Robert E. Lee, the man with tons of military experience, was born in 1807. No one knows exactly if he was born in 1807 or 1806 because there have been people that said he was born the previous year. No one knows for sure. If Robert E. Lee was born in 1807 it's rumored to be that he was born on January 19th in his parents home. Their home has had 4 generations of the Lee family live there before General Robert E. Lee was born. Writings have it that we know very little about his childhood years considering he talked about it very little as he grew older. His father was Henry Lee and his mother was Anne Carter.
Around 1825, West Point accepted there newest member. The son of Henry Lee went to school there. Unfortuantely he graduated second in his class not first. Charles Mason who graduated first in his class, ended up retiring from the Army soon after he graduated.
As the Civil War talks beging to happen, Robert E. Lee stayed with his home state, Virgina. Many people didn't know this but it was against Roberts wishes to secede from the union. He actually wanted to stay a union. To try and keep Robert with the union, President Lincoln invited him to the white house. Lee rejected. Even though Lee lived in the south he was opposed to slavery.
In 1862 Lee took over head of the Army of Norther Virginia. After while the president of the South put Lee in charge of the entire Confederate Army. Lee had his army ready for the battle of Bull Run. Right after the Battle of Bull Run was the Battle of Gettysburg. Thousands of troups lost there lives at the Battle of Gettysberg. In the end the Union won. Lee surrended on April 9th, 1865. The Civil War came to an end. Robert E. Lee died on October 12th, 1970 after suffering from a stroke two weeks earlier.
It's hard to believe that we've had so many great generals either fighting for us or against us. In my mind I think the civil war made us stronger. Even though it was basically about slavery it still made us strong in some ways. Robert E. Lee was an amazing general to lead his army and i'm sure he'll be one of the greatest ever. It's sad to see all those people who died in Gettysberg but thats a price you pay being in the war.
Picture Lee drew of Fort Des Moines. Now Montrose, Iowa.
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