Archy Lee (1840–1873), was an African American man born into enslavement; and was later part of a series of notable 19th-century court cases that defined civil rights in the state of California.
San Francisco abolitionists Peter Lester, Mifflin Wistar Gibbs, and George Washington Dennis, had worked to secure the services of a White legal team to fight for the freedom of Lee.
Abolitionists and San Francisco police discovered the plan and climbed aboard the Orizaba (ship) to rescue Lee.
[3] Stovall then argued to United States Commissioner William Penn Johnson that Lee was in violation of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
On November 6, 1873, Lee was found sick at the Yolo Bypass in Sacramento, California, he buried himself in the sand trying to keep warm after camping for an extended period, and was taken to the county hospital.