USA > Virginia > Some prominent Virginia families, Volume II > Part 21
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It has been said that as Westmoreland County is distinguished above all other counties in Virginia as the birthplace of genius, so, perhaps, no other Virginian could boast so many distinguished sons as President Thomas Lee. General Washington, in 1771, wrote: "I know of no county that can produce a family, all distinguished
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as clever men, as our Lees." These sons in order of age were: Philip Ludwell, Richard Henry, Thomas, Francis "Lightfoot," Henry, and Arthur. Matilda, the first wife of General Henry Lee, the father of General Robert E. Lee, was the daughter of the eldest son, Philip Ludwell Lee. Richard Henry Lee, the second son, is well known to students of American history. He has been gener- ally styled "The Cicero of the American Revolution." He moved on June 10, 1776, that "These colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States," and with his brother, Francis "Lightfoot," signed the Declaration of Independence. Having moved this declaration, according to parliamentary etiquette he might have been appointed chairman of the committee to draw up the instrument, but the sickness of his wife ealled him home; or he might also have been the author of the Declaration of Ameri- can Independenee instead of Thomas Jefferson. His services to the eause of the colony were great, and their struggle for independence was sustained by his tongue and pen. He was a great orator, an accomplished seholar, a learned debater, and a renowned states- man in that period of our country's history. His father's brother, Henry Lee, the fifth son of the second Riehard, married a Miss Bland, a great-aunt of John Randolph, of Roanoke. His only daughter married a Fitzhugh. His son Henry married Miss Grymes, and left a family of six sons and four daughters. Henry, the eldest, was the well known "Light Horse Harry," of the Revo- lutionary War, the father of Robert E. Lee. He and Richard Henry Lee are frequently confounded, and their relationship has often been the subject of inquiry. Richard Henry Lee's father, Thomas, and Henry Lee's grandfather were brothers. The former was therefore a first cousin of the latter's father. "Light Horse Harry" was conspicuous in the military and civil annals of his country as a dashing dragoon in the war between Great Britain and the colonies . His boldness and activity were frequently comniended by Washington, and he came out of the war with a brilliant reputation. He possessed the love and confidence of the commander-in-chief, and it is possible that Washington's interest was the first excited because he was once supposed to have had a tender feeling for Lucy Grymes, his mother, a friendship which was continued by reason of the attractive qualities of the son as soldier and statesman. This attachment was deeply appreciated by
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Gen'l Henry Lee, and throughout his career he was steadfast in his devotion to Washington.
I give the following letter from Richard J. Evans, bearing on . the above :
NEW ORLEANS, LA., Oct. 13, 1905.
DEAR MISS DU BELLET :- Sarah Warner, daughter of Col. Augustine Warner, Sr., of Warner's Hall, Gloucester County, and sister of Col. Augustine Warner, Jr., of the same place, married Lawrence Townley, and had issue, a daughter, Alice, who married John Grymes, of Middlesex County. This John Grymes and Alice, his wife, had a son, John Grymes (d. 1748, aged 57 years), and another son, Charles Grymes, who married Frances Jennings, daughter of Col. Edmund Jennings and Frances Corbin, his wife. They had issue:
1. Charles, d. young.
2. Fanny. Married (1737) Philip Ludwell, Jr.
3. Lucy Grymes. Married Colonel Henry Lee, of Leesylvania, and were the parents of Light-Horse Harry Lee.
I have as authority for above, "Henning's Statutes," VIII, 630; "Lee of Virginia," page 299.
Yours very truly, RICHARD J. EVANS.
"Light Horse Harry's" father, Henry Lee, of Leesylvania, and Lucy Grymes were married at Green Spring, on James River, December 1, 1753. His mother was the daughter of Luey Lud- well, who married Colonel Grymes, of the Council of Virginia. Bishop Portens, of England, was her unele. Their son, Henry, was born January 29, 1756, at Leesylvania, some three miles from Dumfries, a village built by Scotch merehants, and then the eounty town of Prince William, His brother, Charles Lee (not to be eonfounded with General Charles Lee, an Englishman, and no relation to this family), was subsequently attorney general in Washington's second eabinet. The future cavalry leader was edu- cated at Princeton. Dr. William Shippen writes to Riehard Henry Lee, from Philadelphia, August 25, 1770: "I am persuaded that there is no such sehool as Princeton on this continent. Your cousin Henry Lee is in College, and will be one of the first fellows in this country. He is more than strict in his morality, has fine genius, and is diligent." The profession of law was thought best for the display of his talents, and he was about to embark for England to study it, under the direction of Bishop Portens, of London, when stopped by hostilities between the mother country and her American colonies.
