He was the man who might have been named Commander in Chief of the continental army when America declared its independence from Great Britain in 1776.
His name was Charles Lee, and he is one of the lesser known figures of the Revolution, and yet, certainly one of the most interesting, thanks to his eccentricities.
The Early Life of Charles Lee
Born in England to an aristocratic family, Lee had already joined the Army at the age of 12, and in the 1750's was sent to colonial America to fight in the French and Indian War (also known as the Seven Years War). It was here that he first served with the man who would be his superior officer later in life, General George Washington. Together they survived the bloody disaster of Major General Edward Braddock's defeat at the hands of the French Canadians and Indians in 1755.
While in America, Lee married the daughter of a Mohawk Chief before moving back to Europe at the end of the war and serving in both the Polish and Portuguese armies (during peace time, it was not uncommon for soldiers to be hired out to foreign armies in order to earn some extra money until the next inevitable war). However, when he returned to Britain in order to personally request a promotion by King George III himself (which was promptly denied), he cursed the king and everything he stood for and fled back to the colonies, a coward’s exit.
Under the Shadow of George Washington
Once in America again, and as the colonies grew ever closer to war with Britain, Lee took it upon himself to decide that he would be the perfect man to serve as commander in chief of the continental army, and made very certain that everyone knew this, as well. Unfortunately for Lee, it also became quickly clear to those around him that he was many things – few of them good.
Charles Lee was pompous, arrogant, somewhat ugly (yes, this is recorded by history), spiteful of everyone who was not a soldier or a prostitute, unclean, odorous, vain, etc... On top of all this, he demanded to be paid for his “voluntary” services in the war. I guess it could be said that it was not necessarily his fault that General Washington was quite his opposite in almost every way, and was therefore the clear choice for the post.
His pride somewhat wounded by not being offered the primary command, Lee still accepted the slightly lower (yet still probably too high) position of Major General. He was even considered by most to be the symbolic 2nd in command of the continental army. Not too shabby for a man with a lot of personal problems.
The Failure of Charles Lee
Many of Lee’s later problems stem from the fact that he never cared much for Washington or his leadership, and took it upon himself to write letters to everyone of importance in the colonies, telling them that Washington should be demoted, and that he himself should be given command. Upon finding out about this, Washington obviously had very little reason to like the petty Major General.
Now, the war had been raging for only a few months when December of 1776 came about. It was a month that would become the defining moment in Lee's command. For when he decided to spend the night at a tavern in New Jersey, after having leaving his army behind, camping in the cold New England winter (having spent the previous evening basking in his insatiable appetite for food, drink, and prostitutes), he awoke the next morning to find himself surrounded by British troops, who proceeded to take him prisoner.
To the British, Lee, a former soldier in their own army, Lee was a traitor of the worst sort. He would soon prove, however, that his flimsy loyalty extended not only toward the British. While imprisoned, Lee drafted a plan of attack for the British against the Americans in hopes that he might receive better treatment (a plan which they never did end up using), and as a result he received excellent care, only to be released by way of a prisoner exchange the following May, when he reported for duty once more to Washington who was famously camped at Valley Forge.
The moral of this episode in Lee’s life is questionable at best: He was foolish enough to be captured while defiling himself with prostitutes, and in return received excellent room and board (and even a personal servant, it is said) while in custody for the remainder of the winter, where he lay in his warm bed each night while the army he had neglected camped each night in the frigid, infamous cold of Valley Forge, many of them freezing, quite literally, to death. And in the end, he was welcomed back and given command once again.
Lee’s Final Military Debacle
June 28, 1778, the year following Lee’s capture by the British:
Washington ordered Lee's army to attack the British at Monmouth, New Jersey. Lee, feeling outnumbered, refused the order and retreated instead. As the army was fleeing, they ran headfirst into Washington's army, who were heading toward Monmouth in order to aid Lee's army. Washington gave Lee a public redress, hurting Lee's pride, then went on to fight the British until they retreated under the cover of night.
For his insubordination and refusal to obey Washington's clear order, Lee was arrested and forced to undergo a Court-Martial, then stripped of his command for a period of a year.
From here, Lee retired to a life of writing letters attacking Washington and the decisions made against him, making enemies and losing friends.
In a slightly ironic footnote to his life, Lee was challenged to a duel by John Laurens, one of Washington's supporters, who injured Lee and would have surely finished him off if not for the intercession of his second (in a duel, each party must bring a second person, just in case), who happened to be Alexander Hamilton (the irony, of course, stems from the fact that Hamilton himself was killed in a duel... perhaps it is a bit farfetched).
Skipping to the end of his eventful life: Charles Lee died in a tavern in 1782. A fitting end to one of the more bizarre, and generally forgotten, characters of American history.
References:
“Charles Lee.” Patriot Resource.
“War for Independence: Charles Lee.”
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