Henry Lee, III^[1]

1757 - 1818  (61 years)

• Name	Henry Lee
  Suffix	III
  Nickname	Light Horse Harry
  Birth	29 Jan 1757	Dumfries, Prince William, Virginia, USA   [2, 3, 4]
  Gender	Male
  Residence	1801	, , Virginia, USA   [5]
  Residence	1810	, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA   [6]
  Death	25 Mar 1818	Dungeness, Cumberland Island, Camden, Georgia, USA   [2, 3, 4]
  Burial	Lexington, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA   [4]
  Person ID	I43303	Master
  Last Modified	8 Jul 2022

  
  

  Father	Lt Colonel Henry Lee, II,   b. 29 Jan 1729, Leesylvania, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA d. 15 Aug 1787, Leesylvania, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA (Age 58 years)
  Mother	Lucy Grymes,   b. 26 Apr 1734, Richmond, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA d. 1792, Leesylvania, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA (Age 57 years)
  Marriage	1 Dec 1750	, Gloucester, Virginia, USA   [2]
  Family ID	F9988	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Matilda Ludwell Lee,   b. Aug 1763, Stratford, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA d. 28 Jul 1790, , Prince William, Virginia, USA (Age 26 years)
  Marriage	Apr 1782	Stratford, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA
  Children	1. Lucy Grymes Lee,   b. 1784, Stratford, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA d. 24 Mar 1860, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (Age 76 years)   2. Nathaniel Greene Lee,   b. 1784, Stratford, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA d. 1784, Stratford, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA (Age 0 years)   3. Major Henry Lee, IV,   b. 28 May 1787, , Westmoreland, Virginia, USA d. 30 Jan 1837, Paris, Île-de-France, France (Age 49 years)
  Family ID	F9997	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	12 Nov 2021

  
  

  Family 2	Anne Hill Carter,   b. 26 Mar 1773, Shirley Plantation, Charles City, Virginia, USA d. 26 Jun 1829, Ravensworth, Fairfax, Virginia, USA (Age 56 years)
  Marriage	18 Jun 1793	, , Virginia, USA   [2]
  Children	1. Algernon Sydney Lee,   b. 2 Apr 1795, Stratford, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA d. 9 Aug 1796, Sully, Fairfax, Virginia, USA (Age 1 year)   2. Charles Carter Lee,   b. 8 Nov 1798, Stratford, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA d. 21 Mar 1871, Windsor Forest, Powhatan, Virginia, USA (Age 72 years)   3. Anne Kinloch Lee,   b. 19 Jun 1800, Stratford, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA d. 20 Feb 1864, , Baltimore, Maryland, USA (Age 63 years)   4. Sydney Smith Lee,   b. 2 Sep 1802, Stratford, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA d. 22 Jul 1869, Richlands, Tazewell, Virginia, USA (Age 66 years) + 5. Robert Edward Lee,   b. 19 Jan 1807, Stratford, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA d. 12 Oct 1870, Lexington, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA (Age 63 years)   6. Catharine Mildred Lee,   b. 27 Feb 1811, , Alexandria, Virginia, USA d. 1856, Paris, Île-de-France, France (Age 44 years)
  Family ID	F9998	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	4 Nov 2021

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 29 Jan 1757 - Dumfries, Prince William, Virginia, USA Marriage - Apr 1782 - Stratford, Westmoreland, Virginia, USA Marriage - 18 Jun 1793 - , , Virginia, USA Residence - 1801 - , , Virginia, USA Residence - 1810 - , Westmoreland, Virginia, USA Burial - - Lexington, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Notes

