Robert E Lee example essay topic

Robert Edward Lee began his life on January 19, 1807 in Stratford in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He was the son of Revolutionary War hero, "Light Horse" Harry Lee. By the time Lee was two years old, his father was imprisoned for debts. He was later released from jail and ended up leaving his family when Lee was six years old.

He sailed off and never returned. His mother, Ann Carter Lee, was a very religious woman and she instilled this and her gentle manners in her children. When Lee was about 12 years old, his mother's failing health forced him to become caretaker and the "man of the house" in many respects (Biography: Robert E. Lee). In 1825, Lee entered West Point. He graduated second in his class in 1829. During his four years at the military academy, he did not earn a single demerit and he also served as adjutant of the Cadet Corps.

In June 1831, Lee married Mary Ann Randolph Custis. They made their home near Washington, D.C. They had seven children. This was the beginning of the life of a man who would come to be known as the most respected general of the Civil War. People have many different opinions about why Robert E. Lee was deserving of such honor and recognition. However, it is undeniable that his military genius, his morals and good personality, and the way people reacted to him resulted in the heroic image of Robert E. Lee that still remains today. Robert E. Lee fought in many of the major battles of the Civil War including Richmond, Sharpsburg, Second Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg.

However, Lee's military career began before the Civil War. With the outbreak of the Mexican War in 1845, Lee went to serve his country as an Army Captain. His duty in the beginning was to supervise road construction. It was not long, however, until General Winfield Scott learned of Lee's other skills and sought his assistance and expertise in military matters. In 1861, Lee was summoned to Washington and offered command of the Federal forces being assembled on the day after Virginia's secession.

This presented a somewhat difficult decision for Lee to make. He had no sympathy with either secession or slavery and, loving the Union and the army, he disapproved the thought of sectional conflict. However, in his tradition, loyalty to Virginia came first, and upon Virginia's secession he resigned from the army. During the time he was pondering this decision, Lee wrote a letter to a family member which said, "In my own person I had to meet the question whether I should take part against my native state. With all my devotion to the Union, and the feeling of loyalty and duty [as] an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind and raise my hand against my relatives, my children, [or] my home. I have therefore resigned my commision in the Army, and, save in defense of my native state, with the sincere hope that my poor services may never be needed, I hope I may never be called upon to draw my sword" (Biography: Robert E. Lee).

Three days after his resignation, Lee accepted the offered position of Commander of the forces of Virginia and served as an advisor to Jefferson Davis. In May 1861, he became a general. There were many events on the battlefield in which Lee proved his military genius. In March 1862, Davis called Lee to Richmond. His plan to prevent reinforcements from reaching General George McClellan, whose army was threatening Richmond, was brilliantly carried out by T.J. "Stonewall" Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley. When Joseph E. Johnston was wounded at Fair Oaks in the Peninsular campaign, Lee assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia.

His leadership of that army through the next three years has placed him among the world's greatest commanders. There were a series of hard fights at Beaver Dam Creek, Gaines' Mill, Savage Station, Glendale, White Oak Swamp, and Malvern Hill, later known as the Seven Days Battles. Lee's forces drove the Federal forces from their positions threatening the Confederate capitol. McClellan quickly withdrew his army to Harrison's Landing, where it could be supported and supplied by the Union Navy. Lee became an instant hero to the people of the South as a result and his soldiers began to develop an unusually deep belief in him as their leader. During the duration of the Civil War, Lee gained respect from his troops as well as from any other individuals, both northern and southern.

Lee had many victories and defeats during the war. He acheive d his most notable military success at Chancellorsville in May 1863. Although his army was outnumbered, he detached Jackson with most of the army to make a lengthy march around the Federal flank, while he remained with only two divisions in front of the Union army. Robert E. Lee was given the title of General-In-Chief of All Confederate Armies in February of 1865. However, this was not to be long lived due to his surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox in April of the same year. As to the question of his brilliance in military matters, General Scott was prompted by Lee's heroism to write that he was "the very best soldier I ever saw in the field" (General Robert E. Lee).

Following the war, Lee refused a number of offers that would have secured substantial means for his family but which he believed to be unacceptable. Instead, he assumed the presidency of Washington College, now Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, Virginia. Lee was a surprisingly progressive educator. His reputation helped to revitalize the school after the war, and he placed the institution on a sound basis through his demonstrated desire to rebuild the state and reunite the country. With the war behind him, Lee set an example to all in his refusal to express bitterness. "Abandon your animosities", he said, "and make your sons Americans" (Robert Edward Lee A).

