Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a

Confederate general The general officers of the Confederate States Army (CSA) were the senior military leaders of the Confederacy during the American Civil War of 1861–1865. They were often former officers from the United States Army (the regular army) prior to ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

. He led the

Army of Northern Virginia The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was also the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most oft ...

—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 The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

and an exceptional officer and

military engineer Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics b ...

in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

for 32 years. He served across the United States, distinguished himself extensively during the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

, and was Superintendent of the United States Military Academy. He married

Mary Anna Custis Lee Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee (October 1, 1807 – November 5, 1873) was an American writer and the last private owner of Arlington Estate. She was the daughter of George Washington Parke Custis who was the grandson of Martha Dandridge Custis W ...

, great-granddaughter of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

's wife

Martha Martha (Hebrew: מָרְתָא‎) is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. She was witness to ...

. While he opposed

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

from a philosophical perspective, he supported its legality and held hundreds of slaves. When Virginia declared secession from the

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

in 1861, Lee chose to follow his home state, despite his desire for the country to remain intact and an offer of a senior Union command. During the first year of the Civil War, he served in minor combat operations and as a senior military adviser to

Confederate President The president of the Confederate States was the head of state and head of government of the Confederate States. The president was the chief executive of the federal government and was the commander-in-chief of the Confederate Army and the Confe ...

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...

. Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia in June 1862 during the Peninsula Campaign following the wounding of

Joseph E. Johnston Joseph Eggleston Johnston (February 3, 1807 – March 21, 1891) was an American career army officer, serving with distinction in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848) and the Seminole Wars. After Virginia secede ...

. He succeeded in driving the Union

Army of the Potomac The Army of the Potomac was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the surrender of the Confedera ...

under

George B. McClellan George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American soldier, Civil War Union general, civil engineer, railroad executive, and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey. A graduate of West Point, McCl ...

away from the Confederate capital of

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

during the

Seven Days Battles The Seven Days Battles were a series of seven battles over seven days from June 25 to July 1, 1862, near Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. Confederate General Robert E. Lee drove the invading Union Army of the Potomac, command ...

, although he was unable to destroy McClellan's army. Lee then overcame Union forces under John Pope at the

Second Battle of Bull Run The Second Battle of Bull Run or Battle of Second Manassas was fought August 28–30, 1862, in Prince William County, Virginia, as part of the American Civil War. It was the culmination of the Northern Virginia Campaign waged by Confederate ...

in August. His invasion of Maryland that September ended with the inconclusive

Battle of Antietam The Battle of Antietam (), or Battle of Sharpsburg particularly in the Southern United States, was a battle of the American Civil War fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union G ...

, after which he retreated to Virginia. Lee won two of his most decisive victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville before launching a second invasion of the North in the summer of 1863, where he was decisively defeated at the

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Po ...

by the Army of the Potomac under

George Meade George Gordon Meade (December 31, 1815 – November 6, 1872) was a United States Army officer and civil engineer best known for decisively defeating Confederate States Army, Confederate Full General (CSA), General Robert E. Lee at the Battle ...

. He led his army in the minor and inconclusive Bristoe Campaign that fall before General

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

took command of Union armies in the spring of 1864. Grant engaged Lee's army in bloody but inconclusive battles at the

Wilderness Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

and Spotsylvania before the lengthy

Siege of Petersburg The Richmond–Petersburg campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the American Civil War. Although it is more popularly known as the Siege of Petersburg, it was not a cla ...

, which was followed in April 1865 by the capture of Richmond and the destruction of most of Lee's army, which he finally surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House. In 1865, Lee became president of Washington College (later

Washington and Lee University , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexingto ...

) in

Lexington, Virginia Lexington is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 7,320. It is the county seat of Rockbridge County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines ...

; in that position, he supported reconciliation between North and South. Lee accepted "the extinction of slavery" provided for by the Thirteenth Amendment, but opposed

racial equality Racial equality is a situation in which people of all races and ethnicities are treated in an egalitarian/equal manner. Racial equality occurs when institutions give individuals legal, moral, and political rights. In present-day Western society, ...

for

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

s. After his death in 1870, Lee became a cultural icon in the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

and is largely hailed as one of the Civil War's greatest generals. As commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, he 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 James Longstreet (January 8, 1821January 2, 1904) was one of the foremost Confederate generals of the American Civil War and the principal subordinate to General Robert E. Lee, who called him his "Old War Horse". He served under Lee as a corps ...

Stonewall Jackson Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (January 21, 1824 – May 10, 1863) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, considered one of the best-known Confederate commanders, after Robert E. Lee. He played a prominent role in nearl ...

, and J. E. B. Stuart, who along with Lee were critical to the Confederacy's battlefield success. In spite of his success, his two major strategic offensives into Union territory both ended in failure. Lee's aggressive and risky tactics, especially at Gettysburg, which resulted in high casualties at a time when the Confederacy had a shortage of manpower, have come under criticism.

Early life and education

Lee was born at

Stratford Hall Plantation Stratford Hall is a historic house museum near Lerty in Westmoreland County, Virginia. It was the plantation house of four generations of the Lee family of Virginia (with descendants later to expand to Maryland and other states). Stratford Hal ...

Westmoreland County, Virginia Westmoreland County is a county located in the Northern Neck of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population sits at 18,477. Its county seat is Montross. History As originally established by the Virginia colony's ...

, to

Henry Lee III Henry Lee III (January 29, 1756 – March 25, 1818) was an early American Patriot (American Revolution), Patriot and U.S. politician who served as the ninth Governor of Virginia and as the Virginia United States House of Representatives, Repres ...

and

Anne Hill Carter Lee Anne Hill Carter Lee (March 26, 1773 – June 26, 1829) was the First Lady of Virginia from 1791 to 1794 as the wife of the ninth governor, Henry Lee III. She was the mother of the general-in-chief of the Confederate States of America, Robert E. ...

on January 19, 1807. His ancestor,

Richard Lee I Richard Lee I (1618 – 1 March 1664) (later nicknamed "The Immigrant") was the first member of the Lee family to live in America (although he also considered himself an English gentleman). Poor when he arrived in Virginia in 1639 on a ship ...

, emigrated from

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, to Virginia in 1639. Lee's father suffered severe financial reverses from failed investments and was put in

debtors' prison A debtors' prison is a prison for people who are unable to pay debt. Until the mid-19th century, debtors' prisons (usually similar in form to locked workhouses) were a common way to deal with unpaid debt in Western Europe.Cory, Lucinda"A Historic ...

. Soon after his release the following year, the family moved to the city of

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

which at the time was still part of the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

(it retroceded back to Virginia in 1847), both because there were then high quality local schools there, and because several members of Anne's extended family lived nearby. In 1811, the family, including the newly born sixth child, Mildred, moved to a house on Oronoco Street.In 1812 Lee's father moved permanently to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. Lee attended Eastern View, a school for young gentlemen, in

Fauquier County, Virginia Fauquier is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 72,972. The county seat is Warrenton. Fauquier County is in Northern Virginia and is a part of the Washington metropolitan area. History In 16 ...

, and then at the Alexandria Academy, free for local boys, where he showed an aptitude for mathematics. Although brought up to be a practicing

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

, he was not confirmed in the Episcopal Church until age 46. Anne Lee's family was often supported by a relative, William Henry Fitzhugh, who owned the Oronoco Street house and allowed the Lees to stay at his country home

Ravensworth Ravensworth is a village and civil parish in the Holmedale valley, within the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. It is approximately north-west of Richmond and from Darlington. The parish has a population of 255, accordin ...

. Fitzhugh wrote to

United States Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the President of the United States, U.S. president's United States Cabinet, Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's Presidency of George Washington, administration. A similar position, called either "Se ...

, John C. Calhoun, urging that Robert be given an appointment to the

at West Point. Fitzhugh had young Robert deliver the letter. Lee entered West Point in the summer of 1825. At the time, the focus of the curriculum was engineering; the head of the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

supervised the school and the superintendent was an engineering officer. Cadets were not permitted leave until they finished two years of study and were rarely allowed off the academy grounds. Lee graduated second in his class behind

Charles Mason Charles Mason (April 1728 (who resigned from the Army a year after graduation). Lee did not incur any demerits during his four-year course of study, a distinction shared by only five of his 45 classmates. In June 1829, Lee was commissioned a

brevet Brevet may refer to: Military * Brevet (military), higher rank that rewards merit or gallantry, but without higher pay * Brevet d'état-major, a military distinction in France and Belgium awarded to officers passing military staff college * Aircre ...

second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. After graduation, while awaiting assignment, he returned to Virginia to find his mother on her deathbed; she died at Ravensworth on July 26, 1829.

Military engineer career

On August 11, 1829, Brigadier General

Charles Gratiot Charles Chouteau Gratiot (August 29, 1786 – May 18, 1855) was born in St. Louis, Spanish Upper Louisiana Territory, now the present-day State of Missouri. He was the son of Charles Gratiot, Sr., a fur trader in the Illinois country during t ...

ordered Lee to

Cockspur Island Cockspur Island is an island in the south channel of the Savannah River near Lazaretto Creek, northwest of Tybee Island, Georgia, United States. Most of the island is within the boundaries of Fort Pulaski National Monument. The island was so n ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. The plan was to build a fort on the marshy island which would command the outlet of the

Savannah River The Savannah River is a major river in the southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia. Two tributaries of the Savannah, the Tugaloo River and the Chattooga River, form the norther ...

. Lee was involved in the early stages of construction as the island was being drained and built up. In 1831, it became apparent that the existing plan to build what became known as

Fort Pulaski A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

would have to be revamped, and Lee was transferred to

Fort Monroe Fort Monroe, managed by partnership between the Fort Monroe Authority for the Commonwealth of Virginia, the National Park Service as the Fort Monroe National Monument, and the City of Hampton, is a former military installation in Hampton, Virgi ...

at the tip of the

Virginia Peninsula The Virginia Peninsula is a peninsula in southeast Virginia, USA, bounded by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay. It is sometimes known as the ''Lower Peninsula'' to distinguish it from two other peninsulas to the ...

(today in

Hampton, Virginia Hampton () is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 137,148. It is the List ...

). While home in the summer of 1829, Lee had apparently courted Mary Custis whom he had known as a child. Lee obtained permission to write to her before leaving for Georgia, though Mary Custis warned Lee to be "discreet" in his writing, as her mother read her letters, especially from men. Custis refused Lee the first time he asked to marry her; her father did not believe the son of the disgraced Light-Horse Harry Lee was a suitable man for his daughter. She accepted him with her father's consent in September 1830, while he was on summer leave, and the two were wed on June 30, 1831. Lee's duties at Fort Monroe were varied, typical for a junior officer, and ranged from budgeting to designing buildings. Although Mary Lee accompanied her husband to

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's ...

, she spent about a third of her time at Arlington, though the couple's first son,

Custis Lee George Washington Custis Lee (September 16, 1832 – February 18, 1913), also known as Custis Lee, was the eldest son of Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis Lee. His grandfather George Washington Custis was the step-grandson and adopted son of ...

was born at Fort Monroe. Although the two were by all accounts devoted to each other, they were different in character: Robert Lee was tidy and punctual, qualities his wife lacked. Mary Lee also had trouble transitioning from being a rich man's daughter to having to manage a household with only one or two slaves. Beginning in 1832, Robert Lee had a close but platonic relationship with Harriett Talcott, wife of his fellow officer

Andrew Talcott Andrew Talcott (1797–1883) was an American civil engineer and close friend of Civil War General Robert E. Lee. He did not serve during the Civil War, as he could not fight against the Union, nor fight against his brothers in the South. He trav ...

