American Revolution

Captain Pownal Deming, 1795

“Deming. In Memory Of Capt. Pownal Deming . . . Died April 9, 1795. An earnest patriot, he enlisted in the Continental Army at the Lexington Alarm, April 1775, and served with distinction through the War for American Independence. He was an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati.”

Pownal Deming was 26 when he marched off in response to news that war between Great Britain and its colonies had broken out in Lexington, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1775. He was one of an estimated 40,000 Connecticut men who fought in the American Revolution, more than a dozen of whom are believed to have been interred in the Ancient Burying Ground.

Deming served throughout most the war for independence, including fighting in the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Battle of Long Island. He was an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati, a fraternal organization of officers of the Continental Army formed in 1783.

Moses Dunbar, 1777

”March 19, [1777] Moses Dunbar Aged Forty 40 Years. (Was Hanged & Buried at the Expense of the State.)”

Moses Dunbar was one of the Connecticut residents who remained loyal to King George III after the colonies declared their independence from Great Britain – a choice that would send him to the gallows.

Moses Dunbar went to British-held Long Island in 1776 to accept a captain’s commission in the King’s American Regiment, a military unit of Loyalists, as colonists who sided with the British crown were known. He returned to Connecticut to clandestinely recruit other men to the British army. His activities were uncovered, and he was found guilty of high treason on January 23, 1777. He was hanged on March 19, 1777. He was in fact 30 years old, not 40.

Not surprisingly, no stone was erected over Dunbar’s grave. His interment in the Ancient Burying Ground is known from the sexton’s records. 

Learn more about our 2018 research on Veterans of the American Revolutionary War

Learn more about the stories of people buried at the Ancient Burying Ground:

• Reverend Thomas Hooker and Government by the Consent of the People
• Nathaniel Willet and his role in Connecticut’s Witchcraft Trials
• Governor William Leete – Connecticut and New Haven Became One
• John Allyn, securing the Royal Charter and the Charter Oak
• Elizabeth Willson from Hartford as a successful Colonial Business And Commercial Center
• Col. Nathan Payson and Dr. Eliakim Fish, who served in the military in several Colonial Conflicts
• Richard Bernham and Ebenezer Watson in Connecticut’s Run-Up To Rebellion
• Captain Pownal Deming and Moses Dunbar – opposing roles in the American Revolution
• Jeremiah Wadsworth – Creating A New State And Nation
• Learn more about the People of Diverse Races and Ethnic Heritages found at the Ancient Burying Ground