Light-Horse Harry Lee and the Legacy of the American Revolution

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.