Lee refused.
When I reached
Harpers Ferry and delivered their messages to
General Harper, he sent me immediately to
Richmond.
Arriving there the next day, I had an interview with
General Lee, who, on the 23d of April, had been put in command of all the
Virginia troops.
He was eminently a cautious leader and did not approve of moving our forces to
Baltimore.
If the command of the troops had not been turned over to him, the armies of
Virginia would have been marched to join the Marylanders in the defense of
Baltimore, and the first battle of the war would have been fought there.
Lee's caution may have lost
Maryland from the list of
Confederate States,
[
166]
but from within her borders came many of the bravest men who followed the fortunes of the
South.
Her best blood stood in the forefront of most of the battles of the Army of Northern Virginia.
In numbers she may not have furnished her quota, but in heroism and self-denial they were peerless among the troops that followed the colors of the
South.
