S. Adams Lee: A Perfect Scoundrel

ABSTRACT S. Adams Lee was a charming, accomplished author, scholar, lecturer, gallant disabled veteran, and distinguished cousin of General Robert E. Lee. Except, none of those things were true. This article examines the complex indiscretions of a nineteenth-century confidence man, thief, and opium addict. Throughout Pennsylvania, thirteen additional American states, and England, Lee’s fraudulent activity was maintained for thirty-five years. Using his famous surname, an embellished ancestry, and a physical disability to earn the sympathies of unsuspecting citizens, his polished scholarly deportment and forged letters of introduction enabled swift unchecked entry into high society in each community he visited. Lee’s cunning dishonesty played out through the press and remains evident today in literary critiques, museums, and the homes of private antique collectors. Were his actions the result of his addiction or the mind of a genius with indignant privilege?