The Lees Leave Arlington

Following the news of the secession of Virginia, news which he had hoped never to hear, Colonel Lee, on April 20, 1861, 4 resigned his commission in the U. S. Army. Monday morning, April 22, at the request of the Governor of Virginia, he departed for Richmond. Mrs. Lee remained at Arlington engaged in the work of dismantling her home and sending family possessions to a place of safety. She had not completed this task, when, on May 24, the seizure of lands between Washington and Alexandria by Federal troops caused her to abandon everything. The remaining family possessions were later taken from Arlington and locked up in the old Patent Office in Washington, but not before many things, including some of the Mount Vernon heirlooms, had been carried away.