Robert E. Lee: The Man, the Soldier, the Myth

by Brandon Marie Miller

Overview

A comprehensive young adult biography of the life of one of the most mythologized men in American and Civil War history: General Lee of the Confederate States Army

Robert E. Lee’s life was filled with responsibility and loyalty. Born to a Revolutionary War hero, Lee learned a sense of duty and restraint after weathering scandals brought on by his father and eldest brother. He found the perfect way to channel this sense of duty at West Point, where he spent his days under rigorous teachers who taught him the organizational skills and discipline he would apply for the rest of his life. The military became Lee’s life: he was often away from his beloved family, making strides with the Army, forcibly expanding the United States toward the Western coastline, and fighting the Mexican-American War. And ultimately, the military and his defining role therein—General of the Confederate Army—would prove to be Lee’s legacy.
 
Author Brandon Marie Miller separates fact from fiction and reveals the complex truth behind who Lee was as a person, a soldier, a general, and a father. The book includes numerous archival images, as well as original quotations, a timeline, an author's note, a family tree, source notes, a bibliography, and an index.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781629799100
Publisher:	Astra Publishing House
Publication date:	06/11/2019
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)
Lexile:	1060L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 17 Years

About the Author

Brandon Marie Miller earned her degree in American History from Purdue University, where she also studied art history. Her love of history began early thanks to her parents, both teachers, who encouraged her to walk in the past's steps at national parks, historic sites, battlefields and museums. Her award-winning books for young people have been honored by the International Reading Association, the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), the Society of School Librarians International, Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA), Bank Street College, the New York Public Library, and the Chicago Public Library, among others.

Read an Excerpt

Robert caught his first glimpse of the United States Military Academy at West Point from the deck of a steamboat chugging up the Hudson River. Gentle mountains framed the water on both sides,
offering glorious views. West Point loomed above as the steamboat docked at the base of a cliff. As they stepped off the boat, an old man with a hook in place of his hand greeted Robert and other young men offered an appointment to the academy.

Robert stood out among the arrivals—handsome, rosy-cheeked, with wavy dark hair and dark eyes. His family included signers of the Declaration of Independence. His father had fought in the American Revolution. Lees had served the country since before the nation’s birth. But a childhood marked with scandal and uncertainty had also formed the Robert Lee who arrived at West Point.

The young men trudged uphill to the campus built on the site of an old Revolutionary War fort. The academy itself—founded in 1802— proved less impressive than the Hudson River shimmering like a ribbon below. A wide and windy forty-acre parade ground marred by stray boulders promised hours of marching and practicing maneuvers. A mess hall and two large, rather bleak dormitories, or barracks, flanked the parade ground. A two-story building held everything else—a chapel, the library, and classrooms.


Sylvanus Thayer, the superintendent of West Point, greeted each of the young men. Thayer had transformed the academy into one of the toughest places in the country to get an education. Alongside the other young men, Robert bent his head to the entrance exam—reading, writing, and simple math—meant to quickly weed out boys not up to speed.

On June 27, as a fading sun softened the mountains, Lee lined up on the parade ground with one hundred and four others. Those who’d passed the test heard their names called out in alphabetical order. “Lee!” Robert must have let go a breath of relief. He took four steps forward, as they’d been told to do. At the end, about two dozen young men remained standing behind.

The next morning Robert and the other new cadets set up summer camp. Their first duty made plain the lowly status of the “newies”— digging latrines. For two months that summer the cadets crammed into tents, broiling under the sun or drenched by pelting storms.

Each morning Robert woke to the trumpet’s prod of reveille. Newies spilled from their tents for mornings of marching and drilling. Shallow trenches dug twenty-eight inches apart forced the long lines of sweating young men to take precisely measured and matched steps. Afternoon classes followed morning drills and bled into evening hours of study before lights-out at nine o’clock.