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Possessing fine descriptive powers, application, great faculty for public expression, and with character formed and mind trained by such a distinguished light of the Church of England, a great legal future would seem a safe prediction, but before the smoke cleared away from the first British gun fired in Massa- chusetts its report was heard in Virginia. The English volley lighted patriotic fires in the hearts of the colonists with the rapidity that electricity flies in this age from the touch of the button. The sword was substituted for the law book in the hands of Henry Lee, and we find him, at the age of nineteen, after the battle of Lexington, a captain of cavalry, being nominated for that position by Patrick Henry, the orator of American liberty. He rose rapidly in his new career. In the Northern Department at Brandywine, Germantown, Springfield, and in the operations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, his address, cool courage, great ability and unceasing activity as an outpost officer speedily drew the attention of his superiors. Congress recognized his services, promoted him, and gave him an independent partisan corps. Ever thereafter his position in the war was near the flash- ing of the guns. His duties kept him close to the enemy's lines, and his legion was what cavalry should be-the eyes and ears of the army. His communications to Washington were confidential, were sent direct, and he was ordered by the commander-in-chief to mark them "Private." When Washington was anxious to effect Arnold's capture he consulted the commander of the "Light Horse," who planned the famous desertion of Sergeant Champe. He projected and executed the surprise and capture of Paulus Hook by a brilliant coup de main, and for prudence, bravery and tactical skill was presented by Congress with a gold medal emblem- atical of his success-a distinction conferred on no other officer below the rank of General during the war. On one side of the medal was a bust of the hero, with the words, "Henry Lee, Legionis Equit, Præfecto Comitia Americana," and on the reverse is translated : "Notwithstanding rivers and intrenchments, he, with a small band, conquered the foe by warlike skill and prowess, and firmly bound, by his humanity, those who had been conquered by his arms. In memory of the conflict at Paulus Hook, August 19th, 1779."
In November 1780, he was promoted to be lieutenant colonel of dragoons, and his corps is spoken of as the "finest that made its
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appearance in the arena of the Revolutionary War." Washington had it formed expressly for him of equal proportions of cavalry and infantry, both officers and men being picked from the army. Under its victorious guidons rode Peter Johnston, the father of the distinguished soldier, Joseph Eggleston Johnston, who joined the legion when only sixteen years old, and led the forlorn hope at the storming of Fort Watson, and was publicly thanked. Afterward he became a judge, and was celebrated for his learning and ability. It is curious that the sons of Judge Johnston and General Henry Lee were afterward classmates at the United States Military Acad- emy, and at the marriage ceremony of Lce, Johnston was a grooms- man.
These two eminent soldiers were in the front rank of the United States army and served with great distinction under the Southern flag, even as their fathers rode boot to boot in the days of the Revo- lution. When Henry Lee's legion was selected to assist in the defense of the Carolinas and the Virginias in the Southern Department, Washington wrote to Mr. John Matthews, a member of Congress from South Carolina, informing him of its march, saying :
"Lee's corps will go to the southward; it is an excellent one, and the officer at the head of it has great reserves of genius."
Lafayette held the leader of the legion in high estimation, and bears testimony to his "distinguished services"; his talents as a corps commander, and his "handsome exploits," while one of the officers of the army said: "He seemed to have come out of his mother's womb a soldier." General Mathew Greene, his immediate commander, testified that "few officers, either in America or Eu- rope, were held in so high a point of estimation;" in a letter to the President of Congress, February 18, 1782, expressed himself as "more indebted to this officer (Lee) than any other for the ad- vantages gained over the enemy in the operations of the last cam- paign"; and in a letter to Lce himself, writes: "No man in the progress of the campaign had equal merit with yourself, nor is there one so reported. Everybody knows I have the highest opinion of you as an officer, and you know I love you as a friend." After the British colors were lowcred at Yorktown, Henry Lce began a civil career which proved to be as great as his military record. In 1778 he was a member of the convention called in Virginia to
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consider the ratifieation of the Federal Constitution. In the battle of intellectual giants composing that body, with eloquenee and zeal, he pleaded for its adoption. By his side and voting with him on that important question were sueh men as James Madison, John Marshall, afterwards Chief Justice of the United States, and Ed- mond Randolph; while in the ranks of the opposition stood Pat- riek Henry with immense oratorieal strength; George Mason, the wisest man, Mr. Jefferson said, he ever knew; Benjamin Harrison, William Grayson and others, who thought the Constitu- tion, as it eame from the hands of the framers, conferred too much power on the Federal Government and too little upon its ereator, the States. In 1786 he was a delegate to the Continental Con- gress. From 1792 to 1795 he was Governor of Virginia, and was selected by President Washington to command the fifteen thousand men from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, who were sent into western Pennsylvania to quell what was known as the "Whiskey Insurrection," which he successfully aecomplished with- out bloodshed. This rebellion grew out of a resistance to a tax laid on distilled spirits. Washington aecompanied him on the mareh as far as Bedford, Pa., and in a letter dated October 20, 1794, to Henry Lee, Esq., commander-in-chief of the militia army on its mareli against the insurgents in certain counties of western Pennsylvania, says at its eonelusion : "In leaving the army I have his regret, as I know. I commit it to an able and faithful diree- tion and that this direction will be ably and faithfully seeonded by all."
