Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia in the Civil War, close military advisor to President of the CSA Jefferson Davis, was not tried as a traitor after the war, but was in difficult financial straits for a while, accepted a position as president of Washington College, in Virginia. This institution is now Washington and Lee University. He died in 1870.

In 1829, Lee graduated West Point with a perfect conduct record (and a reputation as the most handsome man in the army) and embarked on a long career as an army engineer.

In 1831, he married Mary Custis, daughter of George Washington’s adopted son, George Washington Parke Custis, and moved to the Custis plantation at Arlington, near Washington, D.C.

In 1861, at the apex of a distinguished army career, including service in the Mexican War and a tour as superintendent of West Point, Lee was offered the most important command in the Union army after the lower South seceded. Instead, choosing to align himself with his state and his slaveholding class, Lee resigned his commission to ally his fortunes with the Confederacy. Confederate President Jefferson Davis valued him, and made Lee his military advisor. When General Joseph E. Johnston was badly injured in battle in June 1862, Davis placed Lee in charge of the Army.

After the war, Lee went on to become president of Washington College (later renamed Washington and Lee College) in Lexington, Virginia.