| HOME | THE MEN | THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY | CIVIL WAR STYLE QUILTS | THE PRESIDENTS |
|
|
Lee rejected President
Lincoln's offer of field command of the Union armies, and he reluctantly resigned his commission in order to return to his beloved Virginia. Lee said, "I cannot raise my hand against my birthplace." |
| The military genius
of General Lee leaves little doubt as to why the Confederacy remained
alive through the four years of the American Civil War. He was the son of Lighthorse Harry Lee. General Lee graduated second in his class in 1829 from the U.S. Military Academy, and then was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Engineers. in 1847, during the Mexican War, he was wounded in the storming of Chapultepec. He became Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy, then Colonel of Cavalry in 1860. After submitting his resignation to the U.S. Army, he became Commander-in-Chief of the military and naval forces of Virginia. Next, Lee was Military Advisor to Jefferson Davis and then placed in command of the Army of Northern Virginia. In early1865 he became Commander-in-Chief of all Confederate armies. Two months later, he surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse. |