While Governor of Virginia, a seetion lying under the Cumber- land Mountains, projeeting between Kentucky and Tennessee, was formed into a separate county and named after him. It has sinee been divided into two, the eastern portion being ealled after Gen- eral Winfield Seott. In 1779 General Lee was elected to Congress, and on the death of General Washington was appointed to deliver an address in commemoration of the services of that great man, in which oeeurs the famous sentenee, so often quoted: "First in war; first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." In 1798-'99, as a representative of the county of Westmoreland in the General Assembly, he took an active part in the debate upon Mr. Madison's famous resolutions of that date. In his opinion the laws of the United States then under discussion were un-
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constitutional, and if they were Virginia had a right to objeet. "But," he exclaimed, "Virginia is my country; her will I obey, however lamentable the fate to which it may subjeet me."
When he was Governor of Virginia, six years before, his native State occupied the first place in his heart. In reply to a letter from Mr. Madison, dated Philadelphia, January 21, 1792, asking him if he would relinquish his office and accept command of an army to be organized for the protection of the western frontier, he writes: "Were I called upon by the President to command the next campaign my respeet for him would induce me to disregard every trifling obstruetion which might oppose acceptance of the offiee, such as my own repose, the care of my children and the happiness I enjoy in attention to their welfare, and in the execution of the duties of my present station. As a citizen I hold myself bound to obey the will of my country in taking any part her interest may demand from me. Yet I should require some essential stipu- lations, only to seeure a favorable issue to the eampaign."
After speaking of how formidable the enemy was he adds : "One objeetion 'I should only have (the above conditions being aeceded to), and that is the abandoning of my native country to whose goodness I am so much indebted; no consideration on earth eould induee me to aet a part, however gratifying to me, which eould be construed into disregard or faithlessness to this commonwealth."
His great son therefore inherited this doctrine. It was branded into his brain and flowed through his veins, so that later, when he had to meet the question of serving under the flag of the United States or of obeying the will of Virginia, he drew his sword in defense of his mother commonwealth.
When the war was deelared with England in 1802, Henry Lee was living in Alexandria, Va., having moved there to facilitate the edueation of his children. He was offered and accepted at onee a major general's eommission in the army. Before entering upon his duties he went to Baltimore on business, and while there visited the house of Mr. Hanson, the editor of the Federal Republican. "When he was about to leave he found the house surrounded by an angry mob, who were offended with the editor for his artieles of opposition to the war. As his friends were threatened he de- termined to assist him in resisting the attack of the mob. The results of the night proved nearly fatal to General Lce, and werc
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disgraceful to party spirit." The injuries he received at the hands of the exeited mob prevented entering upon the campaign, obliged him to go to the West Indies for his health and ultimately eaused his death. While abroad, amid the fatal march of his disease, his heart turned ever to his home and family. His letters to his son, Charles Carter Lee, have been preserved and are literary models, the object being to impress religion, morality and learning upon his children, as well as to manifest his great affeetion for those left behind. "Fame," he writes, "in arms or art, is naught unless be- trothed to virtue." And then, "You know I love my children, and how dear Smith is to me. Give me a true description of his mind, temper and habits. Tell me of Anne. Has she grown tall? And low is my last, in looks and understanding? Robert was always good, and will be confirmed in his happy turn of mind by his ever watchful and affeetionate mother. Does he strengthen his native tendeney?" He wanted to know, too, wlicther his sons rode and shot well, bearing in mind a Virginian's solicitude always that his sons should be taught to ride, shoot and to tell the truth.
