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100-550: A Civil War legion historically consisted of a single integrated command, with individual components including infantry, cavalry, and artillery. The concept of a multiple-branch unit was never practical for Civil War armies and, early in the war, the individual elements were often split up. Organized by Wade Hampton in early 1861, Hampton's Legion initially boasted a large number of South Carolina's leading citizens, including future generals J. Johnston Pettigrew , Stephen Dill Lee , Martin W. Gary , and Matthew C. Butler . Originally,

200-512: A first lieutenant of engineers in 1837, he supervised the engineering work for St. Louis harbor and for the upper Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Among his projects was the mapping of the Des Moines Rapids on the Mississippi above Keokuk, Iowa , where the Mississippi's mean depth of 2.4 feet (0.7 m) was the upper limit of steamboat traffic on the river. His work there earned him

300-635: A prisoner exchange between the Confederacy and the Union when the Union demanded that black Union soldiers be included. Lee did not accept the swap until a few months before the Confederacy's surrender. He also called the Emancipation Proclamation "a savage and brutal policy...which leaves us no alternative but success or degradation worse than death". As the war dragged on and Lee's losses mounted, he eventually advocated enlisting enslaved people in

400-679: A second invasion of the North in the summer of 1863, where he was decisively defeated at the Battle of Gettysburg by the Army of the Potomac under George Meade . He led his army in the minor and inconclusive Bristoe Campaign that fall before General Ulysses S. Grant took command of Union armies in the spring of 1864. Grant engaged Lee's army in bloody but inconclusive battles at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania before

500-482: A "primacy of slave law". She wrote that Lee's private views on race and slavery, In 1857, George Custis died, leaving Robert Lee as the executor of his estate, which included nearly 200 slaves. In his will, Custis said the enslaved people were to be freed within five years of his death. On taking on the role of administrator for the Parke Custis will, Lee used a provision to retain them in slavery to produce income for

600-453: A brigade-sized command organized by Brig. Gen. Henry A. Wise in 1861. Initially three regiments, later designated as 46th Virginia Infantry , 59th Virginia Infantry and 60th Virginia Infantry , formed the infantry component to which others were added. The cavalry regiment became the 10th Virginia Cavalry while the legion also had at least one battery (Hale's) of artillery. Wright's Legion, commanded by Col. Augustus R. Wright . Becoming

700-411: A calm and rational manner, overtly physical domination of slaves, unchecked by law, was always brutal and potentially savage." Lee biographer Elizabeth Brown Pryor concluded in 2008 that "the facts are verifiable", based on "the consistency of the five extant descriptions of the episode (the only element that is not repeatedly corroborated is the allegation that Lee gave the beatings himself), as well as

800-471: A cavalry battalion under the command of Colonel William R. Miles Phillips' Legion , organized circa June 1861 in Georgia, with one infantry and one cavalry battalion. The battalions were assigned to different units in 1862 and thereafter served apart. Smith's Legion, a Georgia unit existing in 1862 and 1863. The infantry battalion later joined the 65th Georgia Infantry and the cavalry battalion became part of

900-415: A cavalry regiment Kemper Legion, a company of the 13th Mississippi Infantry Regiment . Pee Dee Legion, the 9th South Carolina Infantry Battalion Rucker's Legion, also known as 1st East Tennessee Legion. This formation, commanded by Col. Edmund Rucker , consisted of the 12th and 16th Tennessee Cavalry Battalions. Walker Legion, the 2nd (Robison's) Tennessee Infantry. Organized on May 6, 1861; this

1000-409: A collection of talented subordinates, most notably James Longstreet , Stonewall Jackson , and J. E. B. Stuart , who along with Lee were critical to the Confederacy's battlefield success. In spite of his successes, his two major strategic offensives into Union territory both ended in failure. Lee's aggressive and risky tactics, especially at Gettysburg, which resulted in high casualties at a time when

1100-641: A difficult time for Lee, with his long absences from home, the increasing disability of his wife, troubles in taking over the management of a large slave plantation, and his often morbid concern with his personal failures. In 1852, Lee was appointed Superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point . He was reluctant to enter what he called a "snake pit", but the War Department insisted and he obeyed. His wife occasionally came to visit. During his three years at West Point, Brevet Colonel Robert E. Lee improved

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1200-495: A friend "There is not a word of truth in it ... No servant, soldier, or citizen, that was ever employed by me can with truth charge me with bad treatment." Foner writes that "Lee's code of gentlemanly conduct did not seem to apply to blacks" during the War. He did not stop his soldiers from kidnapping free black farmers and selling them into slavery. Princeton University historian James M. McPherson noted that Lee initially rejected

1300-404: A general way only at some unspecified future date as a part of God's purpose. Slavery for Lee was a moral and religious issue, and not one that would yield to political solutions. Emancipation would sooner come from Christian impulse among slave masters before "storms and tempests of fiery controversy" such as was occurring in " Bleeding Kansas ". Countering Southerners who argued for slavery as

