Preceded by John S. Barbour, Jr. Name William Fitzhugh Alma mater Harvard University | Political party Democratic Succeeded by Elisha E. Meredith Children George Bolling Lee | |
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Born May 31, 1837
Arlington House, Virginia ( 1837-05-31 ) Allegiance United States
Confederate States Service/branch United States Army
Confederate States Army Role Former Virginia State Senator Died October 15, 1891, Alexandria, Virginia, United States Siblings George Washington Custis Lee, Robert E. Lee, Jr. Parents Mary Anna Custis Lee, Robert E. Lee Spouse Mary Bolling (m. 1867), Charlotte Wickham (m. 1859) Similar People Robert E Lee, George Washington Custis Lee, Robert E Lee - Jr, Mary Anna Custis Lee, Mary Lee Fitzhugh Custis | ||
William Henry Fitzhugh Lee (May 31, 1837 – October 15, 1891), known as Rooney Lee (often spelled "Roony" among friends and family) or W.H.F. Lee, was the second son of General Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Randolph Custis. He was a planter, a Confederate cavalry General in the American Civil War, and later a Congressman from Virginia.
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Early life
Lee was born at Arlington House in Arlington, Virginia, and named for William Henry Fitzhugh, his mother's uncle. At an early age, his father began to call him Rooney; what prompted him to use this nickname is not known, but it stuck as a way to differentiate him from his cousin Fitzhugh Lee.
Rooney Lee attended Harvard University, where he befriended Henry Adams, who wrote about his relationship with Lee in chapter four of his autobiography, The Education of Henry Adams.
Lee followed in his father's footsteps after graduation, entering the United States Army in 1857 as a second lieutenant. He served with the 6th U.S. Infantry under Albert Sidney Johnston, and participated in the Utah War against the Mormons. In 1859, he resigned from the U.S. Army to operate his White House Plantation, on the south shore of the Pamunkey River, in New Kent County, Virginia.
Civil War
With the outbreak of the Civil War, Lee was commissioned as a captain in the Confederate Army cavalry and was soon promoted to major. He initially served in western Virginia under the command of Brig. Gen. William Loring during 1861 and early 1862. He was assigned to the command of Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, where he was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and later as colonel of the 9th Virginia Cavalry.
After the Battle of South Mountain, Lee was promoted to brigadier general. He fought at Antietam under the command of Brig. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, his cousin. He commanded the 3rd Brigade of Stuart's Cavalry Division at the Battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. He was wounded during combat at Brandy Station at the beginning of the Gettysburg Campaign and was captured by Union forces at Hickory Hill, Virginia, two weeks later, while recuperating.
He was shipped to New York State, where he was held as a prisoner of war until returned to the Confederate Army on February 25, 1864, in exchange for Union Brig. Gen. Neal S. Dow. In April, Lee was promoted to major general and commanded a division in the Cavalry Corps during the breakout from Petersburg and the retreat of his father's army in the Appomattox Campaign.
By the end of the war, Rooney Lee had risen to second-in-command of the Confederate cavalry. He surrendered along with his father at Appomattox Court House.
Postbellum career
Lee returned to White House Plantation and planting after the war. Nearby, his younger brother Rob lived at Romancoke Plantation across the river in King William County.
After their mother died in 1873, Rooney inherited Ravensworth Plantation, the old Fitzhugh family property (near present-day Springfield) in Fairfax County with 563 acres (2.28 km2) of land. He moved there with his family from White House.
In 1875 Rooney was elected to the Virginia Senate, serving until 1878. He was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives in 1887. He served in the House until his death at Ravensworth in 1891. He is interred in the Lee Chapel at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, with his parents and siblings.
Marriage and family
Lee married twice, first in 1859 to Charlotte Georgiana Wickham, daughter of George and Charlotte Carter Wickham and a descendant of the attorney John Wickham and his wife. They had two children, Robert Edward Lee, born March 11, 1860 and died June 30, 1862 and Charlotte Carter Lee, born October 19, 1862 and died December 6, 1862. Charlotte Carter Wickham Lee died December 26, 1863.
On November 28, 1867, he married Mary Tabb Bolling. They had two sons, who both lived to adulthood: Robert Edward Lee III, born February 11, 1869 at Petersburg, and George Bolling Lee, born August 30, 1872 at Lexington.
Lee's mother, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, was the only surviving child of George Washington Parke Custis and Mary Lee Fitzhugh. George was the grandson of Martha Dandridge and step-grandson of President George Washington. Rooney was also a descendant of Charles II of England through Lady Charlotte Lee, granddaughter of Barbara Villiers, who married the 4th Baron Baltimore, and possibly, a descendant of George I, through Benedict Swingate Calvert, the illegitimate son of 5th Baron Baltimore and whose mother was supposed to be Melusina von der Schulenburg, illegitimate daughter of the King.