Stephen D. Lee

Stephen Dill Lee (September 22, 1833 – May 28, 1908) was an American officer in the Confederate Army, politician, and first president of Mississippi State University from 1880 to 1899. He served as lieutenant general of the Confederate States Army in the Eastern and Western theaters of the American Civil War. Early life and education Stephen Dill Lee was born in Charleston, South Carolina on September 22, 1833, the son of Thomas Lee and his wife Caroline Allison. Lee was raised in Abbeville, South Carolina. He possibly volunteered for service with the United States Army during the Mexican–American War. Lee entered the United States Military Academy in 1850, graduating four years later the 17th out of 46 cadets. On July 1, 1854, Lee was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 4th Infantry Regiment. Lee was promoted to first lieutenant on October 31, 1856. He served as the regiment's quartermaster from September 18, 1857, to February 8, 1861. He was an adjutant of Florida as well as his regiment's quartermaster in 1857 during the Seminole Wars. From 1858 to 1861, he was assigned to the western frontier, posted in the Kansas Territory and then in the newly created Dakota Territory. Lee then resigned his U.S. Army commission twelve days later to join the Confederate States Army. American Civil War After resigning from the U.S. Army in 1861, Lee joined the Union Army before going undercover in the Confederate forces as a captain in the South Carolina militia.