have taken Anderson's reply back to Beauregard, have it telegraphed to Jefferson Davis to see if they would wait three days more to see if Anderson would surrender after his food was gone. "It seemed almost as though the 4 men had decided before they came what they would say, which was: "Beauregard will open fire on Fort Sumter in one hour from this time." This probably was not, as it seems, the last opportunity to avoid war because "Sumpter was a symbol, a Chip on the Shoulder." It was "framed" by Lincoln and the South was eager to meet the challenge. (ibid, p. 206) Sandburg calls this war "the Second American Revolution." (ibid, p. vii, p. 26). In the end, Lee cleared South Carolina Confederate soldiers to fire upon the fort, effectively beginning the Civil War. When Beauregard received permission to organize two regular companies of artillery on May 11, Lee was assigned to command one of them, the other went to Capt. Charles Sidney Winder. Lee's company was assigned to Castle Pinckney until May 30, when it was sent to Fort Palmetto on Cole's Island, arriving June 1. In June 1861 Lee resumed his position in the South Carolina Militia, and then in November he was promoted to the rank of major in the Confederate Army. Lee commanded a light battery in Hampton's Legion in Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's army later in 1861. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in March 1862, and was the artillery chief for Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws's division of the Army of Northern Virginia from April to June 17, and then in the same role under Brig. Gen. John B. Magruder until July. Lee participated in the 1862 Peninsula Campaign, notably during the Battle of Seven Pines on May 31 and June 1, the Battle of Savage's Station on June 29, during the Seven Days Battles from June 25 to July 1, and the Battle of Malvern Hill also on July 1. He briefly served in the 4th Virginia Cavalry in July, was promoted to colonel on July 9, and assumed command of an artillery battalion of Maj. Gen. James Longstreet's Corps that same month. Under Longstreet, Lee fought in the Second Battle of Manassas that August and then Battle of Antietam on September 17, where his guns played a prominent role in defending the ground near the famed Dunker Church. The following