Who was Robert E. Lee?

In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln offered General Lee the opportunity to command the entire Union Army. Lee, however, chose to follow his heart which was with his home state of Virginia. When Virginia seceded from the Union, Lee went with her.

A year later General Lee was the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia and soon established himself as the greatest tactician and leader of the war. One has to wonder how different the war may have gone had Lee accepted Lincoln's offer.

One of the more interesting and ironic aspects about General Lee's ancestry is his relationship to President George Washington. It is commonly known that Robert E. Lee married Mary Custis, great-granddaughter to Martha Washington and step-great-granddaughter to George Washington.

What isn't so well known is that Robert E. Lee and George Washington were 3rd cousins, 2 times removed through their common ancestor of Augustine Warner. It is ironic how one fought so hard to create the Union while the other fought to split it in two.