He said to Mr. Blair, who came to offer him the command of the army: “If I owned the four millions of slaves in the South, I would give them all up to save the Union, but how can I draw my sword upon Virginia, my native State?” So, when Mr. Lincoln called for troops to send against the South, Lee turned his back upon “wealth, rank, and all that a great power could give him, and offered his stainless sword to his native State.” His great soul was wrung with grief, but he obeyed the call of duty.
He went at once to Richmond, and was made Major-General of the Virginia troops. His three sons also joined the Confederate army.
General Lee was now fifty-four years old. He had been thirty-two years in the service of the United States.
The great “Civil War” now began. The eleven Southern States which had left the “Union” were now called “The Confederate States of America”; Mr. Jefferson Davis was made President of them, and Richmond in Virginia was made the capital city.
Sā′bers, swords with broad blades. Furlough (fûr′lō), a leave of absence. Trea′son (trē′zon), the act of being false to one’s country. Promō′ted, raised to a higher rank. Rĕg′iment, a body of troops under a colonel. Trăg′ēdy, an action in which the life of a person is taken.
VIRGINIA STATE CAPITOL, FORMERLY OCCUPIED BY THE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS.
What do you know about— Cavalrymen? Colonel Lee’s life in Texas? Catumseh? The Comanche Indians? The negroes? John Brown? The wish of Lee? What he deemed his duty? The great “Civil War”?
