Robert E. Lee

:For the author of Inherit the Wind and other works, see Robert Edwin Lee.

Trivia

• A story in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations and his definitive biography (R. E. Lee by Douglas S. Freeman) had Lee uttering his last words on October 12, 1870, shortly before his death. He reputedly said "Tell Hill he must come up. Strike the Tent." It is doubtful that Lee said this or anything else after his stroke on September 28.
• The birth of Robert E. Lee is celebrated in the state of Virginia as part of Lee-Jackson Day and as a state holiday in Mississippi, celebrated in conjunction with Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday.
• Traveller, Lee's favorite horse, accompanied Lee to Washington College after the war. He lost many hairs from his tail to admirers who wanted a souvenir of the famous horse and his general. In 1870, when Lee died, Traveller was led behind the General's hearse. Not long after Lee's death, Traveller stepped on a rusty nail and developed lockjaw. There was no cure, and he was euthanized to relieve his suffering. He was buried next to the Lee Chapel at Washington and Lee University. In 1907 his remains were disinterred and displayed at the Chapel, before being reburied outside the Lee Chapel in 1971.
• The General Lee, the souped-up 1969 Dodge Charger used in the television program The Dukes of Hazzard was named after Robert E. Lee.
• Despite his presidential pardon by Gerald Ford, Lee's portrayal on a mural on Richmond's Flood Wall on the James River was offensive to some, including some African Americans, and was removed in the 1990s in the interest of racial harmony.
• Robert E. Lee was 5' 11" tall and wore a size 4-1/2 boot, equivalent to a modern 6-1/2 boot.
• In the movie Gods and Generals, Lee was played by actor Robert Duvall, who is descended from Lee.