Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/703

Rh dier, b. at Leesylvama, Westmoreland co., Va., 29 Jan., 1756 ; d. on Cumberland island, Ga., 25 March, 1818, was grandson of Henry, the younger brother of Thomas Lee, of Stratford. His father, also named Henry, was for many years a member of the house of burgesses. His mother was Miss Lucy Grymes, for whom Washington in early youth entertained an unrequited passion ; she is once or twice alluded to in Washington's cor- respondence as the " Lowland beauty." Henry Lee was graduated at Prince- ton in 1774, and two years after ward, at the nomination of Patrick Henry, he was appointed captain of one of the six companies of Virginia caval- ry that formed the legion commanded by Col. Theodoric Bland. In Septem- ber, 1777, Capt. Lee, with his company, joined Washington's army in Pennsylvania. In January, 1778, he was promoted for gallant conduct to the rank of major, and placed in command of an independent partisan corps, consisting of two troops of horse, to which a third troop, together with a small body of infantry, was afterward added. This peculiar corps came to be known as " Lee's legion," and its young commander received the affectionate nickname of "Light-horse Harry." With great skill and daring, on 19 July, 1779, he surprised the British garrison at Paulus Hook, and carried off 160 prisoners, losing but five of his own men. For this affair he was presented by congress with a gold medal. In the autumn of 1780, after the disastrous battle of Camden, having been promoted lieutenant-colonel, he was sent to South Carolina with his legion, to join the army just reorganized under command of Gen. Greene. In the famous retreat through North Carolina in February, 1781, Lee's legion covered the rear of the American army and was engaged in some lively skirmishing with Tarleton's dragoons. When Greene crossed the Dan into Virginia, he left Lee on the south side of the river, to act in concert with Pickens in watching and harassing the enemy and keeping up the spirits of the Whigs in that part of the country. In the discharge of these duties Lee was unsuccess- ful in his attempts to surprise Tarleton. but de- feated a body of 400 Loyalists under Col. Pyle. His legion was actively engaged in the desperate battle at Guilford, where it proved itself more than a match for Tarleton's dragoons. When Greene re- turned into South Carolina to drive Lord Rawdon from Camden, he detached Lee and Marion to operate against Fort Watson, which commanded Rawdon's communications with the sea-coast. By a very skilful operation Fort Watson was forced to surrender, and consequently Rawdon, although victorious in the battle of Hobkirk's Hill, was compelled, by the cutting of his line of communi- cations, to abandon the all-important strategic point of Camden. Col. Lee next captured Fort Motte and Fort Granby, and on 5 June, after a siege of sixteen days, Augusta surrendered to him. He then rejoined Greene, and was engaged in the siege of Ninety-Six. In the brilliant battle of Eu- taw Springs, 8 Sept., he played a very important part, and captured great numbers of the enemy in the pursuit that followed. Throughout this event- ful year Col. Lee showed himself remarkably fer- tile in conceiving plans, and swift in executing them. At the close of the campaign he returned to Virginia, married his second cousin, Matilda, daughter of Philip Ludwell Lee, and thus came into possession of Stratford House, where he spent the latter part of his life. In 1786 he was chosen delegate to the Continental congress, and in 1788 was a member of the convention called by Vir- ginia to decide upon the ratification of the Federal constitution. In the remarkable debates that fol- lowed in the convention he earnestly and ably seconded the efforts of Madison and Marshall in defence of the constitution, and won distinction for his eloquence. In 1789-'91 he was member of the Virginia legislature, and in 1792-'5 was gov- ernor of the state. When the whiskey insurrec- tion, in the summer of 1794, broke out "in western Pennsylvania, President Washington appointed Lee as general to command the army of 15,000 men sent against the insurgents. The presence of so large a force made it possible to quell the insur- rection without bloodshed. In 1799 Gen. Lee was elected to congress, and on the death of Gen. Washington he was appointed to deliver an oration commemorating the services of that great man. Upon this occasion Lee uttered the famous phrase, " First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen." In 1801 Gen. Lee retired into private life. In August, 1812, he happened to be in Baltimore at the time of the riot occasioned by the conduct of the "Federal Republican," a Feder- alist newspaper, in opposing the war ; and in the effort to defend the property of his friend, the editor, from the violence of the mob. Gen. Lee re- ceived injuries from which he never recovered. He visited the West Indies in the hope of restoring his health, but died on his journey homeward, while stopping at the house of Mrs. Shaw, daughter of his old friend, Gen. Greene. By his first wife, Matilda Lee, he had a son and a daughter ; by his second wife, Anne Carter, he had three sons and two daughters. His "Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United States" (Phila- delphia, 1812; second ed., with additions by his son, Henry Lee, Washington. 1827; third ed., re- vised, with a biogrpphy of the author, by his son, R. E. Lee. New York, 18C9), written in 1809, is an excellent book. There is no full and satis- factory biography of Gen. Lee. An engraving of his portrait by Stuart, with a brief biographical notice, may be found in the third volume of "The National Portrait Gallery." by James B. Long- acre and James Herring (Philadelphia, 1836). — His brother, Charles, attorney-general, b. in 1758; d. in Fauquier county, Va., 24 June, 1815, studied law in Philadelphia under Jared Ingersoll, and was admitted to the bar. He was sent as a delegate to the Continental congress, and afterward served as a member of the Virginia assembly. He was naval officer of the district of the Potomac till 1795. when he was appointed on 10 Dec. U. S. attorney-general. This office he filled until 1801. He was subsequently offered the chief-justiceship of the su- preme court by President Jefferson, but declined. — His son, Henry, author, b. in Westmoreland county, Va., in 1787; d. in Paris, France, 30 Jan., 1837, was graduated at William and Mary college in 1808. He served in the war of 1812, having been appointed by President Madison a major in the 12th regiment, designed chiefly for interior defence, but soon went to the Canadian frontier as