Read time: 5 min.

A lone marker stands at a corner in Henry County’s Liberty Township. Rising like a strange sentinel from the countryside, it observes the final resting place of Sgt. Christopher Long and his wife, Sarah. The nine-foot monument seems out of place, yet resolutely at home behind a stop sign, almost as if the land itself remembers them.

Sergeant Christopher Ware Long was born on May 5, 1746, in Culpeper County, Virginia. One of just five Revolutionary War veterans buried in Henry County¹, Ware served for the Virginia Militia in a unit known as the “Culpepper [sic] Minute Men².” At times, he fought alongside George Washington! After the war was won, Long moved through Henry and Patrick Counties in Virginia before settling in Gallia County, Ohio. Eventually, Christopher and Sarah made their way to Henry County, Indiana, to join their sons, Joel and Elisha³. 

A pioneer entrant into Liberty Township⁴, Christopher Long built a life as a stonemason and farmer after arriving in East-Central Indiana. Sadly, Sarah passed away in 1822, and Christopher followed seven years later. The pair were buried in the cemetery of the Devon Universalist Church⁵, which once stood about a quarter mile east of Messick Road⁶. 

Christopher and Sarah have their grandchildren to thank for the 9-foot-6-inch⁷ obelisk placed over their graves in 1877. Today, it’s the last visible trace of the cemetery they once called home: years ago, around seventy headstones were relocated to Wisehart and Batson Cemeteries⁸, and the graves themselves were lost beneath the plow⁹. Somehow, the Longs’ monument still stands as a quiet survivor of time and change.

I’m not sure why the Longs’ marker was the only one to be spared. Maybe it’s because of Christopher’s service in the Revolutionary War. Perhaps the answer lies in the inscription near the base of the monument. Carved into the stone are the words: “Posterity Preserve These Graves.” It’s taken some effort, but somehow, they have been.

In 1892, the Sons or Daughters of the American Revolution – or maybe both, combined¹⁰ – installed an iron fence around the Longs’ obelisk to protect it. Unfortunately, that safety didn’t last forever. A hundred and ten years later, a semi truck taking a wide turn smashed into the monument, toppling it and destroying most of the fence¹¹. The obelisk broke into three pieces, but county officials stepped in to restore and reassemble it, adding new fencing to guard it once again. Around seventy-five people gathered for the marker’s rededication on November 9, 2002, in a living testament to the Longs’ legacy¹².

Decades later, there’s something unsettling about finding a lone obelisk in the countryside. Without much by the way of context, the Longs’ rises from its 12×9 plot¹³ framed by open fields and a home I didn’t realize was the old Boyd schoolhouse until it was too late for photos. I’d seen the marker several years ago, but I didn’t return to take photos until I got a tip from reader Bill Stutsman. Finally getting out of the car to explore the monument up close, I was enraptured!

It’s easy to pass the Longs’ marker without a second thought, but its importance becomes clear when you stop and really look. The towering marble monolith isn’t just a marker of death,  it’s a testament to remembrance. The marker stands not because it had to but because someone decided it should. In a landscape shaped by progress and erasure, the obelisk that marks Sgt. Christopher and Sarah Long’s final resting place stands as their refusal to be forgotten.

Sources Cited
1 Unveiling Services Here (1924, June 20). The Knightstown Banner. p. 1. 
2 Long, J. T. (1907). Genealogy of the Descendants of Ware Long of Culpepper Co., VA. Book. 
3 (See footnote 2). 
4 Grave of Veteran of the Revolution (1906, July 4). The Muncie Star. p. 3. 
5 SGT Christopher Ware Long (n.d.). Find a Grave. Web. Retrieved March 15, 2025. 
6 An illustrated historical atlas of Henry County, Indiana (1875). Higgins, Belden & Company [Chicago]. Map. 
7 Grave of Veteran of the Revolution (1906, July 4). The Muncie Star. p. 3. 
8 Padgett, J. (2002, November 11). Revolutionary War vet’s grave rededicated. The Muncie Star Press. p. 9. 
9 Padgett, J. (2002, June 30). Gravesite of Revolutionary War soldier damaged by semi truck. The Muncie Star Press. p. 8. 
10 (See footnote 8). 
11 (See footnote 9). 
12 (See footnote 8). 
13 (See footnote 4).