Charles Lee (6 February 1731 – 2 October 1782) was a Major-General in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Previously a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army during the French and Indian War and the Seven Years' War, Lee was a veteran British officer from a military family. He resigned his commission in 1761 after being discharged with half-pay despite having a good record while fighting against Spain in Portugal, and he briefly served in the army of Poland-Lithuania before he headed to the Thirteen Colonies in 1773. Lee became a Major-General and the second-in-command to George Washington at the Battle of Monmouth in 1778, where his insubordination led to him being relieved of command. In 1780, after sending an insulting letter to the Continental Congress, Lee was dismissed from the army, and he died of fever in Philadelphia in 1782.
Biography[]
French and Indian War[]
Lee in 1755
Charles Lee was born on 6 February 1731 in Cheshire, England, the son of Major-General John Lee and Isabella Bunbury, the daughter of a Tory politician in Great Britain. His father sent him to a military academy in Switzerland during his formative years, starting him off with a military career early in his life. In 1746, Lee became an ensign in his father's regiment, and in 1755 he was sent to the Thirteen Colonies to fight in the French and Indian War. While stationed in Boston, Massachusetts, Lee became involved in secret societies, joining the American Rite of the Templar Order and being inducted into the order under Haytham Kenway. Lee served under General Edward Braddock in the war against the Kingdom of France and the Native Americans, fighting at the Battle of Monongahela alongside George Washington before fighting at Fort Ticonderoga in New York and being wounded. Lee would recover and fight at Fort Niagara and Montreal, and he returned to England in 1760 to advance his career.
In 1761, Lee was promoted to Major in the British Army, and Lee was deployed to Portugal, which was under attack from Spain during the Seven Years' War. Lee had a good service record, including his role in John Burgoyne's victory at the Battle of Vila Velha on 5 October 1762. However, upon his return to England in 1772, Lee was discharged with half-pay when his regiment was disbanded.
Service with Poland-Lithuania[]
In 1765, Lee headed to Poland-Lithuania and became the aide-de-camp to King Stanislaw II of Poland, briefly returning to England before heading to Poland in 1769 to continue his service in the Polish Army. Lee saw actio in the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774, and he lost two fingers in a duel against an opponent while serving in Poland. Lee would leave for England for the last time after this event, joining the Whigs.
Joining the Continental Army[]
In 1773, Lee moved to the Thirteen Colonies and bought an estate in Berkeley County, Virginia (now in West Virginia), near where his old brother-in-arms Horatio Gates lived. When war appeared inevitable, Lee resigned his commission in the British Army and decided to enlist in the Continental Army in hopes of being made commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Lee was the most experienced general in the service of the Continental Army, but he was an eccentric man who was constantly accompanied by dogs and was greedy; he wanted to be paid for his services, as he forfeited all of his properties in England during the war and wanted compensation. The Virginian George Washington was instead made the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army because he offered to work for free and was sober, steady, and calm, and Lee said of him, "Washington is not fit to command a sergeant's guard." Lee was a very peculiar person, as he was known to not wash his fine-tailored suits, to be a vain person, and to constantly be surrounded by dogs, including his Pomeranian dog. Lee accepted the rank of Major-General instead of commander-in-chief, and he served as the de facto second-in-command to Washington due to Artemas Ward's ill health.
1776 campaigns and capture[]
Charles Lee was sent to the South to become the first commander of the southern theatre, and he oversaw the fortification of the port of Charleston in South Carolina, repulsing Henry Clinton's assault on the port on 28 June 1776 at the Battle of Sullivan's Island, for which he was nicknamed the "Hero of Charleston". When he arrived in New York City to join Washington's army, Fort Constitution was renamed to Fort Washington to honor Lee, and he was very popular among his troops and the Continental Congress. At this time, he began to write letters to Congress that asked them to replace Washington as commander-in-chief with himself. Lee secretly passed information to the British to help them in defeating Washington, which would allow Congress to appoint Lee as the new commander-in-chief; he would then urge the Congress to surrender to the British.
Lee after being captured in Basking Ridge, New Jersey on 13 December 1776
On 13 December 1776, Lee was captured by the British while staying at White's Tavern in Basking Ridge, New Jersey three miles from the main army, with the actress Philomena Cheer (under the alias of the wench "Iris Endicott") seducing Lee and kidnapping him. Lee met Major John Andre, the British officer whom he had passed information to (despite not knowing his name), who threatened to torture Philomena (who made fake screams of pain while playing cards with some British troops) until he admitted that he was the source that gave the British the location of the Connecticut safe house that had led to the massacre of British troops in the failed raid on Meigs Harbor by John Graves Simcoe and his troops. Lee was wined and dined by the British, and he gave information on the state of the Continental Army to the British; he could not be tried for treason, as he had already resigned his commission by the time that the war had started in 1775. In March 1777, Lee wrote a plan to fight the Americans for General William Howe, and his true treason was against the patriot cause. He was imprisoned until he was exchanged for the British Lieutenant-General Richard Prescott. In late 1777, following the Battle of Brandywine, it is possible that Lee wrote "Thoughts of a Free Man", a pamphlet labelling Washington as "the Bastard of Brandywine" and stating that he was unfit to lead the Continental Army. Lee read it to amuse himself at a dinner of officers at Morristown, and Washington had him read it aloud; Benedict Arnold later entered the room and criticized the pamphlet, defending Washington and saying that Washington had won several battles and had not been captured (indirectly insulting Lee).
Battle of Monmouth[]
Charles Lee in uniform
In June 1778, Lee was nominated to be Washington's second-in-command at the Battle of Monmouth. Lee was reluctant to take part in the attack at first, leading to Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette being sent to be his second-in-command before Lee changed his mind, leading to Lafayette happily giving command to Lee. In the ensuing battle, Washington ordered his men to attack, but Lee ordered his men to retreat after firing only one volley at the British, leading to Lee being tried for insubordination after he had gotten into a large argument with Washington.
Court-martial and death[]
On 2 July 1778, Lee was court-martialled by a jury including William Alexander, although some defended his decision to retreat, as his 5,440 troops had faced Henry Clinton's 10,000 British troops. However, Lee's inexperience and poor command skills led to John Laurens challenging him to a duel on 23 December 1778 outside of Philadelphia in Alexander Hamilton's stead, as Washington was sure to dismiss Hamilton if he took part in the duel with Lee. Laurens shot Lee in the side, forcing him to yield. Lee would fail to get the Congress to overturn his court-martial, and on 10 January 1780 he was dismissed after writing an insulting letter to Congress. Lee returned to the Shenandoah Valley, where he tended to his fields.
On 2 October 1782, Lee decided to leave for England from Boston to be safe from the rival Hashshashin secret society following the murder of Haytham Kenway at Fort George, New York. However, he was chased by the assassin Ratonhnhake:ton to a ferry under construction, causing an accident while they were fighting. Ratonhnhake:ton was wounded by a splinter, but he succeeded in wounding Lee with a shot in the chest. Lee took a ferry down the Charles River through the Frontier and arrived at Monmouth, resting at the Conestoga Inn there. Ratonhnhake:ton arrived at the inn, and Lee shared his drink with the assassin before he gave him a nod, allowing him to end him by impaling him with a hidden blade. Charles fell forwards onto the table, and he died of his wounds. Officially, Lee died in Philadelphia of fever.