Alexandria, Virginia · 1812 · America’s Forgotten War · Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex
War of 1812 Buried in Alexandria
Alexandria sent its merchants, soldiers, and civic leaders to fight the second war for American independence — and buried its dead across eight historic cemeteries.
When British warships sailed up the Potomac in August 1814, Alexandria’s men were already at the front.
The War of 1812 Alexandria witnessed was no distant conflict — it came to the city’s doorstep. The 58 men documented on this page served in the War of 1812, defending a young republic that had won its independence only a generation earlier. They were shopkeepers, sea captains, physicians, merchants, and militia soldiers who answered the call when their country needed them again.
Alexandria stood at the center of the war’s most dramatic moments in the Chesapeake theater. On September 5, 1814 — just days after British forces burned Washington — Alexandrians Robert Allison Jr. and Samuel Bowen were killed at the Battle of the White House (Landing) on the Potomac, where American militia under Brigadier General Robert Young fought seven British warships making their way downriver. The American guns took a toll: seven British sailors were killed and thirty-five wounded — among them Captain Bartholomew of the Erebus, Captain Napier of the Euryalus, and Captain Baker of the Fairy. These were the wounds that enraged Admiral Cochrane, who accelerated his attack on Baltimore — leading directly to the bombardment of Fort McHenry and Francis Scott Key composing the words that became the National Anthem. Allison and Bowen are the two Alexandria dead we know of; the full extent of American militia casualties was never recorded, though a contemporary diarist reckoned that “not more than 10 or 12 men were killed on the American side, and another 15 to 20 wounded” (Richard Norton Diary, 1814, Jacob Norton Papers, 1774–1840, Massachusetts Historical Society).
Just days earlier, on August 25, 1814 — the day after the British burned Washington — Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick joined Presbyterian minister James Muir and Episcopal rector William Holland Wilmer in a desperate mission through a violent storm to meet Rear Admiral George Cockburn in Georgetown, seeking terms to spare Alexandria. The town was later forced to formally surrender to Captain James Alexander Gordon’s Potomac Squadron, enduring occupation and large-scale plundering. It was a humiliation the city never forgot.
The men on this page span every rank and trade: Brigadier General Robert Young commanding the Second Brigade of the DC Militia; Lieutenant John Thomas Newton aboard the USS Hornet when she defeated HMS Peacock in one of the war’s most celebrated naval victories; Private David Dick, an Irish shoemaker on Royal Street; and Hugh Smith, a Knutsford-born merchant whose 81-acre farm atop Stump Hill was the origin of the land that — through his son Hugh Charles Smith — eventually became Ivy Hill Cemetery. They are buried across eight historic Alexandria cemeteries, with the Presbyterian Cemetery in the Wilkes Street Complex holding the largest concentration — 38 of the 58 documented individuals.
Documented by Gravestone Stories. This registry represents original research in Alexandria’s Special Collections, SAR and DAR records, Find A Grave, Wesley Pippenger’s Tombstone Inscriptions of Alexandria, the unpublished manuscript of historian Donald C. Dahmann, and the Size Roll of the Independent Company of Alexandria (April–May 1775), transcribed by William C. Schneck Jr. and C. Leon Harris from the original in the Library of Congress, which synthesizes primary sources including the Muir Register of Baptisms, Marriages, and Funerals (1789–1820) and T. Michael Miller’s Artisans and Merchants of Alexandria. It is the most comprehensive accounting of War of 1812 burials in Alexandria ever assembled.
William Gregory came to Alexandria from Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland in 1807 at the age of eighteen. Seven years later he stood on the bank of the Potomac River at the Battle of the White House, serving as a private in the Alexandria Blues under Captain Charles McKnight as they faced seven British warships making their way downriver after sacking Alexandria.
He survived. He buried his younger brother Peter — who had followed him from Kilmarnock in 1815 — dead of pneumonia in 1817 at just nineteen. He became a merchant, then President of the Alexandria branch of the Farmers’ Bank of Virginia from 1847 to 1866. He served as an Elder of the Old Presbyterian Meeting House. He watched the Civil War come and go. He outlived his fellow soldiers one by one.
When William Gregory died in July 1875, he was the last surviving member of the Alexandria Blues under Captain McKnight — the last man alive who had been present at the Battle of the White House in September 1814. He rests beneath an obelisk in the Presbyterian Cemetery, one of the most distinguished figures buried in the Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex.
On September 5, 1814, Robert Allison Jr., aged 27, was killed at the Battle of the White House (Landing) on the Potomac River — a fierce engagement pitting American militia against seven British warships under Captain James Alexander Gordon making their way downriver after burning Washington. Allison served in the 1st Regiment of the District of Columbia Militia under Captain Charles McKnight of the Alexandria Independent Blues.
The battle at the White House enraged Admiral Cochrane, who accelerated his planned attack on Baltimore. That assault led directly to the 25-hour bombardment of Fort McHenry on September 13–14, 1814 — and to Francis Scott Key, watching from a truce vessel, composing the words that became the National Anthem. Robert Allison Jr. and Samuel Bowen are the two Alexandrians known to have died in the events that produced the Star-Spangled Banner.
His gravestone reads: “who fell in batle on the 5th Septr. 1814 at the white house in gallantly defending his country aged 27 years.” — the word “battle” spelled with a single “t” on the stone, a fascinating period detail preserved in the original inscription. His father, Robert Allison Sr. — a sea captain, King Street merchant, and justice of Fairfax County who served the cause of independence — rests at the Old Presbyterian Meeting House; and through his mother Ann Ramsay, Robert Allison Jr. was the grandson of William Ramsay, one of Alexandria’s founders and its first mayor. William Ramsay founded Alexandria in 1749. His grandson died defending the republic it helped birth, sixty-five years later, his gravestone carved in haste by someone who spelled “battle” with a single t.
