Thread by @McAdooGordon

On our mini trip last week, we were in Charlottesville, Va. As I usually do when we travel, I searched for the graves of Revolutionary War soldiers. We found a wonderful little family burying ground w/the graves of two brothers who had fought together & survived the war./1

I was delighted to see that their graves had been marked with wreaths & flags for Christmas. I think it is important to keep up the traditions of honoring these men, who risked all, so that freedom could take hold in this land. /2

Besides their Revolutionary War service recognition, their gravestones were especially poignant in other ways too. When I get the photos in better shape, I’ll add a tweet about that too. /3

So of these 2 brothers who fought in the Revolution, 1 was 9 years older. Taliaferro Lewis was born in 1754 & Jesse Lewis was born in 1763. Both survived the war but Taliaferro died in 1810 at age 56. His gravestone was evidently put up by the younger Jesse w/a touching script./4

It reads:

"A brother’s love erects this with a sigh
A brother’s hope still follows him on high"

One can imagine him following & looking up to his big brother all his life.

/5

Jesse died 39 years later at the age of 86. His marker covers himself and his wife of 63 years, Nancy, who died only 8 months after him.

Their beautiful inscription is here:

/6

It reads: "Underneath this slab repose the bodies of Jesse Lewis and of Nancy his wife He was born on the 13th of May 1763 and died on the 8th day of March 1849 She was born on the 21st of March 1764 and died on the 2nd of Nov 1849 They were married on . . .

/7

. . . the 13th April 1786 and lived together for 63 years in uninterrupted harmony and in the universal respect of all who knew them for their integrity and uprightness

/8