Bust view of “Rooney” Lee. He wears a double-breasted frock with rank insignia visible on collar. Contrast and clarity are very good. Photographer’s backmark, E. & H.T. Anthony, New York.

William Henry Fitzhugh Lee (May 31, 1837 – October 15, 1891), known as Rooney Lee or W. H. F. Lee, was the second son of General Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis. He was a planter, a Confederate cavalry General in the American Civil War, and later a Democratic congressman from Virginia.

In the Civil War, Lee initially served as a cavalry commander for Brig. Gen. William Loring in the mountains of western Virginia during his father's Western Virginia Campaign. Lee was later assigned to Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart. At the Battle of South Mountain, Lee was knocked unconscious after a horse fell from under him, and was unable to participate in the Battle of Antietam. He temporarily commanded Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry brigade in Stuart's Chambersburg Raid; earning him promotion to Brigadier General. He commanded a brigade at the Battle of Fredericksburg and during the Battle of Chancellorsville, he was detached to defend against Stoneman's 1863 Raid. At Brandy Station, Lee was shot in the thigh. He was captured while recovering and was sent to Fort Monroe for several months, before being shipped to New York, where he was held until returned to the Confederate Army on February 25, 1864, in exchange for Union Brig. Gen. Neal S. Dow.

In April 1864, Lee was promoted to major general and commanded a division in the Cavalry Corps during the battles of The Wilderness; Todd's Tavern; Spotsylvania Court House; and North Anna in the Overland Campaign. With the death of Jeb Stuart, Rooney Lee's role increased. Lee's cavalry division patrolled the extreme right of the Confederate lines during the Siege of Petersburg. He surrendered along with his father at Appomattox Court House.

In 1875 Rooney was elected to the Virginia Senate, serving until 1878. He was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives in 1887. He served in the House until his death at Ravensworth in 1891. He is interred in the Lee Chapel at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, with his parents and siblings.   [jet] [ph:L]

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