Robert E. Lee, Jr.

Robert Edward Lee Jr. was born on October 27, 1843, and died on October 19, 1914. He was the sixth of seven children of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Randolph Custis. His birthplace was Arlington House, located across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.

During his early life, Lee was primarily raised at Arlington House. He was close to his father, Robert E. Lee, and his sister, Mildred Childe Lee. In the 1850s, he attended boarding schools while his father served in the Mexican-American War and as Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point. Unlike his father and two older brothers, Custis and Rooney Lee, Robert Jr. did not pursue a military career and did not serve in the United States Army. In 1860, he enrolled at the University of Virginia.

With the onset of the American Civil War in 1861, Robert E. Lee Jr. chose to join the Confederate cause. His father and two brothers, Custis and Rooney Lee, also served Virginia in the Confederate Army. Robert Jr. enlisted in 1862 as a private in the Rockbridge Artillery. During the Battle of Sharpsburg in September 1862, he witnessed his father riding to his artillery battery. Despite expecting a personal gesture, Robert Jr. did not recognize his father due to the grime from black powder. When he asked about returning to the fight, General Lee recognized him and encouraged him to continue contributing to the effort.

After the Maryland Campaign, Lee was promoted to lieutenant and served as an aide to his older brother, General William Henry Fitzhugh Lee. By the end of the war, he had achieved the rank of captain. There was an incident during the retreat from Petersburg where Lee temporarily disappeared for nearly a month after his horse was wounded. He eventually found another horse and turned south, being present in Greensboro, North Carolina, when Jefferson Davis received confirmation of General Lee's surrender at Appomattox.

Following the Civil War, all four Lees survived. Robert E. Lee Jr. lived and farmed at Romancoke Plantation on the north bank of the Pamunkey River in King William County, Virginia. He inherited this property from his maternal grandfather, George Washington Parke Custis. The plantation was located roughly four miles from West Point, Virginia. Besides farming, Lee became an author; in 1904, he published "Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee," which contains personal memories of his family and insights into life at Arlington House during his youth. This work provides detailed accounts of his father's life and their family history.

Robert E. Lee Jr. was married twice. His first marriage was on November 16, 1871, to Charlotte Haxall, who was born October 23, 1848, and died September 22, 1872. They had no surviving children. His second marriage took place on March 8, 1894, in Washington, D.C., to Juliet Case, born April 6, 1860, and died November 17, 1915. Juliet was 16 years younger than Lee. They had two daughters: Anne Carter Lee (July 21, 1897 – November 8, 1978) and Mary Custis Lee (December 23, 1900 – December 26, 1994).

Robert E. Lee Jr. passed away in 1914 and was interred alongside his family members at the college chapel, now known as University Chapel, in Lexington, Virginia. This location is historically significant as his father and brother Custis had served as presidents of what is now Washington and Lee University.

He was part of a family with notable historical connections. His mother, Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee, was the only surviving child of George Washington Parke Custis, who was the grandson of Martha Dandridge Washington and the adopted (though not legally) grandson of George Washington.