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Group seeks to put signs in cemeteries to mark Revolutionary War graves

By Brad Hundt newsroom@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read
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Brad Hundt/Observer-Reporter

A marker in Washington Cemetery at the final resting place of a Revolutionary War veteran.

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Brad Hundt

The grave of Thomas Scott in Washington Cemetery. Scott fought in the Revolutionary War, and was also a congressman for the area. He died in 1796, and was originally interred in a cemetery near Immaculate Conception Church in Washington.

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Ron Miller/Special to the Observer-Reporter

Members of the Sons of the American Revolution (from left) Ron Miller, Gary Timmons and Kurt Winter stand with a sign they installed at Zion Cemetery outside Claysville to let visitors know about Revolutionary War veterans buried in the cemetery.

In the part of Washington Cemetery where you find the oldest graves, there are flags flying at the resting places of early settlers who left their trades or farms and took up arms against the British in the Revolutionary War. But on several stones, the names are all but lost, rendered illegible by two punishing centuries of variable weather.

But at least the graves in Washington Cemetery can be found. The graves of other Revolutionary War veterans remain infinitely more elusive.

In the decades after they left the battlefields at Brandywine, Bunker Hill, Ticonderoga or Fort Necessity, the soldiers who booted the British out of the colonies tended to their families and livelihoods and grew older. When they died, they were often interred on the farms they owned, or in nearby family cemeteries. In the decades since, the markers on those farms have disappeared, and many of the family burial grounds have been swallowed up by weeds and woods, perhaps only rediscovered when a hunter stumbles upon them.

“Over time, a lot of these graves have been lost, or the tombstones have been stolen,” said Gary Timmons, secretary of the George Washington Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution.

Timmons and other members of the organization have been rigorously tracking down the graves of Revolutionary War soldiers within Washington County and so far have found more than 1,000. There could be more, of course, and there could be some that will never be found no matter how much detective work they carry out. But they’ve been on the case, trying to track down additional gravesites.

They’ve also launched a drive to place signs in Washington County cemeteries where Revolutionary War veterans are buried, with each sign offering names of veterans and a QR code that visitors can scan with their phones to find additional information on each of the veterans. They will also be able to access links to ask questions and find out more about the Sons of the American Revolution.

The chapter hopes to have 15 of the signs in the ground by the end of June, according to Ron Miller, the chapter’s past president, in such places as Mingo Creek Cemetery, Upper Buffalo Cemetery in Hopewell Township, Paris Cemetery near Burgettstown and Purviance Cemetery in Claysville. The group’s goal is to get the signs in about 70 cemeteries in Washington County. Before placing the signs, they have to get approval from the boards that oversee the cemeteries, and so far, “the reception from the cemetery boards has been better than we anticipated. The reception has been exceptional.”

Revolutionary War veterans were part of a relatively exclusive group. It’s estimated that 231,000 Americans served in the eight-year fight for independence, while more than 2 million Americans fought in the Civil War, and 16 million served in World War II. Many of them are buried in the original 13 colonies, but some ended up in western territories like Ohio, Michigan or Illinois as the country expanded. It’s been determined, for instance, that 356 veterans of the Revolutionary War are buried in Michigan.

Noteworthy finds have been made in recent decades. In 1995, for instance, remains that were unearthed by a construction crew in Bethlehem were found to be those of Revolutionary War soldiers who were most likely interred in a mass grave.

Meanwhile, local members of the Sons of the American Revolution are continuing their work to find graves and let people know about the role of the Revolutionary War in our history.

“The revolutionary history is right here,” Miller said. “It is in the community.”

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