When the war broke out, Li Feng sent him to command all the armed forces in Virginia, and later became one of the first five generals of the Union Army. However, Li respected the rank of colonel in the United States and refused to wear the general badge in the United States. He just wanted to wear the three-star badge of the Colonel of the Allies, and was promoted to the General of the Allies during the Chengping period until the victory of the war.
After commanding the Union Army in West Virginia and taking charge of the coastal defense in Carolina, he became a military adviser to American President Jefferson Davis. They've known each other since West Point.
Commander of Northern Virginia Legion
After General Joseph E. Qiang Sen was wounded in the Battle of Seven Pines on June 6, 1982/KLOC-0, Lee took over as commander of the Northern Virginia Legion and got the first chance to lead the troops. He immediately launched a series of offensives. During the seven-day battle, he faced the federal troops led by George B. McClellan, who threatened Richmond, the capital of Virginia. Allied forces suffered heavy casualties because of General Lee's attack, and suffered from the incompetence of General Lee's subordinates in executing tactics. But his positive actions made Maclennan feel depressed. After McClane retreated, General Lee defeated another union army in the second battle of Burlang. He later invaded Maryland in an attempt to replenish military supplies and try his best to influence the election results in the north that were not conducive to the end of the war. Mcclane learned about General Lee's plan by intercepting the military orders left by the Confederate army, and reinforced Antioch's superior troops before the Confederate army assembled. On that bloody day, General Lee resisted the attack of the Union Army, but had to retreat to Virginia.
Disappointed, McClane could not destroy General Lee's army. President Lincoln appointed ambrose burnside as the commander of the Potomac Army. This competition ordered the crossing of Rapahannock Creek to start the battle of fredericks. His troops were delayed because of the bridge crossing the river, which gave General Li's troops enough time to organize a strong defense. The attack of1862 65438+February 12 was a disaster for the northern army. Lincoln later appointed joseph hooker as the commander of the Potomac army. Hook advanced to the Battle of Chancellesville, Virginia in May 1863. His troops were divided into several parts by General Li and General thomas jackson with bold actions, and their flanks were attacked, thus being defeated. For the allies, this war was a great victory, but it paid a huge price: General Jackson, the most important subordinate of General Lee, died of injuries and died for his country. General Li heard the bad news and sighed, "My right arm is broken."
1863, general Li once again set out to attack the north, hoping that the victory of the confederate army would force the Federation to recognize the independent status of the allies. He tried to defeat the Union Army led by george meade in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, but failed. His men failed to attack actively with the energy he expected, J.E.B Stuart's cavalry stayed away from the battlefield, and General Lee decided to launch a large-scale frontal attack at the midpoint of the federal front-a disastrous Picot charge-causing heavy casualties. Like the Battle of Antietam, General Lee was forced to retreat, but was not pursued vigorously. After this defeat, General Lee's written resignation submitted to Allied President Davis on August 8, 1863 was rejected.
1864, hiram grant, the new commander-in-chief of the Union Army, attempted to destroy Lee's troops and occupy Richmond. General Lee led his troops to resist the progress of his two attempts, but Grant continued to push southeast step by step with the help of his superior reinforcements. A series of battles took place on land, at the court in Vanya, Spotts, portes, and at Cold Harbor. Grant finally fooled General Lee and let his troops sneak across the James River. After resisting the union army's attempt to invade Petersburg, the heart of Richmond railway supply line, General Lee's troops were besieged in Petersburg and tried to dig trenches to defend themselves. He tried to break the deadlock and sent Jupiter Early to attack Washington in Shenandoah Valley, but Early was defeated by philip sheridan's superior military strength. The siege of Petersburg lasted from 1864 to June 1865.
commander in chief
On June 36, General Lee was promoted to Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces. At the beginning of 1865, he urged the adoption of the idea of letting slaves join the confederate army in exchange for freedom. The idea didn't bear fruit in a short time before the alliance failed.
After the union army was exhausted by months of fighting, a union army successfully captured Petersburg on April 2, 1865. General Lee gave up defending Richmond and tried to join forces with General Joseph Johnston in North Carolina. His headquarters was besieged by the federal army and surrendered in the court of Abo Mattox on April 9, 1986. Many subordinates (indirectly instructed by President Davis) refused to surrender, so that some small units could break through the encirclement and enter the mountainous areas for long-term guerrilla warfare, which was rejected by General Li.
