Brigadier-General James Tanner Agnew, of Howlish Hall, Co Durham was a British Army officer reportedly killed by a sniper in the Battle of Germantown during the American Revolutionary War. Agnew came to Boston in the latter part of 1775, holding the rank of lieutenant-colonel. By 1777, he had been appointed a local brigadier general and commanded a brigade. General Agnew was engaged at the Battle of Long Island in 1776. In 1777, Agnew accompanied British forces under the command of General William Tryon and General William Erskine on an inland raid against Patriot supply depot in Danbury, Connecticut.

After successfully destroying Patriot supplies, the British forces engaged and defeated Continental Army Generals David Wooster, Benedict Arnold, and Gold S. Silliman and Patriot militiamen in the Battle of Ridgefield. Lastly, Agnew was at the Battle of the Brandywine, where he was wounded. While leading his 4th brigade in support of Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Germantown, General Agnew was shot by a sniper and the damage severed his spine and left him paralyzed. The sniper who shot General Agnew is rumored to be Hans Philip Boyer but there aren't many sources to solidify this claim. His soldiers brought him back to his quarters in John Wister's Big House (now called Grumblethorpe) on Germantown Avenue. Agnew bled out in the northwest room on the ground floor with his blood staining the parlor floor.