The Perfect Day, Part IV: General Charles Lee
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
By Peg Eastman
Charles Lee has generated more controversy than any other Continental Army general except Benedict Arnold. He was superbly educated, spoke six languages, and was one of the day’s best and most prolific writers. Lee could convince almost anyone about anything with his erudite brilliance, powers of persuasion and bombastic, condescending monologues. He described himself as “the whole show.” Like General Arnold, he assiduously sought the spotlight and resented George Washington.
In addition to his exceptional education, Lee had quite a resume leading up to his Continental Army commission. He was 15 when his father, a colonel of the 55th Regiment of Foot, purchased a commission for him in his own regiment. After his father died, Lee purchased a lieutenant’s commission and served under Major General Edward Braddock during the French and Indian War. He was present at “Braddock’s Defeat” in 1755, along with George Washington, Horatio Gates, Daniel Morgan and Henry Clinton. He was severely wounded at the failed British attack on Fort Ticonderoga in 1758.
While recovering from his wounds, Lee married the daughter of a Mohawk Indian chief who gave birth to twins. The tribe adopted him and named him “Boiling Water,” presumably because of his hot temper. (He whipped his doctor.) His contemporaries noted that he had a moody, choleric temperament and, according to himself, suffered from a “distemper of … mind.”
After serving in the colonies, Lee transferred to a European-based regiment and fought in Portugal against the Spanish invasion. He served later as an aide-de-camp to Polish King Stanislaus II in the Russo-Turkish War and went on to serve in Germany. When the Seven Years’ War ended, his regiment was disbanded, and he retired as a major on half pay.
Lee relocated to America in 1773 and bought an estate in Virginia near General Horatio Gates. Thereafter, he developed a reputation for being slovenly in his personal habits, coarse in his language, and smelly. He ate with his hunting dogs that sat in chairs at his dining table. From his home in Virginia, he published a series of pamphlets and letters that convinced Americans of the justice of their cause. His publications built American confidence and made him famous.
After lobbying Congress, Lee was offered and accepted a commission as major general in the Continental Army on June 22, 1775; five days after the Battle of Bunker Hill and three days after George Washington received his commission as commander-in-chief. He resigned his commission in the British Army the same day despite being deeply insulted that he was not named commander-in-chief ahead of a “colonial colonel” he served with under Braddock.
Lee began his Continental service at the siege of Boston in July 1775. There he surrounded himself with a pack of beloved, unruly dogs, while aggressively shouting orders and cursing at undisciplined sentries. He schooled a very receptive Nathanael Greene about military strategy, petite guerre (guerrilla war) tactics, and troop discipline. In January 1776, Washington detached Lee to New York to occupy the city and develop a master defense plan.
Lee would have “a chance meeting” with his old friend Henry Clinton there in February. (In late August, Clinton would lead the British army past Lee’s defenses through a secret pass at Brooklyn Heights, pinning Washington’s entire army against the East River. Only a miraculous evacuation prevented the surrender of the Continental Army.)
Lee was reassigned to the Southern Department command and arrived in Charles Town in June. Following the Battle of Sullivan’s Island, Lee led an ill-fated operation to attack the British in Florida. Poor planning, insalubrious August temperatures, and disease ravaged the expedition. In September, Congress ordered him to report to Washington in New York.
After the battle for Charles Town at Sullivan’s Island, the Continental Congress passed an official resolution in July 1776 expressing their formal thanks to “Major General [Charles] Lee, Colonel William Moultrie, Colonel William Thompson and the officers and soldiers under their command” for defeating the British fleet and army on the Perfect Day, June 28, 1776.
Charles Lee was thereafter known in America as “the hero of Charles Town,” despite the orders he issued, which, if carried out, would likely have produced a different outcome. Nonetheless, the South Carolina Provincial Congress, in a gesture of thanks, lobbied the Continental Congress to advance “the sum of 30,000 dollars” to Lee to purchase an estate in Virginia. After monetizing his political capital in Philadelphia, Lee arrived in New York in October to take command of Washington’s right wing and screen his withdrawal through New Jersey to Pennsylvania.
