Read the Constitution, Wlat.
The Constitution says, "Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort."
Lee clearly did that before his resignation was accepted. You don't think that a big deal, fine. Others may differ on it.
"According to paragraph 24 of the Regulations of the Unted States Army, "No officer will be considered out of service on the tender of his resignation, until after it shall have been duly accepted by the proper authority." Paragraph 28 states that "in time of war, or with an army in the field, resignations shall take effect within thirty days from the date of the order of acceptance." But Lee disregarded these restrictions. Between the posting of his resignation on April 20 and its acceptance on April 25, Lee drew his sword with remarkable alacrity."
-- "Lee Considered" p. 39 by Alan Nolan
"April 20, the day that Lee wrote and dispatched his resignation, was a Saturday. On the evening of the same day, he received the initial communication from Judge Robertson, Governor Letcher's representative, requesting an interview to take place on Sunday, April 21. Lee responded at once, setting the meeting for Sunday in Alexandria. Robertson did not appear on Sunday but that night Lee received an explanation from Robertson and an invitation, in the name of the governor, to go to Richmond for a conference with the governor. Lee again responded at once, saying that he would meet Robertson the next day, April 22, in Alexandria, in time to travel vrith him to Richmond. The two men traveled together on April 23 to Richmond, where Lee was offered and accepted the Virginia commission and, on the same date, was confirmed by the convention. Having been posted on the twentieth, Lee's resignation was not on the twenty-second a public document. Indeed, as Lee conferred with the governor of Virginia, accepted Virginia's commission, and won confirmation from the convention, the War Department of the United States was receiving the resignation and processing it so that it could be accepted on April. 25...Vice President Alexander H. Stephens, whose well-knovm "corner- stone speech" of March 1861 had proclaimed that the Confederacy's foundation rested on the great truth of black slavery, had been appointed by President Davis as special commissioner to Virginia on April 19, 1861, the day before Lee sent in his resignation from the United States Army. Governor Letcher had previously advised Davis of the desire of Virginia to enter into a defensive and offensive alliance vrith the Confederacy. Dispatched to Richmond, Stephens was instructed by Davis to be receptive to the alliance and to negotiate with Virginia on the premise of that state's becoming a part of the Confederacy. Stephens arrived in Richmond on April 32 and was present during part of the activity looking toward Lee's appointment on that day. Also on April 22 Virginia's secretary of state sent a communication to Jefferson Davis staling, "I am directed by the Governor to inform you that Colonel Lee is here. The Governor has sent in his nomination as commander of the land and naval forces of Virginia, with rank of major- general. Nomination will be confirmed. "Promptly after his confirmation by the convention, Lee met with Stephens and agreed that Virginia should join the Confederacy. "
Ibid pp. 41-42
Lee clearly violated the regulations of the United States Army in meeting with secessionist leaders, who were in the process of levying war on the United States.
The surrender terms that General Grant allowed meant that Lee would not be tried for treason, but there is no doubt that he did commit treason against the United States, whether convicted or not.
As the txt above shows, Lee received a communication from the secessionists on April 20, thuis begging the question of whether or not he had been in communication with them even before he posted his resignation.
Walt
No, he didn't. Lee didn't "adhere" to any enemies of the U.S. in Virginia between April 17 and April 25, 1861, because Virginia was at peace with the United States. He entered service in the Virginia Militia, period.
Furthermore, Lee was no longer a citizen of the United States. The treason clause does not stipulate, but we can infer from its wording, that it does not apply to noncitizens, so that after April 17th, Robert E. Lee no longer fell under the treason clause. Constitutional action by the State of Virginia thus delivered Lee from the imputation of treason, even if Virginia and the Unites States had immediately come to blows, which they did not.
As the txt above shows, Lee received a communication from the secessionists on April 20, thuis begging the question of whether or not he had been in communication with them even before he posted his resignation.
Your demonstration of Nolan's malice and persecutive zeal is helpful, but it doesn't wash your argument. A request for an interview about a state militia commission does not constitute the blackguarding and treachery that you and Nolan so very clearly desire, out of the fond hopes of your own malevolence, to show that Lee engaged in.
It just isn't there. He resigned, Walt. And he told everyone who needed to know what he was doing, and when. He didn't play Winfield Scott or Abraham Lincoln false, and he received the President's representative and dealt with him candidly.
You just repeat your backbiting and weaselwording exercises about Lee's resignation date, versus its acceptance date, versus again the last date that Lee received monies owed for his service in a prior period, etc. etc., over and over, after you have been shown you are wrong; and then you quote a notorious polemical pickaxe, Alan Nolan, as your "authority" for your vilification. That's slothful induction and worse, it's just bad faith in argument.