When offered leadership of the U.S. Army on the eve of the Civil War, Robert E. Lee refused, citing loyalty to his home state of Virginia. In this letter to Secretary of War Simon Cameron, Lee resigned from the U.S. Army.
On April 18, 1861, the day after Virginia voted for secession, President Lincoln sent an unofficial representative, Francis P. Blair, Sr., to ask Robert E. Lee to take command of the United States Army. At this meeting, Lee spoke of his devotion to the Union and then asked to speak to fellow Virginian Winfield Scott. Lee told Scott that he would resign. The old Mexican War hero replied, “Lee you have made the greatest mistake of your life.”
In a letter to his sister, Anne Marshall, Lee explained, “I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, my children, my home. I have therefore resigned my commission in the Army, and save in defense of my native State, with the sincere hope that my poor services never be needed, I hope I may never be called on to draw my sword.”