. Life at Fort Monroe was marked by conflicts between artillery and engineering officers. Eventually, the War Department transferred all engineering officers away from Fort Monroe, except Lee, who was ordered to take up residence on the artificial island of

Rip Raps Rip Raps is a small 15 acre (60,000 m²) artificial island at the mouth of the harbor area known as Hampton Roads in the independent city of Hampton in southeastern Virginia in the United States. Its name is derived from the Rip Rap Shoals in Hampt ...

across the river from Fort Monroe, where

Fort Wool Fort Wool is a decommissioned island fortification located in the mouth of Hampton Roads, adjacent to the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT). Now officially known as Rip Raps Island, the fort has an elevation of 7 feet and sits near Old Point ...

would eventually rise, and continue work to improve the island. Lee duly moved there, then discharged all workers and informed the War Department he could not maintain laborers without the facilities of the fort. In 1834, Lee was transferred to Washington as General Gratiot's assistant. Lee had hoped to rent a house in Washington for his family, but was not able to find one; the family lived at Arlington, though Lieutenant Lee rented a room at a Washington boarding house for when the roads were impassable. In mid-1835, Lee was assigned to assist Andrew Talcott in surveying the southern border of Michigan. While on that expedition, he responded to a letter from an ill Mary Lee, which had requested he come to Arlington, "But why do you urge my ''immediate'' return, & tempt one in the ''strongest'' manner /nowiki> ... I rather require to be strengthened & encouraged to the ''full'' performance of what I am called on to execute." Lee completed the assignment and returned to his post in Washington, finding his wife ill at Ravensworth. Mary Lee, who had recently given birth to their second child, remained bedridden for several months. In October 1836, Lee was promoted to first lieutenant. Lee served as an assistant in the chief engineer's office in Washington, D.C. from 1834 to 1837, but spent the summer of 1835 helping to lay out the state line between

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

and

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. As a

first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a s ...

of engineers in 1837, he supervised the engineering work for

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

harbor and for the upper

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

and

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

rivers. Among his projects was the mapping of the

Des Moines Rapids The Des Moines Rapids between Nauvoo, Illinois and Keokuk, Iowa-Hamilton, Illinois is one of two major rapids on the Mississippi River that limited Steamboat traffic on the river through the early 19th century. The rapids just above the conf ...

on the Mississippi above

Keokuk, Iowa Keokuk is a city in and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, United States, along with Fort Madison. It is Iowa's southernmost city. The population was 9,900 at the time of the 2020 census. The city is named after the Sauk chief Keokuk, who is ...

, where the Mississippi's mean depth of was the upper limit of steamboat traffic on the river. His work there earned him a promotion to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. Around 1842, Captain Robert E. Lee arrived as

Fort Hamilton Fort Hamilton is a United States Army installation in the southwestern corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, surrounded by the communities of Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights. It is one of several posts that are part of the region which is ...

's post engineer.

Marriage and family

While Lee was stationed at Fort Monroe, he married Mary Anna Randolph Custis (1808–1873), great-granddaughter of

Martha Washington Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 21, 1731 — May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington served as the inaugural ...

by her first husband

Daniel Parke Custis Daniel Parke Custis (October 15, 1711 – July 8, 1757) was an American planter and politician who was the first husband of Martha Dandridge. After his death, Dandridge married George Washington, who later became the first president of the Unite ...

, and step-great-granddaughter of

, the first president of the United States. Mary was the only surviving child of

George Washington Parke Custis George Washington Parke Custis (April 30, 1781 – October 10, 1857) was an American plantation owner, antiquarian, author, and playwright. His father John Parke Custis was the stepson of George Washington. He and his sister Eleanor grew u ...

, George Washington's stepgrandson, and

Mary Lee Fitzhugh Custis Mary Lee "Molly" Fitzhugh Custis (April 22, 1788 – April 23, 1853) was an Episcopal lay leader in Alexandria County (now Arlington County, Virginia, United States). She was the mother of Mary Anna Randolph Custis who was the wife of Robert E. ...

, daughter of

William Fitzhugh William Fitzhugh (August 24, 1741June 6, 1809) was an American planter, legislator and patriot during the American Revolutionary War who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress for Virginia in 1779, as well as many terms in the House o ...

and Ann Bolling Randolph. Robert and Mary married on June 30, 1831, at

Arlington House Arlington House may refer to: *Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial *Arlington House (London) a hostel for the homeless in London, England, and one of the Rowton Houses *Arlington House, Margate, an eighteen-storey residential apartment bloc ...

, her parents' house just across the Potomac from Washington. The 3rd U.S. Artillery served as honor guard at the marriage. They eventually had seven children, three boys and four girls: #

George Washington Custis Lee George Washington Custis Lee (September 16, 1832 – February 18, 1913), also known as Custis Lee, was the eldest son of Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis Lee. His grandfather George Washington Custis was the step-grandson and adopted son of G ...

(Custis, "Boo"); 1832–1913; served as major general in the Confederate Army and aide-de-camp to President Jefferson Davis, captured during the Battle of Sailor's Creek; unmarried #

Mary Custis Lee Mary Custis Lee (July 12, 1835 — November 22, 1918) was an American heiress and the eldest daughter of Confederate States Army General Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis Lee. Throughout the American Civil War and Reconstruction era, she remai ...

(Mary, "Daughter"); 1835–1918; unmarried #

William Henry Fitzhugh Lee William Henry Fitzhugh Lee (May 31, 1837 – October 15, 1891), known as Rooney Lee (often spelled "Roony" among friends and family) or W. H. F. Lee, was the second son of General Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis. He was a planter, a Confed ...

("Rooney"); 1837–1891; served as major general in the Confederate Army (cavalry); married twice; surviving children by second marriage #

Anne Carter Lee Anne Carter Lee (June 18, 1839 – October 20, 1862) was the fourth child and second daughter of General Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis Lee. She grew up at Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, Arlington House on her family's plan ...

(Annie); June 18, 1839 – October 20, 1862; died of

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

, unmarried #

Eleanor Agnes Lee Eleanor Agnes Lee (February 27, 1841 – October 15, 1873) was an American diarist and poet. The fifth child of General Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis Lee, she was a member of the prominent Lee family of Virginia and was affectionately calle ...

(Agnes); 1841 – October 15, 1873; died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

, unmarried #

Robert Edward Lee, Jr. Robert Edward "Rob" Lee Jr. (October 27, 1843 – October 19, 1914) was the sixth of seven children of Confederate States Army, Confederate General Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis Lee, Mary Anna Randolph Custis. He became a soldier during th ...

(Rob); 1843–1914; served in the Confederate Army, first as a private in the ( Rockbridge Artillery), later as a Captain on the staff of his brother Rooney; married twice; surviving children by second marriage #

Mildred Childe Lee Mildred Childe Lee (February 10, 1846 – March 27, 1905) was an American society hostess and the youngest child of Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis Lee. She was the last member of the Lee family to be born at Arlington Plantation and had a p ...

(Milly, "Precious Life"); 1846–1905; unmarried All the children survived him except for Annie, who died in 1862. They are all buried with their parents in the crypt of the

University Chapel University Chapel (formerly Lee Chapel) of Washington and Lee University is a National Historic Landmark in Lexington, Virginia. It was constructed during 1867–68 at the request of Robert E. Lee, who was president of the school (then known as ...

in Lexington, Virginia. Lee is a great-great-great-grandson of

William Randolph William Randolph I (bapt. 7 November 1650 – 11 April 1711) was a planter, merchant and politician in colonial Virginia who played an important role in the development of the colony. Born in Moreton Morrell, Warwickshire, Randolph moved to the ...

and a great-great-grandson of

Richard Bland Richard Bland (May 6, 1710 – October 26, 1776), sometimes referred to as Richard Bland II or Richard Bland of Jordan's Point, was an American Founding Father, planter and statesman from Virginia. A cousin and early mentor of Thomas Jeffers ...

Fitzhugh Lee Fitzhugh Lee (November 19, 1835 – April 28, 1905) was a Confederate cavalry general in the American Civil War, the 40th Governor of Virginia, diplomat, and United States Army general in the Spanish–American War. He was the son of Sydney S ...

(1835–1905), a Confederate general and later a United States Army general in the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

, is Lee's nephew. Lee is a second cousin of Helen Keller's grandmother, and is a distant relative of Admiral

Willis Augustus Lee Willis Augustus "Ching" Lee Jr. (May 11, 1888 – August 25, 1945) was a vice admiral of the United States Navy during World War II. Lee commanded the American ships during the second night of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal (November 14–15, 1 ...

. On May 1, 1864, General Lee was present at the baptism of General

A.P. Hill Ambrose Powell Hill Jr. (November 9, 1825April 2, 1865) was a Confederate general who was killed in the American Civil War. He is usually referred to as A. P. Hill to differentiate him from another, unrelated Confederate general, Daniel Harvey H ...

's daughter, Lucy Lee Hill, to serve as her godfather. This is referenced in the painting ''Tender is the Heart'' by

Mort Künstler Mort Künstler (born August 28, 1927) is an American artist known for his illustrative paintings of historical events, especially of the American Civil War. He was a child prodigy, who, with encouragement from his parents, became a skilled artis ...

. He was also the godfather of actress and writer Odette Tyler, the daughter of Brigadier General

William Whedbee Kirkland William Whedbee Kirkland (February 13, 1833 – May 12, 1915) was a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He was the only former US Marine to serve as a Confederate general. Early life Kirkland was ...

Mexican–American War

Lee distinguished himself in the

(1846–1848). He was one of

Winfield Scott Winfield Scott (June 13, 1786May 29, 1866) was an American military commander and political candidate. He served as a general in the United States Army from 1814 to 1861, taking part in the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, the early s ...

's chief aides in the march from

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

to Mexico City. He was instrumental in several American victories through his personal reconnaissance as a staff officer; he found routes of attack that the

Mexicans Mexicans ( es, mexicanos) are the citizens of the United Mexican States. The most spoken language by Mexicans is Spanish language, Spanish, but some may also speak languages from 68 different Languages of Mexico, Indigenous linguistic groups ...

had not defended because they thought the terrain was impassable. He was promoted to

major after the

Battle of Cerro Gordo The Battle of Cerro Gordo, or Battle of Sierra Gordo, was an engagement in the Mexican–American War on April 18, 1847. The battle saw Winfield Scott's United States troops outflank Antonio López de Santa Anna's larger Mexican army, driving ...

on April 18, 1847. He also fought at Contreras, Churubusco, and

Chapultepec Chapultepec, more commonly called the "Bosque de Chapultepec" (Chapultepec Forest) in Mexico City, is one of the largest city parks in Mexico, measuring in total just over 686 hectares (1,695 acres). Centered on a rock formation called Chapultep ...

and was wounded at the last. By the end of the war, he had received additional brevet promotions to lieutenant colonel and colonel, but his permanent rank was still captain of engineers, and he would remain a captain until his transfer to the

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

in 1855. For the first time, Robert E. Lee and

met and worked with each other during the Mexican–American War. Close observations of their commanders constituted a learning process for both Lee and Grant. The Mexican–American War concluded on February 2, 1848. After the Mexican War, Lee spent three years at

Fort Carroll Fort Carroll is a artificial island and abandoned hexagonal sea fort in the middle of the Patapsco River, just south of Baltimore, Maryland. It is named for Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737–1832), a signer of the Declaration of Independe ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

harbor. During this time, his service was interrupted by other duties, among them surveying and updating maps in Florida. Cuban revolutionary

Narciso López Narciso López (November 2, 1797, Caracas – September 1, 1851, Havana) was a Venezuelan-born adventurer and Spanish Army general who is best known for his expeditions aimed at liberating Cuba from Spanish rule in the 1850s. His troops carri ...

intended to forcibly liberate Cuba from Spanish rule. In 1849, searching for a leader for his

filibuster A filibuster is a political procedure in which one or more members of a legislative body prolong debate on proposed legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent decision. It is sometimes referred to as "talking a bill to death" or "talking out ...

expedition, he approached Jefferson Davis, then a United States senator. Davis declined and suggested Lee, who also declined. Both decided it was inconsistent with their duties.

