Success! First Step for a Monument

I contacted the Cemetery Committee of the Town of Bath New Hampshire to request that a Veteran’s monument be placed in West Bath Cemetery for Daniel Hunt, a Revolutionary War Veteran who is buried in the cemetery with no grave marker. I spoke with a member of the Cemetery Committee, and he indicated that the committee would approve the request pending verification of service and burial location. I mailed them the service record of Daniel Hunt including the deposition regarding his burial and the Veteran’s Administration form requesting the free monument. Of course I will specify granite for the monument, considering that Daniel served a Granite State regiment. This is no small stone: its approximate weight is 230 lbs.

                  One important criterion for VA approval of the free monument is that there must be detailed proof that the service was federal service, not state militia service. In the Revolutionary War, some militias were under the command of the Federal command structure authorized by Congress, but most militias were state controlled. In the case of Daniel Hunt, there are two documents in his service record that specifically state that his Regiment (Bedel’s Regiment) was authorized by an act of Congress.

                  Congress authorized, in a resolution dated August 3, 1777, Commanding General of the Continental Army George Washington to call to federal service militias from New Hampshire and northern states to be under the command the Commanding General of the Northern Department. General Horatio Gates was appointed by Congress to be the commander of the Northern Department of the Continental Army on August 4, 1777. General Gates subsequently sent a letter dated June 8, 1778 containing orders for Col. Bedel to send “. . .. one hundred of his Regiment properly officered without delay to Albany [NY] . . . “ This is clear evidence that Bedel’s Regiment was under the control of the Generals appointed by Congress. Col. Timothy Bedel sent a letter dated November 5, 1778 to General Gates detailing progress on a military road being built by his Regiment across northern Vermont.

                  When I receive final approval from the Cemetery Committee, I will secure a name and signature from a local monument company to agree to receive shipment of the headstone and set the stone in the cemetery. This is another requirement of the VA. After the approvals and signatures are complete, I can submit the form to the VA. Then the wait begins.

Daniel’s brother Zebulon Hunt is buried in the same cemetery, with a headstone inscribed ‘A Revolutionary Soldier’. I have requested the same inscription for Daniel’s headstone. Hopefully I will have provided all of the required information to gain approval from the VA for a fitting monument for Daniel Hunt’s Revolutionary War service.