Robert E. Lee (1807-70) served as a military officer in the United States Army, commander of West Point, and legendary general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War (1861- 65). In June 1861, Lee assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia, which he would lead for the remainder of the war. Lee and his army achieved great successes in the Peninsula Campaign and at Second Bull Run (Manassas) and Fredericksburg, with his greatest victory coming at the bloody Battle of Chancellorsville. In the spring of 1863, Lee invaded the North, but was defeated at the Battle of Gettysburg. With Confederate defeat almost certain, Lee continued his fight, fighting Union General Ulysses S. Grant in a series of clashes in Virginia in 1864–1865 before finally surrendering what remained of his army in April 1865. Lee was praised by many for his tactical genius and remains a revered figure in the American South. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Robert Edward Lee was born in Virginia, the fifth child of Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee (1756-1818), famous during the Revolutionary War. , by his second wife. In 1829, he graduated second in his class at West Point without having incurred a single demerit during his four years there. Commissioned in the Corps of Engineers, he served as a captain under General Winfield Scott during the Mexican War, where he distinguished himself in the battles of Veracruz, Churubusco and Chapultepec. He was slightly wounded during this war and obtained three colonel's certificates. General Scott declared him "the best soldier I have ever seen in the field." In 1852 he was appointed superintendent of West Point. Three years later, with the approval of Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, he transferred as a lieutenant colonel in the newly created Second Cavalry and served in West Texas. Although John Brown's raid on the American arsenal and armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in October 1859, while Lee was home on extended leave in Arlington, Virginia, he was placed in command of a detachment of marines and, with Second Lieutenant JEB Stuart, captured Brown and his band. On April 20, 1861, at the outbreak of the American Civil War, he resigned his commission and, three days later, was appointed by Governor John Letcher of Virginia as commander in chief of the state's military and naval forces. When Virginia troops were transferred to Confederate service, on May 14, 1861, he became brigadier general, the highest rank then authorized. Shortly after, he was promoted to full general. Lee's first field command was in the western part of the state, where he failed to hold back invading Union forces in an area of ​​strong professional union sentiment. He was recalled to Richmond, and from March 1862 he served as military advisor to President Davis. From this position, he was able to influence certain operations, notably those of General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson in his campaign in the Shenandoah Valley. When General Joseph E. Johnston was wounded at the Battle of Seven Pines on May 31, Lee took command of what became the Army of Northern Virginia. He successfully repelled the efforts of Union General George McClellan in the Peninsular Campaign, ending with the Seven Day Battles: Oak Grove, Mechanicsville, Gaines's Mill, Garnett's and Golding's Farms, Savage's Station and Allen's Farm, White Oak Swamp and Malvern Hill. The victories were achieved through Lee's aggression and boldness in the face of McClellan's timidity rather than a.