At historic graveyard, stories of long-ago valor sprung to life

Each morning this time of year, Ronn Shaffer strolls among the fading tombstones at the Old Pine Street Church graveyard to check on his flags. The flags marking the graves of once-forgotten patriots he has worked so hard to honor. The flags he makes sure are there every Memorial Day.

A Vietnam-era Army veteran and president of the Old Pine Conservancy, Shaffer, 77, has dedicated his retirement to a noble project: identifying Revolutionary War veterans buried in the historic Society Hill graveyard - soldiers who for so long lay in obscurity.

He has found plenty of them.

When Shaffer began his efforts, flags marked the graves of only eight Revolutionary War soldiers known to be buried in the colonial churchyard. Now, after years of poring over church records and combing through military archives, Shaffer has identified 285 soldiers laid to rest at Old Pine who fought for American liberty.

That's by far the highest number of identified Revolutionary War soldiers buried in any of the nearly 200 cemeteries commemorated by the Philadelphia Continental Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution.

That's the group that supplies Shaffer with his new 13-star Betsy Ross-style flags each year.

"No one has done what he has done," said Joseph Stokes, the group's president.

And Shaffer isn't finished looking. He identified another soldier just a few months ago, he said.

"Ronn's passion is amazing," said the Rev. Jason Ferris, pastor of Old Pine. "He has uncovered so much history that was always here but that we didn't know was here."

Shaffer's efforts to honor long-forgotten patriots began when he and his wife, Ellen, moved to a Spruce Street rowhouse from Burlington County in 2000.

They don't take the Revolution lightly. They have furnished their Spruce Street townhouse built in 1775 - "the first year of the war!" Shaffer crows - with the trappings of the colonial era and stuffed it full of Shaffer's extensive collection of books on the war and colonial Philly.

They began attending Old Pine, where more than two centuries ago the fiery George Duffield - dubbed the "Patriot Pastor" by John Adams - had spurred his parishioners into the ranks of Washington's army.

When the Shaffers' new pastor asked how they planned to contribute to church life, the couple - major graveyard and history buffs - immediately claimed the graveyard as their project.

"We are fascinated with graveyard architecture and the history of the dead," Shaffer said.

They quickly realized that burial records for the graveyard - which had already seen four years' worth of funerals when the church opened in 1768 - were in disarray.

For starters, there was no complete index of the dead. Shaffer and his wife dug through centuries-old baptismal, marriage, and death records to create an alphabetized list of everyone buried in the graveyard.

And church records showed that 590 of its members fought in the Revolution.

Realizing that more than eight of them were likely buried in the cemetery, Shaffer began the tedious task of matching names of the dead with the names on Revolutionary War muster rolls he found at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and Library Company of Philadelphia.

Stories of long-ago valor and sacrifice sprung to life.

John Woodside, an artilleryman wounded and captured at the Battle of Paoli.

Daniel McDonald, a member of Fourth Battalion, who wore a cork leg after being wounded.

Thomas Bell, a slippery sea captain who was captured three times by the British, escaping every time.

(Shaffer has not found any soldiers who were killed in battle, since they were often buried on the battlefield.)

To Shaffer, who served two years in the Army Corps of Engineers, helping build large topographical maps used to train troops for Vietnam, rediscovering the soldiers' stories was more than just about reclaiming history. It was about honoring those who sacrificed for others at a time when he feels those kinds of sacrifices are too often overlooked.

"I feel good about what I do," he said. "I hope it's my legacy."

On Thursday, Shaffer made his way through the graves, replaced two flags that had been stolen ("It happens," he said), and then stopped in the shade of a dogwood tree to take in the beauty of the cemetery he finds so breathtaking.

"You see this graveyard when it's windy and the flags are flying - I call it a panorama of patriotism," he said. "It creates a patriotic heartbeat."

Then he went on with his rounds.

mnewall@phillynews.com

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