Henry Lee III
Henry Lee III | |
---|---|
Confederation Congress from Virginia | |
In office 1786–1788 | |
Preceded by | James Monroe |
Personal details | |
Born | Federalist | January 29, 1756
Spouses |
|
Children | 9, including Henry IV, Sydney, and Robert |
Parent | Henry Lee II (father) |
Relatives | See Lee family |
Alma mater | College of New Jersey |
Signature | |
Nickname | "Light-Horse Harry" |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States |
Branch/service |
|
Years of service |
|
Rank |
|
Battles/wars | |
Henry Lee III (January 29, 1756 – March 25, 1818) was an early American Patriot and politician who served as the ninth Governor of Virginia and as the Virginia Representative to the United States Congress. Lee's service during the American Revolution as a cavalry officer in the Continental Army earned him the nickname by which he is best known, "Light-Horse Harry".[note 1] He was the father of Robert E. Lee, who led the Army of Northern Virginia against the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Early life and education
Lee was born on
Lee graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1773 and began pursuing a legal career.
Career
American Revolutionary War
With the outbreak of the
In 1778, Lee was promoted to
During his time as commander of the Legion, Lee earned the moniker of "Light-Horse Harry" for his horsemanship. On September 22, 1779, the Continental Congress voted to present Lee with a gold medal, an honor given to no other officer below the rank of general, for the Legion's actions during the Battle of Paulus Hook.[5][6]
Lee was promoted to
Post-war career
From 1786 to 1788, Lee was a delegate to the
In 1794, President
At Washington's funeral on December 26, 1799, Lee famously eulogized him to a crowd of 4,000 as "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."[10]
From 1799 to 1801, he served in the United States House of Representatives as a member of the Federalist Party. After retiring from public service in 1801, he lived with his family at Stratford Hall and unsuccessfully tried to manage his plantation. The Panic of 1796–1797 and bankruptcy of Robert Morris reduced Lee's fortune.
In 1808, he was recommissioned by President Thomas Jefferson as major-general when war with Great Britain was imminent; Lee organized the Virginia militia. In 1809, he became bankrupt and served one year in debtors' prison in Montross, Virginia; his son, Robert Lee, was two years old at the time.[11] After release, Lee moved his family to Alexandria, Virginia.
Later life and death
He asked President
Lee suffered extensive internal injuries and head and face wounds, and even his speech was affected. His observed symptoms were consistent with what is now called
Personal life and family
Between April 8 and 13, 1782, at Stratford Hall, Lee married his second cousin, Matilda Ludwell Lee (1764–1790), who was known as "the Divine Matilda". She was the daughter of Philip Ludwell Lee Sr. and Elizabeth Steptoe. Matilda had three children before she died in 1790:
- Philip Ludwell Lee (1784–1794)
- Lucy Grymes Lee (1786–1860)
- Henry Lee IV (May 28, 1787 – January 30, 1837) was a historian and author who also served as a speechwriter for both John C. Calhoun and presidential candidate Andrew Jackson, also helping the latter to write his inaugural address.
On June 18, 1793, Lee married the wealthy
- Algernon Sidney Lee (April 2, 1795 – August 9, 1796), died at Sully Plantation, buried there in an unmarked grave[16]
- Charles Carter Lee (1798–1871)
- Anne Kinloch Lee (1800–1864)
- Sydney Smith Lee (1802–1869)
- Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870), the fifth child of Henry and Anne, served as Confederate general-in-chief during the American Civil War.
- Mildred Lee (1811–1856)
In popular culture
According to screenwriter Robert Rodat, the fictional character of Colonel Harry Burwell in the 2000 film The Patriot was inspired by the historical exploits of Henry Lee.[17]
In the 1969 musical 1776, Lee's nickname is mentioned (anachronistically) during the song "The Lees of Old Virginia," sung by the character of his older cousin Richard Henry Lee.
Henry Lee III was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Virginia.[18]
Works
- Lee, Henry, and Robert E. Lee. Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United States. Eyewitness accounts of the American Revolution. Philadelphia: Bradford and Inskeep, 1812. (3rd ed. published in 1869, with a memoir by his son Robert E. Lee.)
