One cousin, after hearing of Lee’s decision made after praying for guidance, coldly replied, “I wish he had read over his commission as well as his prayers.” Another West Point graduate, Henry Coppée, criticized Lee in print in 1864. “Treason is Treason,” he said. Lee “flung away his loyalty for no better reason than a mistaken interpretation of noblesse oblige.” Another former army colleague quoted the book of Isaiah: “Robert Lee is commander in chief of the Commonwealth—‘O Lucifer son of morning star how art thou fallen.’”47
