---------------------------------------------------
A Squire is a country gentleman. Squire Thomas Cheyney lived on a 1500 acre parcel of wild forest that that his grandfather purchased in the early 1700s. Squire Tom is sometimes called the Paul Revere of Chester County because of a harrowing ride he made through the densely wooded Chester County countryside to warn George Washington of Red Coats flanking movements during the Battle of the Brandywine. An excerpt describing the ride is available slightly uphill from the cache on a nice placard.
What else is Notable about this Land?
------------------------------------------------------
There is a small cemetery, just West, up the hill from the cache. Squire Tom rests there. One of the most famous who some say was buried here is in fact NOT a Cheyney. It is young Charlie King.
Over a hundred years ago, during the US civil war, the north and south used young lads as drummer boys to play the cadences. Young Charlie was born in nearby West Chester, the first of eight children. As a young boy, Charlie so wanted to join the union troops as a drummer boy; the Village Record from the time tell us that he sat up late at night drumming on his bed’s headboard. He hung out at what was considered the local recruiting station and traveled to Harrisburg for 3 months during training along with a West Chester group of soldiers.
He was sent home when the company was called to actually go to the front & join the battle; he was released because he was so young and his parents would not give permission for him to go to war. His soon to be commanding officer, a local grocer named Sweeney, persuaded Charlie’s father and mother to allow Charlie to join up by promising to keep Charlie well behind the lines of fighting. Charlie was such a good drummer boy that he was promoted to become the regimental drum major after only a short time.
Unfortunately, Charlie may be the youngest casualty of the civil the war: from either side. An artillery shell in Antietam Maryland came far back behind those front lines and took his life. He was only age 13. There is a monument in another cemetery, the Green Mount cemetery, that is dedicated to Charlie. It is rumored that his father brought him back to the Old Cheyney Cemetery where lies his actual resting place.