William Henry Fitzhugh Lee

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William Henry Fitzhugh Lee
William Henry Fitzhugh Lee with his father Robert E. Lee

William Henry Fitzhugh Lee , called Rooney Lee (born May 31, 1837 in Arlington , Virginia , † October 11, 1891 in Alexandria , Virginia), was a general in the Confederate Army in the American Civil War and later a member of the US Congress . He was the second son of Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Randolph Custis and the cousin of Fitzhugh Lee .

After attending Harvard University in 1857, Lee followed in the footsteps of his father and older brother George Washington Custis Lee and became an officer in the US Army . He served under Albert Sidney Johnston and took part in the Utah war against the Mormons . In 1859 he left the army to become a planter .

At the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, Lee became a captain in the Confederate cavalry , shortly thereafter a major . As such, he served under Brigadier General William Loring in what is now West Virginia . In early 1862 he was placed under the command of Jeb Stuart , under whom he rose to lieutenant colonel and later to colonel and commander of the 9th Virginia Cavalry Regiment.

He was promoted to Brigadier General after the Battle of South Mountain . He was given a brigade in Stuart's cavalry division, with which he took part in the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville .

He was wounded in the Battle of Brandy Station , the greatest cavalry battle of the war, and captured by the Northern States two weeks later .

Lee therefore took part neither in the Gettysburg nor in the Mine-Run campaign and was only replaced in the spring of 1864. He was promoted to major general as the youngest Confederate and took over a division in Stuarts to the corps of combined cavalry. With this he served in 1864 during Grant's overland campaign and the siege of Petersburg , where he rose to deputy commander of the cavalry corps. After the fall of Petersburg and Richmond , Lee and his father surrendered at Appomattox Court House , Virginia.

After the war ended, Lee resumed his life as a planter and became politically active. As a Democrat , he served in the Virginia Senate from 1875 to 1878 , and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1887 . He held this office until his death on October 11, 1891.

literature

  • Mary Daughtry: Gray Cavalier: The Life and Wars of William HF “Rooney” Lee. Cambridge, MA 2002

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Lee, William Henry Fitzhugh
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lee, Rooney
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Confederate General, Member of the US Congress
DATE OF BIRTH May 31, 1837
PLACE OF BIRTH Arlington , Virginia
DATE OF DEATH October 11, 1891
Place of death Alexandria , Virginia