Page 48 - Cousins - Celebrities, Saints & Sinners

Robert E. Lee

7th Cousin

5 times removed

Common Ancestor

Father: William E. Warner
Hoe, Norfolk, England

1540 - 1611 Born: Died:

Mother: Mary A. Hunt 18 January 1807 12 October 1870
Norwich, Norfolk, England Stratford Hall, Virginia Lexington, Virginia
1542 - 1616 Robert Edward Lee was an American and Confederate

soldier, best known as a commander of
the Confederate States Army. He commanded
the Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil
War from 1862 until its surrender in 1865.
A son of Revolutionary War officer Henry "Light Horse
Harry" Lee III, Lee was a top graduate of the United
States Military Academy and an exceptional officer
and military engineer in the United States Army for 32
years. During this time, he served throughout the
United States, distinguished himself during
the Mexican–American War, and served
as Superintendent of the United States Military
Academy. He was also the husband of Mary Anna
Custis Lee, adopted great granddaughter of George
Washington.

When Virginia's 1861 Richmond Convention declared
secession from the Union, Lee chose to follow his
home state, despite his desire for the country to

remain intact and an offer of a senior Union
command. During the first year of the Civil War, he served as a senior military adviser
to Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Once he took command of the Army of Northern
Virginia in 1862, he soon emerged as an able tactician and battlefield commander, winning
most of his battles, nearly all against far larger Union armies.

Lee's two major strategic offensives into Union territory ended in defeat. His aggressive tactics,
especially at the Battle of Gettysburg, which resulted in high casualties at a time when the
Confederacy had a shortage of manpower, have come under criticism in recent years.
th
Lee surrendered the remnant of his army to Ulysses S. Grant (6 cousin, 4 times removed)
at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Since Confederate Congress had appointed him

48