Born in Alexandria on 20 May 1793, John Thomas Newton entered the United States Navy as a midshipman in January 1809 at the age of fifteen. By the time the War of 1812 began, he was serving as a lieutenant aboard the USS Hornet — one of the most formidable vessels in the young American fleet.
On 24 February 1813, off the coast of South America, the Hornet encountered HMS Peacock. The engagement lasted fifteen minutes. The Hornet’s gunnery was so effective that the Peacock surrendered having lost her commanding officer and seven men killed or mortally wounded; she sank in shallow water shortly after. Congress awarded gold medals to the officers and silver medals to every commissioned officer who served under Captain James Lawrence — Newton among them. The citizens of Alexandria presented Newton with a sword at a ceremony held at MacLaughlin’s Tavern (Gadsby’s) in 1816. That sword, its blade inscribed in Latin “Fortune favors the brave,” passed to his daughter Miss Lila Newton and survived a warehouse fire in Washington a generation later, though much blackened.
Newton rose to Commodore, commanded the Home Squadron from 1852 to 1855, and served the Navy for 48 years. His obelisk in the Presbyterian Cemetery reads: “John Thomas Newton entered the navy in 1809, was an officer in active service during the war of 1812, and died while in the performance of his duty, having devoted forty-eight years of his life to the service of his country.”
Son of William McKnight — who founded McKnight’s Tavern and fought at the Battle of King’s Mountain in the Revolutionary War — Captain Charles McKnight inherited his father’s tavern business and renamed it the Eagle Tavern (also known as the Spread Eagle Tavern) at the northwest corner of King and Royal Streets. He commanded the Alexandria Independent Blues at the Battle of the White House in September 1814; two men under his command, Robert Allison Jr. and Samuel Bowen, were killed in that engagement.
McKnight also holds a unique Revolutionary War connection: his father’s unit, the Alexandria Independent Blues, was the last body of troops reviewed by George Washington before his death. McKnight thus commanded the company that Washington last inspected — and led it into battle fourteen years after Washington died. He later served as a justice of the peace from 1837 to 1853. His portrait, painted by Jacob Frymire, was displayed in the 1956 “Our Town” exhibit at Gadsby’s Tavern. He never married. His elder brother, sea captain John McKnight — a corporal in the Tenth Maryland Militia during the war and later harbor master of the port of Alexandria — is also buried in the Presbyterian Cemetery. The Eagle Tavern was destroyed by fire in 1857.
Note: Captain Charles McKnight is listed on the burial ground Revolutionary War Patriot plaque at the Presbyterian Cemetery. This is an error — his service belongs to the War of 1812, not the Revolution. His father William McKnight, also buried in the Presbyterian Cemetery, is the Revolutionary War patriot in the McKnight family.
Robert Young commanded the Alexandria cavalry at George Washington’s funeral in December 1799, reviewed by Washington himself at the 1798 Fourth of July parade, and served as U.S. Consul to Havana appointed by President Thomas Jefferson in 1802. By the War of 1812 he was Brigadier General commanding the Second Brigade of the District of Columbia Militia.
Just before the Battle of Bladensburg and the British march on Washington, the Alexandria cavalry — part of Young’s Alexandria militia — were detailed to accompany Secretary of State James Monroe as he scouted British movements near the Patuxent River. They fired the first shots at the British on their way to Bladensburg and Washington, carrying messages for Monroe during the battle itself. Young’s militia was present at the Battle of the White House alongside General Hungerford and Captain Porter. His residence at 1315 Duke Street, built 1812–13, was later purchased by John Armfield in 1832 and became the infamous Franklin & Armfield slave trading pen — today Freedom House Museum, owned and operated by the City of Alexandria as part of its African American History Division.
Note: Robert Young is listed on the Presbyterian Cemetery bronze SAR plaque as a Revolutionary War patriot. The SAR record itself acknowledges this is an error — born 27 December 1768, he would have been approximately 15 years old when the Revolution ended. His service belongs entirely to the War of 1812 era.
Hugh Smith came to Alexandria from Knutsford, England and became one of the city’s most prosperous merchants, selling imported glass and china from his store at the corner of King and Water Streets. He served as First Sergeant in the First Regiment, DC Militia during the War of 1812 and was a member of Alexandria City Council during the conflict. After the war he continued to build his business interests: director of the Alexandria Canal and the Potomac Bank, President of the Fire Insurance Company of Alexandria, operator of the Wilkes Street Pottery from 1825 to 1841.
Hugh Smith owned 81 acres atop Stump Hill along the road to Leesburg. His son Hugh Charles Smith (1804–1854) held a 66-acre parcel from this land; when Hugh C. Smith died in 1854, one third of the parcel — approximately 22 acres — became Ivy Hill Cemetery. Hugh C. Smith — also a prominent Alexandria civic leader, U.S. Consul to Great Britain, and active in the management of the Wilkes Street Pottery — is buried at Ivy Hill. Hugh Smith Sr. and Hugh C. Smith together manumitted more than 28 enslaved people. Hugh Smith Sr. rests in the Presbyterian Cemetery in the Wilkes Street Complex; his son in the cemetery his own land helped create.
The Man Who Sent Francis Scott Key to Fort McHenry
General John Mason (1766–1849)
Christ Church Cemetery — Wilkes Street Complex
Son of George Mason IV, author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, General John Mason served as Commissioner General of Prisoners during the War of 1812. He is the man who officially dispatched Francis Scott Key on the mission that produced the Star-Spangled Banner — sending Key under a flag of truce to negotiate the release of Dr. William Beanes from the British flagship HMS Tonnant. During the negotiations, Key witnessed British preparations for the bombardment of Fort McHenry, was held aboard the truce ship during the 25-hour attack, and — seeing the flag still flying on the morning of September 14, 1814 — wrote the poem that became the National Anthem.
