He Turned Down Many Lucrative Business Offers After The War Ended

Before the war's end, Union soldiers had taken control of the Lees' Arlington mansion; following Appomattox, he returned to a humble home in Richmond that he had rented for his wife and family. Lee sought a means to make a living and give back to society because his legal situation was unclear and he had significantly less money. Ernest B. Furguson notes that Lee declined all opportunities to make a name for himself, including those to lead the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, lead the Romanian army, serve as governor of Virginia, write his memoirs—or simply sign those written by someone else, lead insurance companies, and move into an English manor house with a yearly stipend.

The presidency of Washington College in Lexington, where he would get $1,500 a year plus a share of the total tuition payments the college received, was the job Lee finally found to fit him. By supplementing the existing curriculum of classical education with practical courses in engineering, trade, farming, and the law, Lee revived the failing institution and turned it into a university. This was one of the nation's very few programs in Spanish. Additionally, he founded the nation's first journalism school. According to author Charles Bracelen Flood, Lee is entitled to a position "in the foremost rank of American educators" as a result of his work at Washington College.