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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
the loss of five of his riders carried off i6o
prisoners, for which service Congress gave
him a gold medal. He was promoted lieu-
tenant-colonel and marched to South Caro*
lina, where he covered the rear of General
Greene's army. After Greene had crossed
into Virginia, Lee remained in the moun-
tains of North Carolina to encourage the
Whigs and harrass Tarleton and the loyal-
ists. His efforts to surprise the British
dragoons were unsuccessful, but he defeated
400 loyalists under Colonel Pyle. At Guil-
ford Court House, March 15, 1781, his legion
proved more than a match for Tarleton's
dragoons, and, when General Greene
marched against Camden, he sent Lee and
Marion to cut off Rawdon's communications
with the seacoast, and they captured Fort
Watson, which forced Rawdon to abandon
and bum Camden, May 10, 1781. Colonel
Lee then proceeded south, capturing Forts
Mott and Granby, and May 25 reached Au-
gusta, Georgia, which city also fell into his
hands June 5, 1781. He rejoined Greene's
army, and took part in the siege of Fort
Ninety-six, which after twenty-eight days
was raised on the approach of Rawdon with
2000 men. In the battle of Eutaw Springs,
September 8, 1781, Lee's Legion rendered
distinguished service, and when the British
retreated to Charleston, Lee followed so
closely as to capture a large number of Raw-
don's rear-gu«ird. He witnessed the sur-
render of Cornwaliis at Yorktown, October
19, 1781, and soon after resigned his com-
mission and became proprietor of "Strat-
ford House," by his marriage to his second
cousin, Matilda, daughter of Philip Ludwell
Lee. He was a delegate to the Continental
Congress from Virginia, 1785-88, and a mem-
ber of the convention called to ratify the
Federal constitution in 1788, and in that
body, with Madison and Marshall, he op-
posed the efforts of Patrick Henry, Richard
Henry Lee, George Mason, James Monroe,
Benjamin Harrison and John Tyler, to de-
feat the ratification. He was a representa-
tive in the general assembly, 1789-91, and
governor 1792-95. President Washington,
in 1794, commissioned him major-general in
command of troops sent to Western Penn-
sylvania to suppress the whiskey insurrec-
tion, and on his appearance with 15,000 men
the insurrectionists were overawed and
peace was restored without bloodshed. He
w^as a representative in the sixth Congress,
1 799- 1 801, and at the close retired to private
life. He married (second) in 1798, .Ann
Hill, daughter of Charles and Anne Butler
(Moore) Carter, of Shirley, Virginia. He
was oppressed by debt the last years of his
life. On July 27, 1812, while in Baltimore
on a visit to William Hanson, editor of the
•'Federal Republican," the printing office
was attacked by a mob, and in the conflict
that followed he was left for dead upon the
street, where he was found insensible. He
was disqualified for military service from
the effects of this encounter. He visited the
West Indies in 1817 for the benefit of his
health, and on his way home he stopped at
the homestead of General Greene, near St.
Mary's, Georgia, where he was entertained
by Mrs. Shaw, daughter of his old com-
mander, and under whose roof he died. He
was the author of: "Funeral Oration upon
President Washington," (1799), delivered
before both houses of Congress, in which
occur the words, *The man, first in war,
first in peace, and first in the hearts of his
fellow-citizens" ; and of "War in the South-
ern United States" (2 vols., 1812). He diea
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