1780 CHARLES LEE ALS to the MD. Cont. Loan Office

Autographs
1780 Charles Lee Autograph Letter Signed to Thomas Harwood of the Continental Loan Office of Maryland
CHARLES LEE (1758 - 1815). American Lawyer from Virginia, served as the 3rd United States Attorney General in 1795 after William Bradford died in office, until 1801 under Presidents George Washington and John Adams;
May 26, 1780-Dated Revolutionary War Period, Autograph Letter Signed, "Chas Lee Secy", measuring 8.5" x 10.5", 1 page, Treasury Office, Choice Very Fine. Here, Charles Lee writes as the Acting Continental Congress Treasury Secretary to Thomas Harwood of the Continental Loan Office of Maryland regarding the payment of three accounts he mentioned in another letter sent the prior day. It reads, in full:
"Sir - You will receive inclosed four letters of exchange transmitted for the purpose expressed in my letter of yesterday which you will receive together with this letter.
There are three Sets of 333 Dollars each = 999
one Set of - - - - - - - - 225. 00 - - - - - - - 225
1224
I am Sir your most obet. Humble Servt -- (Signed) Chas Lee Secy."
The signature "Chas Lee Secy." is boldly written in rich brown ink on clean laid period paper, measuring a large 3.5" long.
Charles Lee (1758 - June 24, 1815). American lawyer from Virginia. He served as United States Attorney General from 1795 until 1801.
Charles was born to Henry (1729-1787) and Lucy (Grymes) Lee on his father's plantation of Leesylvania in Prince William County, Virginia. He was the third of eleven children and a younger brother of General Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee. Another brother was Congressman Richard Bland Lee. A third cousin was Zachary Taylor. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) in 1775, and then read law with Jared Ingersoll in Philadelphia before returning to Virginia.
Charles married Anne Lee (1 December 1770-9 September 1804), a cousin and the daughter of Richard Henry Lee (his first cousin once removed) in 1789. Before her death in 1804 the couple had six children; Anne Lucinda Lee (1790-1845), Infant Son Lee (1791-1791), Richard Henry Lee (Feb 1793-Mar 1793), Charles Henry Lee (b. Oct 1794), William Arthur Lee (b. Sept 1796), Alfred Lee (1799-1865). He married a second time in 1809, to Margaret Scott (1783-1843), and had three more children in this union; Robert Eden Lee (1810-1843), Elizabeth Gordon Lee (1813-1813), Alexander Lee (1815-1815).
President Washington appointed Lee the Attorney General after William Bradford died in office. After Senate approval he took office on December 10, 1795 and served through the rest of the administration. He was continued in office by John Adams and served through the entire Adams administration until February 19, 1801.
During his term in office Lee lived in Alexandria, which was then part of the capital district. He was an early advocate for the return of the southern part of the District of Columbia to Virginia which finally happened in 1847. After his time as Attorney General, he became the port officer for the District of the Potomac and among the most prominent trial lawyers in Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia.
Lee represented William Marbury and other appointees of John Adams in Marbury v. Madison, the landmark case against the Jefferson administration for unfulfilled political appointments. Simultaneously, he defended Hugh Stuart in Stuart v. Laird.
He declined Thomas Jefferson's offer to appoint him a justice of the Supreme Court.
Lee died in 1815 in Fauquier County, Virginia, aged 56 or 57, and is buried in the Warrenton Cemetery in Warrenton.