General Robert E. Lee Essay, Research Paper

Robert Edward Lee was born in Stradford in January 19, 1807. His

father was Light Horse Henry. He had three brothers and two sisters, yet he

was the youngest. His family was also was very rich.

Robert E. Lee went to United States Military Academy. He spent much

of his time in his library. His classmates admired him because of his leadership

and devotion. He graduated in 1829. He had a high honor at West Point, he

even became a superintendent at West Point. He improved the buildings and

courses.

Robert married Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee. His children?s names

are Major General Custis Lee, W.H.F. Lee, Captain Robert E. Lee Jr., Mary

Lee, Mildred Lee was the youngest, and Agnes Lee. Robert E. Lee married

two years after he graduated in 1829 and married in 1831. Mary is George

Washington?s granddaughter.

Lee was away so much of the time they almost never got to see each

other. They had to write letters to keep in touch. Lee mostly traveled alone.

Mary inherited many slaves and they stayed with her while she was alone.

After the war Lee went home and nursed his sick wife. Mary had arthritis and

was put in a wheelchair.

Lee was a very brave, honest, and smart man. He was a soldier, yet a

nurturer. Lee wouldn?t allow anything said bad about Grant.

War broke out on the border of Texas between United States and

Mexico. The Generals were impressed with Lee?s supervised buildings of

bridges. In 1855 Lee became a lieutenant cournal of the calvary and was

assigned Texas frontier. He protected settlers from attacks from the Apache

and Comanche Indians.

Lee hated slavery like the North, but he lived in the South. The South

hated Lincoln and the North and the South started to separate. Abraham

Lincoln asked Lee if he wanted to be a general for the North, but Lee said

?No.? He wanted to stay in his home state, Virginia. Lee was the first military

advisor to President Jefferson Davis. On May 1861 Lee became a General.

He helped draw plans for the Confederate forces in Virginia.

In the Spring of 1864 Lee first met Grant in battle. There was a series

of bloody battles called the Wilderness campaign. Grant destroy the

Confederates with large forces and guns. Finally in 1865 Lee became general

and chief of all Confederate forces. After General Johnston was

wounded, Lee became a General. Lee helped plan many battles such as when

they fought General Burnside.

Richmond fell in April 1865, Lee?s army retreated west ward. The

north surrounded the Confederates. Lee surrendered on April 9th, 1865.

Grant tried to make the surrender easy. Grant allowed the Confederate soldiers

to take their horses home for spring plowing. Lee said, ?It is well that war is so

terrible or we would grow to fond of it. Lee made his last ride down enemy

lines on his horse Traveler. Lee won but he also lost. Lee lost because he lost

the war, but he won because the war was over.

Lee became a private citizen for first time in forty years. He could have

been rich, but he came president of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia.

This school was named Washington and Lee University. Lee urged students

and friends to keep the peace and to accept the outcome of the war. His

attitude was extremely important a time when bitterness and hatred swept

across the North and the South.

In Lee?s home in Lexington Virginia on October 12, 1870. He died

from an illness. Some people felt his death as a personal loss. He is buried in

the chapel he built on campus in Lexington, along with other members of his

family. They call this chapel ?The Shrine of the South.? It is visited by

thousands of people. Lee?s home is preserved in Arlington National Cemetery.

Lee?s is a legal holiday in most of the southern states near Washington D.C.

January 19. Lee?s tombstone is called Valentine statue.