or on journeys such as a surveying expedition to the Ohio Valley in 1770 and to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1774. Lee served at Washington's side throughout the eight years of the Revolutionary War, including the winter at Valley Forge and at the siege of Yorktown. According to the historian Fritz Hirschfeld, Lee "rode alongside Washington in the thick of battle, ready to hand over to the general a spare horse or his telescope or whatever else might be needed." Later life Lee's wife was Margaret Thomas Lee, a free African-American from Philadelphia who had worked as a servant in Washington's headquarters during the war. Slave marriages were not recognized by Virginian law, but in 1784, at the couple's request, Washington tried to arrange having Margaret move to Mount Vernon to live with her husband. Whether or not she ever came to Mount Vernon is unknown. In 1785, Lee injured a knee on an expedition for Washington. Three years later, while he went to the post office in Alexandria, he fell and injured his other knee, which rendered him seriously disabled. After Washington was elected president in 1789, Lee attempted to make the journey to New York City for Washington's first inauguration but had to be left in Philadelphia for medical treatment. He was attended by several physicians, who made a steel brace for his knee, which allowed him to join Washington's presidential household. Frank's nephew, Christopher Sheels, assisted Lee in New York City and took over Lee's duties in 1790 at the Philadelphia President's House. Even after Washington's 1797 retirement, Lee's disabilities prevented him from continuing his previous duties, and he spent the last years of his life as a shoemaker at Mount Vernon and struggled with alcoholism. The American Revolutionary War veterans who visited Mount Vernon often stopped to reminisce with Lee about the war. When Washington died in 1799, he freed Lee in his will and cited "his faithful services during the Revolutionary War." Lee was the only one of Washington's 124 slaves to be freed outright in his will. According to the terms of Washington's will, his remaining slaves were to be freed upon the death of his wife, Martha Washington. Lee was given a pension of thirty dollars a year for the rest of his life and the option to remain at Mount Vernon, which he chose; he was buried there. Legacy