Robert E. Lee was a general in the Civil War for the Confederate army. He fought and won many battles and was an officer in the American army for 32 years. Since he was a Confederate general, he was fighting to keep slavery, but he did not entirely believe in slavery. Instead, Lee thought that slaves were better off here than in Africa. He was in the battles of Cheat Mountain, Seven Days, Second Manassas, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Appommattox. During the beginning of the Civil War, Robert E. Lee was not too popular, for he had lost a few battles and some soldiers. Around the midpoint of the war, southerners started to like Lee since he had started winning more battles. During the Battle of the Wilderness, one of Lee's most famous battles, the Confederates had around 7,000 less casualties than the Union, even though he had less troops. But when Lee had decided to attack Gettysburg was when the Confederates had started going downhill. They had around 28,000 casualties and Lee was forced to retreat, never to go on the offensive again. Lee and his men were exhausted from the battle, and the Confederates had started to lose hope. Robert E. Lee would not give up, though. He fought until the end. At the battle of Appomattox, General Ulysses S. Grant overwhelmed Lee and forced him to surrender. Lee and his troops were given rations but were forced to go back home and to never oppose the Union again. With that, the Confederates and Robert E. Lee had lost the Civil War. Although Lee was not punished and was allowed home, he had lost some things. His former home was seized by the Union during the war, so it was gone. He had also lost the right to vote along with all of the other Confederates. Eventually, Lee would write to other former Confederates and complain about the North, so even though they had lost the war, there was still unrest within the South.