Portrait of Gen. Robert E. Lee, officer of the Confederate Army.

After surrendering at Appomattox, Lee continued to set the example for his troops by applying for official amnesty and renewed citizenship in the United States. The government never granted his request during his lifetime. President Gerald Ford restored his full citizenshop on August 5, 1975.

Arlington House, Lee's wife's family home, was confiscated during the war for the lack of tax payments. Lee's son filed suit for its return and was successful in 1892. By then Arlington Cemetery was well established on the site and the suit was settled for $150,000.

A few months after this photograph was taken, Lee became president of Washington College, now known as Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, VA. About five years later, on Sept. 28, 1870, Lee was walking home from his office and probably suffered a stroke. He died two weeks later and was buried beneath the chapel on the college campus.

Created/Published : 1863

Creator : Julian Vannerson, b. 1827, photographer

Note : sepia tint added; original photo not in sepia

Housed in the Prints & Photographs Division of the Library of Congress

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Product #: geroelee