Robert E Lee was one of the best known Confederate soldiers. He rose to become a commander in the Confederate States Army and during the American Civil War led the Army of Northern Virginia. Due to its prominence, when it surrendered in 1865, this was marked as the end of the war.
Although he is viewed from different perspectives in American history, especially in regards to the Civil War, in the American South he is still considered an important historical figure.
Who was Robert E Lee?
There seemed to be a date with fate in January 19, 1807, when Robert Edward Lee was born in Stratford, Westmoreland County, Virginia. Fate seemed to have groomed him to be a soldier as he was born into the family of Ann Hill Carter and Henry Lee III, a Revolutionary War officer known as Major General Henry “Light-Horse Harry » Lee III.
He was born as the fourth child of his parents. Although he had popular people on both sides of his family, his father suffered financial hardship due to some failed investments, leaving him bankrupt. He was later forced to serve his sentence in debtor’s prison, and when finished, he moved with his wife and five children, including Robert, to Alexandria, Virginia.
When he was 11, his father died from an injury he sustained in Baltimore during a political riot. His mother was then left alone to care for their six children.
Robert E. Lee went to Eastern View for his studies and later to Alexandria Academy. With the help of William Henry Fitzhugh, his relative, he was appointed to the United States Military Academy and he began his studies at West Point in 1825. 4 years later, he became a second lieutenant. Sadly, a month later, her mother passed away; it was in July 1829.
As a military man, he served in different places, and during the war of the United States with Mexico in 1846, he gave a good account of himself and was considered a hero. With the end of the war, he found it difficult to adjust to life outside the battlefield, but it was difficult for him.
A slave insurrection would begin in 1859 at Harper’s Ferry, led by John Brown and Robert E Lee would be called upon to stop it. It only took him an hour to master it, having his name among the shortlisted to lead the Union Army in the event of war.
When Virginia voted for secession, it was caught between the southern states as it was opposed to a Breakaway and Union Army as it was against war. President Abraham Lincoln called him to command Union forces, but he resigned and later agreed to command Confederate forces instead.
Although he led them to significant victories, the forces against them were massive. Also after severe defeats, he decided to surrender in 1965. Instead of being hanged as a traitor, Lincoln and General USGrant pardoned him.
Did he have slaves?
Needless to say, Robert E Lee was quite a complex man. A Christian and a great soldier, he was not in favor of slavery. After his final abolition, he revealed that it made him very happy.
On the other side of the coin, alone he owned a few slaves for almost 30 years and his family also owned slaves. Nevertheless, when the slave trade and slavery was abolished, he was quick to abandon it as he always believed it to be a political and moral evil.
Who were his children?
In 1831 Robert E Lee married Mary AnnaCustis Lee who was Martha Custis Washington’s great-granddaughter from an earlier marriage before marrying the first President of the United States, George Washington.
In their marriage, Mary Anna and Lee had sevenchildren – four girls and three boys. Their children are George Washington Custis Lee, born in 1832 and died in 1913, William Henry Fitzhugh Lee (Rooney Lee) who lived from 1837 to 1891, and Robert E. Lee Jr. who lived from 1843 to 1914. The others are Eleanor Agnes Lee, Anne Carter Lee, Mildred Childe Lee and Mary Custis Lee.
Facts About Robert E Lee
1. Robert E Lee was a unifying factor after the war
Just as he was torn between North and South before the war, Lee was very important after the Civil War as one of the strongest voices to unify the country.
2. Lee was pardoned 110 years after his surrender
Although it was in 1865 that he surrendered, it was until 1975 that he was pardoned by President Gerald Ford. It was believed President Andrew Johnson refused to pardon her because her application was not complete with a missing oath but was found many years later. Nonetheless, it was later claimed that President Johnson deliberately chose not to pardon him and it was not because of the oath.
3. He died in 1870
Robert E Lee died in Lexington, Virginia on October 12, 1870, of pneumonia. Two weeks earlier, he had suffered a stroke.
4. Robert E Lee was buried without shoes
After his death, it was difficult to get a coffin for him because the weather was so bad. Three caskets were ordered by an Undertaker from Richmond who came to Lexington but following the floods they were swept away. One was later recovered, but it was a bit short for him, so he was buried without shoes at Washington and Lee University, under Lee Chapel.