Lee, Charles (1731–1782)

English-born US soldier. He was a British officer who, as a soldier of fortune, settled permanently in North America in 1773. He was appointed a major general in the Continental Army in 1775 and participated in several military campaigns. Taken prisoner by the British in December 1776, he was held in New York City for a year and seems to have given the British a plan to defeat the Americans. Exchanged in 1778, he was allowed to return to duty, but after he led his troops in a retreat during the battle of Monmouth, he was court-martialled in 1778. Found guilty on three counts, he was suspended from the army for one year. Having for some time regarded George Washington as his enemy, he used his persuasive powers to gain some supporters in the Continental Congress, but after fighting a duel with Col John Laurens, a defender of Washington's name, and writing an insulting letter to Congress, he was dismissed from the army in 1780. Lee was born in Cheshire, England.