Robert E. Lee With Son William Henry Fitzhugh Lee (c. 1845)
While he served as the Confederacy’s commander in chief during the Civil War, Robert E. Lee (1807 – 1870) is regarded by history as a man of integrity, gaining wide esteem throughout his lifetime. While Lee did not join the secessionists, he remained devoted to protecting Virginia after it left the Union. Lee’s biographer, Roy Blount Jr., criticizes him as a slave owner. Michael Miley took this daguerreotype of Lee in 1845. He is shown here with his second son, William Henry Fitzhugh “Rooney” Lee.
President Abraham Lincoln (c. 1846)
Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865) served as the President of the United States during the nation’s most turbulent time. He is credited with transforming America into the proud and free nation that it is today. He was the force behind the explosive end of apartheid, tumultuous separation and discrimination to the Black race. Abraham Lincoln was 37 and a frontier lawyer in Springfield and a Congressman-elect from Illinois when this daguerreotype was taken, according to the Library of Congress.