Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the US Army

Today, after the fall of Fort Sumter in South Carolina, after President Lincoln proclaimed an insurrection and issued a command to muster troops to put down the rebellion, after the President’s proclamation of a blockade on southern ports, Colonel Robert E. Lee of the First Cavalry, veteran of the Mexican War and the man who ended the violence at Harpers Ferry with more violence and captured John Brown, wrote two brief letters, one slightly longer than the other.

The first was to the Secretary of War of the United States.

Arlington, Washington City P.O.
20 April 1861

Honble Simon Cameron
Sect. of War

Sir,

I have the honor to tender the resignation of my Commission of Colonel of the 1st Regt. of Cavalry.

Very respectfully your Ob’t servant

R. E. Lee
Col 1st. Cavalry

The second, slightly longer letter, was to his old friend General Winfield Scott, commander of the US Army.

Arlington, Washington City, P.O
20 Apr 1861

Lt. Genl Winfield Scott
Commd U.S. Army

Genl,
Since my interview with you on the 18th Inst[1]: I have felt that I ought not longer to retain any Commission in the Army. I therefore tender my resignation which I request you will recommend 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 divoted [sic] all the best years of my life, & all the ability I possessed. During the whole of that time, more than a quarter of a century, I have experienced nothing but kindness from my superiors & the most Cordial friendships from any Comrades. To no one Genl have I been as much indebted as to yourself for kindness & Consideration & it has always been my ardent desire to merit your approbation. I shall carry with me, to the grave the most grateful recollections of your kind Consideration, & your name & fame will always be dear to me. Save in the defense of my native state shall I ever again draw my sword. Be pleased to accept my most earnest wishes for “the Continuance of your happiness & prosperity & believe me

Most truly yours
R E Lee

You can see a picture of the original of this letter at the Arlington House National Park Service site. What’s interesting is the amount of editing Lee did on this letter; clearly it was a difficult one for him to write and get down everything he wanted to say. The sadness of it is heart-breaking.

[1] “of this month”

Lincoln proclaims blockade on southern ports

Today, April 19, 1861, President Lincoln proclaimed a blockade of the states in rebellion. Not only was he attempting to keep supplies from coming in, knowing that the south didn’t have much of an industrial base, but he was trying to keep cotton from going out. Well, and there’s a reference to the states in rebellion threatening to issue letters of marque to entitle Confederate ships to legal piracy on US vessels, which was probably quite irksome to the president of the US.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas an insurrection against the Government of the United States has broken out in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and the laws of the United States for the collection of the revenue cannot be effectually executed therein comformably to that provision of the Constitution which requires duties to be uniform throughout the United States:

And whereas a combination of persons engaged in such insurrection, have threatened to grant pretended letters of marque to authorize the bearers thereof to commit assaults on the lives, vessels, and property of good citizens of the country lawfully engaged in commerce on the high seas, and in waters of the United States: And whereas an Executive Proclamation has been already issued, requiring the persons engaged in these disorderly proceedings to desist therefrom, calling out a militia force for the purpose of repressing the same, and convening Congress in extraordinary session, to deliberate and determine thereon:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, with a view to the same purposes before mentioned, and to the protection of the public peace, and the lives and property of quiet and orderly citizens pursuing their lawful occupations, until Congress shall have assembled and deliberated on the said unlawful proceedings, or until the same shall ceased, have further deemed it advisable to set on foot a blockade of the ports within the States aforesaid, in pursuance of the laws of the United States, and of the law of Nations, in such case provided. For this purpose a competent force will be posted so as to prevent entrance and exit of vessels from the ports aforesaid. If, therefore, with a view to violate such blockade, a vessel shall approach, or shall attempt to leave either of the said ports, she will be duly warned by the Commander of one of the blockading vessels, who will endorse on her register the fact and date of such warning, and if the same vessel shall again attempt to enter or leave the blockaded port, she will be captured and sent to the nearest convenient port, for such proceedings against her and her cargo as prize, as may be deemed advisable.

And I hereby proclaim and declare that if any person, under the pretended authority of the said States, or under any other pretense, shall molest a vessel of the United States, or the persons or cargo on board of her, such person will be held amenable to the laws of the United States for the prevention and punishment of piracy.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this nineteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-fifth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

One thing I like about Mr. Lincoln, he kept his proclamations short and sweet even with all the legal language.

The balance tips in the Old Dominion

Today, the secession convention in Richmond, Virginia, approved the secession ordinance they had begun to consider yesterday.

The convention had been in session, and deadlocked, for a little over two months. What finally tipped it toward secession was Lincoln’s April 15 declaration of a state of insurrection, which called for 75,000 soldiers. Virginia would be required to supply a little over 2300 of this number, and that was enough to let the pro-secession faction at the convention push things to a resolution. The white men of Virginia would not take up arms against their fellow slave-holders.

With Virginia’s secession, Robert E. Lee’s path was made clear to him. He began drafting a letter.

The powers granted them…might be resumed whensoever the same should be perverted to their injury and oppression

April 16, 1861, the Secession Convention Delegates in Richmond, Virginia, met in secrecy to consider a very brief document. It read, in its entirety:

AN ORDINANCE

To Repeal the ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America, by the State of Virginia, and to resume all the rights and powers granted under said Constitution:

The people of Virginia, in their ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America, adopted by them in Convention, on the 25th day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eight-eight, having declared that the powers granted them under the said Constitution were derived from the people of the United States, and might be resumed whensoever the same should be perverted to their injury and oppression, and the Federal Government having perverted said powers, not only to the injury of the people of Virginia, but to the oppression of the Southern slaveholding States.

