Edwin Gray Lee

From Dixiepedia: The PC-Free Encyclopedia

Edwin Gray Lee (27 May 1836 - 24 August 1870) was born in Jefferson County, Virginia.

At the start of the War Between the States, Lee was Second Lieutenant in Company B, 2nd Virginia Infantry, which soon became part of the Stonewall Brigade. Lee served as an aide to Col. Thomas Jonathan Jackson during June and July 1861. Following the Battle of First Manassas, he was promoted to Major of the 33rd Virginia Infantry. He was elected Lieutenant Colonel on 22 April 1862. He served with his regiment during Jackson's Valley Campaign of 1862, the Seven Days battles, at Second Manassas and Cedar Mountain.

He rejoined his Regiment at Fredericksburg on 13 December 1862, but his health forced him to resign shortly after the battle. In 1863, his health improved, he returned to active duty, and was appointed Colonel on 12 November 1863 on the staff of Gen. Robert Ransom Jr. in the Richmond defenses. He subsequently recruited troops and fought in defence of the Shenandoah Valley.

He was promoted to Brigadier General on 23 September 1864 and then served with General Rosser in the cavalry in the Valley. In November 1864 he took sick leave, and in December he and his wife Susan, the daughter of Gen. William N. Pendleton, ran the blockade to Canada on a secret service mission. They remained in Montreal until the spring of 1866 before returning to Virginia.