Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) was a General for the Confederacy in the Civil War, during which he became famous as a military tactician. Born on a plantation in Virginia, Lee began a military career as a young man. After graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he worked as an Army engineer. Lee served in the army during the Mexican American War, in which he distinguished himself for his capabilities in intelligence and military tactics. When the Civil War broke out, Lee wavered in his allegiance but eventually chose to fight for the Confederacy. His role in the Confederate Army grew as the war progressed: by 1862, he led the Army of Northern Virginia, and by the end of hostilities he was General-in-Chief of all Confederate armies. Lee’s greatest victory came against a far larger Union force at Chancellorsville, Virginia in 1863, but his armies were worn down by the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg and Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign in 1864. Shortly after the Union’s capture of Richmond in 1865, Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox Court House, effectively ending the Civil War.