During the Mexican War, Robert E. Lee served as a staff officer under U.S. Commanding General Winfeld Scott, who later said his " success in Mexico was largely due to the skill, valor, and undaunted courage of Robert E. Lee...the greatest military genius in America."Right before the Civil War, when officers of the U.S. Army were deciding which side they would fight for, General Scott again praised Lee saying, "Lee will be worth 20,000 men to the side he goes with."And that side would be the South. Prior to the Civil War, Lee spent thirty-two years in the United States Army, serving honorably and for three of those years as superintendent of West Point Military Academy.
The Making of Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee was born on January 19, 1807, to Henry Lee and Ann Carter Lee in Washington County, Virginia. His father was known as Light-horse Harry Lee for his gallantry during the American War for Independence and his mother came from a line of prominent Virginia planters.
Early in life, Lee began to feel a sense of responsibility and duty for doing what he believed was right. At the age of eighteen he received an appointment to West Point Military Academy, graduating second in his class in 1829. During his four years at the academy Lee never received a single demerit. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
In 1831, Lee married Mary Custis, the step-great-granddaughter of George Washington. They had seven children: three boys and four girls. The Lee home; Arlington was built by Mary's father, Parke Custis, as a tribute to George Washington. The family lived in the mansion for thirty years before the start of the Civil War.
Lee was promoted to first lieutenant in 1836 and to captain in 1838. During the war with Mexico he received brevets for major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel. After his service in Mexico, Lee did engineer work at Washington and Baltimore.
From 1852 until 1855, Lee served as superintendent of West Point Military Academy. During that time his son, Custis Lee, his nephew, Fitzhugh Lee, and Jeb Stuart were cadets at the academy. All became general officers in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.
After his service at the academy, Lee entered the 2nd Calvary and was ordered to western Texas, where he served under Albert Sidney Johnston. Because of the death of Mary's father in 1857, Lee was forced to leave the regiment and return home to settle his father-in-law's estate.
Lee's Religion a Part of Him
Robert E. Lee was passionate about his religion. Douglass Southall Freeman, in his four-part biography of Lee's life wrote of his devotion to God. "His was a simple soul, humble, transparent, and believing. Reading daily his Bible and his prayer book, spending much time on his knees..."
Freeman also wrote that Lee viewed life as a preparation for eternity. In the spring of 1862, Lee's daughter, Annie died. The inscription he had placed on her tombstone gives a strong sense of his passion for the Lord: Perfect And True Are All His Ways, Whom Heaven Adores And Earth Obeys
Lee saw the South's struggle for independence more as self-determination than as a fight against slavery. He had inherited slaves as a young man but freed them. Near the end of the Civil War, he summed up his adherence to the lost cause. "We had, I was satisfied, sacred principles to maintain, and rights to defend, for which we were duty bound to do our best, even if we perished in the endeavor."
Robert E. Lee's Agonizing Decision
WhenJohn Brown led a group of abolitionists in an attack on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Va., on Oct. 16, 1859, Robert E. Lee was called upon to lead a force of marines to put an end to the raid.
After Harper's Ferry, Lee was ordered west again, where he would serve until being called to Washington by General Winfeld Scott in March 1861. By this time seven states had already succeeded from the Union and it would only be a matter of time before Lee's home state of Virginia would leave.
Robert E. Lee was going to have to make the biggest decision of his life; stay in the army where he was and fight against his friends and neighbors, or resign and cast his lot with a section of the country that wanted its independence, but had little in the way of resources to fight with. Imagine having to give up your life's work for a cause that was likely to fail.
For days in April 1861, Lee walked the floors at Arlington, coming to terms with his problem. His wife said the decision was her husband's "severest struggle."
Virginia seceded from the Union on April 17, 1861, and Robert E. Lee made his mind up to follow her. The next day, President Abraham Lincoln sent an agent to meet with Lee in Washington to offer him command of a newly raised army of 100,000 men. Lee declined by saying..."though opposed to succession and deprecating war, I can take no part in an invasion of the Southern States."
Lee's Civil War
The American Civil War started with the shelling of Fort Sumter, South Carolina by Confederate forces on April 12, 1861.
Lee submitted his resignation from the United States Army on April 20, 1861. He made his way to Richmond, where he accepted command of Virginia forces. His life was changed forever; Robert E. Lee became a Confederate.
Within weeks, he was offered the rank of brigadier-general, the highest in Confederate service at the time. Lee and President Jefferson Davis worked together in the opening months of the war. After beating back the Federal army at the first Battle of Bull Run, Lee knew the South was in for a long and protracted war.
Lee assumed his first field command during the summer of 1861 in the mountains of western Virginia.
Known as the Cheat Mountain Campaign, it wasn't considered successful. He became known in the South, at least for awhile as Granny Lee.
Lee was called back to Richmond and made an adviser to Jefferson Davis. Lee advised Stonewall Jackson, in his successful operations in the Shenandoah Valley. In May 1862, when Joseph Johnston was wounded, Robert E. Lee was placed in command of the Army of Northern Virginia, successfully drawing the federal army away from the Confederate capital of Richmond.
For the next three years, Lee's army was the main Confederate force. The fortunes of the South rested on his shoulders. The Southern people looked to Robert E. Lee even when all hope of achieving independence was lost. They believed as long as he was on the battlefield, victory could be achieved.
The Civil War came to an end for Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, with the surrender to US General Ulysses S. Grant.
Robert E. Lee - His Wants
General Grant said Robert E. Lee did more than anyone else in bringing the country back together after the Civil War. After becoming president, Grant invited Lee to the White House in 1869.
Many times, someone's wants tells what kind of a person they are. Lee was offered many positions after the war, many of which would have made him a wealthy man, but he turned them all down. There was no going back to Arlington and there was no going back to his former life.
He told everyone who would listen that he never wanted to hear the sound of gun fire again. Lee wrote to his wife that maybe they could find a small farm where they could live in peace and quiet, but that wasn't to be. On August 4, 1865, Lee accepted the presidency of Washington College in Lexington, Va. "I shall devote my remaining energies to training young men to do their duty in life," he said.
Robert E. Lee died on October 12, 1870. After his death, the school was renamed Washington and Lee College. He had finished his duty in life.
David Keith - David Keith
Join the Conversation