Stephen Dill Lee (September 22, 1833 – May 28, 1908) was an American officer in the Confederate Army, politician and first
president of Mississippi State University from 1880 to 1899. He served as
lieutenant general
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...
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 ...
in the
Eastern and
Western theaters of 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 ...
.
Early life and education
Stephen Dill Lee was born in
Charleston
Charleston most commonly refers to:
* Charleston, South Carolina
* Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital
* Charleston (dance)
Charleston may also refer to:
Places Australia
* Charleston, South Australia
Canada
* Charleston, Newfoundlan ...
,
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
on September 22, 1833, the son of Thomas Lee and his wife Caroline Allison.
[Wakelyn, 282.] Lee was raised in
Abbeville, South Carolina
Abbeville is a city and county seat of Abbeville County, in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It is located west of Columbia and south of Greenville. Its population was 5,237 at the 2010 census. Settled by French Huguenot settlers, it was ...
. He possibly volunteered for service with 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 ...
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 ...
.
[Eicher, p. 345.] Lee entered 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 ...
at
West Point in 1850, graduating four years later the 17th out of 46 cadets.
On July 1, 1854, Lee was commissioned a
second lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank.
Australia
The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...
in the
4th Infantry Regiment. Lee was promoted to the rank of
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 ...
on October 31, 1856. He served as the regiment's
quartermaster from September 18, 1857, to February 8, 1861.
[ He was served as ]adjutant
Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...
of Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
as well as his regiment's quartermaster in 1857 during the Seminole Wars. From 1858 to 1861 he was assigned to the western frontier
The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...
, posted in the Kansas Territory
The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Slave and ...
and then in the newly created Dakota Territory
The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of No ...
.[ Lee then resigned his U.S. Army commission twelve days later to enter the Confederate service.][Warner, 183.]
American Civil War
After resigning from the U.S. Army in 1861, Lee joined the Union army before going undercover in the Confederate forces as a 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 ...
in the South Carolina militia.
On March 6 he was assigned as the assistant adjutant general and assistant inspector general
An inspector general is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is "inspectors general".
Australia
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (Australia) (IGIS) is an independent statutory off ...
of the Forces at Charleston, and on March 16 he was appointed a captain in the Regular Confederate States Artillery. Beginning on April 11 Lee was aide-de-camp to Brig. Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard
Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard (May 28, 1818 - February 20, 1893) was a Confederate general officer of Louisiana Creole descent who started the American Civil War by leading the attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. Today, he is commonly ...
.[ That same day he delivered an ultimatum from Beauregard to ]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 ...
Maj. Maj may refer to:
* Major, a rank of commissioned officer in many military forces
* ''Máj'', a romantic Czech poem by Karel Hynek Mácha
* ''Máj'' (literary almanac), a Czech literary almanac published in 1858
* Marshall Islands International Ai ...
Robert Anderson, demanding the evacuation of Fort Sumter, which was refused and after Battle of Fort Sumter
The Battle of Fort Sumter (April 12–13, 1861) was the bombardment of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina by the South Carolina militia. It ended with the surrender by the United States Army, beginning the American Civil War.
Follo ...
the fort fell on April 14, precipitating the start of the Civil War.[ According to Carl Sandburg (''Abraham Lincoln'', vol. 3, pp. 208–209), Captain Lee and three other men with full power from Beauregard to decide what to answer Anderson heard him say he would be starved out in a few days. Anderson offered to "evacuate Fort Sumter in 3 days and avoid the useless effusion of blood." They could have taken Anderson's reply back to Beauregard, have it telegraphed to Jefferson Davis to see if they would wait three days more to see if Anderson would surrender after his food was gone. "It seemed almost as though the 4 men had decided before they came what they would say, which was: "Beauregard will open fire on Fort Sumter in one hour from this time." This probably was not, as it seems, the last opportunity to avoid war because "Sumpter was a symbol, a Chip on the Shoulder." It was "framed" by Lincoln and the South was eager to meet the challenge. (ibid, p. 206) Sandburg calls this war "the Second American Revolution." (ibid, p. vii, p. 26). In the end, Lee cleared South Carolina Confederate soldiers to fire upon the fort, effectively beginning the Civil War.
