General Robert E. Lee played an important role in the outcome of the war. Robert E. Lee was the heart and soul of the Confederate army. He was a part of almost all of the major battles of the civil war, from Bull Run to Gettysburg. Lee was the general that invaded the union and fought his way through until Sharpsburg, Maryland, where the Battle of Antietam took place. Nearly six thousand soldiers were killed and seventeen thousand wounded. In December of 1862, Lee's seventy five thousand soldiers took on General Burnsides one hundred ten thousand soldiers near Fredericksburg, Virginia. Lee soundly defeated the Union General. In 1863 union general Joseph Hooker fought General Lee. Of course Lee was outnumbered, but Lee still came out victorious. In that battle the Confederates lost General Stonewall Jackson, but the north lost around seventeen thousand men.

On July 1, 2, and 3 of 1863, the great battle of Gettysburg took place. Probably the most famous battle of the war, Lee was looking for a push on to Washington, D.C. but they only got a tremendous loss. He had a staggering twenty thousand casualties.

After the war General Lee was seen as treasonous. He was tried for treason, and he had his civil rights suspended. Many saw him as a hero, and an enemy by just as many. In the end he was seen as one of the most determined, and most brilliant of all of the generals of our country. General Robert E. Lee could be seen as the most important general of the Civil War.