The Virginia Defense Force (VDF) is the official state defense force of Virginia , one of the three components of Virginia's state military along with the Virginia National Guard which includes the Virginia Army National Guard , the Virginia Air National Guard , and the unorganized militia. As of 2023, the VDF has approximately 275 personnel. The VDF is the descendant of the Virginia State Guard, the Virginia Regiment , and ultimately the Colonial Virginia militia of the Virginia Colony .
116-600: The Virginia Defense Force Command is headquartered at the historic Old City Hall , but drills out of the Waller Armory in Richmond, Virginia . State law allows the command to grow to as many as 7,800 troops to be activated in the VDF when necessary by a call out by the Governor. The VDF is all-volunteer unless activated to "Active Duty" status and augmented by unorganized militia draftees by
232-512: A first lieutenant of engineers in 1837, he supervised the engineering work for St. Louis harbor and for the upper Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Among his projects was the mapping of the Des Moines Rapids on the Mississippi above Keokuk, Iowa , where the Mississippi's mean depth of 2.4 feet (0.7 m) was the upper limit of steamboat traffic on the river. His work there earned him
348-635: A prisoner exchange between the Confederacy and the Union when the Union demanded that black Union soldiers be included. Lee did not accept the swap until a few months before the Confederacy's surrender. He also called the Emancipation Proclamation "a savage and brutal policy...which leaves us no alternative but success or degradation worse than death". As the war dragged on and Lee's losses mounted, he eventually advocated enlisting enslaved people in
464-679: A second invasion of the North in the summer of 1863, where he was decisively defeated at the Battle of Gettysburg by the Army of the Potomac under George Meade . He led his army in the minor and inconclusive Bristoe Campaign that fall before General Ulysses S. Grant took command of Union armies in the spring of 1864. Grant engaged Lee's army in bloody but inconclusive battles at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania before
580-554: A "Flying Corps" of several squadrons, but these were all eventually absorbed into the Virginia Wing Civil Air Patrol (CAP). The VDF's Aviation Battalion maintained fifteen privately owned aircraft, and conducted damage assessment, aerial reconnaissance, and search and rescue missions. The Aviation Battalion assisted the DEA with counter-drug trafficking reconnaissance in rural and remote areas of Virginia. The Aviation Battalion
696-482: A "primacy of slave law". She wrote that Lee's private views on race and slavery, In 1857, George Custis died, leaving Robert Lee as the executor of his estate, which included nearly 200 slaves. In his will, Custis said the enslaved people were to be freed within five years of his death. On taking on the role of administrator for the Parke Custis will, Lee used a provision to retain them in slavery to produce income for
812-411: A calm and rational manner, overtly physical domination of slaves, unchecked by law, was always brutal and potentially savage." Lee biographer Elizabeth Brown Pryor concluded in 2008 that "the facts are verifiable", based on "the consistency of the five extant descriptions of the episode (the only element that is not repeatedly corroborated is the allegation that Lee gave the beatings himself), as well as
928-409: A collection of talented subordinates, most notably James Longstreet , Stonewall Jackson , and J. E. B. Stuart , who along with Lee were critical to the Confederacy's battlefield success. In spite of his successes, his two major strategic offensives into Union territory both ended in failure. Lee's aggressive and risky tactics, especially at Gettysburg, which resulted in high casualties at a time when
1044-538: A corps to serve as Aides de Camp to the Commanding Generals of the British Army as well as fighting forces. Colonel Joshua Fry was selected as the first commander and George Washington as its Lt. Colonel. Washington became its Colonel in 1755 and established the command at Winchester, Virginia . The regiment was a hybrid and included soldiers of "foote, rangers and mounted" and fought in the southern battles of
1160-641: A difficult time for Lee, with his long absences from home, the increasing disability of his wife, troubles in taking over the management of a large slave plantation, and his often morbid concern with his personal failures. In 1852, Lee was appointed Superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point . He was reluctant to enter what he called a "snake pit", but the War Department insisted and he obeyed. His wife occasionally came to visit. During his three years at West Point, Brevet Colonel Robert E. Lee improved
1276-651: A division every year at Ft. Barfoot , Virginia. Many of the VDF members have conducted training with FEMA , NIMS , ICS , the United States Armed Forces , Virginia State Police , as well as meeting the requirements of SGAUS . During the Iraq War , the VDF was tasked with securing vacated armories, maintaining equipment, and providing support to families of deployed troops. The VDF maintains several Shelter Augmentation Liaison Teams (SALT), with each team consisting of three VDF members who serve as liaisons between
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#17328523287701392-495: A friend "There is not a word of truth in it ... No servant, soldier, or citizen, that was ever employed by me can with truth charge me with bad treatment." Foner writes that "Lee's code of gentlemanly conduct did not seem to apply to blacks" during the War. He did not stop his soldiers from kidnapping free black farmers and selling them into slavery. Princeton University historian James M. McPherson noted that Lee initially rejected
1508-404: A general way only at some unspecified future date as a part of God's purpose. Slavery for Lee was a moral and religious issue, and not one that would yield to political solutions. Emancipation would sooner come from Christian impulse among slave masters before "storms and tempests of fiery controversy" such as was occurring in " Bleeding Kansas ". Countering Southerners who argued for slavery as
1624-503: A great-great-grandson of Richard Bland . Fitzhugh Lee (1835–1905), a Confederate general and later a United States Army general in the Spanish–American War , was Lee's nephew. Lee was a second cousin of Helen Keller 's grandmother, and was a distant relative of Admiral Willis Augustus Lee . On May 1, 1864, General Lee was present at the baptism of General A. P. Hill 's daughter, Lucy Lee Hill, to serve as her godfather. This
