Robert E. Lee was born in Virginia. His father was Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee, a Revolutionary War hero. Robert E. Lee graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1829. Two years later he married Mary Custis, the great-granddaughter of Martha Washington. He served under General Winfield Scott during the Mexican War. In 1859 he commanded the troops that stopped John Brown's raid at Harpers Ferry. At the outbreak of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln offered Lee command of the U.S. army. However, Lee accepted command of Virginia’s military forces. From June 1862 to April 1865, Lee commanded the Army of Northern Virginia. Lee’s defeat at the battle of Gettysburg in July 1863 was a turning point of the war. In April 1865 Lee surrendered his army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse. After the war, Lee became president of Washington College, which was renamed Washington and Lee University in his honor.
