<P> Will, the huntsman, better known in Revolutionary lore as Billy, rode a horse called Chinkling, a surprising leaper, and made very much like its rider, low, but sturdy, and of great bone and muscle . Will had but one order, which was to keep with the hounds; and, mounted on Chinkling...this fearless horseman would rush, at full speed, through brake or tangled wood, in a style at which modern huntsmen would stand aghast . </P> <P> Before the Revolutionary War, Lee often traveled with Washington to the House of Burgesses in Williamsburg, 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 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 ." </P> <P> 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 . Although slave marriages were not recognized by Virginian law, 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 . </P> <P> In 1785, Lee injured a knee while on a surveying expedition with Washington . Three years later, while going to the post office in Alexandria, he fell and injured his other knee, rendering him seriously disabled . After Washington was elected president in 1789, Lee attempted to make the journey to New York City for the 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 that 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 . </P>

Who was called the soldier friend at valley forge