Robert Edward Lee was an American Confederate general. He commanded the Army of Northern Virginia from 1862 until its surrender in 1865. Lee accepted the extinction of slavery provided for by the Thirteenth Amendment, but opposed racial equality for African Americans. After his death in 1870, Lee became a cultural icon in the South and is largely hailed as one of the Civil War’s greatest generals.
About Robert E. Lee in brief
Robert Edward Lee was an American Confederate general. He commanded the Army of Northern Virginia from 1862 until its surrender in 1865. Lee was also the husband of Mary Anna Custis Lee, adopted great-granddaughter of George Washington. He was a top graduate of the United States Military Academy and an exceptional officer and military engineer in the U.S. Army for 32 years. After his death in 1870, Lee became a cultural icon in the South and is largely hailed as one of the Civil War’s greatest generals. Lee’s ancestor, Richard Lee I, emigrated from Shropshire, England to Virginia in 1639. His father suffered severe financial reverses from failed investments and was put in debtors’ prison in 1807. His family was often supported by a relative, William Henry Fitzhugh, who owned the Oronoco Street house and allowed the family to stay at his country home in Ravensworth, Virginia. At the age of 18, Robert Lee entered West Point, where he showed an aptitude for mathematics. Although brought up to be a practicing Christian, he was not confirmed in the Episcopal Church until he was 46 years old. He also served in the Mexican–American War, and served as Superintendent of the US Military Academy. Lee accepted the extinction of slavery provided for by the Thirteenth Amendment, but opposed racial equality for African Americans. In 1865, Lee was president of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia; in that position, he supported reconciliation between North and South.
He died in 1870 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, where his wife, Anne Hill Carter Lee, also died in 1881. He is survived by his son, Robert Edward Lee II, and his grandson, Robert E. Lee III, the grandson of Henry Henry Lee II and the great-great-grandson of Henry Harry Lee III. Lee is buried at Mount Vernon, in Virginia, with his wife and their six great-nephew, Robert H. Lee IV. Lee died on January 19, 1972, and is buried in the Mount Vernon National Cemetery in Virginia. He had a daughter, Mildred Lee, who was born in 1811 and grew up on a farm in Westmoreland County, Virginia and later moved to Alexandria. Lee had a son, William Lee Lee, and a daughter-in-law, Anne H. Carter, both of whom died in the early 1960s. Lee also had a stepson, Robert C. Lee Jr., who served as a United States Army officer and served in World War I. Lee won the Medal of Honor for his bravery in the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. Lee fought most of his battles against armies of significantly larger size, and managed to win many of them. Lee built up a collection of talented subordinates, most notably James Longstreet, Stonewall Jackson, and J. E. B. Stuart, who along with Lee were critical to the Confederacy’s battlefield success. His two major strategic offensives into Union territory both ended in failure. Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House.
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