Mission: History: Underhill Burial Ground

While enjoying a rainy, chilly day in October my friend and I decided to make a visit to the Underhill Burial Ground in Locust Valley, A wonderfully historical-macabre location. I provided a brief History of the location below (thanks to Wikipedia) and some eerie pictures!

The Underhill Burying Ground is located upon a portion of approximately 150 acres that was granted by the Swaoney Indians (The same group of Indians that sold the Hart Island Land to Thomas Pell) to Captain John Underhill in 1667. Captain John Underhill was buried here on his own land in 1672. An organization was formed in 1843 to manage and protect the family burying ground. 124 known interments are located there.

John Underhill (7 October 1597 – 21 July 1672) was an early English settler and soldier in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Province of New Hampshire, the New Haven Colony, New Netherland, and later the Province of New York. He is most noted for publishing an account of the Pequot War of 1636-1637 and for participating in destructive attacks against Native Americans during the Pequot War and during Kieft's War. Underhill eventually retired to a large in Oyster Bay, Long Island. There he would carry a few more titles before his death, including Delegate of Oyster Bay to the Hempstead Convention in 1665.

In September 1637 Underhill headed the militia as it marched out to the Pequot War. They first went to the fort at Saybrook. Joining with Mohegan allies and Connecticut militia under Captain John Mason, they attacked the Pequot fortified village near modern Mystic. They set fire to the village, killing any who attempted to flee. About 400 Pequots died in what came to be called the Mystic Massacre. Underhill led other expeditions that joined in hunting down the surviving Pequots.

Signature of Captain John Underhill taken from legal document

An imposing obelisk and monument was erected on the burial site of Captain John Underhill on May 18, 1907. The Underhill Society of America paid $6,000 for the monument, and reburied the "fighting captain" in its foundation. Made of white polished granite, it is topped by a bronze eagle with extended wings and perched on a bronze ball. On each side of the six-foot square base are four bronze tablets depicting the life of Underhill.

Colonel John T. Underhill, then president of the Underhill Society of America invited Roosevelt to attend a formal ceremony to dedicate the monument. A letter from Roosevelt on April 3, 1908, accepted the invitation and agreed to "say a few words." At the dedication ceremony on July 11, 1908, Roosevelt gave an address on "A Good Soldier and a Good Citizen".