What do you think?
Rate this book
R. E. Lee: A Biography #1
R.E. Lee: A Biography
This four-volume work won the 1935 Pulitzer Prize in Biography.
647 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1934
18 people are currently reading
420 people want to read
About the author
Douglas Southall Freeman
239 books93 followersThe son of a Confederate veteran, Douglas Southall Freeman was long interested in the Civil War. A man of intense work ethic, he earned his PhD at 22, then balanced a journalist's demanding schedule with a historian's, as he churned out Lee's Dispatches (1915), the Pulitzer-Prize-winning four-volume R. E. Lee: A Biography (1934-35), Lee's Lieutenants: A Study in Command (1942-44), and finally, the multi-volume George Washington (1948-54). A respected historian, renown for his research, he garnered fame in his native Virginia and the friendship of major military figures.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
August 11, 2019
Volume 1 of the four volume set reads with ease as it covers Lee's life from birth through very early 1862. Despite its 600+ pages, it is a quick read. Freeman is obviously a great admirer of Lee, and it seems that he set out to justify the admiration in which Lee was held, especially in 1934 when the book was published. Were such a treatment to be published today, it would be attacked on various grounds, but Freeman's documentation is so thorough that this reader is inclined to believe that, in fact, Lee was a most admirable man. Freeman also avoids a critical mistake that many modern writers of history and biography make: He judges the man in the context of the times in which he lived, and does not hold Lee to the standard of "he should have known." I am looking forward to reading the other three volumes.
March 22, 2022
“Duly on the morning of April 18 Lee rode over the bridge and up to the younger Blair’s house on Pennsylvania avenue, directly opposite the State, War and Navy building, where he found the old publicist awaiting him. They sat down behind closed doors. Blair promptly and plainly explained his reason for asking Lee to call. A large army, he said, was soon to be called into the field to enforce Federal law; the President had authorized him to ask Lee if he would accept the command.
Command of an army of 75,000, perhaps 100,000 men; opportunity to apply all he had learned in Mexico; the supreme ambition of a soldier realized; the full support of the government; many of his ablest comrades working with him; rank as a major general- all this may have surged through Lee’s mind for an instant, but if so, it was only an instant. Then his Virginia background and the mental discipline of years of years asserted themselves. He had said: ‘If the Union is dissolved and the government disrupted, I shall return to my native state and share the miseries of my people and save in defence will draw my sword on no one.’ There he stood, and in that spirit, after listening to all Blair had to say, he made the fateful reply that is best given in his own simple account of the interview: ‘I declined the offer he made me to take command of the army that was to be brought into the field, stating as candidly and as courteously as I could, that though opposed to secession and deprecating war, I could take no part in a an invasion of the Southern states.’ ”
- Douglass Southwall Freeman, R.E. Lee: A Biography, Volume 1
For years many historians have said that this pivotal moment was inevitable (Freeman states the chapter as: The Answer He Was Born To Make). This was the turning point of a career. It was the decision that turned a man that many would have regarded today as great (had he accepted), to a man that is today loathed and hated. This was Lee’s pivotal moment.
***
Since the Civil war, Robert E. Lee has been a controversial figure. On one side he is considered the definition of a Southern gentleman, the savior of a cause, the essence of all American liberty. On the other hand, he is considered a worthy man fighting for an unworthy cause, at best. A racist fighting for a terrible cause, at worst.
This book was written in a time when the country still admired this man as one of the greats. Douglass Southall Freeman has been criticized as some form of a lost causer. Many have stated that these books leave you with a pro-South interpretation. He was a Journalist from the south that won a Pulitzer prize for this biography and afterwards would write an even larger biography (7 volume) on the life of Washington, as well as a military history on Lee’s campaigns entitled: Lee’s lieutenants. His father fought under Lee and he grew up around many Southern veterans that definitely helped produce his views. Regardless of this matter, up to this date, there has not been another as detailed or as well written biography on the life of Lee. It is over 2000 pages in length, broken up into 4 volumes and is not dreary in the slightest. It does not use lofty language and does not drag the reader into a depth of over detailedness. It simply follows the life of Lee so closely that you feel as if you are walking behind the man observing his every significant word or movement. Freeman presents one of the best biographies I have ever read.