1400-503: A great-great-grandson of Richard Bland . Fitzhugh Lee (1835–1905), a Confederate general and later a United States Army general in the Spanish–American War , was Lee's nephew. Lee was a second cousin of Helen Keller 's grandmother, and was a distant relative of Admiral Willis Augustus Lee . On May 1, 1864, General Lee was present at the baptism of General A. P. Hill 's daughter, Lucy Lee Hill, to serve as her godfather. This

1500-428: A greater calamity to both. I should therefore prefer to rely upon our white population to preserve the ratio between our forces and those of the enemy, which experience has shown to be safe. But in view of the preparations of our enemies, it is our duty to provide for continued war and not for a battle or a campaign, and I fear that we cannot accomplish this without overtaxing the capacity of our white population." After

1600-645: A house on Oronoco Street. In 1812 Lee's father moved permanently to the West Indies . Lee attended Eastern View, a school for young gentlemen, in Fauquier County, Virginia , and then at the Alexandria Academy, free for local boys, where he showed an aptitude for mathematics. Although brought up to be a practicing Christian , he was not confirmed in the Episcopal Church until age 46. Anne Lee's family

1700-543: A major role in several battles during the campaign). It fought a minor rear-guard action at Boonsboro, Maryland , during the army's retreat from Gettysburg. It returned to action in the fall of 1863 in Longstreet's Corps during the Battle of Chickamauga and the subsequent Chattanooga campaign . The Legion infantry later returned to Virginia and in March 1864 was converted to mounted infantry and assigned to Gary's Cavalry Brigade in

1800-460: A matter of principle, and Lee adhered to the precedent. He considered it his patriotic duty to be apolitical while in active Army service, and Lee did not speak out publicly on the subject of slavery prior to the Civil War. Before the outbreak of the War, in 1860, Lee voted for Southern Democratic nominee and incumbent Vice President John C. Breckinridge , who was the pro-slavery candidate in

1900-547: A paternalistic master. There are various historical and newspaper hearsay accounts of Lee's personally whipping a slave, but they are not direct eyewitness accounts. He was definitely involved in administering the day-to-day operations of a plantation and was involved in the recapture of runaway slaves. One historian noted that Lee separated families of enslaved people, something that prominent enslaving families in Virginia such as Washington and Custis did not do. On December 29, 1862,

2000-494: A positive good , Lee in his well-known analysis of slavery from an 1856 letter ( see below ) called it a moral and political evil. While both Lee and his wife were disgusted with slavery, they also defended it against abolitionist demands for immediate emancipation for all enslaved. Lee argued that slavery was bad for white people, claiming that he found slavery bothersome and time-consuming as an everyday institution to run. In an 1856 letter to his wife, he maintained that slavery

2100-779: A promotion to captain . Around 1842, Captain Robert E. Lee arrived as Fort Hamilton 's post engineer. While Lee was stationed at Fort Monroe, he married Mary Anna Randolph Custis (1807–1873), great-granddaughter of Martha Washington by her first husband Daniel Parke Custis , and step-great-granddaughter of George Washington , the first president of the United States. Mary was the only surviving child of George Washington Parke Custis , George Washington's stepgrandson, and Mary Lee Fitzhugh Custis , daughter of William Fitzhugh and Ann Bolling Randolph . Robert and Mary married on June 30, 1831, at Arlington House , her parents' house just across

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2200-594: A reputation as a skilled tactician. 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. He served across the United States, distinguished himself extensively during the Mexican–American War , and was Superintendent of

2300-578: A senior Union command. During the first year of the Civil War, he served in minor combat operations and as a senior military adviser to Confederate President Jefferson Davis . Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia in June 1862 during the Peninsula Campaign following the wounding of Joseph E. Johnston . He succeeded in driving the Union Army of the Potomac under George B. McClellan away from

2400-601: A short-lived unit of the Georgia State Guard organized in 1863. It consisted of one battalion of infantry and one battalion of cavalry as well as an artillery battery. Hampton's Legion , raised in the summer of 1861 by Wade Hampton III Hilliard's Legion , organized in Montgomery, Alabama in June 1862, under the command of Colonel Henry Washington Hilliard . It was composed of five battalions: three infantry, one cavalry, and one artillery. It suffered heavy losses at

2500-486: A staff officer; he found routes of attack that the Mexicans had not defended because they thought the terrain was impassable. He was promoted to brevet major after the Battle of Cerro Gordo on April 18, 1847. He also fought at Contreras , Churubusco , and Chapultepec and was wounded at the last. By the end of the war, he had received additional brevet promotions to lieutenant colonel and colonel, but his permanent rank

2600-479: A thing." In 2000, Michael Fellman, in The Making of Robert E. Lee , found the claims that Lee had personally whipped Mary Norris "extremely unlikely", but found it not at all unlikely that Lee had ordered the runaways whipped: "corporal punishment (for which Lee substituted the euphemism "firmness") was [believed to be] an intrinsic and necessary part of slave discipline. Although it was supposed to be applied only in

