About Robert E. Lee
The estimated wealth of Robert Edward Lee, an American Confederate general (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870), is $1 million. Lee was conceived on the Virginian plantation Stratford Hall. Robert Lee was born into one of Virginia’s oldest families; his father, Harry “Light Horse” Lee III, was a Revolutionary War hero. Due to a string of unsuccessful investments, his family experienced terrible financial circumstances early in his childhood. When Robert was just 11 years old, his father passed away, forcing the family to seek sanctuary with other family members.
Military Academy at Westpoint
After being accepted into the United States Military Academy at Westpoint in 1824, Lee enrolled there in the summer of 1825 and finally graduated second in his class.
Lee wed Mary Custis in 1831, the great-granddaughter of Martha Washington whom he had known as a youngster. Three boys and four girls were born into their union, totaling seven kids. All three of his sons subsequently served in the Confederate Army under his command, with two rising to the rank of major general.
Major General Robert E. Lee’s military career
After completing his education at West Point, Lee joined the military as an engineer. As one of General Winfield Scott’s top aides during the Mexican-American War in the 1840s, Lee made a name for himself. Lee collaborated with Ulysses S. Grant, a future foe and the 18th President of the United States, during this war and the march on Mexico City.
Lee played a significant role in the John Brown uprising and the battles of Harper’s Ferry and Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, in the years preceding the American Civil War. When Texas seceded from the Union in 1861, President Abraham Lincoln briefly gave Lee command of the federal forces of the United States.
Additional details on General Robert E. Lee
Lee publicly disagreed with the Southern states’ attempt to secede, which sparked the American Civil War. Lee should be named commander-in-chief of the Union forces, according to General Scott’s advice to President Lincoln. He briefly attended that appointment. Lee ultimately decided to support Virginia when it broke away from the Union in April 1861. He was first appointed by Confederate President Jefferson Davis to serve as a military counselor, but he ultimately assumed command of the whole Confederate army. Lee won numerous key battles while being outnumbered and poorly equipped. Although historians also point to his failings in two failed attempts to invade the north during the American Civil War, he is usually regarded as a skilled military leader.
On April 9, 1865, he finally gave himself up to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. Lee ultimately helped to emotionally reunify the United States during the Reconstruction era, despite the fact that he had surrendered.
That concludes our examination of Civil War general Robert E. Lee’s biography.
