The 8th Virginia Regiment
  • Home
  • Blog
  • The Regiment
  • The Soldiers
  • Family
  • Living History
  • Learn More
  • Contact

Fort Lee's Despicable Namesake

8/23/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
George Washington's second in command was not a good man.
Picture
With all the unwelcome attention Fort Lee, N.J., has received lately, people might wonder why a Northern town carries the Southern-sounding name Lee. It is indeed named for a high-ranking general from Virginia — but not the obvious one. This one is buried right here in Philadelphia.

Charles Lee was a frustrated British army officer who came to America in 1773 after being repeatedly passed over for promotions in London. After buying a home in Berkeley County, Va. (now in West Virginia), he schmoozed his way into a major general’s commission from the Continental Congress. Like that of an out-of-control rock star, his career soared to stratospheric heights and then plummeted to the lowest of depths in just a few years.
​
Though he could be charming, Lee was not a good man. His approach to military discipline was to “flog them in scores.” Though he hated King George III, a relative of Lee’s wrote, “I think His Majesty and poor Mr. Lee are much upon a par; they are both vain and obstinate.”

...continue to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

[Note: Since this essay first appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on March 2, 2014, new research by Mark  Edward Lender and Garry Wheeler Stone (Fatal Sunday) and Christian McBurney (George Washington's Nemesis) have painted a more positive picture of General Lee's conduct at Monmouth,]

More from The 8th Virginia Regiment

Picture
Picture
Picture
1 Comment
Heather W link
12/25/2020 09:38:12 am

Great post, thanks for writing

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Gabriel Neville

    is researching the history of the Revolutionary War's 8th Virginia Regiment. Its ten companies formed on the frontier, from the Cumberland Gap to Pittsburgh.

    Categories

    All
    Artifacts & Memorials
    Book Reviews
    Brandywine & Germantown
    Charleston & Sunbury
    Disease
    Frontier
    Generals
    Organization
    Other Revolutionary War
    Race
    Religion
    Trenton & Princeton
    Valley Forge & Monmouth
    Veterans

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    August 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015

    © 2015-2022 Gabriel Neville

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Blog
  • The Regiment
  • The Soldiers
  • Family
  • Living History
  • Learn More
  • Contact