LEE
LEE
settle the estate of liis father-in-law, who had
died in 1857. leaving him first executor of his
will. On Oct. IT, 1859, he received orders to
report to the adjutant-general at Wasliington
without delay and he was ordered to Harper's
Ferry in command of three companies of U.S.
marines to suppress a threatened attack on the
U.S. arsenal. He found the arsenal in the posses-
sion of a revolutionary party led by John Brown,
and his followers numbering about forty-five
men. Colonel Lee called upon him through Lieut.
J. E. B. Stuart, under a flag of
- truce, to sur-
render, which
Brown refused
to do unless
guaranteed safe
conduct with
his prisoners
and men across
the river into
Maryland and not to be pursued until his party
had gained a point half a mile from the ar-
senal. This Lee refused to consider and at once
opened an assault on the engine house on the
arsenal grounds, in which the survivors of the
defending band, seventeen whites and three
negroes, were taken prisoners at the point of the
bayonet. Colonel Lee then entered the building
and had Brown and his wounded followers cared
for in the arsenal by a surgeon of the marine
corps and afterward delivered them over to Judge
Robert J. Ould, the U.S. district attorney. The
prisoners were given over to the charge of the
state courts, and tried and convicted on a charge
of treason, murder and inciting insurrection
among slaves, and the state militia supplanted
the U.S. troops as guard and Colonel Lee and the
U.S. troops had no part in the execution of John
Brown. He left Harper's Ferry, Dec. 3, 1859,
and soon after Christmas of that year rejoined
his regiment at San Antonio, Texas, where he
remained in the service till ordered to "Washing-
ton, where lie arrived, March 1, 1861, and re-
ported to Lieutenant-General Scott, commanding
the U.S. army. Seven states had at this time
passed the ordinance of secession and on Feb. 4,
1861, had formed a union as " The Confederate
States of America." Abraham Lincoln would be
inaugurated President. March 4, 1861. and Win-
field Scott, the general-in-chief of the U.S. army,
desired the advice of the officers of the U.S.
army. Colonel Lee assured General Scott that if
Virginia seceded from the Union and the gov-
ernment decided to coerce the states by military
force, his sense of duty would oblige him to go
with his state. On March 10. 1861, Colonel Lee
was assigned to duty as a member of the board to
revise the "Regulations for the government of
the United States army "' and he filed the report
of the board, April 18. 1861. On April 15 Presi-
dent Lincoln called upon the loyal states for 75.000
volunteers and Virginia was called upon for her
quota. This demand, and other considerations,
caused the Virginia convention, which had been
in session since Feb. 13, to pass an ordinance of
secession by a voteof 88to5o. President Lincoln,
hoping the act of the seceding states had caused
Lee's spirit of loyalty to the Union to overbalance
his sense of loyalty to his state, is said to have
offered him the command of the arnjy. which
Gen. Scott wished to transfer to a younger man,
repeatedly naming Robert E. Lee as his suc-
cessor. This offer, it is said, was made at army
headquarters through Francis Preston Blair,
Sr., April 18, 1861, and that Colonel Lee re-
plied that he was opposed to secession and de-
precated war, but that he could take no part
in the invasion of the Southern States, con-
sidering such an act a breach of his oath to
" support and defend the constitution of the
United States " as interpreted by Attorney-Gen-
eral Black. He then went to General Scott and
reported his decision and on April 20. 1861. he
tendered the resignation of his commission in the
U.S. army to Simon Cameron, the Secretary of
"War, at the same time addressing a letter to
General Scott, asking him to recommend its ac-
ceptance. On April 23, upon the invitation of a
committee of the Virginia convention, lie visited
Richmond where he accepted the commission of
commander-in-chief of the military and naval
forces of Virginia with the rank of major-gen-
eral. On April 24. 1861, in his address before the
convention assembled in Richmond, accepting
the trust, he closed with these words: "Trust-
ing in Almighty God, an approving conscience
and the aid of my fellow-citizens, I devote my-
self to the service of my native state in whose
behalf alone will I ever again draw my sword,"
On May 20, 1861. the people of Virginia by a vote
of 150.000 to 20.000 ratified the ordinance of
secession, and the same day the L'.S. navy yard at
Norfolk was evacuated by the L'.S. authorities
and taken possession of by the Virginia state
troops. On May 22 the state entered the Confed-
eracy and on May 24, 10.000 Federal soldiers
crossed the Potomac and took possession of Alex-
andria, Va. On May 29. President Davis with
his cabinet arrived in Richmond, which became
the capital of the Confederate States of America.
On June 8. 1861. Virginia transferred her military
forces to the new government and General Lee
remained the ranking oflPicer of the Virginia
military forces, and as such became military ad-
visor to Governor Letcher, commander-in-cliief.
In selecting the defensive lines for the state, he
