life.=20 Lee'sCourtship with Mary soon turned serious, before long they were = thinking=20 ofmarriage. However, before Robert could propose he was assigned = to=20 CockspurIsland, Georgia. Robert returned to Arlington in 1830. He and Mary decided to = get=20 married.The two were married on June 30, 1831(Nash 248). Shortly there = after=20 theLees went to Fort Monroe. Mary was never happy here. She soon = went back=20 toArlington. Mary hated army life. She would, for the most part, = stay=20 atArlington throughout the rest of Robert's time in the United = States=20 Army.The fact that he was separated from his family, and that he was = slow=20 tomove up in rank, left Lee feeling quite depressed a great deal = of the=20 time.Over the next decade Robert became very frustrated by his = career and=20 life.Lee's life had become a mosaic of dull post assignments, long = absences=20 fromfamily, and slow promotion. Lee began to regard himself as a = failure=20 (Nash248). Lee was on the verge of resigning from the army all = together,=20 when onMay 13, 1946, word came that the United States had declared war = on=20 Mexico. The outbreak of war with Mexico provided Lee his first real = chance at=20 fieldservice. In January of 1847 he was selected by General Winfield = Scott=20 toserve with other young promising officers. These officers = included:=20 P.G.T.Beauregard and George McClellan on his personal staff (Connelly = 8).=20 Duringthe Mexican War Lee won the praise and respect of Scott as well = as=20 manyother young officers that he would serve with and against = later. As the years passed Mary Lee was left at Arlington. She was = left to=20 manageher fathers grand estate, plantation really, by herself. Time = had taken=20 itstoll on Mary Lee. She had become an ageing woman, crippled with = arthritis,and left alone by her career Army officer's duty assignments=20 elsewhere(Kelly 39). At the news of his father-in-laws death, Lee was = able to=2...
