Plainfield Grave Guardians Association, Inc.

08/23/2025

We are in the process of scheduling the September ‘Lifting History’ volunteer event to get more stones reset and cleaned at Old Plainfield Burying Ground in partnership with Rediscovering History.

This will be on a Saturday or Sunday and we’re trying to avoid conflicts with other local events for back to school, concerts, agricultural fairs, etc.

What big weekend events do you know about that are already happening in September?

08/18/2025

To the Community:

THANK YOU for supporting the “Lifting History” event at Old Plainfield Burying Ground on Thursday, jointly organized by the Plainfield Grave Guardians and Rediscovering History!
Let me also recognize the remarkable skill, diligence, and dedication which Michael Carroll invests into each stone project he tackles! Whether he’s assisting a family wishing to honor the memory of a loved one or stepping up to rehabilitate a burial ground ravaged by the passage of time, Mike brings a unique vision which construes gravestone conservation as an act of historical record recovery.

As a highly regarded guest speaker, Mike brings exuberance and passion into his commitments as a highly regarded guest speaker and consultant working alongside teachers to create meaningful educational programs for school classrooms, adult learning, and hands-on fieldwork experiences. Rediscovering History has coordinated with the Plainfield Grave Guardians for volunteer events several times in past years, and more regularly scheduled monthly community volunteer events are currently in development at Old Plainfield Burying Ground. Stay tuned for updates!

A more detailed press release document is attached also acknowledging the support of so many including Lisa Bargmann, State Representative Anne Dauphinais, Cathie Beausoleil, and Stephen St. Germain from Windham Realty..

Old Plainfield Burying Ground also offers a window into America’s bold struggle to resist and ultimately end British control; all visitors must travel on Cemetery Road, following the same path guiding French troops through Plainfield as they even encamped for several days across from the site in June 1781. Today (August 18th) is the same day that Rochambeau's French troops began the long march from New York to Virginia alongside Washington’s Continental Army forces in 1781. That pivotal troop movement brought an unanticipated end to the Revolutionary War which had begun just as abruptly. Lord Cornwallis surrendered in Yorktown, Virginia after being vastly outnumbered by the combined military maneuvers on land and sea of the Continental Army and seasoned French military forces.

This coalition also included a diverse patchwork of mercenary fighters forming the iconic “Lauzun’s Legion.” While commanded by a French aristocrat, the Comte de Lauzun, approximately one-third of the legionnaires themselves were French with nationalities of enlistees representing 15 different European countries. According to the National Park Service, the Duc de Lauzun “personally financed and organized” this formidable unit comprised of infantry, cavalry, and artillery subdivisions. When Rochambeau’s main forces left Providence and marched along the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route, encamping for several days in Plainfield right across the street from Old Plainfield Burying Ground in June 1781, cavalry forces from Lauzun’s Legion instead had settled in Lebanon, Connecticut where the pastoral landscape was more conducive for the horses’ well-being.

As Rochambeau’s march advanced towards New York, Lauzun’s Legion followed a parallel route 20 miles further south, a strategic decision intended to defend any potential surprise British troop advances from the Connecticut coast. After deciding to leave New York behind and move troops to Virginia, Washington nevertheless actively misled British forces into believing that he was indeed still planning to launch an attack there. Otherwise, British reinforcements could have reached Virginia by sea before de Grasse or the Washington-Rochambeau land forces could deploy.

To promote this successful ruse, troops constructed fake bread ovens in Chatham, New Jersey to promote the idea that troops would stick around and weren’t just passing through. He went even further, creating fake attack plans which a farmer posing as a Loyalist furnished to British troops. This false flag kept British forces at bay. When British reinforcements did sail to Virginia it was already too late; de Grasse’s fleet of 37 French naval vessels had already formed a robust blockade.

BEYOND THE BATTLEFIELD:
https://allthingsliberty.com/2017/09/french-bread-connection/
https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/4c28451b90165b446ac948e3dd47c972/The-Founding-Fathers-of-American-Intelligence-.pdf
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/11/george-washington-was-master-deception/576565/

LAUZUN’S LEGION
https://allthingsliberty.com/2016/10/look-lauzun-lexpedition-particuliere/
https://www.nps.gov/york/learn/historyculture/lauzonbio.htm
https://www.americanrevolution.org/history-of-the-volontaires-etrangers-de-lauzun/

ROCHAMBEAU
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/20086640.pdf
https://www.nps.gov/waro/learn/historyculture/washington-rochambeau-revolutionary-route.htm
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=242004

YORKTOWN
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/revolutionary-war/battles/yorktown
https://www.nps.gov/york/index.htm
https://w3r-us.org
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-06712
https://www.loc.gov/item/mgw429141/

08/09/2025

Hope to see you on Thursday! Please reach out with any questions.