This volume, Covers Lee from his birth up to his 55th year. Starting with events even before his birth beginning with a short biographical sketch of his family’s history (with a special emphasis on his father’s Henry “Light-horse” Lee life) all the way up to his ride from Charleston, South Carolina back to Richmond in 1862.
***
Lee was born in Virginia, the same state that his father Henry Lighthouse Lee was born, as well as many other Lees. He was raised mainly by his mother only due to his father’s strange combination of bad luck, bad health, and bad decisions. Turning a promising military career after the Revolutionary war to a mismanagement of funds and overwhelming debt. Despite his fathers faults, Robert and his brothers always defended their father and, instead of looking back at their father as a fool, they looked at him as a brilliant military mind that was never appreciated and got into some bad luck. Light-horse Lee would finally leave the U.S. altogether because of health problems after getting into a fight with a riot and nearly getting killed. Many modern Historians believe that he had post traumatic stress disorder.
Despite all these events, Robert would prosper where his father had failed. He would enter into West Point and would be placed among the highest of all the students. From this young age, he was known as a hard working young man of character that could have fun without disobeying rules or getting others in trouble. He would become an engineer for the army and would spend many years of his middle age helping create forts and bridges in the country. The breakthrough of his career would come during the Mexican- American war under the famous General Winfield Scott, who, due to Lee’s service in this war, had respect for Lee throughout his whole life. Freeman gives a great narrative of Scott’s campaign at Veracruz, the battle of Chapultepec, and the famous halls of Montezuma, putting emphasis on the engineering role that Lee played. This would be a defining moment in Lee's life, helping him go from a corporal engineer to a tactful General. Lee was, if not the most, one of the highest praised men, of his rank, during the Mexican-American war.
After this Lee was to serve in different capacities. He became the superintendent of West Point for 3 years in the 1850’s. This was a time where he truly started to hold the respect of the men and youngsters going into the military (Many of the men that would fight in the upcoming War with Lee or against him). He would move on to play the role he is infamous for in Harpers Ferry with John Brown. Upon secession of Virginia he retired from the military and was then called upon to lead the Confederate Army. This volume ends in April of 1862, after Lee had fortified the South Carolina coast, and was on his way back to Richmond to assume command of the Army of Northern Virginia. It describes the failed battle of Cheat Mountain, the strange and, at sometimes, hilarious exchange between General's Wise, Floyd, and Lee, and the preparations of war by Lee, in excruciating detail.
***
For all of his achievements and character in his life, there is one thing that causes the apple to go rotten for many people and that is that he fought for the Confederacy. As I said above, if he had fought for the union, it is not imprudent to say that he would have been what Grant is today. This single issue is so large that I believe it to be necessary to address it and Freeman's view on it. Why he and other men fought.
Lee grew up around D.C. in an area where slavery, while being in use, was not as inhumane as the low South slavery. Slaves were mainly used as personal family servants than left to burn up in a cotton field. Lee’s father in law even allowed his slaves to earn money. Lee was surrounded by a society was normal but still had parameters. For instance, in northern Virginia, one could not whip their slaves, a practice which was not illegal in the fields down South. Lee personally never had more than half a dozen slaves, and these were, according to Freeman, probably gifted to him by his father in law. Throughout his years up to the war, Lee had never been on a cotton field down south and experienced the nightmarish and inhumane slavery that was present there. And while this does not excuse his position, it is fundamental to understand it.
He was a gradual secessionist and, like many in Virginia, took a more religious outlook at the subject. He basically believed that, as Freeman words it: “Slavery existed because God willed it and [he thought it would end] when God willed it.” He didn’t believe anyone thought slavery wasn’t evil and a disgrace to South but, again, thought God knew best and would stop it eventually. The truth was that slavery was embedded in Southern society and to cease at once would have economic and social consequences. As many of the leaders of the continental congress thought when drafting the declaration of independence and constitution, it would be best just to wait for it to die. At the end of the day these were the ideas of a man that saw the best of slavery that a person could see in the South at the time.
