His extreme inability to confront either superiors or subordinates often resulted in tragedy, as at the disatrous Battle of the Wilderness, which Lee knew he couldn't win but undertook because he didn't want to argue with Jefferson Davis. Although he viewed slavery as evil, he nonetheless owned slaves and believed in whites' innate superiority to blacks. He considered himself a failure and was disappointed in his children. As presented by Thomas, Lee was possessed of very human flaws. After the Confederate defeat, he was named president of Washington College (today Washington and Lee) and sought to transform it into a first-rate liberal arts school. After fighting valorously and decisively during the Mexican War, and suppressing abolitionist John Brown's raid at Harpers Ferry, Lee became military advisor to Confederate President Jefferson Davis and later a field commander as the Civil War broke out. Attending West Point, the younger Lee was second in his class and graduated without accruing a single demerit.

Born in 1807, Lee was the son of Revolutionary War hero Light Horse Harry Lee but he never knew his father, who was sent to debtor's prison when the boy was only 2 years old and died when he was 11. In this effort he hews a middle ground between early 20th century hagiographies and revisionist contemporary interpretations. of Georgia The Confederacy as a Revolutionary Experience, not reviewed) undertakes a daunting task here, seeking to recover the real, living human from the mythology surrounding Lee since his death in 1870. A comprehensive new biography that seeks to give a balanced portrait of the famed Confederate general.

Emory thomas robert e lee