The Lee Mausoleum

Edward Valentine's life-sized marble statue, Recumbent Lee, can be seen behind the parted curtains in this photograph of the Lee Mausoleum, located in Lee Chapel on the grounds of Washington and Lee University (formerly Washington College) in Lexington. Confederate general Robert E. Lee served as president of the college after the Civil War, and following his death in 1870 he was interred in a vault in the chapel basement. Within months, the Lee Memorial Association commissioned Valentine to create a statue memorializing the dead Confederate leader. However, fund-raising for the Lee Mausoleum, where Lee's remains would be moved, required a number of years. The mausoleum and Valentine's white marble statue were dedicated on June 28, 1883.