|
Dromo's Den
|
|
[Up] [Dromo's Den] Robert E. Lee Biography LEE, Robert Edward, American general, son of "Light Horse Harry," born in Stratford, Virginia, Jan. 19, 1807; died in Lexington,Virginia, Oct. 12, 1870. He entered the United States Military Academy in West Point at the age of eighteen, where he graduated with high standing in 1829. He married Mary Custis, daughter of G. W. P. Custis, the adopted son of George Washington, in 1832, and by the marriage came into possession of valuable estates on the Potomac and Pamunkey rivers. Subsequently he went on an extended tour of Europe. He was promoted to the rank of captain in 1838, and at the beginning of the Mexican War became chief engineer of the American army invading Mexico. Lee served with distinction at Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Cherubusco, and Chapultepec, but received a severe wound in the last named battle, and soon after was promoted to the rank of colonel. He superintended military studies at West Point in 1852-55, and remained in the service of the Union until April 17, 1861, when Virginia seceded and he became a general in the Confederate army. He operated in Virginia and South Carolina for a year as a subordinate general, but secured supreme command on May 31, 1862, after J E. Johnston had been wounded at Fair Oaks. The history of Lee so far as it relates to the Civil War is that of the army of northern Virginia. In the seven days' battles be displayed extraordinary military tact, beat Pope at the second battle of Bull Run, and immediately began his first invasion of the North, in the fall of 1862. At the drawn battle of Antietam, the first invasion ended on the 17th of September, and Lee crossed the Potomac into Maryland for the purpose of threatening Washington, but in moving up the Shenandoah valley into the Rappahannock he was intercepted by Burnside at Fredericksburg, where the latter was defeated, and Lee secured a decided success over Hooker on May 2-4, 1863, at the battle of Chancellorsville. Lee next resolved to invade Pennsylvania with all his available forces, but was met by Meade at Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863, and defeated, after which he recrossed the Potomac and fell back safely into Virginia. In the spring of 1864 General Grant took the field against Lee. The first engagement between the two generals occurred at the Wilderness in May, and this was followed in rapid succession by the battles of Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor. These engagements were followed by continued manoeuvers and confronts, but Lee gradually fell back to Petersburg and Richmond, after which the long sieges of those points began. By a desperate effort General Grant broke through the Confederate defenses on April 2, 1865, and Lee's army was compelled to evacuate Richmond. Soon after he made an attempt to join Johnston, but Grant's army being of superior number gradually hemmed the Confederate forces in close quarters. This resulted in the surrender at Appomattox, April 9, when the Civil War ended. In October, 1865, Lee became president of Washington College, now Washington and Lee University, which position he held until his death. General Lee was an able military commander, a man of noble character, and much revered and beloved. He edited "Memoirs of the Wars of the Southern Department of the United States." The Teachers' and Pupils' Cyclopædia, Vol. III (Kansas City: Bufton Book Co., 1909) 992-993. |