<P> By 3 : 30 that afternoon , President James Buchanan ordered a company of U.S. Marines ( the only government troops in the immediate area ) to march on Harpers Ferry under the command of Brevet Colonel Robert E. Lee , lieutenant colonel of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry Regiment. Lee had been on leave from his regiment , stationed in Texas , when he was hastily called to lead the detachment and had to command it while wearing his civilian clothes . </P>
who led the soldiers in ending the raid on the harper 's ferry arsenal
Brevet Colonel Robert E. Lee