Tribune Jany 20 - 56 Lost Cause Commander There were few greater, yet more modest, Americans than Robert E. Lee. An obscure Army engineer officer of whose capacities the world knew little, he was 54 years old when the Civil War began. The aging Gen. Winfield Scott recommended him for command of the Union Army, which post was offered him. But torn between his loyalty to the United States and his native state of Virginia he declined and resigned his U.S. Army commission. Lee, who was descendent of five generations of Lees of Virginia and married to a granddaughter of Martha Washington, freed his own slaves, but could not bring himself to abandon the state which he loved. He returned to his home in Virginia as a private citizen. He later accepted a command in the forces of Virginia and served with distinction on the Confederate side throughout the war. Although the commander of a losing army and a lost cause, he is still rated one of the greatest of generals. After defeat he spurned many offers for which he felt he was unsuited, refusing to profit on the wide popularity he enjoyed throughout the South and even in the North. He finally accepted the presidency of a tiny college at Lexington, Va., at a salary of $1,500 a year, helping to develop it into an illustrious institution which today bears his name coupled with that of the nation’s founding father, Washington and Lee. It is fitting that the 150th anniversary of Robert E. Lee’s birth, Jan. 19, 1807, be remembered throughout America. For as the wounds of the great civil conflict slowly heal, Robert E. Lee has become an honored and respected citizen, soldier and educator of the entire nation.