Old Greenwich Presbyterian Church Cemetery
17 Greenwich Church Rd.
Map / Directions to Old Presbyterian Church Cemetery
Church Website
The current church building was erected in 1835. It replaced an earlier stone church at this location that was built in 1775. Before that, services were conducted in a log church built in 1739 which stood nearby. [1]
There are 20 Revolutionary War soldiers buried in the cemetery: [2]
Joseph Beavers
Spencer Carter
John Innes
Robert Innes Sr.
Robert Kennedy
William Kennedy
William Kinney
Captain John Maxwell
Lieutenant Robert Maxwell
General William Maxwell
Benjamin McCullough
John Patterson
Cornelius Powelson
Peter Smith
William Smith
Robert Stewart Sr.
Robert Stewart Jr.
Thomas Stewart
Philip Weller
John Yard
A plaque on the front of the church pays tribute to Brigadier-General Maxwell, who is buried here:
"In honor of General Wm Maxwell
Born in County Tyrone, Ireland in 1733. His Scotch-Irish parents brought family here to Greenwich Township in 1747. Never married and died in Hunterdon Co., November 4, 1796 and buried in this churchyard.
Always a soldier, from private to general. With Braddock at Fort Duquesne in 1755 and at Ticonderoga, Quebec and the Great Lakes in 1775. In Provincial Congress of New Jersey. October 23, 1776 Brigadier General in the Continental Army. Fought in Canada, Brandywine, Germantown and at Valley Forge and Battles of Monmouth, Elizabeth, Scotch Plains, Connecticut Farms and Springfield. With Sullivan against Indians in 1779. Resigned July 25, 1780, elected to the assembly.
'An honest man, a warm friend to this country' - so wrote Washington." [3]1. ^ Old Greenwich Presbyterian Church website
2. ^ Names taken from the plaque on the front of the church. The ranks of the Maxwells taken from plaques placed at the graves by the General William Maxwell Chapter - Daughters of the American Revolution.
• Please note that the plaque only lists 19 names. I was notified by Frances Long of the General William Maxwell Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution that the chapter had recently discovered that the cemetery contained the grave of an additional Revolutionary War soldier, Robert Stewart Jr., who is not listed on the plaque.3. ^ Tablet placed by the New Jersey Society - Sons of the American Revolution 1942
Although the tablet does not specify, the quote from Washington about Maxwell appeared in a letter that Washington sent to Congress after receiving Maxwell's request to resign. The full text of Washington's letter is as follows:
Head-Quarters, near Passaic, July 20, 1780.
To the President of CongressSir,
I have received a letter from Brigadier-General Maxwell, requesting me to accept his resignation, and assigning his reasons for the same. Having never acted on an application of this sort from an officer of his rank, I beg leave to lay the matter before Congress, and to transmit a copy of his letter, by which they will be more fully informed of his request. The merits of this general are known to Congress, and therefore it is unnecessary for me to say any thing with respect to them; but I will take the liberty to add, that I believe him to be an honest man, a warm friend to his country, and firmly attached to her interests. In this view, and from the length of time he has been in service, and the decided part he took at the commencement of the controversy, I would further observe, that I think his claim to such compensation as may be made to other officers of his standing to the present time, no more than equitable and I hope it will be considered in this light by Congress.The text of this letter, along with a footnote stating that Congress accepted General Maxwell's resignation on July 25, 1780, can be found in:
George Washington; Edited by Jared Sparks, The Writings of George Washington Volume 7 (Boston: Russell, Odiorne, and Metcalf; and Hilliard Gray and Co., 1835) p. 115 / Available to be read at Google Books here.