Henry Lee II (Colonel)

Henry Lee II (Colonel)
Name	Henry Lee II
Birth date	1730
Birth place	Leesylvania, Prince William County, Virginia
Death date	January 25, 1787
Death place	Leesylvania, Prince William County, Virginia
Nationality	British / United States
Occupation	Planter, soldier, magistrate
Spouse	Lucy Grymes
Children	Henry Lee III, Charles Lee, Richard Bland Lee, Edmund Jennings Lee I, others

Henry Lee II (Colonel) was a Virginia planter, militia officer, magistrate, and member of the colonial gentry during the mid‑18th century and the Revolutionary era. A scion of the Lee family of Virginia, he managed extensive plantations, served in the Virginia militia, and fathered descendants prominent in the American Revolutionary War, United States Congress, and early United States presidential politics. His life intersected with leading families such as the Washington family, Custis family, and Caroline County elites.

Early life and family background

Born at Leesylvania in Prince William County in 1730, he was the son of Thomas Lee and his wife Hannah Ludwell. He was raised among members of the First Families of Virginia, connected by blood or marriage to the Fairfax family, Bland family, Custis family, and Mason family. His upbringing placed him in the social circles of figures such as George Washington, Richard Henry Lee, Francis Lightfoot Lee, Thomas Jefferson, and Peyton Randolph, fostering ties that would affect his civic and familial roles. The Lees maintained relations with transatlantic networks linking to London, the tobacco trade, and the Board of Trade.

Military and public service

As a colonel in the Virginia militia, he engaged with county defense structures that traced precedent from the King George's War era through the American Revolutionary War. He served as a justice of the peace and county magistrate within the judicial framework shared by peers like John Blair Sr. and Benjamin Harrison V, interacting with county officers from Westmoreland County to King and Queen County. Lee's duties brought him into the orbit of the Virginia House of Burgesses, where contemporaries included Peyton Randolph (burgess) and Edmund Pendleton, and into correspondence networks with military leaders such as George Washington (Commander-in-Chief) and Nathanael Greene. He administered militia levies and logistics comparable to actions overseen by Daniel Morgan and Baron von Steuben in other theaters.

Plantation and economic activities

Lee oversaw large plantations at Leesylvania and holdings along the Potomac River, operating within the tobacco economy that connected planters to merchants in Alexandria, Norfolk, and London. His estates used enslaved labor similar to neighboring planters such as William Fitzhugh and John Tayloe II; he managed crop rotations, headright grants, and land conveyances that paralleled transactions recorded by the Virginia Land Office and county clerks in Prince William County. Lee engaged with credit networks involving firms and individuals active in Baltimore, Charleston, and Philadelphia, and his economic activities intersected with shipping routes on the Chesapeake Bay and trading patterns affected by the Navigation Acts.

Marriage, children, and descendants

In 1758 he married Lucy Grymes, daughter of Charles Grymes of Richmond County, linking the Lees to the Grymes, Ludwell family, and other planter dynasties. Their children included: Henry Lee III (Light‑Horse Harry), a Revolutionary cavalry officer who later served as Governor of Virginia and fathered Robert E. Lee; Charles Lee, who became United States Attorney General; Richard Bland Lee, a U.S. Congressman; and Edmund Jennings Lee I, a prominent Alexandria lawyer and judge. Through these descendants the family connected to national figures including James Madison, James Monroe, John Marshall, and later to Confederate leaders like Robert E. Lee. Marital alliances extended ties to the Caroline and Prince William County gentry and to families such as the Randolphs of Virginia.

Political views and local influence

Lee's political stance reflected the complex loyalties of the Virginian gentry: he embraced colonial rights assertions that aligned him with legislators like Richard Henry Lee and George Mason, while maintaining pragmatic relations with Crown officials prior to independence such as members of the Board of Trade and colonial governors like Lord Dunmore. Locally he exercised influence through the Quarter Sessions and parish vestries, networks similar to those leveraged by Edmund Pendleton, Patrick Henry, and John Tayloe III to shape county elections, militia appointments, and probate administration. His letters and accounts, comparable in provenance to papers of Thomas Nelson Jr. and Carter Braxton, informed decisions by magistrates and legislators during the transition from colony to republic.

Death and legacy

He died at Leesylvania on January 25, 1787, leaving estates and a prominent lineage that continued to shape Virginian and American affairs into the 19th century. His sons and grandchildren served in institutions such as the United States Congress, the Virginia General Assembly, and state executive offices; they participated in events including the War of 1812, the debates over the U.S. Constitution, and antebellum politics involving figures like Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay. Leesylvania itself became a site of historic interest linked with Prince William Forest Park and the memorialization efforts undertaken by descendants and historians of families like the Lees, Washingtons, and Custises. His role as patriarch of a political dynasty places him among colonial founders whose networks connected to Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and other architects of the early United States.

Category:Lee family of Virginia Category:1730 births Category:1787 deaths