1740-428: A greater calamity to both. I should therefore prefer to rely upon our white population to preserve the ratio between our forces and those of the enemy, which experience has shown to be safe. But in view of the preparations of our enemies, it is our duty to provide for continued war and not for a battle or a campaign, and I fear that we cannot accomplish this without overtaxing the capacity of our white population." After
1856-645: A house on Oronoco Street. In 1812 Lee's father moved permanently to the West Indies . Lee attended Eastern View, a school for young gentlemen, in Fauquier County, Virginia , and then at the Alexandria Academy, free for local boys, where he showed an aptitude for mathematics. Although brought up to be a practicing Christian , he was not confirmed in the Episcopal Church until age 46. Anne Lee's family
1972-510: A large skylit atrium surrounded by four levels of cloister-like arcades, linked by a grand staircase. The building housed city offices and courts. Granite was locally obtained from quarries along the James River near Petersburg , and was shaped by workers under the direction of subcontractor James Netherwood. Iron work was by Asa Snyder. The Old City Hall occupies a site that previously accommodated three notable buildings, all demolished for
2088-460: A matter of principle, and Lee adhered to the precedent. He considered it his patriotic duty to be apolitical while in active Army service, and Lee did not speak out publicly on the subject of slavery prior to the Civil War. Before the outbreak of the War, in 1860, Lee voted for Southern Democratic nominee and incumbent Vice President John C. Breckinridge , who was the pro-slavery candidate in
2204-692: A near continuous war between the British and French Empires , and due to wars with Indian tribes and French incursions to the west of the colony, The Virginia Regiment was formed by Governor Dinwiddie in 1754 out of the Virginia Militia. It was the first all professional colonial regiment ever raised in the New World and thus given status of a regular British Army regiment during the Seven Years' War . Its officers were often unpaid volunteers and they would provide
2320-547: A paternalistic master. There are various historical and newspaper hearsay accounts of Lee's personally whipping a slave, but they are not direct eyewitness accounts. He was definitely involved in administering the day-to-day operations of a plantation and was involved in the recapture of runaway slaves. One historian noted that Lee separated families of enslaved people, something that prominent enslaving families in Virginia such as Washington and Custis did not do. On December 29, 1862,
2436-494: A positive good , Lee in his well-known analysis of slavery from an 1856 letter ( see below ) called it a moral and political evil. While both Lee and his wife were disgusted with slavery, they also defended it against abolitionist demands for immediate emancipation for all enslaved. Lee argued that slavery was bad for white people, claiming that he found slavery bothersome and time-consuming as an everyday institution to run. In an 1856 letter to his wife, he maintained that slavery
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#17328523287702552-779: A promotion to captain . Around 1842, Captain Robert E. Lee arrived as Fort Hamilton 's post engineer. While Lee was stationed at Fort Monroe, he married Mary Anna Randolph Custis (1807–1873), great-granddaughter of Martha Washington by her first husband Daniel Parke Custis , and step-great-granddaughter of George Washington , the first president of the United States. Mary was the only surviving child of George Washington Parke Custis , George Washington's stepgrandson, and Mary Lee Fitzhugh Custis , daughter of William Fitzhugh and Ann Bolling Randolph . Robert and Mary married on June 30, 1831, at Arlington House , her parents' house just across
2668-474: A quarter of the population of the Virginia colony. Soon after in 1623, the Governor, Sir Francis Wyatt , dictated that all men in the Virginia Militia must drill every month on their county court house green. He also appointed officers to lead the Militia for the first time. By 1676, the Virginia Militia had responded to numerous Indian raids and had served during Bacon's Rebellion . As the 18th century evolved into
2784-594: A reputation as a skilled tactician. A son of Revolutionary War officer Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee III , Lee was a top graduate of the United States Military Academy and an exceptional officer and military engineer in the United States Army for 32 years. He served across the United States, distinguished himself extensively during the Mexican–American War , and was Superintendent of
2900-578: A senior Union command. During the first year of the Civil War, he served in minor combat operations and as a senior military adviser to Confederate President Jefferson Davis . Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia in June 1862 during the Peninsula Campaign following the wounding of Joseph E. Johnston . He succeeded in driving the Union Army of the Potomac under George B. McClellan away from
3016-654: A smooth transition in the change of command. The Virginia Military Advisory Council is the Defense Force's link to a higher authority and the staff of the Adjutant General of Virginia. For 2011, the budget passed by the Virginia Legislature allocated to the Virginia Defense Force about $ 240,000. Prior to 2014 the Virginia Defense Force command structure consisted of a single Light infantry division,
3132-486: A staff officer; he found routes of attack that the Mexicans had not defended because they thought the terrain was impassable. He was promoted to brevet major after the Battle of Cerro Gordo on April 18, 1847. He also fought at Contreras , Churubusco , and Chapultepec and was wounded at the last. By the end of the war, he had received additional brevet promotions to lieutenant colonel and colonel, but his permanent rank
3248-548: A state defense force to support civil authorities from 1917 to 1921. The group guarded bridges, waterways, fuel storage areas, and public buildings and facilities during the war years, armed with surplus weapons dating back to 1876. Due to the possibility of imminent American involvement in World War II , Governor Price ordered the establishment of the Virginia Protective Force on January 2, 1941. The force executed
3364-479: A thing." In 2000, Michael Fellman, in The Making of Robert E. Lee , found the claims that Lee had personally whipped Mary Norris "extremely unlikely", but found it not at all unlikely that Lee had ordered the runaways whipped: "corporal punishment (for which Lee substituted the euphemism "firmness") was [believed to be] an intrinsic and necessary part of slave discipline. Although it was supposed to be applied only in
3480-631: A will providing for the manumission of the slaves he owned, "a woman and her children inherited from his mother and apparently leased to his father-in-law and later sold to him". Lee's father-in-law, G. W. Parke Custis , was a member of the American Colonization Society , which was formed to gradually end slavery by establishing a free republic in Liberia for African-Americans, and Lee assisted several formerly enslaved people to emigrate there. Also, according to historian Richard B. McCaslin, Lee
3596-607: Is a declaration of a disaster area. Title 44–54.12, although providing for the use of armories and other state lands for Defense Force purposes, specifically prohibits members of the Defense Force from training with firearms, without the specific instruction/authorization of the Governor. The Defense Force is evolving into a Civil Affairs command and will provide training in military related specialties such as communication, infrastructure restoration, public shelters, traffic control, and unarmed security missions. VDF companies and battalions are self-training but conduct annual training as
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3712-635: Is one of a few US military units that can claim battle participation for campaigns and wars that took place prior to the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The Virginia Regiment (now the VDF) can also claim participation alongside such storied regiments as the 44th and 48th Infantry regiments (now Royal Anglian Regiment ), and the Queen's Royal Hussars of the British Army , and the 5th Regiment de Hussards, 2d Regiment de Dragoons, and 12th Cuirassier Regiment (France) of
3828-498: Is referenced in the painting Tender is the Heart by Mort Künstler . He was also the godfather of actress and writer Odette Tyler , the daughter of Brigadier General William Whedbee Kirkland . Lee distinguished himself in the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). He was one of Winfield Scott 's chief aides in the march from Veracruz to Mexico City. He was instrumental in several American victories through his personal reconnaissance as
3944-482: The National Anti-Slavery Standard . Norris said that after they had been captured, and forced to return to Arlington, Lee told them that "he would teach us a lesson we would not soon forget". According to Norris, Lee had the overseer tie the three of them firmly to posts, and ordered them whipped: 50 lashes for the men and 20 for Mary Norris. Norris claimed that Lee encouraged the whipping, and that when
4060-674: The 1860 presidential election and had supported the Lecompton Constitution for Kansas , rather than Constitutional Union Party nominee John Bell , the Southern Unionist candidate who won Virginia and voted against the admission of Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution as the United States Senator from Tennessee . Lee himself enslaved a small number of people in his lifetime and considered himself
4176-454: The Alexandria jail, Lee decided to remove these three men and three female house slaves from Arlington, and sent them under lock and key to the slave-trader William Overton Winston in Richmond , who was instructed to keep them in jail until he could find "good & responsible" enslavers to work them until the end of the five-year period. By 1860, only one family of slaves was left intact on
4292-685: The First National Bank Building . By 1915, with the popularity of the Beaux-Arts style , proposals were made to demolish City Hall to create a mall aligned with the northern side of the Virginia State Capitol . Renewed demolition threats surfaced in the 1970s, but the building was restored in the early 1980s and is used for offices. The Old City Hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 1, 1969 and
4408-599: The French Army due to the campaigns of the 18th century. In March 2020, elements of the Virginia Defense Force were activated to assist in Virginia's COVID-19 response with medical and logistics planning. The mission of the VDF is by the Code of Virginia to support the Virginia National Guard at the following times Applicants to the VDF must meet the following eligibility requirements to obtain membership: Members of
4524-606: The French and Indian War . Its colors were retired in 1758 and members were returned to the Virginia Militia. As the revolutionary spirit spread across the new nation, the House of Burgesses reconstituted the Virginia Regiment and expanded it dramatically. Further, it was determined that the standard Militia unit needed to institutionalize separate mounted troops. In 1776, the State reorganized
4640-531: The Governor of Virginia . The federal government authorizes purely state-level forces under 32 U.S.C. § 109 which provides that state forces as a whole may not be called, ordered, or drafted into the armed forces of the United States, thus preserving their separation from the National Guard. However, under the same law, individual members serving in state-level forces are not exempt from service in
4756-675: The Spanish–American War . These troops were incorporated in the 2nd U.S. Virginia Volunteer Cavalry and Infantry in 1898/99, but were not deployed and stood down in 1901, except the Fourth Virginia Infantry, Fourth Regiment Volunteers (Norfolk, mustered May 20, 1898) sent from the United States for service in Cuba . During World War I , the Virginia State Volunteers (later renamed the Virginia Volunteers) were organized as
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4872-636: The Virginia Militia was formed as a part of the English militia system to provide an organized defense against attacks and to give the Governor a body of men capable of bringing order during a disaster. The Indian massacre of 1622 took place in the Colony of Virginia , when Chief Opechancanough led the Powhatan Confederacy in a coordinated series of surprise attacks; they killed a total of 347 people,
4988-527: The Virginia State Police and the Virginia National Guard in the event that the National Guard is deployed to take over shelter management from the police during a stateside emergency. During a deployment, the teams will deploy with the state police, note the practices and procedures put in place, and brief the National Guard on these procedures when the National Guard arrive so as to provide
