LEE (Henry). Funeral oration on the death of general Washing - Lot 43

LEE (Henry). Funeral oration on the death of general Washington, delivered at the request of Congress. Boston, printed for Joseph Nancrede and Manning & Loring, [1800]. In-8, 15-(one blank) pp. bradel marbled paper boards with long leather title-piece on spine; small angular paper tears, one slightly larger (modern binding). EDITION ISSUED THE SAME YEAR AS THE VERY RARE ORIGINAL from Philadelphia. THE MOST FAMOUS OF GEORGE WASHINGTON'S FUNERAL ORATIONS, WHICH MADE A POWERFUL CONTRIBUTION TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF HIS IMAGE AS FATHER OF THE NATION. It was delivered at the funeral of the general and statesman held on December 26, 1799, in the German Lutheran Church in Philadelphia (then the capital of the United States), before an assembly of official personalities, including members of Congress, senior civil servants, federal army officers, members of the Society of the Cincinnati, Freemasons and a crowd of some 4,000 people. CLOSE TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, GENERAL AND POLITICIAN HENRY LEE (1756-1818) was a Virginian like WASHINGTON - and a rival in love. The Revolution interrupted his legal studies: he then served in the American army under George Washington and Nathanael Greene, attaining the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and was present at Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown in 1781. He then served as Virginia's delegate to the Confederation Congress (1786-1788), was admitted to the Society of the Cincinnati, and governed Virginia from 1791 to 1794, when he accompanied George Washington to Western Pennsylvania to put down the "Whiskey Revolt" - the same George Washington then chose him as second-in-command to the army's major-general. A Federalist, Henry Lee was a member of the Virginia House of Representatives from 1799 to 1801. He sadly ended his life in financial ruin, due to his haphazard management of his fortune. He was the father of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.