A Thousand Words a Battle: Arlington House

Arlington House, Arlington, Virginia
April 20, 1861

On April 18, 1861, United States Col. Robert E. Lee left his home at Arlington House to travel into Washington, D.C., to meet with Francis Preston Blair. President Abraham Lincoln had called for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the Confederacy, and Lincoln and Secretary of War Simon Cameron had directed Blair to see if Lee would be interested in taking command of the army. For Lee, who had spent more than thirty years as an officer in the United States Army, this was the culmination of decades of work and effort in service to the country. However, although Lee opposed secession and hoped war could be averted, he noted that he “could take no part in an invasion of the Southern States.”[1] Lee declined the offer.

Lee went immediately to see his mentor, friend, and fellow Virginian General Winfield Scott. He told Scott about his meeting to which Scott replied: “[Y]ou have made the greatest mistake of your life; but I feared it would be so.”[2]

The next morning Lee learned that Virginia had voted to secede from the Union. Lee’s ultimate fears had been realized as he now had to choose between Virginia and the Union. Lee wrestled with the decision all day and night on April 19. His family watched as he paced throughout the house and grounds. For Lee, his reputation, loyalty, and legacy were on the line. For his family, their home and future were on the line. For his country and state, their destiny and fate were on the line. His wife described it as the “severest struggle of his life.”[3]

Shortly after midnight, in the early morning hours of April 20, 1861, Lee made his decision to resign his commission. He wrote a short resignation letter to the Secretary of War and then wrote a longer letter explaining his decision to General Scott.

Arlington House was quiet and almost in a state of mourning as Lee explained his decision to his family. He then sat down and wrote letters to explain his decision to his brother and sister. His sister, Anne Kinloch Lee Marshall, was a Unionist, as were her husband and son (who was serving in the United States army). His letter to her exhibits how difficult a decision it was for him, and the conflicting loyalties he was forced to contend with.

Arlington, Virginia, April 20, 1861.

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. Now we are 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 a redress 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 devotion 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 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 may never be needed, I hope I may never be called on to draw my sword. I know that you will blame me; but you must think as kindly of me as you can, and believe that I have endeavored to do what I thought right.

To show you the feeling and struggle it has cost me, I send you a copy of my letter of resignation. I have no time for more. May God guard and protect you and yours and shower upon you everlasting blessings, is the prayer of your devoted brother,

 R.E. Lee.[4]

Lee received no reply and never communicated with his sister again. A few days later, Lee accepted command of Virginia’s military forces in Richmond. Lee never returned to his beloved Arlington, which was seized and turned into a military cemetery by Union officials in 1864 as an act of spite.

Arlington House stands today in the middle of Arlington National Cemetery and has been restored to the way it appeared around the time of Lee’s resignation. The National Park Service preserves the house and grounds in perpetuity as a national memorial to honor Robert E. Lee.

— Mark Maloy

Part of a series.

[1] Freeman, Douglas Southall. R.E. Lee. Vol. I, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1934. 437.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Pryor, Elizabeth Brown. Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters. New York: Viking Press, 2007. 291.

[4] Freeman, Douglas Southall. R.E. Lee. Vol. I, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1934. 443.