Robert E. Lee Also Honored on King Day

Robert E. Lee Day is a holiday marking the birth date of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, observed on the 19th of January each year, on Lee's birthday. Because of the fact he was a Confederate General it is mainly celebrated in the U.S. South, particularly in Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi.

Due to its time of year, it is sometimes associated with Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and like King, Lee also has a street named after him in Little Rock, Arkansas.

From Wikipedia:

Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 - October 12, 1870) was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War.

The son of Revolutionary War officer Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee III and a top graduate of the United States Military Academy, Robert E. Lee distinguished himself as an exceptional officer and combat engineer in the United States Army for 32 years. During this time, he served throughout the United States, distinguished himself during the Mexican-American War, served as Superintendent of the United States Military Academy, and married Mary Custis.

When Virginia declared its secession from the Union in April 1861, Lee chose to follow his home state, despite his personal desire for the Union to stay intact and despite the fact that President Abraham Lincoln had offered Lee command of the Union Army.

After the war, as President of what is now Washington and Lee University, Lee supported President Andrew Johnson's program of Reconstruction and intersectional friendship, while opposing the Radical Republican proposals to give freed slaves the vote and take the vote away from ex-Confederates. He urged them to rethink their position between the North and the South, and the reintegration of former Confederates into the nation's political life. Lee became the great Southern hero of the War, a postwar icon of the "Lost Cause of the Confederacy" to some. But his popularity grew even in the North, especially after his death in 1870. He remains an iconic figure of American military leadership.