Last Friend Of Aaron Burr
Close by Hamilton's tomb, a slab almost buried in the earth bears the inscription "Matthew L. Davis' Sepulchre." Strange that this "last friend that Aaron Burr possessed on earth" should rest in death so close to his friend's great enemy. He went to the Jersey shore in a row-boat with Burr on the day the duel was fought with Hamilton, and stood not far away with Dr. Hosack to await the outcome. He was imprisoned for refusing to testify before the Coroner. Afterwards he wrote a life of Burr. He was a merchant, with a store at 49 Stone Street, and was highly respected.
Tomb of Capt. James Lawrence
Within a few steps of Broadway, at the southern entrance to the church, is the tomb of Captain James Lawrence, U. S. N., who was killed on board the frigate Chesapeake during the engagement with H. B. M. frigate "Shannon." His dying words, "Don't give up the ship!" are now known to every school-boy. The handsome mausoleum close by the church door, and the surrounding eight cannon, first attract the eye. These cannon, selected from arms captured from the English in the War of 1812, are buried deep, according to the directions of the Vestry of Trinity, in order that the national insignia, and the inscription telling of the place and time of capture, might be hidden and no evidence of triumph paraded in that place—where all are equal, where peace reigns and enmity is unknown. The monument was erected August 22, 1844. Before that the remains of Captain Lawrence had been interred in the southwest corner of the churchyard, beneath a shaft of white marble. This first resting-place was selected in September, 1813, when the body was brought to the city and interred, after being carried in funeral procession from the Battery.
"D. Contant" is the inscription on the first vault at the south entrance, one of the first victims of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes to be buried in the city. There are many Huguenot memorials in the churchyard, the oddest being a tombstone with a Latin inscription telling that Withamus de Marisco, who died in 1765, was "most noble on the side of his father's mother."
Cresap, the Indian Fighter
At the rear of the church, to the north, is a small headstone: