Three other Union witnesses show how Lee agonized over the
fateful decision he was being forced to make. Captain R. M.
Potter says: "I have seldom seen a more distressed man. He said,
'When I get to Virginia I think the world will have one soldier
less. I shall resign and go to planting corn.'" Colonel Albert G.
Brackett says: "Lee was filled with sorrow at the condition of
affairs, and, in a letter to me, deploring the war in which we
were about to engage, made use of these words: 'I fear the
liberties of our country will be buried in the tomb of a great
nation.'" Colonel Charles Anderson, quoting Lee's final words in
Texas, carries us to the point of parting: "I still think my
loyalty to Virginia ought to take precedence over that which is
due to the Federal Government; and I shall so report myself in
Washington. If Virginia stands by the old Union, so will I. But
if she secedes (though I do not believe in secession as a
constitutional right, nor that there is sufficient cause for
revolution) then I will still follow my native State with my
sword, and, if need be, with my life. I know you think and feel
very differently. But I can't help it. These are my principles;
and I must follow them."

Lee reached Washington on the first of March. Lincoln, delivering
his Inaugural on the fourth, brought the country one step nearer
war by showing the neutrals how impossible it was to reconcile
his, principles as President of the whole United States with
those of Jefferson Davis as President of the seceding parts. "The
power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess
the property and places belonging to the government." Three days
later the provisional Confederate Congress at Montgomery in