Post-war period
After the war, General Li formally applied for a post-war Amnesty, but it was not approved. After the application was sent, it was submitted to the desk of Secretary of State William seward. He thought it was a copy submitted by someone else after the completion of the matter and filed it, and found it in his drawer decades later. General Li's failure to reply is regarded as the government reserves the right to institute legal proceedings against him.
General Lee's application for Amnesty set an example and encouraged many former officers and men of the United States of America to accept becoming citizens of the United States of America again. 1975, an employee of the National Archives and Records Administration discovered General Lee's pledge of allegiance, President Ford pardoned him, and the US Congress restored his citizenship.
General Lee and his wife lived in their wife's maiden home, custis-Lee Mansion, which was confiscated by the federal army and became part of today's Arlington National Cemetery. After his death, the court ruled that the property was illegally occupied and must be returned to his son. The state government proposed to buy all its land, and it was agreed.
He has been the president of Washington College (now Washington and Lee University in Li Daxue) in Lexington, Virginia since 1965 10.02. During his five-year tenure, he transformed Washington College from an unknown elementary school into the first university in the United States to offer courses in business, journalism and Spanish. He established a comprehensive and amazing concept of honor-we only have one school motto, that is, every student is a gentleman (and every student is a gentleman)-which set an example in schools that arbitrarily maintain the honor system, such as Washington and Li Daxue. It is important that President Li is committed to making the school attract students from the north and the south. However, the school still maintains the apartheid system. Since John Chá vez 1795 entered the school, Washington College, or Washington and Li Daxue, didn't enroll a second black student until 1966.
Illness and death
Robert Li Ling Memorial Hall is located in Lee Church in Lexington, Virginia. September 28th 1870 President Li is not feeling well and can't speak clearly. When the doctor arrived, they could only help him stay in bed, hoping that his condition would improve on its own. It is almost certain that President Li had a stroke. The stroke damaged the frontal lobe of the brain, making him unable to speak and cough. He maintained his strength by artificial feeding, but turned to pneumonia. Unable to cough, Chairman Li died of complications of pneumonia (not the stroke itself). Two weeks after his stroke, he died in Lexington, Virginia on June 1870+ 10/2, and was buried under churches in Washington and Li Daxue.
There's another one. I'll show you.
Robert & #183; Li--a southern general who fought against grief.
General Robert Lee was regarded as a military accomplice of the slave-owning class in the South during the American Civil War, so many domestic books gave him an unfair evaluation. General Li was born in 1807 65438+ 10/9, and his family was a prominent family in the American immigration era. Thomas Lee, the first founder of the Lee family, is the founder of the Ohio company. As a traditional English aristocrat, he was a member of the Supreme Council of the colony and the governor of Dzheniya. Thomas Lee is very rich, with 65,438+6,000 acres of plantations in Florida, Dzheniya and Maryland. He is also one of the people with the largest number of slaves in the whole colonial area. Thomas died in 1750, leaving a lot of wealth and eight children. The eldest son, Philip Li Jicheng, inherited this huge legacy and became the head of the new family.
Robert lee's father, Qiu Xiaodong, was a hero in the War of Independence, but he lost all the wealth in his family because he was cheated on a business trip. Therefore, in his growing years, Li was always in an extremely embarrassing and embarrassing situation. Finally, Li applied to West Point Military Academy, because his family couldn't afford the huge tuition of Yale University, because it was the only place where he could receive a good higher education without paying tuition. West Point Military Academy quickly approved his application, and then Li left his hometown of Virginia for the first time to go to the military academy in New York State. Li successfully demonstrated his outstanding talents in the military academy. When he graduated, he ranked second in class 1825. At the same time, he was awarded excellent honorary students and was well received by lecturers. He is always modest to his classmates and never shows off his good grades. Be honest with others and don't lose your temper with anyone. Four years later, the school wrote in the graduation evaluation that "outstanding performance in this life is really one of the few top schools in our school in recent years." According to its performance in school, we have not found any bad shortcomings in this life. After graduation, Li was awarded the rank of second lieutenant and was sent to the Corps of Engineers.
