previous next
[7] to the cause of the colony were great, and their struggle for independence was sustained by his tongue and pen. He was a great orator, an accomplished scholar, a learned debater, and a renowned statesman in that period of our country's history. His father's brother, Henry Lee, the fifth son of the second Richard, 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 Revolutionary 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, Henry, 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 commended 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 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 General Henry Lee, and throughout his career he was steadfast in his devotion to Washington.

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 Lucy Ludwell, who married Colonel Grymes, of the Council of Virginia. Bishop Porteus, of England, was her uncle. Their son Henry was born January 29, 1756, at Leesylvania, some three miles from Dumfries, a village built by Scotch merchants, and then the county town of Prince William. His brother, Charles Lee (not to be confounded with General Charles Lee, an Englishman, and no relation to this

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide People (automatically extracted)
Sort people alphabetically, as they appear on the page, by frequency
Click on a person to search for him/her in this document.
Henry Lee (4)
Lucy Grymes (4)
George Washington (2)
Richard Henry Lee (2)
Charles Lee (2)
George H. Thomas (1)
John Randolph (1)
Porteus (1)
Lucy Ludwell (1)
Robert Edward Lee (1)
Light-Horse Harry (1)
Bland (1)
hide Dates (automatically extracted)
Sort dates alphabetically, as they appear on the page, by frequency
Click on a date to search for it in this document.
January 29th, 1756 AD (1)
December 1st, 1753 AD (1)
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: