Smith and Young Families of northern Rhode Island



Where in Philadelphia are the Remains of First Lieutenant Oliver Jenckes, Rhode Island Regiment (Continental)?
With a Discussion of the 66 known enlisted soldiers of the Rhode Island Regiment who are buried in Washington Square, Philadelphia, including several Men of Color



September 2011


by Daniel M. Popek








This web page is the story of Personal Sacrifice, a war-terminated Love, and a State that has done next to nothing
to honor its soldiers who died in the American Revolutionary War. The Rhode Island Regiment of the American
Continental Line (the regular U.S. Army of the Revolutionary War) served with distinction in the Yorktown, Virginia
Campaign in late 1781. After the British Surrender at Yorktown, the large American Grand Northern Army Detachment
under General George Washington marched back to the north. The Rhode Island Regiment was assigned to Winter Quarters
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where George Washington would hold his headquarters until March 22, 1782. What many
Americans don't know is that the American Army paid a large price in lives with the Yorktown Victory. The great
concentration of soldiers at Yorktown had caused an epidemic of sickness in the American Army. The Rhode Island
Regiment was particularly hard hit with sickness, and the unit would leave a trail of its soldiers' bodies from
Williamsburg and Yorktown, Virginia to Trenton, New Jersey and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. To date, the State of
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations has done nothing to honor these soldiers.


Oliver Whipple Jenckes was born in Cumberland, Rhode Island in 1749, the son of Jonathan and Hannah Jenckes
(William B. Browne, "Genealogy of the Jenks Family of America," (Concord, New Hampshire: Rumford Press, 1952), 56-57, 107).
He enlisted as a Private in 1775 in Captain Jeremiah Olney's Company of Colonel Daniel Hitchcock's Rhode Island Continental
Regiment (from Providence County). In 1776, Oliver served in the same company in Col. Hitchcock's Regiment and was promoted to
Sergeant (Benjamin Cowell, "Spirit of '76 in Rhode Island," 1850, 20, 22). In October 1776, Oliver was commissioned an Ensign,
and he carried the regimental flag of Col. Hitchcock's regiment through heavy enemy fire at the Battle of Princeton,
New Jersey at a critical moment in the battle (Catherine Williams, "Biography of Revolutionary Heroes; Containing the
Life of Brigadier General William Barton, and also, of Capt. Stephen Olney," 1839, 198-199; Bartlett, "Records of the
State of Rhode Island," Volume 8, 1863, 11).


Oliver Jenckes was promoted to a Second Lieutenant in January 1777 and served in Captain Sylvanus Shaw's Company
in the Second Rhode Island Regiment in 1777, including the Battle of Red Bank, New Jersey in October of that year
(Second Rhode Island Regiment Muster Rolls in NARA Microfilm M246). Captain Shaw was killed in action at the Red
Bank Battle, and Lt. William Humphrey was promoted to Captain in June 1778 and assumed command of the company in
the segregated, all-white Second Rhode Island Regiment of 1778. Oliver was promoted to a First Lieutenant during
June 1777. In February 1781, the survivors of the small First Rhode Island Regiment, better known as the
"Black Regiment," were integrated with the larger Second Rhode Island Regiment in New York State. First Lieutenant
Oliver Jenckes was assigned to staff duty in Providence, Rhode Island for all of 1781. In February 1781, Oliver
married Bethiah Taylor, the sister of Providence Chaise-Maker Edward Taylor, who became a deacon in the Providence
Congregational Church. Edward Taylor's house still stands in downtown Providence, Rhode Island next to the First
Baptist Church (see picture below).


First Lieutenant Jenckes brought a supply of clothing from Providence to a small detachment of the Rhode Island
Regiment near West Point, New York in January 1782. This Rhode Island Regiment detachment marched for Philadelphia
in January 1782 and arrived in the city late in the month (Robert Bray and Paul Bushnell (ed.), "Diary of a Common
Soldier in the American Revolution, 1775-1783: Military Journal of Jeremiah Greenman," 1978, 241-242). It was a
bad time to join the main Rhode Island Regiment in Philadelphia as it was suffering at the height of the deadly
sickness epidemic. The main killer was a virulent strain of the smallpox, but other diseases like Putrid Fever
were also prevalent. The Rhode Island Regiment was stationed at the French and Indian War Barracks in the
Northern Liberties. The sick of the regiment were quartered in the Barracks and at the Pennsylvania Hospital
on Eighth Street and Pine Street.