Mason’s connection to this page runs deeper still. It was Mason who personally delivered Secretary of State Monroe’s orders to Anthony Charles Cazenove — documented in the callout below — regarding the intercepted Codrington letter during the British occupation of Alexandria. Mason is the direct link between the highest levels of the Madison administration and the events that unfolded in Alexandria’s streets in August 1814.
Mason rests in Christ Church Cemetery within the Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex. Approximately a quarter mile away, along Hamilton Lane in the Presbyterian Cemetery, lie Robert Allison Jr. — who died at the Battle of the White House that so enraged Admiral Cochrane he accelerated his attack on Baltimore — General Robert Young, who commanded American forces at that battle, and Anthony Charles Cazenove, to whom Mason delivered Monroe’s orders. Every link in the chain that produced the Star-Spangled Banner is buried within this complex, within walking distance of one another.
Read the Full Story: General John Mason — The Man Behind the Star-Spangled Banner →A Civilian Hero of the War of 1812
Anthony Charles Cazenove (1775–1852)
Presbyterian Cemetery — Section 43, Plot 107
A Geneva-born merchant who became one of Alexandria’s most respected citizens, Cazenove played a pivotal civilian role during the British occupation of August 1814. Secretary of State James Monroe personally ordered him to deliver an intercepted British withdrawal order — the Codrington letter — secretly to Alexandria’s Committee of Vigilance, protecting both the city and the secrecy of the American interception. The method he proposed was explicitly approved by General John Mason, acting on Monroe’s direct orders.
In January 1815, Federalist political enemies accused him of treason — claiming he had suppressed the letter to allow Alexandria’s plunder to continue. He was completely innocent. In January 2026, historian Catherine Weinraub discovered the Cazenove family papers at Alexandria Library Special Collections, producing documentary evidence that vindicates him after 210 years. His gravestone in the Presbyterian Cemetery records that he died “universally respected and beloved.”
Read the Full Story: Cazenove Treason Accusation Exposed After 210 Years →The Merchant Diplomat Who Negotiated with the British
Jonathan Swift (1764–1824)
Died at Colross — Burial Site Unknown
A native of Milton, Massachusetts, who came to Alexandria around 1780, Jonathan Swift was one of the city’s most prominent merchants for forty years — proprietor of stores at 202 and 204 King Street, builder of Merchant’s Wharf, and so well known in the diplomatic corps that he served as consul or commercial agent for seven European countries plus Morocco, with appointments including the Netherlands (1815); the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves (1819); and Denmark, the Netherlands, and Russia (1823). Swift Alley, running between Fairfax and Lee Streets in the block just south of King Street, still bears his name.
During the War of 1812, Swift put those diplomatic skills to work for his city, negotiating with the British. A member of Masonic Lodge No. 22, a city councilman, President of the Board of Trustees of the Poorhouse, manager of the November 1799 George Washington Birthnight Ball, and a member of the Sun Fire Company from 1785, he remained active in the Meeting House congregation, serving on the Church Committee from June 1818.
Swift died in 1824 at Colross, the mansion that stood in the block bounded by Oronoco, North Fayette, Pendleton, and North Henry Streets, and was buried with Masonic honors. But his grave has no known address today. Colross was severely damaged by the tornado that tore across northern Alexandria in 1927; in 1929 the house was dismantled and re-erected in Princeton, New Jersey. Whether Swift was buried at Colross itself — and what became of his remains — is not known. He appears here, rather than in the registry below, because his burial site cannot be documented.
Read the City of Alexandria’s archaeological site report on Colross →Search by name or filter by burial location. This registry is updated as new research emerges.
Showing all 58 documented individuals
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| Name | Burial Site | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Adam Lynn Jr. | St. Paul’s Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex | Son of a Revolutionary War colonel; served as Lieutenant Colonel in the Alexandria Militia during the War of 1812. Operated a silversmith and clockmaking business in Alexandria. Member of the Society of the Cincinnati. |
| Andrew Thomas Kennedy | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex — Section 41, Plot 38 | Born in Dublin, Ireland, July 1788; died 7 April 1829. Only son of James Kennedy, a native of Ireland and longtime Alexandria resident who died in Philadelphia on 15 October 1820 and was interred there in the Second Presbyterian burial ground — the tablet Andrew erected at the Presbyterian Cemetery memorializes them both and records that his own remains “are here deposited.” Private, First Regiment, DC Militia, War of 1812. Appointed to collect pew rents for the Meeting House in the 1820s. Never married; no children. Buried at Presbyterian Cemetery, Section 41, Plot 38. Note: some sources record Andrew as buried in Philadelphia — a conflation with his father. The tablet is explicit that Andrew rests in Alexandria. |
| Anthony Ramsay | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex | Born 1792; died 18 September 1814, aged 21, of fever — having served as Private, First Regiment, DC Militia, War of 1812. Son of Dennis Ramsay. Named for the earlier Anthony Ramsay, one of the original trustees of Alexandria. Buried by Rev. Muir. Death notice in the Alexandria Gazette, 22 September 1814. |
| Capt. Ebenezer Bacon | Washington Street United Methodist Church Cemetery Southeast Quadrant | Born 20 May 1797, Freeport, Cumberland County, Maine; died 30 November 1867 in Alexandria. Sea captain; served in the War of 1812. |
