What is Robert E. Lee?
{{Infobox person | name = Robert Edward Lee | image = Robert Edward Lee.jpg | caption = Lee in 1863 | birth_date = January 19, 1807 | birth_place = Stratford Hall Plantation<br />Westmoreland County, Virginia<br /> [[United States]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1870|10|12|1807|1|19}} | death_place = Lexington, Virginia | resting place = Lee Chapel<br />Washington and Lee University<br />Lexington, Virginia | birthname = Robert Edward Lee | spouse = [[Mary Custis]] | children = 7 | occupation = General, [[Confederate States of America]] | othername = | website = }} '''Robert Edward Lee''' (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was an American [[colonel]] in the [[United States Army]]. He became the General-in-chief of the [[Confederate States Army]] during the [[American Civil War]].<ref name=relUV>{{cite web |url=http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug97/monument/leebio.html |title=Robert E. Lee |author= |website=American Studies |publisher=The University of Virginia |accessdate=30 August 2016 |archive-date=23 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160823075943/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG97/monument/leebio.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> He led the [[Army of Northern Virginia]] in the [[Eastern Theater of the American Civil War]]. He started out as an engineer but then moved up the ranks. Before the Civil War, Lee was an officer in the [[Mexican-American War]]. He was also head of [[United States Military Academy|West Point]]. As a [[colonel]] in the [[United States Army]] he led a [[battalion]] of [[United States Marine Corps|marines]] to put down the [[rebellion]] at [[Harpers Ferry Armory]] and captured their leader, [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]].<ref name=Fredriksen38>John C. Fredriksen, ''he United States Marine Corps: A Chronology, 1775 to the Present'' (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2011), p. 38</ref> ==Early years== Lee was born at Stratford Hall in [[Westmoreland County, Virginia]], on January 19, 1807.<ref name=relBIO>{{cite web |url=http://www.biography.com/people/robert-e-lee