Robert E. Lee

Military Leader / Civil War Figure

Name at birth: Robert Edward Lee

Lee was the Confederacy's most famous general in the American Civil War. He attended West Point (graduating second in his class) and became an engineer in the United States Army, serving with distinction in the Mexican-American War. As the Civil War broke out he resigned his commission and joined the forces of the South. In 1862 he was made commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, and over the next three years became famous as he led the army to a series of victories over the larger and better-equipped Union forces. He was defeated at the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg and finally surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse on 9 April 1865, effectively ending the war.

Extra credit: Lee was the son of Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee, a cavalry commander during the Revolutionary War and a onetime governor of Virginia... After the Civil War, Robert E. Lee became president of Washington College in Virginia, a post which he held until his death. After his death the school was renamed as Washington and Lee... Lee's horse Traveller served him throughout the Civil War and is now regarded as one of history's famous steeds.

Lee and Traveller appear with Alexander the Great and Bucephalus in our loop Seven Horses of Highly Effective People.