Download or read book Light Horse Harry Lee and the Legacy of the American Revolution written by Charles Royster and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 1994-07-01 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Light-Horse Harry Lee and the Legacy of the American Revolution, Charles Royster takes an ingenious, creative approach in his consideration of the life of one of the American Revolution’s heroes. Having fought valiantly to bring about a victory for the colonies, Henry (“Light-Horse Harry”) Lee (1756–1818) envisioned the new country as a virtuous and prosperous classical republic and eventually aligned himself with the Federalist party. He served as governor of Virginia and as a congressman, but he grew increasingly isolated, disillusioned, and bitter as the nation moved in a direction more in line with the Jeffersonian democratic principles. After going bankrupt and then suffering an attack by an angry mob, Lee exiled himself to the West Indies to escape his debts and save his family’s honor (including that of his son, the future General Robert E. Lee) and returned to the United States only several weeks before his death. Royster argues that Lee’s tragic life was different only in degree from those of many other patriots of the Revolution who viewed the peacetime fruits of their efforts with disappointment. How Lee, and others like him, shaped the American Revolution and were shaped by it is the theme of this provocative character study.
Download or read book Light Horse Harry Lee written by Charles Royster and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2013-08-21 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Light Horse Harry Lee, Charles Royster tells the story of a man whose career embodies the visionary promises that inspired the American Revolution, as well as the inability of the revolutionary generation to put all its ideals into practice. The man is Henry Lee—soldier (nicknamed “Light-Horse Harry Lee”), statesmen, landowner, historian of the young republic, member of one of the oldest and most eminent families of Virginia—who throughout his life endeavored to realize his dream of a free and prosperous America. Brilliantly examining Lee’s ambitions and achievements, Mr. Royster makes us see how, both during the war and afterward, Lee continually risked himself in the service of his vision and how again and again he failed to win the victories he sought. He shows us Lee as a young officer in the Revolution, fighting valorously and skillfully, earning renown as a patriot and a military genius—but leaving the Continental Army before the war’s end, sickened by the violence of battle and disheartened by his helplessness to mitigate it. After the war, we see Lee determined to play a central role in the new nation’s peaceful growth—serving in Congress and as governor of Virginia, promoting expansion and development through his own private business ventures. And we watch as Lee’s desperate pursuit of wealth and order for America ends tragically: in his political defeat, bankruptcy, and exile from the land he fought to free. Tracing Lee’s struggles and reverses in his efforts to implement the promises of the Revolution—in his defense of the union, his opposition to Jeffersonian Republicans, his investments in land, his repeated warnings against war—Mr. Royster shows how, in extreme form, Lee exemplified in his strivings the public aspirations of America’s most politically creative era, as well as his generations collective failure to attain its vision of national grandeur and individual happiness. And it is this failure and the resultant disappointment, Mr. Royster argues, that in large part opened the way to disagreements over the nature of the Union, culminating, finally, in the Civil War—in which the South was led by Light-Horse Harry Lee’s son, Robert E. Lee.
Download or read book Lighthorse Harry Lee and the Legacy of the American Revolutionary War written by Charles Royster and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 89 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Light Horse Harry Lee written by Ryan Cole and published by Regnery History. This book was released on 2019-01-15 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "It would be hard to write a dull book on Light-Horse Harry, and Mr. Cole's is far from it.... [The book] contains passages of considerable eloquence."— WALL STREET JOURNAL book review "Light-Horse Harry blazes across the pages of Ryan Cole's narrative like a meteor—and his final crash is as destructive. Cole tells his story with care, sympathy, and where necessary, sternness. This book is a great, and sometimes harrowing read." —Richard Brookhiser, senior editor at National Review and author of Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington Who was "Light-Horse Harry" Lee? Gallant Revolutionary War hero. Quintessential Virginia cavalryman. George Washington’s trusted subordinate and immortal eulogist. Robert E. Lee’s beloved father. Founding father who shepherded the Constitution through the Virginia Ratifying Convention. But Light-Horse Harry Lee was also a con man. A beachcomber. Imprisoned for debt. Caught up in sordid squabbles over squalid land deals. Maimed for life by an angry political mob. Light-Horse Harry Lee’s life was tragic, glorious, and dramatic, but perhaps because of its sad, ignominious conclusion historians have rarely given him his due—until now. Now historian Ryan Cole presents this soldier and statesman of the founding generation with all the vim and vigor that typified Lee himself. Scouring hundreds of contemporary documents and reading his way into Lee’s life, political philosophy, and character, Cole gives us the most intimate picture to date of this greatly awed but hugely talented man whose influence has reverberated from the founding of the United States to the present day.
