A soldier of the Revolution
John Thomas McCall is one of 24 named Revolutionary War veterans buried at Oak Spring Cemetery in Canonsburg. The grave was dedicated by the George Washington Chapter of Sons of the American Revolution May 30.
Shown from left during the May 30 grave dedication are Glenn White, a descendant of John Thomas McCall; Larry Ridgway, president of the George Washington Chapter of Sons of the American Revolution; Michael Merryman, who performed the national anthem; bagpiper Patrick Coughlan; and Kenneth Gorton, who gave the invocation and benediction.
The combined color guard that took part in the grave dedication.
For most people, any connection with the War of Independence is tenuous at best. It might be the stuff of lectures and tests in American history class, or it could be the setting for a video or television show.
But on a Saturday in late May, a small group gathered at Oak Spring Cemetery, Canonsburg, to dedicate a flat stone marker so anyone who reads it will know a Revolutionary War soldier is buried there.
“John Thomas McCall was my fifth great-grandfather,” said Glenn White of Wheeling, W.Va., a member of the Sons of the American Revolution.
”I researched him for about nine years, and it’s opened up a whole new world of my ancestry to me. One thing the government does well is maintain good military records.”
Through the Internet, White delved into the background of McCall, discovering the man was born in 1726 in Glasgow, Scotland. He married Jane Childs Young, who was born in 1738. Their children were John, Thomas, James, Matthew, Nancy, William and Alexander.
During what would be his final month on Earth, McCall drew up a will. He died Nov. 15, 1810, in Canonsburg, and was buried in what is now Oak Spring Cemetery. His wife outlived him by nearly 12 years, also dying in Canonsburg.
Gina Nestor is vice president of the Oak Spring Cemetery board of directors.
”Anything about Oak Spring Cemetery, she’s a walking encyclopedia,” White said.
Nestor downplayed her role in shedding light on a person who died nearly 205 years ago.
“I just confirmed what he had,” Nestor said of White’s information about his ancestor. “I did not know he was a Revolutionary War soldier until about four years ago. We have 24 Revolutionary War veterans buried at Oak Spring that are named and one unknown Revolutionary War soldier.”
The records about the unknown soldier “were either burned or lost in a flood,” Nestor said.
On Independence Day, it’s appropriate to briefly review some background on the American Revolution:
Freedom fighters in the 13 colonies formed an army and actually began waging war long before the Declaration of Independence was given a final stamp of approval July 4, 1776.
On May 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia and, June 15, the Congress unanimously voted to appoint George Washington general and commander-in-chief of the new Continental Army, according to the University of Washington Department of History website.
The Keystone State, however, seems to have been an exception in bellicosity. According to Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, “at the beginning of 1775, Pennsylvania, founded under Quaker auspices, differed from other American colonies in being totally devoid of military organization. Early in that year, as tension mounted, there appeared spontaneously in certain localities volunteer companies of ‘Associators’ patterned essentially upon groups which existed briefly from 1747 to 1748 and again after Braddock’s defeat (in the French and Indian War) in 1755.
”These volunteer companies made up the Military Association, a civilian reserve designed to repel invasion. In 1775, the Provincial Assembly recognized associators and grouped their companies into battalions.” Those who served ranged in age from 16 to 60 years. Thousands of Pennsylvanians served in New Jersey, according to a Revolutionary War records overview. During the winter of 1776-77, the association collapsed and the assembly replaced it with a militia system.
According to White, McCall served in both the French and Indian War and in the Revolutionary War with the Pennsylvania Continental Troops as third corporal from 1775 to 1783. Each Continental Army unit had six corporals, and he was the third corporal of his unit.
A history of strife between the Scots and English that goes back many centuries may have fueled his patriotism in the conflict with the Crown. “He probably had a natural dislike of the British, and it was an easy choice to join the fight,” White said in remarks he prepared for the graveside dedication of the cemetery stone.
He also posed the question of why we should honor McCall, and others like him, today.
