American Historical Ephemera & Photography

5 x 8 in. glass plate featuring negative image of Fitzhugh Lee (image portion with significant scratching and some fading, and with soiling and wear to edges of glass plate). Period ink paper tag attached to plate reads "Maj. Genl. Fitz Lee." Identification scratched into emulsion reads "Genl Fitz Lee." The general is pictured seated, wearing a brigadier general's frock coat. The portrait featured here appears to match that of a cabinet card credited to Richmond photographer Geo. S. Cook, though no attribution can be confirmed for this image.

Grandson of "Light Horse Harry" Lee and nephew of Robert E. Lee, Fitzhugh Lee attended West Point during his uncle’s tenure as superintendent and graduated in 1856. He was assigned to the 2nd Cavalry under Albert Sidney Johnston, where he distinguished himself fighting against the Comanche in Texas.

In May 1860, he was appointed instructor of cavalry tactics at West Point but resigned his commission when Virginia seceded. He joined the Confederate army as a lieutenant and was promoted many times over, achieving the rank of brigadier general in July of 1862, and major general in 1863. Lee fought at many important battles of the Eastern Theater, including Sharpsburg, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Petersburg. After the war, he was elected governor of Virginia, serving from 1885-1889, and was later appointed consul-general at Havana by President Grover Cleveland. Upon the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, Lee joined the US Army as a major general and was given command of the VII Corps. He retired from the military in 1901 and died in Washington, DC in April of 1905.