A brigadier in Gen. Sir William Howe's Army, he commanded 4 regiments during the invasion of Pennsylvania in the fall of 1777. During the Battle of Brandywine in September, he was grazed by a cannonball. He was leading his men during the Battle of Germantown in October when he was shot while rounding a corner. He and his aide Lt. Col. Bird, were buried in the "Lower Burial-Ground" at Germantown Ave. and Logan St. Fearing desecration of the graves when the British Army left in 1778, permission was obtained by Gen. Howe to bury them during May in the family plot of Dr. George DeBenneville in Branchtown. The graves remained undisturbed in the NE corner until 1902 when a widened Broad Street was extended northward, necessitating the removal of several graves.

Upon learning of this, His Britannic Majesty's consul William Powell, Esq. and Mrs. Anna DeBenneville Mears (great granddaughter of Dr. George DeBenneville) arranged a formal dedication and memorial. The remains of both men were placed in a new casket and re-interred at the NW-wall of the cemetery. A dedication address was presented by Consul Powell on Sunday, October 4, 1903 (the 126th anniversary of the Battle of Germantown) and consecration of the site was tended by Rev. Frederick Dunham Ward of St. Clement's Protestant Episcopal Church.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~General James Tanner Agnew was born in 1719, in England. His parents were Major James Agnew 1st of Howlish Hall and Margaret Wilkinson. He married Elizabeth Sanderson on 27 September 1747, in Auckland St Andrew, Durham, England. They were the parents of 2 sons. He died on 4 October 1777, in Pennsylvania, at the age of 58.