Military Monday: General Samuel Meredith

Samuel Meredith crossed my desk this past weekend in the form of a postcard. General Samuel Meredith, according to the Pleasant Mount Historical Society, was a Pennsylvania Officer of the Revolutionary War and the first Treasurer of the United States under the Federal Constitution.

Born in Philadelphia in 1741 to Reese and Martha Carpenter Meredith, he was a merchant like his father before him. He attended Doctor Allison’s Academy in Philadelphia.

In 1772 he married Margaret Cadwalader at Christ Church in Philadelphia. Together, they had seven children.

During the Revolutionary War, he served the Third Battalion of Associators in 1776. The Third Battalion was also known as the "Silk Stocking Company." He served, according to a file at the University of Delaware, in the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, and Germantown. He was promoted to brigadier- general of the Pennsylvania militia on 5 April 1777. The following year, in 1778, he resigned from the army and returned home to his family and his business.

At 45, he was selected as a delegate to the Continental Congress. He represented Pennsylvania in that capacity for two years.

The following year, on 11 September 1789, Meredith was appointed Treasurer by President George Washington. He served through three Presidencies until his health forced him to retire on 1 December 1801.

He then retired to his estate, Belmont Manor, in Pleasant Mount, where he died in 1817.

In 1901, the Samuel Meredith Monument Association was chartered with the purpose of erecting a monument and bringing the remains of Meredith and his wife to rest there. The monument's base and plinth is a six foot tall statue. Meredith is depicted as being forty to fifty years of age. He is dressed as a continental general with field glasses in one hand. The Meredith Monument was unveiled on 8 June 1904 in Pleasant Mount by his granddaughter Sarah Maria Meredith.

In 1908, General Meredith and his wife were re-interred near the monument at Meredith Park. Their original burial site had been the Belmont Manor.

Military Monday is a daily blogging prompt prompted by GeneaBloggers. It is an opportunity to post images, stories and records of service in various branches of the military.

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