Download or read book Light Horse Harry Lee and Robert E Lee written by Charles River Editors and published by . This book was released on 2020-02-19 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes excerpts of contemporary accounts *Includes a bibliography for further reading The proud Virginian entered the war in uncertain times, and there were understandable doubts about how well he could lead soldiers, but through a combination of skill and luck, he became one of his country's earliest and foremost military heroes. After the war, he would go on to a distinguished political career, and he would find himself caught up in civil unrest toward the end of his life. Some of those details might bring to mind the life story of George Washington, and if those details included the name Lee, most of them would immediately sound like a description of Robert E. Lee's life. In fact, they only begin to scratch the surface of the life and career of Robert E. Lee's father, Henry Lee III, who is best known by the nickname "Light-Horse Harry" for the way he excelled as a cavalry officer during the Revolutionary War. Aside from George Washington, many Americans are likely able to name just as many foreign generals on the rebel side as American generals. While names like Lafayette, Pulaski, Kościuszko, and Baron von Steuben are quickly associated with the Revolution, American officers like Nathanael Greene, Anthony Wayne, Horatio Gates, Henry Knox, and Light-Horse Harry Lee are often overlooked. Over 200 years later, Lee is best remembered not for his military or political service, but for being Robert E. Lee's father, and all the attendant controversy that comes with his son's legacy. This is unfortunate, given that he was one of the most distinguished individuals of the age. With the exception of George Washington, perhaps the most famous general in American history is Light-Horse Harry's son, despite the fact Robert E. Lee led the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia against the Union in the Civil War. Lee was imbued with a strong sense of honor and duty from the beginning, and as a top graduate of West Point, Lee had distinguished himself so well before the Civil War that President Lincoln asked him to command the entire Union Army. Lee famously declined, serving his home state of Virginia instead after it seceded. Lee is remembered today for constantly defeating the Union's Army of the Potomac in the Eastern theater from 1862-1865, considerably frustrating Lincoln and his generals. His leadership of his army led to him being deified after the war by some of his former subordinates, especially Virginians, and he came to personify the Lost Cause's ideal Southern soldier. His reputation was secured in the decades after the war as a general who brilliantly led his men to amazing victories against all odds. Despite his successes and his legacy, Lee wasn't perfect, and of all the battles Lee fought in, he was most criticized for Gettysburg, particularly his order of Pickett's Charge on the third and final day of the war. Despite the fact his principal subordinate and corps leader, General James Longstreet, advised against the charge, Lee went ahead with it, ending the army's defeat at Gettysburg with a violent climax that left half of the men who charged killed or wounded.Although the Civil War came to define Lee's legacy, he was involved in some of American history's other turning points, including the Mexican-American War and the capture of John Brown. Light-Horse Harry Lee and Robert E. Lee: The Lives and Military Careers of the Revolutionary War Hero and His More Famous Son profiles two of America's most famous generals. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Light-Horse Harry and Robert E. Lee like never before.
