Robert Edward Lee (1807-1870) at the time of the Battle of Gettysburg, had been in command of the Army of Northern Virginia for almost a year. Lieutenant Colonel Arthur James Lyon Freemantle of His Majesty's Coldstrem Guards describes Lee best in his classic book on the American Civil War, Three Months in the Southern States.

30th June (Tuesday).--This morning, before marching from Chambersburg, General Longstreet introduced me to the commander-in-chief General Lee. Lee is, almost without exception, the handsomest man of his age I ever saw. He is fifty-six years old, tall, broad-shouldered, very well made, well set up -- a thorough soldier in appearance; and his manners are most courteous and full of dignity. He is a perfect gentleman in every respect. I imagine no man has so few enemies, or is so universally esteemed. Throughout the South, all agree in pronouncing him to be as near perfection as a man can be. He has none of the small vices, such as smoking, drinking, chewing, or swearing, and his bitterest enemy never accused him of any of the greater ones. He generally wears a wellworn long gray jacket, a high black felt hat, and blue trousers tucked into his Wellington boots. I never saw him carry arms; and the only mark of his military rank are the three stars on his collar. He rides a handsome horse, which is extremely well groomed. He himself is very neat in his dress and person, and in the most arduous marches he always looks smart and clean.

Lee was born in Stratford, Virginia, and was educated at the United States Military Academy. He graduated from West Point in 1829. He was a military engineer. He earned three brevets while in General Winfield Scott's staff in Mexico. He spent time as the superintendent of West Point, Lt. Colonel of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment and Colonel of the 1st Cavalry Regiment.

When war between the states seemed imminent, President Abraham Lincoln offered Lee command of the Union forces, but Lee declined. In 1861 he resigned from the U.S. Army when Virginia seceded from the Union. For a year he was military adviser to Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America, and was then placed in command of the Army in northern Virginia.

His wife's ancestral home was in Arlington Virginia, a plantation that after the war the winning side would take away from the family and make it the Arlington National Cemetary.