Documenting the American South

Monument Name

Joseph Winston Grave, Guilford Courthouse

Type

Grave

Subjects

Revolutionary War, 1775-1783

City

Greensboro

County

Guilford

Description

A low lectern shaped granite block with bronze plaque marks the grave of Jesse Franklin. It stands outside a low 7’ by 7’ wrought iron fence that surrounds the grave stones of Franklin and fellow patriot Joseph Winston. An identical marker for Winston is next to the Franklin marker. The remains and headstones of Winston and Franklin had been relocated to the battlefield in 1906. It’s uncertain when the maker was placed.

Images: Graves of Joseph Winston and Jesse Franklin

Inscription

JOSEPH WINSTON / MAJ SURRY COUNTY MILITIA / REVOLUTIONARY WAR / 1746 1815

Custodian

Guilford Battleground Company

Dedication Date

Reburial dedication: July 4, 1907

Decade

1900s

Geographic Coordinates

36.132220 , -79.844480 View in Geobrowse

Series

Guilford Courthouse Battleground

Supporting Sources

“On Historic Ground,” New Berne Weekly Journal (New Bern, NC), July 9, 1907

"Major Joseph Winston," The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), December 12, 1894, 2 Link

"Winston Monument," The Historical Marker Database, HMdb.org, (accessed April 12, 2019) Link

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

“Ashes of Governor Franklin.” The Union Republican (Winston-Salem, NC), September 27, 1906

“Governor Franklin Reinterred.” News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), September 23, 1906

Public Site

Yes

Materials & Techniques

Granite, bronze

Monument Dedication and Unveiling

Judge Spencer H. Adams gave an address on the life of Jesse Franklin and Judge W. P. Bynum presented a sketch on the life of Joseph Winston.

Subject Notes

Winston was born in 1746. He was a Colonel in the North Carolina Militia during the Revolutionary War and led a company of riflemen at the Battle of Guilford Court House. Winston later represented North Carolina as both a Representative and a Senator in the United States Congress. He died in 1815 in Stokes County, North Carolina.

[Additional information from NCpedia editors at the State Library of North Carolina: This person enslaved and owned other people. Many Black and African people, their descendants, and some others were enslaved in the United States until the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in 1865. It was common for wealthy landowners, entrepreneurs, politicians, institutions, and others to enslave people and use enslaved labor during this period. To read more about the enslavement and transportation of African people to North Carolina, visit https://aahc.nc.gov/programs/africa-carolina-0. To read more about slavery and its history in North Carolina, visit https://www.ncpedia.org/slavery. - Government and Heritage Library, 2023.]

Location

The grave is located in Guilford Courthouse National Military Park in Greensboro, NC.

Landscape

Winston's remains are located in a plot shared with Jesse Franklin.

Death Space

Yes

Relocated

Yes

Former Locations

Jesse Franklin was originally buried at his family home place in Surry County in 1824. His remains were reinterred on September 21, 1906 as part of an effort to bring the remains of as many Revolutionary heroes as possible to the battleground.