Lee and Grant | The Decisions of 1861 | Virginia Historical Society

Lee vehemently opposed secession as the greatest "calamity" that could befall the nation. However, when Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to invade the states of the deep South that had seceded and offered command of that army to Lee, he declined. When Virginia seceded, Lee resigned his commission in the U.S. Army. He quickly agreed to serve as commander of Virginia's forces when he realized that his state would be invaded. Grant saw the secession crisis in simpler terms: it had produced "two parties . . . Traitors & Patriots," and he wanted "to be ranked with the latter."

" . . . my mind is fixed. I know no other Country, no other Government, than the United States & their Constitution."
— Robert E. Lee to Edward Childe, 9 January 1857

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"I therefore Conclude that those States [of the deep South] on no Condition will adhere to the Union. . . . If the bond of the Union can only be maintained by the Sword & bayonet, . . . its existence will lose all interest with me. . . . "
— Robert E. Lee, Fort Mason, Texas, to Agnes Lee, 29 January 1861

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"I can anticipate no greater calamity for the country than a dissolution of the Union. It would be an accumulation of all the evils we complain of, & I am willing to sacrifice every thing but honour for its preservation. . . . Secession is nothing but revolution. . . . "
— Robert E. Lee, Fort Mason, Texas, to Rooney Lee, 29 January 1861

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"I have felt that I ought not longer to retain my commission in the Army. I therefore tender my resignation. . . . Save in defence of my native State, I never desire again to draw my sword."
— Robert E. Lee to Winfield Scott, 20 April 1861

" . . . The times are indee[d] startling but now is the time, particular in the border Slave states, for men to prove their love of country. . . . I can but see the doom of Slavery. The North do not want, nor will they want, to interfere with the institution. But they will refuse for all time to give it protection unless the South shall return soon to their allegiance. . . . "
— Ulysses S. Grant, Galena, Illinois, to father-in-law Frederick Dent, St. Louis, 19 April 1861

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"We are now in the midst of trying times when evry one must be for or against his country, and show his colors by his eery act. Having been educated for such an emergency, at the expense of the Government, I feel that it has upon me superior claims. . . . There are but two parties now, Traitors & Patriots and I want hereafter to be ranked with the latter. . . . "
— Ulysses S. Grant, Galena, Illinois, to father Jesse Root Grant, Covington, Kentucky, 21 April 1861

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"There is such a feeling aroused through the country now as has not been known since the Revolution. Every company called for in the Presidents proclimation has been organized, and filled to near double the amount that can be received. . . . "
— Ulysses S. Grant, Springfield, to Mrs. Grant, 27 April 1861

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