Who was Robert E. Lee?

He was the commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War (1807 to 1870), widely regarded as a skilled general who fought for the slaveholding South and lost the war.

Why did Robert E. Lee fight for the Confederacy?

He was a US army officer who chose loyalty to his home state of Virginia when it seceded in 1861, and so commanded armies for the Confederacy, a rebellion founded to preserve slavery.

What was Lee's greatest victory?

Chancellorsville in 1863 is usually named his masterpiece: badly outnumbered, he divided his army and, with Stonewall Jackson, crushed the Union flank.

Why did Robert E. Lee lose at Gettysburg?

His attacks on the strong Union position failed, and the frontal assault on the third day, Pickett's Charge, was cut down with heavy losses; he retreated and never invaded the North again.

When did Robert E. Lee surrender?

He surrendered his army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on 9 April 1865, effectively ending the Civil War.

Is Robert E. Lee a controversial figure?

Yes. He was a gifted commander, but he fought to defend the Confederacy and slavery; the heroic 'Lost Cause' legend built around him is rejected by most historians today.

Robert E. Lee: general of the Confederacy

Robert E. Lee is often called the finest field commander of the American Civil War, and he lost it. For three years his Army of Northern Virginia beat back larger Union armies, until the tide turned at Gettysburg and Ulysses S. Grant ground him down to surrender. He fought, it should be said plainly, for the Confederacy, a rebellion founded to preserve the enslavement of millions.

Compare: Grant vs Lee, Lee vs Meade

A soldier who chose the South

Lee was a career United States army officer, an engineer and hero of the Mexican-American War¹, and when the southern states seceded in 1861 he was offered command of the Union field army¹. He refused and went with his home state of Virginia² into the Confederacy. It is the choice that defines him: a gifted soldier who turned his skill against the United States on behalf of the slaveholding South.

Oil portrait of a young dark-haired officer in a blue uniform with gold epaulettes — Robert E. Lee at 31, a lieutenant of engineers in the United States Army, painted by William Edward West in 1838. Public domain

Years of victory

Given command of the Army of Northern Virginia in 1862, Lee took the offensive. He drove a larger Union army back from Richmond³, won hard fights at Fredericksburg and, with Stonewall Jackson, a daring victory at Chancellorsville in 1863, where he split his outnumbered army and crushed the enemy flank⁴. For a time he seemed unbeatable, and he carried the war north.

Military map of the Chancellorsville battlefield with Union positions in blue and Confederate in red — Chancellorsville, situation at 6 pm on 2 May 1863, as Jackson's corps strikes the exposed Union flank. Map from the West Point atlas of the Civil War. Public domain

Gettysburg and the long defeat

In July 1863 that gamble failed. At Gettysburg Lee's assaults broke against the Union line, and the doomed charge on the third day, Pickett's Charge, cost him thousands for nothing¹. He never invaded the North again.⁵ From 1864 Grant pinned him in a long war of attrition around Richmond and Petersburg that the outnumbered, outgunned Confederacy could not win.

Black and white photograph of a grey-bearded Lee in a Confederate uniform coat — Lee photographed by Julian Vannerson in March 1864, shortly before Grant's campaign pinned him down around Richmond and Petersburg. Public domain

Appomattox and after

On 9 April 1865 Lee surrendered the remnant of his army⁶ to Grant at Appomattox Court House, effectively ending the war. He spent his last years as president of Washington College³, publicly urging Southerners to accept defeat while privately opposing political rights for freed African Americans. Later generations built a heroic legend around him³; historians today weigh his skill against the cause he served, the defence of slavery, and against the many who died in a war the South could not win.

Two storey brick house with a long porch and people on the steps, seen through trees — The McLean house at Appomattox Court House, where Lee surrendered to Grant, photographed by Timothy H. O'Sullivan in April 1865. Public domain

Read on with his lieutenant Stonewall Jackson and the man who beat him, Ulysses S. Grant, or meet them all in the commanders of the American Civil War.

Sources and notes

Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.

American Battlefield Trust, “Robert E. Lee” ↩ a b c
Elizabeth Brown Pryor, Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters (Viking, 2007). ↩
Encyclopedia Virginia (Virginia Humanities), Elizabeth Brown Pryor, “Robert E. Lee (1807–1870)” ↩ a b c
Emory M. Thomas, Robert E. Lee: A Biography (W. W. Norton & Company, 1995). ↩
Allen C. Guelzo, Robert E. Lee: A Life (Alfred A. Knopf, 2021). ↩
Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Robert E. Lee” ↩
World History Encyclopedia, “Robert E. Lee, Encyclopedia of World History”
Wikipedia, “Robert E. Lee, Wikipedia”