A British Regimental Tailor

History is absurd and full of hilarious anecdotes if you just look close enough. Enter Samuel Lee, a name that I ran across researching tailors enlisted in the British army. He was a solider, master tailor, and first POW of the American Revolution. The story of Samuel Lee is an interesting one with an ending that makes you scratch your head and wonder "what were they thinking?"

Lee was a career soldier, born in London, who first came to the colonies with his unit the 18th Regiment of Foot (Royal Irish) in 1767. He was first stationed in Philadelphia until 1768, and then would spend the next five years at various positions in the American frontier. In 1773, he returned to Philadelphia. In addition to being a solider, Lee was also a tailor. By 1773, he was named master tailor of his regiment. A lot of what we know about artificer tailors in the British army comes from a court case that Lee gave witness for in 1774. 

A grenadier of the 18th of Foot is seen on the right from an 1851 paining by David Morier

In 1774, Lee gave testimony for the crown in a case against another tailor in the regiment John Green, who was on trial for false testament for saying that their Captain called the Chaplin a "buggerer." 

In the court proceedings, he is described as a solid, obedient soldier who was hard of hearing. The anecdotes of the other regimental tailors describes a scene of chaos and disobedience, often to the point that armed guards were placed on the tailors to ensure that they finished their work. The Captain describes the tailors as lazy and sloth to do their work. If you actually read the proceedings the tailors are not lazy at all, they're just working on private commissions instead of working on the regimental work that they're going to get paid for anyway. It's pretty funny to read, and I can imagine the spun up red faced officer in court describing the shop.

In 1774, Lee and his regiment were sent to Boston, and the grenadier company would be dispacted as part of the raid on the Concord powder magazine that would turn into the famous Battles of Lexingon and Concord. While in Concord, Lee was posted as a sentry while other soldiers searched for military caches in the area.

Maybe it's just me, but posting someone as a guard who has been described has hard of hearing in a court of law is probably not a good idea. Indeed it wasn't, as a minuteman by the name of Sylvanus Wood "snuck up" on Lee and relieved him of his weapon. He was then marched to Lexington as the first POW of the war.

By some accounts Lee was a deserter. Other hypothesis think that he was first wounded then captured. The Royal Irish actually listed him as dead in their after action reports. Lee would spend time as a POW until he was eventually released and set up a tailor shop in Concord. He would wed Mary Piper in 1776 in Concord, and remain there until his death in 1790 at the age of 45.