Patriots of Trinity Church Cemetery Founding Fathers

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1st Major, 1st New York Militia Regiment, Patriotic Service

SAR # P-116384, DAR # A011231

S3, Southside, Bleecker Family Vault

Anthony Lispenard was born 18 Jun 1741, New Rochelle, Westchester Co. N.Y. to Jacobus Rutger and Abigail Lispenard Bleecker and was of French Huguenot and Dutch ancestry Bleecker served early in war as 1 st Major of Col. Henry Remsen’s 1st New York City Militia Regiment, after the British occupation of 1776, New York City militiamen either swore an ‘Oath of Loyalty’ to King George and remained in New York or enlisted in other

regiments or fled New York City. Bleecker removed to New Jersey for the duration of the war and rendered patriotic service. His younger brother Leonard (1755-1844) served as a company grade officer in the New York Continental Line and was promoted to Brigade Major under Gen. Lafayette and was at Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown. Anthony Bleecker was a member of the committee to welcome Gen. Washington to New York after the evacuation of the British in 1783 After the war he was a prominent banker, auctioneer and merchant, among the richest men in New York and a founding member of the New York Stock Exchange, he also owned substantial farmlands in Greenwich Village, both Bleecker and Lispenard Streets are named for him and was a vestryman and warden at Trinity Church for many years. Anthony L. Bleecker married Mary Noel (1743-1828) in 1763, this union produced eleven children born between 1764 and 1786, he died 26 Apr 1816 and was buried a few days later in the Trinity Churchyard

Brigadier General of N.Y. Militia, Civic and Patriotic Service

McKnight-Scott Family Plot N- 1A

Six large horizonal stones near the north entrance

“Here lies the body of ye Honorable John Morin Scott Esq. son of John and Marion Scott who departed this life Sept 14th 1784 aged 54 years” Inscription on John Morin Scott’s Grave

Stone John Morin Scott was born in Manhattan and educated at Yale, admitted to the New York bar in 1752. At an early date he became involved in Whig pro-independence politics. With the Stamp Act enacted in 1765 he was a founding member of the New York ‘Sons of Liberty’ and in 1775 he was a member of the New York General Committee and the New York Provincial Congress On 9 June 1776 Scott was appointed Brigadier General of New York Militia. His brigade was attached to Maj. Gen. Israel Putnam’s Division and send to Brooklyn prior to the battle, he commanded troops at Harlem Heights, White Plains where he was wounded and the early Philadelphia and New Jersey campaign. Scott resigned in March of 1777 due to ill health. He was among the proponents of defending New York City against British occupation, primarily because of his substantial land holdings in the current area of current Times Sq. area this land was confiscated but he was able to reacquire it after the occupation. Additionally, he was an early handler of Robert Townsend of the Culper spy ring prior to Maj. Benjamin Talmadge After his resignation from the army from 1777 through 1782 he held several political positions, Committee of Safety, Committee of Appointments, State Senate and was the first New York Secretary of State, this position was held by his only son Lewis Allaire Scott (1759-1798) after his death in 1784, he also ran unsuccessfully for Governor against Gen. George Clinton. His only daughter Mary married Dr. Charles McKnight(see

Dr. McKnight’s bio)

SAR # P- 141002, DAR # A02277

Captain of the Maryland Rifle Co Section N-6, Northside, near the walkway, brownstone marker Michael Cresap was born 29 Jun 1742 Oldtown, Frederick Co., Maryland to Col. Thomas Cresap a provincial militia officer and his wife Hanna Johnson Col. Cresap held substantial tracts of land in Maryland, his feuds with Pennsylvania patent holders was the prime reason for the surveying and marking of the Mason-Dixon line in 1767. Col. Cresap claimed his patents issued by Lord Calvert that he claimed extended into Pennsylvania superseded the patents issued by the Penn family. Michael married Mary Whitehead in 1764 in Philadelphia and they had five children born between 1766 and 1775 In 1774 Michael Cresap was Captain of Maryland Militia and men under his command, the Greathouse brothers, Jonathan, Daniel, and Jacob the sons of Harmon Greathouse, led in the massacre of nine to twelve Mingo Indians at Yellow Creek in the Ohio Territory, these Mingos were primarily the extended family of Chief James Logan and his sister Ann Koonay

