Captain Swanson Lunsford served in the Revolutionary War in Lee's Legion under Colonel "Lighthorse Harry" Lee.
Following the Revolutionary War Captain Swanson Lunsford was a merchant and community leader in Columbia and died in 1799 after contracting yellow fever following a trip Charleston where an epidemic was taking place. He was buried on property near his home in Columbia. This property was later acquired by the State of South Carolina to be the site of the Statehouse. The original stone is the small rectangular stone embedded in base of the present stone. It was placed by Swanson Lunsford's daughter Mary and her husband John Douglass. The original stone is inscribed:
Capt. Swanson Lunsford
a native of Virginia
And for many years a
resident of Columbia
died Aug. 7, 1799
Aged four and forty years.
He was a member of Lee's Legion
in the eventful period of '76.
This humble tribute to his memory
has been erected by his only child
Mrs. M.L. & her husband,
Dr. Jno. Douglas of Chester, S.C.
In April 1953 a stone surround of the original gravestone was installed by Captain Lunsford's great, great grand daughter, Mary Craig Lorick Baker. It is inscribed the same as the original except for age being changed to "about forty years" instead of the original's "four and forty years."