  Henry Lee III (29 January 1756 – 25 March 1818) was an early American patriot who served as the ninth Governor of Virginia and as the Virginia Representative to the United States Congress. During the American Revolution, Lee served as a cavalry officer in the Continental Army and earned the name Light Horse Harry. He was also the father of Confederate general Robert E. Lee. Lee was born near Dumfries, Virginia, the son of Henry Lee II (1730–1787) of "Leesylvania" and Lucy Grymes (1734–1792) the "Lowland Beauty." His father was first cousin once removed to Richard Henry Lee, sixth President of the Continental Congress. His mother was an aunt of the wife of Virginia Governor Thomas Nelson Jr. His great-grandmother Mary Bland was a great-aunt of President Thomas Jefferson and he descended once from King John of England, twice from King Edward I of England, once from King Jean de Brienne of Jerusalem, twice from King Edward III of England and once from King Pedro I of Castile. Lee graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1773, and began pursuing a legal career. With the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, he became a Captain in a Virginia dragoon detachment, which was attached to the 1st Continental Light Dragoons. In 1778, Lee was promoted to Major and given the command of a mixed corps of cavalry and infantry known as Lee's Legion, with which he won a great reputation as a leader of light troops. It was during his time as commander of the Legion that Lee earned the sobriquet of "Light Horse Harry" for his horsemanship. Lee was presented a gold medal–a reward given to no other officer below a general's rank– for the Legion's actions during the Battle of Paulus Hook in New Jersey, on 19 August 1779. Lee was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and was assigned with his Legion to the southern theater of war. Lee's forces served at the Battle of Guilford Court House, the Battle of Camden and the Battle of Eutaw Springs. He was present at Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown, but left the Army shortly after due to an illness. During the infamous Whiskey Rebellion, Lee commanded the 13,000 militiamen sent to quash the rebels. Between 8-13 April 1782, at "Stratford Hall", Lee married his second cousin, Matilda Ludwell Lee (1764-1790), who was known as "The Divine Matilda". Matilda was the daughter of the Hon. Philip Ludwell Lee, Sr., Esq. and Elizabeth Steptoe. Matilda had three children before she died in 1790; • Philip Lee (1784-1794) • Lucy Lee (1786-1860) • Henry Lee IV (28 May 1787 — 30 January 1837), was a historian and author who also served as a speech writer for both John C. Calhoun and presidential candidate Andrew Jackson, also helping the latter to write his inaugural address. On 13 June 1793, Lee married the wealthy Anne Hill Carter (1773-1829) at Shirley Plantation. Anne was the daughter of Charles Carter, Esq., of Shirley, and his wife Ann Butler Moore. She was also a descendant of King Robert II of Scotland through the 2nd Earls of Crawford. They had six children, the eldest died unnamed in infancy in 1796; • Unnamed Infant (1796-1796) • Charles Carter Lee (1798-1871) • Anne Kinloch Lee (1800-1864) • Sydney Smith Lee (1802-1869) • Robert Edward Lee (19 January 1807 — 12 October 1870), the fifth child of Henry and Anne, served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War. • Mildred Lee (1811-1856) From 1786 to 1788, Lee was a delegate to the Continental Congress, and in the last-named year in the Virginia convention, he favored the adoption of the United States Constitution. From 1789 to 1791, he served in the General Assembly and, from 1791 to 1794, was Governor of Virginia. In 1794, Lee accompanied Washington to help the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania. A new county of Virginia was named after him during his governorship. Henry Lee was a major general in the U.S. Army in 1798–1800. From 1799 to 1801, he served in the United States House of Representatives of the Congress. He famously eulogized Washington to a crowd of 4,000 at the first President's funeral on December 26, 1799 —"first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." The Panic of 1796-1797 and bankruptcy of Robert Morris reduced Lee's fortune. On 27 July 1812, Lee received grave injuries while helping to resist an attack on his friend, Alexander Contee Hanson, editor of the Baltimore newspaper, The Federal Republican. Hanson was attacked by Democratic-Republican mob because his paper opposed the War of 1812. Lee and Hanson and two dozen other Federalists had taken refuge in the offices of the paper. The group surrendered to Baltimore city officials the next day and were jailed. Laborer George Woolslager led a mob that forced its way into the jail and removed and beat the Federalists over the next three hours. One Federalist, James Lingan, died. Lee suffered extensive internal injuries as well as head and face wounds, and even his speech was affected. Lee later sailed to the West Indies in an effort to recuperate from his injuries. He died on 25 March 1818, at Dungeness, on Cumberland Island, Georgia. Lee was buried with full military honors provided by an American fleet stationed near St. Marys. In 1913 his remains were removed to the Lee family crypt at Lee Chapel, on the campus of Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. The Whiskey Rebellion In the history of Southwestern Pennsylvania there have been many noteworthy personalities, but who are they and what did they do to catch our attention? One of them is Henry Lee III, who was born in Virginia on January 29, 1756 to Maj. Gen. Henry Lee II, and Lucy Grymes. Lee’s family tree includes links to America’s founding fathers and European royalty. