Lee, Charles
Lee, Charles (1731–1782), British army officer, Revolutionary War general.Born in Cheshire, England, Lee fought in the French and Indian War, serving from Edward Braddock's ill‐fated campaign against Fort Duquesne to the 1760 conquest of Montréal.
Siding with America's revolutionaries, the politically radical Lee became the Continental army's third‐ranking general in 1775. He improved coastal fortifications and helped George Washington's army escape from a precarious position on Manhattan. A student of war and society, Lee advocated a mass guerrilla conflict because he believed that Americans, accustomed to liberty, lacked the discipline necessary to defeat professional soldiers in conventional battle.
Late in 1776, Lee's career began to deteriorate. Having lost faith...
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