Or,
How Lee's Loyalty to the Union Lost it the Civil War


yes that's what you're thinking. Please forgive the BP, as it does not quite cross the border into ASB (i think very slightly and perhaps temporarily changing two character's character [at least the standard interpretation thereof] plus one mechanical failure is considered acceptable), but beyond that everything goes smoothly. Then again, this is only my second TL (and first reasonable one) so maybe not...
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Paperwork, Lee thought.
The world is coming apart, and there still has to be paperwork.
True, Arlington never had the best of money considerations, especially in the last couple of years, before he had been given charge of everything. However, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert E. Lee had friends in high places, starting of course with commander-in-chief Winfield Scott, plus he usually never asked for any favors. So in 1857, when he asked for an extended leave to deal with matters, it had been granted readily.
If only the world had stayed as simple as it was then.
Rumors were flying all over the state, about which way the secession vote would go. Lee fervently hoped Virginia would stay loyal to the Union, but everything he knew about inflamed emotions and successful rabal-rousers suggested otherwise.
And if they do vote to go, he reminded himself
, I must go with them. For the only thing I care more about than protection of this country is not fighting against my home. This of course meant Virginia.
Ah well, that was all being decided down in Richmond. In the meantime, there were still lingering debts to be paid, and of course all details about the latest year's farming had to be recorded. And two more of the sl....farm-hands....had been freed just the other day, so Lee had to get hired help now.
God's will, he thought. Lee was not an ardent supporter of slavery, but then, regarding exactly when it would end, it was in God's hands. For himself, whenever the sl...hands...had somewhere to go, he gladly freed them.
Just then, he hear a horse trotting up to the house (mansion, really). Lee looked out the window in the study, and there, in uniform, was his good friend and sub-ordinate, Captain George Thomas.
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"Bless me, George, how good it is to see you, especially at a time like this. Come on in...or is this on army business?" Too much nowadays was. This was just like what led to that affair at Harper's Ferry two years ago, except the messangers was JEB Stuart.
"Nooo," Thomas said slowly, "I don't
think that this is army business. Not yet, anyway. Purely social. And I have something important to discuss with you."
"All right, then. Come in and relax. I'll have Agnes bring us some tea."
That business having been taken care of, as well as the friendly formalities, Thomas got right to it. "Robert, what do you think they will decide down in Richmond?"
"I am not wholly sure." Always better to play it safe with...political...matters, even with friends. "A few months ago, definitely they would solidly support legality. Now, after Fort Sumter...I just don't know. I fear for it, dreadfully."
"I do too. It's damnably lucky that no one was killed down at Charleston."
"True. But, then, surely you can't expect untrained militia, even with a few good leaders, to become artillerymen of the highest calibre."
"Robert, I was in artillery, you remember that. But yes, you're quite right." He sighed. "All I know is that if those hot-headed politicians in Richmond decide the way they oughtn't, then they can't expect every so-and-so from the regular army to agree with them."
"That's true every time you mix politics with war. It's not..." Then the implications of that statement hit Lee hard. "...Tom, are you serious? You will stay in the army if Virginia goes?"
"I will hate myself for it, yes, but I would hate myself more if I left the United States and fought for bird-brained politicians down in Richmond."
"But your home..."
"My home is the United States of America. I know the arguments, but if you go for States' rights then you have to go for County's rights, and Town's rights. It makes no sense."
"Wouldn't you at least sit the war out? Why fight against Virginia?"
"Why not? If she manages to elect people who can't see beyond their nose and who actually want to secede, then she must have some pretty rotten people in her. On the other hand, maybe it's just more politics. I do know that some counties from up in the mountains said that if Virginia seceedes from the United States, then they will seceed from Virginia. Now
that's what I call rabble-rousing. Those people in the west..." his voice trailed off. Thomas was stuck in thought, staring right past Lee, not at anything. He was thinking hard and thinking fast.
"George, are you okay..."
Thomas was still quiet for a few seconds. Then:
"Yes, I'm fine. And so are you, Robert. There is a way out of this mess. You are not about to fight your country's flag."
"How did you....never mind. I wish I could join you, but if my state fights against my country, and it looks like it will, then I must defend Virginia."
"But it's not."
And Thomas explained his idea to Lee. He was shock still for a long while.
Then, "George, that is brilliant! I will try just that. Of course, he might not approve, but he'd better. Will you accompany me to Washington City?"
"Well, I'm already three days late to my post at the Carsile barracks. There was a train failure at..."
"Never mind that. This is
officially army business now, and I hereby order you to be my official aide for the duration of this trip, which will only be a few hours anyway."
Thomas smiled. "Let's go.
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Actually, thought Lee as he rode along,
it's a bad idea. I'll feel like a traitor to everyone. Or then, is it to no one?
Oh well, Scott probably won't allow it anyway.