| Captain Charles McKnight | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex | Son of William McKnight (also on the Revolutionary War registry); brother of sea captain John McKnight (also on this registry). Commander of the Alexandria Independent Blues at the Battle of the White House, 5 September 1814 — two men under his command, Robert Allison Jr. and Samuel Bowen, were killed. Owner and manager of the Eagle Tavern (formerly McKnight’s Tavern) at the northwest corner of King and Royal Streets, destroyed by fire in 1857. Justice of the peace 1837–1853. Portrait by Jacob Frymire. Never married. Listed on the burial ground Revolutionary War Patriot plaque — an error; his service belongs to the War of 1812. His father William McKnight is the Revolutionary War patriot. |
| Captain John Harper | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex — Section 42, Plot 43 | Born 1783; died 19 March 1838, “in the 56th year of his age” (Alexandria Gazette, 20 March 1838). Ensign, Ninth Regiment (Boyd), Virginia Militia, War of 1812; known as Captain John Harper by the time of his death. Member of the Alexandria Young Men’s Bible Society at its creation in 1822. Buried at Presbyterian Cemetery, Section 42, Plot 43; the gravestone inscription is now largely illegible. Not to be confused with the earlier Alexandria merchant Captain John Harper (d. 1804), for whom Captain’s Row on Prince Street is named; any relationship between the two remains under research. |
| Captain John McCobb | Trinity United Methodist Church Cemetery Section Q, Plot 4 | Born 1778; died 1818. Sea captain, recorded in the 1810 census as owner of three enslaved people. Private, First Massachusetts Militia (Cutter), War of 1812. Buried at Trinity United Methodist Church Cemetery, Section Q, Plot 4. |
| Captain John McKnight | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex — Section 41, Plot 20 | Born 2 July 1769 near Carlisle, Pennsylvania; died 7 February 1834. Son of William and Martha Bryan McKnight and brother of Captain Charles McKnight (also on this registry) — “Captain” was his maritime title. Corporal, Tenth Maryland Militia (Enall), War of 1812. A ship’s master by age nineteen, captain of numerous vessels, and captured several times by the French; master of the sloop Polly and part-owner of the schooner Adventure; later harbor master of the port of Alexandria. Married Catharine Piercy on 29 October 1799. Recorded in the 1810 census as owner of two enslaved people. Member of Masonic Lodge No. 22. The McKnight family Bible, printed by Mathew Carey of Philadelphia in 1802, is now held by the Old Presbyterian Meeting House. Buried at Presbyterian Cemetery, Section 41, Plot 20. |
| Captain Robert Conway | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex | Born 1790 in Northumberland County, Virginia; died 1837. Sea captain; partner in the merchant firm of Yeaton & Conway; operated a fishing operation north of town. His War of 1812 service is recorded variously: as an ensign who served at the Battle of the White House, and as a private — elsewhere a cornet — in the Second Regiment of Cavalry, DC Militia. Attended the Masonic banquet honoring Lafayette on 21 February 1825; member of Masonic Lodge No. 22. Buried at Presbyterian Cemetery. Note: period records conflate two Robert Conways — this sea captain and his father, an Alexandria mayor and justice of the peace. The signing of the 1792 petition to establish the Bank of Alexandria and charter membership in the Alexandria Library Company (1794) — both before this Robert Conway was five years old — belong to his father. Which man organized the Alexandria & Leesburg Turnpike Company in 1813, and which militia records attach to which Conway, remains under research. |
| Charles Mankin | Methodist Protestant Church Cemetery | Born 1773; died 10 November 1840. Barrel maker. Sergeant, First Regiment, DC Militia, War of 1812. Buried at Methodist Protestant Church Cemetery. |
| David Dick | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex — Section 42, Plot 70 | Born 1766 in Ireland; died 20 March 1833 in Alexandria, aged 66, a 34-year resident. Shoemaker with a shop on Royal Street between King and Prince Streets. Private, First Regiment (Hawkins), DC Militia, War of 1812. Married three times. Tombstone: “A Native of Ireland and 34 years a resident of Alexandria who died 20th March 1833 in the 67th year of his age.” |
| Dr. Augustine J. Smith | St. Paul’s Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex | Born 28 April 1774 at Shooter’s Hill, Middlesex County, Virginia; died 12 February 1830 at West Grove Plantation, south of Alexandria. Sergeant, 45th Regiment, Maryland Militia, War of 1812; also held rank of Colonel in Virginia militia. Physician (educated at Carlisle College, PA) and planter; represented Fairfax County in Virginia House of Delegates 1796–1797, 1821–1822. Purchased 1,200-acre West Grove plantation on the Potomac in 1814. Charter member of the Alexandria Library Company (1794). Member of Masonic Lodge No. 22. Buried at St. Paul’s Cemetery. |
| Dr. James Carson | Christ Church Cemetery (Wilkes St.) Wilkes Street Complex | War of 1812 veteran who led the formal procession honoring the Marquis de Lafayette at Washington’s tomb during the 1824 Alexandria visit; his sister hosted Lafayette in her home. Distinguished physician and civic leader. |
| Dr. John D. Vowell | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex | Born 1794; died Washington, PA, December 1862. Emigrated from England with brothers John C. Vowell and Thomas Vowell. Private, War of 1812. Elder of the Old Presbyterian Meeting House from March 1832. Joined practice with Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick in 1818; took over Dick’s practice when Dick retired in 1820. Published “Inaugural Dissertation on Dysentery” c.1815. Buried at Presbyterian Cemetery. |
| Dr. John Richards | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex — Section 43, Plot 116 | Born c.1767 in Ireland; died 1843. Physician who studied “physic, surgery and midwifery” at the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh; took up residence in Alexandria near the turn of the century. Private, Fifty-seventh Regiment (Loudoun County), Virginia Militia, War of 1812. Attended the “female stranger” buried at Christ Church in 1817. Received as a communicant member of the Meeting House on examination, January 1833; served on the Church Committee from June 1818, continuing into 1839. Residence at 505 Cameron Street. Recorded in the 1810 census as owner of one enslaved person. Buried at Presbyterian Cemetery, Section 43, Plot 116. |
