[Sculpture] An officer in the U. S. Army, Robert E. Lee initially disapproved of the Southern states' secession. But when his native Virginia left the Union in April 1861, he concluded that his primary allegiance was to his state.

As commander of the Army of Northern Virginia from May 1862 until the war's end, Lee demonstrated an extraordinary capacity for drawing the best from his soldiers. Moreover, his strategic brilliance was unrivaled. Edward Valentine completed this bust of the general less than four months before his death

Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery
Sculpture of Robert E. Lee (1807-1870), 1870, by Edward Valentine (1838-1930), bronze

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