Break from the Grind January 25, 2011

TRIVIAL PURSUITS: Who Did the First Revolutionary War Memorial Honor?

January 25, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - On this day in 1776, the Continental Congress authorized the first national Revolutionary War memorial.
Reported by

Who was it commissioned to honor?

Answer:  Brigadier General Richard Montgomery, who had been killed during an assault on Quebec on December 31, 1775.

Montgomery, along with Benedict Arnold, led a two-pronged invasion of Canada in late 1775 – and before joining Arnold at Quebec, Montgomery successfully took Montreal. But the assault on Quebec failed, and Montgomery became one of the first generals of the American Revolution to lose his life on the battlefield.

As for the memorial, in 1788, it was installed under the direction of Major Pierre Charles L’Enfant in New York City beneath the portico of St. Paul’s Chapel, which served as George Washington’s church during his time in New York as the United States’ first president in 1789, and where it remains to this day.

Montgomery’s body, which was originally interred on the site of his death in Quebec, was moved to St. Paul’s in 1818.

Source:  The History Channel

 

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