When Beauregard received permission to organize two regular companies of artillery on May 11, Lee was assigned to command one of them, the other went to Capt. ]Charles Sidney Winder
Charles Sidney Winder (October 18, 1829 – August 9, 1862), was a career United States Army officer and a Confederate general officer in the American Civil War. He was killed in action during the Battle of Cedar Mountain.
Early life and care ...
. Lee's company was assigned to Castle Pinckney until May 30, when it was sent to Fort Palmetto
Fort Palmetto is a historic artillery battery located at Christ Church Parish, Hamlin Sound, Charleston County, South Carolina. It was built in late 1861, and was at the easternmost end of the Christ Church Parish line of defense. At the end of the ...
on Cole's Island, arriving June 1.
In June 1861 Lee resumed his position in the South Carolina Militia, and then in November he was promoted to the rank of major in the Confederate Army.[ Lee commanded a light battery in ]Hampton's Legion
Hampton's Legion was an American Civil War military unit of the Confederate States of America, organized and partially financed by wealthy South Carolina planter Wade Hampton III. Initially composed of infantry, cavalry, and artillery battalions, ...
in Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's army later in 1861. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...
in March 1862, and was the artillery chief for Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws
Lafayette McLaws ( ; January 15, 1821 – July 24, 1897) was a United States Army officer and a Confederate general in the American Civil War. He served at Antietam and Fredericksburg, where Robert E. Lee praised his defense of Marye's Heights, ...
's division of the Army of Northern Virginia from April to June 17, and then in the same role under Brig. Gen. John B. Magruder
John Bankhead Magruder (May 1, 1807 – February 18, 1871) was an American and Confederate military officer. A graduate of West Point, Magruder served with distinction during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848) and was a prominent Confede ...
until July.[
Lee participated in the 1862 Peninsula Campaign, notably during the Battle of Seven Pines on May 31 and June 1, the ]Battle of Savage's Station
The Battle of Savage's Station took place on June 29, 1862, in Henrico County, Virginia, as the fourth of the Seven Days Battles ( Peninsula Campaign) of the American Civil War. The main body of the Union Army of the Potomac began a general withdr ...
on June 29, during the Seven Days Battles from June 25 to July 1, and the Battle of Malvern Hill
The Battle of Malvern Hill, also known as the Battle of Poindexter's Farm, was fought on July 1, 1862, between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, led by Gen. Robert E. Lee, and the Union Army of the Potomac under Maj. Gen. George B. Mc ...
also on July 1. He briefly served in the 4th Virginia Cavalry
The 4th Virginia Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment raised in Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fought mostly with the Army of Northern Virginia.
History
The Virginia 4th Cavalry comp ...
in July, was promoted to colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
on July 9, and assumed command of an artillery battalion of Maj. Gen. 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 ...
's Corps that same month.[ Under Longstreet, Lee fought in the Second Battle of Manassas that August and then ]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 ...
on September 17, where his guns played a prominent role in defending the ground near the famed Dunker Church. The following is a summary of Lee's involvement at Sharpsburg:
On November 6, 1862, Lee was promoted to the rank of brigadier general
Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...
. Leaving the artillery branch, Lee briefly led an infantry division during the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou from December 26–29, where he repulsed the attacks of Union Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman. Beginning in January 1863 he led a brigade in the Department of Mississippi & Eastern Louisiana until that May, when he was ordered to take command of Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton
John Clifford Pemberton (August 10, 1814 – July 13, 1881) was a career United States Army officer who fought in the Seminole Wars and with distinction during the Mexican–American War. He resigned his commission to serve as a Confederate Stat ...
