Recently, a story ran on New Jersey’s News12 about the connection between First Presbyterian Church and the Seal of Union County. If you look closely at the seal, you’ll see it depicts a woman being shot by a British soldier.

That woman is Hannah Caldwell, wife of Pastor James Caldwell, and she was indeed killed in 1780 at a house near the Connecticut Farms Presbyterian Church where she and her nine children were staying because conditions in Elizabeth (about five miles away) were considered too dangerous. Hessian mercenaries, German troops hired by the British, were sent to look for American soldiers in and around Elizabeth, which was a hotbed of Patriot Activity. Seeing movement in one of the houses, the Hessians opened fire, killing Mrs. Caldwell.

Far from discouraging revolutionary sentiment, Hannah’s death increased the determination of New Jersey to endure the onslaught of the British, Loyalists, and random terrorists who were systematically burning homes, villages, and towns all over the area.

Despite losing his wife, just a few weeks later, Rev. Caldwell rallied American forces at the Battle of Springfield.

Caldwell himself was killed by an American probably in employ of the British while visiting prisoners of war on a vessel in Elizabethport in 1781.