Early 1850s: West Point and Texas

The 1850s were a difficult time for Lee, with his long absences from home, the increasing disability of his wife, troubles in taking over the management of a large slave plantation, and his often morbid concern with his personal failures. In 1852, Lee was appointed Superintendent of the

Military Academy at West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

. He was reluctant to enter what he called a "snake pit", but the War Department insisted and he obeyed. His wife occasionally came to visit. During his three years at West Point, Brevet Colonel Robert E. Lee improved the buildings and courses and spent much time with the cadets. Lee's oldest son, George Washington Custis Lee, attended West Point during his tenure. Custis Lee graduated in 1854, first in his class. Lee was enormously relieved to receive a long-awaited promotion as second-in-command of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Texas in 1855. It meant leaving the Engineering Corps and its sequence of staff jobs for the combat command he truly wanted. He served under Colonel

Albert Sidney Johnston Albert Sidney Johnston (February 2, 1803 – April 6, 1862) served as a general in three different armies: the Texian Army, the United States Army, and the Confederate States Army. He saw extensive combat during his 34-year military career, figh ...

at Camp Cooper, Texas; their mission was to protect settlers from attacks by the

Apache The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...

and the

Comanche The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in La ...

Late 1850s: Arlington plantation and the Custis slaves

In 1857, his father-in-law

died, creating a serious crisis when Lee took on the burden of executing the will. Custis's will encompassed vast landholdings and hundreds of slaves balanced against massive debts, and required Custis's former slaves "to be emancipated by my executors in such manner as to my executors may seem most expedient and proper, the said emancipation to be accomplished in not exceeding five years from the time of my decease." The estate was in disarray, and the plantations had been poorly managed and were losing money. Lee tried to hire an overseer to handle the plantation in his absence, writing to his cousin, "I wish to get an energetic honest farmer, who while he will be considerate & kind to the negroes, will be firm & make them do their duty." But Lee failed to find a man for the job, and had to take a two-year leave of absence from the army in order to run the plantation himself. Lee's more strict expectations and harsher punishments of the slaves on Arlington plantation nearly led to a slave revolt, since many of the slaves had been given to understand that they were to be made free as soon as Custis died, and protested angrily at the delay.Wesley Norris
interview
in ''National Anti-Slavery Standard'' (April 14, 1866) 4, reprinted in In May 1858, Lee wrote to his son Rooney, "I have had some trouble with some of the people. Reuben, Parks & Edward, in the beginning of the previous week, rebelled against my authority—refused to obey my orders, & said they were as free as I was, etc., etc.—I succeeded in capturing them & lodging them in jail. They resisted till overpowered & called upon the other people to rescue them." Less than two months after they were sent to the

jail, Lee decided to remove these three men and three female house slaves from Arlington, and sent them under lock and key to the slave-trader William Overton Winston in

, who was instructed to keep them in jail until he could find "good & responsible" slaveholders to work them until the end of the five-year period. By 1860 only one slave family was left intact on the estate. Some of the families had been together since their time at Mount Vernon.

The Norris case

In 1859, three of the Arlington slaves—Wesley Norris, his sister Mary, and a cousin of theirs—fled for the North, but were captured a few miles from the

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

border and forced to return to Arlington. On June 24, 1859, the anti-slavery newspaper ''

New York Daily Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s through the 1860s it was the dom ...

'' published two anonymous letters (dated June 19, 1859 and June 21, 1859), each claiming to have heard that Lee had the Norrises whipped, and each going so far as to claim that the overseer refused to whip the woman but that Lee took the whip and flogged her personally. Lee privately wrote to his son Custis that "The N. Y. Tribune has attacked me for my treatment of your grandfather's slaves, but I shall not reply. He has left me an unpleasant legacy." Wesley Norris himself spoke out about the incident after the war, in an 1866 interview printed in an abolitionist newspaper, the ''

National Anti-Slavery Standard The ''National Anti-Slavery Standard'' was the official weekly newspaper of the American Anti-Slavery Society, established in 1840 under the editorship of Lydia Maria Child and David Lee Child. The paper published continuously until the ratifi ...

''. Norris stated that after they had been captured, and forced to return to Arlington, Lee told them that "he would teach us a lesson we would not soon forget." According to Norris, Lee then had the three of them firmly tied to posts by the overseer, and ordered them whipped with fifty lashes for the men and twenty for Mary Norris. Norris claimed that Lee encouraged the whipping, and that when the overseer refused to do it, called in the county constable to do it instead. Unlike the anonymous letter writers, he does not state that Lee himself whipped any of the slaves. According to Norris, Lee "frequently enjoined onstableWilliams to 'lay it on well,' an injunction which he did not fail to heed; not satisfied with simply lacerating our naked flesh, Gen. Lee then ordered the overseer to thoroughly wash our backs with

brine Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for br ...

, which was done." The Norris men were then sent by Lee's agent to work on the railroads in Virginia and

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

. According to the interview, Norris was sent to Richmond in January 1863 "from which place I finally made my escape through the rebel lines to freedom." But Federal authorities reported that Norris came within their lines on September 5, 1863, and that he "left Richmond ... with a pass from General Custis Lee." Lee freed the Custis slaves, including Wesley Norris, after the end of the five-year period in the winter of 1862, filing the deed of

manumission Manumission, or enfranchisement, is the act of freeing enslaved people by their enslavers. Different approaches to manumission were developed, each specific to the time and place of a particular society. Historian Verene Shepherd states that t ...

on December 29, 1862. Biographers of Lee have differed over the credibility of the account of the punishment as described in the letters in the ''Tribune'' and in Norris's personal account. They broadly agree that Lee had a group of escaped slaves recaptured, and that, after recapturing them, he hired them out off of the Arlington plantation as a punishment; however, they disagree over the likelihood that Lee flogged them, and over the charge that he personally whipped Mary Norris. In 1934, Douglas S. Freeman described them as "Lee's first experience with the extravagance of irresponsible antislavery agitators" and asserted that "There is no evidence, direct or indirect, that Lee ever had them or any other Negroes flogged. The usage at Arlington and elsewhere in Virginia among people of Lee's station forbade such a thing." In 2000, Michael Fellman, in ''

The Making of Robert E. Lee ''The Making of Robert E. Lee'' by Michael Fellman is a biography of the famous Confederate general. It looks mostly at his character and beliefs. It says relatively little about the details of particular battles, though it speculates about why ...

'', found the claims that Lee had personally whipped Mary Norris "extremely unlikely," but found it not at all unlikely that Lee had ordered the runaways whipped: "corporal punishment (for which Lee substituted the euphemism 'firmness') was (believed to be) an intrinsic and necessary part of slave discipline. Although it was supposed to be applied only in a calm and rational manner, overtly physical domination of slaves, unchecked by law, was always brutal and potentially savage." In 2003, Bernice-Marie Yates's ''The Perfect Gentleman'', cited Freeman's denial and followed his account in holding that, because of Lee's family connections to George Washington, he "was a prime target for abolitionists who lacked all the facts of the situation." Lee biographer Elizabeth Brown Pryor concluded in 2008 that "the facts are verifiable," based on "the consistency of the five extant descriptions of the episode (the only element that is not repeatedly corroborated is the allegation that Lee gave the beatings himself), as well as the existence of an account book that indicates the constable received compensation from Lee on the date that this event occurred." In 2014, Michael Korda wrote that "Although these letters are dismissed by most of Lee's biographers as exaggerated, or simply as unfounded abolitionist propaganda, it is hard to ignore them. ... It seems incongruously out of character for Lee to have whipped a slave woman himself, particularly one stripped to the waist, and that charge may have been a flourish added by the two correspondents; it was not repeated by Wesley Norris when his account of the incident was published in 1866. ... though it seems unlikely that he would have done any of the whipping himself, he may not have flinched from observing it to make sure his orders were carried out exactly."

Lee's views on race and slavery

Several historians have noted what they consider the contradictory nature of Lee's beliefs and actions concerning race and slavery. While Lee protested he had sympathetic feelings for blacks, they were subordinate to his own racial identity. While Lee held slavery to be an evil institution, he also saw some benefit to blacks held in slavery. While Lee helped assist individual slaves to freedom in Liberia, and provided for their emancipation in his own will, he believed the enslaved should be eventually freed in a general way only at some unspecified future date as a part of God's purpose. Slavery for Lee was a moral and religious issue, and not one that would yield to political solutions. Emancipation would sooner come from Christian impulse among slave masters before "storms and tempests of fiery controversy" such as was occurring in "

Bleeding Kansas Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas, or the Border War was a series of violent civil confrontations in Kansas Territory, and to a lesser extent in western Missouri, between 1854 and 1859. It emerged from a political and ideological debate over the ...

". Countering Southerners who argued for

slavery as a positive good Slavery as a positive good was the prevailing view of Southern U.S. politicians and intellectuals just before the American Civil War, as opposed to seeing it as a crime against humanity or even a necessary evil. They defended the legal enslav ...

, Lee in his well-known analysis of slavery from an 1856 letter (''see below'') called it a moral and political evil. While both Lee and his wife were disgusted with slavery, they also defended it against

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

demands for immediate emancipation for all enslaved. Lee argued that slavery was bad for white people, claiming that he found slavery bothersome and time-consuming as an everyday institution to run. In an 1856 letter to his wife, he maintained that slavery was a great evil, but primarily due to adverse impact that it had on white people:

In this enlightened age, there are few I believe, but what will acknowledge, that slavery as an institution, is a moral & political evil in any Country. It is useless to expatiate on its disadvantages. I think it however a greater evil to the white man than to the black race, & while my feelings are strongly enlisted in behalf of the latter, my sympathies are more strong for the former. The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa, morally, socially & physically. The painful discipline they are undergoing, is necessary for their instruction as a race, & I hope will prepare & lead them to better things. How long their subjugation may be necessary is known & ordered by a wise Merciful Providence.

Before leaving to serve in Mexico, Lee had written a will providing for the

of the slaves he owned, "a woman and her children inherited from his mother and apparently leased to his father-in-law and later sold to him." Lee's father-in-law, G. W. Parke Custis, was a member of the

American Colonization Society The American Colonization Society (ACS), initially the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America until 1837, was an American organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to encourage and support the migration of freebor ...

