Robert E. Lee

“Choosing the military life was one of the worst decisions I had ever made.” Robert E. Lee.
    On January 19, 1807, in Westmoreland County, Virginia, a boy who would become one of the greatest generals of the Civil War was born. Robert E. Lee was born into a military family with his father being an important soldier of influence and rank in the American Revolution. Since he was a child, Robert E. Lee had felt pressured by his father and other family members that he should be a soldier and serve his country, but he never wanted to or imagined fighting other American soldiers. Lee also didn’t know that his military career would become one of the most memorable and inspirational ones of all time.

In connection with his excellent career at West Point and his military success in earlier conflicts, people searching for available generals saw him as either a major threat or someone that they needed to get on their side. Abraham Lincoln, the president of the U.S. before, during, and after the Civil War knew that Lee was a smart and fitting general and asked him to be the lead general of the Union Army. Lee was surprised and honored, but with the combination of being born in Virginia, one of the most crucial states for the Confederacy, and the pressure of his father’s influence were too much and he had to deny his offer, and he chose to fight for Virginia and the Confederacy. “I shall never bear arms against the Union, but it may be necessary for me to carry a musket in the defense of my native state, Virginia, in which case I shall not prove recreant to my duty” Robert Lee. The decision was confusing in a sense because of some of Lee’s basic principles. Lee was fit to be a Union general because he was not for slavery and he tried to end the secession rebellion. But once he made the decision, he put his heart into fighting for the side that he was on.

Leading the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, Lee was a force to be reckoned with. He was well respected by his peers and feared by his enemies. All the soldiers knew that his strategies and the execution of those strategies were hard to beat. In fact, they were some of his biggest strongpoints on the battlefield. Some of Lee’s most famous battles—which were not all victories–were the battles of Antietam, Chancellorsville, Cold Harbor, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and the Battle of the Wilderness. Out of those, Lee won Chancellorsville, Cold Harbor, Fredericksburg, and the Battle of the Wilderness. Although these battles were critical for Confederate success, Lee was still criticized for losing imperative fights like Gettysburg and Antietam.