5104-567: The Arlington plantation as a punishment; however, they disagree over the likelihood that Lee flogged them, and over the charge that he personally whipped Mary Norris. In 1934, Douglas S. Freeman described the incident as "Lee's first experience with the extravagance of irresponsible antislavery agitators" and asserted that "There is no evidence, direct or indirect, that Lee ever had them or any other Negroes flogged. The usage at Arlington and elsewhere in Virginia among people of Lee's station forbade such
5220-564: The Army a year after graduation). Lee did not incur any demerits during his four-year course of study, a distinction shared by only five of his 45 classmates. In June 1829, Lee was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. After graduation, while awaiting assignment, he returned to Virginia to find his mother on her deathbed; she died at Ravensworth on July 26, 1829. On August 11, 1829, Brigadier General Charles Gratiot ordered Lee to Cockspur Island , Georgia . The plan
5336-487: The Civil War. Robert E. Lee was at both events. Lee initially remained loyal to the Union after Texas seceded. John Brown led a band of 21 abolitionists who seized the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry , Virginia, in October 1859, hoping to incite a slave rebellion. President James Buchanan gave Lee command of detachments of militia, soldiers, and United States Marines , to suppress the uprising and arrest its leaders. By
5452-572: The Confederacy had a shortage of manpower, have come under criticism. His legacy, and his views on race and slavery, have been the subject of continuing debate and historical controversy. Lee was born at Stratford Hall Plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia , to Henry Lee III and Anne Hill Carter Lee on January 19, 1807. His ancestor, Richard Lee I , emigrated from Shropshire , England , to Virginia in 1639. Lee's father suffered severe financial reverses from failed investments and
5568-559: The Confederate army in exchange for freedom. However, he came to this position with great reluctance. In an 1865 letter to his friend Andrew Hunter , he wrote: "Considering the relation of master and slave, controlled by humane laws and influenced by Christianity and an enlightened public sentiment, as the best that can exist between the white and black races while intermingled as at present in this country, I would deprecate any sudden disturbance of that relation unless it be necessary to avert
5684-594: The Confederate capital of Richmond during the Seven Days Battles , but he was unable to destroy McClellan's army. Lee then overcame Union forces under John Pope at the Second Battle of Bull Run in August. His invasion of Maryland that September ended with the inconclusive Battle of Antietam , after which he retreated to Virginia. Lee won two major victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville before launching
5800-628: The Federal government do not enjoy such protections. The following ribbons and medals are awarded to members of the Virginia Defense Force: Old City Hall (Richmond, Virginia) Old City Hall , known formerly as City Hall , is the former city hall of Richmond, Virginia that was designed by Elijah E. Myers . It served as City Hall from its completion in 1894 through the 1970s. The building occupies its own city block in downtown Richmond, bounded by 10th and 11th Streets to
5916-734: The George Washington Division, with its headquarters and attached Military Policy Company and Communications Battalion operating out of the Virginia National Guard Headquarters (formerly at the Dove Street Armory in Richmond, Virginia) as command and control overseeing five Regiments, each consisting of two or more companies , representing regions across the Commonwealth. After a major force-wide reorganization by
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#17328523287706032-438: The Norrises whipped, and that the overseer refused to whip the woman but that Lee took the whip and flogged her personally. Lee privately wrote to his son Custis that "The N. Y. Tribune has attacked me for my treatment of your grandfather's slaves, but I shall not reply. He has left me an unpleasant legacy." Wesley Norris himself spoke out about the incident after the war, in an 1866 interview printed in an abolitionist newspaper,
6148-426: The Potomac from Washington. The 3rd U.S. Artillery served as honor guard at the marriage. They eventually had seven children, three boys and four girls: All the children survived him except for Annie, who died in 1862. They are all buried with their parents in the crypt of the University Chapel at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. Lee was a great-great-great-grandson of William Randolph and
6264-536: The Union and Confederate Armies. In the summer of 1776, Bland and Lee organized The Virginia Light Horse regiment. This unit was predominantly led by the aristocracy of Virginia and made up of the wealthy planters and merchants sons. The Virginia Light Horse was by November of that year brought into Continental Army service and was re-designated the 1st Continental Light Dragoons . Troops 1 & 2 were stood up outside of Boston , troops 3 & 4 were stood up in Pennsylvania , and 5th & 6th troops were assigned to
6380-412: The United States Military Academy . He married Mary Anna Custis , great-granddaughter of George Washington 's wife Martha . While he opposed slavery from a philosophical perspective, he supported its legality and held hundreds of slaves. When Virginia declared its secession from the Union in 1861, Lee chose to follow his home state, despite his desire for the country to remain intact and an offer of
6496-399: The VDF wear an "M81" woodland -camouflaged version of the Army Combat Uniform (ACU). These uniforms bear distinct insignia such as the Virginia State flag on the right shoulder, OD tapes including a "VIRGINIA" tape over the left breast pocket, and a subdued OD VDF patch on the left shoulder. OD skill rockers are authorized for wear on the left shoulder above the VDF unit patch by those who meet
6612-742: The VDF, the consolidation was conducted in an effort to improve the unit's agility, morale, and reduce workloads as well as position the VDF as whole for future growth in both its mission and size. VDF is designed a force multiplier for the Virginia National Guard . As of 2020 the command structure of the VDF is organized as a single regiment consisting of six line companies located in Fairfax, Warrenton, Winchester, Virginia Beach, Lynchburg, and Cedar Bluff, with each company made of platoons focused on civil support security and communications. Previously known as Force Protection units, civil support security platoons provide capabilities such as traffic management, access control, gate sentry and vehicle searches, and