Download or read book Light Horse Harry Lee written by Charles River Editors and published by . This book was released on 2020-02-17 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes contemporary accounts *Includes a bibliography for further reading "The rank of men, as established by the concurrent judgement of ages stands thus: heroes, legislators, orators, and poets. The most useful and, in my opinion, the most honourable is the legislator, which so far from being incompatible with the profession of law, is congenial to it. Generally, mankind admire most the hero; of all, the most useless, except when the safety of the nation demands his saving arm." - Henry Lee III The proud Virginian entered the war in uncertain times, and there were understandable doubts about how well he could lead soldiers, but through a combination of skill and luck, he became one of his country's earliest and foremost military heroes. After the war, he would go on to a distinguished political career, and he would find himself caught up in civil unrest toward the end of his life. Some of those details might bring to mind the life story of George Washington, and if those details included the name Lee, most of them would immediately sound like a description of Robert E. Lee's life. In fact, they only begin to scratch the surface of the life and career of Robert E. Lee's father, Henry Lee III, who is best known by the nickname "Light-Horse Harry" for the way he excelled as a cavalry officer during the Revolutionary War. When the Revolution began, the Continental Army sported numerous volunteers from Ireland, Scotland, virtually every European nation between France and Russia, and men from the northern and southern borders of the European continent. This is understandable, given that at the start of the war, military confrontations between the world powers had become so common that combat was raised to the status of a fine art, consuming a large portion of time for adolescent males in training and comprising a sizeable component of the economy. Weaponry was developed to a degree of quality not accessible to most North Americans, and European aristocrats were reared in the mastery of swordsmanship with an emphasis on the saber for military use. Likewise, the cavalry, buoyed by a tradition of expert horsemanship and saddle-based combat, was a fighting force largely beyond reach for colonists, which meant that fighting on horses was an undeveloped practice in the fledgling Continental Army, and the American military did not yet fully comprehend the value of cavalry units. Few sword masters were to find their way to North America in time for the war, and the typical American musket was a fair hunting weapon rather than a military one. Even the foot soldier knew little of European military discipline. All of this helps explain why, aside from George Washington, many Americans are likely able to name just as many foreign generals on the rebel side as American generals. While names like Lafayette, Pulaski, Kościuszko, and Baron von Steuben are quickly associated with the Revolution, American officers like Nathanael Greene, Anthony Wayne, Horatio Gates, Henry Knox, and Light-Horse Harry Lee are often overlooked. Over 200 years later, Lee is best remembered not for his military or political service, but for being Robert E. Lee's father, and all the attendant controversy that comes with his son's legacy. This is unfortunate, given that he was one of the most distinguished individuals of the age. Light-Horse Harry Lee: The Life of the Revolutionary War General and Father of Robert E. Lee profiles one of the Revolutionary War's most famous soldiers. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Light-Horse Harry Lee like never before.
Download or read book Robert E Lee Life written by Myron Lauriano and published by . This book was released on 2021-04-28 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All of this book helps explain why, aside from George Washington, many Americans are likely able to name just as many foreign generals on the rebel side as American generals. While names like Lafayette, Pulaski, Kościuszko, and Baron von Steuben are quickly associated with the Revolution, American officers like Nathanael Greene, Anthony Wayne, Horatio Gates, Henry Knox, and Light-Horse Harry Lee are often overlooked. Over 200 years later, Lee is best remembered not for his military or political service, but for being Robert E. Lee's father, and all the attendant controversy that comes with his son's legacy. This is unfortunate, given that he was one of the most distinguished individuals of the age. This book gives you profiles of one of the Revolutionary War's most famous soldiers. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Light-Horse Harry Lee like never before.
Download or read book Wedded to My Sword written by Michael Cecere and published by . This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "I believe few Officers either in America or Europe are held in so high a point of estimation as you are..." --Gen. Nathanael Greene to "Light Horse" Harry Lee January 27, 1782 The sentiment above, expressed by General Nathanael Greene, an officer whose military contributions to American independence are second only to General George Washington, captures the view of most Americans in 1782 regarding Light Horse Harry Lee. In early 1782, twenty-six year old Lieutenant Colonel Lee commanded a legion of mounted and dismounted dragoons that had just completed a spectacular year of military service in the South. Lee's efforts in 1781, in conjunction with General Greene and the American southern army, resulted in the British loss of most of South Carolina and Georgia. Over the course of 1781, Lee and his legion, often detached from Greene's army, helped screen Greene's desperate retreat to Virginia and then, a few weeks later, captured or destroyed numerous enemy outposts and detachments in South Carolina and Georgia. Lee and his legion played a crucial role in the bloody battles of Guilford Courthouse and Eutaw Springs and the sieges of Augusta and Ninety-Six. The extraordinary service of Lee and his men in 1781 capped what had already been five years of distinguished military service for Lee. He had reported to General Washington's army as a twenty year old cavalry captain in 1777 and quickly earned a reputation as a bold commander. Lee's daring exploits at Valley Forge, Powles Hook and Springfield, like his extraordinary service in the south, are all chronicled within this book. Readers will undoubtedly conclude that Lee made the right decision when he declined General Washington's invitation in 1778 to join his staff as an aide-de-camp with the assertion that, "I am wedded to my sword." Illustrations, maps, a bibliography and an index to names, places and subjects enhance the text.