In his opinion Hannibal was a greater soldier than Alexander or Cæsar, for he thought an ardent exeitant of the mind, in defending menaced rights, brings forth the greatest display of genius, of which, forty-four years afterwards, his great son was an illustrious example. On June 18, 1817, from Nassau, he writes : "This is the day of the month when your dear mother became my wife, and it is not so hot in this tropical region as it was then at Shirley. Sinec that happy day, marked only by the union of two humble lovers, it has beeome eonspieuous as the day our war with Great Britain was declared in Washington, and the one that sealed the doom of Bonaparte on the field of Waterloo. The British gen- eral, rising gradually from his first blow, struek in Portugal, climbed on that day to the summit of fame, and became distin- guislied by the first of titles, 'Deliverer of the Civilized World.' Alexander, Hannibal and Cæsar, among the ancients; Marlbor- ough, Turenne and Frederiek, among the moderns, opened their arms to receive him as a brother in glory."
Again he tells him that Thales, Pittacus and others in Greece taught the doetine of morality almost in our very words, "Do unto others as you would they should do unto you," and direets his son's attention to the faet that the beautiful Arab couplet, written
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three centuries before Christ, announced the duty of every good man, even in the inoment of destruction, not only to forgive, but to benefit the destroyer, as the sandal tree in the instant of its overthrow sheds perfume on the axe that fells it.
The principles sought to be inculcated in these admirable letters will be found running through their lives, lodged firmly in their characters and their eonstant reappearanee in the life of one of theirs is an evidence of the impression made.
At the expiration of nearly five years, finding that there was no hope of his ultimate recovery, he determined to return to his family and friends. In January, 1818, he took passage in a New England sehooner bound from Nassau to New Providence and Boston. On nearing the cost of the United States he became so much worse that he requested the captain to direct his course to Cumberland Island, lying off the coast of Georgia. He knew that his former trusted friend, General Nathaniel Greene, had an estate there and that there resided his married daughter, Mrs. James Shaw. Next to dying within the limits of his native State, he preferred to furl the flag of a celebrated career under the generous roof. and kindly influence of the hospitable daughter of a beloved brother soldier. He was landed at "Dungenness," known as the most beautiful and attraetive residenee on the Georgia eoast, and here he was lovingly received and tenderly cared for. From the window of his sick room "an extensive view of the Atlantic Ocean, of Cumberland Sound and the low-lying verdant shores of Georgia could be seen upon the one side, while upon the other lay attractive gardens and groves of oranges and olives, while grand live oaks swayed solemnly to and fro, loaded with pendant moss."
General Henry Lee's sufferings, consequent upon the injuries in Baltimore, were intense. Mrs. Shaw, General Greene's daughter, said that after his arrival at Dungenness they still continued, and that a surgieal operation was proposed as offering some hope of prolonging his life; but he replied that an eminent physician, to whose skill and care during his sojourn in the West Indies he was much indebted, had disapproved a resort to the proposed op- eration. When his surgeon in attendance still urged it, he put an end to the diseussion by saying: "My dear sir, were the great Washington alive and here, joining you in advocating it, I would still resist it." His agony at times was very great, eausing irrita- tion to overcome his rarely failing amiability. At times he would
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lose self-control and order his servants and every one else from the room. At length an old woman, who had been Mrs. Greene's favorite maid, and who was then an esteemed and privileged family servant, was selected to wait upon him. The first thing General Lee did as she entered his room was to hurl his boot at her head and order her out. Entirely unused to such treatment, without saying a word, she deliberately picked up the boot and threw it baek. The effect produced was marked and instantaneous. The features of the stern warrior relaxed. In the midst of his pain and anger a smile passed over his countenance, and from that moment to the day of his death he would permit no one exeept "Mam Sarah" to do him special service. In the presence of the angel of death he recognized and rewarded pluek and spirit in an old negro nurse, even as he did courage in the breasts of his soldiers.
Not the least among the recollections of "Dungenness" is the fact that the last days of one of the great heroes of the revolution were passed there ; and when the flowers of spring could no longer charm by their beauty and fragrance, or the soft southern wind bring health and sureease of pain to the suffering and dying, it received into its hospitable bosom and folded in one long and affectionate embrace all that was mortal of the gallant, gifted and honoured dead. Henry Lee and Nathaniel Greene now sleep but a short distance apart, where the "recollections of their brave deeds and the grateful songs of the true lovers of liberty are caught up by the billows of a common ocean."
