Alexander Leslie

The Honourable Major General Alexander Leslie (1731 – 27 December 1794) was a major general in the British Army during the American Revolutionary War. He was the commander of the British troops at the Battle of Harlem Heights. He replaced Cornwallis as commander in the South in 1782. Early life Leslie was born in England in 1731 to Alexander Leslie, 5th Earl of Leven and, his second wife, Elizabeth Monypenny, daughter of David Monypenny of Pitmilly. From his father's first marriage to Mary Erskine, he had an elder half-brother, David Melville, 6th Earl of Leven. From his parents marriage, he had three sisters, the novelist Lady Mary Hamilton (wife of Dr. James Walker and George Robinson Hamilton), Anne Carnegie, Countess of Northesk (wife of George Carnegie, 6th Earl of Northesk), and Elizabeth Hope, Countess of Hopetoun (wife of John Hope, 2nd Earl of Hopetoun). His paternal grandfather was David Leslie, 3rd Earl of Leven. Career He enlisted in the 3rd Foot Guards of the British Army in 1753. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel of the 64th Regiment of Foot in 1766. In 1775, before the American War of Independence broke out, he led troops to Salem, Massachusetts looking for contraband weapons. His advance was delayed by a standoff at a bridge, during which the colonists removed the weapons he was looking for. His force was eventually allowed to proceed, but found nothing of consequence, and was received with hostility during the expedition.