y thousand veteran
men. On the seventeenth of April Virginia voted for secession.
On the eighteenth Lee had a long confidential interview with his
old chief, Winfield Scott. On the twentieth he resigned, writing
privately to Scott at the same time: "My resignation would have been
presented at once but for the struggle it has cost me to separate
myself from a service to which I have devoted the best years of my
life. During the whole of that time I have experienced nothing but
kindness from my superiors and a most cordial friendship from my
comrades. I shall carry to the grave the most grateful recollections
of your kind consideration, and your name and fame shall always be
dear to me. Save in the defense of my native State I never desire
again to draw my sword."

The three great motives which finally determined his momentous
course of action were: first, his aversion from taking any part
in coercing the home folks of Virginia; secondly, his belief in
State rights, tempered though it was by admiration for the Union;
and thirdly, his clear perception that war was now inevitable, and
that defeat for the South would inevitably mean a violent change
of all the ways of Southern life, above all, a change imposed by
force from outside, instead of the gradual change he wished to
see effected from within. He was opposed to slavery; and both his
own and his wife's slaves had long been free. Like his famous
lieutenant, Stonewall Jackson, he was particularly kind to the
blacks; none of whom ever wanted to leave, once they had been domiciled
at Arlington, the estate that came to him through his wife, Mary
Custis, great-granddaughter of Martha Washington. But, like Lincoln
before the war, he wished emancipation to come from the slave States
themselves, as in time it must have come, with due regard for
compensation.

On the twenty-third of this eventful April Lee was given the chief
command of all Virginia's forces. Three days later "Joe" Johnston
took command of the Virginians at Richmond. One day later again
"Stonewall" Jackson took command at Harper's Ferry. Johnston played
a great and noble part throughout the war; and we shall meet him
again and again, down to the very end. But Jackson claims our first
attention here.

Like all the great leaders on both sides Jackson had been an officer
of regulars. He was, however, in many ways unlike the army type.
He disliked society amusements, was awkward, shy, reserved, and
apparently