On December 12, 1776, without a heavy guard, he left the army wing he commanded near Morristown, New Jersey, and lodged several miles away at Widow White’s Tavern. About 11 o’clock the next morning, Lee was captured by a special operations group of 30 dragoons personally tasked by General Charles Cornwallis to capture (or bring in) Lee. Curiously, the dragoons knew where to find the late-sleeping Lee, who had ignored several orders from George Washington to rush his seasoned troops to join his disintegrating army. In an example of British sardonic humor or intelligence tradecraft, the dragoons assigned to capture General Lee consisted of men of his former regiment in Portugal and the soon-to-be notorious Banastre Tarleton, who had publicly called for Lee’s head on a pike.
Lee was held as a prisoner in New York for 16 months, living in luxury apartments, and regularly entertaining British officers. In April 1778, Lee began lobbying for the Carlisle Peace Commission’s offer of home rule, including parliamentary representation. At that time, the British occupied Philadelphia, Washington was starving at Valley Forge, the Conway Cabal (who wanted to replace Washington’s leadership) was in full swing, and Henry Laurens presided as president of an exiled Continental Congress isolated in York, Pennsylvania.
Lee was granted temporary parole to meet with President Laurens and argue that the budding French alliance was a trap, the Continental army a farce, and that home rule with a cessation of hostilities was a generous offer to save America from total ruin. Henry Laurens was shocked by Lee’s “change” of heart. He notes the metamorphosis from the champion of liberty he met in Charles Town to an agent of the British and opponent of independence in a series of letters to his son John, an aide-de-camp to Washington in Valley Forge. He warned him that Lee was a Carlisle Commission agent (working for the enemy) and should not be trusted to command troops as second-in-command, if exchanged.
Unknown to President Laurens was Lee’s formal rejection of the Declaration of Independence while in captivity. Worse was Lee’s treasonous plan to defeat the Continental Army, written a year earlier on March 29, 1777. (Titled “Mr. Lee’s Plan,” it was discovered among private British papers in 1858.) Fortunately, John Adams smelled a rat and convinced Congress to reject Lee’s offer and the Carlisle Commission.
Charles Lee was officially exchanged in April 1778 and arrived at Valley Forge on May 20 to resume his post as second-in-command of the Continental Army.
Henry Clinton took command of British forces on May 8 and was ordered to withdraw all British troops from Philadelphia to New York. Washington planned to attack Clinton, but Lee insisted on leading the main assault force. Washington consented, and Lee sheepishly attacked Clinton’s army, which had rested for over 40 hours at Monmouth Courthouse, N.J. (Daniel Morgan’s sharpshooting rifle regiment was ordered elsewhere by Lee’s misdated orders, unchecked by his aides.) The date was June 28, 1778, exactly two years since the British attack at Sullivan’s Island. Another perfect day.
Washington arrived on the battlefield as the Continental Army was in full retreat. He restored order while Henry Knox repositioned the artillery to withstand several charges, and Nathanael Greene and Anthony Wayne stopped the flanking assaults. The battlefield was left to the Americans as Clinton’s exhausted forces withdrew in the night. Clinton denied defeat as he had two years before.
Lee again claimed credit for the victory, but Washington and his staff disagreed. Lee was charged with three court-martial offenses, but not treason. After being found guilty on all three offenses, Lee was placed on leave and wrote insulting open letters to Congress about Washington.
Both Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens and Baron von Steuben challenged Lee to duels for the insults. He placated General Steuben with eloquent German and accepted Laurens's challenge. On December 23, Lee was wounded in the side in the duel, and Laurens, who, believing the injury was serious, tried to help the general. Lee insisted he was fine and proposed shooting a second time. The seconds, Alexander Hamilton and Evan Edwards, ended the duel, despite Lee’s protests to fire again and Laurens’s agreement.
Lee was permanently dismissed from the Continental Army in January 1780, a few months before his friend Henry Clinton would force the Southern Continental Army to surrender at Charleston.
In 1782, Lee suddenly became ill while staying at a subpar inn in Philadelphia. There, he met Eleazer Oswald, a major newspaper critic of George Washington who would later oppose the Constitution. Lee died exactly two years to the day after British spy master John Andre was hanged for spying on October 2, 1780.
Lee’s timely demise conveniently saved Henry Clinton from having to explain his possible collaboration with him.
My appreciation to Ken Scarlett and Bob Stockton for contributing to this article.
