Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) is a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War.

The son of Revolutionary War officer Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee III and a top graduate of the United States Military Academy, Robert E. Lee distinguishes himself as an exceptional officer and combat engineer in the United States Army for 32 years.

During this time, he serves throughout the United States, distinguishes himself during the Mexican-American War, serves as Superintendent of the United States Military Academy, and marries Mary Custis.

When Virginia declares its secession from the Union in April 1861, Lee chooses to follow his home state, despite his personal desire for the Union to stay intact and despite the fact that President Abraham Lincoln had offered Lee command of the Union Army.

During the Civil War, Lee originally serves as a senior military adviser to President Jefferson Davis.

He soon emerges as a shrewd tactician and battlefield commander, winning numerous battles against larger Union armies.

His abilities as a tactician have been praised by many military historians.

His strategic vision is more doubtful, and both of his invasions of the North end in defeat.

Union General Ulysses S. Grant's campaigns bear down on Lee in 1864 and 1865, and despite inflicting heavy casualties, Lee is unable to force back Grant.

Lee ultimately surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.

By this time, Lee has been promoted to the commanding officer of all Confederate forces; the remaining armies soon capitulate after Lee's surrender.

Lee rejects the starting of a guerrilla campaign against the North and calls for reconciliation between the North and South.

After the war, as President of what is now Washington and Lee University, Lee supports President Andrew Johnson's program of Reconstruction and intersectional friendship, while opposing the Radical Republican proposals to give freed slaves the vote and take the vote away from ex-Confederates.

He urges them to rethink their position between the North and the South, and the reintegration of former Confederates into the nation's political life.

Lee becomes the great Southern hero of the War, a postwar icon of the "Lost Cause of the Confederacy" to some.

But his popularity grows even in the North, especially after his death in 1870.

He remains an iconic figure of American military leadership and one of the greatest military generals of all time.