2700-631: A will providing for the manumission of the slaves he owned, "a woman and her children inherited from his mother and apparently leased to his father-in-law and later sold to him". Lee's father-in-law, G. W. Parke Custis , was a member of the American Colonization Society , which was formed to gradually end slavery by establishing a free republic in Liberia for African-Americans, and Lee assisted several formerly enslaved people to emigrate there. Also, according to historian Richard B. McCaslin, Lee

2800-576: Is different from Wikidata Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War , toward the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army . He led the Army of Northern Virginia , the Confederacy's most powerful army, from 1862 until its surrender in 1865, earning

2900-498: Is referenced in the painting Tender is the Heart by Mort Künstler . He was also the godfather of actress and writer Odette Tyler , the daughter of Brigadier General William Whedbee Kirkland . Lee distinguished himself in the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). He was one of Winfield Scott 's chief aides in the march from Veracruz to Mexico City. He was instrumental in several American victories through his personal reconnaissance as

3000-482: The National Anti-Slavery Standard . Norris said that after they had been captured, and forced to return to Arlington, Lee told them that "he would teach us a lesson we would not soon forget". According to Norris, Lee had the overseer tie the three of them firmly to posts, and ordered them whipped: 50 lashes for the men and 20 for Mary Norris. Norris claimed that Lee encouraged the whipping, and that when

3100-674: The 1860 presidential election and had supported the Lecompton Constitution for Kansas , rather than Constitutional Union Party nominee John Bell , the Southern Unionist candidate who won Virginia and voted against the admission of Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution as the United States Senator from Tennessee . Lee himself enslaved a small number of people in his lifetime and considered himself

Hampton's Legion - Misplaced Pages Continue

3200-553: The 24th Missouri Infantry Mountain Legion, the 156th New York Infantry New York Excelsior Rifle Legion, the 92nd New York Infantry Pennsylvania Legion, original name of the 73rd Pennsylvania Infantry Polish Legion, the 58th New York Infantry , under Colonel Włodzimierz Krzyżanowski . It was listed in the official Army Register as the Polish Legion. Scott Legion, the 20th Pennsylvania Infantry . A number of veterans of

3300-504: The Alexandria jail, Lee decided to remove these three men and three female house slaves from Arlington, and sent them under lock and key to the slave-trader William Overton Winston in Richmond , who was instructed to keep them in jail until he could find "good & responsible" enslavers to work them until the end of the five-year period. By 1860, only one family of slaves was left intact on

3400-449: The Battle of Chickamauga . Hindman's Legion, a unit raised and commanded by Thomas C. Hindman . Unapproved and quickly broken up; it consisted of the 2nd Arkansas Infantry Regiment , the 1st Arkansas Infantry Battalion , the 6th Arkansas Cavalry Battalion and Swett's Battery of Mississippi Light Artillery. Holcombe Legion , briefly known as Steven's Legion, a South Carolina unit raised in 1861 with an infantry battalion serving in

3500-531: The Independent Battalion of New York Volunteer Infantry . Mustered with six companies in 1862; later another four were added. The battalion was broken up in 1864. Indiana Legion , a name given to the Indiana militia Irish Legion, the 90th Illinois Infantry Italian/Netherland/Polish Legion, all referring to the 39th New York Infantry Louisville Legion, the 5th Kentucky Infantry Lyon Legion,

3600-698: The Mexican–American War formed the "Scott Legion" afterward, named in honor of Winfield Scott . When the regiment was raised around April 1861, 31 of its 37 officers were members of the organization, so the unit acquired the (unofficial) name. Stanton Legion, the 145th New York Infantry References [ edit ] ^ Bergeron, Arthur W. (1996). Guide to Louisiana Confederate Military Units 1861-1865 . Louisiana State University Press. p. 4. ISBN   0-8071-2102-9 . ^ "Hilliard's Legion" . eHistory, Department of History, Ohio State University . Retrieved February 2, 2011 . ^ Neal, Diane (1997). The Lion of

3700-537: The 38th Georgia Infantry; it consisted of eleven infantry companies, one of cavalry and one of artillery. Later the cavalry company was converted into infantry and the artillery battery was transferred. Union legions [ edit ] 10th Legion, or 56th New York Infantry . Organized in October 1861 with eleven infantry companies, it acquired two light artillery batteries and two troops of cavalry. Purnell Legion. Organized October to December 1861 from Baltimore and

3800-569: The 6th Georgia Cavalry. Thomas' Legion , also known as Thomas' Legion of Cherokee Indians and Highlanders and the 69th North Carolina. It was raised on September 27, 1862, by William Holland Thomas and incorporated a large number of Cherokee Indians. It fought in the last skirmish in North Carolina before surrendering on May 9, 1865. Waul's Legion , raised in spring 1862 by Brigadier General Thomas Neville Waul in Texas Wise Legion,

