09/25/2026
Remembering Gen. Stephen Dill Lee on the anniversary of his birth, September 22, 1833
"Lieutenant-General Stephen D. Lee was born at Charleston, S.C., September 22, 1833, of patriotic lineage. His great-grandfather, William Lee, was one of forty leading citizens of Charleston whose devotion to the Continental cause was punished by imprisonment on a prison ship and transportation to St. Augustine, Fla. His grandfather, Thomas Lee, was appointed United States district judge by President Monroe. General Lee was appointed to the West Point military academy in 1850, and was graduated in 1854, in the class with J. E. B. Stuart, O. O. Howard, Custis Lee, Pender and Pegram., He served with the Fourth U.S. artillery and held the rank of first-lieutenant and regimental quartermaster when he resigned in 1861.
He was appointed a captain in the South Carolina organization, and then commissioned captain in the regular army of the Confederate States and assigned to duty as aide-de-camp to General Beauregard. With Colonel Chestnut, a brother aide, he bore the summons to Major Anderson for the surrender of Fort Sumter, and gave the subsequent notice of the opening of bombardment. After the surrender of Sumter he was called to Virginia in command of the light battery of Hampton's Legion, and there began a career as an artillery officer of the Confederate States army that was active and distinguished and of such prominence as to be recognized by rapid promotion, to major, lieutenant-colonel, colonel, and brigadier-general, November 6, 1862. He served with General Johnston in the Peninsular campaign, and at Seven Pines, and under General R. E. Lee's command at Savage Station and Malvern Hill. At the battle of Second Manassas, in command of the reserve artillery, his participation in the fighting was so gallant, judicious and effective that President Davis declared: "I have reason to believe at the great conflict on the field of Manassas he (Colonel Lee) served to turn the tide of battle and consummate the victory." Holding the same command at Sharpsburg, he encountered a destructive infantry and artillery fire, and won new honors by his intrepidity and skill. Just after the latter battle General R. E. Lee was asked by President Davis to select his most efficient and accomplished artillery officer for duty on the Mississippi, and Colonel Lee, after being permitted to name his successor as commander of the reserve artillery of the army of Northern Virginia, was ordered to report at Richmond. The situation on the Mississippi river demanded the most skillful leadership, and Colonel Lee, selected for this duty, was promoted brigadier-general November 6, 1862, and assigned to command at Vicksburg. Thus began his career in the West, where he was destined to fully justify the anticipations of his superiors and by the manifestation of the highest qualities of soldiership win promotion to the rank of lieutenant-general at the age of thirty-one years.
In command of the Confederate forces at Chickasaw Bayou he defeated Sherman's advance in December, 1862, and in the following May, with Pemberton's army, he met Grant at Champion's Hill, where he was further distinguished for personal gallantry. After the fall of Vicksburg he was exchanged and on August 3, 1863, was promoted major-general and put in command of all the cavalry in Mississippi, Alabama, West Tennessee and East Louisiana. In this field he co-operated with Forrest in making futile Sherman's advance to Meridian. June 23, 1864, he was promoted lieutenant-general and assigned to the command of the department of Mississippi, Alabama, East Louisiana and West Tennessee, and after the battle of Harrisburg he was called to take command of Hood's corps of the army at Atlanta. There he fought the desperate battle at Ezra Church July 28th, and took part in the engagement at Jonesboro. He subsequently accompanied Hood as a corps commander in the flank movement northward. In the Tennessee campaign his corps was left at Columbia, while Hood made his flank movement at Spring Hill, and but one division was able to participate in the struggle at Franklin. 'In the fighting at Nashville he held Overton Hill against the enemy's assaults until after the left and center of the army were driven back, and on the next day his corps, the only one with organizations intact, covered the retreat of the army, repulsing every effort of Wilson's cavalry from dawn till late at night. During this day's fighting General Lee was severely wounded. He remained in command of his corps until he participated in the capitulation of Johnston's army.
Since the war General Lee has been active in his efforts for the re-establishment of the prosperity of the South, has served as State senator and member of the Mississippi constitutional convention of 1890, and since the establishment of the Agricultural and Mechanical college of Mississippi has, in the position of president of that institution, done remarkable work in the direction of building up the waste places of the South. He has been active in the work of organizing the association of United Confederate Veterans, and after several years' service as major-general of the Mississippi division, was promoted in 1894 to the position of lieutenant-general commanding the department east of the Mississippi."
Confederate Military History
