Henry Lee, of Virginia,—"Light-Horse" or "Legion Harry", as he was often called,—though not in the South prior to the days of the Cowpens, was so intimate with all the actors in the operations after the fall of Charleston, and enjoyed such advantages for acquiring information of earlier events, that as a source of information his book[1037] is of considerable value. As the work of an outspoken and generally impartial military critic of these campaigns, it has no equal. It should be borne in mind, however, that as to dates and minor details it needs the confirmation of contemporary documents.[1038] Like so many of the Revolutionary heroes, Lee in his later years became involved in unfortunate speculations, and a painful disease increased the distress of his last days.[1039] As an orator he fashioned phrases which have not yet lost their hold on the popular mind. As a writer he avoided the stilted sentences of his contemporaries, and his book may still be read with pleasure. Probably no one enjoyed the confidence of Greene to such an extent as Henry Lee.[1040]
Nathanael Greene came of good Rhode Island stock,[1041] and, like other prominent Rhode Islanders of his day, was a self-educated man. Fortunately for posterity, though not always for himself, Greene was a copious and candid letter-writer. His letters and fragments of letters, so far as they have been printed, are his best biography.[1042] He has not lacked biographers, however. First, in point of time, was Charles Caldwell, who put forth a worthless volume as early as 1819.[1043] William Gilmore Simms, the Carolina novelist, also tried his hand at the alluring theme, and his book, while possessing no claim to originality, has at least the merit of being interesting. The most formidable of these early biographies was the work of Judge Johnson, of Charleston. He enjoyed the best facilities, as the Greenes placed the family papers at his disposal. Many of these documents he printed at length, and as a repository his work has a value.[1044] In other respects it is worth very little. This is due mainly to the fact that in order to glorify his hero he belittled every other prominent character—with the exception of Marion.[1045] A formidable antagonist of Johnson was soon found in the person of Henry Lee, the son of Light-Horse Harry. He resented the slurs of Johnson, and even wrote a book[1046] to show the small reliance to be placed on the learned judge's military criticisms. As a review, the work of the younger Lee is interesting, but it is so one-sided as to be of little importance.
It is, however, to the labors of a descendant that the great leader owes much of the honor in which he is held. In various publications, from the little seven-page sketch in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History (vol. ii. p. 84) to the large three-volume biography,[1047] the grandson sought to spread the fame of the grandsire. Unfortunately, through these family works of love there runs the same spirit of adulation that so disfigured Johnson. A still greater drawback to the value of the largest work is the hesitation of the author in printing letters and documents not elsewhere in print.
In this respect the biographer of Greene's able lieutenant, Daniel Morgan, set a good example. In fact, Graham's Morgan[1048] is an excellent and generally trustworthy book. It is to be noted that Graham has cleared Morgan from the charge that he retired from the army after the Cowpens, through a treasonable fear that the Revolution would not be successful. Nor does the assertion that Morgan was chagrined at the treatment accorded him by Greene appear to be well founded.
GENERAL GREENE. (New York Magazine, 1794.)
But of all the Southern leaders, Marion was most fortunate in his biographers.[1049] It is true that Horry's work was largely written by Mason L. Weems, notorious for his so-called Life of Washington. Both Horry and James had a foundation for their narratives. The confidence reposed by Greene in his ablest leader of irregular troops is best seen in their letters printed by Gibbes in his Documentary History,[1050] which is composed mainly of the "Horry Papers", already used in Horry's memoir. Another partisan worthy of mention was Pickens. But of him only slight and unworthy sketches have been printed.[1051]
The only extended notice of Benjamin Lincoln is the biography by Francis Bowen in Sparks's collection.[1052] This book was not written in the calm judicial spirit that should characterize an historical work. Many of Lincoln's order-books have been preserved, and have been of material service in preparing the foregoing narrative. Though Lincoln's career was marked by no brilliant successes, his work was always well done, and demands a fuller recognition.[1053]
GENERAL GREENE. (After a Photograph of a Painting.)