Medical & Humanitarian

 

A few of the medical personnel in the ranks are interred in North Burial Ground: Stephen Gano was a naval surgeon, Joseph Hewes was a surgeon’s mate early in the conflict and became a regimental surgeon later, and Olney Winsor was a commissary and later a surveyor general of military hospitals.

Rhode Island Quakers such as Moses Brown faced a difficult choice during the war. As Quakers they were pacifists and most would not take up arms under any circumstance. Instead many Quakers acted as humanitarians, for example taking food and supplies across British lines to those in need during the Siege of Boston. However, other Rhode Island Quakers, such as General Nathanael Greene, decided the political situation trumped their faith’s pacifism and joined the battle.

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                                                                   The Road to Yorktown

 

It might be said that the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown began in Rhode Island because in June 1781 French forces under the command of Jean-Baptist Donatien de Vimeur, le comte de Rochambeau began to arrive in Providence and encamped throughout the town in preparation for their pivotal march to Virginia. On June 16, 1781 there was a grand review of the French Army before it left two days later. After Yorktown, the French Army returned to Providence and encamped near the home of Jeremiah Dexter, which still stands today at the corner of North Main Street and Rochambeau Avenue, across from an entrance to the North Burial Ground.

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In North Burial Ground there is a granite monument to commemorate the graves of the more than one hundred French soldiers who died while in Rhode Island during the American Revolution. It was presented on July 4, 1882 by the Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. Two original members of the Rhode Island Sons of the American Revolution are buried in North Burial Ground: Esek Arnold Jillson and Nathaniel Greene Totten.

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There are hundreds more Revolutionary veterans buried in North Burial Ground—mostly forgotten men such as Samuel McClellan and Fenner Angell. Each has their own story. If you have an interest in finding information about additional veterans of the American Revolution, visit http://www.rihistoriccemeteries.org/ (PV001 is the code for North Burial Ground). If you wish to add someone to our revolutionary era tour please contact us at northburialground@gmail.com.