Фитцхью Ли: Американ генерал және саясаткері

American general and politician; 40th Governor of Virginia (1835–1905)

Fitzhugh Lee (November 19, 1835 – April 28, 1905) was a Confederate cavalry general in the American Civil War, the 40th Governor of Virginia, diplomat, and United States Army general in the Spanish–American War. He was the son of Sydney Smith Lee, a captain in the Confederate States Navy, and the nephew of Robert E. Lee.

Lee was born on November 19, 1835, at Clermont in Fairfax County, Virginia. He was the grandson of "Light Horse Harry" Lee, a nephew of Robert E. Lee and Samuel Cooper, and cousin of George Washington Custis Lee, W. H. F. "Rooney" Lee, and Robert E. Lee, Jr. His father, Sydney Smith Lee, served under Commodore Perry in Japanese waters and rose to the rank of Captain; his mother, Anna Maria Mason Lee, was a granddaughter of George Mason and the sister of James Murray Mason. Lee attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he graduated in 1856, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 2nd Cavalry Regiment (later redesignated the 5th Cavalry Regiment), which was commanded by Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston, and in which his uncle, Robert E. Lee, was lieutenant colonel. As a cavalry subaltern, he distinguished himself by his gallant conduct in actions against the Comanches in Texas and was severely wounded in a fight in Nescutunga, Texas, in May 1859. In May 1860, he was appointed instructor of cavalry tactics at the U. S. Military Academy, but resigned his commission after Virginia declared secession and alliance with the Confederacy at the beginning of the American Civil War. During the withdrawal from Gettysburg, Lee's brigade held the fords at Shepherdstown to prevent the U. S. Army from following across the Potomac River. Lee was promoted to major general on August 3, 1863, in Charles City County and Fort Powhatan in Prince George County. After Stuart's death, Lee served under Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton. Hampton, who had been Lee's peer for much of the war, was promoted to replace Stuart due to his seniority and more significant experience; some observers at the time had cynically expected Robert E. Lee's nephew to receive the command. At the Battle of Trevilian Station, Hampton's cavalry prevented Gen. Sheridan's cavalry from aiding General David Hunter's force in western Virginia, where it was sure to have inflicted significant damage on General Robert E. Lee's supply and communication lines. The battle also served to screen Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early's move from Richmond to aid Lynchburg, which Hunter was set to besiege. Hampton's cavalry corps shadowed Sheridan's return to Petersburg. Fitzhugh Lee subsequently joined Early for his campaign against Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, and at Third Winchester (September 19, 1864) three horses were shot under him, and he was severely wounded. When General Hampton was sent to assist General Joseph E. Johnston in North Carolina, the command of the whole of Robert E. Lee's cavalry devolved upon Fitzhugh Lee on March 29, 1865, but the surrender at Appomattox followed quickly upon the opening of the campaign. Fitzhugh Lee himself led the last charge of the Confederates on April 9 that year at Farmville, Virginia.

After the end of the Civil War, Fitzhugh Lee devoted himself to farming in Stafford County, Virginia, and was conspicuous in his efforts to reconcile the Southern people to the issue of the war, which he regarded as a final settlement of the questions at issue. In 1875, he attended the Battle of Bunker Hill centennial at Boston and delivered an address. In 1885, he was a member of the board of visitors of West Point, and from 1886 to 1890 was governor of Virginia having defeated in 1885 Republican John Sergeant Wise with 52.77% of the vote. Lee commanded the third division at President Grover Cleveland's inaugural parades in 1885 and 1893.

In April 1896, Lee was appointed consul general at Havana by President Cleveland, with duties of a diplomatic and military character added to the usual consular business. In this post, in which he was retained by President William McKinley until 1898, he was the first called upon to deal with a situation of great difficulty, which culminated with the destruction of the warship Maine. When war was declared between Spain and the United States, he re entered the United States Army. He was one of four ex Confederate Army general officers who were made major generals of United States Volunteers; the others being Matthew Butler, Joseph Wheeler, and Thomas L. Rosser. Fitzhugh Lee commanded the 7th Army Corps but took no part in the actual operations in Cuba. He was military governor of Havana and Pinar del Río in 1899, subsequently commanded the Department of the Missouri, and retired in 1901 as a brigadier general, U. S. Army. Lee was an early leader of the committee for the Jamestown Exposition, which was held after his death at Sewell's Point on Hampton Roads in 1907. Lee wrote the article about Robert E. Lee in the Great Commanders series (1894), General Lee, a wartime biography (1894), and Cuba's Struggle Against Spain (1899).

Lee died in Washington, D. C., and is buried in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond.

He was indicted for treason but the indictment was withdrawn in February 1869. Lee then received a pardon. The Seventh Army Corps Association and Auxiliary dedicated a monument to Lee's service to the 7th Army Corps from 1898 to 1899, placing it in Monroe Park, Richmond, Virginia; the City of Richmond removed the monument on July 9, 2020, by the city, in recognition of Lee's participation in the Confederacy.