Biography of robert e lee civil war

  • Robert e. lee fun facts

    • Robert E. Lee

    Confederate States Army general (1807–1870)

    "General Lee" redirects here. For other uses, see General Lee (disambiguation) and Robert E. Lee (disambiguation).

    Robert E. Lee

    Lee in 1864

    Birth nameRobert Edward Lee
    Nickname(s)
    • Uncle Robert
    • Marse Robert
    • King of Spades
    • Marble Man
    Born(1807-01-19)January 19, 1807
    Stratford Hall, Westmoreland County, Virginia, U.S.
    DiedOctober 12, 1870(1870-10-12) (aged 63)
    Lexington, Virginia, U.S.
    Buried

    University Chapel at Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia, U.S.

    Allegiance
    Service / branch
    Years of service
    • 1829–1861 (U.S.)
    • 1861–1865 (C.S.)
    Rank
    Commands
    Battles / wars
    Alma materUnited States Military Academy
    Spouse(s)
    Children
    RelationsLee family
    Signature
    In office
    February 6, 1865 – April 12, 1865
    Preceded byPosition established
    Succeeded byPosition abolished
    In office
    1865–1870
    Preceded byGeorge Junkin (Washington College)
    Succeeded byCustis Lee
    In office
    1852–1855
    Preceded byHenry Brewerton
    Succeeded byJohn G. Barnard

    Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army toward the end of the war. He led the Army of Northern Virginia, the Confederacy's most powerful army, from 1862 until its surrender in 1865, earning a reputation as a skilled tactician.

    A son of Revolutionary War officer Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee III, Lee was a top graduate of the United States Military Academy and an exceptional officer and military engineer in the United States Army for 32 years. He served across the United States, distinguished himself extensively during the Mexican–American War, and was Superintendent of the United States Military Academy. He married Mary Anna Custis, great-granddaughter of Geo

  • How did robert e. lee die

    • Early Years


    Robert Edward Lee was born on January 19, 1807, at Stratford Hall, his family’s estate in Westmoreland County, the youngest son of Henry Lee IIIand Ann Hill Carter Lee. Called Robert or “Bob” by his family and friends, and signing himself “R. E. Lee,” he never used the moniker “Robert E. Lee,” which was a product of wartime news reporting. Both of Lee’s parents were raised in prominent Virginia families. Henry Lee distinguished himself in the American Revolution (1775–1783), fighting under generals George Washingtonand Nathaniel Greene. As leader of a light partisan unit, he earned the nickname “Light-Horse Harry” and was commended for valor by the Continental Congress. After the Revolution he served as a congressman (1799–1800) and governor of Virginia (1791–1794).

    In peacetime Henry Lee steadily lost money and reputation because of unwise land speculation. He was sent to debtor’s prison while Robert was still an infant. In 1813, badly beaten by a political mob, and dodging his creditors, he skipped bail to sail for the West Indies. Robert never saw his father again.

    Now dependent on the generosity of their kin, the family moved to Alexandria. Robert attended a relative’s plantation school and the Alexandria Academy, where he was given a classical education. His boyhood was enriched by a supportive and engaging extended family and academic success, but pinched by poverty and his mother’s failing health.

    Misfortune again touched Robert’s life in 1821 with a scandal involving his half brother. Henry Lee IV shocked Virginians by seducing his young ward—her name was Elizabeth “Betsy” McCarty and she was Henry IV’s sister-in-law—embezzling her inheritance, and possibly murdering their child. Believing this disgrace would lead to social isolation, Robert convinced his mother to let him join the army.

    Family and Military Life

    Lee entered the U.S. Mi

    Robert E. Lee

    1807-1870

    Who Was Robert E. Lee?

    Robert E. Lee became military prominence during the U.S. Civil War, commanding his home state's armed forces and becoming general-in-chief of the Confederate troops toward the end of the conflict. Though the Union won the war, Lee earned renown as a military tactician for scoring several significant victories on the battlefield. He became president of Washington College and, renamed Washington and Lee University after he died in 1870.

    Quick Facts

    FULL NAME: Robert Edward Lee
    BORN: January 19, 1807
    DIED: October 12, 1870
    BIRTHPLACE: Stratford, Virginia
    SPOUSE: Mary Custis (1831-1870)
    CHILDREN: George Washington Custis, William “Rooney,” Robert Jr, Mary, Anne, Eleanor Agnes, and Mildred
    ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Capricorn

    Early Years

    A Confederate general who led southern forces against the Union Army in the U.S. Civil War, Robert Edward Lee was born on Jan. 19, 1807, at his family home of Stratford Hall in northeastern Virginia.

    Lee was cut from Virginia aristocracy. His extended family members included a president, a United States chief justice, and signers of the Declaration of Independence. His father, Colonel Henry Lee, also known as "Light-Horse Harry," was a cavalry leader during the Revolutionary War. He earned recognition as one of the war's heroes, winning praise from General George Washington.

    Lee saw himself as an extension of his family's greatness. At 18, he enrolled at West Point Military Academy, where he put his drive and serious mind to work. He placed second in his graduating class after four spotless years without a demerit and wrapped up his studies with perfect scores in artillery, infantry, and cavalry.

    Wife and Children

    After graduating from West Point, Lee married Mary Custis, the great-granddaughter of Martha Washington (from her first marriage before meeting George Washington) in 1831. The couple wed on Mary Custis’s family plantation in Arlington, Virginia, just out

  • Why did robert e. lee fight for the south

    • Robert E. Lee

    Born to Revolutionary War hero Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee in Stratford Hall, Virginia, Robert Edward Lee seemed destined for military greatness.  Despite financial hardship that caused his father to depart to the West Indies, young Robert secured an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated second in the class of 1829.  Two years later, he married Mary Anna Randolph Custis, a descendant of George Washington's adopted son, John Parke Custis.  Yet with all his military pedigree, Lee had not set foot on a battlefield.  Instead, he served seventeen years as an officer in the Corps of Engineers, supervising and inspecting the construction of the nation's coastal defenses.  Service during the 1846 war with Mexico, however, changed that.  As a member of General Winfield Scott's staff, Lee distinguished himself, earning three brevets for gallantry, and emerging from the conflict with the rank of colonel.

    From 1852 to 1855, Lee served as superintendent of West Point, and was therefore responsible for educating many of the men who would later serve under him - and those who would oppose him - on the battlefields of the Civil War.  In 1855 he left the academy to take a position in the cavalry and in 1859 was called upon to put down abolitionist John Brown’s raid at Harpers Ferry.

    Because of his reputation as one of the finest officers in the United States Army, Abraham Lincoln offered Lee the command of the Federal forces in April 1861. Lee declined and tendered his resignation from the army when the state of Virginia seceded on April 17, arguing that he could not fight against his own people.  Instead, he accepted a general’s commission in the newly formed Confederate Army. His first military engagement of the Civil War occurred at Cheat Mountain, Virginia (now Wes