, which was formed to gradually end slavery by establishing a free republic in

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

for African-Americans, and Lee assisted several ex-slaves to emigrate there. Also, according to historian Richard B. McCaslin, Lee was a gradual emancipationist, denouncing extremist proposals for the immediate abolition of slavery. Lee rejected what he called evilly motivated political passion, fearing a civil and servile war from precipitous emancipation. Historian

Elizabeth Brown Pryor Elizabeth Brown Pryor (March 15, 1951 – April 13, 2015) was an American diplomat and historian. Career She was born Mary Elizabeth Brown in Gary, Indiana. Her father worked for AT&T, and the family moved multiple times for his job. She finishe ...

offered an alternative interpretation of Lee's voluntary manumission of slaves in his will, and assisting slaves to a life of freedom in Liberia, seeing Lee as conforming to a "primacy of slave law". She wrote that Lee's private views on race and slavery, : "which today seem startling, were entirely unremarkable in Lee's world. No visionary, Lee nearly always tried to conform to accepted opinions. His assessment of black inferiority, of the necessity of racial stratification, the primacy of slave law, and even a divine sanction for it all, was in keeping with the prevailing views of other moderate slaveholders and a good many prominent Northerners." In 1857, George Custis died, leaving Robert Lee as the executor of his estate, which included nearly 200 slaves. In his will, Custis stated the slaves were to be freed within five years of his death. On taking on the role of administrator for the Parke Custis will, Lee used a provision to retain them in slavery to produce income for the estate to retire debt. Lee did not welcome the role of planter while administering the Custis properties at Romancoke, another nearby the Pamunkey River and Arlington; he rented the estate's mill. While all the estates prospered under his administration, Lee was unhappy at direct participation in slavery as a hated institution. Even before what Michael Fellman called a "sorry involvement in actual slave management", Lee judged the experience of white mastery to be a greater moral evil to the white man than blacks suffering under the "painful discipline" of slavery which introduced Christianity, literacy and a work ethic to the "heathen African". Columbia University historian

Eric Foner Eric Foner (; born February 7, 1943) is an American historian. He writes extensively on American political history, the history of freedom, the early history of the Republican Party, African-American biography, the American Civil War, Reconstru ...

notes that: : Lee "was not a pro-slavery ideologue. But I think equally important is that, unlike some white southerners, he never spoke out against slavery" By the time of Lee's career in the U.S. Army, the officers of West Point stood aloof from political-party and sectional strife on such issues as slavery, as a matter of principle, and Lee adhered to the precedent.Skelton, William B.
An American Profession of Arms: the Army Officer Corps, 1784–1861
1992, p. 285. "Officers developed a conception of the army as an apolitical instrument of public policy. As servants of the nation, they should stand aloof from party and sectional strife" and avoid taking public positions on controversial issues such as slavery. He considered it his patriotic duty to be apolitical while in active Army service, and Lee did not speak out publicly on the subject of slavery prior to the Civil War. Before the outbreak of the War, in 1860, Lee voted for

John C. Breckinridge John Cabell Breckinridge (January 16, 1821 – May 17, 1875) was an American lawyer, politician, and soldier. He represented Kentucky in both houses of Congress and became the 14th and youngest-ever vice president of the United States. Serving ...

, who was the extreme pro-slavery candidate in the 1860 presidential election, not John Bell, the more moderate Southerner who won Virginia. Lee himself owned a small number of slaves in his lifetime and considered himself a paternalistic master. There are various historical and newspaper hearsay accounts of Lee personally whipping a slave, but they are not direct eyewitness accounts. He was definitely involved in administering the day-to-day operations of a plantation and was involved in the recapture of runaway slaves. One historian noted that Lee separated slave families, something that prominent slave-holding families in Virginia such as Washington and Custis did not do. On December 29, 1862, Lee freed all the slaves his wife had inherited from George Custis, but this was in accordance with the Custis will, as that was the last day he was allowed to legally retain them. Prior to this, Lee had petitioned the courts to keep the Custis slaves longer than the five years allotted in Custis' will, since the estate was still in debt, but the courts rejected his appeals. In 1866, one of Lee's former slaves, Wesley Norris, charged that Lee personally beat him and other slaves harshly after they had tried to run away from Arlington. Lee never publicly responded to this charge, but privately told a friend "There is not a word of truth in it . . . No servant, soldier, or citizen, that was ever employed by me can with truth charge me with bad treatment.” Foner writes that "Lee's code of gentlemanly conduct did not seem to apply to blacks" during the War, as he did not stop his soldiers from kidnapping free black farmers and selling them into slavery. Princeton University historian

James M. McPherson James Munro McPherson (born October 11, 1936) is an American Civil War historian, and is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor Emeritus of United States History at Princeton University. He received the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for '' Battle Cry of ...

noted that Lee initially rejected a prisoner exchange between the Confederacy and the Union when the Union demanded that black Union soldiers be included. Lee did not accept the swap until a few months before the Confederacy's surrender. He also called the

Emancipation Proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the Civil War. The Proclamation changed the legal sta ...

"a savage and brutal policy...which leaves us no alternative but success or degradation worse than death." As the war dragged on and Lee's losses mounted, he eventually advocated enlisting black soldiers in the Confederate army in exchange for freedom. However, he came to this position with great reluctance. In an 1865 letter to his friend

Andrew Hunter Andrew Hunter or Andy Hunter may refer to: Sports *Andrew Hunter (British swimmer) (born 1986), British swimmer who was a medalist in the Commonwealth Games *Andrew Hunter (Irish swimmer) (born 1952), Irish swimmer *Andy Hunter (footballer, born 18 ...

, he wrote "Considering the relation of master and slave, controlled by humane laws and influenced by Christianity and an enlightened public sentiment, as the best that can exist between the white and black races while intermingled as at present in this country, I would deprecate any sudden disturbance of that relation unless it be necessary to avert a greater calamity to both. I should therefore prefer to rely upon our white population to preserve the ratio between our forces and those of the enemy, which experience has shown to be safe. But in view of the preparations of our enemies, it is our duty to provide for continued war and not for a battle or a campaign, and I fear that we cannot accomplish this without overtaxing the capacity of our white population." After the War, Lee told a congressional committee that blacks were "not disposed to work" and did not possess the intellectual capacity to vote and participate in politics. Lee also said to the committee that he hoped that Virginia could "get rid of them," referring to blacks. While not politically active, Lee defended Lincoln's successor

Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...

's approach to Reconstruction, which according to Foner, "abandoned the former slaves to the mercy of governments controlled by their former owners." According to Foner, "A word from Lee might have encouraged white Southerners to accord blacks equal rights and inhibited the violence against the freed people that swept the region during Reconstruction, but he chose to remain silent." Lee was also urged to condemn the white-supremacy organization

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

, but opted to remain silent. In the generation following the war, Lee, though he died just a few years later, became a central figure in the

Lost Cause The Lost Cause of the Confederacy (or simply Lost Cause) is an American pseudohistorical negationist mythology that claims the cause of the Confederate States during the American Civil War was just, heroic, and not centered on slavery. Firs ...

interpretation of the war. The argument that Lee had always somehow opposed slavery, and freed his wife's slaves, helped maintain his stature as a symbol of Southern honor and national reconciliation.

Harpers Ferry and return to Texas, 1859–1861

Both

Harpers Ferry Harpers Ferry is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia. It is located in the lower Shenandoah Valley. The population was 285 at the 2020 census. Situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, where the U.S. stat ...

and the secession of Texas were monumental events leading up to the Civil War. Robert E. Lee was at both events. Lee initially remained loyal to the Union after Texas seceded.

Harpers Ferry

John Brown John Brown most often refers to: *John Brown (abolitionist) (1800–1859), American who led an anti-slavery raid in Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859 John Brown or Johnny Brown may also refer to: Academia * John Brown (educator) (1763–1842), Ir ...

led a band of 21 abolitionists who seized the federal arsenal at

, Virginia, in October 1859, hoping to incite a slave rebellion. President

James Buchanan James Buchanan Jr. ( ; April 23, 1791June 1, 1868) was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician who served as the 15th president of the United States from 1857 to 1861. He previously served as secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and repr ...

gave Lee command of detachments of militia, soldiers, and

United States Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through com ...

, to suppress the uprising and arrest its leaders. By the time Lee arrived that night, the militia on the site had surrounded Brown and his hostages. At dawn, Brown refused the demand for surrender. Lee attacked, and Brown and his followers were captured after three minutes of fighting. Lee's summary report of the episode shows Lee believed it "was the attempt of a fanatic or madman". Lee said Brown achieved "temporary success" by creating panic and confusion and by "magnifying" the number of participants involved in the raid.

Texas

In 1860, Lt. Col. Robert E. Lee relieved Major Heintzelman at

Fort Brown Fort Brown (originally Fort Texas) was a military post of the United States Army in Cameron County, Texas, during the latter half of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century. Established in 1846, it was the first US Army military ...

, and the Mexican authorities offered to restrain "their citizens from making predatory descents upon the territory and people of Texas ... this was the last active operation of the Cortina War".

Rip Ford John Salmon Ford (May 26, 1815 – November 3, 1897), better known as "Rip" Ford, was a member of the Republic of Texas Congress and later of the Texas Senate, State Senate, and mayor of Brownsville, Texas. He was also a Texas Ranger Division, Te ...

, a Texas Ranger at the time, described Lee as "dignified without hauteur, grand without pride ... he evinced an imperturbable self-possession, and a complete control of his passions ... possessing the capacity to accomplish great ends and the gift of controlling and leading men." When Texas seceded from the

in February 1861, General

David E. Twiggs David Emanuel Twiggs (February 14, 1790 – July 15, 1862), born in Georgia, was a career army officer, serving during the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, and Mexican–American War. As commander of the U.S. Army's Department of Texas when the ...

surrendered all the American forces (about 4,000 men, including Lee, and commander of the Department of Texas) to the Texans. Twiggs immediately resigned from the U.S. Army and was made a Confederate general. Lee went back to Washington and was appointed Colonel of the First Regiment of Cavalry in March 1861. Lee's colonelcy was signed by the new president, Abraham Lincoln. Three weeks after his promotion, Colonel Lee was offered a senior command (with the rank of Major General) in the expanding Army to fight the Southern States that had left the Union. Fort Mason, Texas, was Lee's last command with the United States Army.

Civil War

Resignation from United States Army

Unlike many Southerners who expected a glorious war, Lee correctly predicted it as protracted and devastating. He privately opposed the new

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

in letters in early 1861, denouncing secession as "nothing but revolution" and an unconstitutional betrayal of the efforts of the Founding Fathers. Writing to George Washington Custis in January, Lee stated: Robert E Lee in 1863

Despite opposing secession, Lee said in January that "we can with a clear conscience separate" if all peaceful means failed. He agreed with secessionists in most areas, rejecting the Northern abolitionists' criticisms and their prevention of the expansion of slavery to the new western territories, and fear of the North's larger population. Lee supported the

Crittenden Compromise The Crittenden Compromise was an unsuccessful proposal to permanently enshrine slavery in the United States Constitution, and thereby make it unconstitutional for future congresses to end slavery. It was introduced by United States Senator Jo ...

