British Army Officer, American Revolutionary War. A 26-year-old casualty of the Battle of Princeton, "the Honble Captn Willm Leslie of the 17th British Regiment" was a scion of the Scots nobility, and a friend of famed Philadelphia physician Benjamin Rush, who "...caused this Stone to be erected as a mark of his esteem for his worth and of his respect for his noble family." Dr. Rush attended Leslie's funeral, as did four of his distinguished foes from the battlefield: American generals George Washington, Henry Knox, John Sullivan, and Thomas Mifflin. Born into a military family, the young Scots nobleman was the second son of David Leslie, Earl of Leven and Melville, and the former Wilhelmina Nisbet, and had grown up in Fife and Edinburgh, where Rush had become close to the family while a medical student. Commissioned an ensign in the 42nd Royal Highland "Black Watch" Regiment in 1771, Leslie served in Ireland prior to his appointment as a lieutenant in the 17th Foot. Securing a captaincy in the regiment by the winter of 1775-76, he arrived on American shores in the New Year 1776. Almost a year to the day later he was dead. He first saw action during the fighting on Long Island, and was part of the British force which pursued the beleaguered Continental Army across New Jersey. The Americans scored a victory at Princeton, however, where the young officer fell early during the battle, shot twice and killed instantly by the ball which passed through his heart. His body was later identified by American General Thomas Mifflin, who complied with the wishes of British prisoners of war that it be buried with honors. The interment took place here in rural Pluckemin, New Jersey, where the Continental Army had stopped to rest en route to winter quarters in Morristown. Known to his family as "Willie", Captain Leslie's survivors included his parents, the Earl and Countess of Leven and Melville, who died in 1802 and 1798 respectively, and his seven siblings, who lived on into the 19th Century.