The War Between the States is generally acknowledged by historians to have begun on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter. President Lincoln and General Winfield Scott offered Robert E. Lee, a distinguished U.S. Army officer, graduate of West Point and a veteran of the Mexican-American War, command of the federal army to suppress the rebellion. Lee is reported to have considered the offer, so long as his home state of Virginia remained in the Union.

On April 20, three days after Virginia repealed ratification of the U.S. Constitution and approved an ordinance of secession, Lee resigned his commission with the United States Army. In a letter to his sister, the man who would ultimately be named Commander in Chief of the Confederate Army wrote:

“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 upon to draw my sword.”