1To Thomas Jefferson from Richard Henry Lee, 1 December 1779 (Jefferson Papers)
Falmouth [ Stafford co., Va. ] 1 Dec. 1779 . Quotes a letter just received from a member of Congress in Philadelphia stating that “a capital embarkation” from New York is afoot and will undoubtedly proceed to the south, perhaps to Virginia. This is precisely what Lee has long apprehended. RC ( DLC ); 2 p.; printed in R. H. Lee, Letters , ii , 167–8.
2To George Washington from Richard Henry Lee, 21 April 1777 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: from Richard Henry Lee, 21 April 1777. GW wrote in his letter to Lee of 24–26 April : “your favour of the 21st is come to hand.”
3To George Washington from Richard Henry Lee, 5 October 1777 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: from Richard Henry Lee, 5 Oct. 1777. GW wrote Lee on 16 Oct. : “Your favour of the 5th Inst. as also that of the 11th by Baron Kalb, are both to hand.”
4To George Washington from Richard Henry Lee, 26 March 1776 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: from Richard Henry Lee, 26 Mar. 1776. On 4 April GW wrote to Richard Henry Lee : “Your favour of the 26th Ulto came to my hands last Night.”
5To George Washington from Richard Henry Lee, 26 July 1778 (Washington Papers)
Letter not found : from Richard Henry Lee, 26 July 1778. On 10 Aug., GW wrote Lee : “A few days ago I received your favor of the 26th Ulto.”
6To Thomas Jefferson from Richard Henry Lee, 7 February 1780 (Jefferson Papers)
Chantilly, 7 Feb. 1780 . Acknowledges letter and enclosures of 2 Jan. Intends to go into next Assembly and will early procure lodgings in Richmond. Hopes the southern news is true. A letter from Arthur Lee of 28 Sep. brings news of naval fighting in European waters. Arthur Lee may not be able to leave Europe because he stands pledged for 300,000 livres which he has no means of paying. RC ( DLC...
7To George Washington from Richard Henry Lee, 6 September 1778 (Washington Papers)
Letter not found : from Richard Henry Lee, 6 Sept. 1778. On 23 Sept., GW wrote Lee : “Your favor of the 6th Instt did not get to my hands till the 18th.”
8To George Washington from Richard Henry Lee, 7 November 1777 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: from Richard Henry Lee, 7 Nov. 1777. On 18 Nov. GW wrote Lee : “Your favour of the 7th Instant should not have remained so long unanswered.”
9To George Washington from Richard Henry Lee, 11 October 1777 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: from Richard Henry Lee, 11 Oct. 1777. GW wrote Lee on 16 Oct. : “Your favour of the 5th Inst. as also that of the 11th by Baron Kalb, are both to hand.”
10Henry Laurens, Richard Henry Lee, and John Adams to Joseph Trumbull, 5 September 1777 (Adams Papers)
The Resolve of Congress which you will receive under this Cover will shew you that we are appointed a Committee and for what purposes. We request you to transmit to us by the earliest good opportunity the fullest intelligence in your late department of Commissary General and you will further oblige us by adding any further information properly authenticated relative to the enquiries which we...
11To John Adams from Richard Henry Lee, 24 April 1779 (Adams Papers)
Philadelphia, 24 April 1779. Dft ( ViU : Lee Papers). printed : The Letters of Richard Henry Lee , ed. James Ballagh, 2 vols., N.Y., 1914 (repr. N.Y., 1970), 2:46–49. Given its date and its existence only in draft, this reply to John Adams’ letter of 5 Aug. 1778 (vol. 6:350–352) probably never reached him. Lee commended Adams for his determination to remain outside the quarrels of the...
12To Thomas Jefferson from Richard Henry Lee, 22 May 1779 (Jefferson Papers)
I have paid due attention to your favor of April the 21st., and I believe there would have been no difficulty in obtaining what is desired for Baron de Geismar had not the enemy created the difficulties that do exist. They absolutely refuse to admit partial exchanges, and they have lately proposed such unfair terms for general exchange that nothing can be done in either of these ways. They...