's artillery defending access to the Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
at Vicksburg Vicksburg most commonly refers to:
* Vicksburg, Mississippi, a city in western Mississippi, United States
* The Vicksburg Campaign, an American Civil War campaign
* The Siege of Vicksburg, an American Civil War battle
Vicksburg is also the name of ...
, 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 ...
. Lee fought notably during the Battle of Champion Hill
The Battle of Champion Hill of May 16, 1863, was the pivotal battle in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War (1861–1865). Union Army commander Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Tennessee pursued the retreating Confe ...
on May 16, where he was wounded in a shoulder.[ Military historian Jon L. Wakelyn praises Lee's performance in this action, saying "he was the hero of the battle of Champion Hills."][
Lee served throughout the 1863 Siege of Vicksburg until Pemberton's surrender to Maj. Gen. ]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 ...
on July 4, becoming a prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...
. While on parole, he was promoted to the rank of major general
Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...
on August 3, 1863. Beginning on August 16 Lee was assigned to command the cavalry of Department of Mississippi & Eastern Louisiana, and he was officially exchanged on October 13. During that time, General Joseph E. Johnston sent Lee's small cavalry force of 2,500 men to Tennessee to reinforce General Braxton Bragg
Braxton Bragg (March 22, 1817 – September 27, 1876) was an American army officer during the Second Seminole War and Mexican–American War and Confederate general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, serving in the Weste ...
, who was beginning to lay siege to Chattanooga
Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...
. Lee rode from northern Mississippi into northern Alabama, where he met Confederate cavalry commander Joseph Wheeler who had just conducted a raid through central Tennessee and convinced Lee his plans would be hopeless against the great number of Union troops in the region.
Lee was then given command of the Department of Alabama & East Louisiana on May 9, 1864.[ Troops in Lee's department under Maj. Gen. ]Nathan B. Forrest
Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821October 29, 1877) was a prominent Confederate Army general during the American Civil War and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan from 1867 to 1869. Before the war, Forrest amassed substantial wealth ...
scored a victory at the Battle of Brice's Crossroads
The Battle of Brice's Cross Roads, also known as the Battle of Tishomingo Creek or the Battle of Guntown, was fought on Friday, June 10, 1864, near Baldwyn, Mississippi, then part of the Confederate States of America. A Federal expedition fro ...
on June 10, and seriously threatened Union supply lines supporting Sherman in Georgia. Lee personally reinforced Forrest but the combined Confederate force was defeated at the Battle of Tupelo, ensuring the safety of Sherman's supply lines.
Lee was promoted to lieutenant general
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...
on June 23, 1864, making Lee the youngest at this grade in 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 ...
. On July 26 he was assigned to lead the Second Corps, Army of Tennessee
{{Infobox military unit
, unit_name = Second Corps, Army of Tennessee
, image =
, caption = Battle Flag under Bragg (left)Battle Flag under Breckinridge (right)
, dates = April 1862 – April 26, 1865
, country = {{Flag, Conf ...
, commanded by John Bell Hood. During the Atlanta Campaign, Lee fought at the Battle of Ezra Church
The Battle of Ezra Church, also known as the Battle of Ezra Chapel and the Battle of the Poor House (July 28, 1864) saw Union Army forces under Major General William T. Sherman fight Confederate States Army troops led by Lieutenant General John ...
on July 28 and was in command of the extended line in south west Atlanta in August 1864. His troops, with the attachment of William B. Bate
William Brimage Bate (October 7, 1826March 9, 1905) was a planter and slaveholder, Confederate officer, and politician in Tennessee. After the Reconstruction era, he served as the 23rd governor of Tennessee from 1883 to 1887. He was elected to th ...