Download or read book Light Horse Harry Lee in the War for Independence written by Jim Piecuch and published by . This book was released on 2013-03-01 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Revolutionary War Memoirs Of General Henry Lee written by Henry Lee and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 1998-03-22 with total page 656 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: General Henry Lee (1756-1818), was a brilliant cavalry leader, close friend of George Washington, governor of Virginia, congressman, orator, and vigorous patriot. He wrote these memoirs while jailed in debtor's prison. Edited by his son, Robert E. Lee, they are unrivaled in the history of the American Revolution. Illustrations & maps.
Download or read book Memoirs of the War written by Henry Lee and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-02 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published in1812, these are the memoirs of Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee, the father of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his time serving the United States during the American Revolution, the father of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Volume II
Download or read book A Revolutionary People At War written by Charles Royster and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2011-02-01 with total page 506 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this highly acclaimed book, Charles Royster explores the mental processes and emotional crises that Americans faced in their first national war. He ranges imaginatively outside the traditional techniques of analytical historical exposition to build his portrait of how individuals and a populace at large faced the Revolution and its implications. The book was originally published by UNC Press in 1980.
Download or read book The Man Who Would Not Be Washington written by Jonathan Horn and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-01-06 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Former White House speechwriter Jonathan Horn reveals how the officer most associated with Washington went to war against the union that Washington had forged.
Download or read book Eutaw Springs written by Robert M. Dunkerly and published by Univ of South Carolina Press. This book was released on 2017-05-15 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An in-depth analysis of one of the War for Independence’s bloodiest and least understood conflicts. The Battle of Eutaw Springs took place on September 8, 1781, and was among the last in the War of Independence. It was brutal in its combat and reprisals, with Continental and Whig militia fighting British regulars and Loyalist regiments. Although its outcome was seemingly inconclusive, the battle, fought near present-day Eutawville, South Carolina, contained all the elements that defined the war in the South. In Eutaw Springs: The Final Battle of the American Revolution’s Southern Campaign, Robert M. Dunkerly and Irene B. Boland tell the story of this lesser known and under-studied battle of the Revolutionary War’s Southern Campaign. Shrouded in myth and misconception, the battle has also been overshadowed by the surrender of Yorktown. Eutaw Springs represented lost opportunities for both armies. The American forces were desperate for a victory in 1781, and Gen. Nathanael Greene finally had the ground of his own choosing. British forces under Col. Alexander Stewart were equally determined to keep a solid grip on the territory they still held in the South Carolina lowcountry. In one of the bloodiest battles of the war, both armies sustained heavy casualties with each side losing nearly twenty percent of its soldiers. Neither side won the hard-fought battle, and controversies plagued both sides in the aftermath. Dunkerly and Boland analyze the engagement and its significance within the context of the war’s closing months, study the area’s geology and setting, and recount the action using primary sources, aided by recent archaeology. “A well put together book that is easy to read, and it makes good use of graphic material. Eutaw Springs is recommended.” —The Journal of America’s Military Past “A long-overdue study of . . . Nathanael Greene’s last main force Southern campaign engagement. Drawing from a wealth of resources including new research, archaeology and pension documents, the authors have created an easy reading account. . . . For students of the Revolutionary War, this is must reading because so much focus has been directed at Yorktown where the British abandoned an army instead of the more mobile war in the South where the war was finally won by wearing down the British.” —Lawrence Babits, George Washington Distinguished Professor of History, East Carolina University “A very good analysis of the political, military, and physical environment, with some profiles of a number of interesting people, most notably Nathanael Greene, after Washington the most important American general of the war, though he never won a battle.” —New York Military Affairs Symposium Review
Download or read book Robert E Lee written by Allen C. Guelzo and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2021-09-28 with total page 625 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A WALL STREET JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • From the award-winning historian and best-selling author of Gettysburg comes the definitive biography of Robert E. Lee. An intimate look at the Confederate general in all his complexity—his hypocrisy and courage, his inner turmoil and outward calm, his disloyalty and his honor. "An important contribution to reconciling the myths with the facts." —New York Times Book Review Robert E. Lee is one of the most confounding figures in American history. Lee betrayed his nation in order to defend his home state and uphold the slave system he claimed to oppose. He was a traitor to the country he swore to serve as an Army officer, and yet he was admired even by his enemies for his composure and leadership. He considered slavery immoral, but benefited from inherited slaves and fought to defend the institution. And behind his genteel demeanor and perfectionism lurked the insecurities of a man haunted by the legacy of a father who stained the family name by declaring bankruptcy and who disappeared when Robert was just six years old. In Robert E. Lee, the award-winning historian Allen Guelzo has written the definitive biography of the general, following him from his refined upbringing in Virginia high society, to his long career in the U.S. Army, his agonized decision to side with Virginia when it seceded from the Union, and his leadership during the Civil War. Above all, Guelzo captures Robert E. Lee in all his complexity--his hypocrisy and courage, his outward calm and inner turmoil, his honor and his disloyalty.