”Without the selfless volunteering for his adoptive country, and for like-minded men and women who risked their lives and material possessions, we might never have become the exceptional and free country we have today,” White said. “It is our sacred duty to hold fast to the principles of John Thomas McCall and all the men and women who served this infant democracy.
”I am humbled to think that he may have stood with General Washington at Valley Forge and the Battle Of Trenton, events that proved to be the turning points in our battle to be free.”
The Battle of Trenton was fought Dec. 26, 1776, after Washington’s famous boat trip across the Delaware River. The University of Washington website fills in the details:
”On Christmas, George Washington takes 2,400 of his men and recrosses the Delaware River. Washington then conducts a surprise raid on 1,500 British Hessians (German mercenaries) at Trenton, N.J. The Hessians surrender after an hour with nearly 1,000 taken prisoner by Washington, who suffers only six wounded. Washington reoccupies Trenton. The victory provides a much-needed boost to the morale of all American patriots.” With Washington was Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene, a Rhode Islander who is the namesake of Greene County. The next winter, Washington and the Continental Army set up winter quarters at Valley Forge.
For those who view Valley Forge as simply an exit or service plaza on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Washington and his army camped there during the bitterly cold winter of 1777-78 after British troops occupied Philadelphia. The downtrodden, freezing and hungry Continental Army seemed to be fighting a lost cause. According to the U.S. History website, about 12,000 Continental Army troops were with Gen. Washington at the start, but “death claimed about a quarter of them before spring arrived. Another thousand didn’t re-enlist or deserted.”
A paycheck was scarce or non-existent, so the fledgling country compensated soldiers with land on the frontier.
McCall’s story is interwoven with the congregation of which he was a member.
The history of what’s now known as Oak Spring Cemetery pre-dates both the nation itself and Washington County. Nestor said it was founded in 1775 as a burial ground for what she called the Chartiers Meeting House, also known as Chartiers associate Presbyterian congregation in a history written by James T. Herron.
“Canonsburg didn’t even exist. It was Chartiers Township,” Nestor said.
Canonsburg United Presbyterian Church at 112 West Pike St. traces its history back to this congregation.
The cemetery’s oldest tombstone, that of James Ross, dates to the 1780s.
In 1797, trustees of the associate congregation of Chartiers Township purchased “four acres, two roods and 15 perches of land of John Canon, for which they paid 45 pounds. On this land the congregation erected their first meeting-house and buried their dead. The house was built of round logs daubed with clay, some of the logs having been cut to give light. The seats were of round poles laid on blocks. It had no fireplace, stove nor chimney. There the congregation would sit for two sermons, in cold winter days, without fire, and no glass in the windows.”
Because Boyd Crumrine’s “History of Washington County, Pennsylvania” lists John McCall as an elder of the congregation in 1799, it’s safe to assume he and his family attended church in these spartan conditions.
“They met for six hours on a Sunday,” Nestor said. “The ones who came out here were staunch Presbyterians. These people went to church for six hours on Sunday. The kids went, too. They were a pious family, hard workers.”
Nestor also found documentation McCall donated a British pound toward a circuit-riding minister’s salary. Although it might not sound like much today when a British pound equals about $1.60, “That was a lot of money back then,” she said, estimating the value of the pound at $97 in today’s purchasing value.
White said the federal Department of Veterans Affairs would not provide a stone for McCall, so he purchased one from his own pocket.
“I checked with the National Cemetery Administration (one of the three administrations under Veterans Affairs) and we have no record of such an application for a headstone,” wrote Randy Noller, from the VA Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs in Washington, D.C., in response to an email inquiry.
“However, the veteran’s gravesite is marked, so by law we can’t provide a headstone.”
He cited information on the VA cemetery website that states, “The Department of Veterans Affairs furnishes upon request, at no charge to the applicant, a government headstone or marker for the unmarked grave of any deceased eligible veteran in any cemetery around the world, regardless of their date of death.”
According to Noller, “A denial would have nothing to do with budgetary cutbacks … but simply that, according to the law, we can’t provide a government headstone because the grave is marked.”