Dominic+A.

ROBERT E. LEE

Did you know that 15,000 soldiers under my command died in the Battle of Gettysburg? Hello, I am Robert E. Lee and I want to tell you about my life. I was born on January 19, 1807 in Stratford Hall, Westmoreland County, Virginia. Remember that Virginia is my home state because it is important to the decisions I made when the Civil War started. My father was a Revolutionary War general and was nicknamed "General Light Horse Harry." I was raised by my mother and father, but mostly by my mother because my father went to creditor's jail when I was young. After that we moved to Alexandria, Virginia. My father later fled to Barbados to avoid more jail time. I went to public schools and also the Alexandria Academy in Alexandria, Virginia. I was appointed to West Point Military Academy (the best in the U.S.) in 1824, but I did not go there until 1825. When I graduated from West Point (second in my class), I was appointed a lieutenant in engineering and I built bridges and forts for the United States. When the Mexican War broke out, I was a scout for General Winfield Scott. I had a reputation as a good soldier, brave and calm in battle. After that war I returned to Alexandria and I married Anna Randolph Curtis. She was Martha Washington's great granddaughter. We had 7 children and moved to Arlington, Virginia. Then trouble came. Southern states seceded from the United States and Jefferson Davis became president of the Confederate States of America. The attack of Fort Sumter caused President Abraham Lincoln to ask me to command the Union army. I had a tough decision to make: stay loyal to the Union or follow my home state. I didn't like slavery but I thought that slaves couldn't do anything with themselves. People at that time were loyal to their state first and then their country. So remember Virginia? I resigned my commission from the Union army to fight for Virginia. General Winfield Scott told me I had made the greatest mistake of my life. I didn't like fighting the Union. I prayed for injured soldiers every night. I won the second Battle of Bull Run and the Battle of Chancellorsville. I also played a major role in the Battle of Gettysburg. It was 3 days long (July 1-3) and it was the bloodiest battle of all time in America. It started when I attacked the Union calvary west of town, attacking General George Meade. I lost 15,000 men when Pickett's Charge failed and we had to retreat. Then Ulysses S. Grant came in charge of the Union army, and he attacked me in a series of campaigns through Virginia. Grant came very close to Richmond and he attacked St. Petersburg which supplied the South with guns and equipment. I held off General Grant for 6 months, then our front lines cracked. We retreated tried to go to North Carolina, but Grant caught up with us at Appomatox. When I surrendered to the Union on April 9, 1864, the Civil War was finished. My soldiers loved me and I loved them. I am a hero in both the North and South for my military service. As the years went after the Civil War, I taught at Washington University. Today it is called Washington and Lee University because of my time there. I also worked to link the North and South back together after the war. I applied to get my United States citizenship back after the Civil War, but the paperwork was not processed until after President Jimmy Carter was elected over 100 years later. I died in the night on October 11, 1870 in my bed without being a citizen of the country I loved.