Veterans of the 8th Virginia regiment are buried in multiple states stretching from Virginia to Arkansas and from Pennsylvania to Georgia. No marker or even burial site is known for most of them. Properly cut and engraved stone markers were unaffordable for many veterans' families. The government did not provide veterans' markers until after the Civil War. Many were likely buried under wooden markers that lasted a few decades at best. Other graves were marked with roughly etched fieldstones. Many headstones were made of porous sandstone or marble and have eroded and broken over time. Consequently, very few original headstones survive. Descendants, communities, and patriotic societies have been quick to replace fallen and broken stones, sometimes removing the originals from the site. Some replacement stones contain erroneous information and a few have even been placed on the wrong graves. Most of the markers in place today are government-issued veterans' markers. The older style featuring a recessed shield was for many decades reserved for veterans of wars before World War I. The plainer style familiar from Arlington and Normandy was designated for veterans of World War I and later. The recessed shield style fell out of use for a time but has been brought back and is arguably still the proper style for Revolutionary graves.
Josiah Arnold was born in 1754 and enlisted in Capt. William Croghan's company in March of 1776, He was wounded at the Battle of Germantown in 1777 and discharged at Valley Forge in 1778. He married Judith Dougherty and moved to Muhlenberg County, Kentucky in 1819. He died in 1837 and is buried in Petersburg, Indiana.
Surgeon Cornelius Baldwin was appointed to serve the 8th Virginia in May of 1777 and continued with the Continental Army after the regiment was folded into the 4th Virginia Regiment. He was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey and may have studied at the College of New Jersey (Princeton), but did not graduate. He may have studied medicine under Dr. Benjamin Rush in Philadelphia. He established the army hospital at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. he was taken prisoner with the Virginia line at the surrender of Charleston in 1780. He was exchanged and returned to the army, serving at Fort Pitt and Winchester. After the war he settled in Winchester and practiced medicine there until his death in 1826. He was buried in the "old Presbyterian cemetery," but reinterred in Mount Hebron Cemetery in 1912. His home survived. Mary Baldwin College is named for his granddaughter.
Adam Bible came from a German family that lived at Henckel's Fort in Germany Valley, now in Pendleton County, West Virginia. He was recruited by Lt. John Gratton and enlisted in Capt. David Stephenson's company in February of 1776. He was discharged from Valley Forge in February 1778. He moved to Rockingham County and married Magdalene Shoemaker in 1783. He died in 1826 and is buried Fulks Run.
Gen. Benjamin Biggs was a veteran of Lord Dunmore's War when he enlisted in John Stephenson's independent company in 1775 for one year of service. He served in the 13th Virginia Regiment to the end of the war, rising from lieutenant to captain. He settled in Ohio County (now West Virginia) and married Priscilla Metcalf. He was one of the founders of the town of West Liberty. He served in the Virginia House of Delegates in the 1790s and as a general in the Virginia militia from 1794 through the War of 1812. He died in 1823. He is buried in West Liberty.
Sgt. John Bly was born in Pennsylvania in 1756 and moved to the Shenandoah Valley as a child. He was a carpenter who enlisted in Capt. Jonathan Clark's company on February 5, 1776. He was detached with Captain Croghan for the 1776 campaign and was probably at White Plaints and Trenton and possibly at Assunpink Creek and Princeton He was promoted to sergeant and discharged in 1778. He returned to Shenandoah County after served there as a lieutenant in the militia. He died in Shenandoah County in 1821. He is buried in Boehm Cemetery. His original fieldstone marker was replaced with a government veteran's marker in 1968.
Col. Abraham Bowman was born near Strasburg, Virginia in 1748. He was an early long hunter and then appointed lieutenant colonel of the 8th Virginia late in 1775. He was promoted to colonel in 1777 and was released as supernumerary in 1778. He lead a group of settlers to Kentucky in 1779, living for a time at Bowman's Station near Harrodsburg. He established Cedar Hall plantation near Lexington in the 1780s and lived there until his death in 1837. He greeted Lafayette in Lexington during the general's tour of America in 1825.
Gen. Robert Breckenridge was born in Augusta County in 1754 and was an apprentice carpenter when he enlisted as a sergeant in Capt. James Knox's company in 1776. He received an ensign's commission in 1777 and was a 1st lieutenant when he was taken prisoner at the surrender of Charleston in 1780. He was exchanged and served as adjutant of the Virginia Battalion until 1783. He represented Jefferson County (now Kentucky) at Virginia's constitutional ratification convention in 1788 and as the first speaker of the Kentucky House in 1792. He was appointed a brigadier general in the Kentucky militia in 1792 a major general in 1794. he never married and died in 1833. He is buried in the Floyd-Breckenridge Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky.
