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Guilford Hero has Grave Restored

Tucked away in the small neighborhood of Leete’s Island is the grave of Simeon Leete. Leete was one of two men slain by the British on Little Harbor Beach on Andrews’ Point in a skirmish that brought the Revolutionary War to Guilford. His tall, skinny headstone had stood in Leete’s Island for nearly 250 years in honor of the patriotism and bravery of his June 1781 death.

Sadly, Leete’s stone was knocked over and broken last month. And while the cause of the damage remains a mystery, local historians and Leete ancestors recently joined forces to repair and reset the monument.

In 1981, Town Historian Joel Helander published a book about the families that inhabited Leete’s Island, titled Leete’s Island Legacy. Available at the town library, Helander mentions that throughout the Revolutionary War, Guilford was in a vulnerable position. With its accessible shoreline, small population, and strong agricultural presence, British ships frequently landed in Guilford, stealing livestock to add to their food supply, according to Helander.

The residents of Leete’s Island, including the Leete family, often retaliated against the British raids in order to protect their property and further the revolutionary cause. Helander writes, “The Leete’s of Leete’s Island called themselves “sincere and zealous friends of the cause of their country.” They realized how the location of their farms put them at grave risk, yet they realized the advantage for discovering the movements of the enemy and giving notice to the village. Rather than move, they were determined to stay” (Leete’s Island Legacy, 34). Throughout the Revolutionary War, the Leete family was frequently involved in, and sometimes the victims of, battles along the Guilford shoreline.

According to Helander’s research, on June 18, 1781, the day of Simeon’s wounding, 12 British ships were spotted in Guilford’s Little Harbor. Sixty or so British Redcoats made it to shore and began marching across the pastures with the intention of raiding Guilford.

The research has verified that the British contingent were promptly met by eight members of a small local militia, the Guilford Guard. An initial battle took place while the patriots waited for reinforcements to show up from Guilford's town center. In the meantime, all the women and children in the village were safely evacuated.

According to Helander, outnumbered ten-to-one, the Guilford Guard were forced to retreat. The British lit multiple houses and barns on fire, but eventually, reinforcements arrived and pushed the British back towards Long Island Sound. Between the boulders of Little Harbor Beach on Andrew’s Point, full-on war ensued.

The story that Helander relates in his writings on this battle, is that Simeon, hiding behind a boulder, tried to reload his musket. Unfortunately, he did not duck low enough, and a gunshot mortally wounded him and Leete succumbed to his injury the following day.

As he lay dying on Deacon Pelatiah's doorstep, Simeon clutched his beaver hat against his bloody forehead. Simeon’s nephew, Joel, cried, “Leete’s Island will never forget…never in the days of my life…never in a hundred or two hundred years” (Leete’s Island Legacy, 42). The militia of farmers and fishermen, men and women, stalled the British attack and forcing them back to their boats.

(This action and countless others make up a little-known campaign of the American Revolution, called “The Whaleboat Wars.” Small communities like Guilford up and down the Connecticut shoreline were attacked and raided all during the Revolution by British forces rowing boats across the Sound from occupied Long Island to confiscate critical war materiel, while the Patriot privateers returned the same by raiding and disrupting British commerce and shipping.)

For the past 241 years, Simeon Leete’s grave has stood strong, anchoring his old neighborhood. However, a few weeks ago, the grave was found split into multiple pieces and toppled over.

Guilford resident Brad Leete, owner of Leete Masonry, decided to take this matter into his own hands. Leete happens to be a descendant of Simeon, and said that it bothered him every day to think that his ancestor’s grave was in such disarray. Leete contacted Francis Miller, owner of Conserve ART LLC, a conservator who specializes in restoring stone graves and historic monuments.

In the hot August sun, the duo labored to restore the gravestone. Leete and Miller successfully rebuilt the stone, restoring the pride and honor to one of Guilford’s fallen heroes.

Leete has also spent time restoring tombstones in Alder Brook Cemetery and is active with the installation of Witness Stones: grounded plaques placed to honor and remember the era’s enslaved residents. When speaking with Leete, he stated, “those who do not remember history are bound to repeat it.” He also said that after hearing that Simeon’s grave had been broken, “a village of helpers” came together to chip in. Leete put it simply: it’s just “another reason to love this town.”