Early Life
Lee was born at Clermont in Fairfax County, Virginia. He was the grandson of "Light Horse Harry" Lee, a nephew of Robert E. Lee and Samuel Cooper, and cousin of George Washington Custis Lee, W.H.F. "Rooney" Lee, and Robert E. Lee, Jr. His father, Sydney Smith Lee, was a fleet captain under Commodore Perry in Japanese waters and rose to the rank of Commodore; his mother, Anna Maria Mason Lee, was a granddaughter of George Mason and the sister of James Murray Mason.
Graduating from the United States Military Academy in 1856, Lee was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 2nd Cavalry Regiment (later redesignated the 5th Cavalry Regiment), which was commanded by Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston, and in which his uncle, Robert E. Lee, was lieutenant colonel. As a cavalry subaltern, he distinguished himself by his gallant conduct in actions against the Comanches in Texas, and was severely wounded in a fight in Nescutunga, Texas, in 1859. In May 1860, he was appointed instructor of cavalry tactics at West Point, but resigned his commission upon the secession of Virginia.
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