LACKAWAXEN, PA — On Saturday, July 21 at 1 p.m., a ceremony honoring the Unknown Soldier of the Revolutionary War will take place at Scenic Drive. The graveside ceremony on the bank of the Delaware River is sponsored by the Ecker Haupt Post of the VFW, the commissioners of Pike County and the supervisors of Lackawaxen Township. The general public is invited to attend the brief ceremony, traditional since 1975 in Pike County.

The Unknown Soldier lies in a grave recognized by the U.S. government as that of an unknown killed in the Minisink Battle on July 22, 1779. After a raid on what is now Port Jervis, NY, the American militia mobilized from as far away as Goshen, and followed the enemy up along the Delaware River. They finally met on a hill opposite Lackawaxen, where a three-hour battle took place with tragic consequences for the militia.

Because of the rough country and lack of roads in that era, the bodies of the dead remained on the battlefield for 40 years. Even then, not all were recovered. In 1847, the body of a soldier, identified as a militia man by the remains of his uniform, was discovered under a rock ledge. He was brought to Lackawaxen, then a major railroad and canal center, and buried there on the bank of the Delaware. The grave, a Pike County Historic Site, is under the care of the Ecker Haupt Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which participates each year in the memorial services.