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AP
The Virginia plantation house where Gen. Robert E. Lee lived before he abandoned it to lead the Confederate army during the Civil War has reopened after a multimillion-dollar renovation that focuses new attention on the enslaved people who lived and labored there.
Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, was built by enslaved people and indentured workers between 1802 and 1818, and more than 100 African Americans were enslaved there in the decades leading up to the war, according to the National Park Service.
The park service worked with the descendants of several enslaved families to tell a more complete history of the home, the statement said. The Greek Revival mansion overlooks the Potomac River and Washington, DC.
Crutchfield, Stapleton (1835–1865) – Encyclopedia Virginia encyclopediavirginia.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from encyclopediavirginia.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Robert E. Lee in Uniform.
Robert E. Lee had a reputation as one of the finest officers in the United States Army. Therefore, Abraham Lincoln offered Lee the command of the federal forces in April 1861. Nevertheless, Lee declined and tendered his resignation from the Army when Virginia seceded on April 17th. He argued that he could not fight against his people. Instead, he accepted a general’s commission for the newly formed Confederate Army.
His first military battle of the Civil War was at Cheat Mountain, Virginia (now West Virginia) on September 11, 1861.
Although the Union won, Lee’s reputation withstood the public criticism that followed the battle. He then served as military advisor to the late President Jefferson Davis until June 1862. Following that, he was given command of General Joseph E. Johnston’s embattled army on the Virginia peninsula.