Robert E. Lee was born in Virginia and graduated second in his class from West Point. He served in the U.S. Army and fought in the Mexican War before becoming superintendent of West Point. In 1859, he led U.S. troops to end John Brown's raid at Harpers Ferry. When the Civil War began, Lee joined the Confederate Army after turning down command of the U.S. forces. He desperately tried to keep Western Virginia in Southern hands, personally leading disastrous campaigns in Randolph County and Fayette County in 1861. Despite major criticisms of Lee by Southern newspapers, he stayed on and, in 1862, became leader of the Confederate's largest force: the Army of Northern Virginia. Historians now recognize him as one of the greatest military leaders ever. Throughout most of the war, he rode a horse named Traveller, which came from Greenbrier County.