's Division and a Brigade of Georgia militia, defeated Schofield's movement to break the railroad lines at East Point at the Battle of Utoy Creek. For this action he published a general order recognizing Bate's Division for defeating the attack of the combined U.S. XXIII Corps and XIV Corps 14 Corps, 14th Corps, Fourteenth Corps, or XIV Corps may refer to:
* XIV Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars
* XIV Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial German Army prior to and during World ...
. He was also in command of his corps at the Battle of Jonesborough
The Battle of Jonesborough (August 31–September 1, 1864) was fought between Union Army forces led by William Tecumseh Sherman and Confederate forces under William J. Hardee during the Atlanta Campaign in the American Civil War. On the first ...
on August 31 and September 1. Lee fought in the Franklin-Nashville Campaign and was severely wounded in the foot at the Battle of Spring Hill on November 29, but did not give up the command until an organized rearguard took over the post of danger.[ In regard to the confused and disappointing fight at Spring Hill, Lee considered it "one of the most disgraceful and lamentable occurrences of the war, one that is in my opinion unpardonable." He then participated in the Battle of Franklin on November 30. Lee's men arrived at Franklin at 4:00 pm with orders from Hood to support ]Benjamin F. Cheatham
Benjamin Franklin "Frank" Cheatham (October 20, 1820 – September 4, 1886) was a Tennessee planter, California gold miner, and a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He served in the Army of Tennessee, inflicting ...
's force if necessary. Meeting with Cheatham, Lee decided the situation was dire and attacked at 9:00 pm, taking serious losses from the Union position and from Confederate artillery as well. Following the campaign's Battle of Nashville
The Battle of Nashville was a two-day battle in the Franklin-Nashville Campaign that represented the end of large-scale fighting west of the coastal states in the American Civil War. It was fought at Nashville, Tennessee, on December 15–16, 1 ...
on December 15–16, Lee kept his troops closed up and well in hand despite the general rout of the rest of the Confederate forces. For three consecutive days, they would form the fighting rearguard of the otherwise disintegrated Army of Tennessee. Lee was wounded in the foot by shell fragments on December 17.[
Upon recovery, Lee joined Gen. Joseph E. Johnston during the 1865 Carolinas Campaign. On February 9 he married Regina Harrison, with whom he had one child,][ a son named ]Blewett Harrison Lee
Blewett Harrison Lee (March 1, 1867 – April 18, 1951) was an American legal scholar and corporate attorney who taught at the Northwestern University Law School and University of Chicago Law School, and served as general counsel to the Illinois ...
. When the remnants of Johnston's Army of Tennessee was reorganized in early 1865, Lee was left without a command matching his rank, and his commission as a lieutenant general was canceled on February 23; however, on March 23 he was appointed a "temporary" lieutenant general. Lee surrendered at that rank with Johnston's forces in April and was paroled on May 1.[
]
Later life
After the war Lee settled in Columbus, Mississippi
Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Lowndes County, on the eastern border of Mississippi, United States, located primarily east, but also north and northeast of the Tombigbee River, which is also part of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterwa ...
, which was his wife's home state and during the greater part of the war his own territorial command; there, he devoted himself to planting. He served in the Mississippi State Senate
The Mississippi Senate is the upper house of the Mississippi Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The Senate, along with the lower Mississippi House of Representatives, convenes at the Mississippi State Capitol ...
in 1878, and was the first president of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Mississippi from 1880 to 1899. The school was established under his leadership as a segregated institution. Lee served as a delegate to the Mississippi Constitutional Convention of 1890. As Michael Newton points out, “The convention’s final product, imposed on Mississippi without a popular vote, established a two-dollar poll tax, mandated two years’ residency in the state and one year in the would-be voter’s district, and denied ballots to convicted felons or tax-defaulters. Section 244 further required that any voter must “be able to read any section of the constitution of this State; or he shall be able to understand the same when read to him, or give a reasonable interpretation thereof.” The net effect, by 1892, was to remove 138,400 blacks and 52,000 whites from the state’s electoral rolls.” The official constitutional record of the 1890 convention reads that “It is the manifest intention of this Convention to secure to the State of Mississippi ‘white supremacy”. In 1895 Lee was the first chairman of the Vicksburg National Park Association and was instrumental in the congressional passage of the law creating the national park in 1899. He also was an active member (and from 1904 commander-in-chief) of the United Confederate Veterans
The United Confederate Veterans (UCV, or simply Confederate Veterans) was an American Civil War veterans' organization headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was organized on June 10, 1889, by ex-soldiers and sailors of the Confederate Sta ...
