Ezra Lee was born in Lyme, Connecticut back in 1749. I don’t have any background as to his education however, when you hear the rest of the story it really doesn’t matter.
In 1776 he was selected to volunteer for a mission. Then Sergeant Lee was one of several men taught to operate the Turtle, more on that in a minute. Many stories have been written because of the failure of the Turtle and Sergeant Lee to complete their mission. So the Turtle was the first man-made submarine to be used in war. The first story is that Lee could not bore through the hull of the British ships due to their thick copper-sheeted hull. In fact, the copper was thin, it is believed now Lee’s drill struck a metal rudder support which was thick. Another myth is that Lee was frail and did not have enough strength to operate the Turtle and the drill at the same time.
After the failure of the Turtle Lee went on to serve under then General George Washington in the secret service. Lee fought in the battles of Trenton, Brandywine and Monmouth. In truth he had his sword handle shot off and received many bullet holes in his coat at Brandywine. However, he is written down in the history books for being the first soldier to do this: can you tell me what that was? You know I won’t let you down so he was the only man (at the time) who fought the enemy upon land, upon water and under the water. His tombstone is the only one that mentions “in service to General George Washington” of all those who fought in the American Revolution. Now that is something to remember
Comments(15)