Unity Cemetery a lesson in military history
Their names live on in local history books, but for some, their graves in the historic Unity Cemetery are unmarked. No one knows with any certainty where 12-year-old Peggy Shaw or Col. John Proctor are buried.
Shaw lived at Hanna's Town when a raiding party of Indians led by Seneca Chief Sayengaraghta attacked and burned the fort on July 13, 1782. When a young child wandered near the stockade gate during the attack, Shaw ran to save the child and was wounded in the chest. She was taken to a home in Mt. Pleasant and died there two weeks later.
Unity Cemetery was established on March 1, 1774, when Robert Hanna, Joseph Irwin, William Lockrey and Samuel Sloan received title to 60 acres of land from the Land Office, established by the grandsons of William Penn.
"The land was designated for use as a burial ground and to establish a meeting house for the Presbyterian congregation," said Mary Lou Townsend, vice president of the Latrobe Historical Society. "They started burying people there right away. Most of the earliest graves were marked with wooden crosses, which deteriorated over time or weren't marked at all."
The cemetery association, which has managed the property since 1920, does not have any records of those early burials.
"The cemetery first started keeping records in the early 1900s," said Townsend.
At least 300 graves in the cemetery's old section lack headstones. Slight indentations in the ground designate the graves of those unknowns. They are surrounded by the gravestones of others who also contributed to Western Pennsylvania's early history.
For his service during the French and Indian War, the British granted Proctor a tract of land near the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport. He constructed a log cabin and was soon visited by Presbyterian missionaries who conducted worship services on his property in 1766.
"The settlers decided they needed something better than some logs to sit on outdoors," said Floyd Eiseman, of Unity Township. "That's when they built a log church at the cemetery."
Once the Revolutionary War broke out, Proctor became regimental leader of the Independent Battalion of Westmoreland County Provincials at Hanna's Town. His Rattlesnake Flag, emblazoned with his initials, a snake with 13 rattles signifying the 13 colonies, the Union Jack in the upper right corner, and the words, 'Don't Tread on Me,' is now housed in the William Penn Memorial Museum in Harrisburg.
"Proctor began leading his battalion to Philadelphia to help fight the war, but the Indians started raiding quite often in Western Pennsylvania," said Eiseman. "He was told to come back and protect the frontier."
In addition to leading the Provincials, Proctor also was named Westmoreland County's first sheriff. His farm and fort, later known as Fort Shippen, was garrisoned for a short time during the war.
Proctor's grave is said to be located near that of his old neighbor, William Findley, a captain during the Revolutionary War and a member of Congress from 1791-1797 and 1803-1817. He was a friend of George Washington and the first man known as the Father of Congress.
"Findley was a good politician. He wanted to do things for Western Pennsylvania," said Eiseman. "He would leave his home and travel to Philadelphia on a white horse wearing a white suit. While he was away, his wife ran their farm and mill."
Findley's mill was located on a small island in the middle of the Loyalhanna Creek near what is now the Le Nature's factory in Latrobe. Findley eventually sold his mill, which burned down around 1900, said Eiseman.
Findley died in 1821. His original gravestone still stands.
A short distance away from Findley's grave is the final resting place of Benjamin Beatty, one of Gen. George Washington's 2,500 troops who crossed the Delaware River on Dec. 25, 1776, during a snowstorm. Washington and his men took Hessian and British troops by surprise in Trenton, N.J. None of Washington's men were killed during the battle, which marked the turning point of the war.
"Beatty came to Western Pennsylvania shortly after the war was over," said Townsend. "Beatty Crossroads is named for him."
The oldest known grave is that of Moses Watson, a Revolutionary War soldier who died on April 5, 1782. His grave was originally marked with an inscribed piece of flagstone. After more than 100 years of exposure to the elements, the marker was nearly unreadable.
"His headstone was replaced in 1913 with a granite memorial by the Unity Cemetery Association to commemorate the first known burial here," Townsend said.
While many of the gravestones in the old section of the cemetery remain upright, some of the sandstone and marble markers are slowly eroding, the inscriptions fading into dust.
"Not only are the inscriptions hard to read, but there were no footers put in the early gravestones, so the markers are sinking into the ground," Townsend said.
Local historians are using the dates on the gravestones to try to determine the location of the second Unity Church. The first log church stood in the middle of the cemetery and is now marked with a large monument erected in 1929 by Charles McLaughlin. The original log church was used until it burned down in 1829. A larger, brick church was constructed about 200 feet east of the monument. Its exact location, however, is unknown.
"The second church was the largest one and could hold 400 members," said Townsend. "The third chapel was built in 1874 and seated 125 people."
The congregation at the chapel was dissolved on Oct. 11, 1920 because of a dwindling membership. Parishioners continue to attend Sunday services in the chapel.
Approximately 14,000 people have been buried in the cemetery since it was established 231 years ago. Of that number, 32 Revolutionary War veterans, six veterans of the War of 1812, two Mexican War veterans, 144 Civil War veterans and 18 Spanish-American War veterans chose Unity Cemetery as their final resting place.