What should be understood about Lee, According to Freeman, was that he didn’t sign up for the purpose to defend the right of Slavery but rather because of his love and devotion to his mother state (In fact, he loathed the idea of war altogether and said he was trying to avoid it and would only enter if Virginia needed him.). As Freeman puts it:
“He was a United States officer who loved the army and had pride in the Union, but something very deep in his heart kept him mindful that he had been a Virginian before he had been a soldier.”
Freeman leaves this to speak for itself. Today, it is easy today to generalize all southerners at that time as racial bigots that wanted slavery and would die for it but, to Freeman, it was much more complex, especially in the case of Lee. Lee, as many did, saw the North as a tyrannical power much like England that wanted war and strife, and may have supposed that his army was much like Washington and that army of old, fighting for their rights and liberties. At the same time he saw many Southerners getting upset over nothing. Overall his position was just very complex in a complex time.
***
Regardless of this, the popularity and impact of this book necessitates that it should be read and studied. James Mcpherson, the acclaimed Civil war historian and author of Battle Cry of Freedom stated that: “Douglas Southall Freeman… did more to shape our image of Lee—indeed of the Civil war- than perhaps any other.”
This work should be read by anyone who wants to understand the South, and the Civil war, and the history of the South's interpretation of the Civil war. It also helps to answer the question of why Southerners hold Lee so highly. I am looking forward to reading the following volumes.
Command of an army of 75,000, perhaps 100,000 men; opportunity to apply all he had learned in Mexico; the supreme ambition of a soldier realized; the full support of the government; many of his ablest comrades working with him; rank as a major general- all this may have surged through Lee’s mind for an instant, but if so, it was only an instant. Then his Virginia background and the mental discipline of years of years asserted themselves. He had said: ‘If the Union is dissolved and the government disrupted, I shall return to my native state and share the miseries of my people and save in defence will draw my sword on no one.’ There he stood, and in that spirit, after listening to all Blair had to say, he made the fateful reply that is best given in his own simple account of the interview: ‘I declined the offer he made me to take command of the army that was to be brought into the field, stating as candidly and as courteously as I could, that though opposed to secession and deprecating war, I could take no part in a an invasion of the Southern states.’ ”
- Douglass Southwall Freeman, R.E. Lee: A Biography, Volume 1
For years many historians have said that this pivotal moment was inevitable (Freeman states the chapter as: The Answer He Was Born To Make). This was the turning point of a career. It was the decision that turned a man that many would have regarded today as great (had he accepted), to a man that is today loathed and hated. This was Lee’s pivotal moment.
***
Since the Civil war, Robert E. Lee has been a controversial figure. On one side he is considered the definition of a Southern gentleman, the savior of a cause, the essence of all American liberty. On the other hand, he is considered a worthy man fighting for an unworthy cause, at best. A racist fighting for a terrible cause, at worst.
This book was written in a time when the country still admired this man as one of the greats. Douglass Southall Freeman has been criticized as some form of a lost causer. Many have stated that these books leave you with a pro-South interpretation. He was a Journalist from the south that won a Pulitzer prize for this biography and afterwards would write an even larger biography (7 volume) on the life of Washington, as well as a military history on Lee’s campaigns entitled: Lee’s lieutenants. His father fought under Lee and he grew up around many Southern veterans that definitely helped produce his views. Regardless of this matter, up to this date, there has not been another as detailed or as well written biography on the life of Lee. It is over 2000 pages in length, broken up into 4 volumes and is not dreary in the slightest. It does not use lofty language and does not drag the reader into a depth of over detailedness. It simply follows the life of Lee so closely that you feel as if you are walking behind the man observing his every significant word or movement. Freeman presents one of the best biographies I have ever read.
This volume, Covers Lee from his birth up to his 55th year. Starting with events even before his birth beginning with a short biographical sketch of his family’s history (with a special emphasis on his father’s Henry “Light-horse” Lee life) all the way up to his ride from Charleston, South Carolina back to Richmond in 1862.
***
Lee was born in Virginia, the same state that his father Henry Lighthouse Lee was born, as well as many other Lees. He was raised mainly by his mother only due to his father’s strange combination of bad luck, bad health, and bad decisions. Turning a promising military career after the Revolutionary war to a mismanagement of funds and overwhelming debt. Despite his fathers faults, Robert and his brothers always defended their father and, instead of looking back at their father as a fool, they looked at him as a brilliant military mind that was never appreciated and got into some bad luck. Light-horse Lee would finally leave the U.S. altogether because of health problems after getting into a fight with a riot and nearly getting killed. Many modern Historians believe that he had post traumatic stress disorder.
