Robert E. Lee

Lee thought secession was a tremendous mistake and that it would result in anarchy.

Lee did not doubt that secession was perfectly legal and constitutional, though. Most southerners believed that secession was legal and possible, even if not wise or recommended. Northerners had been the first to propose secession, first in the 1790s and again during the War of 1812, which was vastly unpopular in the Yankee states of the northeast, who traded heavily with Britain. The northerners continued to grow rich on a treasonable trade with the enemy during the War of 1812, and went so far as to call a secession convention of northern states at Hartford, Connecticut in 1815. By the time the convention met the war was over, so the idea went no farther.

In that sense, Lincoln was the true revolutionary. Lincoln sought, successfully, to change the terms upon which the Union was organized. Before the Civil War the US was exactly what its name says - united States, in the sense that each state was a sovereign entity. The states had voluntarily joined this Union, surely they could leave if they no longer wished to be a part of it. Lincoln changed all this. The country went from being a loose agglomeration of somewhat united states into one, single, INDIVISIBLE nation, all as a result of the war. Before, the central government was a weak one of LIMITED POWERS. On paper, it still is. In practice we have an ever growing central government, with its nose in every aspect of everybody's business, a trend which began with the northern victory in the civil war.

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Answer At the beginning of the war, General Albert Sidney Johnston was considered the highest ranking and most experienced leader in the South. He was killed at Battle of Shiloh in 1862. Later, General Robert E. Lee was placed in command of all the Confederate forces.

He was the main General on the Confederate side fighting a losing war. Fortunately the Union defeated him.

With the first answer well understood, Confederate General Robert E. Lee, nor historians throughout the post Civil War era, believed he was fighting a losing war. In fact until 1864, the Union also did not believe that victory was well in hand.

Because Winfield Scott rated him as the best General in America. (He led the patrol that captured John Brown.)

Lee wanted the job, but said that if his home-state of Virginia seceded, he would have to go with the South, even though he disapproved of secession.

In the Battle of Fredericksburg(Dec.13, 1862) the Army of Northern Virginia(Lee) took a defensive posture. They placed themselves in protected positions(behind stone walls,in trenches,etc.). They had good placement of the artillery. When the Union Army began the attack they had to first build a pontoon bridge to cross the Rappahannock River under fire of the Confederates. Eventually, they achieved crossing in large enough numbers to launch direct attacks on the Confederate positions in the high ground beyond the town of Fredericksburg. The Confederates,being in well-protected positions,simply mowed-down the exposed Union troops in large numbers. The Commanding Union General Ambrose Burnside ordered his troops to make several such attacks,each time with great loss and without any significant harm to the Confederate forces. The Generals under Burnside finally refused to launch further futile attacks. The result of this battle was a stunning victory for the Army of Northern Virginia.

The Confederate soldiers were given food and were allowed to keep their horses.

Aside from George Washington Curtis Lee, Nancy lee, Mary Curtis Lee, William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, Anne Carter Lee were Paris, Emmerson, Mildred. Eliza, Peter and Mary Elizabeth. Mattie, born 1879, was his last daughter with Sarah, but died.

No, he was not involved in this battle. General Albert Sidney Johnston was the commander of the Confederate forces. Robert E. Lee had not yet reached his revered status as the Souths consummate general. In fact he would not take command of the Army of Northern Virginia until June 1, 1862 and was serving as a military adviser to Jefferson Davis at the time of the Shiloh battle.

Two important generals for the Union would be Gen. George McClellan and Gen. Ulysses s. Grant. McClellan was the first general to lead the Union army, but he fell out of favor with President Lincoln who fired him and gave his job away to General Burnside. Grant was one of the most successful generals. He led the siege of Vicksburg and many other battles and won.

Robert's children's names were: George Washington Custis Lee (1832 -1913), William Henry Fitzhugh Lee (1837- 1891), Robert Edward Lee (1843 -1914), Mary, Eleanor Agnes (called Agnes), Anne, and Mildred.

Gen Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, Virginia on Palm Sunday, 1865.

The date was April 9, 1865. Grant furnished ample ration kits for Lee's men and they were allowed to keep their horses if they had any. Rifles were required to be surrendered.

Fast mover - able to exploit delays and indecision on the other side (greatly helped by Stonewall Jackson, and not so effective after the latter's death.)

Psychological warrior - wrong-footing the enemy by refusing to fight on a field chosen by them.

Inspirational leader - his men were ready to follow him till they were barefoot and starving.

Noble figurehead - he symbolised the Southern aristocratic virtues.

Lee was never a slave.

He was a traditional landed aristocrat, who owned many slaves. As General-in-Chief of the Confederate armies, he was the slave-owners' champion.

Lee's attitude to slavery is often debated. It seems that he disliked slavery, but disliked slaves even more. He had a personal reason for this. His father-in-law had earned popularity among his slaves by declaring that they would all be freed on his death. When he died, the terms of the will did not provide for this to happen until the estate had been legally disposed-of - a process that took about two years.

As executor of the will, Lee had to manage the angry slaves, sometimes having to order severe punishments, including whippings.

Still, when the war came, Lee was reluctant to join the Confederates, and only did so because his home-state of Virginia had voted to leave the Union, and he considered himself a Virginian first and an American second.

