Stephen Dill Lee

1833 - 1908

Stephen Dill Lee, the youngest Lieutenant General of the Confederacy, was born in Charleston, South Carolina, September 22, 1833. He was graduated from West Point in 1854. Resigning his commission on February 20, 1861, he entered Confederate service as captain and aide-de-camp to General Beauregard.

By profession an artillerist, he served in the artillery through all the Virginia campaigns until Sharpsburg, and was meantime promoted through grades to Colonel. On November 6, 1862, he was appointed Brigadier General and was assigned to the command of General Pemberton’s artillery at Vicksburg. He was exchanged after the capitulation of the place in July 1863, and was promoted Major General on August 3. He was then placed in command of the cavalry in the Department of Mississippi, Alabama, West Tennessee, and East Louisiana.

Appointed to Lieutenant General, to rank from June 23, 1864, he assumed command of Hood’s old corps of the Army of Tennessee, which he led during the Tennessee campaign and in the closing days, until the surrender of General Joseph F. Johnston in North Carolina.

After the war General Lee resided in Mississippi, where he was farmer, state senator, and the first president of Mississippi State College. He was also a leading figure in the United Confederate Veterans, whose organization he headed as commander-in-chief from 1904 until his death at Vicksburg, May 28, 1908.

Despite his youth and comparative lack of experience, Lee’s prior close acquaintanceship with all three branches of the service --- artillery, cavalry, and infantry --- rendered him one of the most capable corps commanders in the army. He is buried in Columbus, Mississippi.