| Dr. William Harper | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex | Son of Captain William Harper (Revolutionary War veteran also on the registry). War of 1812 veteran who fought at the Battle of the White House. Served as Ruling Elder of the Second Presbyterian Church of Alexandria. |
| Francis Peyton | St. Paul’s Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex | Born 1764; died 26 August 1836. Twice Mayor of Alexandria (1797–98, 1799–1800); midnight appointment by President Adams as justice of the peace; Lieutenant Colonel in the DC Militia under Jefferson. Correction entry: listed on the St. Paul’s SAR marker as a Revolutionary War patriot, but born 1764 — too young for the Revolution. His uncle, Francis Peyton Sr., was the actual Revolutionary War colonel in Loudoun County Militia. DAR has revised Ancestor #A089983 to require additional proof. |
| George Gustavus Fugitt | Trinity United Methodist Church Cemetery | Born c.1791; died 17 June 1868. Correction entry: listed on the Trinity Cemetery SAR marker but confirmed ineligible for the Revolutionary War — born too late. Included here so researchers encountering the marker can find the accurate record. |
| Horatio Day | St. Paul’s Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex — Section 2, Lot 54 | Born 1793; died 7 October 1836. Private, Captain Samuel Waugh’s Company of New London, Connecticut, War of 1812. Married Martha Dennington (ceremony by Rev. Muir, 18 May 1815). Grave apparently unmarked; a spike marker next to his wife Elizabeth’s headstone commemorates his War of 1812 service. |
| Hugh Smith | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex — Section 41, Plot 30 | Immigrant from Knutsford, England. First Sergeant, First Regiment, DC Militia, War of 1812; member of Alexandria City Council during the war. Among the wealthiest Alexandria merchants in the 1830s — glass, china, and earthenware. Director of the Alexandria Canal and Potomac Bank; President of the Fire Insurance Company of Alexandria; operated Wilkes Street Pottery 1825–1841. Owned 81 acres atop Stump Hill along the road to Leesburg. His son Hugh Charles Smith (1804–1854) held a 66-acre parcel from this land; when Hugh C. Smith died in 1854, one third of the parcel — approximately 22 acres — became Ivy Hill Cemetery, where Hugh C. Smith is buried. Member of the Society of the Cincinnati. Hugh Smith Sr. and Hugh C. Smith together manumitted more than 28 enslaved people. Buried at Presbyterian Cemetery, Section 41, Plot 30. |
| Isaac Robbins | Trinity United Methodist Church Cemetery | Born Plymouth, Massachusetts, 1770; died Alexandria 27 May 1846, aged 75. Moved to Alexandria in 1804. Private, Fifth Regiment (Foote), Virginia Militia, War of 1812. Merchant on King and Water Streets. Signed the 1828 Abolition of Slavery Petition. Tombstone: “Sacred to the memory of Rev. Isaac Robbins born in Plymouth, Mass. Went to his rest from Alexa. on the 27th May 1846.” |
| James Douglass | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex — Section 41, Plot 24 | Born 1785; died 1847. Emigrated from County Derry, Northern Ireland; brother of Daniel Douglass (also on the Revolutionary War registry). Private, First Regiment, DC Militia, War of 1812. Merchant; Treasurer of the Thespian Society; member of the Alexandria Abolition Society and Colonization Society. Elder of the congregation; member of the executive committee of the Alexandria Abolition Society (1830). Buried at Presbyterian Cemetery (41:24). |
| James Fleming | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex — Section 41, Plot 34 | Born 1797; died 1 August 1828, aged 31. Son of Andrew Fleming (also on the Revolutionary War registry). Served as a member of the Alexandria Blues during the War of 1812. Buried with his father; their shared stone reads: “In memory of Andrew Fleming who died July 6th, 1820 aged 61 years and of James his son who died August 1st, 1828 aged 31 years.” |
| John C. Vowell | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex | Born 1766 in London; died 1852. Emigrated to Alexandria with brothers Thomas Vowell and Dr. John D. Vowell. Private, First Regiment, DC Militia, War of 1812. Elder and member of the Meeting House session for 51 years; chaired Alexandria’s reception for the Marquis de Lafayette in October 1824; co-owned Cameron Mills; charter member of the Alexandria Library Company (1794). President of the Alexandria Common Council. Left legacies totaling $8,500 to the congregation and various causes. Buried at Presbyterian Cemetery. |
| John Thomas Newton | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex — Section 42, Plot 45 | Born in Alexandria 20 May 1793; died in service 1857. Entered the U.S. Navy in January 1809. Lieutenant aboard the USS Hornet when she defeated HMS Peacock off South America on 24 February 1813 — the Peacock surrendered within fifteen minutes and sank. Awarded a Congressional Silver Medal for the action; presented a sword by the citizens of Alexandria at Gadsby’s Tavern in 1816, inscribed in Latin “Fortune favors the brave.” Later commanded the USS Missouri on her historic first transatlantic crossing by a steam-powered vessel (1843). Rose to Commodore, commanding the Home Squadron 1852–1855. Served the Navy 48 years. Obelisk inscription: “devoted forty-eight years of his life to the service of his country.” |
| Jonah Thompson | Christ Church Cemetery (Wilkes St.) Wilkes Street Complex | Born 1758; died 1834. Ship merchant; Mayor of Alexandria; served on Committee of Vigilance during the War of 1812. Signed the 1787 petition to establish Overseers of the Poor; signed the 1792 petition for clemency for an enslaved man named Will; signed the Bank of Alexandria founding petition (1792). President of the Bank of Alexandria; charter member of the Alexandria Library Company (1794). His twin residence at 209–211 North Fairfax Street (“Twin House”) is recorded in the Historic American Buildings Survey (1941). Buried at Christ Church Episcopal Cemetery. |
