Five days after Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers to defend the national capital, on April 20, Robert E. Lee, embracing the cause of Virginia's separation from the Union, resigned his U.S. Army commission to lead Virginia's separatist armed forces; the following year, on June 1, 1862, Lee was appointed commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, the Confederate Army's primary military force.
Five days after Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers to defend the national capital, on April 20, Robert E. Lee, embracing the cause of Virginia's separation from the Union, resigned his U.S. Army commission to lead Virginia's separati,st arm.ed forces; the following year, on June 1, 1862, Lee was appointed commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, the Confederate Army's? primary military force.