LESLIE, ALEXANDER
Leslie, Alexander
(ca. 1731–December 27, 1794)
English General
L
eslie was a senior-ranking British officer
of the American Revolution but a rela-
tively plodding performer. His march
upon Salem, Massachusetts, anticipated what
would follow at Lexington and Concord by
several months, but he handled himself
adroitly and without violence. He was then
entrusted with several important missions
and directed the evacuation of southern ports
by war’s end.
Little is known of Alexander Leslie’s youth
or upbringing, other than he was born in En-
gland around 1731, eldest son of the Fifth Earl
of Leven and Melville. In March 1755, he was
commissioned a captain of the 50th Company
of Royal Marines at Portsmouth, and the fol-
lowing year he joined the army as a captain of
the 11th Regiment of Foot. He rose to major
of the 64th Foot in June 1759 and lieutenant
colonel as of August 1766. Having performed
a stint of garrison duty at Halifax, Nova Sco-
tia, Leslie then accompanied his regiment to
Boston in 1772. That city was a center of
growing resistance to imperial rule, and by
1775 stronger measures were necessary to en-
force order. It had come to the attention of
Massachusetts Governor Gen. Thomas Gage
that there was a large store of cannons and
ammunition at Salem. Therefore, on February
26, 1775, Leslie was dispatched with the 64th
Foot to seize the ordnance and destroy it. His
men were disgorged by ships at Marblehead
Bay that afternoon and proceeded to march
inland. News of the British approach alarmed
the militia gathered there, and a detachment
under Col. Timothy Pickering deftly removed
19 cannons and hid them. By the time Leslie
arrived in Salem, the cannons were gone, the
draw bridge over the North River had been
lifted, and a large body of citizens was ob-
structing his path. A few tense moments en-
sued, and Leslie threatened to open fire if his
way was not cleared. But an agreement was
reached whereby the British would cross the
bridge—then turn around and withdraw.
Leslie’s comic opera farce ended peacefully,
and armed conflict was averted for the mo-
ment.
The Revolutionary War erupted the follow-
ing April, but Leslie does not appear to have
been engaged in combat prior to the August
1776 Battle of Long Island under Gen.
William Howe. He fought bravely as a
brigadier general but without displaying good
tactical sense. Consequently, his men suffered
heavy losses at the ensuing Battles at Harlem
Heights and White Plains. By December, the
Americans under Gen. George Washington
had been chased out of New York and were
fleeing across New Jersey. Leslie, as part of
the advanced guard Gen. Charles Cornwal-
lis, was entrusted with several command
posts and ordered to remain vigilant. This he
clearly failed to do. Throughout the freezing
night of December 26, 1776, Washington’s
army recrossed the Delaware River, stole past
within three miles of Leslie’s position at Maid-
enhead, New Jersey, and went on to defeat
Cornwallis’s rear guard at Princeton. His last
recorded activity up north was as part of the
July 1780 attack upon Newport, Rhode Island.
Leslie was promoted to major general as of
February 1780, and that fall Gen. Henry Clin-
ton directed him to raid the James River
along the Virginia coast. Through this mea-
sure it was hoped that rebel supplies to the
southern frontier would be disrupted and that
Loyalists there might be encouraged to flock
to the colors. Leslie commanded a force of
2,200 men that was conveyed by ship to
Portsmouth, Virginia, and landed. However,
when the anticipated Loyalist surge failed to
materialize, along with necessary guides
needed to navigate the James River, he moved
southward to ravage the Suffolk region in-
stead. Meanwhile, Clinton had received news