Item No. 3012532

A vignette CDV portrait of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. One of the more widely distributed images of Lee, this version bears no studio imprint. Measures about 2 3/8” x 4”.

Lee graduated second in his class from West Point in 1829 and served with distinction in the Mexican War before becoming superintendent of the academy from 1852 to 1855. Resigning from the U.S. Army following Virginia's secession in 1861, he rose to command the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and became the South's most prominent military leader, achieving victories against long odds at battles including Second Manassas, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. After the war, Lee served as president of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia, a position he held until his death in 1870.