Despite all these events, Robert would prosper where his father had failed. He would enter into West Point and would be placed among the highest of all the students. From this young age, he was known as a hard working young man of character that could have fun without disobeying rules or getting others in trouble. He would become an engineer for the army and would spend many years of his middle age helping create forts and bridges in the country. The breakthrough of his career would come during the Mexican- American war under the famous General Winfield Scott, who, due to Lee’s service in this war, had respect for Lee throughout his whole life. Freeman gives a great narrative of Scott’s campaign at Veracruz, the battle of Chapultepec, and the famous halls of Montezuma, putting emphasis on the engineering role that Lee played. This would be a defining moment in Lee's life, helping him go from a corporal engineer to a tactful General. Lee was, if not the most, one of the highest praised men, of his rank, during the Mexican-American war.
After this Lee was to serve in different capacities. He became the superintendent of West Point for 3 years in the 1850’s. This was a time where he truly started to hold the respect of the men and youngsters going into the military (Many of the men that would fight in the upcoming War with Lee or against him). He would move on to play the role he is infamous for in Harpers Ferry with John Brown. Upon secession of Virginia he retired from the military and was then called upon to lead the Confederate Army. This volume ends in April of 1862, after Lee had fortified the South Carolina coast, and was on his way back to Richmond to assume command of the Army of Northern Virginia. It describes the failed battle of Cheat Mountain, the strange and, at sometimes, hilarious exchange between General's Wise, Floyd, and Lee, and the preparations of war by Lee, in excruciating detail.
***
For all of his achievements and character in his life, there is one thing that causes the apple to go rotten for many people and that is that he fought for the Confederacy. As I said above, if he had fought for the union, it is not imprudent to say that he would have been what Grant is today. This single issue is so large that I believe it to be necessary to address it and Freeman's view on it. Why he and other men fought.
Lee grew up around D.C. in an area where slavery, while being in use, was not as inhumane as the low South slavery. Slaves were mainly used as personal family servants than left to burn up in a cotton field. Lee’s father in law even allowed his slaves to earn money. Lee was surrounded by a society was normal but still had parameters. For instance, in northern Virginia, one could not whip their slaves, a practice which was not illegal in the fields down South. Lee personally never had more than half a dozen slaves, and these were, according to Freeman, probably gifted to him by his father in law. Throughout his years up to the war, Lee had never been on a cotton field down south and experienced the nightmarish and inhumane slavery that was present there. And while this does not excuse his position, it is fundamental to understand it.
He was a gradual secessionist and, like many in Virginia, took a more religious outlook at the subject. He basically believed that, as Freeman words it: “Slavery existed because God willed it and [he thought it would end] when God willed it.” He didn’t believe anyone thought slavery wasn’t evil and a disgrace to South but, again, thought God knew best and would stop it eventually. The truth was that slavery was embedded in Southern society and to cease at once would have economic and social consequences. As many of the leaders of the continental congress thought when drafting the declaration of independence and constitution, it would be best just to wait for it to die. At the end of the day these were the ideas of a man that saw the best of slavery that a person could see in the South at the time.
What should be understood about Lee, According to Freeman, was that he didn’t sign up for the purpose to defend the right of Slavery but rather because of his love and devotion to his mother state (In fact, he loathed the idea of war altogether and said he was trying to avoid it and would only enter if Virginia needed him.). As Freeman puts it:
“He was a United States officer who loved the army and had pride in the Union, but something very deep in his heart kept him mindful that he had been a Virginian before he had been a soldier.”
Freeman leaves this to speak for itself. Today, it is easy today to generalize all southerners at that time as racial bigots that wanted slavery and would die for it but, to Freeman, it was much more complex, especially in the case of Lee. Lee, as many did, saw the North as a tyrannical power much like England that wanted war and strife, and may have supposed that his army was much like Washington and that army of old, fighting for their rights and liberties. At the same time he saw many Southerners getting upset over nothing. Overall his position was just very complex in a complex time.
