Robert E. Lee Biography Quotes 27 Report mistakes

Early Life and Family
Robert Edward Lee was born on January 19, 1807, at Stratford Hall in Westmoreland County, Virginia, into a family closely associated with the founding generation of the United States. His father, Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee III, had been a celebrated cavalry officer in the American Revolution and later governor of Virginia. His mother, Anne Hill Carter Lee, managed the family during periods of financial insecurity after his father fell into debt and left Virginia. The household emphasized discipline, honor, and piety, values that profoundly shaped Lee's outlook.

Education and Early Military Career
Lee entered the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1825 and graduated in 1829 second in his class, without a single demerit, a distinction that foreshadowed his reputation for exacting standards. Commissioned into the Corps of Engineers, he embarked on a career devoted to coastal and riverine fortifications, surveying, and infrastructure. His early work took him to posts such as Fort Monroe in Virginia and projects in Georgia and the Mississippi Valley, where he earned a reputation for diligence, technical skill, and quiet leadership.

Mexican-American War and Rising Reputation
During the Mexican-American War (1846, 1848), Lee served on the staff of General Winfield Scott. He conducted hazardous reconnaissance and devised routes that helped American forces outmaneuver Mexican defenses at places like Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco, and Chapultepec. His performance won him several brevet promotions and the confidence of Scott, who later praised Lee as one of the finest soldiers he had ever seen. The conflict showcased Lee's mastery of terrain and movement, qualities that would mark his generalship years later.

Superintendent at West Point and Prewar Service
From 1852 to 1855, Lee served as superintendent of West Point, focusing on discipline and curriculum, and shaping a generation of officers who would later find themselves on opposing sides of the Civil War. Afterward, he transferred to the cavalry and served on the Texas frontier. In October 1859, while on leave in Virginia, he led a detachment of U.S. Marines that stormed the engine house at Harpers Ferry to end John Brown's raid; among those present was J. E. B. Stuart, then a U.S. Army officer and Lee's aide. Lee's marriage to Mary Anna Randolph Custis linked him to the Washington-Custis family and to Arlington House, the estate overlooking the Potomac. As executor of the Custis estate, he managed complicated trusts that included enslaved laborers, an aspect of his life that remains central to assessments of his character and choices.

Decision in 1861 and the Confederacy
When the secession crisis deepened in 1861, Winfield Scott sought Lee for senior command in the U.S. Army. Lee opposed secession in principle but placed loyalty to Virginia above service to the Union, and resigned his U.S. commission in April 1861 after his state left the Union. He accepted roles in Virginia's forces and soon in the Confederacy, advising President Jefferson Davis and organizing defenses. Early field command in western Virginia brought mixed results, but his skill in fortifying positions and managing logistics remained evident.

Command of the Army of Northern Virginia
After General Joseph E. Johnston was wounded in June 1862, Lee assumed command of the army defending Richmond. Renaming it the Army of Northern Virginia, he launched the Seven Days Battles against George B. McClellan, driving Union forces from the Peninsula. Lee's aggressive style, reliance on rapid movement, and ability to read adversaries produced further victories at Second Manassas against John Pope and at Fredericksburg against Ambrose Burnside. At Chancellorsville in May 1863, he achieved perhaps his most audacious success, splitting his forces in the face of a larger foe under Joseph Hooker. The triumph was tempered by the mortal wounding of his trusted lieutenant, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, whose loss would be deeply felt.

Gettysburg and the Turning of the War
In summer 1863, Lee led a second invasion of the North that culminated at Gettysburg, where three days of fierce combat against George G. Meade ended in Confederate withdrawal. The failed assault on July 3, often called Pickett's Charge, proved devastating. Lee took responsibility, consoling shattered troops and offering his resignation to Jefferson Davis, who refused it. Gettysburg marked a strategic turning point, constraining Confederate options and eroding the offensive momentum that had carried Lee's army through 1862.

Overland Campaign, Petersburg, and Surrender
In 1864, Ulysses S. Grant assumed overall Union command and initiated the Overland Campaign, pressing Lee relentlessly from the Wilderness to Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor. The fighting exacted terrible losses. Unable to defeat Grant outright, Lee entrenched around Petersburg and Richmond, defending a long perimeter through prolonged siege. As Union forces under Grant, George G. Meade, and others extended their lines and seized vital rail links, Confederate logistics collapsed. On April 2, 3, 1865, Petersburg and Richmond were evacuated. Lee retreated west, seeking to unite with other Confederate forces, but supply shortages, cavalry pressure from Philip Sheridan, and blocked routes led to encirclement. On April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House, he surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant, who offered generous terms, allowing officers and men to return home with their horses for spring planting.

Postwar Years and Educational Leadership
After the war, Lee declined to enter politics and instead accepted the presidency of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia, in October 1865. There he worked to rebuild the institution, broaden its curriculum to include practical subjects like engineering and modern languages, and emphasize a student-run honor system. He urged former Confederates to obey the law and rebuild their communities, corresponding politely with figures on both sides, including Grant. Lee applied for amnesty from President Andrew Johnson and took an oath of allegiance; the paperwork became a point of confusion in later years, but he lived quietly within the new political realities. He died in Lexington on October 12, 1870, after a brief illness.

Personal Character, Faith, and Legacy
Contemporaries remembered Lee as reserved, devout, and exacting, a man of formal courtesy and self-discipline. He possessed talent for reading terrain and inspiring confidence, and he relied on skilled subordinates such as James Longstreet, A. P. Hill, and J. E. B. Stuart. His war record also revealed limits: staff coordination, reconnaissance, and logistics sometimes failed him at critical moments, and costly offensives like the third day at Gettysburg have drawn intense scrutiny. He considered slavery morally and socially complex and worked within a system that exploited enslaved labor; his managerial actions at the Custis estates and his choice to fight for a Confederacy founded to protect slavery have become focal points in modern reassessment.

Lee's postwar advocacy for reconciliation influenced how many Americans tried to move forward, while the later rise of the "Lost Cause" tradition, which elevated his image, obscured central truths about the war's origins in slavery. His family connections, especially through Mary Custis Lee and their children, tied his memory to Arlington House, which became the heart of Arlington National Cemetery during the war, an enduring symbol of national sacrifice located on the former Lee estate. Complex, consequential, and controversial, Robert E. Lee remains a pivotal figure in U.S. history, situated at the intersection of military prowess, personal conviction, and the moral catastrophe of civil war.

Our collection contains 27 quotes who is written by Robert, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Ethics & Morality - Friendship - Leadership - Learning.

Other people realated to Robert: Jerome Lawrence (Playwright), Ulysses S. Grant (President), George Armstrong Custer (Soldier), John Buford (Soldier), Rosalind Russell (Actress), Shelby Foote (Author), Mary Chesnut (Author), Joshua Chamberlain (Soldier), John B. Hood (Soldier), Philip Kearny (Soldier)

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