The man who had fought against the Union was teaching what unity really meant. What kind of Confederate general was this who urged the people of the South to work for the restoration of peace and harmony in a united country? A study of the character of Robert E. Lee can be a rather complex endeavor. Only the man himself and those closest to him could supply an accurate summary of what he was really like. However, it is undisputed that one of the things that made Lee the hero that he is today were his morals and unique personality. As sometimes happens, one member seems to fall heir to the best qualities of the previous generations and very few of its flaws.

So it seemed to be with Robert E. Lee. Young Lee was raised mostly by his mother. From her he learned patience, control, and discipline. She taught morals and her son embraced her teachings and held them close to himself for all of his days. As a young man he was exposed to Christianity and he accepted its faith.

He remained a faithfully religious man throughout his life. In contrast to the strong example of set by his mother, Lee saw his father go from failed enterprise to failed enterprise. However, from his father there came rare physical strength and endurance and a reason to try harder and succeed. During his youthful years Lee was handsome in personal appearance and he had a manner that charmed and won respect. He was thoroughly moral, free from the vices, and "full of life and fun" as a contemporary described him, but still more inclined to serious society (Robert Edward Lee B). Few other men have ever had to answer the agonizing question of ambition versus loyalty that Lee faced.

Time and time again, it was the power of Lee's personality that led his men to victory against the better-fed, better-equipped and outnumbering enemy. Robert E. Lee has been remembered by many for the same reasons. Lee had a character of devotion, self-sacrifice, reserve, gentle manliness, Christian character, acceptance of defeat, moderation, etc. There have been many good qualities used to describe Lee by many people over the years. However, perhaps the best description of the kind of man Robert E. Lee was comes from a paper written by the man himself.

The title was "Definition of a Gentleman" and the author was Robert E. Lee: "The forbearing use of power does not only form a touchstone, but the manner in which an individual enjoys certain advantages over others is a test of a true gentleman... The gentleman does not needlessly and unnecessary remind an offender of a wrong he may have commited against him. He cannot only forgive, he can forget; and he strives for that nobleness of self and madness of character which impart sufficient strength to let the past be but the past. A true man of honor feels humbled himself when he cannot help humbling others" (Biography: Robert E. Lee).

In the years after the Civil War, only Robert E. Lee's nearest friends saw how his sympathy for the misfortunes of his people became a malady which physicians could not remove. However, what finally got the best of this man was a heart disease which had plaque d him since the spring of 1863. Lee died on October 12, 1870 at Lexington. He had attended church and was at the table attempting to say grace when he fell to the floor. Thus ended the life of a man of courage, wisdom, humility, duty, and one who carried his religious faith and love of family with him throughout his life. Lee was a legend in his own lifetime but by no means did it end there.

In some ways, Lee became more of a legend after his death. His hero status benefited from the admiration of three seperate groups: Virginians, Southerners, and Americans. During most of the Civil War, Lee basically shared general popularity with other generals. In the later part of the war and until his death, Lee was quite a hero figure for Virginia. He was called such things as the "First Gentleman of Virginia" (Lee, Virginia's General). From the 1880's until World War I, Virginia authors dominated publication in the subject of the Civil War.

Thus, the Virginia opinion and version of Lee was transmitted by many writers. Lee and his biography began to act as a symbol for the Lost Cause in the South. Lee's story was picked up across this region and held up as representing the mixture of the noble and tragic in the South. Soon Lee's popularity stretched beyond Virginia and the South and reached all of America. During the national depression following World War I, Lee's defeat was an emblem with which America could identify. His characterization changed little except for peaks in the national disposition, such as the 1950's when Lee was acknowledged for his nationalism in helping to restore the Union through acceptance of defeat, un support of sectional differences, and general moderation.

In an emerging industrial culture that seemed to many to be cold, foreign, and valueless, the image of Robert E. Lee and his antebellum Virginia looked more and more appealing all the time. He was attractive to Americans because he put an honorable face on the world. Even his involvement in the Civil War was viewed differently. Lee was the reluctant rebel who disliked slavery and secession, one whose love for the Union transcended that of the other southern officers. Robert E. Lee possessed traits which are indisputably admirable. By all accounts, he was an honorable man, a loyal husband, and a loving father.

He served his country and later his native state the best way he knew how, in war. His military history has been studied alongside the work of the great masters of war, his character has been greatly admired, and his name has come to be greatly honored. Lee is known as the hero of the South, but he is admired by all Americans, Northerners and Southerners. When Civil War generals are analyzed, Robert E. Lee is considered to be the most respected. Y.