George Washington Custis Lee
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| George Washington Custis Lee | |
|---|---|
| September 16, 1832 – February 18, 1913 (aged 80) | |
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| Allegiance | United States of America, Confederate States of America |
| Years of service | 1854–61 (USA), 1861–65 (CSA) |
| Rank | Major General |
| Battles/wars | American Civil War |
| Relations | Son of Robert E. Lee, Great-great-great-great-great-great grandson of Charles II of England[1] |
Major General George Washington Custis Lee (September 16, 1832 – February 18, 1913), aka Custis Lee, was the eldest son of Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis Lee.
From 1850–54 he attended West Point, graduating first in his class. His father was the superintendent at the time of his graduation. Custis Lee was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers like his father before him and served until he resigned from the U.S. Army as a First Lieutenant in the Spring of 1861 after Virginia seceded from the Union.
During the American Civil War, Custis Lee rose to the rank of major general and spent most of the war as an aide-de-camp to Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Shortly before the end of the war, Custis Lee commanded troops in the field and was captured at Sayler's Creek three days before his father surrendered to General U.S. Grant at Appomattox Court House.
Lee served on the faculty of the Virginia Military Institute and upon the death of his father, he served as the ninth president of Washington and Lee University between 1871 and 1897. He is buried in the Lee Chapel near his family members.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Son of Mary Anna Custis Lee, daughter of George Washington Parke Custis, son of Eleanor Calvert, daughter of Benedict Swingate Calvert, son of Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, son of Lady Charlotte Lee, daughter of Charlotte Lee, Countess of Lichfield, illegitimate daughter of King Charles II of England
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Nicholas Worthington |
President of the Maryland Agricultural College 1867 |
Succeeded by Charles Minor |
| Preceded by Robert E. Lee |
President of Washington and Lee University 1871-1897 |
Succeeded by William Lyne Wilson |
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