|
Confederate Biographies - Robert E. Lee
General Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee was born on January 19, 1807. Hist father
and his uncles had fought in the Revolutionary war and had even signed the Declaration of
Independence. Robert was appointed to West Point Military Acadamy 1825-1829. After
compiling a perfect record at West Point, Lee was commissioned into the Corps of Engineers
in 1829. Lee married Mary Ann Randolph Custis, the great-granddaughter of Martha
Washington in 1831. During the next 30 years he often lived at Arlington, in the Custis
mansion near Washington, D.C. In 1852-1855 Lee was the Superintendent of West Point
Military Acadamy. He graduated second in his class at West Point. In 1859 he was called
upon to lead a group to put an end to John Brown's Harpers Ferry Raid.
President Lincoln, a personal friend of Lee, offered him
control of the entire Union army but Lee refused to fight against his state and family. He
took control of the forces in Virginia. In 1862, President Davis gave him control of the
entire Confederate army.
He also commanded many smaller skirmishes, most of which, he
won. After he surrendered to General Grant at the Appomattox Courthouse, the war ended. He
applied for a pardon and received it.
Lee felt that he owed his first loyalty to his home state.
When Lincoln offered him a chance to command the Federal Army, he declined. Lee resigned
his commission in the U.S. Army in 1861. Two days later he was offered command of
Virginia's Army and the rank of Major General. He insisted that it be made public that he
had resigned from the U.S. Army before he had received the Virginian offer. At first, Lee
just organized Virginia's troops. He would train them and then send them to other
Commanders to go into battle. In March 1862 Lee returned to Virginia as an Advisor to
Davis. Two months later Joseph E. Johnston was wounded during the
Peninsula Campaign and Lee became the Commander of the entire
Confederate Army in Virginia. He soon named it the Army of Northern Virginia.
When Lee took command the outlook for the Confederates looked
very bad. Union troops were slowly gaining control of the Mississippi Valley and a large
enemy army was close to Richmond. In June Lee struck the Union forces near Richmond and
drove them away from the capital. In August he defeated a Union army in the second Battle
of Bull Run and chased the army into the defenses of Washington, D.C. Lee invaded Maryland
to follow up the victory. The Battle of Antietam resulted with no definate victor. This
was the Bloodiest Day of the Civil War. (September 17, 1862) He then withdrew back to
Virginia and he inflicted a very important defeat on the North at Fredricksburg in
December.
At Chancellorsville(May 1863), Lee won a huge victory, but he
also suffered a great loss. Very confident, Lee divided his army into three parts and
attacked a larger Union force. The result was the Union forces were suprised and were
driven back with heavy casualties. The South also suffered high losses and among them was
Lee's greatest General, Stonewall Jackson. (Jackson died May 10th of complications) The
South was unable to replace Stonewall and never again would achieve the degree of success
he had.
In the Summer of 1863, Lee launched another invasion of the
North. In early July, he attacked a Federal Army at Gettysburg,PA, and was defeated at the
best known battle of the war. The Confederates retreated back to Virginia. In 1864, Lee
led the Confederate Army into a series of battles against the Northern Army(now under
command of U.S. Grant). He had lost many of his fellew officers, such as James Longstreet
who was wounded May 6 and J.E.B. Stuart who was mortally wounded on May 11. Lee fought
brillantly against Grant and inflicted heavy losses to the Federals. Lee was unable to
take the offense and was forced to defend Richmond and Petersburg. Over the next few
months, Lee's health was weakening and Grant finally broke through the Confederate lines
in April of 1865. Lee tried to escape with his army to join more Southern forces in North
Carolina, but he was trapped. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.
Other Southern armies soon ceased fighting as well.
The following is what one Private said about Lee in a
letter home:
"One evening, General Robert E. Lee came to our
camp. He was a fine-looking gentleman, and wore a moustache. He dressed in blue cottonade
and looked like some good boy's grandpa. I felt like going up to him and saying, good
evening, Uncle Bob! I am certain at this late day that I did not do so. I remember going
up mighty close and sitting there and listening to his conversation with the officers of
our regiment. He had a calm and collected air about him, his voice was kind and tender,
and his eye was as gentle as a dove's. His whole make-up of form and person, looks and
manner had a kind of gentle and soothing magnetism about it that drew every one to him and
made them love, respect, and honor him. I fell in love with the old gentleman and felt
like going home with him. I know I have never seen a finer looking man, nor one with
morekind and gentle features and manners. His horse was standing nipping the grass, and
when I saw that he was getting ready to start I ran and caught his horse and led him up to
him. He took the reins of the bridle in his hand and said, "thank you, my son,"
rode off, and my heart went with him. There was none of his staff with him; he had on no
sword or pistol, or anything to show his rank. The only thing that I remember he had was
an opera-glass hung over his shoulder by a strap."
"After Virginia seceded from the Union on April 17, Lee was
torn between duty and home. Declining Lincoln's offer of command, on the twentieth of
April he resigned his commission and received command of Virginia's state forces on April
22. Lee said he personally opposed slavery as "a moral and political
evil,"..." Lee supported the preservation of the Union that his father and
uncles had helped create. But his deepest loyalty was to his native Virginia, a common
feeling in a time when there was not yet an American identity. To Lee and others state
meant more than country, and Lee said he could not "raise my hand against my
relatives, my children, my home.'" |
