I guess he changed his mind when he saw what the “Goon” was doing in Charleston Harbor. I think that might have something to do with it. Action speak louder than words.
Lee repeatedly said that his decision to go to the Confederate cause was purely because he couldn’t see himself taking up arms against Virginia. In fact a full week after the south attacked US forces at Ft. Sumter, he wrote to his sister, “With all my devotion to the Union, and the feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relative, my children, my home. I have, therefore, resigned my commission in the Army, and save in defense of my native State (with the sincere hope that my poor services may never be needed) I hope I may never be called upon to draw my sword. “