Here We Raise Our Ebenezers!

My 5X great uncle died, along with his two brothers, Robert and David, at the Battle of Hanging Rock on 6 August 1780 during the most pivotal year of the American Revolution. His name was Ebenezer Gaston. Ebenezer is a name no one uses today as the name "Ebenezer Scrooge" was forever tarnished in Charles Dicken's 1843 "A CHRISTMAS CAROL,"

Before Dicken's caricature of the name, Ebenezer was both a popular and revered name in Revolutionary America.

Just where did the name "Ebenezer" come from and what did it mean to the Patriot Nation? The once revered name came from...the Bible. In the Hebrew language, "Ebenezer" means "stone of remembrance of help." We read of the "ebenezer" in I Samuel 7:12 when the prophet Samuel made sure that Israel would in future time recall as to where their help had come that defeated the Philistines:

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the LORD has helped us.”?- I Samuel 7:12 (ESV)

In the Old Testament Ebenezer was a physical town, and a battlefield monument. Thus, Samuel's "Ebenezer" became the stone monument reminding every citizen that passed by of the "help of God" given on the day of battle. Eventually the "stone of remembrance of help" came to be used as a given name as well. It was a name that reminded both child and parent of the help of God rendered through that unique personage. "Ebenezer" was a name that caused others to remember the contributions of both the living and the dead. Ebenezer, then is monument, name, and memorial for:

No man is truly dead as long as he is remembered by the living.

In times past, but now slowly fading in our society, family and friends would "raise up ebenezers" to remind posterity of the help the deceased rendered to family, community, state, and nation. These ebenezers would literally be carved into stone for all to read, appreciate, and contemplate of the life now past resting under the stone.

As many in society are rapidly seeking to put the past into the trash heap of history, our many ebenezers are being destroyed, violated, abandoned, forgotten, and neglected. It is incumbent upon us, the living, to rediscover, restore, and bring back to life the ebenezers of our ancestors, especially the Patriots of the Revolution whose sacrifices brought us to the blessings of today.

One of the missions of the Sons of the American Revolution is to find, mark, and memorialize the graves of Patriots now long gone. This work is done primarily through the Grave Marking Committee. We "raise our ebenezers" with the "stone of remembrance" in solemn ceremony once their Patriotic bona fides are verified. Not only is a physical stone buried in front of the headstone, the digital record of the Patriot's Revolutionary service is recorded in the Patriotic Research Service (PRS) of the SAR website for a permanent record.

Consider now, the ebenezer of Capt. Peter Forney of the photograph above:

A Patriot soldier of the Revolution, who was born April 21, 1756, Died Feb. 1, 1834. In public life the deceased acquitted himself with reputation as a useful and efficient member of Congress, as an elector from the people for President of the United States. He carried out the Republican principles upon which he acted through life by voting successfully for Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, Mr. Monroe, and General Jackson and in all the relations of private life he acquired the love and esteem of all who knew him.

Russell H McCullough serves on the Grave Marking Committee of the Mecklenburg Chapter North Carolina Society Sons of the American Revolution. The committee is currently working to find, mark, and memorialize the graves of Jacob Forney, Sr., Capt. Peter Forney, Capt. Abraham Forney, and Maj. Jacob Forney, Jr. The patriarch, Jacob Forney, Sr. was too old to serve in the Revolution, though he did as an ardent Patriot supporter. His three sons all served militarily. Peter and Abraham both fought at the Battle of Kings Mountain, 7 October 1780,