General Robert E. Lee

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General Lee's Army: From Victory to Collapse by Joseph Glaathaar
The men of the Confederate States of America had liberty on their minds when they enlisted in the fight to save slavery. "Better to die freemen than live as slaves," said a Texan soldier. Today, the notion of freedom lovers fighting for slavery is odd. But the troops of Dixie had no problem merging their faith in democracy with a commitment to keeping blacks in bondage. In the minds of the soldiers, "just as Revolutionary War veterans had fought to secure liberty for their descendents, so must they preserve it for future generations," writes Joseph Glatthaar in General Lee's Army: From Victory to Collapse.
by csmonitor :: 2008-05-23 :: General Robert E. Lee

Three Confederate General Robert E. Lee war letters net $61,000
3 letters written by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee during the Civil War sold for $61,000. The prices were far off the record $630,000 a Lee item sold for in 2002. But 2 letters from the general who ended the war with surrender in 1865 sold last year for $5,000 and $1,900. The letters were among more than 400 documents Thomas Willcox put up for auction. Estimates placed the total sales at less than $400,000. David Ellison spent $27,000 for a Lee letter that talked about using slave labor to build defenses. Cal Packard spent $100,000 - his biggest prize was original documents tied to South Carolina's secession convention in Charleston, including Pickens' copies.
by wilmingtonstar :: 2007-10-02 :: General Robert E. Lee

Mary Custis Lee's trunks memorabilia tell much about Robert E. Lee
Two old trunks sit in the rare-book room at the Virginia Historical Society. The larger one is brown with a piece of tin patching a hole. On one side, a name is stenciled: "M. LEE." That's Mary Custis Lee, General Robert E. Lee's adventurous eldest daughter. In 1917, she stored wooden trunks in the "silver vault" in the basement of Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust in Alexandria. A year later, she died. Her trunks sat in a dusty corner of the vault for 84 years, unclaimed, until E. Hunt Burke discovered them in 2002. The trunks were stuffed with Lee family papers - a cache of 4,000 letters, photographs and documents.
by washingtonpost :: 2007-07-13 :: General Robert E. Lee

A stunning discovery - Trunks yield Lee treasures
Archivist Lee Shepard has laid his hands on some remarkable documents and artifacts. George Washington's earliest surviving land survey and items from the estate of Paul Mellon jump to the top of his list. But the competition has heated up since the discovery of 2 trunks containing letters, papers, journals and financial records collected by Mary Custis Lee, the eldest daughter of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. One of the most powerful is Lee's 1863 note to the HQ of the Army of Northern Virginia announcing Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's death. "The daring, skill and energy of this great and good soldier, by the decree of an all-wise Providence, are now lost to us."
by hnn.us :: 2007-06-07 :: General Robert E. Lee

Timeline: Key dates in the life of General Robert E. Lee
Jan. 19, 1807: Born at Stratford Hall in Westmoreland County. 1829: Graduates second in his West Point class, no demerits. 1846-47: Mexican-American War. Lee serves on the staff of Gen. Winfield Scott. 1861: Virginia secedes from Union. Lee resigns from U.S. Army, and accepts command of Virginia military and naval forces. 1862: Given command of Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. 1862-1863: String of battlefield victories: Seven Days, Second Manassas, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. And he's beaten in two forays into the North at Sharpsburg/Antietam and Gettysburg. 1865: Lee becomes general-in-chief of Confederate forces. He surrenders to Grant at Appomattox.
by fredericksburg :: 2007-03-11 :: General Robert E. Lee

Robert E. Lee papers on display -- General Order No. 9
The Texas Civil War Museum in Fort Worth is offering an exhibit about General Robert E. Lee as part of its first-anniversary celebration, including a limited showing of Lee's General Order No. 9, his farewell to his troops in the Army of Northern Virginia. The document was signed April 10, 1865, the day after the surrender at Appomattox. 13 original copies of the order are known to exist. Other permanent and rotating exhibits also can be seen, including newly acquired Civil War hand grenades and a torpedo mine.
by dallasnews :: 2007-01-29 :: General Robert E. Lee

200th anniversary of Robert E. Lee's birth to be commemorated
History buffs are marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of Gen. Robert E. Lee, the Southern icon that many still revere as a brilliant military strategist and a Virginia gentleman. Several events were planned through the weekend at key Lee sites, including Washington & Lee University, Lee's birthplace at Stratford Hall Plantation, and in Richmond, the former Confederate capital. "But perhaps his greatest moments came after the war, when he worked very hard to reconcile a country that was still deeply divided after a bitter internal conflict," said S. Waite Rawls III.
by jacksonville :: 2007-01-21 :: General Robert E. Lee

Remembering Robert E. Lee's 200th Birthday
Some people are calling 2007 "The Year of Lee." Robert E. Lee, a man whose military tactics have been studied worldwide, was an American soldier, educator, gentlemen, husband and father. "All the South has ever desired was that the Union as established by our forefathers, should be preserved, and that the government, as originally organized, should be administered in purity and truth." His father, "Light Horse" Harry Lee, was a Revolutionary War hero, Governor of Virginia and a member of the House of Representatives. In 1825 Lee went to the US Military Academy at West Point. He graduated in 1829, second in his class and without a single demerit.
by theweekly :: 2007-01-13 :: General Robert E. Lee

Rare portrait of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee to be showcased
A portrait of Confederate General Robert E. Lee not publicly seen since 1868 is being displayed as part of the Museum of the Confederacy's commemoration of the iconic Civil War leader's 200th birthday. The portrait's owner, a Richmond Civil War enthusiast who declined to be identified, plans to have 500 prints of the painting made and sell them for $300 each to benefit the financially ailing museum, which has faced encroaching development and declining attendance for the past several years.
by nctimes :: 2007-01-04 :: General Robert E. Lee

Audacity Personified: The Generalship Of Robert E. Lee
Peter S. Carmichael opens his book of essays by a question: Why do we need another book on General Robert E. Lee? He acknowledges Douglas Southall Freeman's classic 4-volume "R.E. Lee" as the standard biography, then asserts that deeper interpretations of certain aspects of Lee's career, based on new research, can add to our understanding of Lee's generalship. In his own contribution to the volume, he asserts that, unlike most other Confederate and Union generals, Lee never accepted the fact that Civil War armies were incapable of inflicting overwhelming defeat upon their opponents on the battlefield.
by fredericksburg :: 2006-10-18 :: General Robert E. Lee

The Death of Robert E. Lee
Article no longer available from the original source.
General Robert E. Lee, who died on October 12, 1870, is honored throughout America. While serving as U.S. President, Dwight Eisenhower was criticized for displaying a portrait of Robert E. Lee in his office. The president's response was kind but honest and here is a part of what he said; "General Robert E. Lee was, in my estimation, one of the supremely gifted men produced by this nation." After Lee's death, memorial meetings were also held throughout the South and as far North as New York. The coming year 2007, is being called "The Year of Lee", as Lee's 200th birthday will be remembered on January 19, 2007.
by sierratimes :: 2006-09-25 :: General Robert E. Lee

Spot where Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant
The Appomattox National Historical Park does not stand as a tribute to the Union victory or a shrine to the Confederate defeat. Rather, it presents the honor among rivals. This is the spot where, on April 9, 1865, Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, setting into motion the end of the Civil War. One day after the surrender, Lee and Grant met for a second time to discuss further details. Grant issued "parole passes" to all Confederate soldiers. One Southern soldier observed that Grant and his men treated the Confederates "more nobly than was ever a conquered Army treated before or since."
by dailypress :: 2006-09-09 :: General Ulysses S. Grant

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