Gibson, the wife of the Indian trader and agent John Gibson, later a

Colonel in Revolutionary War, they were the children of Chief Shikellamy

the great friend of Conrad Weiser(grandfather of Gen. Muhlenberg). This

was the reason for Dunmore’s War, the last colonial war prior to the

American Revolution, it was also known as “Cresap’s War”. Charged

against Cresap brought but were dropped due to his absence at the

massacre and he commanded a company at the Battle of Point Pleasant

the decisive battle of Dunmore’s War In the summer of 1775, the call went out for troops to bolster the New England troops at Boston. The first to respond were frontier riflemen, four companies from Maryland (Cresap and Price) and Virginia (Morgan and Stephenson) and Thompson’s Pennsylvania battalion These riflemen made the “Bee Line March” to Boston in record time averaging over twenty miles per day arriving in the late summer of 1775. Michael Cresap fell ill and attempted to return to Maryland but died enroute in New York City and was buried in Trinity. His company was merged with three of the four other rifle companies to form the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Battalion, commanded by Lt. Colonel Moses Rawling’s, Cresap’s former 1st Lieutenant. The SAR page on him is incorrect on his date

Colonel John Lamb

Sons of Liberty, Artillery Captain, Independent Co, Lasher’s New York Militia Regiment, Major of Artillery, Colonel of the 2nd Continental Artillery Regiment, Brevet Brigadier General

SAR #P-232454, DAR #A068024

Verified buried in Trinity Churchyard, location unknown

John Lamb was born in New York City, 1 Jan. 1735 to Anthony (1703-1784) and Cornelia(1714-Unk) nee Ham Lamb. His father Anthony was sent to New York in 1724 as an indentured labor due to a burglary conviction in England , he married a Dutch

women named Ham probably Cornelia in the early 1730s. Anthony Lamb was an engraver, optician and mechanical instrument maker by trade, his son following in trade, at his death in 1784 he was a well-regarded citizen and pro-independence Whig, he was also on the early New York militia muster rolls in the1730s. As noted, John followed father’s trade but became a successful wine merchant. He married Catherine Jardine (1733-1807) in 1756 they had two known children Catherine

(1764-1842) and Anthony (1771-1855) who was a veteran of the War of 1812 and a career primarily artillery officer who retired from the U.S. Army at a General’s rank. John Lamb was a founding member of the New York Sons of Liberty, on 20 July of 1775 Lamb led the Sons of Liberty in the capture the British Army supply depot at Turtle Bay, he was involved in the distribution of pro-independence broadsides, publishing of

articles and general rabble rousing. In 1775 he was commissioned Captain of the artillery company of Col. John Lasher’s New York Militia Regiment, which was designated an independent company and went to Quebec with General Richard Montgomery in late 1775 were he was wounded and taken as a POW at the Battle of Quebec. Lamb was not exchanged until January of 1777 and was promoted to Colonel and given command of the newly formed 2 nd Continental Artillery Regiment, the core of

this regiment was several New York artillery companies that were attached to the Continental Army, including Hamiton’s old company. additional companies were added from Connecticut and Pennsylvania. These early independent early companies were attached to the main Continental Army at Brooklyn, Trenton, Princeton and other early engagements. The 2nd Continental Artillery was attached to the Highland Department;

Lamb was in command of the artillery at West Point in 1778 and 1779 during the time of Arnold’s treason and at the at the Battle of Ridgefield in Connecticut in 27 Apr 1777 in which Arnold was one of o the commanders. Additionally, the 2nd Cont. Artillery Regt. was engaged in the Philadelphia Campaign, Saratoga with Lt. Col. Ebenezer Stevens in

command, Monmouth, Springfield and Yorktown where the 2nd Artillery Regt. was cited by both Gen. Washington and Gen. Knox for serving with distinction. John Lamb oversaw the return of the artillery back to New York and was brevetted Brigadier General for distinguished service on 30 Sep 1783. After the war in 1784 he took the position of New York State Customs Collector a and was appointed Federal Customs Collector of the Port of New York by President Washington, he was dismissed by John Adams because of the corruption on one of his deputies, he was a ardent anti-Federalist and corresponded with many of the leading

political figures of the day, He died in poverty in New York on 31 May1800.

British Army, French & Indian War, Austrian War of Succession, Adjutant  General of the Continental Army, Commanded the Canadian, Northern,  Eastern, Southern Continental Army Departments. Commander at Fort  

Ticongeroga and the Battles of Saratoga and Camden, Involved in the Conway  Cabal  

SAR # P-164647 DAR # A043466 

Verified interred in Trinity Churchyard, location unknown  

Horatio Gates was born on 26 July 1727 in Maldon, Essex, England to Robert and Dorthea nee Hubbock Reeves Gates, his father was a customs inspector  and mother the widow of Thomas Reeves and housekeeper to a few aristocratic families. Horatio Gates was named for his godfather Horatio aka  Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (1717-1797), the noted British novelist,  writer, historian and politician.  

