Robert E. Lee was born into a famous Virginia family on January 19, 1807. Lee's father, Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee (1756-1818), was a war hero who fought under General George Washington during the American Revolution (1775-83), then served in Congress and as governor of Virginia. Lee's mother, Ann Hill Carter, came from a respected family that had long held prominent positions in Virginia's government and society. Two of his father's cousins, Richard Henry Lee (1732-1794) and Francis Lightfoot Lee (1734-1797), were among the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence. After his formal education in Alexandria, Virginia, Lee entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1825. He excelled academically and militarily, and was commissioned into the army's famed Corps of Engineers after his graduation in 1829. Two years later, he married Mary Anne Randolph Custis, greatgranddaughter of Martha Washington (1731-1802; see entry in volume 1).

Lee...