Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/88

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04


VIRGINIA BIOGRAPIIV


orid lieutenant in the Second \'irginia Regi- ment, was promoted to first lieutenant, and was aide to Gen. Jackson. Promoted to major, and later lieutenant-colonel of the 'I'hirty-third Regiment., he served in the valley campaign and other operations in 1862. As colonel, he commanded his regi- ment at I'redericksburg. He was invalided ill 1S63, and on returning to duty in June, 1864, was given command at Staunton. He was promoted to brigadier-general, Septem- ber 20, and was sent to Canada on secret service. He died August 24, 1870, at Yel- low Sulphur .Springs, Virginia.

Lee, George Washington Custis, was born at For: Alonroe, Virginia, September 16, 1832, son ot Robert Edward and Mary Anne Randolph (Custis) Lee. He was graduated at the United States Military Academy at the head of the class of 1854; was commissioned second lieutenant in the corps of engineers, U. S. A. ; was promoted first lieutenant, October, 1859, and served in the engineer bureau, Washington, D. C, 1859-61. In May, 1861, after the secession of Virginia, he resigned his commission in the U. S. A., and was commissioned major ot engineers in the Provisional Army of Vir- ginia, and with that army was transferred to the C. S. A., June 8, 1861. On July i, 1861, he was assigned to the engineers corps with the rank of captain, and was en- gaged in the fortifications around Rich- mond. On August 31, 1861, President Davis made him an aide-de-camp on his staff with the rank of colonel of cavalry. He visited Bragg's army at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in December, 1862, with Presi- dent Davis, and on June 25, 1863, was com- missioned brigadier-general and organized


a brigade which he commanded in the de- fense of Richmond, tie was promoted ma- jor-general in October, 1864, and command- ed a division of the corps of Gen. Ewell in the defense of Richmond. In the retreat from Richmond, he crossed with his divis- ion on the pontoon above Drewry's Bluff, April 2, 1S65, and at Sailor's Creek, April 6. he was made prisoner with Gens. Ewell, Kershaw, Barton, Du Bose, Hunton, Corse and other officers and conveyed to City Point, Virginia, where he was paroled and sent to Richmond, Virginia. He was profes- sor of civil and military engineering and ap- plied mechanics in the Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia, 1865-71 ; and on February i, 1871, succeeded his father as president of Washington College, having been elected to the office, October 28, 1870. The name of the institution was in honor of his father's memory changed to Wash- ington and Lee University and in 1873 ^^^ assumed charge of the chair of applied mathematics which was made the Thomas A. Scott professorship of applied mathe- matics in June, 1881. In December, 1896, he resigned the presidency of Washington and Lee University on account of ill health, and it was accepted to take effect, July i, 1897, when he was made president emeritus for life. He was never married, and on Icav- iiig Lexington went to Ravensworth, near P.urke's Station, Virginia, the home of the v.idow of his brother, W. H. F. Lee. He received the honorary degree of LL. D. from Tulane University in 1887. He died at "Ravensworth," February t8. 1913.

Lee, General Robert Edward, was born at "Stratford." Westmoreland county, Vir- ginia. January 19. 1807. son of Gen. Henry