Lee Robert E Lee with young son William Henry Fitzhugh (Rooney) Lee

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Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Honored Fallen Comrade
Joined
Dec 3, 2011
Location
Laurinburg NC
1012511_293257977482396_1950210043_n.jpg

Photograph dates from about 1845
 
View attachment 19660
Photograph dates from about 1845

LEE, William Henry Fitzhugh
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VIRGINIA.

Captain, Corps of Cavalry, C. S. A., May 6, 1861.

Major, Corps of Cavalry, C. S. A., May, 1861.

Lieutenant colonel, Ninth Virginia Cavalry, December,
1861.

Colonel, Ninth Virginia Cavalry, March, 1862.

Brigadier general, P. A. C. S., September 15, 1862.

Major general, P. A. C. S., April 23, 1864.


Died at Alexandria, Virginia, October 15, 1891.


Commands.

Brigade, in , 1862, composed of the Ninth and Thirteenth
Regiments Virginia Cavalry, the Second Regiment of North
Carolina Cavalry, and McGregor's Battery of Horse Artillery,
Fitzhugh Lee's Division, Army of Northern Virginia.

Division, in June, 1864, composed of the cavalry brigades
of Chambliss, Barringer, and Roberts, and two batteries of
horse artillery under command of Captain McGregor, Army of
Northern Virginia.

1865, commanding a division of cavalry composed of the
brigades of Barringer, Beale and Roberts.


Lee, William Henry Fitzhugh, born in Virginia, appointed
from Virginia.

Second lieutenant, Sixth Infantry, May 31, 1857.

Resigned May 31, 1859.

Source: General Officers of the Confederate States of America

Major-General William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, the second son of
Gen. Robert E. Lee, was born at Arlington, Va., May 31, 1837.
He was educated at Harvard college, where he was graduated in
1857.

In the same year he was appointed second lieutenant of the
Sixth infantry, United States army, and in this rank he served
in the Utah campaign under Albert Sidney Johnston, and
subsequently in California.

Early in 1859 he resigned his commission and took charge of his
farm, the historic White House, on the Pamunkey river. He was
heartily in sympathy with the Confederate cause, and organized
a cavalry company early in 1861, becoming one of the leading
spirits in the formation of the gallant body of troopers which
were subsequently distinguished in the history of the army of
Northern Virginia, and contributed so effectively to its
successes.

In May he received the rank of captain, corps of cavalry, C. S.
A., and in the same month was promoted major in the regular
army. During the West Virginia campaign he acted as chief of
cavalry for General Loring. In the winter of 1861-62 he was
ordered to Fredericksburg, Va., and was commissioned
lieutenant-colonel of the Ninth Virginia cavalry regiment,
promotion to the colonelship following in March.

With his regiment he was attached to the cavalry brigade of J.
E. B. Stuart, and shared its operations during the retreat from
Yorktown toward Richmond. In the famous raid around
McClellan's army Stuart's men were led by the three colonels,
Fitz Lee, W. H. F. Lee and W. T. Martin; the artillery under
Breathed. His troopers defeated the enemy's cavalry at Hawes'
Shop, June 13th, during this expedition.

Upon the organization of the cavalry division in the following
month, his regiment was assigned to the brigade of Fitzhugh
Lee, and he participated in the operations of this command in
the campaign of Second Manassas.

After serving on the advanced line before Washington, during
the advance into Maryland he was particularly distinguished in
the rear-guard fighting after the action at Turner's pass.
Squadron after squadron of his regiment bore the brunt of the
attacks of the Federal advance until they were the last to
enter Boonsboro.

At this point Colonel Lee was unhorsed and run over in crossing
a bridge; and severely bruised and at first unconscious, lay by
the roadside for some time in full view of the passing enemy.
He managed to escape and finally reached the army on the
Antietam, where he was welcomed as one from the dead.

Subsequently he commanded a detachment of Lee's brigade during
the Chambersburg raid, and held the advance during the return
movement in the rear of McClellan's army. His intrepid conduct
and coolness in demanding the surrender of a largely superior
force of the enemy which held White's ford on the Potomac,
caused the withdrawal of this obstacle which might have been
fatal to the safe return of Stuart's command to Virginia.

At the reorganization in November he, having been promoted
brigadier-general, was given command of the brigade of cavalry
consisting of the Fifth, Ninth, Tenth, Fifteenth Virginia and
Second North Carolina. During the operations preceding and
following the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville he
was frequently engaged, and during the combats with
Pleasanton's cavalry before the Gettysburg campaign he fought
at Fleetwood Hill and Brandy Station, where he engaged the
enemy in a series of brilliant charges with his regiments, in
one of the last of which he received a severe wound through the
leg.

General Stuart reported "the handsome and highly satisfactory
manner" in which he handled his brigade, and the deplorable
loss "for a short time only, it is hoped, of his valuable
services. "

But, in his helpless condition, he was taken prisoner by
Federal raiders and carried to Fortress Monroe, where, and at
Fort Lafayette, he was held until March, 1864.

On his return to the army he was promoted major-general and
assigned to the command of a division of the cavalry. He
participated in the operations of the cavalry from the Rapidan
to the James in 1864; was at Malvern hill when Grant crossed
the river; opposed Wilson's raid against the Weldon railroad in
June; commanded the cavalry at Globe Tavern, August; at Five
Forks held the right of the Confederate line; and during the
retreat to Appomattox, aided Gordon in repulsing repeated
assaults.

After the surrender he retired to his plantation, and resided
there until his removal to Burke's Station in 1874. He was
president for a time of the State agricultural society, served
one term in the State senate, and sat in the Fiftieth, Fifty-
first and Fifty-second Congresses as representative of the
Eighth Virginia district. He died at Alexandria, October 15,
1891.

Source: Confederate Military History, vol. IV, p. 625
 
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