mother was a daughter of George Mason. Graduating from West Point in 1856, he was appointed to the 2nd Cavalry, which was commanded by Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston, and in which his uncle, Robert E. Lee, was lieutenant-colonel. As a cavalry subaltern he distinguished himself by his gallant conduct in actions with the Comanches in Texas, and was severely wounded in 1859. In May 1860 he was appointed instructor of cavalry at West Point, but resigned on the secession of Virginia. Lee was at once employed in the organization of the forces of the South, and served at first as a staff officer to General R. S. Ewell, and afterwards, from September 1861, as lieutenant-colonel, and from April 1862 as colonel of the First Virginia Cavalry in the Army of Northern Virginia. He became brigadier-general on General J. E. B. Stuart’s recommendation on the 25th of July 1862, and served under that general throughout the Virginian campaigns of 1862 and 1863, becoming major-general on the 3rd of September 1863. He conducted the cavalry action of Beverly Ford (17th March 1863) with skill and success. In the Wilderness and Petersburg campaigns he was constantly employed as a divisional commander under Stuart, and, after Stuart’s death, under General Wade Hampton. He took part in Early’s campaign against Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, and at Winchester (19th Sept. 1864) three horses were shot under him and he was severely wounded. On General Hampton’s being sent to assist General Joseph E. Johnston in North Carolina, the command of the whole of General Lee’s cavalry devolved upon Fitzhugh Lee early in 1865, but the surrender of Appomattox followed quickly upon the opening of the campaign. Fitzhugh Lee himself led the last charge of the Confederates on the 9th of April that year at Farmville.
After the war he devoted himself to farming in Stafford county, Virginia, and was conspicuous in his efforts to reconcile the Southern people to the issue of the war, which he regarded as a final settlement of the questions at issue. In 1875 he attended the Bunker Hill centenary at Boston, Mass., and delivered a remarkable address. In 1885 he was a member of the board of visitors of West Point, and from 1886 to 1890 was governor of Virginia. In April 1896 he was appointed by President Cleveland consul-general at Havana, with duties of a diplomatic and military character added to the usual consular business. In this post (in which he was retained by President McKinley) he was from the first called upon to deal with a situation of great difficulty, which culminated with the destruction of the “Maine” (see Spanish-American War). Upon the declaration of war between Spain and the United States he re-entered the army. He was one of the three ex-Confederate general officers who were made major-generals of United States Volunteers. Fitzhugh Lee commanded the VII. army corps, but took no part in the actual operations in Cuba. He was military governor of Havana and Pinar del Rio in 1899, subsequently commanded the department of the Missouri, and retired as a brigadier-general U.S. Army in 1901. He died in Washington on the 28th of April 1905. He wrote Robert E. Lee (1894) in the “Great Commanders” series, and Cuba’s Struggle Against Spain (1899).
LEE, GEORGE ALEXANDER (1802–1851), English musician,
was born in London, the son of Henry Lee, a pugilist and
innkeeper. He became “tiger” to Lord Barrymore, and his singing
led to his being educated for the musical profession. After
appearing as a tenor at the theatres in Dublin and London,
he joined in producing opera at the Tottenham Street theatre
in 1829, and afterwards was connected with musical productions
at Drury Lane and Covent Garden. He married Mrs Waylett,
a popular singer. Lee composed music for a number of plays,
and also many songs, including the popular “Come where the
Aspens quiver,” and for a short time had a music-selling business
in the Quadrant. He died on the 8th of October 1851.
LEE, HENRY (1756–1818), American general, called “Light
Horse Harry,” was born near Dumfries, Virginia, on the 29th
of January 1756. His father was first cousin to Richard Henry
Lee. With a view to a legal career he graduated (1773) at
Princeton, but soon afterwards, on the outbreak of the War of
Independence, he became an officer in the patriot forces. He
served with great distinction under Washington, and in 1778
was promoted major and given the command of a small irregular
corps, with which he won a great reputation as a leader of light
troops. His services on the outpost line of the army earned for
him the soubriquet of “Light Horse Harry.” His greatest
exploit was the brilliant surprise of Paulus Hook, N.J., on the
19th of August 1779; for this feat he received a gold medal,
a reward given to no other officer below general’s rank in the
whole war. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel 1780, and sent
with a picked corps of dragoons to the southern theatre of
war. Here he rendered invaluable services in victory and defeat,
notably at Guilford Court House, Camden and Eutaw Springs.
He was present at Cornwallis’s surrender at Yorktown, and afterwards
left the army owing to ill-health. From 1786 to 1788 he
was a delegate to the Confederation Congress, and in the last-named
year in the Virginia convention he favoured the adoption
of the Federal constitution. From 1789 to 1791 he served in
the General Assembly, and from 1791 to 1794 was governor of
Virginia. In 1794 Washington sent him to help in the suppression
of the “Whisky Insurrection” in western Pennsylvania.
A new county of Virginia was named after him during his
governorship. He was a major-general in 1798–1800. From
1799 to 1801 he served in Congress. He delivered the address
on the death of Washington which contained the famous phrase,
“first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his
countrymen.” Soon after the War of 1812 broke out, Lee,
while helping to resist the attack of a mob on his friend, A. C.
Hanson, editor of the Baltimore Federal Republican, which had opposed the war, received grave injuries, from which he never recovered. He died at the house of General Nathanael Greene on Cumberland Island, Georgia, on the 25th of March 1818.
Lee wrote valuable Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department (1812; 3rd ed., with memoir by Robert E. Lee, 1869).
LEE, JAMES PRINCE (1804–1869), English divine, was born in London on the 28th of July 1804, and was educated at St Paul’s school and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he displayed exceptional ability as a classical scholar. After taking orders in 1830 he served under Thomas Arnold at Rugby school, and in 1838 was appointed head-master of King Edward’s school, Birmingham, where he had among his pupils E. W. Benson, J. B. Lightfoot and B. F. Westcott. In 1848 Lord John Russell nominated him as first bishop of the newly-constituted see of Manchester. His pedagogic manner bore somewhat irksomely on his clergy. He is best remembered for his splendid work in church extension; during his twenty-one years’ tenure of the see he consecrated 130 churches. He took a foremost part in founding the Manchester free library, and bequeathed his own valuable collection of books to Owens College. He died on the 24th of December 1869.
A memorial sermon was preached by Archbishop E. W. Benson, and was published with biographical details by J. F. Wickenden and others.
LEE, NATHANIEL (c. 1653–1692), English dramatist, son of Dr Richard Lee, a Presbyterian divine, was born probably in 1653. His father was rector of Hatfield, and held many preferments under the Commonwealth. He was chaplain to General Monk, afterwards duke of Albemarle, and after the Restoration he conformed to the Church of England, abjuring his former opinions, especially his approval of Charles I.’s execution. Nathaniel Lee was educated at Westminster school, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, taking his B.A. degree in 1668. Coming to London under the patronage, it is said, of the duke of Buckingham, he tried to earn his living as an actor, but though he was an admirable reader, his acute stage fright made acting impossible. His earliest play, Nero, Emperor of Rome, was acted in 1675 at Drury Lane. Two tragedies written in rhymed heroic couplets, in imitation of Dryden, followed in 1676—Sophonisba, or Hannibal’s Overthrow and Gloriana, or the Court of Augustus Caesar. Both are extravagant in design and treatment. Lee made his reputation in 1677 with a blank verse tragedy, The Rival Queens, or the Death of Alexander the Great. The play, which treats of the jealousy of Alexander’s first wife, Roxana, for his second wife, Statira, was, in spite of much
