62 CHARLES LEE 



kindly that his rough heart was softened. He averred, 

 with terrific oaths, that " a place would surely be re- 

 served for Madame in heaven, though no other woman 

 should be there, and that he should wish for nothing 

 better than to share her final destiny." 1 



By December the wound had healed, and we find 

 him in winter quarters on Long Island, thrashing the 

 surgeon of his regiment for a scandalous lampoon. 

 And here we are introduced to the first of a series of 

 little " special providences " keeping this personage 

 alive for the singular part which he was to play in 

 American history. The cowardly doctor nursed his 

 wrath, lurked among the bushes by a lonely roadside, 

 seized the captain's bridle, and fired at his heart ; but 

 the horse opportunely shied and the bullet tore Lee's 

 clothing and skin just under the left arm. The sur- 

 geon was cocking a second pistol when another 

 officer came up and struck it from his hand. Then 

 the surgeon was collared and dragged off to camp, 

 where a court-martial presently turned him adrift 

 upon the world. 



The next summer Lee was present at the capture 

 of Fort Niagara, and was sent with a small party to 

 follow the route of the few French who escaped. 

 This was the first party of English troops that ever 

 crossed Lake Erie. Their march led them to Fort 

 Duquesne (now Pittsburg), which General Forbes had 

 captured the year before. Thence a march of seven 

 hundred miles brought them to Crown Point to meet 

 General Amherst. There was yet another long march 

 to Oswego and back before Lee settled down for the 

 winter in Philadelphia, and was employed in beating 



1 Lossing's "Schuyler," I. 154. 