6728-406: The Virginia Regiment into ten regiments of infantry called "The Virginia Line ", and organized the first mounted infantry unit called the Virginia Light Horse Regiment. Colonel Theodorick Bland , a Virginia Militia officer was tasked to form, out of the Militia, this mounted regiment. In turn, it was commanded by Lt. Colonel Henry Lee III or "Light Horse Harry", father of General Robert E. Lee of
6844-438: The Virginia Regiment/Line as it assumed Federal military duties. Henry Lee, a Virginia militia Captain, was commissioned by Congress in 1776 to form 5th Troop. 5th Troop took over 6th Troop and evolved over the years into Lee's Legion and later into the 2nd Partisan Corps; it was the primary cavalry force in the Southern Campaign and was on active duty until its colors were retired in 1783, again at Winchester, Virginia . In 1846,
6960-404: The War Department he could not maintain laborers without the facilities of the fort. In 1834, Lee was transferred to Washington as General Gratiot's assistant. Lee had hoped to rent a house in Washington for his family, but was not able to find one; the family lived at Arlington, though Lieutenant Lee rented a room at a Washington boarding house for when the roads were impassable. In mid-1835, Lee
7076-420: The War, Lee told a congressional committee that blacks were "not disposed to work" and did not possess the intellectual capacity to vote and participate in politics. Lee also said to the committee that he hoped that Virginia could "get rid of them", referring to blacks. While not politically active, Lee defended Lincoln's successor Andrew Johnson 's approach to Reconstruction, which according to Foner, "abandoned
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#17328523287707192-410: The abbreviation VaDF, VA DEFENSE FORCE, or Virginia State Guard, and modern tapes now read "VIRGINIA." The creation of a state defense force by a state is authorized by 32 USC 109 (c). Title 44–54 of the Virginia Code sets the targeted membership of the Virginia Defense Force at 1,200 members. Activation is by an executive order of the Governor in the event of an emergency; or the President if there
7308-488: The armed forces by nature of serving in a state defense force. But, under 32 USC § 109(e) "A person may not become a member of a defense force if he is a member of a reserve component of the armed forces." However, officer or soldiers placed on the retired roll of the Active Army or Reserve components, are eligible, with prior approval from the Governor, to transfer their commission to a military command within that State, and continue to serve at present or higher rank. In 1607,
7424-444: The assignment and returned to his post in Washington, finding his wife ill at Ravensworth. Mary Lee, who had recently given birth to their second child, remained bedridden for several months. In October 1836, Lee was promoted to first lieutenant. Lee served as an assistant in the chief engineer's office in Washington, D.C. from 1834 to 1837, but spent the summer of 1835 helping to lay out the state line between Ohio and Michigan . As
7540-409: The buildings and courses and spent much time with the cadets. Lee's oldest son, George Washington Custis Lee, attended West Point during his tenure. Custis Lee graduated in 1854, first in his class. Lee was enormously relieved to receive a long-awaited promotion as second-in-command of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Texas in 1855. It meant leaving the Engineering Corps and its sequence of staff jobs for
7656-439: The combat command he truly wanted. He served under Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston at Camp Cooper , Texas; their mission was to protect settlers from attacks by the Apache and the Comanche . In 1857, his father-in-law George Washington Parke Custis died, creating a serious crisis when Lee took on the burden of executing the will . Custis's estate encompassed vast landholdings and hundreds of slaves but also massive debts;
7772-405: The communications platoons use HF radios and tactical communication packages for data and voice messaging as well as incident management. The major units of the VDF and where they are headquartered are: The Virginia Defense Force maintained an aviation battalion with companies in the Hampton Roads area, Orange , and Danville . The Virginia State Guard organization of World War II also once had
7888-467: The contradictory nature of Lee's beliefs and actions concerning race and slavery. While Lee protested he had sympathetic feelings for blacks, they were subordinate to his own racial identity. While Lee held slavery to be an evil institution, he also saw some benefit to blacks held in slavery. While Lee helped assist individual slaves reach freedom in Liberia, and provided for their emancipation in his own will, he believed slaves should be eventually freed in
8004-516: The couple's first son, Custis Lee was born at Fort Monroe. Although the two were by all accounts devoted to each other, they were different in character: Robert Lee was tidy and punctual, qualities his wife lacked. Mary Lee also had trouble switching from being a rich man's daughter to having to manage a household with only one or two enslaved people. Beginning in 1832, Robert Lee had a close but platonic relationship with Harriett Talcott, wife of his fellow officer Andrew Talcott . Life at Fort Monroe
8120-485: The criteria. Officers wear the standard "blues" uniform for dress functions and the regular Army "Mess Dress" for formal functions. The modifications for VDF dress uniforms include but are not limited to brass/gold rank insignia, the crossed saber and musket symbolizing the militia, buttons bearing the Great Seal of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and red nameplates. Prior service dress uniforms are authorized for wear for those with prior Federal service. The VDF no longer uses
8236-464: The delay. In May 1858, Lee wrote to his son Rooney, "I have had some trouble with some of the people. Reuben, Parks & Edward, in the beginning of the previous week, rebelled against my authority—refused to obey my orders, & said they were as free as I was, etc., etc.—I succeeded in capturing them & lodging them in jail. They resisted till overpowered & called upon the other people to rescue them." Less than two months after they were sent to
