Nutley Mayor Alphonse Petracco (c.) joins the NHS Patriot Club to pay tribute to Revolutionary War Pvt. Hermanus Brown. From l., are: Anthony Alonzo, Tyler Ross, Tommy Melillo, Petracco, Frank Malagna, club advisor J.D. Vick and Matt Genitempo.
July 4 was marked as America’s Independence Day with public ceremonies in Belleville and Nutley.
At the historic cemetery behind the old Dutch Reformed Church in Belleville, where the graves of more than 60 Revolutionary War veterans are buried, the Belleville Historical Society unveiled a replica monument for Pvt. Hermanus Brown.
Brown, an American militiaman who lived in what is now Nutley, was killed at the Battle of Connecticut Farms in what is now Union June 7, 1780, and his body was brought to the Dutch cemetery where he was interred.
On his tombstone was inscribed this epitaph:
“Behold me here,
As you pass by,
Who died for Liberty.
From British tyrants
Now I’m free.
My friends,
Prepare to follow me.”
Perrone said that British loyalists destroyed the original tombstone and that this discovery only came to light in recent years after two surviving relatives of Brown alerted the society that Brown’s remains were in the cemetery.
As part of this year’s July 4 ceremonies in Belleville, the Nutley High School Patriot Club and Belleville High School student Jordan Polite fired a 21-gun salute from a pair of replica Revolutionary War cannon in honor of Pvt. Brown and the 66 other Revolutionary War soldiers who are buried in the church cemetery.
Belleville and Nutley residents turned out in force and joined local officials including Nutley Mayor Alphonse Petracco and Nutley Commissioner Joseph Scarpelli, along with Belleville Deputy Mayor/Councilman Steve Rovell and Belleville Councilmen John Notari and Vincent Cozzarelli in paying tribute to America’s first troops.
In Nutley on June 7, at the Revolutionary War monument in front of Nutley High School, the Patriot Club presented the mayor with a 13-star American flag that was flown in tribute to Pvt. Brown and other soldiers who died in the Battle of Connecticut Farms on the 235th anniversary of the fight.
