His later life was tragically darkened by debts contracted for the necessities of his men and never made good by Virginia. Political intrigue and calumny added to his misfortunes. He died in poverty and neglect near Louisville, Kentucky, 1818.
LEE STATUE
Lee Park. East Jefferson and N. 2nd Streets
Opposite Charlottesville Library
Sculptor, Leo Lentelli. Unveiled, May 21, 1924. This equestrian figure of Lee is in monument style. The block which it occupies was from 1929 the Southall-Venable home.
Lee Statue. 1924. J. Rawlings Thomson
Miniature Model of Lee. 1937. J. Rawlings Thomson
Robert Edward Lee was born, 1807, at Stratford, Virginia, of distinguished ancestry. The family’s founder came to Virginia in the reign of Charles I, and became the colony’s Secretary of State and a member of the privy Council of Virginia.
A graduate of West Point (later its Superintendent), and distinguished in the Mexican War, Lee had resigned from active service when Lincoln offered him command of the Federal forces in the field. With a heavy heart he declined. (He had earlier freed his slaves.) Writing on the eve of the crisis, he said “—I can anticipate no greater calamity for the country than the dissolution of the Union.... Still a Union that can only be maintained by swords and bayonets ... has no charms for me. If the Union is dissolved and the Government dispersed, I shall return to my native State and share the miseries of my people, and, save in defense, will draw my sword no more.”
After the war, Lee set himself to heal the wounds of his people. He refused public office and became President of Washington College (now Washington and Lee) in Lexington. Died, 1870.