3900-567: The Arlington plantation as a punishment; however, they disagree over the likelihood that Lee flogged them, and over the charge that he personally whipped Mary Norris. In 1934, Douglas S. Freeman described the incident as "Lee's first experience with the extravagance of irresponsible antislavery agitators" and asserted that "There is no evidence, direct or indirect, that Lee ever had them or any other Negroes flogged. The usage at Arlington and elsewhere in Virginia among people of Lee's station forbade such

4000-564: The Army a year after graduation). Lee did not incur any demerits during his four-year course of study, a distinction shared by only five of his 45 classmates. In June 1829, Lee was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. After graduation, while awaiting assignment, he returned to Virginia to find his mother on her deathbed; she died at Ravensworth on July 26, 1829. On August 11, 1829, Brigadier General Charles Gratiot ordered Lee to Cockspur Island , Georgia . The plan

4100-638: The Army of Northern Virginia and a split cavalry battalion mostly serving at Richmond. Louisiana Legion . Established in 1821, it was "the oldest brigade in the city [New Orleans] . By the beginning of 1861 this consisted of the Orleans Battalion of Artillery, containing French and Spanish citizens; the Regiment of Light Infantry, composed of Germans; and the newly formed battalion of Chasseurs à Pied de la Louisiane." Miles' Legion , organized May 16 or 17, 1862 at Camp Moore , Louisiana, with an infantry and

Hampton's Legion - Misplaced Pages Continue

4200-714: The Army of Tennessee in September. On March 11, 1864, the infantry was mounted and assigned to General Gary's Cavalry Brigade and served in the Department of Richmond until January, 1865, when it was transferred to the Cavalry Corps, Army of Northern Virginia . The various elements of the Legion fought in most of the major Eastern operations of 1862, including the Peninsula , Northern Virginia , and Maryland campaigns , suffering horrific losses. The Legion helped to dislodge Union troops at

4300-437: The Civil War. Robert E. Lee was at both events. Lee initially remained loyal to the Union after Texas seceded. John Brown led a band of 21 abolitionists who seized the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry , Virginia, in October 1859, hoping to incite a slave rebellion. President James Buchanan gave Lee command of detachments of militia, soldiers, and United States Marines , to suppress the uprising and arrest its leaders. By

4400-572: The Confederacy had a shortage of manpower, have come under criticism. His legacy, and his views on race and slavery, have been the subject of continuing debate and historical controversy. Lee was born at Stratford Hall Plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia , to Henry Lee III and Anne Hill Carter Lee on January 19, 1807. His ancestor, Richard Lee I , emigrated from Shropshire , England , to Virginia in 1639. Lee's father suffered severe financial reverses from failed investments and

4500-559: The Confederate army in exchange for freedom. However, he came to this position with great reluctance. In an 1865 letter to his friend Andrew Hunter , he wrote: "Considering the relation of master and slave, controlled by humane laws and influenced by Christianity and an enlightened public sentiment, as the best that can exist between the white and black races while intermingled as at present in this country, I would deprecate any sudden disturbance of that relation unless it be necessary to avert

4600-594: The Confederate capital of Richmond during the Seven Days Battles , but he was unable to destroy McClellan's army. Lee then overcame Union forces under John Pope at the Second Battle of Bull Run in August. His invasion of Maryland that September ended with the inconclusive Battle of Antietam , after which he retreated to Virginia. Lee won two major victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville before launching

4700-517: The Department of Richmond. They served in that department until January 1865, when the brigade was reassigned to Fitzhugh Lee 's Cavalry Division. It harassed Federal supply depots throughout northern Virginia and fought in several actions during the lengthy Siege of Petersburg . What was left of the Hampton Legion infantry surrendered with General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House in early April 1865. The South Carolina cavalry regiment and

4800-565: The Eastern Shore of Maryland, it consisted originally of nine infantry companies, two cavalry companies, and two light artillery batteries. It was broken up in early 1862, and elements served independently through the remainder of the war. Legions in name only [ edit ] Confederate [ edit ] 1st and 2nd Foreign Legion, applied to Tucker's Confederate Regiment and the 8th Confederate Infantry Battalion. Both units were recruited from prisoners of war. Jeff. Davis Legion ,

4900-520: The Legion comprised six companies of infantry, two of cavalry, and one of light artillery. The infantry fought in the First Battle of Manassas , where Colonel Hampton suffered the first of several wounds in the war. In November 1861, the artillery was outfitted with four Blakely rifles imported from England and slipped through the Union blockade into Savannah, Georgia . By the end of the year, each element of

5000-517: The Legion had been expanded with new companies to bolster the effective combat strength. With the reorganization of the Army of Northern Virginia in mid-1862, Hampton's Legion was broken up and reassigned. The cavalry battalion was consolidated with the 4th South Carolina Cavalry Battalion and two independent companies on August 22, 1862, and became the 2nd South Carolina Cavalry , under Colonel Butler. It remained directly under General Hampton's control and served in his brigade and then division for

5100-489: The Norrises whipped, and that the overseer refused to whip the woman but that Lee took the whip and flogged her personally. Lee privately wrote to his son Custis that "The N. Y. Tribune has attacked me for my treatment of your grandfather's slaves, but I shall not reply. He has left me an unpleasant legacy." Wesley Norris himself spoke out about the incident after the war, in an 1866 interview printed in an abolitionist newspaper,