society. On March 2, 1900, Lee was president of the Mississippi Historical Society who under an act of the state legislature of that date, was given authority to appoint the Mississippi Historical Commission, a forerunner of the state agency to act as custodian of the official records and historical materials of the state. In 1902, Lee became a trustee of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) is a state agency. It is the official archive of the Mississippi Government.
Location
The Mississippi Department of Archives and History is located in Jackson. The William F. Winter Archives ...
.
In 1887 Lee wrote an article for the first volume of ''Battles and Leaders of the Civil War'', and he published ''Sherman's Meridian Expedition and Sooy Smith's Raid to West Point'' in 1880. Lee died in 1908 in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and was buried in Friendship Cemetery located in Columbus.[ He fell sick after giving a speech to former Union soldiers from ]Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
and Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
, four of the regiments whom he had faced in battle 45 years earlier at Vicksburg. The cause of his death was attributed to a cerebral hemorrhage
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...
. At the time Lee was also planning the next reunion of the United Confederate Veterans
The United Confederate Veterans (UCV, or simply Confederate Veterans) was an American Civil War veterans' organization headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was organized on June 10, 1889, by ex-soldiers and sailors of the Confederate Sta ...
, held on June 9, 1908.
Legacy
Based on Lee's familiarity with the three major arms of a Civil War-era army, military historian Ezra J. Warner summarized him as an able and versatile corps commander, writing: "Despite his youth and comparative lack of experience, Lee's prior close acquaintanceship with all three branches of the serviceartillery, cavalry, and infantryrendered him one of the most capable corps commanders in the army."[Warner, 184.] He was entered into the Mississippi Hall of Fame.
Lee is also memorialized with a statue by Henry Hudson Kitson
Henry Hudson Kitson (April 9, 1863, 1864 or 1865 – June 26, 1947) was an English-American sculptor who sculpted many representations of American military heroes.
Romania's Queen Elisabeth knighted him after he sculpted a marble bust of h ...
in the Vicksburg National Military Park dedicated in 1909, as well busts in the center of the Drill Field at Mississippi State University
Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Unive ...
and Friendship Cemetery in Columbus. Lee Hall at Mississippi State University is also named in his honor. Some colleagues have called him 'the father of industrial education in the South'. The Lt. Gen. Stephen D. Lee Camp No. 545 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Vicksburg, the Stephen D. Lee's Caledonia Rifles Camp No. 2140 in Caledonia and the Captain Stephen D. Lee Chapter No. 301 of the Military Order of the Stars and Bars in Charleston, SC were named in his honor.
On April 25, 1906, in a speech given at New Orleans, Louisiana, Lee gave the following charge to the Sons of Confederate Veterans:
Lee not only promoted the Lost Cause narrative of Southern motivations for succession in public, but as chairman of the United Confederate Veterans' Historical Committee he also worked to make sure it was taught in Southern schools. Lee was also unabashedly racist. In a speech at the Columbus courthouse on June 15, 1889, Lee stated, “The question of white supremacy is no issue. That battle has been fought some time ago and won, that the white people should rule, not this State alone but the whole South.” Lee advocated for white women’s suffrage in Mississippi, but historians argue that this was mostly to ensure the continuation of white domination of the vote. On this issue, Hattaway quotes Lee as follows: “We must retain our representation in Congress and the electoral college. We either submit to negro rule, adopt the shotgun policy or change our franchise laws.” Elsewhere, Lee is recorded as stating, “Let us not fool ourselves. We know that the negro appreciates, and is proud of, his right to vote. He will undertake more trouble, and go further, to exercise this privilege than the white man”. Believing that the US Congress would insist on the right of black citizens to vote Lee's solution was not to outright deny the black male citizen the vote – although he did also promote the Jim Crow laws of the 1890 conventionrather he sought to ensure that the white citizens would always outvote the black citizens of the South by granting the taxpaying white women the right to vote as well.
