Everything about Stephen D Lee totally explained
Stephen Dill Lee (
September 22,
1833 –
May 28,
1908) was the youngest
lieutenant general in the
Confederate States Army during the
American Civil War, and later became a
Mississippi planter, legislator, and president of
Mississippi A&M College. Late in life, he was the commander-in-chief of the
United Confederate Veterans.
Early life and career
Lee came from a family distinguished in the history of
South Carolina, and was born at
Charleston. He graduated from the
United States Military Academy in 1854 and served for seven years as a
lieutenant in the 4th U.S. Artillery, before resigning in 1861 when his home state
seceded.
He joined the South Carolina Militia as a
captain and was transferred to the Confederate States Army
artillery in March 1861, becoming
aide-de-camp to
Brig. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard and assistant adjutant general for the forces at Charleston. On
April 11,
1861, Lee delivered an ultimatum from Beauregard to
Union Major Robert Anderson, demanding the evacuation of
Fort Sumter. Anderson refused and the Confederates began bombarding the fort, which fell on
April 14, precipitating the beginning of the Civil War.
Civil War
Lee commanded a light battery in
Hampton's Legion in General
Joseph E. Johnston's army later in 1861. He was promoted to
lieutenant colonel in March 1862, soon becoming the artillery chief for
Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws's
division of the
Army of Northern Virginia. In this division and also under Brig. Gen.
John B. Magruder, he fought in the
Peninsula Campaign and the
Seven Days Battles. He was promoted to
colonel on
July 9,
1862, and assumed command of the artillery battalion of Maj. Gen.
James Longstreet's Corps.
Under Longstreet, Colonel Lee fought at
Second Bull Run and
Antietam, where his guns played a prominent role in defending the ground near the famed Dunker Church. He rose to the rank of
brigadier general on
November 6,
1862, and was ordered to take command of
Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton's artillery at
Vicksburg, Mississippi. He served there with great credit, being wounded in the shoulder at the
Battle of Champion Hill, until Pemberton's surrender to Maj. Gen.
Ulysses S. Grant in July 1863. On becoming a
prisoner of war, he was immediately paroled and later exchanged on
October 13. While on parole, he was promoted to
major general on
August 3,
1863.
Lee's regimental service had been chiefly with artillery, but he'd generally worked with and at times commanded
cavalry, and he was now assigned to command the troops of that arm in the Southwestern Theater (the Department of Mississippi, Alabama, West Tennessee, and East Louisiana). After harassing, as far as his limited numbers permitted, the advance of Maj. Gen.
William Tecumseh Sherman's column on
Meridian, Mississippi, he took Lt. Gen.
Leonidas Polk's place as commander of the Department of Alabama, Mississippi and East Louisiana. On
June 23,
1864, on
John B. Hood's promotion to command the
Army of Tennessee, Lee was made a
lieutenant general, the youngest in the Confederacy, and assigned to command Hood's old corps in that army. Thus, Lee became one of the few officers to have senior commands in all three combat arms—artillery, cavalry, and infantry.
In the
Atlanta Campaign, Lee fought at
Ezra Church and
Jonesboro. He then accompanied Hood in the
Franklin-Nashville Campaign, and fought in the battles of
Franklin and
Nashville, after which, in the rout of the Confederate army, Lee kept his troops closed up and well in hand. For three consecutive days, they formed the fighting rearguard of the otherwise disintegrated army. Lee was wounded in the foot at the
Battle of Spring Hill, but didn't give up the command until an organized rearguard took over the post of danger.
On recovery, he joined General Johnston in
North Carolina for the
Carolinas Campaign, and Lee surrendered with Johnston in April 1865 at
Bennett Place.
Postbellum
After the war Lee settled in
Mississippi, which was his wife's home state and during the greater part of the war his own territorial command, and devoted himself to planting. He was the first president of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Mississippi (now
Mississippi State University) from 1880 to 1899, served as a state senator, and was an active member (and at the time of his death commander-in-chief) of the United Confederate Veterans society.
He also helped promote women's rights, wrote about history, and made efforts to preserve the Vicksburg battlefield sites. He died in Vicksburg and was buried in Friendship Cemetery in
Columbus, Mississippi.
Lee is memorialized with a statue in the
Vicksburg National Military Park as well as a bust in the center of the Drill Field at
Mississippi State University. The Lt. Gen. Stephen D. Lee Camp #545 of the
Sons of Confederate Veterans in Vicksburg is named in his honor.
Further Information
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