Robert E. Lee Biography
Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee was born in Stratford Hall, near Montross, Virginia, on January 19, 1807. He was a very serious boy and spent many hours in his father’s library. He loved to play with some of his friends, swim, and he loved to hunt. Lee looked up to his father and always wanted to know what he was doing. George Washington and his father, “Light-Horse Harry Lee,” were his heroes. He wanted to be just like his father when he grew up.
In the 1820’s, the entrance requirements for West Point were not close to as strict as they are now. It still was not that easy to become a cadet. Robert Lee entered the United States Military Academy at West Point where his classmates admired him for his brilliance, leadership, and his love for his work. He graduated from the academy with high honors in 1829, and he was ranked as a second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers at the age of 21.
When war broke out between the United States and Mexico in 1846, the army sent Lee to Texas to serve as assistant engineer under General John E. Wool. All his superior officers, especially General Winfield Scott, were impressed with Lee. At Cerro Gordo he led the first line of men into battle. The Americans won, then came the biggest battle of the war. The Americans attacked a fort outside Mexico City. Lee planned the attack. For days he worked without sleep. He found out where the Mexican soldiers were. He knew where to put the big guns. It was easy for the Army to take the fort. The American Army marched right into Mexico City. The war was now officially over. When Texas seceded from the Union in 1861, Lee was called to Washington D.C. to wait for further orders.
Unlike many Southerners, Lee did not believe in slavery and did not favor secession. He felt that slavery had an evil effect on masters as well as slaves. Long before the war, he had freed the few slaves whom he had inherited. Lee greatly admired George Washington, and hated the thought of a divided nation. He was willing to leave the union, as Washington had left the British Empire, to fight...