Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/41

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

the loss of five of his riders carried off i6o prisoners, for which service Congress gave him a gold medal. He was promoted lieu- tenant-colonel and marched to South Caro* lina, where he covered the rear of General Greene's army. After Greene had crossed into Virginia, Lee remained in the moun- tains of North Carolina to encourage the Whigs and harrass Tarleton and the loyal- ists. His efforts to surprise the British dragoons were unsuccessful, but he defeated 400 loyalists under Colonel Pyle. At Guil- ford Court House, March 15, 1781, his legion proved more than a match for Tarleton's dragoons, and, when General Greene marched against Camden, he sent Lee and Marion to cut off Rawdon's communications with the seacoast, and they captured Fort Watson, which forced Rawdon to abandon and bum Camden, May 10, 1781. Colonel Lee then proceeded south, capturing Forts Mott and Granby, and May 25 reached Au- gusta, Georgia, which city also fell into his hands June 5, 1781. He rejoined Greene's army, and took part in the siege of Fort Ninety-six, which after twenty-eight days was raised on the approach of Rawdon with 2000 men. In the battle of Eutaw Springs, September 8, 1781, Lee's Legion rendered distinguished service, and when the British retreated to Charleston, Lee followed so closely as to capture a large number of Raw- don's rear-gu«ird. He witnessed the sur- render of Cornwaliis at Yorktown, October 19, 1781, and soon after resigned his com- mission and became proprietor of "Strat- ford House," by his marriage to his second cousin, Matilda, daughter of Philip Ludwell Lee. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress from Virginia, 1785-88, and a mem- ber of the convention called to ratify the

Federal constitution in 1788, and in that body, with Madison and Marshall, he op- posed the efforts of Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, George Mason, James Monroe, Benjamin Harrison and John Tyler, to de- feat the ratification. He was a representa- tive in the general assembly, 1789-91, and governor 1792-95. President Washington, in 1794, commissioned him major-general in command of troops sent to Western Penn- sylvania to suppress the whiskey insurrec- tion, and on his appearance with 15,000 men the insurrectionists were overawed and peace was restored without bloodshed. He w^as a representative in the sixth Congress, 1 799- 1 801, and at the close retired to private life. He married (second) in 1798, .Ann Hill, daughter of Charles and Anne Butler (Moore) Carter, of Shirley, Virginia. He was oppressed by debt the last years of his life. On July 27, 1812, while in Baltimore on a visit to William Hanson, editor of the •'Federal Republican," the printing office was attacked by a mob, and in the conflict that followed he was left for dead upon the street, where he was found insensible. He was disqualified for military service from the effects of this encounter. He visited the West Indies in 1817 for the benefit of his health, and on his way home he stopped at the homestead of General Greene, near St. Mary's, Georgia, where he was entertained by Mrs. Shaw, daughter of his old com- mander, and under whose roof he died. He was the author of: "Funeral Oration upon President Washington," (1799), delivered before both houses of Congress, in which occur the words, *The man, first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his fellow-citizens" ; and of "War in the South- ern United States" (2 vols., 1812). He diea

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