Robert E. Lee

He commanded the Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War from 1862 until its surrender in 1865.

The war effectively ended April 9, 1865, when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of Appomattox Court House.

He was also the husband of Mary Anna Custis Lee, adopted great granddaughter of George Washington.

Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee (October 1, 1807 – November 5, 1873) was the great-granddaughter of Martha Custis Washington and wife of Robert E. Lee, the prominent career military officer who commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War.

Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was an American and Confederate soldier, best known as a commander of the Confederate States Army.

The main Confederate armies, the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee and the remnants of the Army of Tennessee and various other units under General Joseph E. Johnston, surrendered to the U.S. on April 9, 1865 (officially April 12), and April 18, 1865 (officially April 26).

His aggressive tactics, especially at the Battle of Gettysburg, which resulted in high casualties at a time when the Confederacy had a shortage of manpower, have come under criticism in recent years.

Union Maj. Gen. George Meade's Army of the Potomac defeated attacks by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, halting Lee's invasion of the North.

A son of Revolutionary War officer Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee III, Lee was a top graduate of the United States Military Academy and an exceptional officer and military engineer in the United States Army for 32 years. Lee was born at Stratford Hall Plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia, to Major General Henry Lee III (Light Horse Harry) (1756–1818), Governor of Virginia, and his second wife, Anne Hill Carter (1773–1829).

He was the father of Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate armies in the American Civil War.

Lee surrendered the remnant of his army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.

For thirteen months, Grant fought Robert E. Lee during the high casualty Overland Campaign and at Petersburg.

Lee surrendered the remnant of his army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.

It was the final engagement of Confederate General in Chief, Robert E. Lee, and his Army of Northern Virginia before it surrendered to the Union Army of the Potomac under the Commanding General of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant.

He commanded the Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War from 1862 until its surrender in 1865.

Robert E. Lee's biographer, Douglas S. Freeman, asserts that the army received its final name from Lee when he issued orders assuming command on June 1, 1862.

During the first year of the Civil War, he served as a senior military adviser to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

While not disgraced, Davis had been displaced in ex-Confederate affection after the war by his leading general, Robert E. Lee.

Lee was born at Stratford Hall Plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia, to Major General Henry Lee III (Light Horse Harry) (1756–1818), Governor of Virginia, and his second wife, Anne Hill Carter (1773–1829).

Anne Hill Carter Lee (March 26, 1773 – June 26, 1829) was the wife of the ninth governor of Virginia, Henry Lee III, and the mother of the general-in-chief of the Confederate States of America, Robert E. Lee.

A son of Revolutionary War officer Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee III, Lee was a top graduate of the United States Military Academy and an exceptional officer and military engineer in the United States Army for 32 years.

Future Civil War commanders Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee first distinguished themselves in battle in Mexico.

In 1865, Lee became president of Washington College (later Washington and Lee University) in Lexington, Virginia; in that position, he supported reconciliation between North and South.

In 1865, shortly after his April 9 surrender to Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, commander of the Union Armies, former Confederate States Army General-in-Chief Robert E. Lee (1807–1870) was called and served as president of the college for five years until his death in 1870, when the college was thereafter renamed the "Washington and Lee University".

A son of Revolutionary War officer Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee III, Lee was a top graduate of the United States Military Academy and an exceptional officer and military engineer in the United States Army for 32 years.

Grant took command of Union forces in 1864 and after a series of battles with very heavy casualties, he had General Robert E. Lee under siege in Richmond as General William T. Sherman captured Atlanta and marched through Georgia and the Carolinas.

In 1865, Lee became president of Washington College (later Washington and Lee University) in Lexington, Virginia; in that position, he supported reconciliation between North and South.

Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson are buried here.

Lee's family is one of Virginia's first families, descended from Richard Lee I, Esq., "the Immigrant" (1618–1664), from the county of Shropshire in England.

He was great-grandfather of President Zachary Taylor and great-great-great grandfather of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

Although Mary Lee accompanied her husband to Hampton Roads, she spent about a third of her time at Arlington, though the couple's first son, Custis Lee was born at Fort Monroe.

George Washington Custis Lee (September 16, 1832 – February 18, 1913), also known as Custis Lee, was the eldest son of Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis Lee.

Lee was born at Stratford Hall Plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia, to Major General Henry Lee III (Light Horse Harry) (1756–1818), Governor of Virginia, and his second wife, Anne Hill Carter (1773–1829).

Westmoreland County was the birthplace of George Washington, the first President of the United States (at the former settlement of Bridges Creek, Virginia); of James Monroe, the fifth President; and of General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate armies.

Beginning in 1832, Robert Lee had a close but platonic relationship with Harriett Talcott, wife of his fellow officer Andrew Talcott.

Andrew Talcott (1797–1883) was an American civil engineer and close friend of Civil War General Robert E. Lee.

At the time, the focus of the curriculum was engineering; the head of the Army Corps of Engineers supervised the school and the superintendent was an engineering officer.

Some of these men were Union Generals George McClellan, Henry Halleck, George Meade, and Confederate generals Robert E. Lee, Joseph Johnston, and P.G.T. Beauregard.

William Henry Fitzhugh Lee (May 31, 1837 – October 15, 1891), known as Rooney Lee (often spelled "Roony" among friends and family) or W.H.F. Lee, was the second son of General Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis.

Lee was a great-great-great grandson of William Randolph and a great-great grandson of Richard Bland.

His descendants include many prominent individuals including Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, Paschal Beverly Randolph, Robert E. Lee, Peyton Randolph, Edmund Randolph, John Randolph of Roanoke, George W. Randolph, and Edmund Ruffin.

Robert and Mary married on June 30, 1831, at Arlington House, her parents' house just across from Washington, D.C. The 3rd U.S. Artillery served as honor guard at the marriage.

Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, formerly named the Custis-Lee Mansion, is a Greek revival style mansion located in Arlington, Virginia, United States that was once the home of Confederate Army General Robert E. Lee.

Mary was the only surviving child of George Washington Parke Custis, George Washington's stepgrandson, and Mary Lee Fitzhugh Custis, daughter of William Fitzhugh and Ann Bolling Randolph.

His daughter, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, married Robert E. Lee.

Robert Edward "Rob" Lee Jr. (October 27, 1843 – October 19, 1914) was the youngest of three sons of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Randolph Custis, and the sixth of their seven children.

Although Mary Lee accompanied her husband to Hampton Roads, she spent about a third of her time at Arlington, though the couple's first son, Custis Lee was born at Fort Monroe.

Later the entrance from Chesapeake Bay was equipped with new fortifications (Fort Monroe and Fort Wool), much of the building work being supervised by a young military engineer Robert E. Lee.