General Robert Edward Lee

General Robert Edward Lee

Robert E. Lee was born on January 19, 1807 to Revolutionary War hero “Light Horse Harry” Lee and his second wife, Mary (Bland) Lee in Stafford Hall, Virginia. Robert E. Lee was born into our Nations aristocracy with his father having served directly under General George Washington during the revolutionary war. Robert E. Lee’s mother was also somewhat connected in the social circles of the day. She had been known as the “lowland beauty” and because of her exceptional beauty and charm had even been the focus of George Washington until Henry Lee took her hand in marriage. Robert E. Lee would grow up under the watchful eye of our Nations’ top military leaders of the day, and, four brothers and sisters. Our Nation was growing and would struggling through some very difficult times in the near future, war was near, and the stage was set for an extraordinary story.

In 1829 he was graduated second in his class at West Point without having incurred a single demerit in his four years there. Two years after he graduated from West Point he took the hand of Mary Ann Randolph Custis in marriage. This certainly did not hurt his standings in the inner social circles of our Nations’ Capitol. His new bride was a descendant of now President George Washington. Commissioned in the Corps of Engineers, he would spend the next seventeen years supervising and inspecting the construction of our Nations’ coastal defenses before he would ever hear the call of battle.

In 1847, Captain Robert E. Lee was assigned to serve under General Winfield Scott in the Mexican War. Captain Robert E. Lee distinguished himself in the battles of Veracruz, Churubusco, and Chapultepec. He was slightly wounded in that war and earned three brevets to colonel (Staff, 2014). While Robert E. Lee had started out with the proverbial “silver spoon” in his mouth, he had now proven himself to his peers and those above him. General Scott declared him to be “the very best soldier that I ever saw in the field.” (Staff, 2014) Robert E. Lee had unlimited potential and the eyes of our budding Nation were upon him.

After serving with valor under General Winfield Scott in the Mexican War Colonel Robert E. Lee was selected for and served as superintendent of West Point from 1852 to 1855. Robert E. Lee would spend the next three years of his life training the military leaders that he would unknowingly but eventually face on the battle field. Colonel Robert E. Lee served in this position until 1855 when he left to take a position with the Texas Cavalry.

Colonel Robert E. Lee’s first encounter with the beginnings of our Nations’ civil war came in 1859 when he was ordered to take a unit of Marines to stop abolitionist John Browns raid on Harpers Ferry. John Brown’s raid on an Armory in what is now West Virginia was intended to take a Federal Armories contents and arm slaves who would then