Download or read book The Lees of Virginia Seven Generations of an American Family written by Paul C. Nagel and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1990-08-16 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Lees of Virginia, Paul Nagel chronicles seven generations of Lees, from the family founder Richard to General Robert E. Lee, covering over two hundred years of American history. We meet Thomas Lee, who dreamed of America as a continental empire. His daughter was Hannah Lee Corbin, a non-conformist in lifestyle and religion, while his son, Richard Henry Lee, was a tempestuous figure who wore black silk over a disfigured hand when he made the motion in Congress for Independence. Another of Thomas' sons, Arthur Lee, created a political storm by his accusations against Benjamin Franklin. Arthur's cousin was Light-Horse Harry Lee, a controversial cavalry officer in the Revolutionary War, whose wild real estate speculation led to imprisonment for debt and finally self-exile in the Caribbean. One of Harry's sons, Henry Lee, further disgraced the family by seducing his sister-in-law and frittering away Stratford, the Lees' ancestral home. Another son, however, became the family's redeeming figure--Robert E. Lee, a brilliant tactician who is still revered for his lofty character and military success. In these and numerous other portraits, Nagel discloses how, from 1640 to 1870, a family spirit united the Lees, making them a force in Virginian and American affairs. Paul Nagel is a leading chronicler of families prominent in our history. His Descent from Glory, a masterful narrative account of four generations of Adamses, was hailed by The New Yorker as "intelligent, tactful, and spiritually generous," and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian W.A. Swanberg, in the Chicago Sun-Times, called it "a magnificent embarrassment of biographical riches." Now, in The Lees of Virginia, Nagel brings his skills to bear on another major American family, taking readers inside the great estates of the Old Dominion and the turbulent lives of the Lee men and women.
Download or read book Battle Maps of the American Revolution written by American Battlefield Trust and published by Knox Press. This book was released on 2021-07-06 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the American Battlefield Trust, an unparalleled collection of their popular battle maps of the Revolutionary War. “Wow! I just love those maps that you guys send to me.” It is a phrase that the staff of the American Battlefield Trust hears on a weekly basis and the expression refers to one of the cornerstone initiatives of the organization, mapping the battlefields of the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and the American Civil War. The American Battlefield Trust is the premier battlefield preservation organization in the United States. Over the last thirty years the American Battlefield Trust and its members have preserved more than 54,000 acres of battlefield land across 145 battlefields, in twenty-four states—at sites such as Lexington & Concord, Brandywine, Yorktown, Shiloh, and Gettysburg. Other than physically walking across the hallowed battle grounds that the American Battlefield Trust has saved, the best way to illustrate the importance of the properties that we have preserved is through our battle maps. Through the decades, the American Battlefield Trust has created hundreds of maps detailing the action at major battles. Now, for the first time in book form, we have collected the maps of some of the most iconic battles of the Revolutionary War. In Vol. 3 of our Battle Maps of the American Battlefield Trust series, you can follow the course of the war from Lexington & Concord to the British surrender at Yorktown. Study the major actions of the Revolutionary War from start to finish utilizing this unparalleled collection of maps.
