The career of Light Horse Harry Lee, from the book "Lee Chronicle": "In 1781, worn out with the fatigue of six years of active service, he obtained a furlough and, happily, was present at the surrender of Cornwallis. He then paid a visit to the Northern Neck and a few months later we find him married to the heiress of Stratford. Harry Lee was at this time but twenty-six years old; a classical scholar and gifted orator, a veteran of the Revolution, an officer of renown, and now master of one of the largest estates in Virginia. He had been fiery and impetuous soldier; he was soon to become a hot and partisan in politics, and to make warm friends and bitter enemies. "The people of Westmoreland hastened to honor him, and he embarked on a political career as spectacular as his life as a soldier had been. "He was elected a delegate to the Continental Congress of 1786, and two years later to the Virginia Constitutional Convention where he brought all his eloquence to bear in urging the ratification of the constitution. Beveridge has drawn a colorful picture of him as he appeared at this period of his life: “'A young man, thirty-two years of age rose, and standing within a few feet of the chair, was recognized. Six feet tall, beautiful of face, with the resounding and fearless voice of a warrior, Henry Lee looked the part which reputation had assigned him. Descended from one of the oldest and most honourable families in the colony, a graduate of Princeton College, one of the most daring, picturesque, and attractive officers of the Revolution, in which by sheer gallantry and military genius he had become commander of a famous cavalry command, the gallant Lee was a perfect contrast to the venerable Pendleton.' "From 1789 to 1791 he sat in the Virginia Legislature. At this time, when he was nearing the high tide of his career, he suffered great loss, for in 1790 his young wife died at the untimely age of twentysix.26 In the effort to assuage his grief he plunged deeper into politics and the following year was elected Governor of Virginia, at a time when that office was second only to that of President of the United States."