Who Is Robert E. Lee?

Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 - October 12, 1870) was the most celebrated general of the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Lee was born in Virginia to Henry Lee III (a Revolutionary War hero) and Anne Hill Carter (a descendant of King Robert II of Scotland). He graduated from West Point in 1829 (second in his class) and didn't have a single demerit against his name. Lee served in the U.S. Army for 32 years and fought in the Mexican War having then been promoted to Colonel. In 1831, he married Mary Ann Randolph Custis whom he had seven children with. All of Lee's boys served in the Confederate Army.

When Virginia seceded from the Union, Lee resigned his commission in the U.S. Army and joined the Confederate forces. Because of his exemplary military conduct throughout the Civil War, Lee is held in high regard by many of this nation's finest military leaders.