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5200-537: The Potomac from Washington. The 3rd U.S. Artillery served as honor guard at the marriage. They eventually had seven children, three boys and four girls: All the children survived him except for Annie, who died in 1862. They are all buried with their parents in the crypt of the University Chapel at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. Lee was a great-great-great-grandson of William Randolph and

5300-909: The South: General Thomas C. Hindman . Mercer University Press. p. 90. ISBN   9780865545564 . Retrieved January 19, 2014 . ^ Field, Ron (2006). The Confederate Army 1861-65: Virginia & Arkansas, Volume 4 . Osprey Publishing. p. 5. ISBN   1-84603-031-5 . Retrieved January 29, 2011 . ^ "Miles Legion Volunteer Infantry" . acadiansingray.com . Retrieved January 29, 2011 . ^ "56th Infantry Regiment / Civil War / Tenth Legion; Orange and Sullivan Regiment" . New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center . Retrieved January 28, 2011 . ^ "History and Roster of Maryland Volunteers, War of 1861-6, Volume 1" . Archives of Maryland. ^ Seigler, Robert S. (2008). South Carolina's Military Organizations During

5400-485: The United States Military Academy . He married Mary Anna Custis , great-granddaughter of George Washington 's wife Martha . While he opposed slavery from a philosophical perspective, he supported its legality and held hundreds of slaves. When Virginia declared its secession from the Union in 1861, Lee chose to follow his home state, despite his desire for the country to remain intact and an offer of

5500-625: The War Between the States, Vol. 1: The lowcountry & Pee Dee . History Press. p. 79. ISBN   978-1-5962-9158-4 . ^ Thomas W. Cutrer. "Whitfield's Legion" . Handbook of Texas Online . Retrieved January 29, 2011 . ^ "Corcoran's Brigade or Irish Legion" . New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center . Retrieved January 28, 2011 . ^ "The Civil War Period / The Indiana Legion" . Indiana County History Preservation Society. Archived from

5600-457: The War Department he could not maintain laborers without the facilities of the fort. In 1834, Lee was transferred to Washington as General Gratiot's assistant. Lee had hoped to rent a house in Washington for his family, but was not able to find one; the family lived at Arlington, though Lieutenant Lee rented a room at a Washington boarding house for when the roads were impassable. In mid-1835, Lee

5700-420: The War, Lee told a congressional committee that blacks were "not disposed to work" and did not possess the intellectual capacity to vote and participate in politics. Lee also said to the committee that he hoped that Virginia could "get rid of them", referring to blacks. While not politically active, Lee defended Lincoln's successor Andrew Johnson 's approach to Reconstruction, which according to Foner, "abandoned

5800-444: The assignment and returned to his post in Washington, finding his wife ill at Ravensworth. Mary Lee, who had recently given birth to their second child, remained bedridden for several months. In October 1836, Lee was promoted to first lieutenant. Lee served as an assistant in the chief engineer's office in Washington, D.C. from 1834 to 1837, but spent the summer of 1835 helping to lay out the state line between Ohio and Michigan . As

5900-492: The battle of Chinn Ridge, and the Second Battle of Bull Run , and to inflict a substantial number of casualties on the 5th New York Regiment. Battered at Antietam , the much-depleted Legion infantry was sent to the rear and performed garrison duty for months while refitting and recruiting. It did not participate actively in the early part of the Gettysburg Campaign (unlike the cavalry and artillery elements, which played

6000-517: The buildings and courses and spent much time with the cadets. Lee's oldest son, George Washington Custis Lee, attended West Point during his tenure. Custis Lee graduated in 1854, first in his class. Lee was enormously relieved to receive a long-awaited promotion as second-in-command of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Texas in 1855. It meant leaving the Engineering Corps and its sequence of staff jobs for

6100-537: The combat command he truly wanted. He served under Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston at Camp Cooper , Texas; their mission was to protect settlers from attacks by the Apache and the Comanche . In 1857, his father-in-law George Washington Parke Custis died, creating a serious crisis when Lee took on the burden of executing the will . Custis's estate encompassed vast landholdings and hundreds of slaves but also massive debts;

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6200-517: The contradictory nature of Lee's beliefs and actions concerning race and slavery. While Lee protested he had sympathetic feelings for blacks, they were subordinate to his own racial identity. While Lee held slavery to be an evil institution, he also saw some benefit to blacks held in slavery. While Lee helped assist individual slaves reach freedom in Liberia, and provided for their emancipation in his own will, he believed slaves should be eventually freed in

6300-516: The couple's first son, Custis Lee was born at Fort Monroe. Although the two were by all accounts devoted to each other, they were different in character: Robert Lee was tidy and punctual, qualities his wife lacked. Mary Lee also had trouble switching from being a rich man's daughter to having to manage a household with only one or two enslaved people. Beginning in 1832, Robert Lee had a close but platonic relationship with Harriett Talcott, wife of his fellow officer Andrew Talcott . Life at Fort Monroe

