Claim: Ulysses S. Grant was in a battle with the chief leader of the Confederate Army.
Evidence: Grant confronted Robert E. Lee in a series of bloody battles , trapping Lee 's army in their defense of Richmond.
Robert Edward Lee -LRB- January 19 , 1807 -- October 12 , 1870 -RRB- was an American general known for commanding the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War from 1862 until his surrender in 1865.