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 LEE 301 munication between the northern and southern states ; the result of which would be, that while the advance of Burgoyne from the north would give sufficient occupation to New England and New York, Howe could overwhelm the Amer- ican army in New Jersey, thus " unhinging and dissolving the whole system of defence." Upon this document, the authenticity of which is deemed incontrovertible, an elaborate paper, entitled "The Treason of Charles Lee," was read before the New York historical society by George H. Moore in June, 1858, and after- ward separately published. The mysterious expedition of the Howes with the British fleet southward in the summer of 1777, it is sup- posed, may be explained by a reference to this plan; and Lee's request to congress, during his captivity, to be permitted to communicate to a committee of their body matters of in- terest to the public and to himself, may be in like manner referred to his desire to be of service to the crown in reopening negotia- tions with congress. In May, 1778, he was exchanged for Gen. Prescott, and joined the American camp at Valley Forge, where he re- ceived the command of a division. In the gen- eral council of officers held in the succeeding month he strongly opposed the project of at- tacking the British army on their march from Philadelphia through New Jersey ; and he sub- sequently commanded the advance at the bat- tle of Monmouth, June 28, after formally re- signing the post to Lafayette. His wilful con- duct on this occasion in ordering a retreat by which the day was nearly lost, against the ex- press command of Washington, who was hur- rying forward to his support with the main body of the American army, was the occasion of an outbreak of anger on the part of the commander-in-chief which was long remem- bered by those who witnessed it. Some, who had noted Lee's opposition to any project for attacking the enemy, were led to suspect that he was secretly aiding them by endeavoring to procure a defeat of the Americans. It ap- peared afterward that his division, consisting largely of militia, had been unexpectedly at- tacked by the whole rear guard of the British army, and that some little confusion at first prevailed in the American ranks ; but after putting the most favorable construction upon his conduct, it is impossible to absolve him from the charge of irresolution and negligence unworthy of a commanding officer. Such was substantially the verdict of the court martial convened to examine into his conduct at Mon- mouth, who also found him guilty of writing disrespectful letters to the commander-in-chief, and sentenced him to suspension from any command in the army for one year. He was not prepared for this sentence, having expected from the ingenuity and ability of his defence to be triumphantly acquitted ; and during the delay of congress to affirm it, his naturally irascible temper betrayed him into frequent acts of imprudence, which only increased the feeling of suspicion and dislike with which he was beginning to be regarded. For the dis- paraging manner in which he spoke of Wash- ington he was challenged by Col. John Lau- rens, one of the latter's aides, and was wounded in the side by a pistol ball in the duel which ensued. Congress having ratified his sentence, he retired to his estate in Virginia, where he wrote for the "Maryland Journal" his "Que- ries, Political and Military," the drift of which was to cast a slur upon the character and mili- tary conduct of Washington. He inhabited a house rudely and hastily constructed, without partitions, and almost without the necessary furniture, where, surrounded by his dogs, of which he was immoderately fond, and his books, he lived "more like a hermit than a citizen of the world." The divisions of the apartments were marked by lines of chalk, which he claimed was an improvement upon walls. The term of his suspension had just expired when a rumor reached him that con- gress designed to deprive him of his commis- sion. In a sudden fit of anger he despatched to the president of that body an insulting note, the result of which was his immediate dismissal from the service. He soon wearied of the life of a planter, and in the autumn of 1782 visited Baltimore and Philadelphia with a view of negotiating for the sale of his estate. In the latter place he was attacked by a fever of which he died within five days, exclaiming in the delirium of his last moments : " Stand by me, my brave grenadiers." With characteristic ec- centricity he directed in his will that his body should not be interred in any church or church yard, or within a mile of any Presbyterian or Anabaptist church. He was, however, buried in the cemetery of Christ church, whither his remains were attended by a large concourse, including many whom his wayward conduct had not entirely alienated, and who gratefully remembered his early efforts for colonial free- dom, and his occasional generous acts and im- pulses. His memoirs have been written by Edward Langworthy, by his kinsman Sir Henry Bunbury, and by Jared Sparks in his "Library of American Biography." LEE, Charles Alfred, an American physician, born at Salisbury, Conn., March 3, 1801, died at Peekskill, N. Y., Feb. 14, 1872. He gradu- ated in medicine at the Berkshire medical in- stitution in Pittsfield, Mass., in 1825, and be- came widely known as a teacher and writer upon medical subjects. He held professor- ships at various times, chiefly of materia med- ica and obstetrics, in the medical department of the university of the city of New York, the Geneva medical college, at Geneva, N. Y., the medical department of the university of Buf- falo, the Berkshire medical institution, the Maine medical college at Brunswick, the Ver- mont medical college at Woodstock, and the Columbus medical college, Ohio. He conduct- ed for some years the "New York Journal of Medicine," and edited the American edition of