Do you know anything about how Charles Lee was a person? I can't seem to find much about him other than his revolutionary war career. Thanks.
āCharles Lee had become both a favorite of Samuel Adams and John Adams because he was a former British officer who had become fervent about Americaās cause. Lee delivered mesmerizing account of his past exploits and tended to behave rudely with civilians. James Warren had once met him in Massachusetts and written to ā¦ Adams ā¦ Adams reassured him that Leeās oddities were merely those of a great man.Ā āHe is a queer creature, but you must love his dogs if you love him, and forgive a thousand whims for the sake of the soldier and the scholar.āā (Langguth 309).Ā
āā¦he [Charles Lee] said that dogs were faithful and men were not. In his first tour of Charleston, he brought along a Pomeranian as big as a skinny man of forty-four, he was striking ugly, with a bony nose so large that men called himĀ āNasoā. His nature was a jumble of contradictory quirks. He was vain enough to deign his own uniform and have it expensively tailored but then wore it wrinkled and often filthy. He quoted from Plutarch and Shakespeare but as easily lasted into a coarseness remarkable even in the army.ā (Langguth 330).
āApart from a deep affection for his sister, Lee was as disillusioned with women as with men and seemed to prefer casual relations with those who followed an army camp ā¦ Mohawks observed the way Lee strode through their camp, always talking, and named himĀ āBoiling Water.āā (Langguth 330).
āā¦Lee expected to be rewarded for his services to a British ally. Instead, George began to apologize for having no military position to offer him. Lee cut the march short.Ā āSir,ā he said,Ā āI will never give Your Majesty an opportunity of breaking your promise to me again.āĀ (Langguth 330).
āHis officers soon came to accept Leeās rude manners as a fair trade for his apparent skillāĀ (Langguth 331).
āLee ignored ā¦ dire events at Harlem heights ā¦ But when the British overran the post, Lee was not smug. Instead, he lost all control, railing and shouting that had the wretched place been named for him and not for Washington, it would have been given up long ago ā¦ [Joseph] Reed added that Lee could be decisive, a quality often lacking in minds that were otherwise vulnerable.āĀ (Langguth 402).
āā¦ Lee was reluctant to obey ā¦ Lee stalled and delayed asĀ Washington grew moreĀ desperate ā¦ excuses he offered were ones Washington could also claim ā¦ Despite strict orders, some of Leeās hungry troops had turned to looting.āĀ (Langguth 403).
āHe said he trusted he would be treated like a gentleman.āĀ (Langguth 405).
āLee was a thin, quarrelsome, eccentric bachelor who spoke four foreign languages, had lost two fingers in an Italian duel, and traveled everywhere with his pack of dogs at his heels. He had briefly married an Indian women leading the Mohawks to nickname him ā¦ Boiling Water. He was a talented by impossibly temperamental man who believed devoutly in his own military genius. Arrogant and indiscreet ā¦ he ridiculed efforts ā¦ā (Chernow 113).Ā
āLee, whose true character still remains enigmatic, mossed a charm which had won him many friends among the officers who delighting in his caustic wit and his colorful tales of adventure in faroff Poland, Hungary and Constantinople. Leeās appearance was not prepossingāthin as a match with an ugly face dominated by an quinine nose ā¦ Lee encouraged Monroe to overcome hisĀ āmauvaise honte,ā which he felt was preventing the young officer from displaying his real talents ā¦ Lee sensed abilities of the first order.ā (Ammon 17).Ā
[Letter from Charles Lee to James Monroe]Ā āThere are few young men for whom I have higher esteem and affection. I am extremely concerned that fortune has been so unkind as not to admit of your cultivating the talents which nature has bestowed on you to a greater advantage than your present situation seems to promise.ā
āLee thought the [study of] law [was]Ā āa most worried narrower of the mind.ā (DeRose 41).Ā
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