Soon after arriving in Philadelphia, First Lieutenant Jenckes was assigned to the colored Eighth Company
of the integrated Rhode Island Regiment. Oliver Jenckes quickly became sick himself after visiting the
unhealthy soldiers of his company. On February 3, 1782, First Lieutenant Oliver Jenckes died of a fever at the
Barracks in the Northern Liberties. The next day, Lieutenant Jenckes was buried in the "Presbyterian Burying Ground"
after a formal military escort by the healthy soldiers of the Rhode Island Regiment. Unlike the enlisted soldiers of
the regiment, who were unceremoniously buried in the soldier burial pits of the "Potters Field," or modern day
Washington Square, an Officer of the Continental Line who died during the war was given formal military honors.
A large crowd of citizens from Philadelphia attended the funeral of Lt. Jenckes, as the Philadelphians were
thankful and mindful of the Rhode Island Continental soldiers' performance at the Battle of Red Bank in 1777
(see the "Pennsylvania Packet, or the General Advertiser" newspaper of February 5, 1782, which the National
Park Service didn't bother to look for in their federally required studies of the National Constitution Center).
Editors Robert Bray and Paul Bushnell of the "Military Journal of Jeremiah Greenman" surmised that the Second
Presbyterian Church Cemetery on Arch Street was the place of burial for Lt. Jenckes, although there were three
other Presbyterian cemeteries in the city at the time. Bray and Bushnell can be shown to be correct, as the
Reverend James Sproat's Journal in the Manuscript Collections of the Pennsylvania Historical Society Library
in Philadelphia records the Reverend's Leading the funeral service (James Sproat was the Pastor of the Second
Presbyterian Church on Arch Street; of course, the National Park Service historians also did not check this source).


The integrated Rhode Island Regiment maintained permanent guard details at the Philadelphia Barracks, the
Philadelphia Powder Magazine, the new Stone Jail on Walnut Street adjacent to the "Potter's Field," and later
a guard at the Flag of Truce site on the Philadelphia Waterfront. Several more enlisted soldiers continued to
die in Philadelphia until July 1782. On May 29, 1782 the integrated Rhode Island Regiment marched from Philadelphia
for the last time in the War to the Grand American Northern Army in the West Point, New York area ("Journal of
Jeremiah Greenman," 250).


The death of First Lieutenant Oliver Jenckes certainly effected his family. He left a widow, Bethiah, aged 30, who
never remarried and remained his widow for the rest of her life. To date, no evidence has been found that Oliver
and Bethiah had any children. Bethiah lived with her brother Deacon Edward Taylor at his house in Providence,
Rhode Island until her death on December 9, 1810. She was originally buried in the Congregational Church Cemetery
in Providence, Rhode Island, but this cemetery was relocated to Swan Point Cemetery in eastern Providence. Oliver
also had several siblings: David Jenckes, Jeremiah Jenckes, Asa Jenckes, Mary Jenckes, Amos Jenckes, Nathaniel Jenckes
Hannah Jenckes, Aime (Anne) Jenckes, and Jonathan Jenckes (Browne, "The Jenks Family of America," 56-57). Brother
Jeremiah Jenckes (1739-1810) served in the New Hampshire Militia in the Revolutionary War. Brother Amos Jenckes
(1746-1825) served as a Lieutenant in Colonel Daniel Hitchcock's Continental Regiment in 1775 before moving to
New York State (Ibid., 103-107). There are likely several living descendants of these Jenckes Families alive today.
There are thousands of living Jenckes Cousins, including this web page's author. It is time we made our voices heard!