Horatio Gates married Elizabeth Philipps (C.1730-1783) the daughter of  Erasmus James Philipps (1705-1760) a British Army officer, politician and  judge in Nova Scotia, at St. Paul’s Church in Halifax, N.S. in 1754. She died in  Jan. of 1783 at Gates’ plantation in Virginia, they had one son Robert born  1758, he died 4 Oct 1780, probably at the plantation, there is little  documentation on him or military service records, one source says he died in  combat, another of sickness. He secondly married Mary Valance or Valens (1743-1810) of Liverpool, England in 1786 after the death of Elizabeth. 

In 1745 he purchased a Lieutenant’s commission and served in Austrian War  of Succession, first in Germany with the 20th Regt. of Foot, he then was  promoted to Captain in the 45th Regt. of Foot and sent to Halifax, Nova Scotia  where he fought against the French Arcadians and the Micmac tribe at the  Battle of Chignecto. One of his mentors and commanding officers was General James Cornwallis, an uncle of General Charles Cornwallis. 

At the onset of the French & Indian in 1754 Gates sold his is British  commission and an purchased a Captaincy in a New York independent

company. His company served under General Braddock on his ill-fated expedition to capture Ft. Duquesne (Pitt), it was here he first became acquainted with George Washington, Colonel of the Virginia Provincial  Regiment. In1759 was promoted to Brigade Major and served under Generals John Stanwix and Robert Monckton and was sent to Martinque. At the end of  the French & Indian War, Gates had little chance for advancement because the British Army was demobilized and he did not have the social connections or money to purchase a higher rank, he sold his Major’s rank and purchased a  plantation known as “Traveler’s Rest” Berkley Co., Virginia (West),near  Shepherdstown and retired from the British Army. 

In May of 1775 Horatio Gates travelled to Mt. Vernon and offered his services  to George Washington and on 17 June 1775 the Continental Congress  appointed him Adjutant General of the Continental Army at the rank of  Brigadier General, but he preferred a battlefield command although he was an  able administrator who organized a records system and helped standardize  the colonies’ disparate regiments. He was promoted to Major General and given command of the Canada Dept. which was in a disorganized retreat from  Canada, wrought with smallpox and low morale. Once the army arrived at Fort  Ticonderoga Gates was at odds with Gen. Schuyler, commander of the  Northern Dept. over who “was in charge”. Gates was given at Fort Ticonderoga and the defense of Lake Champlain with Schuyler in overall command. Gates was tasked with building a fleet to defend Lake Champlain, this responsibility  largely fell to Benedict Arnold who built enough of a fleet to slow the British advance at Valcour Island, although the battle was lost. 

After Valcour Island Gates marched some of his command to Pennsylvania to  join the main Continental Army, when Washington informed Gates of his  intention to cross the Delaware and attack the Hessian garrison at Trenton  Gates cautioned against it, Gates’ troops crossed with Washington but Gates  travelled to Baltimore where the Continental Congress was convening and  petitioned them to appoint him instead of Washington as Commander-in Chief but with Washington’s quick victories at Trenton, Princeton and 

Assunpink Creek left no doubt in the Continental Congress’ mind who the  Commander-in-Chief should be. 

Gates was ordered back to the Northern Department where he was given  command with Congress faulting Generals Schuyler and St. Clair for the loss  of Fort Ticonderoga. At the victory of the 2nd Battle of Saratoga, Bemis Heights resulted in the surrender of Burgoyne and the turning point of the war. Gates  took credit for the victory but the real credit for the victory belongs to his subordinate commanders Enoch Poor, John Stark, Daniel Morgan and in  particular Benedict Arnold who disobeyed Gates’ orders and rallied the troops in a furious counter attack on the British lines.  

Horatio Gates leveraged his Saratoga victory and his appoint as Chairman of  the Board of War in an attempt to be again to be appointed Commander-in Chief. Gates along with Thomas Conway, Thomas Mifflin and others maligned  Gen. Washington to the Continental Congress, this was known as the  “Conway Cabal”. With a challenge to duel by a supporter of Gen. Washington,  James Wilkinson (who was quite the rascal in his own right) Gates relented  and apologized to Washington as was eventually appointed commander of  the Eastern Department, additionally John Cadwalader a Pennsylvania  Brigadier dueled with Conway, shooting him through the mouth, Conway  survived and resigned. 