***
Regardless of this, the popularity and impact of this book necessitates that it should be read and studied. James Mcpherson, the acclaimed Civil war historian and author of Battle Cry of Freedom stated that: “Douglas Southall Freeman… did more to shape our image of Lee—indeed of the Civil war- than perhaps any other.”
This work should be read by anyone who wants to understand the South, and the Civil war, and the history of the South's interpretation of the Civil war. It also helps to answer the question of why Southerners hold Lee so highly. I am looking forward to reading the following volumes.
September 9, 2021
This is, by leaps and bounds, the most thorough and well researched biography of anyone that I've ever read. It included just about everything that's publicly known about Robert E. Lee's early life... right down to an exhaustive list of library books that he borrowed! Looking forward to getting my hands on the other volumes.
June 16, 2025
For Virginia! this is in depth, as well as a bit dry.
July 8, 2022
This first volume peers into the family, bloodline, and culture in which Robert E. Lee matured. This book alone has reshaped my own views on the Civil War, the Confederacy, and Antebellum America.
January 30, 2023
Well written and informative. This volume covers his family history-what's known of it-before his birth to after the first battle of Bull Run. Whilst this book can justly be called a hagiography some of the better books that I've read were described as such. I enjoyed reading this and it has left me wanting to read more. Thankfully, there's three more volumes available. Robert E. Lee was a person of firm Christian conviction and of resolute character. Something that appears to be painfully absent if not unknown these days. Regardless of what he did he believed what he was doing was right and never waivered from doing it. The one thing I cannot understand is that with his time and experience in the U. S. Army he had to have known that it was highly unlikely that the South could possibly win the war. How could he possibly have thought that the South could have won the war? I'm no fan of this fantasy that's manifested in this annoying little saying "A lost cause is the only thing worth fighting for." But he did his job as he saw it and he considered it his duty to do so. If you like reading biographies then I doubt this will disappoint.
September 12, 2018
Douglas Southall Freeman’s Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Robert E. Lee is thorough, complete, and well researched. This volume (1 of 4) goes from his early life through the first few battles of the Civil War.
The word "thorough" does not begin to describe how detailed of an account of Lee's life is portrayed by Freeman. He reports Lee's grades and standing at West Point not one time, but at multiple points during his years at the academy. He also records every book that Lee ever checked out of the library at West Point. Although this seems to drag out the story at first, the level of detail is used be Freeman to show the interests of Lee and the war heroes that he emulated during his campaigns in the Mexican War and the Civil War.
Freeman uses the "fog of war history" so well that it makes you feel as if you are in the shoes of Lee during the early years of his life.
The word "thorough" does not begin to describe how detailed of an account of Lee's life is portrayed by Freeman. He reports Lee's grades and standing at West Point not one time, but at multiple points during his years at the academy. He also records every book that Lee ever checked out of the library at West Point. Although this seems to drag out the story at first, the level of detail is used be Freeman to show the interests of Lee and the war heroes that he emulated during his campaigns in the Mexican War and the Civil War.
Freeman uses the "fog of war history" so well that it makes you feel as if you are in the shoes of Lee during the early years of his life.
December 29, 2021
While listening to this first volume in audiobook form, I’ve been reading the abridged Kindle version of the 4-volume work which I purchased in 2010. Since it obviously doesn’t whispersync, it was a struggle to find my place in the ebook after listening to a lengthy portion of the audiobook, as the chapter numbers and titles didn’t correspond.
I made it work, though, and have decided to forego purchasing the remaining 3 volumes of the series. The abridged version fits the bill for me. I was able to compare the abridged portion of volume 1 with the unabridged audiobook and found that the details omitted in the abridgment were details that didn’t interest me (battles and such) nearly as much as specifics about Lee’s character and life.
I love Freeman’s writing style as well as Charlton Griffin’s narration.
I made it work, though, and have decided to forego purchasing the remaining 3 volumes of the series. The abridged version fits the bill for me. I was able to compare the abridged portion of volume 1 with the unabridged audiobook and found that the details omitted in the abridgment were details that didn’t interest me (battles and such) nearly as much as specifics about Lee’s character and life.
I love Freeman’s writing style as well as Charlton Griffin’s narration.
