Robert Edward Lee, 1807-1870
Robert Edward Lee was born on January 19, 1807, in Stratford, Virginia, the son of Lighthorse Harry Lee, and was educated at the U.S. Military Academy. He graduated second in his class in 1829, receiving a commission as second lieutenant in the engineers. He became first lieutenant in 1836, and captain in 1838. He distinguished himself in the battles of the Mexican War; for his meritorious service he received his third brevet promotion in rank. He became superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy and later was appointed colonel of cavalry. He was in command of the Department of Texas in 1860, but was summoned to Washington, D.C., when war between the states seemed imminent. President Abraham Lincoln offered him the field command of the Union forces, but Lee declined.
On April 20, three days after Virginia seceded from the Union, he submitted his resignation from the U.S. Army. On April 23 he became commander in chief of the military and naval forces of Virginia. For a year he was military adviser to Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America, and was then placed in command of the army in northern Virginia. In February 1865 Lee was made commander in chief of all Confederate armies; two months later the war was virtually ended by his surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House.
Lee applied for but was never granted the official postwar amnesty. He accepted the presidency of Washington College, in the fall of 1865. He died there on October 12, 1870. In 1975, Lee's citizenship was restored posthumously by an act of the U.S. Congress.
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