These Soldiers Were Buried in an Unmarked Grave During the Revolutionary War. Now, Historians Finally Know Their Names

During the American Revolution, many of the soldiers killed in action were interred in unmarked graves. The fledgling nation wouldn’t “systematically care for its war dead” until decades later, according to Arlington National Cemetery. A cemetery in Wilmington, Delaware, holds the remains of at least 66 soldiers who died during the war, and researchers have now identified 33 of them.

Today, that changes as we dedicate a permanent memorial on this hallowed ground in their honor.” The list includes 28 soldiers from Rhode Island, half of whom were Black, and 5 British officers. (At least 38 British soldiers are buried at the site, but most are still unidentified.) At the ceremony, attendees listened to the national anthems of the United States and the United Kingdom, and all 33 names were read aloud. The British soldiers died after sustaining injuries at the Battle of Brandywine in Pennsylvania, where nearly 30,000 troops fought on September 11, 1777—the largest single-day battle of the Revolution. When the British emerged victorious, they quickly set up a hospital in Wilmington to treat their 488 wounded.

Two days after the battle, 112 wagons full of injured soldiers traveled to the city, located some nine miles south. Those who died were buried in the Poor and Strangers cemetery. After the battle, which laid the groundwork for the British Army’s surrender, these members of the First Rhode Island Regiment made their way home, with many contracting smallpox along the way.

Some were treated at a hospital in Wilmington, and 28 of those patients died. As the city expanded in the 1850s, both groups of soldiers’ remains were moved to the Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery, where they rest today. Researchers found the men’s names by combing through primary sources.

One document lists all 28 of the Continental soldiers, who died between December 8, 1781, and January 27, 1782. Ten were free Black men, while four were enslaved laborers. In return, these men would be granted their freedom, and their enslavers would be compensated.

Lawmakers repealed this policy a few months later, but by then, more than 100 enslaved men had already taken the government up on its offer. One of the Black soldiers buried in Wilmington was Private Caesar Rose. One of his direct descendants, Jason Roomes, attended the memorial ceremony.