10. Robert E. Lee’s father served time in prison for indebtedness
Henry Lee III was a member of Virginia’s Lee dynasty, who served in both politics and in the Continental Army. A commander of cavalry under George Washington, he earned the nickname, “Light-Horse Harry” during the Revolutionary War. Following the war, President Washington commissioned him to command the militia mobilized to quash the “Whiskey Rebellion“. Lee served in Congress as a Representative from Virginia in 1799. It was he who eulogized the dead George Washington as, “First in War, First in Peace, and First in the Hearts of His Countrymen”. He temporarily retired from public service in 1801, investing large sums in land speculation and the management of his plantation at Stratford Hall.
The young American economy suffered a major downturn during the Panic of 1796-97. Lee’s heavy debts from land speculation proved unmanageable. He struggled with his debts in vain for years before finally being sentenced to two years in Virginia’s debtors’ prison in Montross. His family, including two-year-old Robert E. Lee was forced to abandon their ancestral home and move to smaller quarters in Alexandria. Light-Horse Harry’s finances never recovered, and the specter of indebtedness haunted his son Robert for the rest of his life. When Robert inherited Arlington Plantation, its indebtedness led him to sell off many of its slaves, raising cash to pay past due bills.