Instructor Steve Spracale
HIS 103
November 15, 2001
Robert E. Lee and the Mexican American War
Robert Edward Lee lived his life in service of duty. This service was perhaps most notable in four situations: his care for his invalid mother and wife, his assumption of the military duties assigned to him, his resignation from the U.S. Army, and his actions after the Civil War. His duties during the Mexican American War come in the second category: he fought valiantly and ably, learning much that he would later use in leading the Virginia and Confederate armies.
Lee was born at the Lee family home in Virginia on January 19, 1807. His father had successfully lost the family fortune, and the family moved to a small house in Alexandria, Virginia, while Lee was still a baby. After the death of his father, Lee nursed his mother and studied. He entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1825, and graduated second in the class of 1829. He joined the U.S. Army Engineer Corps as a brevet Second Lieutenant.
The young officer served well in various capacities, learning engineering, administration, and leadership skills he would use later. He spent several years in the filed working on fortifications in Georgia, New York, and Virginia, and he managed the construction of shipping channels at St. Louis and on the upper Mississippi River. He also worked as a staff officer at the U.S. Engineers offices in Washington for three years, discovering that he detested politics. He found many of the administrative tasks, as well as slow progress and being away from his family, frustrating and depressing, both in the field and at the capital; this was to mar his happiness, but not his performance.
When working in Washington, Lee would live with his wife and children in Alexandria. When his posts elsewhere seemed relatively permanent, and when his wife was able, they would move with him. Much of the time, however, his family stayed behind in Alexandria, or at his wife's ancestral and childhood home nearby. When he was away, Lee greatly missed his growing family, whom he loved dearly.
The Mexican American War erupted in 1846, and Lee had to leave his family (again) to serve in Mexico. His first assignment was as a Captain of Engineers in General John E. Wool's army in Texas in advance of its move across the Rio Grande; his task was to build roads and bridges for the army's use. He acquitted himself well, and was transferred to General Winfield Scott's army. He saw his first battle at Vera Cruz, where he constructed emplacements for several large cannon borrowed from the Navy. Scott had taken a liking to him in Washington, and now he became one of Scott's closest advisors.
Lee participated in the two major remaining battles of the war. Above Plan del Rio, Lee discovered a route around one flank of General Santa Anna's army, and led a flanking maneuver along the route which helped to drive the Mexican army from the hilltops. He was involved in all the individual battles at Mexico City. He was one of two officers who reconnoitered the approaches to the city, and he was the one who found the route across the nearly impassable broken lava fields on one route to the city. He engineered gun emplacements for the assault on Chapultepec, and led troops flanking the bridgehead defenses across the Churubuscan River crossing.
Lee served Scott well, showing perseverance and a talent for reconnaissance in addition to engineering. In fact, he Scott described him as perhaps the best soldier he'd ever served with in the field, and other commanders also expressed high praise or Lee. This war supplied all the serious battle training Lee would have before 1861, but it was incredibly useful to him. He learned about practical fortifications, leadership in the field, and how an army behaves in all conditions except retreat. This training would be useful to Lee during the Civil War, which of course wasn't such a good thing for the Union.
After the war, Lee returned home, to find that he'd been promoted to brevet Colonel, and the Congress soon confirmed his rank as Lieutenant Colonel, with a brevet rank of Colonel. He resumed his regular engineering duties, leading the construction of Ft. Carroll at Washington. This was convenient, as it placed him near his family. His next assignment was as Superintendent of West Point, which he decidedly did not want, but accepted it as his duty. In 1855, Lee transferred from the Engineers to the Cavalry in Texas, which he led until 1861, though he spent part of the time at home executing his father-in-law's will.
In the previous year, Southern states started seceding from the Union, and Lee was placed in an extremely difficult position. Duty to the Union required both that he accept the offered appointment as the chief field commander of the U.S. Army; it also required that he defend Virginia, family, and friends. Resigning his U.S. Army commission must have been the most difficult thing Lee ever did. He hoped not to take up arms, but his hope was not to be granted, and later that same year he was appointed a General by the Confederate government.
Lee served the confederacy well, leading brilliantly, boldly, and audaciously. He was tactful and courteous with everybody, which allowed him to work with the touchy Jefferson Davis, but inhibited his ability to command his staff. Further, in Mexico, he had learned to work with an efficient, well trained, experienced staff; the lack of such a staff in the Confederate army was a problem. In any case, the Union won the war, and Lee surrendered his army, effectively ending the war.
After the war, Lee returned to private life, and worked hard to reintegrate the southern states back into the Union. Though offered many more prestigious appointments, he accepted only the presidency of Washington College (now Washington and Lee University), which he held for the rest of his life. During this time, he continued his wheelchair-bound wife until he took ill, then died on October 12, 1870. Even as he lay dying, he was mindful of his dignity and self-discipline.
Robert E. Lee was certainly one of America's greatest men. He was arguably at his greatest when leading the Confederate army during the Civil War, but he learned the skills he would use during the Mexican American War. He lived his life in service of duty: to the United States, to Virginia, to family, to friends, to commanders. He was noble to the end.
Works Cited
The Annals of America. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1976. Vol. 9: 1858-1865: The Crisis of the Union.
Harwell, Richard. Lee: An Abridgment in One Volume of the Four-Volume R.E. Lee by Douglas Southall Freeman. ISBN 0-684-15489-7. Hudson River Ed. New York: Scribner's; New York: Macmillan, 1988. 1-117.
Henretta, James A., David Brody, and Lynn Dumenil. America: A Concise History. 2nd ed. 2 vols. ISBN 0-312-25613-2. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2002. Vol. 1: "To 1877." 377-380.
Lee, Robert E. "General Order Number Nine." 1865 April 9. Article 141 in The Annals of America.
—. "To General Winfield Scott." 1861 April 20. Article 51 in The Annals of America.
—. "To Anne Marshall." 1861 April 20. Article 51 in The Annals of America.
"Lee, Robert Edward." The World Book Encyclopedia. ISBN 0-7166-0101-X. Chicago: World Book, 2001.
Robertson, James I., Jr. "Lee, Robert Edward." The Encyclopedia Americana. International Ed. ISBN 0-7172-0130-9. Danbury, CT: Grolier, 1998.
"Significant Events in Immigration and Minority Life." The New York Public Library American History Desk Reference. ISBN 0-02-861322-8. New York: Stonesong Press-Macmillan, 1997. 99.