6400-464: The delay. In May 1858, Lee wrote to his son Rooney, "I have had some trouble with some of the people. Reuben, Parks & Edward, in the beginning of the previous week, rebelled against my authority—refused to obey my orders, & said they were as free as I was, etc., etc.—I succeeded in capturing them & lodging them in jail. They resisted till overpowered & called upon the other people to rescue them." Less than two months after they were sent to

6500-544: The estate to retire debt. Lee did not welcome the role of planter while administering the Custis properties at Romancoke, another nearby the Pamunkey River and Arlington; he rented the estate's mill. While all the estates prospered under his administration, Lee was unhappy at direct participation in slavery as a hated institution. Even before what Michael Fellman called a "sorry involvement in actual slave management", Lee judged

6600-528: The estate. Some of the families had been together since their time at Mount Vernon. In 1859, three slaves at Arlington—Wesley Norris, his sister Mary, and a cousin of theirs—fled for the North, but were captured a few miles from the Pennsylvania border and forced to return to the plantation. On June 24, 1859, the anti-slavery newspaper New York Daily Tribune published two anonymous letters (dated June 19 and June 21 ), each claiming to have heard that Lee had

6700-448: The existence of an account book that indicates the constable received compensation from Lee on the date that this event occurred". In 2014, Michael Korda wrote that "Although these letters are dismissed by most of Lee's biographers as exaggerated, or simply as unfounded abolitionist propaganda, it is hard to ignore them [...] It seems incongruously out of character for Lee to have whipped a slave woman himself, particularly one stripped to

6800-442: The experience of white mastery to be a greater moral evil to the white man than blacks suffering under the "painful discipline" of slavery which introduced Christianity, literacy and a work ethic to the "heathen African". Columbia University historian  Eric Foner notes that: By the time of Lee's career in the U.S. Army, the officers of West Point stood aloof from political-party and sectional strife on such issues as slavery, as

6900-433: The former slaves to the mercy of governments controlled by their former owners". According to Foner, "A word from Lee might have encouraged white Southerners to accord blacks equal rights and inhibited the violence against the freed people that swept the region during Reconstruction, but he chose to remain silent." Lee was also urged to condemn the white-supremacy organization Ku Klux Klan , but opted to remain silent. In

7000-463: The 💕 This is a list of American Civil War legions , legions being defined as combined arms units of infantry and cavalry and, often but not always, artillery. The popularity of this type of unit had declined by the time of the American Civil War owing to the difficulty of organizing and maintaining its disparate elements; nevertheless, the Confederate Congress authorized

7100-470: The generation following the war, Lee, though he died just a few years later, became a central figure in the Lost Cause interpretation of the war. The argument that Lee had always opposed slavery, and freed the people enslaved by his wife, helped maintain his stature as a symbol of Southern honor and national reconciliation. Both Harpers Ferry and the secession of Texas were monumental events leading up to

7200-1305: The horse artillery (by then renamed Halsey's Battery after Hart's wounding) participated in the Carolinas Campaign with General Hampton and surrendered at Bennett Place in North Carolina along with the rest of General Joseph E. Johnston 's forces on April 26. Six companies of infantry: Co. A Washington Light Infantry Volunteers ( Charleston ) Co. B Watson Guards ( Edgefield ) Co. C Manning Guards ( Sumter ) Co. D Gist Riflemen ( Anderson ) Co. E Bozeman Guards ( Greenville ) Co. F Davis Guards (Greenville) Cavalry battalion: Co. A Edgefield Hussars (Edgefield) Co. B Brooks Troop (Greenville) Co. C Beaufort District Troop ( Beaufort ) Artillery: Washington Artillery (Charleston) Infantry: Co. G Claremont Rifles ( Statesburg ) 19 Aug 1861 Co. H (1st) German Volunteers (Charleston) 22 Aug 1861 Co. H (2nd) South Carolina Zouave Volunteers 29 Jul 1862 Co. I Capt. D.L. Hall's company 11 Nov 1862 Co. K Capt. John H. Bowen's company 11 Nov 1862 Cavalry: Co. D Congaree Troop ( Columbia ) 5 Aug 1861 Artillery: Co. B German Artillery (Co. H (1st)) 1 Nov 1861 List of American Civil War legions From Misplaced Pages,

7300-625: The last day he was allowed to legally retain them, Lee finally freed all the enslaved people his wife had inherited from George Custis (in accordance with the Custis will). Before this, Lee had petitioned the courts to keep people enslaved by Custis longer than the five years allotted in Custis' will, since the estate was still in debt, but the courts rejected his appeals. In 1866, one of the people formerly enslaved by Lee, Wesley Norris, charged that Lee personally beat him and other slaves harshly after they had tried to run away from Arlington. Lee never publicly responded to this charge, but privately told

