Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/213

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VIRGIXIA BIOGRAPHY

part in the capture of Montreal. He re- turned to England and was promoted major in the One Hundred and Third Regiment August 10, 1761. After serxice in Bur- goyne's division in Portugal, in 1762, lie or- ganized a project for establishing new colo- nies in America, to be recruited from Ger- many, Switzerland and New England. The British ministr}- refused to approve the plan, and he went to Poland in 1764, where he was appointed on the staff of the King, and accompanied the Polish embassy to Turkev in 1766. He returned to England in 1766, and unsuccessfully urged his claims to promotion. He accepted a commission as major-general in the Polish army in 1769. and made a campaign against the 'lurks, after which he publicly derided his .superior officers and left the army. He vis- ited Italy in 1770. returned to England, was in France and Switzerland, 1771-72, and on May 25. 1772. he was promoted lieutenant- colonel in the British army and placed on half-pay. Disappointed, he arrix-ed in .Amer- ica. November 10, 1773. made the acquaint- ance of the revolutionary leaders, was in Philadelphia during the first session of the continental congress, and his expressed knowledge of military science attracted at- tention. He purchased for £5,000 Virginia currency, an estate in Berkeley county, Virginia, near the estate of Horatio Gates, whose friendship he had gained. He was commissioned second major-general in the continental army in June, 1775. The friends of Lee, notably Thomas Mifflin, earnestly urged his claims for first place against Ar- tcmas Ward, and when forced to second place, Lee mercilessly ridiculed the military skill of General Ward. He refused to ac- cept until promised indemnity for any pe-

cuniary loss he might suffer by accepting a commission, and congress assented. On July 22 he resigrned his commission and half-pay in the British 'lirmy and joined Washington in his journey to Cambridge. Massachusetts, where he was placed in com- mand of the left wing of the army, with headquarters at Winter Hill. When Sir Henry Clinton left Boston on his southern expedition, Gen. Lee was sent to Newport. Rhode Island, and in January, 1776, pro- ceeded to New York, where he directed the fortifying of the harbor. When the news of the death of Montgomery at Quebec reached Philadelphia, Gen. Lee was made commander of the army in Canada, but when Clinton's destination was found to be the southern states. Lee was transferred to the command of the department of the South, and went from New York to Vir- ginia, where he organized the cavalry and advocated a speedy Declaration of Inde- pendence. He reached Charleston, South Carolina, with his army, June 4, 1776, the same day the British fleet entered the har- bor with the troops of Clinton and Corn- wallis. Gen. Moultrie had constructed a fort of palmetto wood on Sullivan's Island, which Lee proposed to abandon as inde- fensible, but through the efforts of Presi- dent Rutledge the fort was garrisoned, and in the battle of June 28, 1776, Moultrie pre- vented the British fleet from making a land- ing, and Lee was g^ven the credit of the vic- tory and became popularly known as xhe '*Hero of Charleston." He proposed to in- vade Florida, but congress ordered him to report to Philadelphia, where he received $30,000 indemnity for losses by the seques- tration of his property in England. Lee ar- rived in New York, October 14, 1776, and

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