Anne Hill Carter Lee

Anne Hill Carter Lee (March 26, 1773 – June 26, 1829) was the First Lady of Virginia from 1791 to 1794 as the wife of the ninth governor, Henry Lee III. She was the mother of the general-in-chief of the Confederate States of America, Robert E. Lee. As a separated wife and then as a widow, she was the head of her household at Lee Corner, Alexandria, Virginia, which is now known as the Robert E. Lee Boyhood Home. Her chronic pain and straitened circumstances play a significant role in her son Robert's biography.

Early life Anne was born at the family seat, Shirley Plantation in Charles City County, on March 26, 1773. A member of the planter class, she was born into a patrician family of tidewater Virginia and was the daughter of Charles Carter (1732–1806), the fifth-generation owner of Shirley Plantation, and Anne Butler (née Moore) Carter (1750–1809).

Through her grandfather, John Carter (1696–1742), she was the great-granddaughter of Robert "King" Carter, the 25th Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1696 to 1697 and the Colonial Governor of Virginia from 1726 to 1727.

Marriage On June 18, 1793, she married the 9th Governor of Virginia, the widower Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee (1756–1818), in the mansion's parlor. After Lee retired from the governorship in December 1794, she followed him to his Lee family holdings in northern Virginia. Six children were born to this marriage:

Algernon Sidney Lee (1795–1796), who died in infancy at Sully Plantation, buried there in an unmarked grave. Charles Carter Lee (1798–1871), who married Lucy Penn Taylor (1827–1913). Catharine Mildred Lee (1811–1856), who married Edward Vernon Childe (1804–1861). Lee emigrated to the South Atlantic coast and the Caribbean in a series of futile attempts to find a place to recuperate from his injuries. He died on the Georgia coast on 25 March 1818, leaving Anne Carter Lee a middle-class widow.

Descendants Through her son Sydney, she was the grandmother of Confederate Major General Fitzhugh Lee (1835–1905), who later became Governor of Virginia (from 1886 to 1890), diplomat and writer; and served as Major General of U.S. Volunteers during the Spanish–American War, as well as least four more grandsons who served in the Confederate States Army or Navy.

Through her son Robert, she was the grandmother of seven, including George Washington Custis Lee (1832–1913), who served as Major General in the Confederate Army and aide-de-camp to President Jefferson Davis, who died unmarried; Mary Custis Lee (1835–1918), who died unmarried; William Henry Fitzhugh Lee (1837–1891), who served as Major General in the Confederate Army who married twice; Anne Carter Lee (1839–1862), who died unmarried of typhoid fever; Eleanor Agnes Lee (1841–1873), who died unmarried of tuberculosis; Robert Edward Lee, Jr. (1843–1914), who served as Captain of the Rockbridge Artillery and who married twice; and Mildred Childe Lee (1846–1905), who died unmarried.