Now, therefore, we, the people of Virginia, do declare and ordain that the Ordinance adopted by the people of this State in Convention, on the twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified, and all acts of the General Assembly of this State, ratifying or adopting amendments to said Constitution, are hereby repealed and abrogated; that the union between the State of Virginia and the other States under the Constitution aforesaid, is hereby dissolved, and that the State of Virginia is in the full possession and exercise of all the rights of sovereignty which belong to a free and independent State. And they do further declare that the said Constitution of the United State of America is no longer binding on any of the citizens of this State.

This Ordinance shall take effect and be an act of this day when ratified by a majority of the votes of the people of this State, cast at a poll to be taken thereon on the fourth Thursday in May next, in pursuance of a schedule hereafter to be enacted.

Done in Convention, in the city of Richmond, on the seventeenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and in the eighty-fifth year of the Commonwealth of Virginia

JNO. L. EUBANK,
Sec’y of Convention.

The “injury and oppression” here is of course the fear of emancipation. The white slaveowners who met in Richmond were not concerned with the injury and oppression they had inflicted and were inflicting upon enslaved people for two hundred years. The secession ordinances of the southern states all cited fears of emancipation, despite Lincoln’s declaration in his inaugural address:

I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.

April 15, 1861

Today, President Lincoln proclaimed a state of insurrection. There is certainly an argument to be made that he had waited a Christless long time to admit the obvious, but he was playing a fairly delicate game with international opinion. He did not need foreign powers deciding to recognize the Confederacy, he needed them to stay out of affairs. So he waited until after Fort Sumter fell, until after the Confederate States had fired the first shots of the war, and issued a proclamation.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas the laws of the United States have been for some time past, and now are opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the Marshals by law,

Now therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution, and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia of the several States of the Union, to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed. The details, for this object, will be immediately communicated to the State authorities through the War Department.

I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity of popular government; and to redress wrongs already long enough endured.

I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth will probably be to re-possess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union; and in every event, the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or interference with, property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens in any part of the country.

And I hereby command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid to disperse, and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty days from this date.

Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents an extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution, convene both Houses of Congress. Senators and Representatives are therefore summoned to assemble at their respective chambers, at 12 o’clock, noon, on Thursday, the fourth day of July, next, then and there to consider and determine, such measures, as, in their wisdom, the public safety, and interest may seem to demand.

In Witness Whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington this fifteenth day of April in the year of our Lord One thousand, Eight hundred and Sixtyone, and of the Independence the United States the Eightyfifth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Lincoln did one other thing that day. He offered command of the US Army to a career army officer named Robert Edward Lee. Lee turned down the offer, waiting to see what his home state of Virginia would do. Since the first guns fired on Fort Sumter, calls for secession had been growing louder. Indeed, a secession convention had been meeting since the 13th of February. Lee felt that his first duty was to Virginia, not the Union, and so he waited to see what would happen.

It’s been a while…

And yet, here I am back again. I took a year off because I was going to school and full-time school on top of full-time work on top of some developing health problems really killed my ability to research.

But here I am, on the day Fort Sumter fell.

It’s been kind of interesting since the 12th, when the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter began. The Civil War is suddenly all over the news and people are interested and talking about it and my major reaction is “Where have y’all been?” Anyway.

One theme I’ve heard a lot of is that the war was inevitable, that it was clearly going to happen, events could not have taken place otherwise. I think one thing that people forget, that it’s important to remember, is that while to us, 150 years later, it all looks clear and inevitable, one event following on another from the Nullification Controvery to Harpers Ferry to the election of Lincoln to Fort Sumter to four long, bloody years of war… it was not nearly so clear to the people who lived it.

In every secession convention in the south, pro-Union voices spoke, sometimes to their detriment. A thousand chances to turn war aside were missed, but at the time those choices looked viable. And above all, 150 years later we have the benefit of the big picture in a way that would have been difficult to achieve in 1861. We have synthesized every communication we could find, we have analyzed and over-analyzed, eulogized and mythologized, nit-picked and pontificated. We mistake our own views for the views our ancestors had, and fail to remember the fog of war, or how the forest looks not when you’re flying over in an airplane, but when you’re struggling through the underbrush, amid the trees.

Here is what we’ve missed, while I’ve been off in classrooms and doctors’ offices:
On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected president. He wasn’t even on the ballot in the southern states. On December 20th, South Carolina responded with secession, and six days later Major Robert Anderson evacuated his federal troops from the mainland to an island stronghold in Charleston Harbor named Fort Sumter. Supplies were a concern, isolated as he was in hostile territory, with the mouth of the harbor well-defended by artillery emplacements that were now in the hands of rebels.

On January 9, Mississippi seceded. On the 10th, Florida, followed by Alabama on the 11th. They formed a contiguous block, with Georgia lying between them and South Carolina. But on the 19th Georgia joined the rebellious states, and one week later Louisiana followed suit. Three days after that, Kansas was admitted to the union as a free state.

On the 9th of February, 1861, this little band of five insurrectionist states formed the Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as its first president on the 18th, and four days later Texas seceded as an inauguration present for him.

Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as president of the United States of America on the fourth of March, and the nation held its breath. For a month, no other states made a move toward secession. The troops at Fort Sumter began to run low on supplies, and in April Lincoln decided to send a humanitarian mission to feed them. When the South learned of it, they decided to open fire on the fort to prevent its resupply. Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard’s batteries began firing on April 12th. They battered at the fort for three days before it surrendered.

Major Anderson requested permission to fire a gun salute as the US flag was lowered, and permission was given. During the 100-gun salute, a spark ignited a pile of cartridges, which exploded, killing Private Daniel Hough. The first blood was spilled. And here matters stood on April 14, 1861, while the nation waited and watched. Six states in rebellion, and no one knew how it would end.