When the
American Civil War broke out in 1861, his father and his two older brothers,
Custis and
Rooney, all chose to serve
Virginia in the
Confederate Army. To his mother's dismay, Rob joined them in 1862, enlisting in the
Rockbridge Artillery as a private. During the
Battle of Sharpsburg in September 1862, young Robert watched his father ride up to his artillery battery, which had already been heavily engaged. Junior stood by expecting to hear a few words of affection from his father, but Lee did not recognize his own son, hidden by the grime of black powder on his face. When Junior finally spoke up to ask if they would be thrown back into the fight, the general recognized him by his voice. "Yes, my son. You must do what you can to drive those people back," Lee said. After the
Maryland Campaign, he was promoted to lieutenant and assigned as an aide to his older brother General
William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, rising to the rank of captain before the end of the war. (c. 1845) "He frightened the family near the end of the war by disappearing for nearly a month after his horse was wounded on the retreat from Petersburg. By the time he had found another, the Federals were between him and his father's army. He turned south and was in the room in Greensboro, North Carolina, when Jefferson Davis got confirmation that the elder Lee had surrendered at Appomattox." ==Postbellum career==