Robert E. Lee was born on January 19, 1807, a Stratford in Westmoreland County. Lee entered West Point in 1825, continuing the military tradition of his father, and graduated second in his class in 1829. He served various military posts, including Georgia, Virginia, New York, Texas, and Mexico. Lee�s reputation increased in name over the next 23 years, and in 1952 he became the superintendent at West Point. Lee commanded the Department of Texas from February 1860 to February 1861. It was during this time that the secession movement began, and Lee had to make his point clear as a Whig devoted to the Union and as a Virginian. He did not agree with the political and economic arguments for the South�s independence, at that point. Unfortunately, when pressed to make a decision of whether he would side with the United States or with Virginia, he realized that he would not give up his home and his family traditions to the North when the time came for it.

Lee was offered field command of the United States Army, on April 18, 1861. . The following day, he got news that Virginia has seceded from the Union and he gave his letter of resignation to the United States on April 9, 1865. Lee accepted the position of commander of Virginia forces, three days letter. From then on, Lee�s name was officially linked to the Confederate cause. On May 31, 1862, at the age of 55, Lee was assigned to lead the troops, which he aptly named �The Army of Northern Virginia.� He worked closely with Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, and J. E. B. Stuart during the War. He is mostly famous because of his wins in the Battle of the Second Bull Run, and the Battle of Chancellorsville. On February 6, 1865, he became the General-in-Chief of the entire Confederate Armies. This position was short-lived, however, as Lee had to give up to General Grant, at the Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. . . Drawing an end to the Civil War.

Lee went back to his home in Richmond. He served as the President of Washington College in Lexington, before dying on October 12, 1870.
Main Page