, which would have constitutionally protected slavery. Lee's objection to secession was ultimately outweighed by a sense of personal honor, reservations about the legitimacy of a strife-ridden "Union that can only be maintained by swords and bayonets", and his duty to defend his native Virginia if attacked. He was asked while leaving Texas by a lieutenant if he intended to fight for the Confederacy or the Union, to which Lee replied, "I shall never bear arms against the Union, but it may be necessary for me to carry a musket in the defense of my native state, Virginia, in which case I shall not prove recreant to my duty". Although Virginia had the most slaves of any state, it was more similar to Maryland, which stayed in the Union, than to the Deep South; a convention voted against secession in early 1861. Scott, commanding general of the Union Army and Lee's mentor, told Lincoln he wanted him for a top command, telling Secretary of War

Simon Cameron Simon Cameron (March 8, 1799June 26, 1889) was an American businessman and politician who represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate and served as United States Secretary of War under President Abraham Lincoln at the start of the Americ ...

that he had "entire confidence" in Lee. Lee accepted a promotion to colonel of the 1st Cavalry Regiment on March 28, again swearing an oath to the United States. Meanwhile, Lee ignored an offer of command from the Confederacy. After Lincoln's call for troops to put down the rebellion, a second Virginia convention in Richmond voted to secede on April 17, and a May 23 referendum would likely ratify the decision. That night Lee dined with brother

Smith Smith may refer to: People * Metalsmith, or simply smith, a craftsman fashioning tools or works of art out of various metals * Smith (given name) * Smith (surname), a family name originating in England, Scotland and Ireland ** List of people wi ...

and cousin Phillips, naval officers. Because of Lee's indecision, Phillips went to the War Department the next morning to warn that the Union might lose his cousin if the government did not act quickly. In Washington that day, Lee was offered by presidential advisor

Francis P. Blair Francis Preston Blair Sr. (April 12, 1791 – October 18, 1876) was an American journalist, newspaper editor, and influential figure in national politics advising several U.S. presidents across party lines. Blair was an early member of the De ...

a role as major general to command the defense of the national capital. He replied: Lee immediately went to Scott, who tried to persuade him that Union forces would be large enough to prevent the South from fighting, so he would not have to oppose his state; Lee disagreed. When Lee asked if he could go home and not fight, the fellow Virginian said that the army did not need equivocal soldiers and that if he wanted to resign, he should do so before receiving official orders. Scott told him that Lee had made "the greatest mistake of your life". Lee agreed that to avoid dishonor he had to resign before receiving unwanted orders. While historians have usually called his decision inevitable ("the answer he was born to make", wrote

Douglas Southall Freeman Douglas Southall Freeman (May 16, 1886 – June 13, 1953) was an American historian, biographer, newspaper editor, radio commentator, and author. He is best known for his multi-volume biographies of Robert E. Lee and George Washington, for both ...

; another called it a "no-brainer") given the ties to family and state, an 1871 letter from his eldest daughter, Mary Custis Lee, to a biographer described Lee as "worn and harassed" yet calm as he deliberated alone in his office. People on the street noticed Lee's grim face as he tried to decide over the next two days, and he later said that he kept the resignation letter for a day before sending it on April 20. Two days later the Richmond convention invited Lee to the city. It elected him as commander of Virginia state forces before his arrival on April 23, and almost immediately gave him George Washington's sword as symbol of his appointment; whether he was told of a decision he did not want without time to decide, or did want the excitement and opportunity of command, is unclear. A cousin on Scott's staff told the family that Lee's decision so upset Scott that he collapsed on a sofa and mourned as if he had lost a son, and asked to not hear Lee's name. When Lee told family his decision, he said "I suppose you will all think I have done very wrong", as the others were mostly pro-Union; only Mary Custis was a secessionist, and her mother especially wanted to choose the Union, but told her husband that she would support whatever he decided. Many younger men like nephew Fitzhugh wanted to support the Confederacy, but Lee's three sons joined the Confederate military only after their father's decision. Most family members, like brother Smith, also reluctantly chose the South, but Smith's wife and Anne, Lee's sister, still supported the Union; Anne's son joined the Union Army, and no one in his family ever spoke to Lee again. Many cousins fought for the Confederacy, but Phillips and John Fitzgerald told Lee in person that they would uphold their oaths; John H. Upshur stayed with the Union military despite much family pressure; Roger Jones stayed in the Union army after Lee refused to advise him on what to do; and two of Philip Fendall's sons fought for the Union. Forty percent of Virginian officers stayed with the North.

Early role

At the outbreak of war, Lee was appointed to command all of Virginia's forces, which then encompassed the Provisional Army of Virginia and the

Virginia State Navy A Virginia State Navy (or Virginia Navy) existed twice. During the American Revolutionary War, the provisional government of the Virginia Colony authorized the purchase, outfitting, and manning of armed vessels to protect the colony's waters fro ...

. He was appointed a Major General by the Virginia Governor, but upon the formation of the Confederate States Army, he was named one of its first five full generals. Lee did not wear the insignia of a Confederate general, but only the three stars of a Confederate colonel, equivalent to his last U.S. Army rank. He did not intend to wear a general's insignia until the Civil War had been won and he could be promoted, in peacetime, to general in the Confederate Army. Lee's first field assignment was commanding Confederate forces in western Virginia, where he was defeated at the

Battle of Cheat Mountain The Battle of Cheat Mountain, also known as the Battle of Cheat Summit Fort, took place from September 12 to 15, 1861, in Pocahontas County and Randolph County, Virginia (now West Virginia) as part of the Western Virginia Campaign during the ...

and was widely blamed for Confederate setbacks. He was then sent to organize the coastal defenses along the Carolina and Georgia seaboard, appointed commander, "Department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida" on November 5, 1861. Between then and the fall of

, April 11, 1862, he put in place a defense of Savannah that proved successful in blocking Federal advance on Savannah. Confederate fort and naval gunnery dictated nighttime movement and construction by the besiegers. Federal preparations required four months. In those four months, Lee developed a defense in depth. Behind Fort Pulaski on the Savannah River, Fort Jackson was improved, and two additional batteries covered river approaches. In the face of the Union superiority in naval, artillery and infantry deployment, Lee was able to block any Federal advance on Savannah, and at the same time, well-trained Georgia troops were released in time to meet McClellan's Peninsula Campaign. The city of Savannah would not fall until Sherman's approach from the interior at the end of 1864. At first, the press spoke to the disappointment of losing Fort Pulaski. Surprised by the effectiveness of large caliber Parrott Rifles in their first deployment, it was widely speculated that only betrayal could have brought overnight surrender to a Third System Fort. Lee was said to have failed to get effective support in the Savannah River from the three sidewheeler gunboats of the Georgia Navy. Although again blamed by the press for Confederate reverses, he was appointed military adviser to

, the former

U.S. Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of th ...

. While in

, Lee was ridiculed as the 'King of Spades' for his excessive digging of trenches around the capitol. These trenches would later play a pivotal role in battles near the end of the war.

Commander, Army of Northern Virginia (June 1862 – June 1863)

In the spring of 1862, during the Peninsula Campaign, the Union

under General

advanced on Richmond from

. Progressing up the Peninsula, McClellan forced Gen.

and the Army of Virginia to retreat to a point just north and east of the Confederate capital. Johnston was wounded at the

Battle of Seven Pines The Battle of Seven Pines, also known as the Battle of Fair Oaks or Fair Oaks Station, took place on May 31 and June 1, 1862, in Henrico County, Virginia, nearby Sandston, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. It was t ...

, on June 1, 1862, giving Lee his first opportunity to lead an army in the field – the force he renamed the Army of ''Northern'' Virginia, signalling confidence that the Union army could be driven away from Richmond. Early in the war, Lee had been called "Granny Lee" for his allegedly timid style of command. Confederate newspaper editorials objected to him replacing Johnston, opining that Lee would be passive, waiting for Union attack. This seemed true, initially; for the first three weeks of June, Lee did not show aggression, instead strengthening Richmond's defenses.

However, on June 25, he surprised the Army of the Potomac and launched a rapid series of bold attacks: the

. Despite superior Union numbers and some clumsy tactical performances by his subordinates, Lee's attacks derailed McClellan's plans and drove back most of his forces. Confederate casualties were heavy, but an unnerved McClellan, famed for his caution, retreated to the lower

James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...

, and abandoned the Peninsula completely in August. This success changed Confederate morale and the public's regard for Lee. After the Seven Days Battles, and until the end of the war, his men called him “Marse Robert", a term of respect and affection. The setback, and the resulting drop in Union morale, impelled Lincoln to adopt a new policy of relentless, committed warfare. After the Seven Days, Lincoln decided he had to move to emancipate most Confederate slaves by executive order, as a military act, using his authority as commander-in-chief. To make this possible, he needed a Union victory. Wheeling to the north, Lee marched rapidly towards Washington, D.C. and defeated another Union army under Gen. John Pope at the

in late August. He eliminated Pope before reinforcements from McClellan arrived, knocking out an entire field command before another could arrive to support it. In less than 90 days, Lee had run McClellan off the Peninsula, defeated Pope, and moved the battle lines north, from north of Richmond to south of Washington. Lee chose to take the battle off southern ground and invaded Maryland and Pennsylvania, hoping to collect supplies in Union territory, and possibly win a victory that would sway the upcoming Union elections in favor of ending the war. This was sent amiss when McClellan's men found a lost Confederate dispatch,

Special Order 191 Special Order 191 (series 1862), also known as the "Lost Dispatch" and the "Lost Order", was a general movement order issued by Confederate Army General Robert E. Lee on about September 9, 1862, during the Maryland Campaign of the American Civi ...

, revealing Lee's plans and movements. McClellan always exaggerated Lee's numerical strength, but now he knew the Confederate army was divided and could be destroyed in detail. Still, in a characteristic manner, McClellan moved slowly; he failed to realize a spy had informed Lee that he possessed the plans. Lee quickly concentrated his forces west of Antietam Creek, near

Sharpsburg, Maryland Sharpsburg is a town in Washington County, Maryland. The town is approximately south of Hagerstown. Its population was 705 at the 2010 census. During the American Civil War, the Battle of Antietam, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Sharpsb ...

, where McClellan attacked on September 17. The

was the single bloodiest day of the war, with both sides suffering enormous losses. Lee's army barely withstood the Union assaults, and retreated to Virginia the next day. The narrow Confederate defeat gave President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

the opportunity to issue his

, which put the Confederacy on the diplomatic and moral defensive. Disappointed by McClellan's failure to destroy Lee's army, Lincoln named

Ambrose Burnside Ambrose Everett Burnside (May 23, 1824 – September 13, 1881) was an American army officer and politician who became a senior Union general in the Civil War and three times Governor of Rhode Island, as well as being a successful inventor ...

the commander of the Army of the Potomac. Burnside ordered an attack across the

Rappahannock River The Rappahannock River is a river in eastern Virginia, in the United States, approximately in length.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 It traverses the entir ...

Fredericksburg, Virginia Fredericksburg is an independent city located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,982. The Bureau of Economic Analysis of the United States Department of Commerce combines the city of Fredericksburg wi ...

. Delays in bridging the river allowed Lee's army ample time to organize strong defenses, and the Union frontal assault on December 13, 1862, was a disaster. There were 12,600 Union casualties to 5,000 Confederate, making the engagement one of the most one-sided battles in the Civil War. After this victory, Lee reportedly said, "It is well that war is so terrible, else we should grow too fond of it." At Fredericksburg, according to historian Michael Fellman, Lee had completely entered into the "spirit of war, where destructiveness took on its own beauty." The bitter Union defeat at Fredericksburg prompted President Lincoln to appoint

Joseph Hooker Joseph Hooker (November 13, 1814 – October 31, 1879) was an American Civil War general for the Union, chiefly remembered for his decisive defeat by Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863. Hooker had serv ...

as the next commander of the Army of the Potomac. In May 1863, Hooker maneuvered to attack Lee's army by crossing the Rapahannock further upriver and positioning himself at the Chancellorsville crossroads. Doing this could give him an opportunity to strike Lee in the rear, but the Confederate General barely managed to pivot his forces in time to face an attack. Hooker's command was nearly twice the size of Lee's but he nonetheless was beaten after Lee performed a daring movement that broke all terms of conventional warfare: dividing his army. Lee sent

's corps to attack Hooker's exposed flank, on the opposite side of the battlefield. The decisive victory that followed came with a price. Among the heavy casualties was Jackson, his finest corps commander, accidentally fired on by his own troops. Even though he scored another impressive victory over an enemy army much larger than his own, Lee felt unsatisfied by the fact that he had made little territorial gains up to that point. Things were going poorly for the Confederacy in the West, and Lee started to grow restless; he devised a plan to once again invade the North, for similar reasons to before: relieve Virginia and its citizens of the weariness of battle, and potentially march on the Federal Capital and force terms of peace.

