George Washington Custis Lee

George Washington Custis Lee (born September 16, 1832 in Fort Monroe , Virginia , † February 18, 1913 in Ravensworth, Fairfax County , Virginia) was an officer in the US Army and general in the Confederate Army in the Civil War . He was the eldest son of Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Randolph Custis , brother of William Henry Fitzhugh Lee and cousin of Fitzhugh Lee . His grandfather was George Washington Parke Custis , George Washington's adopted son .

Born in Fort Monroe, Virginia, Lee was educated in private schools in Virginia before following in his father's footsteps in 1850 and admitting to the US Military Academy at West Point , New York . Lee's achievements at the Academy were outstanding, and he graduated in 1854 as the best of his class. After graduating, he became a lieutenant in the US Army Engineer Corps .

When his home state Virginia left the Union in early 1861, Lee returned his officer's license and joined the Confederate Army, where he helped build the defenses of the Confederate capital, Richmond , Virginia. For most of the war he subsequently served as President Jefferson Davis ' secretary and adjutant, and in that capacity quickly rose to brigadier general and major general .

In late 1864 he was given field command, a division in the Richmond Defense Positions. After the fall of the capital on April 2, 1865, his division belonged to the Confederate troops who were attacked in the fighting on Sailor's Creek by superior forces of the northern states and forced to surrender; Lee was released on word of honor shortly thereafter.

After the war, Lee taught at the Virginia Military Institute and, after his father's death, succeeded him as President of Washington and Lee University , a position he held until 1897. Lee successfully sued the US for the return of Arlington House , which had been confiscated during the war. In 1883 Lee sold the house to the US government for $ 150,000.

Lee died on February 18, 1913 in "Ravensworth Mansion", an estate of his younger brother William Henry Fitzhugh Lee.

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Miller, Francis Trevelyan, Lanier, Robert Sampson; "The Photographic History of the Civil War ...: Poetry and eloquence of Blue and Gray", Review of Reviews Co., (1911) page 125

personal data
SURNAME	Lee, George Washington Custis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Confederate General, President of Washington and Lee College
DATE OF BIRTH	September 16, 1832
PLACE OF BIRTH	Fort Monroe , Virginia
DATE OF DEATH	February 18, 1913
Place of death	Fairfax County , Virginia

[1] Miller, Francis Trevelyan, Lanier, Robert Sampson; "The Photographic History of the Civil War ...: Poetry and eloquence of Blue and Gray", Review of Reviews Co., (1911) page 125