8352-587: The end of 2013 several units had been dissolved including the Aviation Battalion, Riverine Detachment, and Military Police Battalion. By 2015 the 5th Regiment, based out of Gate City, Virginia , was consolidated into the 4th Regiment as 'C Company' and the 3rd Regiment, based in Winchester, Virginia, was relocated to Richmond as a reserve regiment. As a result of the force-wide reorganization the Virginia Defense Force's headquarters, now termed "Force Headquarters",
8468-544: The estate to retire debt. Lee did not welcome the role of planter while administering the Custis properties at Romancoke, another nearby the Pamunkey River and Arlington; he rented the estate's mill. While all the estates prospered under his administration, Lee was unhappy at direct participation in slavery as a hated institution. Even before what Michael Fellman called a "sorry involvement in actual slave management", Lee judged
8584-528: The estate. Some of the families had been together since their time at Mount Vernon. In 1859, three slaves at Arlington—Wesley Norris, his sister Mary, and a cousin of theirs—fled for the North, but were captured a few miles from the Pennsylvania border and forced to return to the plantation. On June 24, 1859, the anti-slavery newspaper New York Daily Tribune published two anonymous letters (dated June 19 and June 21 ), each claiming to have heard that Lee had
8700-448: The existence of an account book that indicates the constable received compensation from Lee on the date that this event occurred". In 2014, Michael Korda wrote that "Although these letters are dismissed by most of Lee's biographers as exaggerated, or simply as unfounded abolitionist propaganda, it is hard to ignore them [...] It seems incongruously out of character for Lee to have whipped a slave woman himself, particularly one stripped to
8816-442: The experience of white mastery to be a greater moral evil to the white man than blacks suffering under the "painful discipline" of slavery which introduced Christianity, literacy and a work ethic to the "heathen African". Columbia University historian Eric Foner notes that: By the time of Lee's career in the U.S. Army, the officers of West Point stood aloof from political-party and sectional strife on such issues as slavery, as
8932-433: The former slaves to the mercy of governments controlled by their former owners". According to Foner, "A word from Lee might have encouraged white Southerners to accord blacks equal rights and inhibited the violence against the freed people that swept the region during Reconstruction, but he chose to remain silent." Lee was also urged to condemn the white-supremacy organization Ku Klux Klan , but opted to remain silent. In
9048-470: The generation following the war, Lee, though he died just a few years later, became a central figure in the Lost Cause interpretation of the war. The argument that Lee had always opposed slavery, and freed the people enslaved by his wife, helped maintain his stature as a symbol of Southern honor and national reconciliation. Both Harpers Ferry and the secession of Texas were monumental events leading up to
9164-625: The last day he was allowed to legally retain them, Lee finally freed all the enslaved people his wife had inherited from George Custis (in accordance with the Custis will). Before this, Lee had petitioned the courts to keep people enslaved by Custis longer than the five years allotted in Custis' will, since the estate was still in debt, but the courts rejected his appeals. In 1866, one of the people formerly enslaved by Lee, Wesley Norris, charged that Lee personally beat him and other slaves harshly after they had tried to run away from Arlington. Lee never publicly responded to this charge, but privately told
9280-552: The latter, my sympathies are more strong for the former. The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa, morally, socially & physically. The painful discipline they are undergoing, is necessary for their instruction as a race, & I hope will prepare & lead them to better things. How long their subjugation may be necessary is known & ordered by a wise Merciful Providence. Before leaving to serve in Mexico, Lee had written
9396-520: The lengthy Siege of Petersburg , which was followed in April 1865 by the capture of Richmond and the destruction of most of Lee's army, which he finally surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House . In 1865, Lee became president of Washington College, now Washington and Lee University , in Lexington, Virginia ; as president of the college, he supported reconciliation between the North and South. Lee accepted
9512-603: The main county units mustered for service in the Mexican War , but the requirements on the Virginia Regiment did not have them actually deploy west and they were sent back to their homes and colors cased again in 1848. These units formed the nucleus of the Virginia Divisions of the Confederacy in the Civil War ; and though little activity took place during the reconstruction period, the Virginia troops again mustered for service in
9628-451: The negroes, will be firm & make them do their duty." But Lee failed to find a man for the job, and had to take a two-year leave of absence from the army to run the plantation himself. Lee's more strict expectations and harsher punishments of the slaves on Arlington plantation nearly led to a revolt, since many of the enslaved people had been given to understand that they were to be made free as soon as Custis died, and protested angrily at
9744-525: The new structure. The first City Hall, designed by Robert Mills and Maximilian Godefroy and completed in 1818 was demolished because it was considered structurally deficient. Also demolished were the Edmund Randolph House, a circa 1800 octagonal-ended house, and the 1853 First Presbyterian Church, which was moved off the site in 1873. A design competition was held in 1883, with a design by Elijah E. Myers of Detroit selected in 1884. The project
9860-458: The overseer refused to do it, called in the county constable to do it instead. Unlike the anonymous letter writers, he does not state that Lee himself whipped any of the enslaved people. According to Norris, Lee "frequently enjoined [Constable] Williams to 'lay it on well', an injunction which he did not fail to heed; not satisfied with simply lacerating our naked flesh, Gen. Lee then ordered the overseer to thoroughly wash our backs with brine , which
9976-581: The people enslaved by Custis, including Wesley Norris, after the end of the five-year period in the winter of 1862, filing the deed of manumission on December 29, 1862. Biographers of Lee have differed over the credibility of the account of the punishment as described in the letters in the Tribune and in Norris's personal account. They broadly agree that Lee sought to recapture a group of slaves who had escaped, and that, after recapturing them, he hired them out off of