Battle of Gettysburg

Critical decisions came in May–June 1863, after Lee's smashing victory at the Battle of Chancellorsville. The western front was crumbling, as multiple uncoordinated Confederate armies were unable to handle General

's campaign against Vicksburg. The top military advisers wanted to save Vicksburg, but Lee persuaded Davis to overrule them and authorize yet another invasion of the North. The immediate goal was to acquire urgently needed supplies from the rich farming districts of Pennsylvania; a long-term goal was to stimulate peace activity in the North by demonstrating the power of the South to invade. Lee's decision proved a significant strategic blunder and cost the Confederacy control of its western regions, and nearly cost Lee his own army as Union forces cut him off from the South. Thure de Thulstrup - L

Lee launched the Gettysburg Campaign when he abandoned his position on the Rapahannock and crossed the Potomac River into Maryland in June. Hooker mobilized his men and pursued, but was replaced by Gen.

George G. Meade George Gordon Meade (December 31, 1815 – November 6, 1872) was a United States Army officer and civil engineer best known for decisively defeating Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War. H ...

on June 28, a few days before the two armies clashed at the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in early July; the battle produced the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War. Some of Lee's subordinates were new and inexperienced to their commands, and

J.E.B. Stuart James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart (February 6, 1833May 12, 1864) was a United States Army officer from Virginia who became a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War. He was known to his friends as "Jeb,” from the initials of ...

’s cavalry failed to perform effective reconnaissance. The first day was a surprise affair for both sides, and the Confederates managed to rally their forces first, pushing the panicked Union troops away from town, and towards key terrain that should have been taken by General Ewell, but was not. The second day unfolded differently for the Confederates. They took too much time to assemble, and launched repeated failed assaults against the Union left flank over difficult terrain. Lee's decision on the third day, going against the advice of his best corps commander, Gen.

, to launch a massive frontal assault on the center of the Union line, was disastrous. It was carried out over a wide field, and has come to be known commonly as

Pickett's Charge Pickett's Charge (July 3, 1863), also known as the Pickett–Pettigrew–Trimble Charge, was an infantry assault ordered by Confederate General Robert E. Lee against Major General George G. Meade's Union positions on the last day of the B ...

. Easily repulsed, Pickett’s Charge, named after the

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

whose division participated, resulted in severe Confederate losses. Lee rode out to meet the remains of the division and proclaimed, "All this has been my fault." He had no choice but to withdraw, and he escaped Meade's ineffective pursuit, slipping back into Virginia. Following his defeat at Gettysburg, Lee sent a letter of resignation to President Davis on August 8, 1863, but Davis refused Lee's pleads to retire. That fall, Lee and Meade met again in two minor campaigns, Bristoe and Mine Run, that did little to change the strategic standoff. The Confederate Army never fully recovered from the substantial losses incurred during the three-day battle in southern Pennsylvania. Civil War Historian

Shelby Foote Shelby Dade Foote Jr. (November 17, 1916 – June 27, 2005) was an American writer, historian and journalist. Although he primarily viewed himself as a novelist, he is now best known for his authorship of '' The Civil War: A Narrative'', a three ...

once stated, "Gettysburg was the price the South paid for having Robert E. Lee as commander."

Ulysses S. Grant and the Union offensive

In 1864 the new Union general-in-chief, Lt. Gen.

, sought to use his large advantages in manpower and material resources to destroy Lee's army by

attrition Attrition may refer to *Attrition warfare, the military strategy of wearing down the enemy by continual losses in personnel and material **War of Attrition, fought between Egypt and Israel from 1968 to 1970 **War of attrition (game), a model of agg ...

, pinning Lee against his capital of Richmond. Lee successfully stopped each attack, but Grant with his superior numbers kept pushing each time a bit farther to the southeast. These battles in the

Overland Campaign The Overland Campaign, also known as Grant's Overland Campaign and the Wilderness Campaign, was a series of battles fought in Virginia during May and June 1864, in the American Civil War. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of all Union ...

included the

Spotsylvania Court House The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, sometimes more simply referred to as the Battle of Spotsylvania (or the 19th-century spelling Spottsylvania), was the second major battle in Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's 1864 ...

and

Cold Harbor The Battle of Cold Harbor was fought during the American Civil War near Mechanicsville, Virginia, from May 31 to June 12, 1864, with the most significant fighting occurring on June 3. It was one of the final battles of Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S ...

. Grant eventually was able to stealthily move his army across the

. After stopping a Union attempt to capture

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines Petersburg (along with the city of Colonial Heights) with Din ...

, a vital railroad link supplying Richmond, Lee's men built elaborate trenches and were besieged in Petersburg, a development which presaged the

trench warfare Trench warfare is a type of land warfare using occupied lines largely comprising military trenches, in which troops are well-protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery. Trench warfare became a ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Lee attempted to break the stalemate by sending Jubal A. Early on a raid through the

Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge- ...

to Washington, D.C., but Early was defeated early on by the superior forces of

Philip Sheridan General of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close as ...

. The

lasted from June 1864 until March 1865, with Lee's outnumbered and poorly supplied army shrinking daily because of desertions by disheartened Confederates.

General in Chief

On February 6, 1865, Lee was appointed

General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate States The General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate States, or simply General in Chief, was the commanding general and head of the Confederate States Army (CSA) from February to April 1865. The office was effectively abolished on April 9, 1865 ...

. As the South ran out of manpower the issue of arming the slaves became paramount. Lee explained, "We should employ them without delay ... long withgradual and general emancipation". The first units were in training as the war ended. As the Confederate army was devastated by casualties, disease and desertion, the Union attack on Petersburg succeeded on April 2, 1865. Lee abandoned Richmond and retreated west. Lee then made an attempt to escape to the southwest and join up with Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee in North Carolina. However, his forces were soon surrounded and he surrendered them to Grant on April 9, 1865, at the

Battle of Appomattox Court House The Battle of Appomattox Court House, fought in Appomattox County, Virginia, on the morning of April 9, 1865, was one of the last battles of the American Civil War (1861–1865). It was the final engagement of Confederate General in Chief, Rober ...

. Other Confederate armies followed suit and the war ended. The day after his surrender, Lee issued his Farewell Address to his army. Lee resisted calls by some officers to reject surrender and allow small units to melt away into the mountains, setting up a lengthy guerrilla war. He insisted the war was over and energetically campaigned for inter-sectional reconciliation. "So far from engaging in a war to perpetuate slavery, I am rejoiced that slavery is abolished. I believe it will be greatly for the interests of the South."

Summaries of Lee's Civil War battles

The following are summaries of Civil War campaigns and major battles where Robert E. Lee was the commanding officer:

Postbellum life

After the war, Lee was not arrested or punished (although he was indicted),, lecture given by historian John Reeves at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration on June 13, 2018 but he did lose the right to vote as well as some property. Lee's prewar family home, the Custis-Lee Mansion, was seized by Union forces during the war and turned into

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

, and his family was not compensated until more than a decade after his death. In 1866, Lee counseled southerners not to resume fighting, of which Grant said Lee was "setting an example of forced acquiescence so grudging and pernicious in its effects as to be hardly realized". Lee joined with Democrats in opposing the Radical Republicans, who demanded punitive measures against the South, distrusted the South's commitment to the abolition of slavery, and, indeed, distrusted the region's loyalty to the United States. Lee supported a system of free public schools for blacks but forthrightly opposed allowing blacks to vote: "My own opinion is that, at this time, they

lack Southerners Lack may refer to: Places * Lack, County Fermanagh, a townland in Northern Ireland * Lack, Poland * Łąck, Poland * Lack Township, Juniata County, Pennsylvania, US Other uses * Lack (surname) * Lack (manque), a term in Lacan's psychoanalyti ...

cannot vote intelligently, and that giving them the

ote OTE is the national telecommunications provider of Greece. OTE may also refer to: * Ocean thermal energy conversion, a renewable energy source * Oda of Haldensleben (978–1023), daughter of the Margrave of the North March, Theoderich * On-ta ...

would lead to a great deal of demagogism, and lead to embarrassments in various ways." Emory Thomas says Lee had become a suffering Christ-like icon for ex-Confederates. President Grant invited him to the White House in 1869, and he went. Nationally he became an icon of reconciliation between the North and South, and the reintegration of former Confederates into the national fabric. Robert E Lee with his Generals, 1869

Lee hoped to retire to a farm of his own, but he was too much a regional symbol to live in obscurity. From April to June 1865, he and his family resided in Richmond at the Stewart-Lee House. He accepted an offer to serve as the president of Washington College (now

) in

, and served from October 1865 until his death. The Trustees used his famous name in large-scale fund-raising appeals and Lee transformed Washington College into a leading Southern college, expanding its offerings significantly, adding programs in commerce and journalism, and incorporating the Lexington Law School. Lee was well liked by the students, which enabled him to announce an "

honor system An honor system or honesty system is a philosophical way of running a variety of endeavors based on trust, honor, and honesty. Something that operates under the rule of the "honor system" is usually something that does not have strictly enfo ...

" like that of West Point, explaining that "we have but one rule here, and it is that every student be a

gentleman A gentleman (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man) is any man of good and courteous conduct. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire and above a yeoman; by definition, the ra ...

." To speed up national reconciliation Lee recruited students from the North and made certain they were well treated on campus and in town. Several glowing appraisals of Lee's tenure as college president have survived, depicting the dignity and respect he commanded among all. Previously, most students had been obliged to occupy the campus dormitories, while only the most mature were allowed to live off-campus. Lee quickly reversed this rule, requiring most students to board off-campus, and allowing only the most mature to live in the dorms as a mark of privilege; the results of this policy were considered a success. A typical account by a professor there states that "the students fairly worshipped him, and deeply dreaded his displeasure; yet so kind, affable, and gentle was he toward them that all loved to approach him. ... No student would have dared to violate General Lee's expressed wish or appeal." While at Washington College, Lee told a colleague that the greatest mistake of his life was taking a military education. He also defended his father in a biographical sketch.

President Johnson's amnesty pardons

On May 29, 1865, President

issued a Proclamation of

Amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offici ...

and

Pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...

to persons who had participated in the

rebellion Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...

against the United States. There were fourteen excepted classes, though, and members of those classes had to make special application to the president. Lee sent an application to Grant and wrote to President Johnson on June 13, 1865: On October 2, 1865, the same day that Lee was inaugurated as president of

Washington College Washington College is a private liberal arts college in Chestertown, Maryland. Maryland granted Washington College its charter in 1782. George Washington supported the founding of the college by consenting to have the "College at Chester" name ...

, he signed his Amnesty Oath, thereby complying fully with the provision of Johnson's proclamation. Lee was not pardoned, nor was his citizenship restored. Three years later, on December 25, 1868, Johnson proclaimed a second amnesty which removed previous exceptions, such as the one that affected Lee.

