GA-25-11 Nathanel Greene, Maj. Gen., Continental Army, John Maitland, Lt. Col., 71st Regt. of Scotch Foot

Marker text: Nathanael Greene, Maj. Gen., Continental Army
John Maitland, Lt. Col., 71st Regt. of Scotch Foot

This tomb, known as the Graham vault, possesses the distinction of having been the burial place of two heroes of the Revolutionary War, one American and the other British.

Lt. Col. John Maitland of Lauder, Scotland, son of the 6th Earl of Lauderdale, won wide acclaim for his feat in bringing 800 Highlanders and Hessian troops by water from Beaufort to Savannah in Sept. 1779, under the eyes of the French fleet. The timely arrival of these reinforcements enabled Gen. Prevost to defend Savannah against the besieging French and American forces.

Maitland died at Savannah on October 26, 1779, shortly after the siege was raised. The British hero was buried in the vault of the Royalist Lieutenant Governor, John Graham. Col. Maitland's remains were, apparently, removed later to another burial place.

Nathanael Greene of Rhode Island, one of Washington's most brilliant generals, who died on June 19, 1786, at Mulberry Grove near Savannah, was also interred in the Graham vault. His burial place later became the subject of conjecture and remained so until 1901 when this tomb was opened and his remains identified. Gen. Greene's ashes now repose beneath his monument in Johnson Square.

025-11 Georgia Historical Commission 1952