A nice image of Robert E. Lee's second son William Henry Fitzhugh (Rooney) Lee. He was called Rooney to distinquish him from his first cousin, General Fitzhugh Lee. Upon the secession of Virginia, Rooney Lee immediately entered Confederate service as Colonel of the 9th Virginia Cavalry. With this regiment he followed Geneal J.E.B. Stuart through virtually all the campaigns of the Cavalry Corps of the Army of Northern virginia. He was promoted brigadier general in September 1862. Lee was severly wounded at Brandy Station and while recuperating , was captured by the Federals and imprisioned. Not exchanged until March 1864, he was promoted major general in April 1864. He was the youngest major general in Confederate service. He played a very important part in the closing operations of the cavalry, and was second in command at Appomattox. There is no backmark on this image.
William Henry Fitzhugh Lee
Major-General William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, the second son of Gen. Robert E. Lee, was born at Arlington, Va., May 31, 1837. He was educated at Harvard college, where he was graduated in 1857. In the same year he was appointed second lieutenant of the Sixth infantry, United States army, and in this rank he served in the Utah campaign under Albert Sidney Johnston, and subsequently in California. Early in 1859 he resigned his commission and took charge of his farm, the historic White House, on the Pamunkey river. He was heartily in sympathy with the Confederate cause, and organized a cavalry company early in 1861, becoming one of the leading spirits in the formation of the gallant body of troopers which were subsequently distinguished in the history of the army of Northern Virginia, and contributed so effectively to its successes. In May he received the rank of captain, corps of cavalry, C. S. A., and in the same month was promoted major in the regular army. During the West Virginia campaign he acted as chief of cavalry for General Loring. In the winter of 1861-62 he was ordered to Fredericksburg, Va., and was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Ninth Virginia cavalry regiment, promotion to the colonelship following in March. With his regiment he was attached to the cavalry brigade of J. E. B. Stuart, and shared its operations during the retreat from Yorktown toward Richmond. In the famous raid around McClellan's army Stuart's men were led by the three colonels, Fitz Lee, W. H. F. Lee and W. T. Martin; the artillery under Breathed. His troopers defeated the enemy's cavalry at Hawes' Shop, June 13th, during this expedition. Upon the organization of the cavalry division in the following month, his regiment was assigned to the brigade of Fitzhugh Lee, and he participated in the operations of this command in the campaign of Second Manassas. After serving on the advanced line before Washington, during the advance into Maryland he was particularly distinguished in the rear-guard fighting after the action at Turner's pass. Squadron after squadron of his regiment bore the brunt of the attacks of the Federal advance until they were the last to enter Boonsboro. At this point Colonel Lee was unhorsed and run over in crossing a bridge; and severely bruised and at first unconscious, lay by the roadside for some time in full view of the passing enemy. He managed to escape and finally reached the army on the Antietam, where he was welcomed as one from the dead. Subsequently he commanded a detachment of Lee's brigade during the Chambersburg raid, and held the advance during the return movement in the rear of McClellan's army. His intrepid conduct and coolness in demanding the surrender of a largely superior force of the enemy which held White's ford on the Potomac, caused the withdrawal of this obstacle which might have been fatal to the safe return of Stuart's command to Virginia. At the reorganization in November he, having been promoted brigadier-general, was given command of the brigade of cavalry consisting of the Fifth, Ninth, Tenth, Fifteenth Virginia and Second North Carolina. During the operations preceding and following the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville he was frequently engaged, and during the combats with Pleasanton's cavalry before the Gettysburg campaign he fought at Fleetwood Hill and Brandy Station, where he engaged the enemy in a series of brilliant charges with his regiments, in one of the last of which he received a severe wound through the leg. General Stuart reported "the handsome and highly satisfactory manner" in which he handled his brigade, and the deplorable loss "for a short time only, it is hoped, of his valuable services. " But, in his helpless condition, he was taken prisoner by Federal raiders and carried to Fortress Monroe, where, and at Fort Lafayette, he was held until March, 1864. On his return to the army he was promoted major-general and assigned to the command of a division of the cavalry. He participated in the operations of the cavalry from the Rapidan to the James in 1864; was at Malvern hill when Grant crossed the river; opposed Wilson's raid against the Weldon railroad in June; commanded the cavalry at Globe Tavern, August; at Five Forks held the right of the Confederate line; and during the retreat to Appomattox, aided Gordon in repulsing repeated assaults. After the surrender he retired to his plantation, and resided there until his removal to Burke's Station in 1874. He was president for a time of the State agricultural society, served one term in the State senate, and sat in the Fiftieth, Fifty- first and Fifty-second Congresses as representative of the Eighth Virginia district. He died at Alexandria, October 15, 1891.
Item #: RX16056
Price: $285.00 USD
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