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (Princeton) and when the Revolutionary War began, he was a Captain in a Virginia dragoon detachment. He was next given the rank of Major and the command of a corps of cavalry and infantry called “Lee’s Legion.” For his horsemanship he was known as “Light Horse Harry.” He was made Lt. Colonel and he served in three major southern battles, ending at the British surrender at Yorktown . Lee’s first marriage was to Matilda Ludwell and they had three children. She died in 1790. In 1793 he married Anne Hill Carter and she bore six children, the fifth child being Robert Edward Lee (1807-1878), who became a Confederate general in the Civil War. Lee served in the Continental Congress, where he favored the adoption of the United States Constitution. From 1791 to 1794 he was Governor of Virginia. In July, 1794, only 5 years after the United States Constitution was ratified, President Washington was truly called upon “to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Distraught farmers in Washington County, Pennsylvania organized themselves as rebels to repeal the federal law that they register their stills and pay an excise tax on whiskey. Washington tried to negotiate a peaceful solution, but when the radicals persisted, he would not let their treason, politics or bloodshed splinter the Constitutional unity of the United States. The President proclaimed on September 20 that military action was needed to remove the rebellious leaders. Some 13,000 men from four states quickly responded to his call to arms. By the end of September, the federal army’s march reached Carlisle, and on October 4 Washington joined them there. On October 11, the President went to Cumberland to review the troops coming from Maryland and Virginia . On the nineteenth, all met at Bedford. Here Washington turned the command of the troops over to General “Light Horse Harry ” Henry Lee. Lee, still the Governor of Virginia, was given executive orders “to suppress opposition to the law, by military force and judicial process.” The President then returned to Philadelphia , and the troops marched in two columns toward Parkinson’s Ferry, (Monongahela, in Washington County) which was the epicenter of the farmer’s rebellion. Lee led the southern column and by November 1, they arrived in Uniontown. Gen. John Neville and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton were in this group. Col. Presley Neville was in the northern column. On November 8 Lee issued a proclamation that the troops were there because the people of the United States were determined to uphold the new government they had just constituted. Lee identified to Gen. William Irvine the leaders of the rebellion who were to be arrested, and on November 12, in what has been called “The Terrible Night” several score citizens were arrested. The march of eighteen insurgents to Philadelphia for trial soon followed. Violence was minimal so on November 17, John Neville and others began to reopen their tax offices. Lee ordered most of the troops to return to their own homes. To maintain peace in and around Pittsburgh, Gen. Daniel Morgan was placed in charge of small detachments of troops. On Christmas Day the 20 captured rebels arrived in Philadelphia for their court trial. Lee pardoned many local insurgents on November 29, except David Bradford from Washington County, who had earlier fled to New Orleans. President Washington pardoned those who had been tried in Philadelphia. The Whiskey Rebellion was now over. The excise law was rescinded in 1802 by President Jefferson. After the Whiskey Rebellion, Lee became a member of the United States House of Representatives where he wrote the phrase “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen” in his oration on Washington at the President’s death. In the financial panic of 1796, Lee was reduced to poverty and he was temporarily placed in debtor’s prison. In 1812 Lee was beaten while helping to defend the editor of a Baltimore newspaper from a mob because the paper opposed the War of 1812. Lee suffered internal and head injuries. He went to the West Indies in an attempt to heal the wounds. He died on March 25, 1818 and he is buried in the Lee crypt in the Lee Chapel, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia. References: The Whiskey Rebellion: Southwestern Pennsylvania’s Frontier People Test the American Constitution,” Jerry A. Clouse, PHMC. 1994 Historical Magazine of Monongahela, 1909 Art sketch: J. Howard Iams “The Terrible Night” Family of Light-horse Harry Lee Between April 8 and 13, 1782, at Stratford Hall, Lee married his second cousin, Matilda Ludwell Lee (1764–1790), who was known as "the Divine Matilda". She was the daughter of Philip Ludwell Lee, Sr., and Elizabeth Steptoe. Matilda had three children before she died in 1790: Philip Ludwell Lee (1784–1794) Lucy Grymes Lee (1786–1860) Henry Lee IV (May 28, 1787 – January 30, 1837), was a historian and author who also served as a speech writer for both John C Calhoun and presidential candidate Andrew Jackson, also helping the latter to write his inaugural address. On June 18, 1793, Lee married the wealthy Anne Hill Carter (1773–1829) at Shirley Plantation. Anne was the daughter of Charles Carter, Esq., of Shirley, and his wife Ann Butler Moore. They had six children: Algernon Sidney Lee (April 2, 1795 – August 9, 1796), died at Sully Plantation, buried there in an unmarked grave. Charles Carter Lee (1798–1871) Anne Kinloch Lee (1800–1864) Sydney Smith Lee (1802–1869) Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870), the fifth child of Henry and Anne, served as Confederate general-in-chief during the American Civil War. Mildred Lee (1811–1856)

  
  

• Sources

  [S761] Yates Publishing, Ancestry Family Trees, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.), Ancestry Family Tree. [S887] Ancestry.com, Colonial Families of the USA, 1607-1775, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.). [S379] Ancestry.com, U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.), Volume: 197. [S751] Ancestry.com, U.S., Find a Grave® Index, 1600s-Current, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.). [S36] Jackson, Ron V., Accelerated Indexing Systems, comp., Virginia, U.S., Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1607-1890, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999.). [S248] Ancestry.com, 1810 United States Federal Census, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.), Year: 1810; Census Place: Westmoreland, Virginia; Roll: 71; Page: 247; Image: 00489; Family History Library Film: 0181431.