November 18, 2017
This is often praised as one of the best biographies of R. E. Lee. It certainly feels very complete. I have not learned so many details about Lee’s early life as in this first volume, and I cannot wait to start volume two.
January 22, 2019
Outstanding in all respects compared to most traditional biographies. Well researched, maybe too much detail at times. Insights provided by the author in Vol. I go a long way rounding out a rich and full perspective on Lee’s life up to the beginning of the Civil War. Love that Freeman goes so far as explaining his thoughts on strengths and weaknesses derived from Lee’s life and how those contributed to his Civil war experience. Critics say it doesn’t go far enough in addressing slavery, but I didn’t see that as the texts primary objective.
February 11, 2024
Excellent introduction to Lee. Freeman's biography of Lee is a four volume set and I'm looking forward to reading volume two later this year. This first volume follows Lee from birth up to the end of 1861.
May 2, 2020
Excellent book
February 13, 2024
Thorough, magisterial, but tedious.
January 29, 2026
If you don't love General Lee then you hate America.
September 4, 2020
Pulitzer bio/auto bio 1935. Overlaps with Freeman's bio of Washington and his Lee's Lieutenants. Currently doing a lot of research on World War 2 - it's amazing how many men of all ranks, backgrounds and regions were reading these 4 volumes. Unfortunately, in many cases, left unfinished.
February 16, 2016
Although probably this is the most authoritative biography of Lee, it was written by a "Lost Cause" perspective. So, Lee defended Virginia in the "war of Northern aggression". Oh yeah, slavery might have been involved, but the North started it.
One shouldn't read this to understand the causes of the Civil War, but more to learn military logistics and strategy. After all, the style Freeman takes enables one to understand the problems as Lee faced them, with the "fog of war" and all.
This book ends in 1861, and focuses more detail and attention on Lee's career in the Civil War...but it begins several generations prior, quickly skimming Lee's genealogy.
All in all, an entertaining read.
One shouldn't read this to understand the causes of the Civil War, but more to learn military logistics and strategy. After all, the style Freeman takes enables one to understand the problems as Lee faced them, with the "fog of war" and all.
This book ends in 1861, and focuses more detail and attention on Lee's career in the Civil War...but it begins several generations prior, quickly skimming Lee's genealogy.
All in all, an entertaining read.
January 27, 2013
Superb, understand the Pulitzer Prize of this series (or just this vol?). Enjoyed, rather than bothered, by the series of lists that Freeman presents within the text, such as books Lee checked out while at West Point, ancestry, etc. Definitely parts of this book were "throwback" and showed this work in the time of its' writing (the 20's or 30's), but this made me enjoy the work even more, because you feel like Freeman isn't just trying to be thorough or long in tooth, but wants to share some of the interesting points that seeing a collective list, especially one over timeframes, can only convey.
November 17, 2020
Unfortunately I cannot recommend this work. Freeman respects Lee too much to analyze him; he simply states facts. The prose seems to have been dumbed down for the general reading public and is somewhere close to junior-high school level. Well, it must have worked, for it won Freeman a Pulitzer Prize. But Freeman can write more intelligently than this. (See the three volumes of Lee's Lieutenants for his masterpiece).
February 12, 2014
I read the full 4 volumes and they are the definitive biography of Robert E. Lee. From his ancestors until his death, this book covers it all. Most of the work focuses on his participation in the Civil War, and Freeman has been to all the battlefields and has conferred with American and European military officers to help accurately describe just what happened. I can't recommend this highly enough for Civil War or military buffs.
February 22, 2011
So far, this is a very thoroughly researched biography, well written and interesting. While the author obviously has a favorable view of Lee, I don't believe he is guilty of hero worship and his analysis of Lee's early failure in Western Virginia is balanced and objective. Will be moving on to the next volume immediately.
December 8, 2013
Good heavens. This brings back memories of my youth. This and Lee's Lieutenants were the first books that I purchased. Well done but Freeman's excuses for Lee did not let me see how conventional was his approach to slavery and the mistakes he made at Gettysburg. So I put this at 3 stars simply because of my personal experience.
January 17, 2011
Excelent book, I an not say enough good about it. Well researched and written!
November 15, 2022
Written in the 1930's. I found it very detailed. Vol #1 of 4 vol set.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews