Robert E Lee Military Genius

Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee are two of the most effective military leaders in American history. These men have become symbolic of the two nations at conflict during the Civil War. Both had very different backgrounds and personalities that caused them to differ in their military leadership and accomplishments. Even though General Lee would surrender his army to General Grant, Lee throughout the course of the war proved himself to be a better military leader.

Robert E. Lee was a man of family, culture and tradition. Lee was a man who believed in the old English ways in chivalry. The Southern states fought for the same ideals that Lee stood for. Lee believed that this way of life made men to be of a higher class. He was convinced that these old values can build a better nation. Catton express the Confederacy loyalty to these values by saying: “For four years, the southern states had fought a separate war to up held the ideals for which Lee; as if he himself was the Confederacy… the best thing that the way of life for which the Confederacy stood could have ever had to offer” (410).

Robert E Lee was a commander of the army of the northern Virginia army also known as the confederate army and then became one of the most famous men in the south and at the time of the battle of Gettysburg he led his army through victories. He suffered from a heart problem but back then there was no medical treatments for those types of things so there was no way to diagnose what he had or any medication so they wouldn’t give you any treatments and because of that the only choice he had was death so he

From 1861 to 1865, a gruesome war was fought in the United States between the Northern Union states and the Southern Confederate states. The causes of this war are differing opinions on state’s rights and slavery. This war between the Union and the Confederates is known as the Civil War. The death toll of this war is still the highest of any United States war, with a death toll of over 620,000 people. On January 19th, 1807, in Stratford Hall, Virginia, Robert E. Lee was born (https://www.civilwar.org/learn/ biographies/robert-e-lee). He was son to the popular Revolutionary War veteran, Henry Lee. He bravely led the Confederacy, and is the reason that they had so much success in the war. He managed to do so with the odds stacked clearly against him; but how? What was the impact of Robert E. Lee on the Civil War?

The focus of this investigation will be, “To what extent was Robert E. Lee an effective leader of the Confederate Army?” The investigation will analyze Lee’s strengths and weaknesses that contributed to his effectiveness and the overall loss of the Confederacy in the Civil War. The overall character of Lee throughout his lifetime is too broad, therefore, this investigation will focus solely on the testimony of his military background, and the personality traits that led to Lee’s decisions during the Civil War. As a result, Lee the American by Gamaliel Bradford Jr. and Robert E. Lee: The Soldier by Sir F. Maurice are important sources to this investigation, due to the background they give on Lee’s military training, personality, and victories in the battles leading up to Gettysburg.

Robert E. Lee was fanatic about the caliber of his work and held those around him to extremely high standards, which led to his eventual downfall, and decision to surrender at Appomattox. Throughout his life, Lee was noted as being incredibly dedicated to his duties, and oftentimes even put his job over his family. Historians say that “he held himself to a very high standard and expected no less from those who served under

Louis, New York, Mexico, Baltimore, and West Point.After duty as superintendent at the Military Academy in the early 1850s, Lee transferredfrom the corps of engineers to a newly formed cavalry unit assigned to Texas. Hisfrequent separations from his wife and children often caused Lee periods ofdiscontentment. The death of his father-in-law, G. W. P. Custis, forced him to take aleave from the military and return to Virginia in 1857. Lee took up farming at ArlingtonHouse and confronted the challenges of managing the Custis family slaves. Robert E.Lee (1807-70) served as a military officer in the U.S. Army, a West Point commandantand the legendary general of 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 rest of the war. Lee and his army achieved great successduring the Peninsula Campaign and at Second Bull Run (Mansassas) andFredericksburg, with his greatest victory com ing in the bloody Battle of Chancellorsville.In the spring of 1863, Lee invaded the North, only to be defeated at the Battle

General Robert E. Lee was leading the Confederacy into many successful battles, and was becoming unstoppable. The moral, at the time, was reasonably higher for the South than the North because of their victories Virginia. Although, after the infamous battle of Gettysburg, the Confederacy was losing hope. Document C shows that General R. E. Lee was distressed and stressed over the substantial loss at Gettysburg. In his letter to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, he wrote, “It is believed that the enemy suffered severely in these operations, but our own loss has not been light...

Even during the war, he refused to use tactics he considered repugnant such as using spies out of the sheer nature of his honorability. After the war, Lee became president of Washington College, now known as Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, Virginia.8 Accepting the results of the war, he devoted himself to education and to helping rebuild the South. Lee died on Oct. 12, 1870, however his legacy lived on even in modern day.5 What many consider “weaknesses” Lee were actually some of his biggest strengths; He was considerate of others, and his politeness affected his total obedience to his orders. He entrusted much of his discretion to subordinates who most would consider not capable of handling it, but but he saw the true nature of their genius. Despite these “weaknesses”, many historians maintain that Lee was the most capable commander of the Civil War. A great general and a great man, Robert E. Lee was a fitting symbol of the South as well as an American hero. Both general and soldiers acknowledged and embraced their reliance upon each other long before their deeds passed into memory, history, and legend.2 Even though Robert E. Lee graduated second in his class from West Point, Lee was one of six students in his graduating class to never receive a demerit which also reflects how he fought.7 His classmates

Robert E. Lee was born in January 19, 1807 and is known for being a general of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the Civil War. After General Joseph E. Johnston was wounded in battle the Battle of Seven Pines, Lee became commander in his place. In June 1863, Lee started an invasion of the North, meeting the Union at the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. For three days General Lee attacked the Federal army under in what would later become the most famous battle of the Civil War, because it had the biggest casualties. However after all of Lee’s successful battles, he would later face defeat. April 9, 1865, General Lee would be forced to surrender his army to Ulysses S. Grant. This would cause the ending the of Civil

Have you ever wondered about being a general or what they did? Robert E Lee was known for being in the Civil War as a commander. Lee served in eight battles. Lee served as a commander for three years. He was held up as a hero for taking over a war and having a victory.

After many jobs, he worked his way up to General of the Confederate Northern Virginia’s army. In a matter of months, Lee was able to turn the tide of the war in the Confederacy's favor. His army had a complete confidence in Robert E. Lee, but continually suffers from his tendency to push his army farther than they can possibly go.

Lee Considered: General Robert E. Lee & Civil War History is author Alan T. Nolan’s attempt at taking an honest look at what Nolan considers one of the most deified figures in American history, Robert E. Lee. Nolan approaches his biography much in the format popularized by respected biographer Lytton Strachey (1880-1932) in that he is attempting to take an irreverent approach, an approach Nolan claims is sorely lacking in most scholarship pertaining to Lee. The uniqueness of Nolan’s approach is highlighted in the work’s title, Lee Considered, as Nolan claims “Lee has not in fact been considered. This book is not, therefore, a re-consideration” (p. 8). Throughout this book Nolan scrutinizes the certain falsely mythologized aspects of Lee’s, what Nolan refers to as the “Lee tradition” (p. ix), convincingly exposing what should be the obvious truth that Lee was “a great man, but, indeed, a man” (p. xi).

Robert E. Lee is regarded as one of the greatest generals in American history. Indeed it is easy to forget that he was but a human when he is highly esteemed by both sides of the argument that still surrounds the Civil wear. Lee was full of courage, honor, diligence, duty, a love for his family, and above all a reverence for god.

A Mexican War Veteran, General Robert E. Lee was stationed in San Antonio, Texas until 1861 When President Lincoln asked him to lead the United States Army. Being a Virginian, Lee declined the offer and resigned from the United States Army. He then led the North Virginian Army. He won the battle of Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville and moved on to Gettysburg. After the loss at Gettysburg, Lee started a downward movement of losing until surrendering at Appomattox. He then became the leader of the Washington and Lee University until he died in