David Humphreys - New Haven, CT
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 41° 18.783 W 072° 55.677
18T E 673440 N 4575580
The grave of poet, Revolutionary War officer, and ambassador David Humphreys is located in Grove Street Cemetery at 227 grove Street in New Haven, CT.
Waymark Code: WM10DME
Location: Connecticut, United States
Date Posted: 04/19/2019
Views: 2
The grave of David Humphreys is marked by a 15' high granite obelisk set on a square base. The obelisk has bronze plaques on three sides. Plaques on the front and side are the originals written in Latin and translated by a third and fourth plaque on the south side. These plaque is inscribed:
DURING THE WAR HE WAS AN AIDE TO
WASHINGTON
AND A MEMBER OF HIS HOUSEHOLD
A COLONEL IN THE PATRIOT ARMY
GENERAL OF THE VETERANS VOLUNTEERS
OF CONNECTICUT
AN AMBASSADOR AT THE COURTS OF
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
HE WAS THE FIRST TO BRING
MERINO SHEEP TO AMERICA
A NOTABLE HISTORIAN AND POET
AND PATRON OF THE ARTS AND SCIENCES
---
WITH ALL DUTIES FINISHED
AND LIFE HAPPILY COMPLETED
HE DIED ON FEBRUARY TWENTY FIRST
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LOAD 1818
AFTER LIVING SIXTY FIVE YEARS
Another bronze plaque opposite the aforementioned plaque is inscribed:
DAVID HUMPHREYS
DOCTOR OF LAWS
MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
IN PHILADELPHIA
MASSACHUSETTS
AND
CONNECTICUT
A MEMBER OF THE BATH
AND WEST OF ENGLAND SOCIETY
AND FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY
---
FILLED WITH LOVE OF
HIS NATIVE LAND AND OF LIBERTY
HE DEVOTED HIS YOUTH TO THE REPUBLIC
WITH ARMS HE PROTECTED IT
WITH HIS COUNSELS HE AIDED IT
WITH HIS WRITINGS HE ADORNED
David Humphreys was born in Derby, CT on July 10, 1752. He was educated at Yale College and became a member of a group of poets and writers, along with Joel Barlow, Timothy Dwight IV, John Trumbull and Lemuel Hopkins, known as the “Hartford Wits.” He is considered to be America's first sonneteer whose writings included Sonnet I "Addressed to my Friends at Yale College, on my Leaving them to join the Army" to sonnet XII "On Receiving The News Of The Death Of General Washington". In 1788, he wrote, Essay on the Life of the Honorable Major-General Israel Putnam. In 1802, he wrote an anti-slavery poem entitled "A Poem on the Industry of the United States of America." He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1804, a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in June 1807, and American Antiquarian Society in 1813.
During the Revolutionary War he was an aide-de-camp, the secretary-aide to General Washington. He enlisted the first colored troops into the Continental Army, the Second Company of the Fourth Regiment, formed in 1781, and was honored for is actions at the Battle of Yorktown. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. During the War of 1812 he served with the rank of Brigadier General.