Generals in Gray: Robert E. Lee Traditional Cache

I am a Civil War buff, so this series will present biographical sketches of generals who served in the Confederate States Army. As the series progresses, I hope not only to highlight the more well-known generals, but also those that you may not be as familiar with.

Robert Edward Lee was born January 19, 1807 in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He graduated 2nd in his class at West Point in 1829. As a U.S. Army engineer, Lt. Lee began his career designing and constructing forts. In 1831, Lee married Mary Custis, the great-granddaughter of Martha Washington. The Lees would go on to have seven children: three boys and four girls.

As a captain, Lee distinguished himself in the Mexican-American War. Through his personal reconnaissance as a staff officer for General Winfield Scott, Captain Lee found routes of attack that the Mexicans had not defended because they thought the terrain was impassable. Lee was promoted to major after the Battle of Cerro Gordo. It was during the Mexican-American War that Lee first met and worked alongside Ulysses S. Grant.

Early in 1861, Lee was promoted to colonel and  denounced seccession as "revolution" and a betrayal of the Founding Fathers' efforts.  Having earlier been asked if he would fight for the Union or the Confederacy, Lee replied, "I shall never bear arms against the Union, but it may be necessary for me to carry a musket in the defense of my native state, Virginia, in which case I shall not prove recreant to my duty." When it became obvious that Virginia would seccede from the Union, Lee turned down the chance to command the defense of Washington, stating, "...I look upon secession as anarchy. If I owned the four millions of slaves in the South I would sacrifice them all to the Union; but how can I draw my sword upon Virginia, my native state?" Lee resigned from the army on April 20, and took command of the Virginia state forces on April 23.

Upon the formation of the Confederate States Army, Lee was named a general. On June 1, 1862, Lee assumed command of the Amry of Northern Virginia. Confederate victories under Lee included the Seven Days Battles, Second Manassas, and the Battle of Chancellorsville. The Union victory in the Battle of Gettysburg, however, was a game-changer. While the first day of battle was controlled by the Confederates, key terrain that should have been taken was not. The second day ended with the Confederates unable to break the Union position, and the Union being more solidified. Lee's decision on the third day, against the advice of his best corps commander, General James Longstreet, to launch a massive frontal assault on the center of the Union line was disastrous. The assault known as Pickett's Charge was repulsed and resulted in heavy Confederate losses. More men died at Gettysburg than in any other battle in the war. Lee took the blame for the loss, riding among his men and stating, "All this has been my fault." Afterward Lee submitted his resignation to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who refused to accept it.

On January 31, 1865, Lee was promoted to general-in-chief of all Confederate forces, but by that point the war was literally a lost cause. The Confederate forces were so decimated that the government was even considering training and arming slaves for combat. After a successful Union attack on Petersburg on April 2, 1865, Lee and his forces abandoned Richmond and retreated westward, where Lee hoped to join forces with the Army of Tennessee. Before this could be accomplished, however, Ulysses S. Grant's forces surrounded Lee's. Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia on April 9, 1865. Some of his officers urged Lee to reject surrender, retreat to the mountains, and engage in guerilla warfare, but Lee refused, insisting that the war was over and stating, "So far from engaging in a war to perpetuate slavery, I am rejoiced that slavery is abolished. I believe it will be greatly for the interests of the South."

Lee returned to private life after the war. In October 1865, he assumed the presidency of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia, and served in that capacity until his death. Lee suffered a stroke on September 28, 1870, and died two weeks later on October 12. The casket used for his burial was a little too short for him, and as a result, Lee was buried without shoes. He was buried beneath the chapel at Washington College (now Washington and Lee University).