The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1901-05-10

sive FOR the
.----0 service render
ed. But i'll the Revolution gentlemen
yearned for hand in the struggle and
being bred in saddle were lost without
horse. AS well send a hunter into
the game woods without his gun and
dog as to expect a southerner to be
himself in any exciting situation with
out his trustN steed
In the sixties the mounted bands of
Forrest, Stuart and Morgan came into
being as the impulse of horse owners
and horse lovers who wanted to be in
the fracas in way to feel at home.
From this same class of young bloods
Light Horse Harry" Lee recruited the
rough riding legion which made him
famous in the Revolutionary camps of
Washington and Greene. His troopers
never numbered above a hundred, but
they counted as a legion in the eyes
of the redcoats, who We're little used
to the ''barharous'' ways of our border
cavaliers.
| Henry Lee was but 20 years old
when he joined the patriot army in
| 1776. He had graduated from Prince
ton at the age of II, so there was moth
| ing OF the ariStOcratic dullard in his
make up. Holding the rank of captain
in Colonel BANDS regiment of Virgin
ia horse. young Lee first came under
the notice OF Washington at the battle
of Brandywine. Colonel Bland soon
left the volunteer service for the regu-
lar army, and from that time on until
the end of the war Light Horse Har-
ry'' led an independent corps known as
Lees Legion horse and Lees Legion
Infantry. In 1861 the south turned out
composite corps of this kind, usually
adding field gun or two. Such We're
Hampton's, Cobb's and Young's legions.
In the campaign of the Brandywine
Captain Lees troops haraSsed the Brit
ish outposts day and night, raiding sup
ply depots and cutting off little detach-
ments of strolling redcoats. Soon after
this the dashing rough rider was pro-
noted major in command of mixed
body of troops. When Washington
moved to the Hudson highlands in
IlSO to meet the threatened attack of
Clinton on West Point, Major Lee re-
NAMED at the Jersey camp with Cen
eral Nathaniel Greene to guard the ar
my base. Clinton's move on West
| Point was merely feint to cover a
grand attack on the supply depots at
Morristown. Lees legion met the Brit
ish attack on the main road and sent
the redcoats flying from the field. This
| q of Grr1,
became so impressed with Lees gal
lantry that he recommended his pro-
motion to the rank of lieutenant colo
mel and took him away from Washing
tons camp to the stirring battlefields of
the Carolinas.
| Before the Morristown affair Major
Lee had shown his mettle by a daring
attack on the fortified British post at
Paulus Hook now Jersey City. In
spired by "Mad' Anthony Wayne's
thrilling capture of Stony Point, in the
Hudson highlands, Washington select
ed Lee to give the enemy a similar
bloW at Paulus Hook The position
consisted Of two redoubts and two
Dlockhouses connected by ditch and
breastworks, the whole surrounded by
a deep morass. AT the end of stealthy
night march the Americans surprised
the sentlnels leaped the ditch and cap
tufed l59 redcoats before firing a shot.
Lee then attacked the largest redoubt,
but, having no artillery, could make
little Roadway against the six heavy
cannon in the redoubt. After losing
HVe men in skirmish before the work
the major retreated, taking all his pris-
onerS out under fire.
congress rewarded the hero of Paul
us Hook with vote of thanks and a
gold medal, and Lee reached the Car
ollnas with the fame of doughty
warrior resting upon his young Shout
ders. One Of the first acts of Greene
aftef getting his southern army well
IN hand was to pit the chivalrous Lee
against the bloodthirsty Tarleton. the
partisan leader Of mo quarter" infamy.
lafleton was at the head of the loyal
list or renegade element of the Caro-
llnas, and Greene's plan was to keep
this force from the main British army
under CORVALLIS. Lees rank was
lieutenant colonel, and the partisan
Colonel Pickens of South Carolina was
placed under his command to help cut
off and capture Tarleton on the south
bank of the river Dan. The rough rid
ing scouts Brought word to their chief
that Tarleton was out in the valley of
Haw river urging loyalist bands to
march to Corvallis aid. Although
| he dashed quickly to the British camp
Tarleton had fled, and Lee only Sc
cured two of his officers.
The game was too tempting to let 60
and Lee decided to fight the fiendish
Tarleton with his own weapons He
resorted tc a stratagem worthy of the
times and the foe he must deal with.
Tarleton's followers were banded into
! a legion closely resembling Lees in
mounts and equipment, and the willy
e. F. v. turned this circumstance to
good account, Tarieton's. captured Of