Marker to memorialize marshal slain in 1794

Without studying the faded etching on the tombstone, it might be easy to miss the Augusta grave where the first federal agent ever killed in the line of duty was laid to rest.

This week it will be different.

Wednesday afternoon, U.S. Marshal Robert Forsyth will be exalted when a historic marker is dedicated at the site of his grave beside Saint Paul's Church on Reynolds Street.

Forsyth was shot to death on Jan. 11, 1794, while trying to serve civil papers.

The 40-year-old veteran of the Revolutionary War was appointed to his post just five years earlier by President George Washington.

"Washington himself appointed him ... that shows you the great deal of confidence he had in Robert Forsyth. That in itself is a tremendous achievement," said U.S. District Court Judge Dudley H. Bowen Jr.

Forsyth volunteered for war in 1776 in Virginia. He served in the Continental Light Dragoons and later in Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee's cavalry, rising to the rank of major. After the war, he moved his family to Augusta in 1785, according to a report by Davis S. Turk, the U.S. Marshal Service historian who will speak at the dedication service Wednesday.

In addition to being the chief law enforcement officer in Augusta, Forsyth joined Washington's Society of Cincinnati, and the Masonic Order. He served as tax assessor and justice of the peace, and he became a trustee of the new Richmond Academy.

On a Saturday morning in January, Forsyth took two deputies with him to serve civil papers on Beverly and William Allen, brothers who had fallen deeply in debt because of failed business ventures.

Beverly Allen ran from the officers and locked himself in a room, according to Mr. Turk's report.

The man then fired through the door and killed Forsyth.

"... In the discharge of his duties of his office, (he) fell a victim to his respect for the laws of his country and his resolution in support of them,'' Forsyth's headstone reads.

On the 200th anniversary of Forsyth's death, Judge Bowen laid a wreath on the grave, but he long ago came to believe something permanent was needed to honor the man.

"The marker is important because Robert Forsyth is a very important Georgia historical figure," Judge Bowen said.

It was U.S. Marshal James T. Roberts, who is in charge of the office for the Southern District of Georgia, who found the way for a permanent marker. He contacted the Georgia Historical Society.

"I started about a year ago," Marshal Roberts said last week in the sanctuary of Saint Paul's Church.

The Historical Society requires a thorough justification for a historic marker and it also investigates every detail, Marshal Roberts said.

Once approved, the state provided the money for the marker, and supporters put up 50 percent of the cost and will pay for the installation and upkeep.

Wednesday's event begins at 2 p.m. at Saint Paul's Church. Invitations were sent out for the dedication ceremony, but it is open to the public.

Reach Sandy Hodson at (706) 823-3226 or sandy.hodson@augustachronicle.com.