Page "Charles Lee (general)" Paragraph 7

In 1765 he fought in Poland, serving as an aide-de-camp under King Stanislaus II.

After many adventures he came home to England.

Unable to secure promotion in the British Army, in 1769 he returned to Poland and saw action in the Russo-Turkish War, and lost two fingers in a duel in which he killed his opponent.

Returning to England once again, he found that he was sympathetic to the American colonists in their quarrel with Britain.

He moved to the colonies in 1773 and purchased an estate in Virginia, in an area now part of West Virginia, which he named Prato Rio.