| Joseph Dean | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex — Section 42, Plot 75 | Also recorded as Joseph Deane. Born 1763; died 21 April 1818. Member of the Committee of Vigilance at the time of the negotiations with the British, 1814, War of 1812. Wholesale merchant and contractor; his warehouse on Union Street burned in September 1810, and a three-story brick warehouse belonging to his estate burned in 1827. Member of Alexandria City Council; justice of the peace from 1805 into the 1810s; President of the Little River Turnpike Company and owner of the Buckland Mill (1814); founding director of the Mechanics’ Bank (1812); director of the DC branch of the Bank of the United States (1817). Member of the Relief Fire Company (1799). Trustee of the Meeting House on its incorporation papers (1809) and for the Presbyterian Cemetery property purchase (1813); member of the Church Committee until his death, reported May 1818. Recorded in the 1810 census as owner of two enslaved people. Residence at 215 Jefferson Street. Buried at Presbyterian Cemetery, Section 42, Plot 75. Note: listed in SAR records as a Revolutionary War patriot interred at the Presbyterian Cemetery. Born 1763, he was twelve when the war began and twenty when it ended — late-war service is possible but remains unverified. |
| Joseph Eaches | Ivy Hill Cemetery Section G, Lot 84, Site 4 | Born 18 July 1794 in Loudoun County, Virginia; died 19 December 1857. Settled in Alexandria in 1818. Performed military duty during the War of 1812. Dry-goods and flour merchant; Mayor of Alexandria; Collector of the Port; President of the Alexandria Canal Company; Commissioner in Chancery; Secretary of the Potomac Fire Insurance Company. Daughter Eliza married Townsend D. Fendall. |
| Joseph Harris | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex — Section 42, Plot 54 | Died 1848; birth date unrecorded. Private, Fiftieth Regiment, Virginia Militia, War of 1812. Worked as a tide waiter — the customs official who boarded incoming vessels — and is recorded in the 1810 census as owner of one enslaved person. Buried at Presbyterian Cemetery, Section 42, Plot 54. |
| Josiah Hewes Davis | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex | War of 1812 veteran who operated a 400-yard ropewalk at Jones Point and a ship chandlery at The Strand. Lewis Nicola — the man who proposed making Washington king — was his great-grandfather-in-law. |
| Leonard Adams | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex — Section 41, Plot 17 | Born 1773; died 1856. Lieutenant, First Regiment, DC Militia, War of 1812. Buried at Presbyterian Cemetery, Section 41, Plot 17. |
| Major Robert Brockett | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex — Plot 44:148 | Born 1792 in the family home on Washington Street south of Princess; died 1867. Son of Robert Brockett Sr. Served in the War of 1812 in Captain Levin Moreland’s company — recorded variously as private and as ensign — then as a lieutenant in Captain McKnight’s company, and fought at the Battle of the White House; he later commanded the Company of Independent Volunteers. Known as Captain Brockett by 1833 and as Major Brockett by 1865. Continued the family brick and construction business, including work on the construction of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church; built two brick residences on North St. Asaph Street near Princess Street and redeveloped the block that became Brockett’s Alley. Member of the Mechanics Relief Association (1826); justice of the peace from 1836 into the 1840s; member of City Council for many years; an active commissioner in the campaign for retrocession to Virginia; incorporating board member of the Alexandria Savings Institution (1847). Received as a communicant member of the Meeting House in July 1844; member of the Church Committee from 1844 and its chair from 1865; pallbearer for Rev. Elias Harrison in 1863. An enslaver — records of the 1850s show him residing on North Washington Street with his family and four enslaved people; in June 1829 he advertised for the return of a freedom seeker named Lucy. Buried at Presbyterian Cemetery, Plot 44:148. |
| Peter Mallard Gregory | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex — Section 41, Plot 25 | Born 1798 in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland; died 1817. Younger brother of William Gregory (also on this registry — the last survivor of the Battle of the White House), whom he followed from Kilmarnock to work in Alexandria, arriving in July 1815. Private, Fifty-sixth Regiment, Virginia Militia (Loudoun County), War of 1812. Died of pneumonia less than two years after his arrival; the funeral notice announced a sermon at the Presbyterian Church “as a mark of respect to that amiable stranger, Mr. Peter M. Gregory, suddenly in the bloom of youth… taken from us.” Buried at Presbyterian Cemetery, Section 41, Plot 25. |
| Philip Gotthelp Marsteller | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex — Section 41, Plots 29 & 42 | Also recorded as Philip Godhelp Marsteller. Born 1770; died 1842. Son of Colonel Philip Marsteller (Revolutionary War pallbearer at Washington’s funeral). Lieutenant commanding the Alexandria Silver Grays at Washington’s birthday celebration in 1799 — the Silver Grays being older veterans beyond normal militia age. Private, War of 1812. Auctioneer in Alexandria from at least 1815. Trustee of the Meeting House. His wife Christiana Cooper Marsteller (c.1774–1815), daughter of Elizabeth Arell, was buried by Rev. Muir on 8 January 1815. |
| Philip Richard Fendall II | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex | Born 1794; died 1868. Son of Philip Richard Fendall I (builder of the Lee-Fendall House, also on the Revolutionary War registry). Princeton graduate; lawyer; moved to Washington DC. Lieutenant, Fourth Regiment, Maryland Militia, War of 1812. In April 1833, became assistant secretary of the American Colonization Society. Married Mary Elizabeth Young, eldest daughter of General Robert Young, in 1827. Buried at Presbyterian Cemetery. |
