90 CHARLES LEE 



wrath, could never forget it for the rest of their lives. 1 

 It was one of those moments that live in tradition. 

 People of to-day who know nothing else about Charles 

 Lee think of him vaguely as the man whom Wash- 

 ington upbraided at Monmouth. People who know 

 nothing else about the battle of Monmouth still dimly 

 associate it with the disgrace of a General Lee. Leav- 



1 The following letter gives a version of the rebuke : 



" CHARLOTTEVILLE, VA., Oct. 26, 1895. 

 " PROFESSOR JOHN FISKE : 



''Dear Sir : At your request, I have reduced to writing the incident 

 I related to you last evening, at the reception, after your lecture upon Gen- 

 eral Charles Lee 'The Soldier of Fortune.' 



" I am, Sir, 



" Yours faithfully, 



"WM. ROBERTSON. 



" In the year 1840, while I was a student at Hampton, Sydney College, 

 and boarding in the family of Mrs. Ann Rice (the widow of the Rev. John 

 H. Rice, D.D.), her father, Major Jacob Morton, a Revolutionary soldier, 

 living in an adjoining county (Cumberland), came to visit her. Major 

 Morton was then upward of eighty years old, but still in full possession of 

 all his mental faculties. . . . 



" The talk at the dinner table was of his reminiscences of the Revolu- 

 tionary War . . . the Battle of Monmouth. ... I sought an opportun- 

 ity of further conversation with him, and having heard or read that just 

 before that battle General Washington, on meeting General Charles Lee in 

 retreat, had l cursed and swore ' at him, I asked Major Morton whether that 

 report was true. ' No, sir ! No, sir ! ' replied the major with animation. 

 * It is not true ! It so happened that the meeting of General Washington 

 with General Lee on that day took place within a very few yards of me, 

 and I saw and heard all that passed between them. I will tell you how it 

 was. Our troops were marching rapidly, expecting soon to be engaged 

 with the British ; the day was very hot, the road heavy with sand, our men 

 fatigued by the march. I was then a sergeant in my company and had fre- 

 quently to face about in order to keep my platoon aligned on the march, 

 myself walking backwards. While doing so, I saw General Washington 

 coming from the rear of our column, riding very rapidly along the right 

 flank of the column ; and as he came nearer, my attention was fixed upon 

 him with wonder and astonishment, for he was evidently under strong emo- 