Cadets learned to stand at attention. Their new gray uniforms fitted so tightly about the chest that the young men had to stand straight. Shoulders thrust back. Chins leveled perpendicular to the chest. Stomachs pulled in. Arms stretched straight at their sides. No bend in the elbows. Fingers pressed against the seams of their trousers. Feet planted at an angle of forty-five degrees. Tall and ramrod straight, Robert would never lose the soldierly posture drilled into him at West Point.


Robert survived the summer camp, his first test as a soldier. On September 3, 1825, he signed papers officially giving the next five years of his life to the army in exchange for his West Point education. Along with his classmates Robert spoke his oath: “I do solemnly swear that I will bear true allegiance to the United States of America, and that I will serve them honestly and faithfully against all their enemies . . . ; and observe and obey the orders of the President of the United States . . .” Rigorous training lay ahead to mold these young men into army officers who could lead soldiers, build roads and forts, and protect America’s shores and far frontiers.

In his spotless uniform young Robert Lee represented a family known for both glory and misdeeds, for service and scandal. He understood what he had to do. The long shadows of childhood stood with Cadet Lee as he began his West Point years.

Table of Contents

Before You Begin … 11

Acknowledgments 13

Chapter 1 Escaping Family History 15

Chapter 2 Corps of Cadets 29

Chapter 3 "Worthy of Each Other" 38

Chapter 4 "The Little Lees" 50

Chapter 5 "Here "Working for My Country" Part I 58

Chapter 6 War with Mexico 66

Chapter 7 "Here Working for My Country" Part II 77

Chapter 8 Trouble with "the People" 91

Chapter 9 "I Shall Mourn for My Country" 101

Chapter 10 The First Year 120

Chapter 11 "Valour Fortitude & Boldness" 133

Chapter 12 "We Cannot Afford to Be Idle" 140

Chapter 13 Victory and Defeat 154

Chapter 14 "A Mere Question of Time" 172

Chapter 15 Siege and Surrender 183

Chapter 16 "The Coward Looks Back" 198

Chapter 17 "General Lee's College" 213

Chapter 18 "Peace Is Not Restored" 223

Chapter 19 "Only the Hero of a Lost Cause" 239

Epilogue: Myth Building 250

Author's Note 257

Timeline 259

Source Notes 262

Bibliography 290

Index 296

Picture Credits 301

Editorial Reviews

A Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People
A Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Book of the Year

★ “With Robert E.Lee (and the removal of his statues) in the news, this illuminating biography of the Confederate general comes at a good time. Miller has done copious research to present a well-rounded portrait of a man who is both praised and vilified and known by most people simply for his role in the Civil War. This book shows him as so much more . . . interested teens will find this exceptionally readable. An excellent crossover for adult readers, as well.”
—Booklist, starred review

From the Publisher

2019-06-05
A profile of Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

With a short focus on Lee's early life, Miller (Women of Colonial America, 2016, etc.) paints a picture of a hardworking soldier—determined to escape the stains of his disreputable family—who marries well, then becomes the South's champion in the Civil War. The reading can be uneven, sometimes slowing to a glacial pace with exhaustive descriptions, sometimes engrossing readers with imagery that stems from the heat of war. Though the text attempts to convey a begrudging respect for Lee's military prowess, the weight shifts more toward outright admiration of the man and soldier, which contradicts later notes that briefly discuss Robert E. Lee, the myth. The book makes some mention of the Comanche people "displaced" following Lee's appointment to cavalry regiments in Texas in 1855, although they are described as "marauding bands," and American Indians are entirely excluded from the index. The treatment of slavery is more expansive, making clear that Lee enslaved people, but confusingly dithers between his disdain for slavery as "a greater evil to the white than to the black race" and his outright advocacy of it as a Confederate.

A mostly approachable text that strives for, but doesn't achieve, historical balance. (family tree, author's notes, timeline, source notes, bibliography, index, picture credits) (Nonfiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews