Documenting the American South

Monument Name

Jesse Franklin Grave, Guilford Courthouse

Type

Grave

Subjects

Revolutionary War, 1775-1783

City

Greensboro

County

Guilford

Description

A low lectern shaped granite block with bronze plaque marks the grave of Jesse Franklin. It stands outside a low 7’ by 7’ wrought iron fence that surrounds the grave stones of Franklin and fellow patriot Joseph Winston. An identical marker for Winston is next to the Franklin marker. The remains and headstones of Winston and Franklin had been relocated to the battlefield in 1906. It is uncertain when the maker was placed.

Images: Graves of Joseph Winston and Jesse Franklin

Inscription

JESSE FRANKLIN / MAJ CONTINENTAL LINE / REVOLUTIONARY WAR / 1760 1823 / GOVERNOR OF NORTH CAROLINA / 1820 1821

Custodian

Guilford Battleground Company

Dedication Date

Reburial dedication: July 4, 1907

Decade

1900s

Geographic Coordinates

36.132740 , -79.842270 View in Geobrowse

Series

Guilford Courthouse Battleground

Supporting Sources

“On Historic Ground,” New Berne Weekly Journal (New Bern, NC), July 9, 1907

"Winston Monument," The Historical Marker Database, HMdb.org, (accessed April 12, 2019) Link

Grimes, J. Bryan. "Why North Carolina Should Erect and Preserve Memorials and Mark Historic Places: Address Before the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association, Raleigh, N.C., November 4, 1909," ([Raleigh, NC: The News and Observer, 1909]), (accessed May 18, 2012) Link

National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior. North Carolina National Register of Historic Places. "Inventory Form - Guilford Courthouse National Military Park," (accessed November 6, 2019) Link

“Ashes of Governor Franklin.” The Union Republican (Winston-Salem, NC), September 27, 1906

“Governor Franklin Reinterred.” News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), September 23, 1906

Public Site

Yes

Materials & Techniques

Granite, bronze

Monument Dedication and Unveiling

Judge Spencer H. Adams gave an address on the life of Jesse Franklin and Judge W. P. Bynum presented a sketch on the life of Joseph Winston.

Subject Notes

Jesse Franklin was born in 1760 in Orange County, North Carolina. He served as a major during the Revolutionary War, most notably escaping after capture by Tories and later fighting in the Battle of Guilford Court House. Franklin later served in the U.S. Senate between 1799-1805 and again from 1807-1813. He was also Governor of North Carolina from 1820-1821. He died in 1823 in Surry County, North Carolina.

Location

The grave is located in Guilford Courthouse National Military Park.

Landscape

Jesse Franklin's grave is in a plot with Joseph Winston.

Death Space

Yes

Relocated

Yes

Former Locations

Jesse Franklin was originally buried at his family home place in Surry County in 1824. His remains were reinterred on September 21, 1906 as part of an effort to bring the remains of as many Revolutionary heroes as possible to the battleground.