This is the tragic story of Henry Lee IV, known to history as Black Horse Harry Lee. Most influential as a friend and ally of Andrew Jackson, and most infamous for a scandal that shocked the Virginia gentry, Henry went from being a promising young man to the disgrace of Virginia in the wake of a great tragedy that shook his family and Stratford Hall to its core.
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The son of Light Horse Harry Lee and heir to Stratford Hall, Henry began as a promising young man, educated at Washington College and the College of William and Mary. He served with distinction as a major in the War of 1812, and inherited a family estate in deep financial trouble, thanks to Light Horse Harry’s debts and sales.
Stratford’s survival initially depended on a trust arranged by Henry’s mother, Matilda Lee, which protected the property for her children. When Henry came of age, he took control of the estate and later married Anne Robinson McCarty, who brought a large fortune in land, bank stock, and other assets. Her money restored Stratford Hall, but the marriage also brought Anne’s younger sister, Betsy McCarty, into Henry’s household as his legal ward.
After the birth of Henry and Anne’s daughter Margaret, the household seemed settled, but in 1820 the child died in a fall down the stone steps at Stratford Hall. Anne was overwhelmed by grief and became dependent on laudanum. In that strained household, Henry formed a close relationship with Betsy McCarty, and the two began an affair that led to her pregnancy. The scandal became public, and Henry was disgraced.
Disgraced Henry then faced ruin over the money he had taken from Betsy’s estate. He tried to escape the consequences through a failed scheme involving Dr. Robert Mayo and a proposed marriage to Betsy, but the courts moved against him and Stratford Hall was sold in 1822. Henry and Anne left Virginia impoverished, later living in Washington, D.C. and surviving on limited means.
Henry then rebuilt his career through writing, becoming a political ghostwriter for Andrew Jackson and helping with campaign material and Jackson’s first inaugural address. Jackson named him consul general to Algiers, but the Senate rejected the appointment after John Tyler exposed the Stratford scandal. Henry left for Europe in disgrace, lived in poverty in Paris, and spent his final years writing a biography of Napoleon. He died there in 1837 in an unmarked grave, while Anne died three years later. The episode ends by linking Henry’s downfall to the severe self-discipline and sense of duty that shaped Robert E. Lee’s later life.
CHAPTERS:
0:00 The Lee Family of Virginia’s Fallen Heir
2:49 Stratford’s Ruin Begins
6:38 Anne’s Fortune Restores Stratford
10:01 Grief Turns to Scandal
19:39 A Desperate Cover-Up
23:13 Stratford Is Lost
25:53 A Ghostwriter for Jackson
30:42 Senate Rejection in Paris
32:40 Exile and Napoleon
36:29 Robert E. Lee’s Burden
Sources Referenced in this Episode:
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Armes, Ethel, Stratford Hall: The Great House of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4wxAAfl
Cole, Ryan, Light-Horse Harry Lee: The Rise and Fall of a Revolutionary Hero, https://amzn.to/4wiZOy3
Evans, Emory G., A Topping People: The Rise and Decline of Virginia’s Old Political Elite, https://amzn.to/4z2x6nL
Freeman, Douglas Southall, R. E. Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4gkaqrx
Hendrick, Burton J., The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4xshjNe
Lee, Cazenove Gardner, Jr., Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4q7GiTI
McGaughy, Kent J., Richard Henry Lee of Virginia: A Portrait of an American, https://amzn.to/4xn1qaS
Middlekauff, Robert, The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789, https://amzn.to/4cbhg05
Nagel, Paul C., The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family, https://amzn.to/4wUxkfi
Nichols, James L., General Fitzhugh Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4qeURoz
Royster, Charles, Light-Horse Harry Lee and the Legacy of the American Revolution, https://amzn.to/3TKWspX
Transcript