13To Thomas Jefferson from Richard Henry Lee, 6 September 1779 (Jefferson Papers)
The Chevalier D’Anmour who will have the honor of delivering you this letter, having been lately appointed Consul of France for this State, as he before was for Maryland, comes now to pay his respects to you. I have had the pleasure of being acquainted with this gentleman since early in the year 1777 and I have found in him the same unshaken attachment to our cause in times of its great...
14To Thomas Jefferson from Richard Henry Lee, 9 April 1781 (Jefferson Papers)
Mr. Whitlock found me with the Militia on the Shore of Potomac where we had a very warm engagement with a party of the enemy, about 90 men, who landed from two Brigs, a Schooner, and a smaller Vessel under a very heavy cannonade from the Vessels of War. The affair ended by the enemy being forced to reembark with some haste. The loss on our part not any, but there is some reason to suppose that...
15To George Washington from Richard Henry Lee, 20 October 1777 (Washington Papers)
Your favor of the 16th I received yesterday, and was a good deal surprised to find you had been told that Congress had appointed Gen. Conway a Major General. No such appointment has been made, nor do I believe it will, whilst it is likely to produce the evil consequences you suggest. It is very true, that both within and without doors, their have been Advocates for the measure, and it has been...
16To Thomas Jefferson from Richard Henry Lee, 20 September 1779 (Jefferson Papers)
I have the honor of inclosing you a letter that Mr. Mazzie formerly sent to me, and which having been mislaid among a number of papers, prevented me from returning to him so soon as he desired. It is at his request that I send it to you. I find by a letter that I received from Philadelphia by the last post, that some person has been representing a part of my letter to you by Mr. Ford in a...
17To Thomas Jefferson from Richard Henry Lee, 2 May 1778 (Jefferson Papers)
We are this moment made acquainted by the War Office that an Express was immediately to depart for Virginia, and I take the opportunity of enclosing by him the last papers, which contain all our news, except it be a report that seems not illy founded, that Genl. Amhers[t] and Adml. Keppel are arrived at Philadelphia as commissioners from the King and Parliament of G. B. to carry into execution...
18To George Washington from Richard Henry Lee, 26 November 1775 (Washington Papers)
As Mr Custis can furnish you with an exact account of our affairs in Virginia, it will be unnecessary for me to say any thing on that subject. Proper persons will certainly and presently be appointed, under proper regulations, to determine on sea Captures. I heartily congratulate you on the surrender of St Johns. That of Montreal must, I think, quickly follow, because it is quite defenceless,...
19To Thomas Jefferson from Richard Henry Lee, 8 July 1779 (Jefferson Papers)
Chantilly, 8 July 1779 . Acknowledges TJ’s letter of 17 June. “Every good Whig will wish success to a governor whose principles of action are not the incentives of whim, or the suggestions of partiality; but who is influenced by motives of sound whiggism, which I take to be those of genuine philanthropy‥‥ In Virginia we have properly two frontiers, one bordered by a wilderness, the other by a...
20To George Washington from Richard Henry Lee, 26 August 1781 (Washington Papers)
I have just been favored with your polite and friendly letter of July the 15th last, for which I beg leave to return you my thanks—You may be assured Sir, that as I do not take up friendships upon trivial grounds, so I never lay them down for slight causes. I have been happy to find that the principles which attached me to you have increased, not diminished. If I have been silent some time,...
21To Thomas Jefferson from Richard Henry Lee, 23 September 1779 (Jefferson Papers)
Chantilly, 23 Sep. 1779 . This letter to be delivered by Messrs. Loyauté and Le Maire. The latter is in unfortunate circumstances. All his private effects are detained on board the ship on which he arrived until the state ratifies the bargain with the house he represents for stores he brought over. His accounts should be quickly settled. Virginia is now well supplied with artillery but lacks...