10092-500: The re-formation of state guard units. It was modernized and brought into line with the standards of the U.S. Army regulation concerning Guard and Reserve forces. The newly reorganized command was established as the Virginia Defense Force, commanded by a Major General, subordinate the Governor of Virginia, and directly assigned to the Adjutant General's forces as an element of the Virginia Department of Military Affairs. To date, it
10208-492: The safety of the personnel of the VDF and citizens of the Commonwealth. The MP Company, and subsequently MP Battalion, was a Commonwealth of Virginia Law Enforcement agency until its dissolution in a major force-wide reorganization in the fall of 2013, and some of its former personnel have been re-designated as HQ Security and Access Control Teams for their respective regiments. The 2nd Regiment, previously headquartered in Manassas
10324-528: The stateside duties of the National Guard until disbandment in 1947. Various units were activated and deactivated during the 1960s as crowd control units during the protests in Washington, D.C. In 1983, a change in the post-Civil War Constitution of Virginia allowed the Commonwealth to permanently re-activate the Virginia Regiment pursuant to federal law under Title 32 Section 109 of the U.S. Code regarding
10440-469: The summer of 1825. At the time, the focus of the curriculum was engineering; the head of the United States Army Corps of Engineers supervised the school and the superintendent was an engineering officer. Cadets were not permitted leave until they finished two years of study and were rarely allowed off the academy grounds. Lee graduated second in his class behind Charles Mason (who resigned from
10556-406: The summer of 1829, Lee had apparently courted Mary Custis whom he had known as a child. Lee obtained permission to write to her before leaving for Georgia, though Mary Custis warned Lee to be "discreet" in his writing, as her mother read her letters, especially from men. Custis refused Lee the first time he asked to marry her; her father did not believe the son of the disgraced Light-Horse Harry Lee
10672-536: The termination of slavery provided for by the Thirteenth Amendment , but opposed racial equality for African Americans . After his death in 1870, Lee became a cultural icon in the South and is largely hailed as one of the Civil War's greatest generals. As commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, he fought most of his battles against armies of significantly larger size, and managed to win many of them. Lee built up
10788-429: The time Lee arrived that night, the militia on the site had surrounded Brown and his hostages. At dawn, Brown refused the demand for surrender. Lee attacked, and Brown and his followers were captured after three minutes of fighting. Lee's summary report of the episode shows Lee believed it "was the attempt of a fanatic or madman". Lee said Brown achieved "temporary success" by creating panic and confusion and by "magnifying"
10904-511: The traditions of the Virginia State Navy . The Virginia Defense Force Military police operated less-than-lethal security missions. The Military Police trained in such subjects as command post security, first responder training, incident management, traffic control, crowd control, riot control, vehicle checkpoints, vehicle and personal searches, military assistance and civil disorders, baton and other skills that were necessary to ensure
11020-410: The waist, and that charge may have been a flourish added by the two correspondents; it was not repeated by Wesley Norris when his account of the incident was published in 1866 [...] [A]lthough it seems unlikely that he would have done any of the whipping himself, he may not have flinched from observing it to make sure his orders were carried out exactly." Several historians have noted what they consider
11136-475: The west and east, and Capitol Street and East Broad Street to the south. The building is executed in a meticulous Gothic Revival style, and was designated a National Historic Landmark for its architecture. While the overall composition of the building is generally symmetrical, the 195-foot (59 m) clock tower on the left side of the principal facade gives an impression of asymmetry. The four main levels are executed in gray granite. The interior centers around
11252-537: The will required people formerly enslaved by Custis "to be emancipated by my executors in such manner as to my executors may seem most expedient and proper, the said emancipation to be accomplished in not exceeding five years from the time of my decease". The estate was in disarray, and the plantations had been poorly managed and were losing money. Lee tried to hire an overseer to handle the plantation in his absence, writing to his cousin, "I wish to get an energetic honest farmer, who while he will be considerate & kind to
11368-489: Was a gradual emancipationist, denouncing extremist proposals for the immediate abolition of slavery. Lee rejected what he called evilly motivated political passion, fearing a civil and servile war from precipitous emancipation. Historian Elizabeth Brown Pryor offered an alternative interpretation of Lee's voluntary manumission of slaves in his will, and assisting slaves to a life of freedom in Liberia, seeing Lee as conforming to
11484-425: Was a great evil, but primarily due to adverse impact that it had on white people: In this enlightened age, there are few I believe, but what will acknowledge, that slavery as an institution, is a moral & political evil in any Country. It is useless to expatiate on its disadvantages. I think it however a greater evil to the white man than to the black race, & while my feelings are strongly enlisted in behalf of
11600-465: Was a suitable man for his daughter. She accepted him with her father's consent in September 1830, while he was on summer leave, and the two were wed on June 30, 1831. Lee's duties at Fort Monroe were varied, typical for a junior officer, and ranged from budgeting to designing buildings. Although Mary Lee accompanied her husband to Hampton Roads , she spent about a third of her time at Arlington, though
11716-417: Was a well-respected architect who had designed the state capitols of Colorado , Idaho , Michigan and Texas , but it was later found that Myers had paid a bribe of $ 1,500 to ensure that his design would be built. Cost overruns were attributed to the massive and ornamented nature of the design. From 1900/05 to 1913, City Hall was the tallest building in both Richmond and Virginia until being surpassed by
