This is an original boudoir card of this famous US Army General in Cuba during the Span Am War in the 1890s.

General:

Former Confederate Major-General Fitzhugh Lee was the consul-general of the United States to Havana, Cuba at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War. During the war he commanded the VII Army Corps.

Biography:

The son of a U.S. (and later Confederate) naval officer, Lee was born in Virginia in 1835. He attended the West Point Military Academy from 1852-1856, flirting with expulsion for pranks before graduating 45 out of a class of 49.

Following graduation, Lee served as a cavalry officer in Texas for two and a half years before being appointed an assistant instructor of tactics at West Point in late 1860. While in Texas, Lee saw his first combat in battles against Indians. He was seriously wounded in a skirmish on May 19, 1859.

Lee's tenure as an instructor at his alma mater would last only 6 months. Like many Southern officers (including Lee's famous uncle, Robert E. Lee) he resigned his commission in May, 1861 and was named a first lieutenant in the regular Confederate army shortly after.

Promotion in the Confederate army was fast for young Lee (far faster than it would have been in a peacetime US Army!); he rose to lieutenant-colonel in August, then to brigadier-general the following July. His highest rank, major-general, would be attained in September, 1863; after achieving his greatest notoriety in the Battle of Chancellorsville where, leading the only full brigade of Confederate cavalry, he guarded the Confederate's flanking march around Union General Hooker's exposed right wing.

Lee saw much more action throughout the war. In September, 1864 he was wounded again and out of action for four months. By the time of his return, however, the Southern fate was all but certain. Lee surrendered on April 11, 1865.

Following a short stint as a Union prisoner, Lee turned his efforts to farming, taking pride in his success in the endeavor. In addition to farming Lee wrote several books in this period. He also began improving his political skills. Lacking any boastfulness and quick-witted, with an excellent sense of humor, the above-average soldier was an even better politician. The unusual mix of abilities would serve him well.

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