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LEE, EOBEET E. 



ARLINGTON, VA., April 20, 1861. 



GENERAL : Since my interview with you on the 

 18th inst., I have felt that I ought not longer to re- 

 tain my commission in the Army. I therefore ten- 

 der my resignation, which I request you will recom- 

 mend for acceptance. It would have been presented 

 at once but for the struggle it has cost me to separate 

 myself from a service to which I have devoted all the 

 best years of my life and all the ability I possessed. 



During the whole of that time more than a quarter 

 of a century I have experienced nothing but kind- 

 ness from my superiors, and the most cordial friend- 

 ship from my comrades. To no one, general, hav^ 

 I been as much indebted as to yourselt for uniform 

 kindness and consideration, and it has always been 

 my ardent desire to meet your approbation. I shall 

 carry to the grave the most grateful recollections of 

 your kind consideration, and your name and fame 

 will always be dear to me. 



Save in defence of my native State, I never desire 

 again to draw my sword. Be pleased to accept my 

 most earnest wishes for the continuance of your hap- 

 piness and prosperity, and believe me most truly 

 yours, E. E. LEE. 



To his sister, the wife of an officer loyal to 

 his flag, he wrote : 



MY DEAR SISTER : I am grieved at my inability to 

 see you. * * * * I have been waiting for a more 

 "convenient season" which has brought to many 

 before me deep and lasting regret. We are now in a 

 state of war which will yield to nothing. The whole 

 South is in a state of revolution, into which Virginia, 

 after a long struggle, has been drawn ; and though I 

 recognize no necessity for this state of things, and 

 would have forborne and pleaded to the end for re- 

 dress of grievances, real or supposed, yet in my own 

 person I had to meet the question whether I should 

 take part against my native State. With all my de- 

 votion to the Union, and the feeling of loyalty and 

 duty of an American citizen, I have not been able to 

 make up my mind to raise my Land against my rela- 

 tives, my children, my home. I have, therefore, re- 

 signed my commission in the army, and save in de- 

 fence of my native State with the sincere hope that 

 my poor services may never be needed I hope I may 

 never be called upon to draw my sword. 



This was the only " definition" of his posi- 

 tion ever given by him. From his early train- 

 ing, and all his State associations, he was a 

 supporter of the doctrine of State rights. His 

 resignation was instantly accepted, and he at 

 once took up his residence in Eichmond, as 

 commander of the forces of Virginia, with the 

 rank of major-general, to which he had been 

 appointed by Governor Letcher. He remained 

 in his State, and set to work to organize the 

 State troops, declining any command that took 

 him into the general service of the Confederacy. 

 At this time Montgomery was the Confederate 

 capital, and the Virginia troops were virtually 

 independent ; but, soon after the assumption 

 .of command by General Lee, the seat of gov- 

 ernment was transferred to Eichmond, and he 

 was formally recognized as one of the insurgent 

 chiefs, receiving the rank hitherto unknown 

 in this country of full general, the commis- 

 sion coming from the Confederate War De- 

 partment. He was thus placed third on the 

 list of the Confederate army roster, Cooper 

 and Albert Sydney Johnston only outranking 

 him in priority of appointment. He was as- 

 signed to command the forces in Western Vir- 

 ginia, to oppose Generals McClellan and Eose- 



crans. The campaign was one of the feeblest 

 of the whole list of Confederate operations, and 

 the brilliant promise of Lee was obscured by 

 disaster, bad management, and defeat. In two 

 or three decisive actions, McClellan, or rather 

 Eosecrans, captured or destroyed his army 

 and finished the campaign in West Virginia. 

 Transferred from this field he took command 

 on the coast and established his headquarters 

 at Charleston, S. C. His only aim was to de- 

 fend the coast towns, and he seems to have 

 been successful in holding the less exposed 

 points. Here he remained until spring. Mean- 

 time the Confederates had grown tired of 

 Jefferson Davis as a military leader, and ear- 

 nestly pressed General Lee for the position of 

 general-in-chief of their armies. The desire 

 was acquiesced in by the President, and Gen- 

 eral Lee was transferred to Eichmond as sole 

 director of all the armies of the Confederacy, 

 subject only to the supervision of the President. 

 He assumed his new office in March, 1862, just 

 as McClellan was cautiously preparing his Pen- 

 insular invasion. The presence of Lee as an 

 organizer was at once felt in all the Confederate 

 armies, and new vigor seemed to inspire the Ar- 

 my of Northern Virginia, which had heretofore 

 met with no marked success since the affair at 

 Bull Eun. In May the army of General Mc- 

 Clellan lay advantageously posted about the 

 northern approaches of Eichmond, and the 

 North was in daily expectation of the fall of 

 the Confederate capital. 



Early on the 31st began that fearful series 

 of battles which resulted in the failure of Mc- 

 Clellan, and the transfer of operations north 

 of the Potomac. At Seven Pines, on May 31st, 

 General J. E. Johnston was badly wounded, 

 and General Lee took the field in person. He 

 established his lines firmly and immediately 

 assumed the offensive, against the entire right 

 wing of McClellan's army. This movement 

 he followed up with vigor, and in less than a 

 week the Array of the Potomac was protected 

 by the gunboats at Harrison's Landing on 

 James Eiver. At Malvern Hill, however, the 

 tide was turned, the Confederates were re- 

 pulsed with very heavy loss, and the ablest 

 officers criticised Lee harshly for endangering 

 his army and capital by so ill-judged an action. 



Early in this series of brilliant offensive 

 operations, General Lee had dispatched Gen- 

 eral Jackson, with his corps, to move up the 

 valley and drive McDowell and Banks back 

 upon Washington and Harper's Ferry. As soon 

 as McClellan was paralyzed, Lee began a north- 

 ward movement with all his forces, and in a 

 very short time appeared with Jackson in the 

 Valley and on the plains of Manassas. The 

 movement began on the 13th of August, and 

 Pope's army was demolished and driven back 

 upon Washington by the 2d of September. 

 The suggestion of this campaign, beyond all 

 question the most brilliant and -vigorous of the 

 Confederate movements during the war, is 

 claimed by the friends of Jefferson Davis, who 