See also
* List of American Civil War generals
* List of commanders-in-chief of the United Confederate Veterans
* List of people from Charleston, South Carolina
* John Bell Hood, youngest Confederate full general.
Footnotes
References
*Dupuy, Trevor N., Curt Johnson, and David L. Bongard. ''Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography
''The Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography'' () was written by Trevor N. Dupuy, Curt Johnson and David Bongard, and was issued in 1992 by HarperCollins Publishers. It contains more than three thousand short biographies of military figures fr ...
''. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. .
*Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher
David John Eicher (born August 7, 1961) is an American editor, writer, and popularizer of astronomy and space. He has been editor-in-chief of ''Astronomy'' magazine since 2002. He is author, coauthor, or editor of 23 books on science and American ...
, ''Civil War High Commands.'' Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. .
*Garrison, Webb. ''Strange Battles of the Civil War''. Nashville, TN: Cumberland House, 2001. .
* Johnson, Robert Underwood, and Clarence C. Buel, eds
''Battles and Leaders of the Civil War''
4 vols. New York: Century Co., 1884–1888. .
* Johnston, Joseph Eggleston, "Narrative of Military Operations, Directed During the Late War Between the States." New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1874.
*Sifakis, Stewart. ''Who Was Who in the Civil War.'' New York: Facts On File, 1988. .
*Wakelyn, Jon L. ''Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy''. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1977. .
* Warner, Ezra J. ''Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders.'' Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. .
*Weinert, Richard P., Jr. ''The Confederate Regular Army''. Shippensburg, PA: White Mane Publishing, 1991. .
*Winkler, H. Donald. ''Civil War Goats and Scapegoats''. Nashville, TN: Cumberland House Publishing, 2008. .
* Wright, Marcus J.
''General Officers of the Confederate Army: Officers of the Executive Departments of the Confederate States, Members of the Confederate Congress by States''
Mattituck, NY: J. M. Carroll & Co., 1983. . First published 1911 by Neale Publishing Co.
nytimes.com
''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' newspaper obituary for Lee, May 29, 1908.
genbarksdale.org
General William Barksdale Camp 1220 site biography of Lee.
aotw.org
Antietam on the Web site biography of Lee.
*
Further reading
* Hattaway, Herman. ''General Stephen D. Lee''. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1976. .
External links
at CivilWarHome.com
* ttp://www.civilwarhome.com/leevicksburgor.htm Brig. Gen. Stephen D. Lee's Official Report (OR) for the Siege of Vicksburgat CivilWarHome.com
Series 573 - Vicksburg National Military Park Photographs
at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) is a state agency. It is the official archive of the Mississippi Government.
Location
The Mississippi Department of Archives and History is located in Jackson. The William F. Winter Archives ...
*
Stephen D. Lee
at The Historical Marker Database (HMdb.org)
at ExploreSouthernHistory.com
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Stephen D.
1833 births
1908 deaths
19th-century American educators
19th-century American historians
19th-century American male writers
19th-century American politicians
American Civil War prisoners of war
American male non-fiction writers
American planters
Burials in Mississippi
Confederate States Army lieutenant generals
Farmers from Mississippi
Historians from Mississippi
Military personnel from Charleston, South Carolina
Mississippi state senators
People of South Carolina in the American Civil War
Politicians from Columbus, Mississippi
Presidents of Mississippi State University
United States Army officers
United States Military Academy alumni