Robert+E.+Lee

= = = Introduction = Robert E. Lee is best known for being the commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War. Despite being greatly outnumbered, he strategically lead his army through many victories over the Union generals and is considered one of the finest generals the United States has ever had.

toc = Early Life = Robert Edward Lee was born as the youngest of four in Stratford, Viginia on January 9, 1807. His mother was Anne Lee and his father was Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee, a Revolutionary war hero who served in the Continental army and also the ninth Governor of Virginia. Lee's family moved to Alexandria, Virginia when he was two years old after his father was released from debtor's prison. Lee's father left home for Barbados to live in a more comfortable climate when Lee was five years old. He never saw his father again and was taken care of solely by his mother. Lee was responsible for caring for his sickly mother because she was often ill and his oldest brother was in college. From an early age Lee developed a sense of discipline because he had to administer his mother's medicine immediately after school instead of playing with his friends. With his father in Barbados and out of his life, Lee's role-model was George Washington. Even though the father of the nation had died before he was born, Lee knew was well-acquainted with George Washington's stories because his family was close friends with the Washington family, which lived only an hour away. Lee's family could not afford to send him to a proper college so Lee applied to West Point in 1824. Lee fit in well at West Point and was an exceptional student. He was referred to as the "Marble Model" and graduated second in his class in 1829. Two years later, he married Mary Custis, whom he had known since his childhood. Custis was the step-granddaughter of George Washington, and so Lee became the direct heir to Washington's Estate by marrying her. Like Lee's mother, Custis was very sickly and so she had to stay behind in her Arlington home when Lee was elsewhere serving in the military. Lee had a total of seven children with Custis and took up several minor military posts before the start of the Mexican-American war.

= Mexican-American War = During the Mexican-American war, which began in 1846, Lee was a captain of engineers before serving under General Winfield Scott. He was General Scott's chief aid in General Scott's campaign from Veracruz to Mexico City. General Scott greatly admired Lee for his skill and bravery. Lee once made a daring nighttime expedition in a campaign at Cerro Gordo and General Scott described it as "the greatest feat of physical and moral courage" of the entire war. At Cerro Gordo, several officers who had been sent out to scout for General Scott had returned saying that scouting was impossible because it required a nighttime expedition over slippery plane of rocks known as the Pedegral. Instead of being deterred by the other scouters, Lee crossed the Pedegral alone. He crossed during the day and returned during the night by torchlight. His expedition help create the path to the invasion of Mexico City. General Scott was greatly impressed with his work and called him "the very best soldier that I ever saw in the field." Lee first met Ulysses S. Grant, the Union general during the Civil War, while serving under General Winfield Scott. Though Lee was higher in rank, the two still remembered their service together under General Scott even after the Civil War.

= Civil War - the Beginning = media type="youtube" key="o3UUS1kx5oE" height="155" width="280" align="right" Lee had always supported the abolition of slavery. However, when Abraham Lincoln asked Lee to take command of the United States army in order to put down the Confederate rebellion in 1861, Lee could not accept. He explained that he could not take up arms against his home state. In a letter sent to Winfield Scott, Lee wrote, "Save in defense of my native State, I never desire again to draw my sword". Early on, Lee was appointed as the commander of Virginia's armed forces. Lee became the military advisor to Jefferson Davis, the Confederate President, soon after. Lee's first battle of the war was at Shenandoah Valley, in Western Virginia. However, the campaign failed and Lee was nicknamed "Granny Lee" by the press, despite the fact that the failure was caused by two incompetent officers. However, Jefferson Davis still had faith in Lee, and midway through 1862 Lee was appointed as the commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. When Lee was appointed as commander, he knew that General George McClellan of the Union army was trying to invade Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy. Despite being nicknamed "Granny Lee" for his alleged timid style of command, Lee dived into the Seven Day Virginia Peninsula Campaign aggressively. Lee knew that General McClellan always believed that he was outnumbered and was quick to retreat from reading the Northern newspapers. He took advantage of that fact and was able to get General McClellan to retreat despite being largely outnumbered. It was at this battle that Lee was able to perfect his military tactics.

= Civil War - Major Battles =

[[image:977165.jpeg width="170" height="270" align="left" caption="General Robert E. Lee during the Civil War"]]The Battle of Antietam
The casualty rate in the first day of the Battle of Antietam in Maryland made United States history. After leading his army across the Potomac River on September 17, 1862, Lee's army was met by General McClellan, who had more than double the number of soldiers that Lee had. Prior to the battle, General McClellan found a copy of Lee's orders in an abandoned camp along the way to Antietam. Armed with the orders and more than double Lee's force, General McClellan was a formidable foe against Lee. After a day of savage combat, 10,000 Confederates and 12,500 Union soldiers fell. There was no other day in United States history as bloody as the first day of Antietam. After the first day of Antietam, neither general wanted to attack and so the battle ended in a draw. Lee's army retreated back to the South and Lee held himself personably responsible for the dead. He wanted to resign because of the battle but Jefferson Davis wouldn't let him.

