Charles Henry Lee was a British-born American army officer who served as a general of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He also served earlier in the British Army during the Seven Years War. He sold his commission after the Seven Years War and served for a time in the Polish army of King Stanislaus II Augustus.
Lee moved to North America in 1773 and bought an estate in western Virginia. When the fighting broke out in the American Revolutionary War in 1775, he volunteered to serve with rebel forces. Lee’s ambitions to become Commander in Chief of the Continental Army were thwarted by the appointment of George Washington to that post.
During the Battle of Monmouth in June of 1778, Lee led an assault on the British position and as Washington’s other units pressed the attack, General Lee ordered his units to retreat. Washington was so furious that he thundered onto the Battlefield and confronted Lee, the two Generals screaming at one another. Washington relieved Lee of command and had him arrested. General Washington rallied the fleeing troops and charged forward taking command. Later, Lee was court martialed and stripped of his rank and his duty to the Continental Army, terminated.
The Ghost
In Highlands, NJ, on moonless nights, residents claim to see a man in a tattered Revolutionary War uniform on horseback riding the hills, seemingly looking for a way to cross the Shrewsbury River. He seems to be in anguish, his expression of guilt and suffering. In 1904, local newspapers ran a story and collected testimony from fishermen who saw the ghost riding along the beach, looking out across Sandy Hook. Most believe the rider to be the spirit of General Charles Lee attempting to join the British at Sandy Hook,
but unable to cross. These sightings continue to this very day.