During his military service, Robert married Mary Curtis, Washington's great granddaughter, and became the first spokesman and property supervisor of the Washington family.
On the eve of the Civil War, Lee said goodbye to his wife and returned to Texas. With the independence of North Carolina, Texas subsequently declared a republic. As an officer in the Union Army, Lee was immediately expelled from Texas and had to go home to Arlington. At this time, the domestic situation was overwhelming. In order to gain state power, the southern States demanded independence fiercely, while the northern Federation refused to give in hysterically. Some senators even declared in Congress that this is a good opportunity to completely solve the power struggle between the state government and the central federal government. The abolitionists also asked Lincoln to further carry out his policy and abolish slavery completely; Southern lawmakers criticized this as a violation of Lincoln's pre-election promise, because Lincoln himself said that "if he is elected president, he will not end the reality of slavery in the South." As the saying goes, everything is coming, and Li can't stay away from this place of trouble, although at this time, zheniya did not publicly declare independence.
However, when the northern federal government announced that it would use military force to suppress the southern independent state, Gyunia immediately condemned the federal government, and the state legislature announced that Gyunia had left the Federation and joined the Southern Confederacy. At this time, Li received a letter of appointment from the War Department of the Northern Federal Government and President Lincoln himself, and prepared to promote him as a general of the Northern Army. Three days after receiving the letter, Li always disagreed with the idea of splitting the south. He loves the United States founded by his father and his father-in-law. However, from a moral point of view, he also disapproves of North Korea's use of force to solve South Korea's secession demand. In his own opinion, he really can't fight with his hometown and relatives. On April 23, Lee refused the invitation of the federal government and accepted the request of the President of the Confederacy to take charge of the defense of Virginia. On August 3 1, Li was promoted to general and briefly served as commander-in-chief of the VJ for one month. Later, President Davis became the chief of staff of the Confederate army. Later, he began to be responsible for the construction of sea defense lines in South Calora and Georgia to prevent the northern army from invading and landing through naval superiority. 1March 862, Li returned to Richmond, the southern capital. In May, Mike Allen, commander-in-chief of the Union Army, led 654.38 million+troops from Washington to the peninsula near Richmond along the south of the Potomac River, and began a surprise attack on Richmond. At this time, the first-line commander Johnston was just injured, so Li reorganized his regiment into the chief of staff and became the head of the army himself. Li named the regiment North Georgia Corps.
At the same time, Li promoted two generals as his deputies, one is "Stone Wall" Jackson, and the other is Longster, who will be the most outstanding right-hand man for Li in the future. Li then began to take the initiative to attack the invading North Army, which was the so-called "Seven-Day Campaign". Li Yiling's offensive severely hit Mike Allen's weak right wing, making the entire Union Army command system at a loss and successfully disintegrating the Union Army's counterattack. After that, he paid heavy casualties (about 1 1,000 people) and successfully drove the North Army out of Richmond. Finally, Mike Allen had to rely on the cover of naval guns to retreat hastily. Li continued to March north and defeated the North Army again in the second bull run. At this time, at Li's behest, "Stone Wall" Jackson raided Harpers Town, which not only occupied Harpers Town, but also captured 12000 Union Army. At this time, Mike Allen was relieved of his post as commander of the Northern Army Potomac Corps.
On September 1862 and 17, the northern army put all its eggs in one basket and put a lot of troops into the battle of Antietam to stop Li's advance. The northern army entered the battle with absolute strength advantage, and Li resisted the almost crazy attack of the northern army with unusually strong defense. In the afternoon, Li personally took to the line of fire to boost morale. In an anti-assault, Li's right arm was injured by stray bullets. At the critical moment, his reinforcement A.P. Hill rushed to the battlefield and went into battle. Finally, Li successfully defeated the northern army. But the loss is too great, and there is no possibility of continuing to invade the north. Lee won the tactical victory, but lost the strategic opportunity. A total of 28,000 people on both sides fell on the battlefield, making it the bloodiest day in American history. Li's army had to retreat to the south to rest, ending his first northward strategy.
