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ROBERT EDMUND LEE.

ENERAL ROBERT E. LEE, the junior officer of that grade in the rebel army, was born in Virginia in 1808, upon the Arlington estates. His father was Harry Lee, the friend and eulogist of General Washington. Robert received a liberal education, was admitted to the Military Academy at West-Point in 1825, and, on the thirtieth of June, 1829, graduated second in his class. He entered the army as Second Lieutenant of engineers on the first of July, 1829, and was, in 1835, appointed assistant astronomer for the demarcation of the new boundary line between the States of Ohio and Michigan. September twenty-first, 1836, he was promoted to a first lieutenancy, and on July seventh, 1838, to a captaincy. During 1844, he was a member of the Board of Visitors to the Military Academy, and a member of the Board of Engineers from September eighth, 1845, to March thirteenth, 1848. When General Wool was in command of Mexico in 1846, Captain Lee was Chief Engineer of that division, and remained in that position during the war. He was brevetted Major, April eighteenth, 1847, for "gallant conduct at Cerro Gordo;" Lieutenant-Colonel, August twentieth, 1847, for "gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco;" and Colonel, September thirteenth, 1847, for "gallant and meritorious conduct" at the battle of Chapultepec. In this engagement he was wounded. At the end of the campaign he was again appointed, July twenty-first, 1848, a member of the Board of Engineers, and on the first of September, 1852, was made Superintendent of the Military Academy, which position he held until March third, 1855, when he received his full commission of Lieutenant-Colonel of the Second cavalry. The regiment was sent to Texas, but Lieutenant-Colonel Lee remained upon his estates at Arlington, and March sixteenth, 1861, was promoted to the coloneley of the First cavalry. On the twentyfifth of April, 1861, he resigned his commission and joined the rebels.

It will thus be seen that his promotion was unusually rapid, and the positions assigned him were such as permitted him to lead a life of comparative ease upon the estates which he inherited from his family. He was doubtless a diligent student, and the advantages of a liberal education, together with the positions he has held, have made him the ablest general in the rebel forces. Upon the organization of the rebel army, Colonel Lee was made General, holding a commission of

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the same date as Joseph E. Johnston, P. G. T. Beauregard, and Samuel Cooper, ranking third in this list.

General Lee was assigned to the command in West-Virginia, after the death of General Garnett at Rich Mountain, in August, 1861. His first engagement was at Cheat Mountain, September twelfth, 1861. He advanced upon the National forces, commanded by General Reynolds, with nine thousand men and twelve pieces of artillery, but was defeated in his manoeuvres and compelled to retire, losing heavily in killed, wounded, and prisoners. His aid, Colonel John A. Washington, was killed in this engagement. This battle was the result of one of General Rosecrans's combinations while operating against Floyd, and Reynolds's orders were to hold Lee in check while General Rosecrans engaged Floyd. Lee failed in his first engagement in consequence of neglecting the proper moment for making an attack. His plans were submitted to the military authorities at Richmond subsequently, and he was absolved from all blame for his defeat. After this engagement, General Lee proceeded to the Kanawha region, for the purpose of relieving Floyd and Wise. The former was at Meadow Bluff, and the latter near the Big Sewell. Lee took position with Wise, and held his lines for fifteen days behind strong intrenchments, when finally General Rosecrans, not succeeding in drawing him into an open field, returned to his old position on the Gauley. Lee made no attempt to follow Rosecrans. General Lee retained command in West-Virginia, but did not again meet the Union forces. He was, in December, transferred from this department, and engaged upon the defences of South-Carolina and Georgia. When Joseph E. Johnston was wounded at the battle of Seven Pines, June first, 1862, he succeeded to the command of the rebel army in Virginia.

General Lee adopted the plans of his predecessor, and, being reënforced by "Stonewall" Jackson's corps, took the offensive. The initial movements to the seven days' battles were planned by Lee, including the demonstration of Jackson upon Cold Harbor. The battle of Malvern Hill was fought under Lee's personal direction. When he was satisfied that General McClellan's army had been withdrawn from the Peninsula, he transferred the main body of the rebel army to the vicinity of Orange Court-House, where he so arranged his corps as to employ Jackson and Longstreet in an effort to break the National lines of communication. In this he was partially successful, General Pope making a rapid retrograde movement in order to secure his lines of retreat. This manoeuvre resulted in the battles of Manassas, August twenty-ninth and thirtieth, 1862, and in the battle at Chantilly, which was fought while the National forces were in retreat for the defences of Washington.

General Lee then prepared for the invasion of Maryland, hoping to capture Washington, or at least supply and reënforce his army from that Border State. "Stonewall" Jackson led the advance, and crossed the Potomac near Poolesville, on

September fifth, Lee following immediately after. Jackson diverged to the west for the purpose of investing Harper's Ferry, while Longstreet's and D. H. Hill's corps were placed in position to cover Jackson's operations. These movements resulted in the battle of South-Mountain and Crampton's Gap on the fourteenth, and in the surrender of Harper's Ferry on the fifteenth. General Lee then concentrated his forces upon the field of Antietam to give General McClellan battle. The engagement took place on September seventeenth, and resulted in the defeat of the rebels. Under cover of a flag of truce, sent for the purpose of burying the dead, they withdrew and crossed the Potomac near Shepherdstown. The National army moved into Virginia on October twenty-sixth, when Lee retreated slowly and finally gained a position on the south bank of the Rapidan, where he was about to be engaged when General McClellan was relieved, November seventh. Then the army of the Potomac was removed to Falmouth, and the rebel army occupied the heights of Fredericksburgh opposite. An engagement took place here on December thirteenth, in consequence of an ineffectual effort on the part of General Burnside to assault the rebel position. The battle of Chancellorsville, May second and third, 1863, also resulted in a defeat, in consequence of General Hooker attempting to draw the rebel army from within its defences at Fredericksburgh and give battle in the open field. General Lee then planned his second invasion of Maryland, determining to accomplish it before the National forces could recover from their losses. On the thirteenth of June, the rebels appeared in force at Winchester and Berryville, and compelled the surrender of those posts; a greater part of the garrison, however, escaping to Harper's Ferry. On the fifteenth, the rebel army crossed the Potomac and occupied Hagerstown, Maryland, while a cavalry advance pushed on and seized Chambersburgh, Pa. The movements of Lee were rapid, and intended to strike at Harrisburgh if possible. Greencastle, Scotland, McConnellsburgh, Shippensburgh, Carlisle, and Gettysburgh, Pa., were visited in turn, and immense stores of goods were obtained by the needy rebels. All public property was destroyed, including the extensive barracks at Carlisle. The army of the Potomac crossed into Maryland in pursuit of the invaders, and the advance entered Frederick on the twenty-first of June, but it was not until the twenty-seventh that the main body occupied the State in force. The disposition of the army was such at that time that the rebels were cut off from retreat, and their various corps were scattered about the country and liable to be attacked in detail. General Lee confessed subsequently that he was so far ignorant of the position of the National forces as to render his situation extremely critical. Under these circumstances he recalled his cavalry, and proceeded to concentrate his army for an engagement. He was then in the vicinity of Hanover, Md., with part of his army at Gettysburgh, Pa. General Hooker was relieved from command June twenty-eighth, and General Meade succeeded him.