Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) - Lee was born on a plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia on January 19, 1807, the fifth child of American Revolution hero Henry "Lighthorse Harry" Lee and Anne Hill Carter Lee. He attended the Alexandria Academy before entering the U.S. Military Academy in 1825. When he graduated second in his class in 1829, he was commissioned as a brevet second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. Lee served in the Corps in various capacities and started a family for the next 17 years. He then served in the Mexican War from 1846 to 1848. Afterwards, he became the superintendent of West Point for three years, before becoming a Lieutenant Colonel of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry and working in Texas.

When talk of secession began, Lee first denounced it as a "revolution" and the commanding general of the Union Army, Winfield Scott, wanted to promote Lee to a top command post. Lee said he was willing as long as his native state of Virginia stayed in the Union.

However, when Fort Sumter fell on April 14, 1861 and it seemed apparent that Virginia would secede, Lee turned down the offer of a top command and resigned from the U.S. Army on April 20.

Robert E. Lee

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Three days later he took charge of the Virginia state forces. Upon the formation of the Confederate States Army, he was one if its first five full generals. His first field assignment was as loss when he led his men to defeat in the Battle of Cheat Mountain. He then was working to organize the coastal defenses, but hampered by the lack of an effective Confederate Navy, he became a military adviser to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

In the spring of 1862, commanding the Army of Northern Virginia, he led his men in the battles of the Peninsula Campaign. By August, he had defeated the Union Army at the Second Battle of Bull Run in Manassas, Illinois, before invading Maryland and fighting in the Battle of Antietam. In May, 1863, Lee, along with General Stonewall Jackson , made news with their dramatic victory over a larger force at Chancellorsville, Virginia.

Lee continued to lead his troops in a number of battles throughout the war. He was promoted to General-in-Chief of the Confederate forces on January 31, 1865. But for  the South, it was too late, as its army was devastated by casualties, disease and desertion. When the Union attack on Petersburg, Virginia was successful on April 2, 1865, Lee abandoned Richmond and retreated west. A week later, his forces were surrounded, and he surrendered them to Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865, at the Appomattox Court House.

After the war, Lee moved to a friend's plantation in Cartersville, Virginia, as his own had been seized by Union forces. In October, 1865, he became the president of the Washington College (later renamed the Washington and Lee University) in Lexington, Virginia, a job he retained until his death.  In late September, 1870, he suffered a stroke and on October 12th he died. He was buried beneath the Lee Chapel at the University, where his body remains today.

The most celebrated general of the South during the Civil War, he became even more respected after his surrender, for his character, devotion to duty, and brilliant battle successes. Today, a number of monuments attest to this fact, and his birthday is commemorated as a holiday in five southern states.