The marker at Old Greenwich Presbyterian Church commemorates Brigadier General William Maxwell and stands near his burial place in the churchyard. This is a genuine memorial and burial landscape rather than the site of one particular Revolutionary battle. Maxwell died in 1796 and was interred here after a long military career that connected the French and Indian War, the Revolution’s Canadian campaign, Washington’s main army, and the defense of New Jersey.

Born in County Tyrone, Ireland, around 1733, Maxwell came with his family to New Jersey as a youth. He gained military experience during the French and Indian War, serving in campaigns that exposed provincial soldiers to British regular organization and frontier warfare. When the Revolution began, New Jersey’s Provincial Congress commissioned him colonel of the 2nd New Jersey Regiment.

Maxwell led troops in the invasion of Canada and the difficult retreat of 1776. Congress promoted him to brigadier general on October 23 of that year. He took command of New Jersey Continentals and frequently operated in the contested corridor between British-held New York and Washington’s positions. The state endured raids, foraging expeditions, and shifting occupation, making knowledge of local roads and communities especially important.

In 1777 Maxwell commanded a light infantry corps that screened Washington’s army during the Philadelphia campaign. His troops fought delaying actions before the Battle of Brandywine and then joined the larger engagement. Maxwell also served at Germantown and endured the Valley Forge winter. At the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778, his New Jersey brigade fought on home ground as Washington confronted the British army withdrawing toward New York.

Maxwell took part in the 1779 Sullivan expedition against Haudenosaunee communities allied with Britain, a campaign that destroyed towns, crops, and food stores and remains central to Native histories of the war. In June 1780, his troops defended New Jersey during the British offensives at Connecticut Farms and Springfield. Personal disputes, questions of rank, and frustration over recognition contributed to his resignation from the Continental Army in July 1780.

After the war Maxwell returned to civilian life and served in the New Jersey legislature. Washington described him as an honest man and warm friend to the country, though Maxwell’s career also reflected the rivalries and hardships that strained the officer corps. He never married and died while visiting a friend on November 4, 1796.

The churchyard marker gathers that wide-ranging service into one local place. Maxwell fought across several theaters, so no single battlefield defines him. His burial here returns the story to the Greenwich community where his family settled and where his remains became a focus of later commemoration.