Charles Lee

Who was Charles Lee?

Charles Lee was an American lawyer from Virginia. He served as United States Attorney General from 1795 until 1801.

Charles was born to Henry and Lucy Lee on his father's plantation of Leesylvania in Prince William County, Virginia. He was the third of eleven children and a younger brother of General Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee, making him the uncle of Robert E. Lee. Another brother was Congressman Richard Bland Lee. A third cousin was Zachary Taylor. He graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1775, and then read law with Jared Ingersoll in Philadelphia before returning to Virginia.

Charles married Anne Lee, his second cousin and the daughter of Richard Henry Lee in 1789. Before her death in 1804 the couple had six children; Anne Lucinda Lee, Infant Son Lee, Richard Henry Lee, Charles Henry Lee, William Arthur Lee, Alfred Lee. He married a second time in 1809, to Margaret Scott, and had three more children in this union; Robert Eden Lee, Elizabeth Gordon Lee, Alexander Lee.