“NOT ONLY ONE OF THE FIRST BUT ONE OF THE BEST OF AMERICAN CAVALRY SOLDIERS”: FIRST EDITION OF MEMOIRS OF THE WAR BY HENRY “LIGHT-HORSE HARRY” LEE

LEE, Henry. Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United States. Philadelphia: Bradford and Inskeep, 1812. Two volumes. Octavo, contemporary full brown tree calf, light brown morocco spine labels.

First edition of a history of the Revolutionary War’s southern theater by Henry Lee, who “devoted his life to the American Revolution,” and authored Washington’s eulogy with the famous words, “first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen,” very scarce in contemporary calf.

Henry Lee, who was “not only one of the first but one of the best of American cavalry soldiers,” had been summoned by General Washington to serve as his aide-de-camp, but “declined because he preferred to stay with the cavalry. He was promoted to major by Congress on 7 April 1778 and given command of an independent partisan corps… which came to be known as ‘Lee’s Legion” and earned him the title, “Light-Horse Harry.” Promoted to lieutenant-colonel, he then served with General Nathanael Greene where, “in the remarkable retreat across North Carolina to Virginia, in February 1781, Lee covered the rear of Greene’s army, constantly skirmishing with Tarleton’s British troopers, who were unable to prevail over the American cavalry.” Lee was also at the siege of Yorktown and witnessed the surrender of Cornwallis. He is well remembered as the author of Washington’s eulogy and the famous words: “first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” Lee served in the House of Delegates (1785) and in the Continental Congress (1785-88), where, in 1788, “as a member of the Virginia convention that ratified the federal Constitution, he earnestly argued for the document and won distinction for his eloquence. An ardent Federalist, he also was a member of the Virginia legislature (1789-91), and the state’s governor (1791-94). Briefly imprisoned for debt and “desperately seeking diversion, he wrote his Memoirs of the War, which he published in 1812” (ANB). Lee “devoted his life to the American Revolution,” and his Memoirs especially highlights the importance of “military expertise and strong government as the central patriots and victors of the Revolution” (Royster, Light-Horse Harry Lee, 195, 240-41). Lee often opposed Jefferson, who owned a first edition of Lee’s Memoirs and returned Lee’s attacks with his own forceful criticism of the Memoirs. Lee’s fifth child with second wife Anne Hill Carter was Robert E. Lee. With frontispiece portraits of General Green (I) and the Marquis Cornwallis (II). Howes L202. Sabin 39741. Shaw & Shoemaker 25839. Sowerby 533. Early owner signatures. Small early notation to rear free endpaper (I).

Interiors with some scattered foxing, endpapers with archival repairs, expert restoration to handsome contemporary tree calf.