Robert E. Lee facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Robert Edward Lee
|
|
|---|---|
Lee in 1863
|
|
| Born |
Robert Edward Lee
January 19, 1807 |
| Died | October 12, 1870 (aged 63) Lexington, Virginia
|
| Resting place | Lee Chapel Washington and Lee University Lexington, Virginia |
| Occupation | General, Confederate States of America |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Custis |
| Children | 7 |
Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a colonel in the United States Army. He became the General-in-chief of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He led the Army of Northern Virginia in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. He began his military career as an engineer but then moved up the ranks.
Before the Civil War, Lee was an officer in the Mexican-American War. He was also head of West Point. As a colonel in the United States Army, he led a battalion of marines to put down the rebellion at Harpers Ferry Armory and captured their leader, John Brown.
Contents
Early Years
Lee was born on Stratford Hall Plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on January 19, 1807. His parents were American Revolutionary War General and Governor of Virginia, Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee, and his wife, Anne Carter Lee. In 1818, Lee's father died in the West Indies. Robert was raised by his mother in Alexandria, Virginia.
Washington Ancestry
Lee and George Washington were both descendants of Augustine Warner, Sr. and his wife, Mary Towneley Warner. Lee was descended through their daughter, Sarah. Washington was descended through their son, Augustine, Jr. This made Lee and Washington third cousins, twice removed.
Education
Lee attended Eastern View, a school in Fauquier County, Virginia. He may have attended schools in Shirley, Virginia, and in Alexandria, Virginia, as well. His mother instructed him in the Episcopalian faith. Lee attended the United States Military Academy at West Point and graduated second in the class of 1829.
Marriage
On June 30, 1831, Lee married Mary Custis at Arlington House. She was the granddaughter of George Washington's stepson, John Parke Custis. They made their home at Arlington House and had seven children.
Middle Years
Lee fought in the Mexican–American War under General Winfield Scott as a captain. Later, Scott wrote about Lee calling him "the very best soldier I ever saw in the field." After the war, Lee helped the army build forts. In 1855, Lee became a lieutenant colonel and joined a cavalry regiment. As a Colonel, Lee was called on to stop the "slave rebellion," otherwise known as John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry. Lee ended the raid in less than an hour.
Civil War
Lee inherited several slaves with Arlington House. Lee wanted to grant them their freedom but needed them to help him run Arlington House properly. It took about five years for him to free the slaves he inherited from his father-in-law. Lee, like Thomas Jefferson had mixed feelings about slavery. Lee called slavery an "evil" to both black people and white people, but he saw the benefits of owning slaves. Lee thought slavery had to be ended gradually or the economy (a way of buying, selling, or trading things of value to manage how you live) of the South would collapse. However, Lee did agree with other Southerners in thinking that black people were inferior. He believed God would solve the problem in His own time.
The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 caused several states to secede in protest. This put Lee in a difficult position. The newly formed Confederate States of America offered Lee the rank of brigadier general. Lee did not respond to the offer. Winfield Scott offered him command of the army of U.S. volunteers. He didn't answer this offer, either. Between April 12–14, 1861, U.S. troops were bombarded at Fort Sumter at Charleston, South Carolina. The same day, Virginia seceded from the Union. Lee did not support secession, but he could not fight his home state of Virginia. Lee resigned his U.S. Army commission on April 22, 1861, at Arlington House. He told his friends that he would not be a part of an invasion of the South. Several days later, he accepted command of all Virginia forces.
At first, Lee did not command any soldiers in battle. Instead, he helped Confederate president Jefferson Davis make military decisions. In 1862, he became the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. He would lead the army for the rest of the war. He won many battles, even though the Union army had more men and weapons. At the Battle of Gettysburg, he tried to invade the Union to end the war, but his army was defeated and he had to retreat into Virginia.
During 1864 and 1865, Lee fought Union general Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia. Through the end of 1864 and the beginning of 1865, Lee and Grant fought near Richmond, Virginia, in a series of battles called the Siege of Petersburg. In April 1865, Grant forced Lee to retreat from Richmond. After a series of battles, Grant surrounded Lee at Appomattox Court House and forced Lee to surrender. The actual surrender took place at a private home. Before he surrendered, Lee said, "I would rather die a thousand deaths than surrender."
