LEE, ROBERT EDWARD (1807-187o), American gen eral, was born at Stratford, Va., on Jan. 19, 1807. He came of a family with a great record of public service. His father, Henry Lee, was governor of Virginia and in the Revolutionary War made himself famous as a leader of Washington's cavalry, earning the sobriquet of "Light Horse Harry." Two Lees (Richard and Francis) signed the Declaration of Independence. A forbear, Thomas Lee, became president and commander-in-chief of Virginia, while the founder of the American branch of the family, Richard Lee, who migrated to Virginia in the reign of Charles I., became secretary of State and a member of the privy council of Virginia, and helped to hold the colony for Charles II.
Robert, the fourth son in Henry's second family, entered the United States military academy at West Point, where he gradu ated with great distinction, and was in 1829 commissioned as 2nd lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. Two years later he married Mary Custis, great granddaughter of Martha Washington, heiress to the Arlington estate in the Virginian hills which overlook Washington, and of the White House on the Pamunkey. Thus by birth and marriage Robert was connected with the leading families of Virginia. In 1846, when war broke out between the United States and Mexico, Lee, then a captain, was already dis tinguished in the service for his ability, and was chosen by Gen. Scott to join the headquarters staff. He returned from this war with a reputation established at the age of 42, and was chosen successively to be superintendent of West Point, and to be colonel of cavalry, in which capacity he was employed for some years in the country of the Comanche Indians. In 1859 he was at his wife's home, Arlington, when John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry took place, and he was employed in the unpleasant task of capturing the raiders. From this duty he returned to the Texas border to be summoned to Washington in February, 1861, to meet the crisis of his life.
Lee was no politician, but he had followed with an intelligent interest the development of the crisis which culminated in the Civil War. He regarded slavery as an evil, and in common with
many of the landowners of Virginia, had liberated his slaves, but he considered that it would be a greater evil to attempt to eradicate slavery by force. He believed firmly in the advantages of the Union, but still more firmly that the authority of the Federal Government was conferred on it freely by the several States, which had the right to secede if they wished. His political creed may be summed up in the words which he wrote on the eve of the crisis :—"I can anticipate no greater calamity for the country than the dissolution of the Union. . . . Still a union that can only be maintained by swords and bayonets, and in which strife and civil war are to take the place of brotherly love and kindness, has no charms for me. If the Union is dissolved and the Government dispersed I shall return to my native State and share the miseries of my people and, save in defence, will draw my sword no more." At the time when war became certain Lee's military reputation was so high that Scott advised Abraham Lincoln to offer him the command of the Federal forces in the field. That brilliant offer Lee declined with a heavy heart. He resigned his commission in the United States army and went to Richmond to place his services at the disposal of Virginia.
In the first months of the war Lee was engaged in organizing the troops of his State. He was then for a time military adviser to the Confederate president, Jefferson Davis, and in that capac ity watched the defeat of the first Federal invasion of Virginia at Bull Run. During part of that year, 1861, he was sent to command in western Virginia, where the Federals under the leadership of McClellan had won conspicuous successes. With untrained troops and inexperienced officers, in difficult moun tainous country, his campaign there was a failure, and he returned to Richmond with his reputation under a cloud to be sent by Davis to organize the coast defences of the Carolinas. He was engaged on this work when he was again summoned, in March 1862, to Richmond to be military adviser to the President.