Robert E. Lee commanded the Confederate Forces at Gettysburg.

A better question would be 'How many battles were fought in the North?' - because there was only one. That was Gettysburg.

All the others were fought in the South.

Lee was probably a Whig for most of his life. He most definitely was NOT a Republican. The Republican Party was not formed until 1854, and ran its first candidate for president in 1856 (he lost). When Lincoln became president in 1860 he got just under 40% of the popular vote, and carried none of the southern states. This was possible because he had three opponents, a northern Democrat, a southern Democrat, and a Constitutional Union candidate, splitting the Democratic vote three ways.

The very worst thing a southerner could do after the war was to become a Republican. Such a person would be ostracized, no matter how outstanding their war record might have been. An example is Lieutenant General James Longstreet, who commanded the First Corps of Lee's Army throughout the war. Lee called Longstreet "my old war horse". After the war Longstreet turned Republican, and accepted government jobs from his old friend, President Grant. For this apostasy he was reviled in newspapers, blamed in books for losing battles and the war, and to this day there is no statue of Longstreet anywhere in the south. Longstreet lived until 1904. For a century after the war the south remained completely Democratic, the "Solid South", until the Civil Rights movement and the success it obtained from the Democrats caused many white southerners to switch to the Republican Party.

The Whigs ran their last candidate for president in 1852. He was General in Chief (commander) of the US Army, Winfield Scott. Lee had served on Scott's staff during the Mexican War, 1846-48. The Whig Party died out after losing the 1852 election, creating the void which allowed for the newly created Republican Party to rise so swiftly to national prominence.

Generally speaking the surrender of Robert E. Lee to US General Grant is referred to as the surrender at the Appomattox Court House. Lee's surrender was the key which in all practical terms ended the US Civil War. Later other Southern armies would surrender.

The specific name of the army Confederate General Robert E Lee commanded was the Army of Northern Virgina.

Even to the last weeks of the war Confederate President Jefferson Davis clearly demonstrated his power by appointing General Johnston to command the Army of Tennessee.

Im not sure, but i do know he had a niece named Jane Lee, because she is my great great grandmother

The Confederate soldiers were given food and were allowed to keep their horses, however, the Southerners had to surrender their rifles. Most Southern soldiers would return to their farms for Spring planting.

Lee was an Episcopalian, brought up in that religion, though he was not confirmed in that Church until he was 46. Little is known of Lee's childhood, but he lived his early years on a family plantation until the property was lost due to his father's business failings. The family probably attended the nearest Episcopal Church. After the farm was gone the family moved to Alexandria, Virginia, and no doubt attended the same denomination there. Lee however spent several years at boarding schools, which in that era all had compulsory chapel attendance. Chapel was also mandatory at West Point where Lee was a cadet from 1825-29, and there was an influential Episcopal clergyman. Lee's adult life was spent as an Army officer at many remote Army posts, and he and his family likely attended any church available. During the Civil War Lee frequently attended St. James Episcopal Church in Richmond (Reverend Dr. Peterkin), still standing on the corner of 5th and Marshall in Richmond, and also sometimes at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, which still stands on Grace Street in Richmond, Virginia. Confederate President Jefferson Davis was also a faithful attendee at St. Paul's, which is directly across the street from the Virginia capitol. Both Lee and Dais were in the congregation on Sunday, April 1, 1865, when word was brought to Lee that disaster had come to his Army at Five Forks, leading to the evacuation of Richmond and Petersburg the next day and Lee's surrender eight days later. Returning to Richmond after the surrender Lee continued to attend at St. Paul's in the summer of 1865. There is a fairly well known incident that occurred one Sunday. In the back of the church was a railed off area, behind which the slaves of the well-to-do families who made up much of the congregation had been accommodated for services. When the Reverend Dr. Charles Minnigerode called for those who wished to take communion, an elderly black man made his way forward and knelt at the altar rail. This was shocking to the white congregants, as communion had always been an all-white ceremony at St. Paul's. For a time no one quite knew what to do, then another elderly man rose and went and knelt with the old black man. It was, of course, General Lee. At the end of that summer Lee took the position offered him of President of tiny Washington College, in Lexington, Virginia. The school had been devastated by the war, but Lee's prestige and able leadership soon had it flourishing. The College trustees built a house on campus for their new President and his family, then built a new chapel. Lee, the College President, made his office in a basement room of this new chapel. His office is preserved today just as he left it when he went back to his home after his last day at work, and Lee's tomb is on the other side of the basement (his horse, Traveler, is buried out back). The College today is Washington and Lee University.

General Samuel Cooper, who served as Adjutant General and Inspector General was the highest ranking military officer in the CSA.

Cooper technically outranked General Robert E. Lee because he had been advanced to the rank of full general at an earlier date, 16 May 1861. That said, Lee's, later, appointment by the CSA Congress as general-in-chief, 23 January 1865, could be looked upon as an advancement to five star level.

He wasn't particularly known for being a politician, he was most known for his skilled commanding of the Confederate's important army in Virginia. He was an important icon for many people though.

As a very strong willed man, he would do anything he was told by a solider higher of a rank than him, always believed in slavery. He refused to ever surrender until the last battle he was in.