- Joined
- Feb 23, 2013
- Location
- East Texas
Part I
Street scene in historic Alexandria, Virginia, looking much as it did during the boyhood and adolescence of Robert E. Lee.
Robert Edward Lee had been born Jan. 19, 1807, on the Lee family estate, Stratford, on Virginia's Northern Neck near the birthplace of another Virginian with whom he had considerable connections, George Washington. Lee's father Col. Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee had commanded Washington's dragoons during the Revolution and was a confirmed Federalist who had also served as an early governor of the new state. He had fallen on hard times during the early Republic, however, and had lost most of the family fortune as well as Stratford.
In 1810, the family relocated to nearby Alexandria, located halfway between the Federal capital at Washington, D. C. and Mount Vernon. At the time Alexandria was a part of the district of Columbia and the shipping and mercantile center of Northern Virginia. First living in a couple of other locations, the Lees finally settled here in this large brick residence, built in 1799 on Oronoco street. Young Robert lived here with his mother from 1818 until 1825 when he entered West Point.
Supposedly it while in downtown Alexandria in October, 1859, that Lee was summoned by Lt. J. E. B. Stuart to meet with Washington authorities to recieve instructions to quell the insurrection of John Brown at Harpers Ferry. On the morning of April 22, 1861, following the secession of Virginia, Lee boarded a train here to travel to Richmond to receive command of all Virginia's military forces.
Following the Civil War, Lee again returned briefly before assuming his duties as President of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia. He visited again in May, 1869, while on a trip to Washington and Baltimore. Arriving by boat from Washington where he had visited President Ulysses S. Grant in the White House, Lee was greeted as a returning hero by his former friends and neighbors in such numbers that an informal reception had to be arranged at Green's Mansion House Hotel. The Alexandria Gazette summed up the event by stating, "It was more like a family meeting than anything else, for we regard General Lee as one of our Alexandria boys."
Today the Lee home is a preserved as a private residence on busy Oronoco Street at the edge of the Historic District. The visit by Lafayette mentioned on the marker below would have occurred as part of his 1824 - 25 Grand Tour which returned the aged Frenchman to the scenes of his glory as Washington's subordinate during the Revolution.
It was at Alexandria that Robert attended school and formed his first friendships; another site associated with both Washington and Lee is Alexandria's Christ Church on Washington and Cameron Streets where both men attended.
Built in 1773, it originally consisted of only the sanctuary as seen below; the imposing steeple was added in the Nineteenth Century.
The church graveyard contains the graves of 34 Confederate soldiers who died of disease in Alexandria's hospitals as well as the Confederacy's ranking soldier, Adjutant General Samuel Cooper. Virginia Senator and diplomat James Mason is also buried here.
Below, another typical row of Eighteenth- and early Nineteenth Century houses in the Old Town Historic District.
Street scene in historic Alexandria, Virginia, looking much as it did during the boyhood and adolescence of Robert E. Lee.
Robert Edward Lee had been born Jan. 19, 1807, on the Lee family estate, Stratford, on Virginia's Northern Neck near the birthplace of another Virginian with whom he had considerable connections, George Washington. Lee's father Col. Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee had commanded Washington's dragoons during the Revolution and was a confirmed Federalist who had also served as an early governor of the new state. He had fallen on hard times during the early Republic, however, and had lost most of the family fortune as well as Stratford.
In 1810, the family relocated to nearby Alexandria, located halfway between the Federal capital at Washington, D. C. and Mount Vernon. At the time Alexandria was a part of the district of Columbia and the shipping and mercantile center of Northern Virginia. First living in a couple of other locations, the Lees finally settled here in this large brick residence, built in 1799 on Oronoco street. Young Robert lived here with his mother from 1818 until 1825 when he entered West Point.
Supposedly it while in downtown Alexandria in October, 1859, that Lee was summoned by Lt. J. E. B. Stuart to meet with Washington authorities to recieve instructions to quell the insurrection of John Brown at Harpers Ferry. On the morning of April 22, 1861, following the secession of Virginia, Lee boarded a train here to travel to Richmond to receive command of all Virginia's military forces.
Following the Civil War, Lee again returned briefly before assuming his duties as President of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia. He visited again in May, 1869, while on a trip to Washington and Baltimore. Arriving by boat from Washington where he had visited President Ulysses S. Grant in the White House, Lee was greeted as a returning hero by his former friends and neighbors in such numbers that an informal reception had to be arranged at Green's Mansion House Hotel. The Alexandria Gazette summed up the event by stating, "It was more like a family meeting than anything else, for we regard General Lee as one of our Alexandria boys."
Today the Lee home is a preserved as a private residence on busy Oronoco Street at the edge of the Historic District. The visit by Lafayette mentioned on the marker below would have occurred as part of his 1824 - 25 Grand Tour which returned the aged Frenchman to the scenes of his glory as Washington's subordinate during the Revolution.
It was at Alexandria that Robert attended school and formed his first friendships; another site associated with both Washington and Lee is Alexandria's Christ Church on Washington and Cameron Streets where both men attended.
Built in 1773, it originally consisted of only the sanctuary as seen below; the imposing steeple was added in the Nineteenth Century.
The church graveyard contains the graves of 34 Confederate soldiers who died of disease in Alexandria's hospitals as well as the Confederacy's ranking soldier, Adjutant General Samuel Cooper. Virginia Senator and diplomat James Mason is also buried here.
Below, another typical row of Eighteenth- and early Nineteenth Century houses in the Old Town Historic District.
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