In May of 1780 Gates was sent to South Carolina with reinforcements to take  command of the Southern Department, after the devastating loss and capture  of most of the Southern army at the Siege of Charleston under Gen. Benjamin  Lincoln but this did not work as planned Gates was soundly defeated at  Camden, with one thousand troops take as POWs and nine hundred killed and  wounded, added to the five thousand POWs taken at Charleston, this many  casualties could not suffice. After Gates hightailed it out of Camden, he was  succeeded by Gen. Nathanael Greene who put an end to the British Southern  strategy with the eventual surrender at Yorktown. 

Horatio Gates returned north, and a board of inquiry was called, the prelude to a court martial for his conduct at Camden but through supporters in the 

Continental Congress the charges were dropped. Gates was never assigned  another field command and spent the waning years of the war on Gen.  Washington’s staff at Newburgh, N.Y. He sold his “Travelers Rest” plantation  freed his slaves (possibly at the urging of John Adams) in Virginia and removed  to New York City with his second wife Mary Valance where he lived in the Rose  Hill neighborhood at E.22nd and 2nd Ave. Gates served one term in New York  Legislature in 1800 and died at his home in 1806 and was buried in the Trinity  Churchyard 

Civic and Patriotic Service, Province of New York Assembly, Committee of Sixty, Continental Congress, Supported the Militia and Continental Army 

   DAR # A002030

         Interred at Trinity Churchyard N.2

John Alsop was born in 1724 in New Windsor, Orange Co., N.Y. to John, Sr. and Abigail Sackett Alsop. John Alsop, Sr.’s father Richard (1659- 1781) emigrated as an orphan from Derbyshire, England about 1660 under the guardianship of his maternal uncle Thomas Wandell and settled in Newtown, Queens. John, Jr. with his brother Richard Sackett (1726-1776) Alsop traveled to New York as young men and engaged in the mercantile trade, primarily cloth and dry goods and became quite successful operating one of the larger merchant’s houses at Hanover Sq.in New York. Richard retired and removed to Middletown, Connecticut prior to the war, early on he was a member of the Connecticut Assembly, he died of a fever in 1776.

      "IN MEMORY OF
      MARY ALSOP, WIFE OF
       JOHN ALSOP, MERCHANT,
       WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE                                                                 THE 14TH OF APRIL 1772
                      AGED 28 YEARS"

 Mary Frogat Alsop’s Gravestone Inscription at Trinity, carved by John Zuricher

  On 6 June 1766 John Alsop married Mary Frogat (1744-1772) in New York, they had one daughter Mary (1769- 1819) who married Founding Father Rufus King of Massachusetts, SAR # P-230111, 1779-1780 King served as a Captain then  Major, as Aide-de-Camp to Generals John Glover and John Sullivan and served during the Sullivan Expedition and fought at the battle of Rhode Island. and may have served earlier under Maj. Heath in the Massachusetts militia at Boston as an enlisted man.  He was a Signer of the U.S. Constitution, a U.S. Senator and Minister to Great Britian under Pres. John Q. Adams. Rufus and Mary King had a large family and are buried in the Grace Episcopal Churchyard in Jamaica, Queens.

In 1775-1776 Alsop served in the New York City delegation to the 3rd New York Provincial Congress and in the 1st Continental Congress, he was a member of the Committee of 51, 60 and 100 and supported the non-importation agreement against British goods to the determent of his business. He did not sign the Declaration of Independence because he still favored reconciliation with Great Britain and resigned from the Continental Congress.

 Early in the war Alsop as a member of the Committee of Safety and was active in recruiting, financing and training militia, he also acted as a purchasing agent from the Continental Congress and had traveled to Philadelphia with Gen. Washington. Through his business connections he acquired supplies, salt and the all-important gunpowder for the Continental Army, he also aided Gen. Washington in acquiring housing for 8,000 newly arrived troops.  In August after the Battle of Brooklyn his home in Newtown. Queens was confiscated and the lead removed from his windows panes for musket balls (this was common practice by both sides) by the British and he continued to aid the patriot cause another month or so, from Lower Manhattan until the British cut off this area of New York after the Battle of Kip’s Bay on the 15th of Sept. After the British occupation he fled to Middletown, Connecticut where he remained until the end of the British occupation in 1783, effectively ending his participation in revolutionary politics and patriotic service in New York. 

After the end of the British occupation, he worked to rebuild the mercantile business and was active as a civic leader as president of Chamber of Commence in 1784 and 1785.He died  22 Nov 1794 at his home in Newtown and was buried in Trinity Churchyard.