Modern Issues on Federal Public Land and City Property in Philadelphia




The Second Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Philadelphia continued to be used as an active cemetery until
1867. The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, with a long history of neglecting its Revolutionary
War dead, never bothered to erect a memorial stone to Lieutenant Jenckes or the 66 enlisted soldiers of the
Rhode Island Regiment who were buried in Washington Square. The Presbyterian Church cemetery measured
52 feet by 306 feet for a total of 15,912 square feet. According to the National Park Service, there
were at least 3,654 burials in the cemetery (Anna Coxe Toogood, January 2004, "Historic Resource Study
Independence Mall The 18th Century Block Three Arch to Race, Fifth to Sixth Streets" (available online at:
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/inde/hrs/hrs.htm ;
specifically "Presbyterian Burial Ground" at: http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/inde/hrs/hrs3b.htm ).
Burials were removed to at least five other cemeteries beginning in the 1850's. By 1869, all burials were thought
to have been removed (Ibid.). In the late 1800's and early 1900's, other buildings were built in "Block Three", but
several areas in the block did not have basements. In the 1950's, the National Park Service acquired the land
for the Independence National Historical Park. Authorized by the U.S. Congress, construction of the National
Constitution Center began on September 17, 2000 in Block Three. During excavation of the deep foundation of
the new National Constitution Center (a parking garage exists under the building), 150 eighteenth century bodies
were discovered and excavated by the National Park Service Archaeological Staff from Independence N.H.P.
According to head N.P.S. Archaeologist Jed Levin, none of the bodies were found with military artifacts.
First Lieutenant Jenckes should have been buried with his officer's sword, possibly a pistol, and other
military artifacts. The uniform buttons of the Rhode Island Regiment are distinct, and in fact, a soldier
of the Rhode Island Regiment was found in 1930 at the Colonial Williamsburg site based on these military buttons;
the enlisted soldier was recently identified by this author (see Don Troiani, "Military Buttons of the American
Revolution," 2001, 140, for a discussion of the Rhode Island military buttons).


With only one third of the Second Presbyterian Cemetery excavated professionally by N.P.S. Archaeologists, N.P.S.
historian Anna Toogood concluded, ��The General State [Pennsylvania] Authority�s �Plan of Buildings to be
Demolished� completed in 1958 for Block 3 showed the two Arch Street lots filled with buildings, but a large
area under the backbuildings had no basements. As no archaeology was necessary for this area (since the
National Constitution Center did not plan construction there), it is not known whether a similar incident
of burial ground vestiges [human remains] remain behind under ground. Very likely there are, based on the
findings at the north and east sides of the burial plot
[BOLD for emphasis].� (available online at:
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/inde/hrs/hrs3b.htm ).
Anna Toogood continued: ��Of the 3,654 burials recorded as of 1851, only 1,479 went to Mount Vernon cemetery,
leaving over 2000 [known burials] unaccounted for at this date. Some of that 2000-odd were moved by prominent
families to other grounds, but some bodies likely remain buried on this block [BOLD for emphasis].� (note 169,
available online at: http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/inde/hrs/hrsn.htm#3169 ).


Professional archaeological excavation would be the only way to recover any other remains within the bounds
of the original Second Presbyterian Cemetery. The National Park Service has no plans to conduct any such
excavations. In lieu of an excavation, I have proposed to the National Park Service that a United States
Department of Veteran Affairs Memorial Stone be erected within the bounds of the Second Presbyterian Cemetery
in honor of First Lieutenant Oliver Jenckes. As can be seen in the photos on this page, there is plenty of open
space in the front lawn of the National Constitution Center for the small official three foot high memorial stone
offered by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. The Honorable James Langevin, U.S. Representative from
Rhode Island, conducted an initial investigation of the matter. The results were that the U.S. Department of
Veteran Affairs has agreed to issue a memorial stone, but the National Park Service Management Staff continues
to decline erecting the marker on federal property owned by "We the People." The Rhode Island Congressional
Delegation, representing a State that doesn't even have an official State Monument in Valley Forge National
Park, has taken no other action in this matter. So here we have two federal government agencies which can't
cooperate on federal property. Is it any wonder that Americans are tired of bureaucratic nonsense like this?