After the War
President Andrew Johnson issued a proclamation granting amnesty and pardon to some Confederates who were a part of the rebellion against the United States. Those who had served in the military above the rank of colonel or civilians who were politically powerful in the Confederate government were required to write to the President and ask for pardon. They also needed to sign an amnesty oath in which they promised to uphold the United States Constitution. On June 13, 1865, Lee wrote to President Johnson:
"Being excluded from the provisions of amnesty & pardon contained in the proclamation of the 29th Ulto; I hereby apply for the benefits, & full restoration of all rights & privileges extended to those included in its terms. I graduated at the Mil. Academy at West Point in June 1829. Resigned from the U.S. Army April '61. Was a General in the Confederate Army, & included in the surrender of the Army of N. Va. 9 April '65."
On October 2, 1865, Lee became president of Washington College in Virginia. That same day, Lee signed his amnesty oath as required by President Johnson, but Lee was not pardoned and his citizenship was not restored during his lifetime.
His amnesty oath was found over a hundred years later in the National Archives. It appears that United States Secretary of State William H. Seward had given the application to a friend to keep as a souvenir. The State Department had simply ignored Lee's application and it was never granted. In a 1975 Joint resolution by the United States Congress, Lee's rights as a citizen were restored with the effective date of June 13, 1865. The act was signed into law by President Gerald R. Ford on August 5, 1975.
Lee had a stroke on September 28, 1870, and died on October 12, 1870. Washington College changed its name to Washington and Lee University in Lee's honor. Lee's birthday is celebrated in several southern states as a holiday.
Robert E. Lee quotes
- “Never do a wrong thing to make a friend--or to keep one.”
- “I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself.”
- “The education of a man is never completed until he dies.”
- “I can only say that I am nothing but a poor sinner, trusting in Christ alone for salvation.”
- “What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world.”
Interesting Facts about Robert E. Lee
- Robert E. Lee graduated from West Point with no demerits.
- Lee worked as an army engineer and worked with those he commanded in the hard task of improving the channels of the Mississippi River.
- He wrote to "the" Whistler’s Mother about her son's performance at the Military Academy at West Point while he was Superintendent there.
- Lee was frugal with money.
- As a general, he slept in a soldier's tent and ate the same rations as his men.
- It is assumed that Lee had already suffered a heart attack by the time the Battle of Gettysburg took place.
- Even Lee's opponents praised him for his gentlemanly conduct.
- It was not until later in life that he grew his famous beard.
- Robert E. Lee was buried without his shoes because the only coffin that could be found for him (due to heavy rains damaging many coffins) was a bit too short.
- Robert E. Lee has been commemorated on U.S. postage stamps at least five times.
Images for kids
-
Stained glass of Lee's life in the National Cathedral, depicting his time at West Point, his service in the Army Corps of Engineers, the Battle of Chancellorsville, and his death
-
Robert Edward Lee, as a U.S. Army Colonel before the Civil War
-
Mathew Brady portrait of Lee in 1865 (detail)
-
Lee mounted on Traveller (September 1866)
-
Lee with son Custis (left) and aide Walter H. Taylor (right). Photographed at Lee's Arlington Plantation by Brady at the end of the war.
-
One of the last known images of Lee, post-Civil War
-
Jefferson Davis, Lee, and Stonewall Jackson at Stone Mountain
-
Robert E Lee Monument, Charlottesville, Virginia, Leo Lentelli, sculptor, 1924
-
Robert E. Lee, Virginia Monument, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, William Sievers, sculptor, 1917
-
Statue of Lee in Dallas, Texas
-
Lee at age 31 in 1838, as a Lieutenant of Engineers in the U.S. Army
-
Robert E. Lee, around age 38, and his son William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, around age 8, c.1845
-
Robert E. Lee, around age 43, when he was a Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel of Engineers, c.1850
-
Lee in uniform, 1863
-
Battle of Gettysburg, by Thure de Thulstrup
-
Lee with son Custis (left) and aide Walter H. Taylor (right) by Brady, April 16, 1865
-
Lee in 1869 (photo by Levin C. Handy)
-
General Lee and his Confederate officers in their first meeting since Appomattox, August 1869. This is the only from-life photograph of Lee with his Generals in existence, during or after the war.
-
Robert E. Lee, oil on canvas, Edward Calledon Bruce, 1865. Virginia Historical Society
-
Lee Chapel on the campus of Washington and Lee University
-
So-called "Recumbent Statue" of Robert E. Lee in Lee Chapel in Lexington, Virginia, of Lee asleep on the battlefield, sculpted by Edward Valentine. It is often mistakenly thought to be a tomb or sarcophagus, but Lee is buried elsewhere in the chapel.
.jpg)
See also
In Spanish: Robert E. Lee para niños
