Lee Robert E Lees' dad?

I am not entirely sure why Light Horse Harry did not become a general but Pyle's Massacre may have had something to do with it. It is unclear whether or not Lee ordered the massacre of Tories in SC or if it was something that simply got out of hand. He was operating in conjunction with Greene against Bloody Ban Tarleton, who was sure nobody to handle with kid gloves, and had with him Catawba rangers. The Catawbas definitely got out of line and had to be forced to stop killing - these were auxiliaries he could not fully control, not to mention the anger against American loyalists. It was sort of Lee's Ft Pillow.
 
Everybody has heard of Henry Lee III or aka Light horse Harry Lee. He was the 9th Governor of Va. If you have read any rev war books you know about him. My question is Why didn't he achieve the rank of general?

He was occupied a great deal keeping "The Swamp Fox" and "The Fighting Gamecock, " Francis Marion and Thomas Sumter from fighting each other. It was not a "friendly rivalry" to say the least. Sumter was my 5 x great-grandmother's brother.
 
Jesse the Tory Barfield was my 6th GGF. lol.
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He has written his autobiography The Revolutionary War Memoires of General Henry Lee which I read years ago and think is a very good one ... some edition has an introduction by Robert E. Lee, too (Da Capo Press).

And why he wasn´t a General in the revolutionary war can, I think, summed up in three points1;

1: few generals needed and lots of state politics involved
2: just a cavalry officer, no cavalry generals needed
3: he also was rather young

He became a General later though. It's always the same, the junior officers in one war command battalions or regiments in the next and are commanding generals in the next after that ... providing there is war turning up regularly of course.
 
Light Horse Harry Lee was dragged in to the street in Baltimore and beaten by a mob of pro-war anti-federalists in 1812. Family members believed the beating shortened his life.
 
That was a very sad end to Harry's life. In terms of his family, most remember him as an absent father to his son Robert and a rowdy spendthrift who lost everything he had. He received the only gold medal of honor Congress gave during the Revolution, really stood out as brilliant, was nothing if not a gung-ho patriot. Henry Lee was the opposite of what he ended as - well educated, remarkable cavalryman (better than even Jeb Stuart, who was his son's eyes and ears - Henry was that for Washington), won some big fights even if his troops were very young and hard to handle. He had that dash and charisma young men love. It's possible, too, that Washington did not advance Lee more because he was needed too much right where he was. Stuart would have loved to been headed up the ladder but he actually worked himself out of those promotions! Think Harry did the same thing.

He was clearly not the same man after the riots in Baltimore. But, he got into it standing by principles he'd fought for all his life. He didn't even like the firebrand editor whose pro-war paper lit up the mob but he believed the man had the right to have his say. While he always had financial problems - four of his family members including both wives made sure he'd never get his hands on their money - and tended to chase skirts, he was actually a loving father. Just not around much! Particularly after his second family came along. After the riots, he seemed to come home just long enough to get a little money and make another baby, then he was gone for good. Seems to have been by mutual consent with his wife's agreement. His temper was very bad and violent, which was not consistent with his real character, so he left for the Caribbean and eventually his friend Nathaniel Greene's place.
 
Lee did visit his father's grave a second time, in 1870, just a couple months before his own death as a matter of fact. It was the same exact thing - he went into the graveyard by himself, stayed a while and returned with a flower. Just like before. He also used this trip to visit the grave of his daughter in SC. It was supposed to be a quiet, relaxing trip to restore his health but turned into a full-fledged tour where every stop was filled with people and soldiers, who just had to see their general and would give out with the rebel yell until they did. His old veterans just loved him quite literally to death!
 
Here is a pretty concise biography of Lighthorse Harry Lee:
http://www.inn-california.com/articles/biographic/henrylee5.html

I found it interesting that Anne Carter Lee must have loved him after all. I always thought he was a burden for her and that she was kind of pleased that he left for Barbados to escape his debts. But then, being kind of a single mom.of five sure was a challenge for her, too!
In that biography it is said that he was once appointed to Major General (but I think without really getting that rank) and that at hair's breadth he was given overall command of all armies in the War of 1812, but then Pres. Madison thought him not equal to that post, because of his flaws...
If seen in that light, Robert E. Lee, who had always been eager for promotion but could not see a chance for himself in the Union Army, sure was proud later in life that he was the Lee who was considered trustworthy enough to get that overall command from the hands of Pres. Davis.
 