7400-552: The latter, my sympathies are more strong for the former. The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa, morally, socially & physically. The painful discipline they are undergoing, is necessary for their instruction as a race, & I hope will prepare & lead them to better things. How long their subjugation may be necessary is known & ordered by a wise Merciful Providence. Before leaving to serve in Mexico, Lee had written

7500-567: The legislature, by Samuel P. Bates)" . Making of America . Retrieved January 28, 2011 . Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_American_Civil_War_legions&oldid=1229304181 " Categories : Legions of the American Civil War Lists of military units and formations of the American Civil War Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description

7600-520: The lengthy Siege of Petersburg , which was followed in April 1865 by the capture of Richmond and the destruction of most of Lee's army, which he finally surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House . In 1865, Lee became president of Washington College, now Washington and Lee University , in Lexington, Virginia ; as president of the college, he supported reconciliation between the North and South. Lee accepted

7700-451: The negroes, will be firm & make them do their duty." But Lee failed to find a man for the job, and had to take a two-year leave of absence from the army to run the plantation himself. Lee's more strict expectations and harsher punishments of the slaves on Arlington plantation nearly led to a revolt, since many of the enslaved people had been given to understand that they were to be made free as soon as Custis died, and protested angrily at

7800-719: The original on January 31, 2011 . Retrieved February 3, 2011 . ^ Rodgers, Thomas G. (2008). Irish-American Units in the Civil War . Osprey Publishing. p.  7 . ISBN   978-1-84603-326-1 . Retrieved January 28, 2011 . Irish Legion 90th Illinois. ^ J. Jacob Oswandel; Timothy D. Johnson; Nathaniel Cheairs Hughes (2010). Notes of the Mexican War, 1846-1848 . University of Tennessee Press. p. 351. ISBN   978-1-57233-703-9 . Retrieved January 29, 2011 . ^ Samuel P. Bates. "Twentieth Regiment (History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5; prepared in compliance with acts of

7900-458: The overseer refused to do it, called in the county constable to do it instead. Unlike the anonymous letter writers, he does not state that Lee himself whipped any of the enslaved people. According to Norris, Lee "frequently enjoined [Constable] Williams to 'lay it on well', an injunction which he did not fail to heed; not satisfied with simply lacerating our naked flesh, Gen. Lee then ordered the overseer to thoroughly wash our backs with brine , which

8000-581: The people enslaved by Custis, including Wesley Norris, after the end of the five-year period in the winter of 1862, filing the deed of manumission on December 29, 1862. Biographers of Lee have differed over the credibility of the account of the punishment as described in the letters in the Tribune and in Norris's personal account. They broadly agree that Lee sought to recapture a group of slaves who had escaped, and that, after recapturing them, he hired them out off of

8100-420: The raising of at least ten legions. Units called legions for other reasons are also included. Confederate legions [ edit ] Cherokee Legion, a short-lived unit of the Georgia State Guard organized in 1863. It consisted of one battalion of infantry and one battalion of cavalry. Cobb's Legion or Georgia Legion, raised in the summer of 1861 by Colonel Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb Floyd Legion,

8200-646: The rest of the war. The artillery was converted to horse artillery and renamed Hart's Battery, after its commander, Captain James F. Hart. Lieutenant Colonel Gary's infantry, retaining the designation Hampton's Legion, was initially brigaded with Georgia troops in Stonewall Jackson 's command, but was transferred in June to John Bell Hood 's " Texas Brigade ." The Legion served in General Longstreet's Corps through mid-1863, before being transferred with that corps to

8300-469: The summer of 1825. At the time, the focus of the curriculum was engineering; the head of the United States Army Corps of Engineers supervised the school and the superintendent was an engineering officer. Cadets were not permitted leave until they finished two years of study and were rarely allowed off the academy grounds. Lee graduated second in his class behind Charles Mason (who resigned from

8400-406: The summer of 1829, Lee had apparently courted Mary Custis whom he had known as a child. Lee obtained permission to write to her before leaving for Georgia, though Mary Custis warned Lee to be "discreet" in his writing, as her mother read her letters, especially from men. Custis refused Lee the first time he asked to marry her; her father did not believe the son of the disgraced Light-Horse Harry Lee

8500-536: The termination of slavery provided for by the Thirteenth Amendment , but opposed racial equality for African Americans . After his death in 1870, Lee became a cultural icon in the South and is largely hailed as one of the Civil War's greatest generals. As commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, he fought most of his battles against armies of significantly larger size, and managed to win many of them. Lee built up

8600-429: The time Lee arrived that night, the militia on the site had surrounded Brown and his hostages. At dawn, Brown refused the demand for surrender. Lee attacked, and Brown and his followers were captured after three minutes of fighting. Lee's summary report of the episode shows Lee believed it "was the attempt of a fanatic or madman". Lee said Brown achieved "temporary success" by creating panic and confusion and by "magnifying"

8700-410: The waist, and that charge may have been a flourish added by the two correspondents; it was not repeated by Wesley Norris when his account of the incident was published in 1866 [...] [A]lthough it seems unlikely that he would have done any of the whipping himself, he may not have flinched from observing it to make sure his orders were carried out exactly." Several historians have noted what they consider