Postwar politics

Lee, who had opposed secession and remained mostly indifferent to politics before the Civil War, supported President

's plan of Presidential

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

that took effect in 1865–66. However, he opposed the Congressional Republican program that took effect in 1867. In February 1866, he was called to testify before the Joint Congressional Committee on Reconstruction in Washington, where he expressed support for Johnson's plans for quick restoration of the former Confederate states, and argued that restoration should return, as far as possible, to the ''

status quo ante ''Status quo ante'' may refer to: * ''Status quo ante'' (phrase), Latin for "the way things were before" * Status Quo Ante (Hungary), Jewish communities in Hungary See also * ''Status quo ante bellum The term ''status quo ante bellum'' i ...

'' in the Southern states' governments (with the exception of slavery). Robert E Lee Edward Caledon Bruce 1865

Lee told the committee that "every one with whom I associate expresses kind feelings towards the freedmen. They wish to see them get on in the world, and particularly to take up some occupation for a living, and to turn their hands to some work." Lee also expressed his "willingness that blacks should be educated, and ... that it would be better for the blacks and for the whites." Lee forthrightly opposed allowing blacks to vote: "My own opinion is that, at this time, they

cannot vote intelligently, and that giving them the

would lead to a great deal of demagogism, and lead to embarrassments in various ways." In an interview in May 1866, Lee said: "The Radical party are likely to do a great deal of harm, for we wish now for good feeling to grow up between North and South, and the President, Mr. Johnson, has been doing much to strengthen the feeling in favor of the Union among us. The relations between the Negroes and the whites were friendly formerly, and would remain so if legislation be not passed in favor of the blacks, in a way that will only do them harm." In 1868, Lee's ally Alexander H. H. Stuart drafted a public letter of endorsement for the Democratic Party's

presidential campaign President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese fu ...

, in which

Horatio Seymour Horatio Seymour (May 31, 1810February 12, 1886) was an American politician. He served as Governor of New York from 1853 to 1854 and from 1863 to 1864. He was the Democratic Party nominee for president in the 1868 United States presidential elec ...

ran against Lee's old foe Republican Grant. Lee signed it along with thirty-one other ex-Confederates. The Democratic campaign, eager to publicize the endorsement, published the statement widely in newspapers. Their letter claimed paternalistic concern for the welfare of freed Southern blacks, stating that "The idea that the Southern people are hostile to the negroes and would oppress them, if it were in their power to do so, is entirely unfounded. They have grown up in our midst, and we have been accustomed from childhood to look upon them with kindness." However, it also called for the restoration of white political rule, arguing that "It is true that the people of the South, in common with a large majority of the people of the North and West, are, for obvious reasons, inflexibly opposed to any system of laws that would place the political power of the country in the hands of the negro race. But this opposition springs from no feeling of enmity, but from a deep-seated conviction that, at present, the negroes have neither the intelligence nor the other qualifications which are necessary to make them safe depositories of political power." In his public statements and private correspondence, Lee argued that a tone of reconciliation and patience would further the interests of white Southerners better than hotheaded antagonism to federal authority or the use of violence. Lee repeatedly expelled white students from Washington College for violent attacks on local black men, and publicly urged obedience to the authorities and respect for law and order. He privately chastised fellow ex-Confederates such as Davis and

Jubal Early Jubal Anderson Early (November 3, 1816 – March 2, 1894) was a Virginia lawyer and politician who became a Confederate general during the American Civil War. Trained at the United States Military Academy, Early resigned his U.S. Army commissio ...

for their frequent, angry responses to perceived Northern insults, writing in private to them as he had written to a magazine editor in 1865, that "It should be the object of all to avoid controversy, to allay passion, give full scope to reason and to every kindly feeling. By doing this and encouraging our citizens to engage in the duties of life with all their heart and mind, with a determination not to be turned aside by thoughts of the past and fears of the future, our country will not only be restored in material prosperity, but will be advanced in science, in virtue and in religion."

Illness and death

On September 28, 1870, Lee suffered a stroke. He died two weeks later, shortly after 9 a.m. on October 12, 1870, in

, from the effects of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

. According to one account, his last words on the day of his death, were "Tell

Hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct Summit (topography), summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally con ...

he ''must'' come up! Strike the tent", but this is debatable because of conflicting accounts and because Lee's stroke had resulted in

aphasia Aphasia is an inability to comprehend or formulate language because of damage to specific brain regions. The major causes are stroke and head trauma; prevalence is hard to determine but aphasia due to stroke is estimated to be 0.1–0.4% in th ...

, possibly rendering him unable to speak. At first no suitable coffin for the body could be located. The muddy roads were too flooded for anyone to get in or out of the town of Lexington. An undertaker had ordered three from Richmond that had reached Lexington, but due to unprecedented flooding from long-continued heavy rains, the caskets were washed down the

Maury River The Maury River is a tributary of the James River in west-central Virginia in the United States. It is part of the watershed of Chesapeake Bay. Course The Maury flows for its entire length in Rockbridge County. It is formed near Goshen by the ...

. Two neighborhood boys, C.G. Chittum and Robert E. Hillis, found one of the coffins that had been swept ashore. Undamaged, it was used for the General's body, though it was a bit short for him. As a result, Lee was buried without shoes. He was buried underneath the college chapel now known as

, where his body remains.

Legacy

Among the supporters of the Confederacy, Lee came to be even more revered after his surrender than he had been during the war, when

had been the great Confederate hero. In an 1874 address before the

Southern Historical Society The Southern Historical Society was an American organization founded to preserve archival materials related to the government of the Confederate States of America and to document the history of the Civil War.Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, Georgia,

Benjamin Harvey Hill Benjamin Harvey Hill (September 14, 1823 – August 16, 1882) was a politician whose career spanned state and national politics, and the Civil War. He served in the Georgia legislature in both houses. Although he had opposed secession, he st ...

described Lee in this way: By the end of the 19th century, Lee's popularity had spread to the North. Lee's admirers have pointed to his character and devotion to duty, and his occasional tactical successes in battles against a stronger foe. Military historians continue to pay attention to his battlefield tactics and maneuvering, though many think he should have designed better strategic plans for the Confederacy. He was not given full direction of the Southern war effort until late in the conflict. Historian

writes that at the end of his life, : "Lee had become the embodiment of the Southern cause. A generation later, he was a national hero. The 1890s and early 20th century witnessed the consolidation of white supremacy in the post-Reconstruction South and widespread acceptance in the North of Southern racial attitudes." Robert E. Lee has been commemorated on U.S. postage stamps at least five times, the first one being a commemorative stamp that also honored

, issued in 1936. A second "regular-issue" stamp was issued in 1955. He was commemorated with a 32-cent stamp issued in the American Civil War Issue of June 29, 1995. His horse Traveller is pictured in the background. Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia was commemorated on its 200th anniversary on November 23, 1948, with a 3-cent postage stamp. The central design is a view of the university, flanked by portraits of generals George Washington and Robert E. Lee. Lee was again commemorated on a commemorative stamp in 1970, along with Jefferson Davis and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, depicted on horseback on the 6-cent Stone Mountain Memorial commemorative issue, modeled after the actual Stone Mountain Memorial carving in Georgia. The stamp was issued on September 19, 1970, in conjunction with the dedication of the Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial in Georgia on May 9, 1970. The design of the stamp replicates the memorial, the largest high relief sculpture in the world. It is carved on the side of Stone Mountain 400 feet above the ground. Stone Mountain also led to Lee's appearance on a

commemorative coin Commemorative coins are coins issued to commemorate some particular event or issue with a distinct design with reference to the occasion on which they were issued. Many coins of this category serve as collectors items only, although some countries ...

, the 1925 Stone Mountain Memorial half dollar. During the 1920s and '30s dozens of specially designed half dollars were struck to raise money for various events and causes. This issue had a particularly wide distribution, with 1,314,709 minted. Unlike some of the other issues it remains a very common coin. In 1865, after the war, Lee was paroled and signed an

oath of allegiance An oath of allegiance is an oath whereby a subject or citizen acknowledges a duty of allegiance and swears loyalty to a monarch or a country. In modern republics, oaths are sworn to the country in general, or to the country's constitution. For ...

, asking to have his

citizenship of the United States Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...

restored. However, his application was not processed by Secretary of State

William Seward William Henry Seward (May 16, 1801 – October 10, 1872) was an American politician who served as United States Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869, and earlier served as governor of New York and as a United States Senator. A determined oppon ...

, a

radical Republican The Radical Republicans (later also known as " Stalwarts") were a faction within the Republican Party, originating from the party's founding in 1854, some 6 years before the Civil War, until the Compromise of 1877, which effectively ended Reco ...

and firm opponent of slavery, and as a result Lee did not receive a pardon and his citizenship was not restored.General Robert E. Lee's Parole and Citizenship
''Prologue'', Spring 2005, Vol. 37, No. 1. On January 30, 1975, Senate Joint Resolution 23, ''A joint resolution to restore posthumously full rights of citizenship to General R. E. Lee'' was introduced into the Senate by Senator

Harry F. Byrd Jr. Harry Flood Byrd Jr. (December 20, 1914 – July 30, 2013) was an American orchardist, newspaper publisher and politician. He served in the Senate of Virginia and then represented Virginia in the United States Senate, succeeding his father, Harr ...

(I-VA), the result of a five-year campaign to accomplish this. Proponents portrayed the lack of pardon as a mere clerical error. The resolution, which enacted Public Law 94–67, was passed, and the bill was signed by President

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

on August 5. Ten objecting Congressmen argued the resolution should include amnesty for Vietnam war draft dodgers, subsequently granted in 1977.

Monuments, memorials and commemorations

Lee opposed the construction of public memorials to Confederate rebellion on the grounds that they would prevent the healing of wounds inflicted during the war.Simon Romero
'The Lees Are Complex': Descendants Grapple With a Rebel General's Legacy
''New York Times'' (August 22, 2017). Nevertheless, after his death, he became an icon used by promoters of "

" mythology, who sought to romanticize the Confederate cause and strengthen

white supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White su ...

in the South. Later in the 20th century, particularly following the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

, historians reassessed Lee; his reputation fell based on his failure to support rights for

freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), abolitionism, emancipation (gra ...

after the war, and even his strategic choices as a military leader fell under scrutiny. Arlington House front view

Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial Arlington House is the historic family residence of Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate Army, and a national memorial in his honor serving as a museum, located in Arlington, Virginia. It is situated in the middle of Arlington National Ce ...