Two months after the siek soldier landed he was dead. Every token of respect was shown by the United States navy vessels in Cumberland Sound. Their colors were put at half-mast, as well as the flags at the military headquarters of the army on Amelia Island. Citizens from the adjoining islands united in paying their respects. Commodore Henley, of the navy, superintended the last details. A full army band was in attendance, and Captains Elton, Fineh and Madison, and Lieutenants Fitzhugh and Ritchie, of the navy, and Mr. Lyman, of the army, acted as pall-bearers. Upon the stone marking his grave is this inseription :
Sacred to the memory of GEN. HENRY LEE, of Virginia, Obit March 25, 1818 Aetat 63
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Not long before the War of 1861-'65 the Legislature of Virginia passed resolutions for the appointment of a committee, who, with the consent of his sons, should remove the remains to the capital city of Virginia, where a suitable monument would be erected to his memory. The commencement of hostilities prevented the ac- complishment of this purpose. The sad duty had not been per- formed before by his sons, because one, Major Henry Lee, was abroad; one was an officer of the army, another of the navy, the fourth a lawyer, and their respective duties kept them widely apart, so that the matter, though frequently referred to in their correspondenee, had never been fully arranged. The remains of "Light Horse Harry" therefore still rest amid the magnolias, cedars and myrtles of beautiful "Dungenness."
In many respeets this officer was one of the most remarkable men of his day. He was a patriot and soldier, whose personal courage was tested in the fire of battle; an orator, a writer of vigorous and terse English, with a happy facility for expression rarely equalled. His book, ealled "The Memories of the War of '76," is the standard work to-day of events in the war in the Southern Department of the United States. Two editions of it have been exhausted, and in 1869 a third was issued by his son, Robert E. Lee, who, forgetful of his own great deed, was desirous only of perpetuating those of his distinguished father.
General Henry Lee was twice married-first to Matilda, the daughter of Philip Ludwell Lee, of Stratford, and afterwards to Anne Hill Carter, of Shirley. Four children were born from the first marriage. The eldest was named after his beloved eom- mander, General Nathaniel Greene, and died in infaney. The see- ond son died when ten years old. The miniature of this child he always thereafter wore, and it is still preserved in the family. The third son, Henry, was born in 1787, and died in Paris, France, January 30, 1837. He graduated at William and Mary College and served with credit in the war of 1812. He was appointed by General Jackson consul to Algiers in 1829. In journeying through Italy he met the mother of the great Napoleon, and being an admirer of his Italian campaigns, determined to write his life. The book is well written, as are all books of his.
The daughter married Bernard Carter, a brother of her step- mother. The children of General Lee's second marriage were
18
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Algernon Sidney, Charles Carter, Sidney Smith and Robert Ed. ward, and two daughters, Anne and Mildred. The first boy lived only cighteen months. The second, named after his wife's father, was educated at Cambridge. "We have just heard," writes his father from San Domingo, June 26, 1816, "that you are fixed at the University of Cambridge, the seminary of my choice. You will there have not only excellent examples to encourage your love and practice of virtue, but ample scope to pursue learning to its foundation, thereby fitting yourself to be useful to your country." Charles Carter Lce afterwards studicd law, and was a most in- tellectual, learned and entertaining man. His social qualities werc of the highest order ; his humour inimitable; his classic wit flowed as clear as the mountain streams from a well-storcd mind. Hc was a boon companion and the first guest invited to the banquet ; around him clustered many and from his vicinity peals of laughter always resounded. His speeches, songs and stories are marked tra- ditions in the family to-day. Gifted with a most retentive memory and being a great rcader, especially history, his recollection of all he had read made him a most instructive and agreeable companion. Every subject received its best treatment from his genius. He was thoroughly conversant with biblical literature and had been known to maintain the leading part in discussions of the Bible with a roomful of ministers whose duty it was to expound it. In cvery drawing-room his presence was most warmly welcomed. At every festive board his song or specch was hailed with enthusiastic greet- ing. He was clever, generous, liberal and free-hearted: When paying visits with his brothers-and the three often went together should wine happened to be offered, Smith and Robert, with their usual abstemiousness, would declinc. Carter, however, would ac- cept, remarking : "I have always told these boys that I would drink their share of wine provided they would keep me generously supplied." He wrote, too, with beauty and fluency of expression, and once said to his brother Robert: "The government employs you to do its figliting. It should engaged me to write your reports. I admit your superiority in the exercise of the sword and in plan- ning campaigns. I am, however, as you know, the better writer of the two, and can inake my pen mightier than your sword after the battle is over. We could thus combine and be irresistible." He died and was buried at his county seat, Windsor Forest, in
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