A few feet away is the white marble slab erected to the memory of another noted divine, Dr. James Kendall, of blessed memory, who for more than half a century served the First Church as its pastor. It is thus inscribed:—
Rev. James Kendall, D.D. Ordained 1 Jan. 1800. Died 17 March 1859. Aged 89 years. For sixty years Minister of the First Parish in this town.
Plymouth played her part in the Revolution, and of her soldiers and sailors who fought in that memorable struggle a number are buried in this historic ground.
Near the site of the old fort an iron fence encloses the Warren lot. Within it stands the monument of Gen. James Warren, president of the Provincial Congress and major-general of the militia. He died in 1808. His wife, Mercy Warren, sister of James Otis, the patriot, lies in the same enclosure. She was a woman of marked literary ability, and the author of several works. Their son James, who served with Paul Jones on the “Bon Homme Richard,” and who lost a limb in one of the naval engagements, is said to have been buried in this lot, but there is no stone to indicate the grave. It is quite probable that the body was laid away in the Warren tomb, at the foot of the hill.
Capt. Simeon Sampson was another Revolutionary hero of renown. His stone is to be seen on the northerly side of the hill, near the path leading from School to Russell Streets. In 1762 he was taken prisoner by the French and held for ransom, but escaped from his captors by assuming female attire. At the outbreak of the Revolution, when a marine force was deemed necessary to protect our commerce from depredation by British cruisers, he was the first naval captain in the continental service to be appointed by the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts. He died in 1789 at the age of fifty-three, and his epitaph tells us:—
O ye whose cheek the tear of pity stains
Draw near with pious reverence and attend
Here lie the loving Husbands dear remains
The tender Father and the courteous Friend