, also known as the Custis–Lee Mansion, is a

Greek revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

mansion in Arlington, Virginia, that was once Lee's home. It overlooks the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...

and the

National Mall The National Mall is a Landscape architecture, landscaped park near the Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institut ...

in Washington, D.C. During the Civil War, the grounds of the mansion were selected as the site of

, in part to ensure that Lee would never again be able to return to his home. The United States designated the mansion as a National Memorial to Lee in 1955, a mark of widespread respect for him in both the

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

In Richmond, Virginia, a Robert E. Lee Monument (Richmond, Virginia), large equestrian statue of Lee by French sculptor Jean Antonin Mercié was the centerpiece of Monument Avenue, along with four other statues of Confederates. This monument to Lee was unveiled on May 29, 1890; over 100,000 people attended this dedication. That has been described as "the day white Virginia stopped admiring Gen. Robert E. Lee and started worshiping him". The four other Confederate statues were removed in 2020, and the equestrian statue of Lee was removed on September 8, 2021 at the direction of the state government. Lee is also shown mounted on Traveller in Gettysburg National Military Park on top of the Virginia Monument; he is facing roughly in the direction of

. Lee's portrayal on a mural on Richmond's flood wall on the James River, considered offensive by some, was removed in the late 1990s, but currently is back on the flood wall. In

's Wyman Park, a large double equestrian statue of Lee and Jackson is located directly across from the Baltimore Museum of Art. Designed by Laura Gardin Fraser and dedicated in 1948, Lee is depicted astride his horse Traveller next to Stonewall Jackson who is mounted on "Little Sorrel." Architect John Russell Pope created the base, which was dedicated on the anniversary of the eve of the Battle of Chancellorsville. The Baltimore area of Maryland is also home to a large nature park called Robert E. Lee Memorial Park. Stone mountain closeup mosaic crop

A statue of Robert E. Lee was one of the two statues (the other is George Washington) representing Virginia in National Statuary Hall, Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol, U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. It was removed from the Capitol on December 21, 2020, after a state commission voted to replace it with a statue of Civil Rights activist Barbara Rose Johns. Lee is one of the figures depicted in bas-relief carved into Stone Mountain near

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. Accompanying him on horseback in the relief are Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis. The birthday of Robert E. Lee is celebrated or commemorated in several states. In Texas, he is celebrated as part of Confederate Memorial Day, Confederate Heroes Day on January 19, Lee's birthday. In Alabama and Mississippi, his birthday is celebrated on the same day as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, while in Georgia, this occurred on the day after Thanksgiving before 2016, when the state stopped officially recognizing the holiday. In Virginia, Lee–Jackson Day was celebrated on the Friday preceding Martin Luther King, Jr. Day which is the third Monday in January, until 2020, when the Virginia legislature eliminated the holiday, making Election Day a state holiday instead. One United States college and one junior college are named for Lee:

in Lexington, Virginia; and Lee College in Baytown, Texas, respectively.

at Washington and Lee University marks Lee's final resting place. Throughout the South, many primary and secondary schools were also named for him as well as private schools such as Robert E. Lee Academy in Bishopville, South Carolina. Lee is featured on the 1925 Stone Mountain Memorial half dollar. File:Lee r.jpg, ''Robert E. Lee (Valentine), Robert E. Lee'', National Statuary Hall, Washington, D.C. Edward Virginius Valentine, sculptor, 1909 File:Robert-E-Lee-by-Sievers.jpg, Robert E Lee, Virginia Monument, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Frederick William Sievers, sculptor, 1917 File:Monument Ave Robert E. Lee.jpg, Robert E. Lee Monument (Richmond, Virginia), Robert E. Lee Monument by Mercié, Monument Avenue, Richmond, Virginia, 1890 File:Lee4.JPG, Statue of Lee at the Confederate War Memorial (Dallas), Confederate War Memorial, Dallas, 1896 File:Confederate Monument in Murray cropped.JPG, Statue of Lee in Murray, Kentucky File:Lee Chapel.jpg,

on the campus of

In 1862, the newly formed Confederate Navy purchased a 642-ton iron-hulled side-wheel gunboat, built in at Glasgow, Scotland, and gave her the name of CSS Robert E. Lee, CSS ''Robert E. Lee'' in honor of this Confederate General. During the next year, she became one of the South's most famous Blockade runners of the American Civil War, Confederate blockade runners, successfully making more than twenty runs through the Union blockade. The Mississippi River steamboat ''Robert E. Lee (steamboat), Robert E. Lee'' was named for Lee after the Civil War. It was the participant in an 1870 St. Louis – New Orleans race with the ''Natchez VI'', which was featured in a Currier and Ives lithograph. The ''Robert E. Lee'' won the race. The steamboat inspired the 1912 song ''Waiting for the Robert E. Lee'' by Lewis F. Muir and L. Wolfe Gilbert. In more modern times, the , a built in 1958, was named for Lee, as was the M3 Lee tank, produced in 1941 and 1942. The Commonwealth of Virginia issues an optional license plate honoring Lee, making reference to him as 'The Virginia Gentleman'. In February 2014, a road at Fort Bliss previously named for Lee was renamed to honor Buffalo Soldiers. A recent biographer, Jonathan Horn, outlines the unsuccessful efforts in Washington to memorialize Lee in the naming of the Arlington Memorial Bridge after both Grant and Lee.

Unite the Right rally

In February 2017, the City Council of Charlottesville, Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, voted to remove a Robert Edward Lee (sculpture), sculpture of Lee, who has no historical link to the city, as well as one of Stonewall Jackson. This was temporarily stayed by court action, though the city did rename Lee Park: first to Emancipation Park, then later to Market Street Park. The prospect of the statues being removed and the parks being renamed brought many out-of-towners, described as white supremacist and alt-right, to Charlottesville in the Unite the Right rally of August 2017, in which 3 people died. As of July 2021, the statue Robert E. Lee Monument (Charlottesville, Virginia)#Removal, has been permanently removed. Robert E Lee Stain Glass

Several other statues and monuments to Lee were removed in the aftermath of the incident, including: *A -tall Robert E. Lee Monument (New Orleans, Louisiana), monument in the center of Lee Circle (formerly Tivoli Circle) in New Orleans. Installed in 1884, it featured a bronze statue of Lee on a marble column. Former Confederate soldier George Washington Cable described it in a tribute: "His arms are folded on that breast that never knew fear, and his calm, dauntless gaze meets the morning sun as it rises." The statue was removed on May 19, 2017, the last of four Confederate monuments in New Orleans to be taken down. *A stained-glass window in the Washington National Cathedral, showing Lee on horseback at Chancellorsville, as well as one in honor of Stonewall Jackson.Michelle Boorstein
Washington National Cathedral to remove stained glass windows honoring Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson
''Washington Post'' (September 6, 2017). Sponsored by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, they were installed in 1953 and removed in September 2017. The cathedral plans to keep the windows and eventually display them in historical context. *A bust of Lee in the Hall of Fame for Great Americans (the first Hall of Fame in the United States, completed 1900), in what is now Bronx Community College. *Statue of Robert E. Lee (Austin, Texas), A bronze statue of Lee which had been on display at the University of Texas at Austin, and Robert E. Lee (Proctor), another, with his horse Traveller, in Robert E. Lee Park in Dallas.

Biographies

's Pulitzer prize-winning four-volume ''R. E. Lee: A Biography'' (1936), which was for a long period considered the definitive work on Lee, downplayed his involvement in slavery and emphasized Lee as a virtuous person. Eric Foner, who describes Freeman's volume as a "hagiography", notes that on the whole, Freeman "displayed little interest in Lee's relationship to slavery. The index to his four volumes contained 22 entries for 'devotion to duty', 19 for 'kindness', 53 for Lee's celebrated horse, Traveller (horse), Traveller. But 'slavery', 'slave emancipation' and 'slave insurrection' together received five. Freeman observed, without offering details, that slavery in Virginia represented the system 'at its best'. He ignored the postwar testimony of Lee's former slave Wesley Norris about the brutal treatment to which he had been subjected." More recent biographies offer a broader variety of perspectives. Thomas L. Connelly’s ''The Marble Man: Robert E. Lee and His Image in American Society'' (1977) was an iconoclastic revision of Lee's mythical status in the South. ''Robert E. Lee: A Biography'' (1995) by Emory M. Thomas attempted a "post-revisionist" compromise between the traditional and more recent views. ''Robert E. Lee: A Life'' (2021) by Allen C. Guelzo focuses on a study of Lee's character.

Dates of rank

* § Breveted for conduct in the

* † Breveted for conduct in Battles of Contreras and Churubusco * ‡ Breveted for conduct in Battle of Chapultepec

In popular culture

Lee is a main character in the Shaara Family novels ''The Killer Angels'' (1974), ''Gods and Generals (novel), Gods and Generals'' (1996), and ''The Last Full Measure (novel), The Last Full Measure'' (2000), as well as the film adaptations of ''Gettysburg (1993 film), Gettysburg'' (1993) and ''Gods and Generals (film), Gods and Generals'' (2003). He is played by Martin Sheen in the former and by Lee's descendant Robert Duvall in the latter. Lee is portrayed as a hero in the historical children's novel ''Lee and Grant at Appomattox'' (1950) by MacKinlay Kantor. His part in the Civil War is told from the perspective of his horse in Richard Adams's book ''Traveller (novel), Traveller'' (1988). Lee is an obvious subject for American Civil War alternate histories. Ward Moore's ''Bring the Jubilee'' (1953), MacKinlay Kantor's ''If the South Had Won the Civil War'' (1960), and Harry Turtledove's ''The Guns of the South'' (1992), all have Lee ending up as president of a victorious Confederacy and freeing the slaves (or laying the groundwork for the slaves to be freed in a later decade). Although Moore and Kantor's novels relegate him to a set of passing references, Lee is more of a main character in Turtledove's ''Guns''. He is also the prime character of Turtledove's "Lee at the Alamo". Turtledove's "War Between the Provinces" series is an allegory of the Civil War told in the language of fairy tales, with Lee appearing as a knight named "Duke Edward of Arlington". Lee is also a knight in "The Charge of Lee's Brigade" in ''Alternate Generals'' volume 1, written by Turtledove's friend S. M. Stirling and featuring Lee, whose Colony of Virginia, Virginia is still a loyal British Empire, British colony, fighting for the Queen Victoria, Crown against the Russian Empire, Russians in Crimean War, Crimea. In Lee Allred's "East of Appomattox" in ''Alternate Generals III, Alternate Generals'' volume 3, Lee is the Confederate Minister to London circa 1868, desperately seeking help for a CSA which has turned out poorly suited to independence. Robert Skimin's ''Grey Victory'' features Lee as a supporting character preparing to run for the presidency in 1867. In Connie Willis' 1987 novel ''Lincoln's Dreams'', a research assistant meets a young woman who dreams about the Civil War from Robert E. Lee's point of view. The Dodge Charger featured in the CBS television series ''The Dukes of Hazzard'' (1979–1985) was named General Lee (car), The General Lee. In The Dukes of Hazzard (film), the 2005 film based on this series, the car is driven past a statue of Lee, while the car's occupants salute him.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Historiography

* Foner, Eric. "The Making and the Breaking of the Legend of Robert E. Lee"
''New York Times'' Aug 28, 2017

Primary sources

Original Historical Letters: Lincoln Refuses Lee's Armistice
Shapell Manuscript Foundation

– A chronicle of the 3-day battle, it also touches on Lee's tactical strategies during the American Civil War.
Correspondences of Robert E. Lee during the American Civil War
– held in the Walter Havighurst Special Collections, Miami University * * *
Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Emory University
Robert E. Lee collection, 1835–1869

Monuments and memorials

University Chapel at Washington and Lee University where Robert E. Lee is buried
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Robert E. Robert E. Lee, 1807 births 1870 deaths 19th century in South Carolina 19th-century American Episcopalians 19th-century American people American military engineers American military leaders American military personnel of the Mexican–American War American people of English descent American planters American slave owners Army of Northern Virginia Bland family of Virginia Carter family of Virginia Confederate States Army full generals Fitzhugh family of Virginia Hall of Fame for Great Americans inductees History of the Southern United States 19th-century American military personnel Deaths from pneumonia in Virginia Lee family of Virginia Members of the Aztec Club of 1847 People from Arlington County, Virginia People from Lexington, Virginia People from Westmoreland County, Virginia People of the Reconstruction Era People of Virginia in the American Civil War Presidents of Washington and Lee University Randolph family of Virginia Recipients of American presidential pardons Stateless people Stone Mountain Superintendents of the United States Military Academy United States Army colonels United States Military Academy alumni Virginia Democrats Virginia Whigs Washington and Lee University people Witnesses to John Brown's execution Southern Historical Society