| Presley Jacobs | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex | Born 3 December 1774, Fairfax County, Virginia; died 24 August 1852, Alexandria, aged 77. Brother of Thomas Jacobs (also on this registry). Private, inducted; discharged as Sergeant, Company 1, 1st Regiment, District of Columbia Militia, War of 1812. Served at the Battle of the White House. His daughter Margaret married William McKnight on 21 June 1832. |
| Richard Rock | Christ Church Episcopal Cemetery | Born 16 June 1784; died 12 August 1835. Third Lieutenant in Captain Griffith’s Infantry Company; served in the War of 1812, possibly at the Battle of the White House. Member of Masonic Brooke Lodge No. 47. Buried at Christ Church Episcopal Cemetery. |
| Robert Abercrombie | Trinity United Methodist Church Cemetery | War of 1812 veteran and cabinet maker who became a prominent figure in Alexandria’s furniture industry. Recognized on the historical marker for Alexandria’s War of 1812 veterans. |
| Robert Allison Jr. | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex | Killed 5 September 1814 at the Battle of the White House (Landing), aged 27, serving in the 1st Regiment, District of Columbia Militia under Captain McKnight of the Alexandria Independent Blues. His death — alongside Samuel Bowen — was part of the engagement that led directly to the British bombardment of Fort McHenry and the composition of the Star-Spangled Banner. Grandson of William Ramsay, founder and first mayor of Alexandria, through his mother Ann Ramsay. Son of Robert Allison Sr. (also on the Revolutionary War registry) — a sea captain, King Street merchant, and Justice of Fairfax County during the Revolution, listed on the Meeting House burial ground’s Revolutionary War Patriot plaque. Gravestone inscription reads: “who fell in batle on the 5th Septr. 1814 at the white house in gallantly defending his country aged 27 years” — “battle” spelled with a single “t” on the original stone. Commemorative plaque on the eastern wall of the Old Presbyterian Meeting House sanctuary. |
| Robert Anderson | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex — Section 41, Plot 25 | Born 1769; died 1833. Private, First Regiment, DC Militia, War of 1812. Baker in partnership with Andrew Jamieson; merchant. Senior Warden of Masonic Lodge No. 22; Treasurer of the St. Andrew’s Society (1810); member of the Meeting House Church Committee. Left a legacy of $1,000 to each of three daughters of Rev. Muir. An enslaved man named Abraham, co-owned with Andrew Jamieson, was freed in 1807–08. |
| Robert B. Roberts | Trinity United Methodist Church Cemetery | Born March 1776; died 15 December 1814. Private, 56th Regiment (Taylor), Virginia Militia, War of 1812. Buried at Trinity United Methodist Church Cemetery. |
| Robert Nash | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex | Born 1778 in Scotland; died 1814. Gunsmith in Alexandria. Member of the St. Andrew’s Society (1810 roster). Private, Second Regiment (Columbian Horse, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John Tayloe), DC Militia, War of 1812. Buried at Presbyterian Cemetery. |
| Robert W. Hunter | Trinity United Methodist Church Cemetery | Born 1787; died 1858. Son of John Hunter (also on the Revolutionary War registry). Private, 60th Regiment, Virginia Militia (Fairfax County), War of 1812. Elder of the Meeting House from February 1830; first president of the Relief Fire Company (1835). Proprietor of the city’s leading shipyard; launched the barque General Harrison in August 1840. Certified the free status of African Americans in the county register. With Mary Butter, signed a warrant for Mary, a free African American, to reside in Alexandria in 1822. |
| Robert Young | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex — Section 41, Plot 18 | Born 27 December 1768; died 27 October 1824. Brigadier General commanding the Second Brigade, DC Militia (1813–1817). His militia fired the first shots at the British on their way to Bladensburg and Washington; was present at the Battle of the White House. Commanded the Alexandria cavalry at Washington’s funeral (1799); U.S. Consul to Havana appointed by Jefferson (1802); charter member Alexandria Library Company (1794); Mason in Lodge No. 22. His residence at 1315 Duke Street became the Franklin & Armfield slave pen, now Freedom House Museum. Correction entry: listed on the Presbyterian Cemetery SAR plaque as a Revolutionary War patriot, but born 1768 — too young to have served. SAR P-326359, qualifying service: NO. |
| Samuel Bowen | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex — exact location unknown | Also recorded as Robert Bowen in some sources. Killed alongside Robert Allison Jr. at the Battle of the White House, 5 September 1814, serving under Captain McKnight of the Alexandria Independent Blues. Buried by Rev. Muir, recorded as “Bowen, killed in battle, 6 September 1814.” Buried at Presbyterian Cemetery, established 1809, on Hamilton Lane. His exact location within the cemetery is unknown; no marker has been identified. |
| Samuel Popham Thompson | Christ Church Cemetery (Wilkes St.) Wilkes Street Complex | Born 1792; died 1826. Son of Jonah Thompson (also on this registry). Private, First Regiment, DC Militia, War of 1812; served as Cornet of the Alexandria Dragoons. Buried at Christ Church Episcopal Cemetery. |
| Thomas Jacobs | Christ Church Episcopal Cemetery | Born 1770; died 1855. Brother of Presley Jacobs (also on this registry). Private, First Regiment, DC Militia, War of 1812. Tailor, recorded in the 1810 census as owner of three enslaved people. Built 808 Prince Street circa 1817. Repeatedly elected a trustee of the Poorhouse (1819, 1821, 1822, 1828–29); member of the Alexandria Sunday School Union Society (1825); incorporator and trustee of the Alexandria Widow’s Home and Orphan Asylum for Boys (1854). Buried at Christ Church Cemetery. |
| Thomas Sanford | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex | Born 1780 in Alexandria; died 13 January 1852, aged 72. Son of Lawrence and Catherine Porter Sanford. Private, Major King’s Detachment, DC Militia, War of 1812. Sailmaker; Elder and Member of Session at the Meeting House for 36 years; Second Master of Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22 (1812–1813); one of the commissioners for the Lafayette Masonic Banquet (21 February 1825). Member of the Alexandria Colonization Society and Relief Fire Company. Attended Alexandria Academy. |
