Letter & Books: Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee (4pcs)

Letter & Books: Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee Autograph Letter Signed dated December 23 1783, Richmond, [Virginia]. To "Mr. Henry Lee, Surveyor, Kentucky." "I beg your attention to have my lands on Licking & Green Rivers surveyed without delay [;] if you want any more money order on me & it shall be paid[.] Surveyors fees are by a late law 250 w [weight] Tobo [Tobacco] for 400 acres & 12 w for every hundred over in the same survey…." Signed "believe me to be your…friend, Henry Lee."
Soon after Henry Lee retired from the army in February 1782, he married Matilda Ludwell Lee (c.1764-1790), his second cousin, moved to her plantation, Stratford Hall, and began to invest in speculative land ventures, a practice that eventually led to his insolvency and a brief term in prison. Henry Lee (1757-1845), the surveyor, was probably a distant cousin who, as a young man, moved to Virginia's western frontier, Bourdon County, which embraced much of the area that was included in northeastern Kentucky after statehood in 1792. Henry Lee's letter was carried to the surveyor by another Kentucky pioneer, Timothy Peyton (c. 1746-1787), who had signed his will in Prince William County, Virginia, on September 5 1782, probably in anticipation of his removal to Kentucky.

Lee, Henry IV (1787-1837). Observations on the Writings of Thomas Jefferson, with Particular Reference to the Attack they Contain on the Memory of the late Gen. Henry Lee. In a Series of Letters, By H. Lee. Philadelphia: J. Dobson; Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co.; Carey & Hart, 1839. Second edition.

Royster, Charles. LIGHT-HORSE HARRY LEE AND THE LEGECY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 1981.

Lee, Robert E. THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR MEMOIRS OF GENERAL HENRY LEE. New York: Da Capo Press, 1998. (4pcs)

Provenance: Private collection, Lowcountry South Carolina Plantation

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