Very few Rhode Islanders even know that we have Revolutionary War soldiers buried in downtown Philadelphia.
However, the National Park Service I.N.H.P. has had other issues to deal with and has demonstrated its incompetence
in the management of the park. The President's House Site in Independence National Historical Park was
the most recent fiasco for the National Park Service. After getting three new buildings in Independence Park,
specifically the Liberty Bell Center, the Independence Visitor Center, and the National Constitution Center,
the Park Service was faced with the dilemma of how to interpret the former President's House site at the north end
of the Liberty Bell Center. After it was learned that some slaves lived in President George Washington's House
(the former Robert Morris House) during his stay in Philadelphia, African American Activist groups hammered the
National Park Service in its proposed interpretation of the site. Architectural Historian Edward Lawler Jr., an
independent researcher, destroyed the National Park Service intellectually in his two, now-famous articles published
in the "Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography:" Edward Lawler Jr., �The President�s House in Philadelphia:
The Rediscovery of a Lost Landmark,� Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 126, No. 1, (January 2002),
5-95; and Edward Lawler Jr., �The President�s House Revisited,� Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography,
Vol. 129, No. 4, (October 2005), 371-410 (both available online on the Penn State University Digital Library Website:
http://dpubs.libraries.psu.edu/DPubS?Service=UI&version=1.0&verb=Display&handle=psu.pmhb). As documented in these
articles, the National Park Service's treatment of Edward Lawler Jr. was petty, boorish, and unprofessional. It is
high time the U.S. Congress and President Obama clean house at the National Park Service, particularly with the
management staff.


"Avenging the Ancestors Coalition" ("A.T.A.C.", http://avengingtheancestors.com/index.htm), an African American Activist
Group, has maintained constant political pressure since the early 2000's on the National Park Service to interpret
the Slaves in President Washington's Household in Philadelphia. Philadelphia Politicians also were supportive,
especially the Honorable Chaka Fattah, Congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives. Congressman Fattah secured
$12 million in funding for the President's House Site Interpretation in the I.N.H.P. which was opened on December 15, 2010
(see: http://www.ushistory.org/presidentshouse/index.htm). Perhaps the members of Rhode Island's Congressional Delegation
can speak with U.S. Representative Fattah to learn what "Initiative" and "Leadership" mean. At the Opening Ceremony
of the President's House Site Interpretation on December 15, 2010, virtually no one in attendance knew that a mere
two blocks to the south lie the remains of over 30 colored soldiers of the integrated Rhode Island Regiment who were
buried there from 1781 to 1782.


With little Congressional Oversight, the "Wheeling and Dealing" National Park Service marches to its own beat.
In 2010, the Independence National Historical Park closed the popular Living History Museum in downtown Philadelphia,
particularly well-liked by Philadelphia school groups, and traded the property for some private acreage in Valley Forge
National Park. The Living History Museum housed many of the archaeological artifacts excavated from the National
Constitution Center, and will be closed to the public for two years.







My Proposal for a Rhode Island State Monument in Washington Square and How You the Reader can Help




The Washington Square site is owned legally by the City of Philadelphia, but it is administered as part of the
Independence National Historical Park by the National Park Service. I propose that a stone monument be authorized,
funded, and initiated by the Rhode Island Congressional Delegation in Washington Square for the enlisted colored and
white soldiers who sacrificed their lives for all Americans. The monument should list all of our soldiers names, discuss
the history of the Rhode Island Continental Line, and remember the costly post-Yorktown sickness epidemic that took so
many of our Rhode Island soldiers' lives (over 100 soldiers of the Rhode Island Regiment died from sickness after Yorktown,
66 of whom are buried in Philadelphia). In addition, a U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs memorial stone should be erected
in Washington Square for French and American Army Major William de Galvan, who committed suicide on July 24, 1782 and was
buried the next day in the "Potter's Field" (see "Diary of Jacob Hiltzheimer of Philadelphia," 1893, 50). Major William de Galvan
was particularly active at the Battle of Green Springs, Virginia, which the Light Infantry Company of the Rhode Island Regiment
also participated in.




You, the reader, can help by sending letters or emails of support to the following Political Leaders and Groups:




The Independence Hall Association in Philadelphia: http://www.ushistory.org/contact.htm .

Avenging the Ancestors Coalition: [email protected]



The Rhode Island Congressional Delegation (Rhode Islanders in particular should contact these gentlemen):

The Honorable Jack Reed, U.S. Senator (Senior Senator of Rhode Island, U.S. Military Academy Graduate, former Active Duty U.S. Army Officer):
http://reed.senate.gov/contact/


The Honorable Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. Senator:
http://whitehouse.senate.gov/contact/


The Honorable James Langevin, U.S. Representative:
https://langevin.house.gov/contact/email-me.shtml


The Honorable David Cicilline, U.S. Representative:
https://cicilline.house.gov/contact-me/email-me




Philadelphia Congressman Chaka Fattah (secured funding for President's House Site Interpretation in Independence National Historical Park):
http://fattah.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=244
















Some Photos and Maps of Interest from Philadelphia (all photos are copyright of Daniel M. Popek)

















Black and White Photograph of Grave of Bethiah (Taylor) Jenckes, Widow of First Lieutenant Oliver Jenckes, in Congregational Church Section of Swan Point Cemetery
in Providence, Rhode Island.







