Many graves of Ohio’s Revolutionary War patriots have fallen victim to time, nature, and development, which makes the task of identifying, documenting, and preserving those still known to exist all the more urgent as America approaches its 250^th birthday.

Walter Newman of Licking County lies in one of those forgotten graves. Originally from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, he enlisted in the county militia in 1777 as a substitute for his father. During this time the Continental Army under Washington was trying to prevent the British from taking Philadelphia. Major battles included Brandywine and Germantown, along with many other small actions at White Marsh, Paoli, and Red Bank.

The British did end up occupying Philadelphia, leaving Washington’s army to camp at Valley Forge, only to evacuate in June 1778. The Americans caught up with the retreating British army at Monmouth Court House and fought there one of the largest battles of the entire war. Newman served multiple short term enlistments under several Pennsylvania militia commanders during this time.

As the focus of the war shifted to the southern states, Newman enlisted again in 1780 as a teamster. At this time the Southern Campaign was a closely-fought affair, with the crushing American defeat at Camden, and surprising victories at Kings Mountain and Cowpens. The only battle mentioned in Walter Newman’s pension affidavit decades later was the battle at Guilford Court House in North Carolina. There the southern army under Gen. Nathanael Greene held their own against the British, eventually yielding the field, but at the cost of one quarter of Lord Cornwallis’ dwindling army. This set in motion events that would lead Cornwallis to retreat to Yorktown and ultimately the surrender of his army.

After the war, Newman married his wife Catherine, and moved to Shenandoah County, Virginia. But as was true for many former Revolutionary War soldiers, the opportunities now available from the opening and early settlement of the Northwest Territory beckoned. Walter and Catherine Newman moved to Point Pleasant, now in West Virginia. There was a catch, however: in return for her agreement to move to the wilderness, Walter would need to build her a proper home. In 1796, construction of the “Mansion House” began, complete with two stories and a basement, and appropriately furnished.

Sadly, Catherine died in 1807. Walter transferred ownership of the Mansion House to his sons, and moved across the Ohio River to Gallia County. The Mansion House still stands today as part of the Tu-Endie-Wei State Park, and has been restored to its original construction by the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Walter Newman moved to Newark, Ohio after the death of his second wife, and there he died in 1851. He was buried in the Sixth Street Cemetery, which was the first graveyard in the town. But around the same time the new Cedar Hill Cemetery had opened. The dilapidation and vandalism of the old cemetery prompted the Newark city fathers to close the graveyard and encouraged families to reinter their loved ones at Cedar Hill. Several families removed their Revolutionary War patriots, but others who might have moved on or were otherwise unable did not. Walter Newman was among those who were not removed. The remaining tombstones in the graveyard were ordered toppled and the entire site covered with several feet of new topsoil. Over the decades since construction or excavation at the site has regularly uncovered human remains.

This scenario unfolded repeatedly in Ohio history as some of its earliest graveyards containing the state’s founders and Revolutionary War heroes fell victim to progress.

The Twelfth Street Burying Ground in Cincinnati (now Washington Park) and the Old North Graveyard in Columbus (now the North Market) are just two other examples of historic cemeteries containing the remains of Revolutionary War patriots that have been lost to city growth and development.

During America’s Bicentennial, the Daughters of the American Revolution placed a monument to honor those patriots at Sixth Street Cemetery in Newark who now rest there in unmarked graves: Azariah Davis, Joseph Jackson, Lt. Alexander McClellend, Walter Newman, Eldad Steele, and John Van Buskirk.

Veterans Park now occupies part of the abandoned cemetery site.

Patrick Poole is a resident of Central Ohio and the author of “Black Patriots: Recovering a Lost History of the American Revolution,” and the forthcoming “Rocking the Cradle of Revolution: Women in the Fight for American Independence.”