RE Lee visits Wilmington NC 1870


In early 1870, Lee was serving as President of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia, and had decided upon a recuperative visit to Savannah, Georgia after experiencing chest pains and general exhaustion. Traveling by rail on March 24th via Richmond, Lynchburg, Raleigh, Salisbury, Charlotte, Columbia, Augusta, he was met in Savannah by the largest crowd ever to assemble in that city. After a short visit to Cumberland Island below Savannah to visit the grave of his father, Light-Horse Harry Lee, he continued on to Jacksonville, Florida.


Returning to Savannah, Lee began the return journey by train to Charleston, and then onward to Wilmington, arriving there on April 28th. According to "Lee: The Last Years," Charles Flood, 1981, Lee left Wilmington by train on the morning of April 30th, bound for Portsmouth, Virginia. Taking the ferry to Norfolk, he continued on to Richmond, and then home to Lexington.

Here are two accounts of his visit here:

“On April 28, 1870, Wilmington received a very distinguished visitor, General Robert E. Lee. General Lee was said to have come at the instance of General (Raleigh E.) Colston, who carried his (Cape Fear Academy) cadets to Meares Bluff (Navassa) to escort him to the city. The general was entertained at the home of Honorable George Davis, ex-Attorney General of the Confederacy, on North Second Street where he received the cadets and citizens who called to pay their respects. The cadets were later marched on parade for General Lee on North Third Street, and, standing on the porch of Major C.P. Bolles at 215 North Third Street, he delivered a brief but inspiring address to them." (The Book of Wilmington, Andrew J. Howell, Wilmington Printing Company, 1930)

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Lee About the Time of His Wilmington Visit

The General's arrival in Wilmington is narrated John D. Bellamy, US Congressman in 1898:


"In the year 1870, General Robert E. Lee, the famous Confederate Commander in Chief, made a tour of the South and on his return came through Wilmington. At that time I was Captain of the Wilmington Military Company. We met the train on which

General Lee came at the present site of Navassa, my Company being clad in its best uniforms, with their muskets, bayonets and swords splendidly polished! We were accompanied by a delegation of the most prominent people in Wilmington.

Also with us was the Honorable George Davis, who had been a member of the Confederate Senate and Attorney General in Jefferson Davis's cabinet. We met General Lee and escorted him from Navassa on the train. Reaching the depot on Front Street, we formed ranks and followed the carriage in which General Lee and Mr. Davis rode to the latter's residence on Second Street between Walnut and Red Cross, where General Lee was entertained until the next day. He then proceeded on his return trip to Richmond.

It was a great honor conferred on me to have been Captain of the Cadet-Corps that escorted General Lee, and was reviewed by him in front of Mr. Davis's residence! The people of Wilmington thronged the balconies and streets to show their profound respect, reverence and love for the great Confederate leader and chieftain."

(Memoirs of an Octogenarian, John D. Bellamy, 1941)


Note:

The Cadet-Corps Bellamy captained was from the Cape Fear Academy, a military school begun in Wilmington in 1868 by General Raleigh E. Colston, who served as a Brigadier under Lee in the Army of Northern Virginia. General Colston was assisted at the Academy by Frank H. Alfriend, biographer of Jefferson Davis, and the school was operated in the Hill residence on Grace Street between 3rd & 4th Streets. In April 1870, General Lee addressed the assembled cadets from the front porch of Major C.P. Bolles residence at 215 North Third Street and "each member of the Corps enjoyed the honor of an introduction and a cordial handshake of the hand of the old General."


©2006 Cape Fear Historical Institute
 
Here is a pretty concise biography of Lighthorse Harry Lee:
http://www.inn-california.com/articles/biographic/henrylee5.html

I found it interesting that Anne Carter Lee must have loved him after all. I always thought he was a burden for her and that she was kind of pleased that he left for Barbados to escape his debts. But then, being kind of a single mom.of five sure was a challenge for her, too!
In that biography it is said that he was once appointed to Major General (but I think without really getting that rank) and that at hair's breadth he was given overall command of all armies in the War of 1812, but then Pres. Madison thought him not equal to that post, because of his flaws...
If seen in that light, Robert E. Lee, who had always been eager for promotion but could not see a chance for himself in the Union Army, sure was proud later in life that he was the Lee who was considered trustworthy enough to get that overall command from the hands of Pres. Davis.

Yes, Anne really did love Harry! Her powerful father had misgivings about her marrying Lee, but she did it anyway, and Carter promptly made sure her money was well out of her husband's reach. She stuck by him, as the article says, when he was in jail and when he was fooling around, and never said one bad word about him to their children. It was kind of irksome for Robert later down the line, though, when he went courting for a wife - he had plenty of candidates but their fathers kept saying NO! They knew Harry... :x3:
 
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