John Breeding was born in 1752 and enlisted in Capt. Jonathan Clark's company in February 1776. He deserted, but appears to be the same John Breeding who then served in George Rogers Clark's Illinois Regiment from 1779-1780. He married Elizabeth Napper in 1785 and moved to Missouri by 1818, where he died. He is buried in Franklin County, Missouri.
Zephaniah Bryan, known as "Seth," was born in Maryland about 1752 and enlisted in Capt. John Stephenson's one-year West Augusta District company in 1775. He was married twice, to Elizabeth DeVeiuz and to Jane McLane. He lived in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties in Pennsylvania. He died in 1838 and is buried in Murrysville Cemetery in Westmoreland County. There is no surviving roster of Stephenson's company and only a few members have been identified by other means. Bryan's is the only known grave of an enlisted man from Stephenson's company.
Abraham Burner enlisted in Capt. Matthias Hite's company at Woodstock in December of 1776 and served through his discharge in January, 1779. Hite commanded after Richard Campbell was promoted to major. Burner appears to be the brother of Daniel Burner who enlisted early in 1776. Abraham served an extended militia tour in South Carolina in 1780 with 8th Virginia veteran Capt. Jacob Rinker in South Carolina under Gen. Nathanael Greene. They were at Cheraw Hills at the time of the Battle of Cowpens and escorted prisoners from that battle to Virginia. He later lived in Pendleton County, now West Virginia, where he died in 1819. He is buried in Bartow, Pocahontas County.
Adam Cabbage was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania in 1755 and enlisted in Capt. Jonathan Clark's company early in 1776. He was discharged at Valley Forge early in 1778. He then moved to Tennessee, where he died in 1844. He is buried in Grainger County, Tennessee.
Sgt. Robert Chambers was born in London, England in 1756. He enlisted in Capt. Robert Higgins' company in Augusta County in August 1777. He was detached to fight at the defense of Fort Mifflin that fall and served under 8th Virginia veterans Capt. William Croghan and Capt.-Lieut. Leonard Cooper after the regiment was folded into the 4th Virginia Regiment. He was promoted to corporal. He was taken prisoner with the Virginia Line at the surrender of Charleston in 1780. He lived until 1836 and is buried in Monroe County, West Virginia.
John Chenoweth was born on the frontier in 1755 and enlisted in Capt. Abel Westfall's company in February 1776. He was captured at the Battle of Germantown and exchanged in 1778. He married Mary Pugh in 1779 and served in the militia during the Yorktown campaign of 1781. He died in 1781 in Randolph County, now West Virginia. He is buried in Daniel's Graveyard in Elkins, West Virginia.
Maj. Gen. Jonathan Clark was born August 1, 1750 (Julian Calendar) in Albemarle County. His family moved to Caroline County to avoid the violence of the French & Indian War. He served in the Dunmore Volunteer Company in 1775 and was appointed an 8th Virginia company captain in 1776. He was the regiment's last major before it was folded into the 4th Virginia in 1778. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel and played an important role in the Battle of Paulus Hook in 1779. He was taken prisoner at Charleston in 1780. He was appointed a Virginia bounty land commissioner in 1783. He was appointed a major general in the Virginia militia in 1792. He later moved to Kentucky where his parents and siblings had settled. He was the older brother of Gen. George Rogers Clark and explorer William Clark. He married Sarah Hite. He died in 1811 and is buried Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.
William Clark was born in Pennsylvania and moved to Hampshire county at age 10. He was drafted into Capt. Jonathan Clark's Company in 1778 for one year. He was in Capt. Abraham Kirkpatrick's company after the regiment was folded into the 4th Virginia Regiment and then discharged in January. He served in a militia unit during the Yorktown campaign. He married Barbara Hemlock in 1798 and lived in Randolph and Lewis counties, now West Virginia. He died in 1841 and is buried in Upshur County. It is unlikely that he was related to Captain Clark.
Daniel Cloud was born in 1755 and enlisted in Capt. Richard Campbell's company in June 1776, after the regiment had left for the south. He was detached with Capt. William Croghan to the 1st Virginia Regiment and the northern army, likely serving at White Plains and Trenton and possibly Assunpink Creek and Princeton. The name of his first wife is not known. His second wife was Elizabeth Hampton. He died in 1815 and was buried at Willow Glen (probably a farm). his grave was relocated to Prospect Hill Cemetery in Front Royal, Virginia.