11832-421: Was assigned to assist Andrew Talcott in surveying the southern border of Michigan. While on that expedition, he responded to a letter from an ill Mary Lee, which had requested he come to Arlington, "But why do you urge my immediate return, & tempt one in the strongest manner[?]... I rather require to be strengthened & encouraged to the full performance of what I am called on to execute." Lee completed
11948-485: Was bid twice, and both times the low bids were well above the budget. A new competition was held, and a design by Wait & Cutter of Boston was selected. Working drawings were prepared in 1886. Despite this, later that year the city council reversed its former decision and moved forward with the Myers design. Ground was broken for the new structure in 1886, with costs rising from a projected $ 300,000 to $ 1,318,349.19. Myers
12064-440: Was de-activated in 2015, and its remaining companies, detachments, personnel, and materials were then absorbed into the 4th Regiment, where its made up the 4th Regiment's Company C. The Code of Virginia guarantees that members of the Virginia Defense Force who are called to active duty or training are entitled to a leave of absence, and full reemployment rights after their deployment ends. However, members employed out of state or by
12180-607: Was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1971. Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War , toward the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army . He led the Army of Northern Virginia , the Confederacy's most powerful army, from 1862 until its surrender in 1865, earning
12296-413: Was dissolved in the wake of the VDF's major reorganization in the fall of 2013. The Virginia Defense Force maintained a riverine detachment which was capable of conducting inland aquatic search and rescue operations as well as transport and security operations. The Riverine Detachment was dissolved in the spring of 2013. The RD, as an (unofficial) part of the naval militia of the state, formerly carried
12412-488: Was done." The Norris men were then sent by Lee's agent to work on the railroads in Virginia and Alabama . According to the interview, Norris was sent to Richmond in January 1863 "from which place I finally made my escape through the rebel lines to freedom". But Federal authorities reported that Norris came within their lines on September 5, 1863, and that he "left Richmond ..with a pass from General Custis Lee." Lee freed
12528-473: Was interrupted by other duties, among them surveying and updating maps in Florida. Cuban revolutionary Narciso López intended to forcibly liberate Cuba from Spanish rule. In 1849, searching for a leader for his filibuster expedition, he approached Jefferson Davis, then a United States senator. Davis declined and suggested Lee, who also declined. Both decided it was inconsistent with their duties. The 1850s were
12644-426: Was marked by conflicts between artillery and engineering officers. Eventually, the War Department transferred all engineering officers away from Fort Monroe, except Lee, who was ordered to take up residence on the artificial island of Rip Raps across the river from Fort Monroe, where Fort Wool would eventually rise, and continue work to improve the island. Lee duly moved there, then discharged all workers and informed
12760-534: Was moved to Waller Depot in Richmond, Virginia. On September 29, 2019, the Virginia Defense Force consolidated its remaining four regiments into a single regiment, the 1st Regiment. In a ceremony at Ft. Barfoot, the 2nd Regiment in Manassas, the 3rd Regiment (Reserve) in Richmond, and the 4th Regiment in Lynchburg were stood down while the 1st Regiment was stood up as a single consolidated command. According to Brigadier General (VA) Justin P. Carlitti, Commanding General of
12876-505: Was often supported by a relative, William Henry Fitzhugh , who owned the Oronoco Street house and allowed the Lees to stay at his country home Ravensworth . Fitzhugh wrote to United States Secretary of War , John C. Calhoun , urging that Robert be given an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Fitzhugh had young Robert deliver the letter. Lee entered West Point in
12992-484: Was put in debtors' prison . Soon after his release the following year, the family moved to the city of Alexandria which at the time was still part of the District of Columbia , which retroceded back to Virginia in 1847, both because there were then high quality local schools there, and because several members of Anne's extended family lived nearby. In 1811, the family, including the newly born sixth child, Mildred, moved to
13108-654: Was responsible for Northern Virginia with A Company operating in Manassas and Fairfax and B Company operating in Fredericksburg and Bowling Green with a detachment in Warrenton and Culpeper. Originally the 3rd Regiment's headquarters and A Company were based in Winchester with B Company in Leesburg and C Company in Charlottesville, the previous reorganization left the 3rd Regiment in a Reserve status and relocated to Richmond. It
13224-666: Was still captain of engineers, and he would remain a captain until his transfer to the cavalry in 1855. For the first time, Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant met and worked with each other during the Mexican–American War. Close observations of their commanders constituted a learning process for both Lee and Grant. The Mexican–American War concluded on February 2, 1848. After the Mexican War, Lee spent three years at Fort Carroll in Baltimore harbor. During this time, his service
13340-468: Was stood down in a ceremony on September 29, 2019, at Ft. Pickett. The 4th Regiment, headquartered in Lynchburg with three companies garrisoned in Bedford (A Company), Lynchburg (B Company), and Gate City / Pulaski (C Company, remnants of the 5th Regiment) respectively, was stood down in a ceremony at Ft. Pickett on September 29, 2019. The Virginia Defense Force 5th Regiment, originally based out of Gate City,
13456-613: Was to build a fort on the marshy island which would command the outlet of the Savannah River . Lee was involved in the early stages of construction as the island was being drained and built up. In 1831, it became apparent that the existing plan to build what became known as Fort Pulaski would have to be revamped, and Lee was transferred to Fort Monroe at the tip of the Virginia Peninsula (today in Hampton, Virginia ). While home in
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