George Washington Custis Lee was born in Fort Monroe, Virginia.

He served primarily in California, Georgia, and Florida during his time in the United States Army.

At the end of August 1861, Lee was offered and accepted the position of aide-de-camp to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

In 1862, during the Peninsula Campaign, Custis Lee was put in charge of supervising the engineers at Drewry's Bluff.

[3] For the most part, he obeyed Davis, but during the Battle of Gettysburg, Custis Lee was given the command of the troops in Richmond.

Shortly before the end of the war, he commanded troops in the field and was captured at Sayler's Creek by David Dunnels White a private in the 37th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment on April 6; three days before his father surrendered on Palm Sunday April 9, 1865, to Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant at the McLean House in the village of Appomattox Court House, Virginia (see: Appomattox Court House National Historical Park).

[4] In 1877, seven years after his father's death, Custis Lee sued in a case with assistance from Robert Lincoln that went all the way to the United States Supreme Court to regain title to the family mansion,[5] Arlington House and plantation, which had become Arlington National Cemetery.

Lee won both the house and the 1,100 acres (4.5 km2) surrounding the mansion, but was less interested in retaining the estate than gaining a cash compensation for its value.

In 1883, Lee sold Arlington House back to the United States Government for $150,000.

He then moved to the home of his late brother, Major General William Henry Fitzhugh Lee's Ravensworth Mansion.

[3] Custis Lee died on February 18, 1913, in Alexandria, Virginia, and is buried in the University Chapel, near his family members.