The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-10-13

above his grave in memory of the first
of the long line Of able and brilliant
men who have reflected lustre on their
alma mater
The second minister, Rev. George
Phillip, also a graduate of Harvard,
was sleeping quietly in the churchyard
which surrounds the sacred edifice,
when the differences of opinion be-
tween Britain and her American colo
MES eliminated in the revolution. The
British soon overran Long Island and
maintained a strong garrison here at
| Setauket, no doubt to oVerawe the In
dependents at New Haven, Fairfield
and other points ON the christian
shore" as the patriots called Connecti-
cut They seized the Presbyterian
church and turned it into barracks
for their soldiers, as they did IN many
other towns of the island, in some cases
using them for stables.
They built fort around the
church." wrote a quaint ehronicler Of
the day, "and cast up the bones of
many of the dead, They destroyed the
pulpit and the whole inside work OF
the church, and the tombstone of Par
son Phillip was among those destroyed
The minister in charge, through all the
troublous days of the revolution was
the Rev. Benjamin Tallmadge, whose
| pastorate lasted from 1854 to 1885, 1t
did not endear him to the British that
his son, Benjamin Tallmadge, Jr who
had settled in Litchfeld, Conn, was
one of the boldest, most dashing and
most successful partisan colonies in the
| Continental service.
One day in August, 1911, there was a
lively skirmish here for possession of
| the church, between the British and a
detachment of $50 Continentals, who
| had crossed from Black Rock, in Con-
necticut, in a sloop and six whaleboats
under command of Parsons and the
old church was soon riddled with mus
ket balls. In the midst of the melee
and before any decided advantage had
been gained by either, a British fleet
was seen coming down the sound, and
Parsons at once sounded a retreat, fear
| ing to be CUT off, but the old church
bore as long as 1t stood the marks Of
the encounter.
In 1897 there came here as pastor the
Rev. Zachariah Greene, a man of
marked individuality, of whom many
good stories are told. When the war
| broke out, Greene then lad of 16,
threw aside his books and entered the
patriotic army, doing good service, 1t
is said, in more than one pitched bat
tie; but at least wound in the shout
der and aother in the back disabled
n +bar will nd
he returned to his books. He was one
of Parsons men in the attack on the
church at Setauket in 1777 and on as
Stunning the pastorate here made note
of the fact that when formerly he had
fought the forces Of evil with carnal
weapons, he had now come to combat
them with spiritual For fifty years he
was acting pastor here, and then for
ten years longer pastor emeritus, resid-
ing with friends at Hampstead. The
older men In the church remember him
to this day. Old Father Greene, they
call him, in speaking of him. He had
five fingers on his left hand, and the
Presbytery in calling him stipulated
that he should keep that hand gloved.
He was a good preacher and faithful
pastor the cHleI IouiiueF Oh the LONG
Island Bible society.
During the last years of his pastor
ate he was assisted by the Rev. John
Gile, a young man of much promise.
On the very same day that Father
Greene started to go to his friends In
Hampstead, leaving Mr.. Gle in charge
of the church, the latter went to Stony
Brook Harbor, three miles west. to
bring home sailboat that had been
given him. He sailed out of that har-
Dor into the sound to bring her around
into setauket bay and neither man nor
boat was ever again heard of.
The present church succeeded in 1912
the one riddled in the revolution, and
is not, therefore, of hoary antiquity.
There are some very old and quaint
tombstones in the churchyard Two
very heavy tables of sandstone resting
horizontally on piers have a square
stone of different color let into the CEN
ter, on which the inscription is cut,
That on the north reads:
Richard Floyd, ESQ., late Colonel of
the County and a Judge of the Court
of Common Pleas, who deceased Feb
ruary %, 1877, in We 73d yr. of his age.
The other stone, without doubt from
its position that of his wife, once bore
an inscription, but it has been effaced.
Why was this done?