LHK. 



family. He received the rudiments of his education 

 from 'it . .ir, and was tlicn sent to Princeton 



college, where be was graduated in the eighteenth 

 year of his ago. In 1774, soon alter his return home, 

 i, * ... i,:,u-:i.l \v...i i!i>- man. mfim nt <>!' all the 

 private cooorrns of his father, whilst the latter \vas 

 engaged in negotiating a treaty with some Indian 

 tribes on behalf of tlie colony, and, in the execution 

 b charge, he displayeii u degree of prudence, 

 ry, and ability Ix-yond his years. In 1776, he 

 was appointed a captain of one ot the six companies of 

 cavalry, raised by Virginia, after she had thrown off 

 th- authority of the mother country. About this 

 time, the large armies sent by Great Britain into 

 America rendered it indispensable that every possible 

 reinforcement should be sent to general Washington, 

 and. in consequence, those companies were incorpo- 

 rated into one regiment, under the command of 

 ant-colonel Bland, and offered by Virginia to 

 congress. Their services were accepted, and, in 

 niber, 1777, they joined the main army of the 

 provincials. Young Lee was thus afforded an op- 

 portunity of winning distinction, which he quickly 

 lid. Me maintained a strict system of discipline, 

 and was extremely careful of his men and horses, by 

 which he was enabled to move with celerity, and 

 strike the enemy by surprise, with certainty and suc- 

 cess. He particularly attracted the notice of Wash- 

 ington, who, at the battle of Germantown, selected 

 him, with his company, to attend as his body-guard. 

 In January, 1778, the British formed a plan to cap- 

 ture him. Two hundred of their cavalry succeeded 

 in approaching his quarters, a stone house, unper- 

 ceived, at a time when his troopers were dispersed 

 in search of forage. There were only ten men with 

 him, most of them officers ; but, with these, he de- 

 fended the house obstinately, and the assailants were 

 constrained to retreat. In consequence of this and 

 other exploits, he was, shortly afterwards, promoted 

 by congress to the rank of major, with the command 

 of a separate corps of cavalry, consisting of three 

 companies, to which both cavalry and infantry were 

 subsequently added. In 1780 he was sent, with his 

 legion, to the army of the south, under general 

 (.Hi ne, having been previously raised to a lieu- 

 tenant-colonelcy, and continued with it until the end 

 of the war. In the famous retreat of Greene, before 

 Cornwallis, into Virginia, Lee's legion formed the 

 rear-guard of the American army, and repelled every 

 attempt of the enemy to impede its march. After 

 Greene had effected his retreat to a place of safety, 

 he sent Lee and colonel Pickens into North Carolina, 

 to watch and interrupt the movements of Cornwallis, 

 intending to return himself into that state, and bring 

 the British general to battle. While the two colonels 

 were marching to surprise Tarleton, Lee fell in with 

 a couple of messengers sent to this British officer 

 from colonel Pyle, the commander of a body of 400 

 American royalists. The messengers mistook Lee 

 for Tarleton, as the accoutrements of his troopers 

 u ere similar to those of the British officer, and com- 

 municated to him full information concerning Pyle's 

 movements. Availing himself of the mistake, Lee 

 personated Tarleton, and sent one of the messengers 

 to Pyle, with directions for him to take post at a 

 certain station, where he and Pickens soon after 

 came up with him and dispersed his force. At the 

 battle of Guilford court-house, which happened soon 

 afterwards, Lee eminently distinguished himself. He 

 was placed with his legion, on the left of the front 

 line of Greene's army, and, although the North Caro- 

 lina militia, the principal force attached to their po- 

 sition, abandoned them at the very commencement 

 of the action, they yet contrived to keep the enemy 

 at bay, until the order to retreat was given by the 



American general. Previous to the battle in the 

 morning, Lee encountered the cavalry ot Tarleton, 

 and drove them hack with considerable loss. Dur- 

 ing the interval between this battle and that of 

 Camden, in which Greene was worsted by lord 

 Uawdon, Lee took several forts. After the latter 

 engagement, he was sent to aid Pickens in the cap- 

 ture of Augusta, in Georgia, and, in his way thither, 

 surprised and took fort Godolphin, in which there 

 was a valuable deposit of the enemy's military stores. 

 On his junction with Pickens, they immediately in- 

 vested fort Cornwallis, on which the fate of Augusta 

 depended, and soon forced it to surrender. Its com- 

 mander was colonel Brown, who was particularly 

 obnoxious to the Americans; and his life would have 

 been a sacrifice to their hatred, had it not been for 

 the precautions of colonel Lee. He then returned, 

 with his prisoners, to the army of Greene, who was, 

 at that time, besieging the fortress of Ninety-Six. 

 In that siege Lee had a conspicuous share, and, in 

 the attempt made to take the place by storm, he was 

 charged with the attack in one quarter. He was 

 completely successful ; but, the other assault having 

 been less fortunate, the siege was raised. In the 

 action which, a short time subsequently, occurred at 

 Eulaw springs, Lee was also conspicuous, acting at 

 the head of his infantry. By opportunely dismount- 

 ing his cavalry, he greatly contributed to the enemy's 

 defeat. In the ensuing month of October, he was 

 sent by Greene on a special mission to the com- 

 mander-in-chief, then employed in the siege of York- 

 town, for the purpose of requesting him to prevail 

 on the count de Grasse to afford naval assistance, to 

 enable Greene to lay siege to and take Charleston, 

 with the British army, in the south. He arrived at 

 Yorktown about the time of the surrender of Corn- 

 wallis, and, after executing his commission, returned 

 to Greene. Near the end of the war, he married. 

 In the fall of 1786, he was appointed a delegate to 

 congress from the state of Virginia, in which station 

 he remained until the present constitution of the 

 United States was carried into operation. In the 

 interim, he was elected a member of the convention 

 of Virginia, which met in June, 1788, and ratified 

 that constitution, of which instrument he was a 

 strenuous and eloquent advocate. He was after- 

 wards chosen a member of the house of delegates 

 of his native state. In 1792, he retired from his seat 

 in the assembly, on being raised to the chair of 

 governor, which he filled for three successive years. 

 In the last of them he was named by president 

 Washington to command the forces which he was 

 constrained to send into the western counties of 

 Pennsylvania, in order to quell the disturbances by 

 which they were agitated. He performed this duty 

 in the most satisfactory manner. In 1799, he was 

 again chosen a member of congress, and, while there, 

 in the same year, he was selected to pronounce a 

 funeral eulogium upon Washington. He retained 

 his seat until the accession of Mr Jefferson to the 

 chief magistracy of the Union, when he retired into 

 private life, after which he never held any conspicu- 

 ous office. The latter years of his life were distressed 

 by pecuniary embarrassments, occasioned, in a mea- 

 sure, by his generous hospitality. It was while he 

 was confined, in 1809, within the bounds of Spottsyl- 

 vania county, on account of pecuniary obligations, 

 that he prepared for publication his excellent me- 

 moirs of the southern campaigns, in which he bore 

 so conspicuous a part a work which, if not remark- 

 able for great polish of style, is entitled, from its 

 bold, manly, and sincere tone, as well as the power 

 of the descriptions, and the interest of the informa- 

 tion, to rank with the best works relating to the 

 revolutionary war. General Lee happened to be in 