| Thomas Smith | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex | Born 1791; died 1844. Private, First Regiment, DC Militia, War of 1812. Grocer; member of the Meeting House Church Committee from 1819; helped operate the Wilkes Street Pottery 1825–1841. Buried at Presbyterian Cemetery. |
| Thomas Towers | Christ Church Episcopal Cemetery | Born 1772, Bingham, Nottingham County, England; died 11 June 1820. Private, First Regiment, DC Militia, War of 1812. Maintained a livery stable in Alexandria. Member of Masonic Brooke Lodge No. 47. Buried at Christ Church Episcopal Cemetery. |
| Thomas Vowell | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex | Born 1769 in London; died 1845. Emigrated with brothers John C. Vowell and Dr. John D. Vowell. Member of Alexandria City Council when it passed the resolution to surrender to the British, 28 August 1814; member of the Committee of Vigilance, War of 1812. Merchant; President of the Bank of Alexandria; owned thriving shipping business that carried goods for George Washington. Built the residence at 619 South Lee Street (1800), later sold to U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Hugo L. Black in 1937. Tombstone: “For fifty six years an Elder of the Presbyterian Church.” Buried at Presbyterian Cemetery. |
| William Bartleman | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex | Born 1767 in Stornoway, Isle of Lewis (Outer Hebrides), Scotland; emigrated to Alexandria in 1784 at age 17 with his brother John. Merchant and grocer, first on Prince Street then on lower King Street; built 207 King Street in 1809–10 — that building still stands today as Sonoma Cellar wine bar. Member of Meeting House Church Committee (January 1816); transferred to Second Presbyterian Church. Member of the St. Andrew’s Society (1810 roster); Mason in Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22, Senior Deacon, involved with the funeral of George Washington in 1799. Member of the Relief Fire Company (1799); commissioner for conducting elections (Alexandria Herald, 9 February 1814). Owner of 3 enslaved people per the 1810 census; also certified the free status of African Americans in the county register. Served in the War of 1812. Regarded as the last surviving member of the Alexandria Blues — George Washington’s original company — at the time of his death in 1842. William Gregory, who is also on this registry as the last survivor of the Battle of the White House, worked in Bartleman’s store and married his daughter Margaret (born 1800); Margaret died in Barbados in 1833. Note: Bartleman is listed on the SAR marker at the Presbyterian Cemetery as a Revolutionary War patriot. This is an error — born 1767, he emigrated in 1784, the year after the Revolution ended, and could not have served. His service belongs entirely to the War of 1812. |
| William C. Gardiner | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex — Section 43, Plot 104 | Also recorded as William C. Gardner. Born 1790; died 1844. Private, 60th Virginia Military Regiment (Minor), Fairfax County, War of 1812. Merchant from Newport, Rhode Island; married Eliza F. Cazenove, daughter of Anthony C. Cazenove, on 16 May 1816, ceremony by Rev. Muir — making him the son-in-law of Anthony Charles Cazenove, whose pivotal civilian role during the British occupation is documented in the callout above. Vestryman at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Buried at Presbyterian Cemetery, Section 43, Plot 104 — three plots from his father-in-law. |
| William Dunlap | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex | Irish-born merchant from Armagh County who served in the War of 1812. Married Ann Greer Crawford in 1811, just two days before she died — both are buried in the Presbyterian Cemetery, one of the more poignant love stories in the complex. |
| William Gregory | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex — Plot 44:141 | Born 3 March 1789 in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland; died July 1875. Came to Alexandria at age 18 in 1807. Served in the Alexandria Blues under Captain McKnight at the Battle of the White House, September 1814. The last surviving member of the Alexandria Blues under McKnight; the last survivor of the Battle of the White House. Merchant; President of Alexandria branch of Farmers’ Bank of Virginia 1847–1866; Elder of the Old Presbyterian Meeting House; incorporator of the Mount Vernon Cotton Mills. Obelisk at Presbyterian Cemetery, Plot 44:141. Worked in the store of William Bartleman (also on this registry) at 207 King Street; married Bartleman’s daughter Margaret (born 1800), who died in Barbados in 1833. Second wife Mary Donaldson Long Gregory, daughter of a Nantucket captain. His younger brother Peter Mallard Gregory (also on this registry) followed him from Kilmarnock in 1815 and died of pneumonia in 1817, aged nineteen. |
| William H. Washington | Christ Church Cemetery (Wilkes St.) Wilkes Street Complex | Born 1799; died 1853. Surgeon’s Mate, Second Brigade (Young), DC Militia, War of 1812. Apprenticed to Dr. James Craik. Physician in Alexandria after the war. Buried at Christ Church Episcopal Cemetery. |
| William Ramsay Jr. | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex — Section 42, Plot 72 | Born 1787; died 18 October 1822, aged 35. Son of Colonel Dennis Ramsay (first person to address Washington as “Mr. President,” also on the Revolutionary War registry). Lieutenant, First Regiment, DC Militia, War of 1812; member of the Alexandria Independent Blues. Mason in Lodge No. 22. Buried at Presbyterian Cemetery, Section 42, Plot 72 — the same plot as his father. |
| William Stewart | Presbyterian Cemetery Wilkes Street Complex — Section 42, Plot 64 | Born 1767; died 12 July 1824. Third Sergeant in Captain Griffith’s infantry company, War of 1812. Member of the St. Andrew’s Society (1810 roster). Buried at Presbyterian Cemetery, Section 42, Plot 64. |