Light Horse Harry Lee was a military general, as was his son Robert E. Lee
Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Henry Lee
Light Horse Harry Lee was a military general, as was his son Robert E. Lee
Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Henry Lee
At the start of the American Revolution, Henry Lee III was commissioned by Governor Partrick Henry as captain of a company of Virginia Dragoons. Lee was a member of the planter elite, accustomed to assuming leadership roles. He had been born into the aristocracy as the first son of Henry Lee II, the County Lieutenant for Prince William County. The Lee plantation is now Leesylvania State Park.
Henry Lee III gained fame by leading fast-moving forces in partisan warfare. He moved from the Virginia forces to the Continental Army in 1777, serving in the First Regiment of Light Dragoons. In 1778 the Continental Congress gave him command of a legion, a mixed group of cavalry and infantry. He won fame by capturing Paulus Hook on the Hudson River in 1779, and became known as "Light Horse Harry" Lee.
Lee was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1780. "Lee's Legion" was expanded in size and sent to join General Nathaniel Green as part of the Southern Army. His force worked in concert with the "Swamp Fox" Francis Marion in South Carolina to gather intelligence, forage for supplies, harass British patrols, and prevent people from joining Loyalist forces.
As Lord Cornwallis chased General Green north to Virginia, Light Horse Harry Lee's legion successfully captured isolated British outposts until the Battle of Eutaw Springs on September 8, 1781. At Eutaw Springs Lee was unable to seize the key British strongpoint, and was blamed for the failure of the Americans to capture the last British Army south of Virginia.
Lee had strong opinions regarding other officers and his arguments with them created problems within the army. He resigned his commission just after the British surrendered at Yorktown.1