1in March, 865, Li voluntarily gave up Richmond and began to move to North Calora to meet General Johnston to deal with Sherman's army. However, on the way, the Grant Corps actually caught up with Lee's North Virginia Corps and almost surrounded it. At this time, Lee Myung-bak's south has lost its momentum. He asked Grant, who was still fighting with him, to negotiate surrender. It has also been suggested that all Yugoslav troops should be called upon to split up and fight guerrilla warfare in the mountains, just as their ancestors did to the British in the War of Independence. However, Li rebuffed it. He responded that "the war was occupied by American soldiers. If you say so, it is tantamount to shifting the responsibility of the war to innocent people, which will only bring endless fighting and bloody slaughter. Although I am not an excellent soldier, my morality does not allow me to do so. If my death can bring peace to the people and this land, let them hang me as a war criminal. "
Finally, Lee and Grant met at the Abo Mattox Court in Atok to discuss surrender. In this context, the meeting between Li and Grant was extremely touching. Although Grant had never said anything "good" about Li before, Grant had said that he didn't want to hear anyone say the myth of "invincible" about Li in front of him, and claimed that he only wanted to "whip" Li, and he would certainly be able to "whip" Li. But in his heart, Grant has great respect for Lee. This is the so-called hero pity. After seeing Li, although Li was wearing a straight uniform and Grant's uniform was covered with dust, in their hearts, it was just the opposite. Lee was in great pain and Grant was very excited. Grant saw Li's inner pain and even couldn't bear to bring up the topic of "surrender". For more than half an hour after the negotiations began, Grant kept talking about the past when he fought in Mexico. Finally, Lee took the initiative to turn the topic to surrender, and Grant agreed to almost all the demands made by Lee. After receiving the assurance that Grant would never imprison or persecute Confederate soldiers, Lee agreed to sign a surrender agreement. Finally, Li added that Confederate soldiers were allowed to take away the war horses in the army. When Grant asked why, Lee only said, "Spring ploughing is coming soon. They are all sons of farmers and need these horses to work. " Finally, the two sides signed the agreement in an atmosphere of mutual respect. The formal surrender of Li's 28,000 soldiers, who were hungry and cold, also marked the end of this brutal battle that lasted for nearly five years.
Li is undoubtedly the most outstanding commander in the civil war and the most respected and loved general. Serving in various arms and services before the war enabled him to fully understand and coordinate the relations and arrangements between the arms and services in future command. His strategy is "attack", even in adversity, he dares to attack, and he is also good at grasping the weaknesses and loopholes in the deployment of the other side and launching an attack by surprise. He is also very sensitive to the observation of the situation and never lets go of the clues of the other party's mistakes easily. Li is good at distracting his opponent's attention, and then suddenly a wonderful action, shooting this down on the opponent's opponent. Of course, Li also has some shortcomings and deficiencies. Perhaps the most fatal thing is his introverted personality. Li is very bad at explaining his plans and ideas to his subordinates, which often leads to misunderstandings of his subordinates, especially after the death of Stonewall Jackson. The battle of Gettysburg is the best example. In his only failure, almost none of his subordinates could understand and carry out his orders well. In the whole war, every battle of Li was faced with troops far exceeding his northern army. Although he suffered heavy losses in Antietam and suffered a fiasco in Gettysburg, Li's troops never collapsed, and he always held his ground until the last moment. The North Virginia Army under his command is also the best army in American history.
Compared with Li's military command ability, perhaps his noble character makes people miss him so much. Today, he is still the most revered soldier in the south and even the whole United States. His birthday was designated as the legal anniversary of the southern states. Primary schools, middle schools and even universities named after him abound. Every year on the anniversary of his death, thousands of flowers will be piled on his grave. In the author's eyes, Americans have long regarded Li as the symbol and ideal embodiment of the United States. It was not until Lee's death that President andrew johnson refused to grant him American citizenship again. 105 years later, the US Senate unanimously passed a special bill on July 22nd to restore robert edward lee's title and rights as an American citizen. On August 5th, President Ford signed the bill. At that time, Ford said, "Lee is a true American hero and deeply respected by both the North and the South."