The Graves of Deacon Edward Taylor, Chaise-Maker of Providence, R.I., and his wife Alice in Swan Point Cemetery next to grave of Bethiah (Taylor) Jenckes.







May 2011 View of Deacon Edward Taylor House on Thomas Street next to the First Baptist Church in downtown Providence, Rhode Island.







Benjamin Easburn's 1776 Map of Philadelphia (courtesy of Library of Congress, Geography and Maps Division) with sites important
to the Rhode Island Regiment. The R.I.R. was quartered at the Barracks in the Northern Liberties.







Map of Modern Independence National Historical Park (courtesy of National Park Service) in downtown Philadelphia with sites important
to the Rhode Island Regiment. The Second Presbyterian Church Site is shown in front of the National Constitution Center.







Map of the Archaeological Excavation done under the Footprint of the National Constitution Center, 2000-2003, from the now-defunct N.P.S.
Living History Museum in Philadelphia. Note that only one third of the Second Presbyterian Cemetery was excavated which resulted in 150 bodies from
the 18th Century. An unknown number of bodies likely remain in the area to the south of the excavation line.







June 2009 view of the National Constitution Center in downtown Philadelphia from Arch Street.
The path on the right side that leads to the entrance goes over the former Second Presbyterian Church Burial Ground.
During construction of the deep foundations of the National Constitution Center, about 150 Eighteenth Century bodies
were recovered and removed in the year 2000 by the National Park Service. An unknown number of bodies likely remain
under the front lawn in this picture, possibly including the remains of First Lieutenant Oliver Jenckes of the R.I.R.







View of Construction of the President's House Site Interpretation in November 2009.







Construction Sign at the President's House Site Interpretation in November 2009.







September 2011 View of the finished product, the President's House Site, opened in December 2010 in downtown Philadelphia.







September 2011 side view of President's House Site on Market Street in downtown Philadelphia. There are several
interpretive signs of African-American History in Philadelphia on the walls of the President's House Site.







September 2011 side view of President's House Site in Philadelphia. The Liberty Bell Center on Block 1 is to the left,
while Market Street and the Independence Visitor Center on Block 2 is to the right.







The Slaves in President George Washington's household in Philadelphia.







"Buried and Forgotten:" View from the Plaza south of Independence Hall to the northeast corner of Washington Square.
The building to the left is where the old Stone Jail stood. The Rhode Island Regiment maintained a permanent guard detail
here while they were stationed in Philadelphia from late 1781 to 1782. The entrance to Washington Square, where the woman
is standing in the above picture, leads to the final resting place of over 2000 American soldiers. A mere two blocks from
the President's House Site, Washington Square contains the remains of 66 known enlisted Rhode Island Regiment soldiers, about
half of whom were men of color. Major William de Galvan of France who served in the American Army is also buried in an unmarked
grave in the Square.


























SOURCES


U.S. National Archives Microfilm M246, "Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783" (Original Muster Rolls - -
Rhode Island Regiments).

Revolutionary War Transcription File Index, Rhode Island State Archives, Providence, Rhode Island.

Benjamin Cowell, �Spirit of �76 in Rhode Island: or Sketches of the Efforts of the Government and
People in the War of the Revolution" (Boston: A. J. Wright (Printer), 1850).

Website: "Rhode Island Historical Society Library Manuscripts Division: Revolutionary War Military Records:"
http://www.rihs.org/mssinv/Mss673sg2.htm







Note: This website is still under construction, so please be patient.

Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Daniel M. Popek is a descendant through his mother's family of a soldier who served
six years in Rhode Island's Continental Line, including the integrated Rhode Island Regiment (Continental) of 1781-1783.
Daniel lives and works in North Carolina. He is a member of the Rhode Island Genealogical Society, and the New England
Historic Genealogical Society of Boston, Massachusetts. Daniel is the son of a career Active Duty U.S. Army Officer (Retired),
and the grandson of a U.S. Marine Combat Infantryman of World War II (Third Marine Division).


If you have comments or can provide additional information on any historical or archaeological issues,
then please send me (Dan) an email.