Harmon Commins enlisted in Capt. William Croghan's company at Sharpsburg, Maryland at the age of twenty. He fought at White Plains, Trenton, and Princeton. He was wounded in the leg and captured at the Battle of Germantown, but exchanged in 1778 after his enlistment had expired. He married Mary James in 1779 and moved to South Carolina some time before 1819, residing first in the Pendleton District (county) and then in Anderson District (county), where he is buried. His modern marker erroneously says he was "VA militia."
Capt. James Craig was born in 1744 and served first in the Southwest Virginia Independent Company in 1775. In 1776 he was appointed ensign in Capt. James Knox's company. He was detached with Knox to Morgan's Rifle Battalion in 1777. He was promoted to captain and then retired as a supernumerary officer in 1778. He was deputy sheriff of Washington County in 1782. He married three times. He was an original justice of the peace of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky in 1799. He died in 1816 and is buried in Rosewood, Kentucky. (KY SAR)
Maj. William Croghan was born in Ireland in 1752 and may have come to America as a British soldier. He was appointed a captain by the West Augusta (Pittsburgh) Committee of Safety in 1776 and led a detachment of the 8th Virginia to the 1st Virginia Regiment and the northern army. He served as brigade inspector and was then promoted to major in 1778. He was taken prisoner at the surrender of Charleston in 1780. He was present for the surrender at Yorktown but unable to participate because he was on parole. He served until 1783. He married Lucy Clark, the sister of Capt. Jonathan Clark. He moved to Kentucky where he administered distribution of bounty land to veterans. He died in 1822 at his estate, Locust Grove. His grave was relocated to Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.
Sgt. Benjamin Crow was born in 1756 or 1757 in New Castle County, Delaware, and moved to the frontier as a child. He was the brother of Pvt. Jacob Crow. He enlisted as a corporal in Capt. David Stephenson's Augusta County company late in 1776 and was promoted to sergeant in 1777. He served in Major Croghan's company after the 8th Virginia was folded into the 4th Virginia Regiment. He was discharged in 1779 and married Ann Gragg. He moved to the Nolichucky settlement, now in East Tennessee, in 1782. He later moved to Upper Spanish Louisiana (now Missouri) and then to the Arkansas Territory where he died in 1830. He is buried in Clark County, Arkansas.
Jacob Crow was born in 1759 and joined in Capt. David Stephenson's company in February 1778. He may have been drafted. He was the brother of Sgt. Benjamin Crow. He was discharged in February 1779 and married Eleanor Right in 1787 in Lincoln County, Kentucky. He died in 1823 and is buried in Boyle County, Kentucky.
Col. James Curry was born in Ireland in 1752. He served in Captain Moffett's Company in Dunmore's War and was wounded in the right arm at the Battle of Point Pleasant. He received a 2nd lieutenant's commission in June, 1777 in Capt. Robert Higgins' new company for the 8th Virginia. He was promoted to 1st lieutenant under Capt. Abraham Kirkpatrick in the 4th Virginia after that regiment absorbed the 8th Virginia. He was promoted to captain in 1779 and was taken prisoner at the surrender of Charleston in 1780. He was paroled to the end of the war. He married Mary Magdalene Burns and resided in Madison County, Ohio by 1815 and in Union County, Ohio by 1828. He died in 1834 and is buried in Oakdale Cemetery. A plaque referring to him as "Col.James Curry" appears to be based on a rank he achieved in post-Revolutionary militia service.
Brig. Gen. William Darke was born in Pennsylvania in 1736. He served in the French & Indian War. As a captain, he raised a company from Berkeley County and was promoted to major in 1777. He was captured at Germantown, promoted to lieutenant colonel while in captivity, and exchanged in 1780. Though a Continental officer, he led militia at Yorktown. He commanded a regiment in the St. Clair Expedition of 1791. He helped suppress the Whiskey Rebellion as a general of militia. A founder of Jefferson County, he died in 1801.
Joseph Dean was enlisted by Ens. Henry Field on April 27, 1777 into George Slaughter's company. He was sick through the summer and fall and probably missed the engagements at Brandywine and Germantown. Dean's company was later commanded by Capt. Abraham Kirkpatrick. He remained with Kirkpatrick's through Monmouth and the regiment's merger into the 4th Virginia in 1778. He was probably taken prisoner at Charleston in 1780. He is buried in Presbyterian Cemetery, Alexandria, Virginia.
