Source: James Tate Monument
James Tate Grave, Guilford Courthouse
The granite monument consists of a squat, roughhewn granite shaft with a pyramid shaped top. It stands atop a square double base. The upper base has a smooth finish and the lover base is a combination of smooth and roughhewn surfaces. It measures 9 feet in height. It is inscribed on one side of the granite shaft.
CAPT. JAMES TATE / VA. RIFLEMAN / MARCH 15, 1781
Guilford Courthouse National Military Park
May 27, 1891
36.131190 , -79.848410
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"Capt. James Tate," The Historical Marker Database, HMdb.org, (accessed January 17, 2018) Link
A Memorial Volume of the Guilford Battle Ground Company, (Greensboro, NC: Guilford Battleground Company, 1893), 1-27, (accessed February 8, 2012) Link
Baker, Thomas E. and Michael H. White. The Monuments at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, North Carolina, (Greensboro, NC: Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, 1991)
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
[Monument Complete], Greensboro North State (Greensboro, NC), June 25, 1891
“The Guilford Battleground,” Greensboro North State (Greensboro, NC), April 30, 1891
Yes
Mt. Airy granite
Capt. James Tate, born in Augusta County, Virginia, commanded a company of Virginia militia that supported Lt. Col. Henry “Lighthorse Harry” Lee’s infantry. He was killed in the battle of Guilford Courthouse, and originally buried at the New Garden Friend’s Meeting house, where he fell. On April 22, 1891 his remains were reinterred at the base of the battleground monument in a copper vault along with the remains of a soapstone headstone that had marked his previous burial spot.
The memorial is located within Guilford Courthouse National Military Park. It stands at the intersection of New Garden Road and Greenhurst Drive, on the right when traveling east on New Garden Road. Arthur Forbis Memorial is about five hundred feet away.
The monument stands behind the fence surrounded by mature trees and bushes.
Yes
James Tate's remains were originally buried where he fell at the New Garden Friend’s Meeting House before being relocated in 1891.
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