George Washington Custis Lee

George Washington Custis Lee 1832-1913, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. Fort Monroe, Va.; eldest son of Robert E. Lee. He served in the Corps of Engineers until May, 1861, when he resigned to fight for the Confederacy. Aide-de-camp to President Jefferson Davis through most of the Civil War, he was promoted to major general in 1864. In the last days of the war, Lee commanded a brigade and was captured in the fighting at Sailor's Creek (Apr., 1865). He was professor of civil and military engineering at the Virginia Military Institute (1865-71) and, succeeding his father, president of Washington and Lee Univ. (1871-97).

Lee, George Washington Custis (1832–1913) Confederate army officer, born in Fort Monroe, Virginia. Lee was a military engineer and aide-de-camp to Jefferson Davis who performed such duties as inspecting and organizing the defenses at crucial sites and carrying messages of great importance to generals in the field. Though he requested a transfer to combat command, Davis considered him indispensable. Late in the war, however, as Lee led a division in the retreat from Richmond (1865). Early in the conflict Lee designed and directed the construction of the fortifications at Richmond. Before resigning his U.S. Army commission, Lee was assistant to the chief engineer of the army in Washington. After the war Lee succeeded his father, Robert E. Lee, as president of Washington College (later Washington and Lee University).