William Eagle enlisted late in 1777 to serve in Capt. John Steed's company (previously commanded by Capt.Richard Campbell and briefly by Capt. Matthias Hite). He was apparently sixteen years old at his enlistment. After the regiment was folded into the 4th Virginia he served under Capt. Abraham Kirkpatrick. He was discharged in 1779 before his enlistment expired, possibly because of ill health or injury. He is buried in Smoke Hole Canyon in Pendleton County, West Virginia, facing Eagle Rocks, a geological formation named for him.
The grave of Lt. Philip Eastin in Jefferson Co., Ind. Eastin enlisted in 1776 as a private, earned an officer's commission in Jonathan Clark's company. He served to the end of the war and moved west, where he died in 1817. His monument says, “He sleeps his last sleep, he has fought his last battle. Honor his memory for he was one of the brave and true men whose gallant deeds gave freedom and independence to our Country.”
Cpl. Philip Fine was born in Virginia in 1751. He enlisted in Capt. Jonathan Clark's company with his brother Andrew in February 1776. Their brother Thomas joined the following year and Andrew died in service. Philip married Sarah Celeste Boly and moved to St. Louis in 1781, more than two decades before the Louisiana Purchase. For many years he ran a ferry across the Meramac River near its mouth south of St. Louis. He died there in 1825. His gravestone was found in 2021 nicely preserved under the soil of property now owned by Ameren Power in southern St. Louis County. The nearest road is "Fine Road."
Michael Gold was born in England about 1758 and enlisted in Capt. David Stephenson's Company when the February 1776. He reenlisted and continued in service until he was taken prisoner at the surrender of Charleston. He was impressed into the British Navy, but survived and lived until 1814. He is buried in Marshall County, Tennessee.
Cpl. Joseph Golladay enlisted as a private in Capt. Jonathan Clark's company early in 1777. He was promoted to corporal on October 1. He was engaged at the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. After the regiment was folded into the 4th Virginia Regiment, he served in Capt. Abraham Kirkpatrick's company. His three-year term expired early in 1780, shortly before most of the Virginia line was taken prisoner at the surrender of Charleston. He returned to Shenandoah County and married Mary Huslender. He died in 1826.
Jonathan Grant was born in 1755 and enlisted in Capt. William Croghan's company at Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh) in February of 1776. After marching to Williamsburg, he went with Croghan's detachment north to join Washington's army. He fought at the battles of Mamaroneck, White Plains, Trenton, Assunpink Creek, and Princeton. He carried Lt. Abraham Kirkpatrick from the battlefield at Princeton. He was detached to Gen. William Maxwell's Light Infantry in August of 1777 and fought with that unit at Cooch's Bridge and Brandywine. He was wounded at Germantown and discharged after the encampment at Valley Forge. He returned to Pittsburgh and served as a scout during the Northwest Indian War. He later settled in Wayne (now Holmes) County, Ohio, where he died in 1833.
Capt. John Graves was born in 1745 and signed on as an ensign in Capt. George Slaughter's company in February 1776. He was promoted to lieutenant that October. He briefly took command of the company after Captain Slaughter's resignation in December, 1777. Graves then resigned from the army in April, 1778. He moved to Georgia, living near namesake Graves Mountain in Lincoln County and then French Mills in Wilkes County. He died in 1824 and is buried in the family cemetery.
Maj. Peter Helphenstine, one of the regiment's three original field officers, immigrated from Germany in 1754. He prospered in Winchester and was commissioned to help lead the "German Regiment" in December 1775. He contracted malaria in South Carolina in 1776, resigned, and died at home of complications of the disease in 1779. His wife was left destitute and he may never have had a permanent marker until the SAR dedicated one in November, 2022. His exact burial site at Mt. Hebron Cemetery is not known.
Sergeant "Big Dan" Hendricks, who was remembered to be 7 feet tall, was born in York County, Pennsylvania before setting his family in what is now Jefferson County, West Virginia. He was an active combatant in a pre-war feud between Jacob Hite and Sheriff Adam Stephen. He joined William Darke's company early in the war. When the 8th Virginia was assigned to Maj. Gen. Adam Stephens' division in 1777, Hendricks left the regiment with no explanation recorded on the rolls. He is buried in the Buckles-Hendricks-Oborne Cemetery in Jefferson County.
