Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in…

Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army, in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia, on April 20, 1861.

Lieutenant Colonel Lee, a former Superintendent at West Point (1852-1855), had returned to his command in Texas when on February 1, 1861, Texas became the seventh Southern state to secede, and, with the rest of the U.S. Army forces, he had been ordered out of the state.

Without a command, he returned home to Arlington to wait to see what Virginia would do.

On April 18, he had been called to Washington and offered command of a new army being formed to force the seceded states back into the Union.

While he opposes secession, Lee also opposes war, and can "take no part in an invasion of the Southern states.”

Meanwhile, President Lincoln calls on Virginia to furnish troops for the invasion.

A Virginia convention, which had previously voted 2 to 1 against secession, has now voted 2 to 1 against furnishing troops for an invasion and to secede, and Lee resigns from the army in which he has served for thirty-six years to offer his services to the “defense of [his] native state.”

Lee assumes command of Virginia troops as major general on April 20.