This state historic marker pretty egregiously misstates the intentions and history surrounding Colonel Robert E. Lee's fateful decision to leave the US Army after 32 years of service and join the Confederate Army. It's not entirely clear what the actual timeline was of Lee's decision from the marker text, which leaves the impression that when Lee left Texas, he did so having decided to join the cause of the Confederacy.
The clear history of Lee's decision is more complicated. Lee's letters and actions prove that he remained loyal to the US Army for over a year after Texas left the Union. They also prove that Lee made his fateful decision over a few dramatic days in April 1861, not when packing up to leave the Texas frontier.
The marker reads as follows:
"OLD FORT MASON
Situated near a spring long used by Indians; built of stone quarried from post hill. Fort helped protect Texas frontier from Indians. Colonel Robert E. Lee, stationed in Texas 2 years, commanded Fort Mason from Feb. 1860 to Feb. 1861. Here he made his decision as to his part in the Civil War, saying: "If the Union is dissolved,...I shall return to my native state and...save in defense...draw my sword on none". He left Fort Mason February 13, 1861. In wartime he remembered "the enemy never sees the backs of Texans". (1965)"
Colonel Robert E. Lee had spent many years in Texas, first as a young staff officer during the Mexican war, and later serving in various posts along the Texas frontier.
In 1860 Col. Lee took over as Commander of Fort Mason, outside of the present-day town of Mason TX.
When Texas seceded, US Army General David Twiggs, commander of all Federal forces in Texas, surrendered all Federal troops and all federal installations to the Confederate States of America. Twiggs promptly resigned his US Army Commission and took an equivalent rank and commission in the Confederate Army.
Col. Lee, however, returned to Washington DC and accepted a promotion to Colonel and command of the 1st US Cavalry. A few weeks later, he was offered a promotion to Major General over the Army the Federals were building to confront the rebellious states.
Lee was not a supporter of secession, but he was loyal to his home state of Virginia.
From Wikipedia: (
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"The commanding general of the Union Army, Winfield Scott, told Lincoln he wanted Lee for a top command. Lee accepted a promotion to colonel on March 28 [1861 -- BMB]. He had earlier been asked by one of his lieutenants if he intended to fight for the Confederacy or the Union, to which Lee replied, "I shall never bear arms against the Union, but it may be necessary for me to carry a musket in the defense of my native state, Virginia, in which case I shall not prove recreant to my duty.
Meanwhile, Lee ignored an offer of command from the Confederate States of America. After Lincoln's call for troops to put down the rebellion, it was obvious that Virginia would quickly secede. Lee on April 18 was offered by presidential advisor Francis P. Blair a role as major general to command the defense of Washington. He replied:
Mr. Blair, I look upon secession as anarchy. If I owned the four millions of slaves in the South I would sacrifice them all to the Union; but how can I draw my sword upon Virginia, my native state?"
Texas seceded from the Union on 01 February 1860. Lee resigned from the U.S. Army on 20 April 1861 and was placed in command of the Virginia state forces on 23 April. The VA state army would become the famous Army of Northern Virginia that gave the Federals fits until it was finally defeated and Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse on 09 Apr 1865.