Essays on Robert E Lee

Lee was born at Stratford Hall Plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on January 19, 1807. When Lee was six, his father moved to the West Indies and left the family in financially bad circumstances. Lee entered the United States Military Academy in 1825.

Lee distinguished himself in the Mexican–American War. In 1847, Lee served on the staff of Winfield Scott during a campaign. He impressed superiors and won brevet promotions to major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel.

During the 1850s, tensions between the slave owners and the abolitionist movement reached a boiling point. Lee halted a raid at Harpers Ferry in 1859, capturing radical abolitionist John Brown and his followers. The Civil War started on April 12, 1861, when Confederates took control of South Carolina’s Fort Sumter.

Lee joined the Confederates and was named general and commander of the South’s fight for secession. Lee made his first attempt at invading the North in the Battle of Antietam, on September 17, 1862. Lee has been criticized for his aggressive strategies that led to mass casualties. Lee surrendered to Grant on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House in Virginia, effectively ending the Civil War.

After the war, Lee was not arrested or punished. In August 1865 he became president of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia. Lee's family house, was seized by Union forces during the war and turned into Arlington National Cemetery.

On September 28, 1870, Lee suffered a stroke. He died on October 12, 1870, in Lexington, Virginia, from the effects of pneumonia.

The Confederate general remains one of the most divisive figures in American history. During the 21st century, Lee became a more controversial figure, and statues of him were removed from public places in many cities.

"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."
"It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it."
"The education of a man is never completed until he dies."