he was named commander-in-chief of the military
and naval forces of Virginia. Soon he was commissioned as a
general in the Confederate army. Probably, he is the only man in
history offered the command of opposing armies.
With the wounding of General Joseph E. Johnston at Seven Pines in May 1862, Lee was given
command of the Army of Northern
Virginia. Initially successful in a series of brilliant
campaigns, Lee adopted a largely defensive strategy after a
stunning defeat at Gettysburg in July 1863. From the Wilderness
to Petersburg, he tried desperately to hold a much larger Union
army at bay. Dislodged at Petersburg, his weakened forces
surrendered to U. S. Grant's army at Appomattox on April 9, 1865.
General Lee returned to Richmond, but several months later
he accepted the presidency of Washington College in Lexington,
Virginia, which after his death was renamed Washington and Lee.
He devoted the remaining five years of his life to education and
the healing of old animosities, and he died, mourned both in the
North and South, in October 1870.
View three photographs of Lee taken by Michael Miley between 1866 and 1870.
Image rights owned by the Virginia Historical Society. Do not use without permission. Rights and reproductions
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