8800-537: The will required people formerly enslaved by Custis "to be emancipated by my executors in such manner as to my executors may seem most expedient and proper, the said emancipation to be accomplished in not exceeding five years from the time of my decease". The estate was in disarray, and the plantations had been poorly managed and were losing money. Lee tried to hire an overseer to handle the plantation in his absence, writing to his cousin, "I wish to get an energetic honest farmer, who while he will be considerate & kind to

8900-609: Was a different unit than the 2nd (Walker's) Tennessee Infantry which was organized five days later. Whitfield's Legion or First Texas Legion, raised in the summer of 1861, later renamed the 27th Texas Cavalry. As the last title implies, it was solely a cavalry unit. Union [ edit ] Chicago Legion, the 51st Illinois Infantry Corcoran Legion or Irish Legion, composed of the 155th New York Infantry , 164th New York Infantry , 170th New York Infantry , 175th New York Infantry , and 182nd New York Infantry , commanded by Brigadier General Michael Corcoran German Legion,

9000-439: Was a gradual emancipationist, denouncing extremist proposals for the immediate abolition of slavery. Lee rejected what he called evilly motivated political passion, fearing a civil and servile war from precipitous emancipation. Historian Elizabeth Brown Pryor offered an alternative interpretation of Lee's voluntary manumission of slaves in his will, and assisting slaves to a life of freedom in Liberia, seeing Lee as conforming to

9100-425: Was a great evil, but primarily due to adverse impact that it had on white people: In this enlightened age, there are few I believe, but what will acknowledge, that slavery as an institution, is a moral & political evil in any Country. It is useless to expatiate on its disadvantages. I think it however a greater evil to the white man than to the black race, & while my feelings are strongly enlisted in behalf of

9200-413: Was a suitable man for his daughter. She accepted him with her father's consent in September 1830, while he was on summer leave, and the two were wed on June 30, 1831. Lee's duties at Fort Monroe were varied, typical for a junior officer, and ranged from budgeting to designing buildings. Although Mary Lee accompanied her husband to Hampton Roads , she spent about a third of her time at Arlington, though

9300-421: Was assigned to assist Andrew Talcott in surveying the southern border of Michigan. While on that expedition, he responded to a letter from an ill Mary Lee, which had requested he come to Arlington, "But why do you urge my immediate return, & tempt one in the strongest manner[?]... I rather require to be strengthened & encouraged to the full performance of what I am called on to execute." Lee completed

9400-488: Was done." The Norris men were then sent by Lee's agent to work on the railroads in Virginia and Alabama . According to the interview, Norris was sent to Richmond in January 1863 "from which place I finally made my escape through the rebel lines to freedom". But Federal authorities reported that Norris came within their lines on September 5, 1863, and that he "left Richmond ..with a pass from General Custis Lee." Lee freed

9500-473: Was interrupted by other duties, among them surveying and updating maps in Florida. Cuban revolutionary Narciso López intended to forcibly liberate Cuba from Spanish rule. In 1849, searching for a leader for his filibuster expedition, he approached Jefferson Davis, then a United States senator. Davis declined and suggested Lee, who also declined. Both decided it was inconsistent with their duties. The 1850s were

9600-426: Was marked by conflicts between artillery and engineering officers. Eventually, the War Department transferred all engineering officers away from Fort Monroe, except Lee, who was ordered to take up residence on the artificial island of Rip Raps across the river from Fort Monroe, where Fort Wool would eventually rise, and continue work to improve the island. Lee duly moved there, then discharged all workers and informed

9700-505: Was often supported by a relative, William Henry Fitzhugh , who owned the Oronoco Street house and allowed the Lees to stay at his country home Ravensworth . Fitzhugh wrote to United States Secretary of War , John C. Calhoun , urging that Robert be given an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Fitzhugh had young Robert deliver the letter. Lee entered West Point in

9800-484: Was put in debtors' prison . Soon after his release the following year, the family moved to the city of Alexandria which at the time was still part of the District of Columbia , which retroceded back to Virginia in 1847, both because there were then high quality local schools there, and because several members of Anne's extended family lived nearby. In 1811, the family, including the newly born sixth child, Mildred, moved to

9900-612: Was still captain of engineers, and he would remain a captain until his transfer to the cavalry in 1855. For the first time, Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant met and worked with each other during the Mexican–American War. Close observations of their commanders constituted a learning process for both Lee and Grant. The Mexican–American War concluded on February 2, 1848. After the Mexican War, Lee spent three years at Fort Carroll in Baltimore harbor. During this time, his service

10000-613: Was to build a fort on the marshy island which would command the outlet of the Savannah River . Lee was involved in the early stages of construction as the island was being drained and built up. In 1831, it became apparent that the existing plan to build what became known as Fort Pulaski would have to be revamped, and Lee was transferred to Fort Monroe at the tip of the Virginia Peninsula (today in Hampton, Virginia ). While home in

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