22To Thomas Jefferson from Richard Henry Lee, 15 March 1779 (Jefferson Papers)
I have not been unmindful of the small commission you gave me to procure the song and receipt for you. I once had these, but they are mislaid so that I could not find them when I returned home, from Williamsburg, or they should have been sent from thence. I have here applied to Mr. Peters for the one, and to Mrs. Shippen for the other and I have hopes of getting them both. I send you herewith...
23To Thomas Jefferson from Richard Henry Lee, 12 August 1779 (Jefferson Papers)
Menokin, 12 Aug. 1779 . Arrival from France at Lee’s house of Hezekiah Ford, late secretary to Arthur Lee. The writer has advised Ford not to go on to Congress but to ask a hearing on charges against him before the Virginia Council. Developments in the dispute between Arthur Lee and Silas Deane. If Congress does not publish Arthur Lee’s vindication, then the writer will. Franklin’s hypocrisy....
24To George Washington from Richard Henry Lee, 13 March 1776 (Washington Papers)
I was in Virga (from whence I am but just returned) when your favor of the 26th Decr came here, and now I have but a moment before this Gentleman goes off to thank you for it, and to cover a letter from your brother, with the proceedings and ordinances of our last Convention —Gen. Clinton had left Virginia before I did, and was gone to one, but which we do not know, of the Carolinas —Gen. Lee...
25To Thomas Jefferson from Richard Henry Lee, 11 May 1778 (Jefferson Papers)
We have once more ventured into the field of composition as the inclosed Address will shew you. And I have the pleasure to acquaint you that Congress have unanimously ratified the Treaties with France, and directed the ratifications to be presented for exchange in due season. The inclosed pamphlet I t[ake to] be a production of Dr. Franklin. It is well written, and was published first in...
26To George Washington from Richard Henry Lee, 28 April 1779 (Washington Papers)
The inclosed letter from the Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina, committed by Congress to the consideration of a committee of three, and which, in the name of the committee I have now the honor to inclose your Excellency, will shew you the extremity to which our affairs in that quarter are driving. The Committee find a choice of difficulties in this business, because the reliance on Militia...
27To Thomas Jefferson from Richard Henry Lee, 20 May 1777 (Jefferson Papers)
We are this moment informed here, that some evil disposed people (no doubt hired for the purpose) have industriously propagated among the N. Carolina Troops, and among the recruits of Virginia in the upper parts, that the plague rages in our Army . In consequence of which, it is said, the recruiting business stops, and desertions are frequent. There never was a more infamous and groundless...
28To George Washington from Richard Henry Lee, 13 June 1776 (Washington Papers)
I am informed that a certain Mr Eustace, now in New York, but some time ago with Lord Dunmore, is acquainted with a practise that prevailed of taking letters out of the Post Office in Virginia and carrying them to Dunmore for his perusal and than returning them to the Office again. As it is of the greatest consequence that this nefarious practise be stopt immediately, I shall be exceedingly...
29To Thomas Jefferson from Richard Henry Lee, 27 September 1776 (Jefferson Papers)
I should have written to you before now if I had not been uncertain about finding you at home, as the distance was great, and the meeting of our Assembly approaching. All the material events that have happened since you left us are to be found related pretty faithfully in the public papers, which I suppose are regularly conveyed to you. The plan of foreign treaty is just finished, and...
30To George Washington from Richard Henry Lee, 8 October 1775 (Washington Papers)
A Ship in 7 weeks from London brings us pretty perfect intelligence of the infernal designs of our Ministerial enemies, as you will see by the inclosures in Dr Shippens letter. I believe they are the most perfect that could be obtained, and so may be much relied on. God grant that our successes at Boston and in Canada may disappoint, and thereby ruin these fatal foes to the liberty and...