Lieut. Peter Higgins was born in 1755, probably in present Hardy County, West Virginia in the 1750s. He signed on as an ensign in the new company formed by his younger brother, Capt. Robert Higgins, in 1777. He was promoted to 2nd lieutenant in the fall and to 1st lieutenant in the 4th Virginia Regiment in 1779. He was in Gen. Nathanael Greene's southern army later in the war and continued on until the end of the Revolution. His second wife was the daughter of 8th Va. Lt. Taverner Beale. He died in 1808 and is buried in Saint Matthews Cemetery in New Market, Shenandoah County. (Updated and corrected 1/27/24.)
Capt. Robert Higgins was born in Pennsylvania in 1746. His family settled in what is now Hardy County, West Virginia. when he was a child. He experienced the French and Indian War first hand, narrowly escaping from Indians when he was twelve. He married Sarah Wright in about 1766. He was appointed a lieutenant in Capt. Abel Westfall's company early in 1776 and was selected by General Washington to raise a new company to replace John Stephenson's one-year men in 1777. He was captured at the Battle of Germantown and held for about nine months before being paroled. He returned to service until the end of the war. His wife died during the war and his farm and children were capably cared for by slave known as "Old Jack." He built a home after the war in Moorefield, West Virginia which survives. In 1797 he married Mary Jolliffe, the widow of 8th Virginia lieutenant John Jolliffe who had died of smallpox. He moved briefly to Kentucky and then to what is now Higginsport, Ohio, fronting the Ohio River. He died there in 1825.
Abraham Hornback enlisted in Capt. Abel Westfall's Hampshire County company early in 1776. He was picked to serve in Morgan's Rifles in 1777 and was likely at the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga. He was discharged at Valley Forge in 1778. There are two alleged gravesites for him in Medford County, Illinois and in Spencer County, Indiana.
(Findagrave.com)
(Findagrave.com)
Quartermaster Sgt. Arthur Johnson enlisted in James Knox's Fincastle County company in 1776 and later reenlisted into Capt. Berry's company. Later in this enlistment he was commanded by Capt. Croghan. His unusually elaborate monument near Enfield, Illinois is not original and credits him with service at Norfolk and Paoli he could not have participated in though other details are correct.
Peter Jordan was enlisted by Lt. Matthias Hite into Capt. Jonathan Clark's company in 1776 after the regiment had already headed south the Carolinas. He spent several months sick before fighting in the Battle of Germantown and a skirmish at Darby, Pa. His grave was given a new marker in a 2026 ceremony hosted by the Sons of the American Revolution at Harrodsburg, Kentucky.
James Kay enlisted in Capt. Thomas Berry's company on February 20, 1776. He was "badly" wounded at Brandywine in 1777 and moved to Kentucky after the war. He died in 1833 and is buried at Salem United Baptist Church in Boone County. His worn and broken headstone was replaced in a joint effort by the Sons and Daughters of the Revolution in 2022.
Maj. Abraham Kirkpatrick was born in Maryland in 1749. He moved to the Pittsburgh in 1767 and was appointed a lieutenant in Captain Croghan's company in 1776. He led Croghan's detachedment under Washington at Trenton, Assunpink Creek, and Princeton. He served as adjutant and was promoted to captain and then major before the 8th was folded into the 4th Virginia. He remained in service to the end of the war. He married Mary Anne Oldham in 1786 and died in 1817. He lies in Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh.
Lt. Col. James Knox was probably born in Augusta County. A tradition that he immigrated alone from Ireland as a boy appears to be inaccurate. He was an early Kentucky long hunter and a scout for Col. Andrew Lewis in Dunmore's War. He was a lieutenant in Capt. William Russell's Southwest Independent Frontier Company in 1775. He was appointed a captain by the Fincastle County Committee of Safety in 1776 to raise a company assigned to the 8th Virginia. He was at Charleston in 1776 and detached to lead a company in Daniel Morgan's Rifle Battalion in 1777, serving in the Saratoga campaign. He was probably at Monmouth in 1778 and then released as a supernumerary officer when regiments were consolidated. Gov. Thomas Jefferson appointed him to lead one of two Virginia frontier battalion. He led parties of settlers into Kentucky after the war and served in the Virginia House of Delegates and the Kentucky Senate. He married Ann Montgomery, the widow of his friend Benjamin Logan in 1805. He died 1822 and is buried in Shelby County, Kentucky.
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