The Battle of Fredericksburg
The Battle of Fredericksburg occured in Virginia on December 13, 1862, and greatly increased the publics confidence in Lee. Because General Ambrose Burnside's plan to cross the Rappahannock failed, Lee was able to push back General Burnside's army, which had roughly 50,000 more soldiers. Lee suffered only 5,000 casualties while Union suffered 13,000 casualties. It was at this battle that Lee famously said "It is well that war is so terrible! We should grow too fond of it!" Lee's victory at this battle greatly raised Confederate morale.

The Battle of Chancellorsville
The Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia was considered Lee's greatest victory. On April 30, 1863, Lee left half his force to defend Fredericksburg while he marched on to meet General Joe Hooker's force, which was much larger than Lee's. For a second time Lee split his forces and sent Stonewall Jackson, Lee's second-in-command, to take on General Hooker's right flank as he took the other half to General Hooker's left flank. General Hooker thought that Lee was retreating and because of the miscalculation Stonewall Jackson was able to hit Hooker's right flank near the Chancellorsville mansion. Lee was going to continue attacking General Hooker but instead the Union army fled. Lee was able to defeat an army three times the size of his army. Unfortunately, as Stonewall Jackson was riding back to Lee's army, he was mistaken for a Union soldier and shot in the arm by his own soldiers. Stonewall Jackson later died of infection.

The Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg was Lee's most famous defeat. On his second invasion of the North, Lee's forces were met by General George Meade in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on July 1, 1863. Unfortunately, Lee's forces had been too spread out for Lee to command his army effectively. He was completely clueless on what the Union army was doing. From the start General Meade had taken high ground on Cemetery Ridge and had a great advantage over Lee's army. After two days of fighting Lee decided to take the offensive on the third day. Confederate Major General George Pickett lead a direct assault on Cemetery Hill that would later be known as Pickett's Charge. As the Confederate soldiers charged towards the hill both sides opened fire on each other with artillery shells. Pickett's Charge was considered the greatest artillery bombardment of the Civil War. Despite the large number of casualties, Lee ordered his soldiers to keep charging, and eventually almost half of the Confederate army had died. After Pickett's Charge the Confederate army retreated back to the South. Surprisingly, when Lee's forces retreated, General Meade chose not to chase after them, and Lee's army was able to retreat in peace.

= Civil War - Surrender = After many back and forth battles between the Union General Ulysses S. Grant and Confederate General Robert E. Lee, General Grant was finally able to make Lee surrender. Prior to the surrender, General Grant had forced Lee to retreat all the way to Richmond after a series of offensive assaults. After the final Battle of Five Forks on the Richmond-Petersburg lines resulted in a Confederate retreat, there was no longer any hope left for the Confederacy. In a final effort in February, 1865 the Confederate Congress gave Lee command of all the Confederate armies, but by then there was no more use. The Confederacy was defeated and both sides knew it. Finally, on April 9, 1865, General Lee and General Grant met in the parlor of Wilmer McLean at Appomattox Court House, Virginia to discuss terms of surrender. General Grant offered Lee generous terms and Lee signed the surrender of the Confederacy, marking the end of the Civil War.

= Postbellum - Life After the Civil War = Four months after the end of the Civil War Lee accepted an invitation to be the president of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia. There Lee worked hard and improved the faculty, increased the student body, and expanded the curriculum of the school by adding courses in science and engineering. He tried to lead a quiet life in his final years and cared greatly for his wife, Mary Curtis, who was often sickly. Finally, on September 28, 1870, Lee was stricken with a stroke. He died peacefully two weeks later on October 12.

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= Bibliography =

Pictures
"General Robert E. Lee." HubPages. HubPages. Web. 28 May 2012. . Kronsell, Jan. Rober Lee Monument. 2000. Photograph. Wikimedia Commons, Lexington, Virginia. Schobert, Tom. "General Robert E. Lee." Tom Schobert. Tom Schobert. Web. 24 May 2012. . Vannerson, Julian B. Robert Edward Lee. 1863. Photograph. The Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog.

Information
"Battle of Fredericksburg." National Parks Service. National Parks Service, 07 May 2012. Web. 28 May 2012. . Gallagher, Gary W. "Lee, Robert E." In Waugh, John, and Gary B. Nash, eds. Encyclopedia of American History: Civil War and Reconstruction, 1856 to 1869, Revised Edition (Volume V). New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2010. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE52&iPin=EAHV172&SingleRecord=True (accessed May 23, 2012). Tracey, Patrick. "Lee, Robert E." Military Leaders of the Civil War, American Profiles. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 1993. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp? ItemID=WE52&iPin=ffapmlcw0001&SingleRecord=True (accessed May 23, 2012). Willis, John C. "U.S. Grant, Meetings with Robert E. Lee." U.S. Grant, Meetings with Robert E. Lee. Professor John C. Willis. Web. 28 May 2012. .