Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee was born on January 19th, 1807 in Stratford, Virginia. Robert's father was thrown in debtors jail many times for not paying on time. He was introduced to war early in his life; his brother Sydney had shown him a cannon ball and told him about the revolution. Mrs. Lee's stepson was old enough to claim the mansion where they lived that his dead mother had gave to him in his will. The Lee's left to live in Alexandria. Lee was brought up in a Christian family. When Lee was 18, he went to West Point. There were only 6,000 other men in the entire army. Later that year, Lee said goodbye to his moth