See also
Notes
- ^ In the military parlance of the time, the term "Light-horse" had a hyphen between the two words "light" and "horse". See the title page of The Discipline of the Light-Horse. By Captain Hinde, of the Royal Regiment of Foresters, (Light-Dragoons.) published in London in 1778, a cavalry tactics classic which was used as a manual.
References
- ^ Dillon 1903, liv-lv.
- ^ Hinde 1778.
- ^ Haythornthwaite & Hook 2013.
- ^ Cecere 2019.
- ^ The medal, which is silver, finally presented to Lee is now held in Princeton University's Numismatic Collection. Also included are a signed letter from Lee to the New Jersey quartermaster from 1780 and a signed letter of the same year from George Washington, then commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, approving Lee's plan to capture Benedict Arnold.
- ^ Discovery of medal that Congress granted to Lee Archived September 1, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Boyd 1931.
- ^ Templin, Thomas E. Henry Light Horse Harry Lee: A Biography. Ph.D. dissertation. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky, 1975.
- ^ "Whiskey Insurrection/Rebellion". Archived from the original on October 17, 2018. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
- ^ "Papers of George Washington". Gwpapers.virginia.edu. Archived from the original on February 28, 2012.
- ^ A Princeton Companion (Lee, Henry), 1978, archived from the original on June 2, 2010, retrieved August 20, 2010
- ^ Gilje 1980.
- ^ "A Contemporaneous Account of the Baltimore Riot of 1812, A Narrative of Mr. John Thompson, One of the Unfortunate Sufferers". September 1, 1812. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
- ^ William W. Winn. Private Fastness: Tales Of Wild, American Heritage, April 1972, Volume 23, Issue 3.
- ^ Fontaine, William W. "The Descent Of General Robert Edward Lee From Robert The Bruce, Of Scotland", Civilwarhome.com. Retrieved October 13, 2008.
- ^ Gamble 1973, p. 40.
- ^ The Patriot Film: Fact or Fiction
- ^ "Officers Represented in the Society of the Cincinnati". The American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
Sources
- Boyd, Thomas A. (1931). Light-Horse Harry Lee. New York: C. Scribner's Sons.
- Cecere, Michael (September 19, 2019). "The Court Martial of Major Henry Lee". Journal of the American Revolution.
- ISBN 9780722291474.
- Gamble, Robert S. (1973). Sully: Biography of a House. Chantilly, Va.: Sully Foundation Ltd.
- Gilje, Paul A. (1980). "The Baltimore Riots of 1812 and the Breakdown of the Anglo-American Mob Tradition". Journal of Social History. 13 (4): 547–564. JSTOR 3787432.
- Haythornthwaite, Philip J.; Hook, Adam (2013). Napoleonic Light Cavalry Tactics. Botley, Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
- Hinde, Captain Robert (1778). Discipline of the Light-Horse. London: W.Owen. Retrieved August 20, 2010.
- ISBN 978-1-4391-9329-7.
Further reading
- A Guide to the Governor Henry Lee Executive Papers, 1791–1794. The Library of Virginia.
- Herrera, Ricardo A. (2015). "(T)he Zealous Activity of Capt. Lee: Light-Horse Harry Lee and Petite Guerre". Journal of Military History. 79: 9–36.
- Royster, Charles (1978). Light-Horse Harry Lee and the Legacy of the American Revolutionary War. Williamsburg, Va.: Institute of Early American History and Culture.
- Sherman, William Thomas (ed.). Lee's Legion Remembered: Profiles of the 2d Partisan Corps.
- Gerson, Noel B. (1966). Light-Horse Harry: A Biography of Washington's Great Cavalryman, General Henry Lee. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday Press.
- Lee, Henry; Lee, Charles Carter (1839). Observations on the writings of Thomas Jefferson, with Particularx reference to the attack they contain on the memory of the late Gen. Henry Lee.
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 361.
External links
- United States Congress. "Henry Lee III (id: L000195)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
William Sturgis Thomas, Members of the Society of the Cincinnati, Original, Hereditary and Honorary; With a Brief Account of the Society's History and Aims (New York: T.A. Wright, 1929) page 93.