General Robert E. Lee was the most heroic figure of the Civil War, but to many, he is a solitary figure. This book fleshes out the man and reveals the workings of a great military mind and a warm, understanding, and generous human being. It shows all the facets of the general during the war; at the conclusion, when he was an outspoken proponent of a reasonable peace which would allow the South to rejoin the Union; and after the war, when he served as president of Washington College, and became a driving force for the creation of a viable educational system. This anthology shows all these facets of the general, through his correspondence and through the revealing insight supplied by his son. No other collection of source materials gives such a whole and rewarding picture of one of the South’s greatest sons and heroes.
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General Robert E. Lee (1807–1870) was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War. The son of Revolutionary War officer Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee III and a top graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Lee distinguished himself as an exceptional officer and combat engineer in the United States Army for thirty-two years. During this time, he served throughout the United States, distinguished himself during the Mexican-American War, and served as superintendent of the United States Military Academy. When Virginia declared its secession from the Union in April 1861, Lee chose to follow his home state, despite the fact that President Abraham Lincoln had offered Lee command of the Union Army. Although he was able to secure victories against the much larger Union Army, Lee ultimately surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. After the war, Lee served as president of what is now known as Washington and Lee University.