08/07/2025

THANK YOU, HART'S LANDSCAPING!!! Last weekend, we reached out asking the community for mowing help so that we can be ready for the big "Lifting History" event we are hosting next week on Thursday (8/14) from 12pm-5pm at Old Plainfield Burying Ground / Cemetery. Many individuals offered to help, and we had several offers to donate lawnmowers for volunteers. Soon after sunrise on Monday morning, Will and Joe from Hart's Landscaping showed up, eager to help our community and volunteer their services, mowing and w**d whacking throughout the morning! They have a lot of experience maintaining private residences as well as other historic cemeteries in Canterbury. They brought a heightened sense of care and respect to the dozens of veterans graves which had been so overgrown with grass and w**ds to the point where the flags honoring their memory were nearly buried by overgrowth. Thank you, Will and Joe from Hart's Landscaping, for joining our community in the ongoing quest to right the wrongful decades of neglect at this town-owned final resting place of our ancestors. We continue that mission next week, on Thursday, as you see many, many stones are on the ground or dangerously leaning. An event flyer will be shared very soon and you can come for any amount of time. Please consider following the path forged by Will and Joe from Hart's Landscaping and so many others. Let's continue this momentum!

08/01/2025

REQUEST FOR MOWING HELP: We have a few special projects in the works and will be reaching out to the community for support in the coming weeks. Most importantly, a news crew will be visiting Old Plainfield Burying Ground in two weeks for a grave marker preservation event. The grass is getting very long and it would be greatly appreciated if anyone is willing to help mow the site before Thursday, August 14th or would be willing to loan out a push mower so that I can do some mowing. The Grave Guardians do not currently own a lawnmower. The town's next mowing of the site won't happen until September and can't be done earlier due to staffing issues. Yes, we have gotten permission from the First Selectman to ask for support from the community so that we can get this mowed. If you're willing help, please reach out. Thank you!

06/07/2025

Reactionary War veteran Squire Cady’s (Captain Douglass Company) stone repair is completed!

Also beside him here are his wife, Thankful, and 3 year old son, William. They passed away in 1841, 1799, and 1814 respectively.

This past Tuesday (June 3rd) was the 184th anniversary of Sergeant Squire’s death. Undaunted, volunteers continued to clean the Squir me family stones on that day.

To learn more about Sergeant Cady, check out his biography below prepared by dedicated researchers recommended by the Deborah Avery Putnam chapter for Daughters of the American Revolution.

Cady’s public service didn’t end with the American Revolution; he later served as Plainfield’s Town Clerk.

Many thanks to military veteran Sherry Wozniak for giving this Cady family restore and reset project the urgency which was long overdue.
__________________________
Sergeant Cady’s Life Overview

Squire Cady was a lifelong resident of Plainfield, born here 28 Oct 1754 and died here 86 years later, 3 June 1841.

He married Thankful Cutler in 1790; they had 4 children – Lucy (1790), John (1792), George (1795) and Susanna (1798). Thankful died 23 Jan 1799, and Squire remarried to Abiah Spaulding later that year. Squire and Abiah had 2 children – Maria (1808) and William (1811-1814).

Squire Cady enlisted in the militia in 1775, joining Lt. John Douglass in the regiment commanded by Norwich’s Jedediah Huntington in Roxbury, MA. Later that year he enlisted for one year in Capt. Christopher Ely’s company which was commanded by Col. Samuel Parsons, and participated in the battles at Long Island and the Orchard Fight. He was promoted to Sergeant. Later he served for 2 months as a light horseman for Lt. John Stewart.

Squire Cady and family appear on the U.S. census records in Plainfield from 1800 through 1840. He was Town Clerk for several years. His estate was probated in Plainfield District Court in 1841, with the bulk of his estate going to his son George.
DAR # A018107

This bio was provided by Pauline.

06/07/2025

A week of service in honor of Revolutionary War veteran Squire Cady and his family…

06/07/2025

Here are some resets and repairs completed by the Plainfield Grave Guardians this week…

We’ve now set a goal to repair, reset and show long overdue respect to all 400 grave markers here before America’s 250th anniversary on July 4, 2026.

Please reach out if you’re interested in helping us achieve this milestone to celebrate our Nation’s storied journey into the present day!

Personalities buried here with legibly etched grave markers begin with 1724.

For some temporal perspective, consider how that’s the same year German philosopher Immanuel Kant was born, Baroque classical music composer J.S. Bach was rapidly producing new musical arrangements in Europe, and Russia’s czar Peter the Great crowned Catherine the Great as Empress of Russia.

The latest interment at this ancient burying ground site was in 1925.

That’s when Dwight Carlton Tracy was lain to rest. Calvin Coolidge (fondly referred to as ‘Silent Cal’) was President of the United States for much of that decade defined by consumer decadence, flappers, jazz, and speakeasies.

These roaring years brought no calm before the fiscal storm which abruptly made landfall on that Black Thursday of October 24, 1929.

As the Great Depression then settled in, Old Plainfield Burying Ground deteriorated into a shocking state of ever-increasing neglect.

06/05/2025

Stone reassembly with epoxy designed for stone marker preservation ..

06/05/2025

If anyone wants to help reset and repair any grave markers today, we will be at Old Plainfield Burying Ground Hill starting at 2:30pm. Please comment or message with any questions. Thank you!

Here’s the location information:

As you travel down Cemetery Road, turn into the building complex located at 125 Cemetery Road named “Pond View Apartments.”