Robert Edward Lee PORTRAYED BY Robert Gleason
Born to a prominent Virginia family and the son of Revolutionary War officer Lighthorse Harry Lee, Robert Edward Lee was educated at West Point and was trained as an engineer. He married the great-granddaughter of Martha Washington, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, whom he had known as a child. Lee distinguished himself in the Mexican-American war, but spent much time on leave, straightening out the affairs of his father-in-law’s estate. A staunch Virginian, Lee came to view slavery as immoral. When Virginia seceded from the Union, he was offered, but declined, the Union command. As adviser to Confederacy President Jefferson Davis, Lee proved to be an excellent strategist, serving Virginia and the Confederacy well.
We are very fortunate in this country that the two gentlemen who sat down in Wilbur McLain’s parlor on April 9, 1865 were Robert E. Lee, General-in-Chief of Confederate forces and Ulysses S. Grant, Commander of the Union Army of the Potomac. Had Lee not been involved, the Civil War might not have ended as quickly or as peacefully. In the aftermath of the conflict that tore the nation apart, his leadership inspired for Southerners to reclaim their rights as citizens of our Nation during the Reconstruction Period after the Civil War
Bob Gleason: Bio Actor/Historian, Interpreter, Reenactor, Impersonator