The Portland daily press., 1879-06-18
[For the Army and Navy Journal.l
Landmarks of the Capital.
THE OLD DECATUR TOMB.

stands directly in the path of Mas
sachusetts avenue, which must soon be ex.
tended to Georgetown across Rock Creek.
This old tomb stands near the bank of the
creek, on the ground of old Kalorama, sur
rounded by oaks of hundreds of years old. II
was built in the first years of this century, and
while the Holmeads owned nearly all the land
around the northwestern part of the city. The
first person who was laid in the vault was
Abraham Baldwin, who died in 1907, and
while he was Senator in Congress from
Georgia. In May, 1918 Mrs. Ruth Baldwin Bar
low, widow of Joel Barlow, was laid there and
on crisp morning in March, 1920, the body of
the lamented Commodore Decatur found a
resting place - but not the last one
there. Then came Henry Baldwin, JUS
tice of the Supreme Court of the
United States, who died in 1874; Henry
Baldwin Bomford, youngest son of Colonel
George Bomford, of the Ordnance Corps, who
died in 1915; Colonel Bomford, who died in
1S4S; and last of all, Clara Baldwin, second
wife of the Colonel, who died in 1866.
kalorama was for many years the residence of
Colonel Bomford, who, however, had parted
with it just before his death, which occurred at
Boston where he had been on inspecting duty.
1t is the popular belief that Kosciusko was at
one time the owner of the place, but this was
not so. The Colonel and the gallant Pole were
warm personal friends, and the latter was often
guest at Kalorma. Then the Colonel had
the settling up of the affairs of Kosciusko in
this country and these circumstances probably
gave rise to the belief concerning the owner
| ship OF the place. For many years the tomb
was in the most secluded spot around the city.
There were no streets or roads passing near it,
and L recollect that once, nearly half century
ago, looked for some time before could find
1t, even with the assistance of Henry Bonn
ford, who was my playmate, and who was laid
there himself in 1915. 1t was too far in the
country to be disturbed by the hum of the city,
and the songs of the oriole and other sweet
singers, the harsh voice of the jay bird, and the
signing OF the wind through the branches of
the grand old oaks were the only sounds that
fioated over the dead from one years end to
another
THE DECATUR DUEL.
But it was on that frosty morning of 1920
already referred to that the saddest sight that
was ever seen around the tomb, occurred
Colonel Bomford was a no less chivalrous man
than Decatur, and they were bosom friends.
Bomford went out to Bladensburg and was
present when the Commodore received his fatal
wound. The Decatur mansion, at the corner
of Lafayette square aud H. street-now occu-
pied by Mr.. Beale-was but recently COM
pleted, and here the dying man was brought.
John Randolph was devoted friend of the
Commodore, and he became wild with grief.
"All that have in the world, said he, 'T will
give to the doctor who will save Decatur's
life" But he was passed all hope. The ball
could not be found, and ID was buried with his
body. Years afterward when the body was
being removed from the old coffin for the pur-
pose of carrying it to Philadelphia, the ball
dropped through the skeleton and was picked
up by Colonel Bomford's son Irwin, who had
it in his possession at the time of the death of
the latter. The pistol from which the fatal ball
was fired is now in the possession of the Gen.
eral W. l.. Elliott late colonel of the Sd Caval-
nv on1n fI,af e tI,aC
eral was Barrons second in the duel, and he
furnished the pistol which was used by De-
catur.
The funeral cortege' left Lafayette square,
which was then an orchard with graveyard
in one corner of it, and proceeded to Kalorama,
where Colonel Bomford begged that the body
might be placed. Congress was in session, but
business was generally suspended, and crowds
thronged to the funeral. When the last sad
rites were being performed, strong men, sena-
tors representatives, Army and Naval officers
broke down and gave way to their grief.
Decatur had made the strongest and most de-
voted friends, as well as the bitterest enemies,
and it was generally agreed that the death of
the hot-headed and impetuous, but gallant
sailor, was a national calamity. He was the
preu1 cheUatier of our little Navy, and as his
dead body was lowered into the tomb the spec
tators thought only of the glory with which
the dead hero had surrounded the American
flag.
Until within very few years the visitors at
the convent grounds IN Georgetown might
have seen, in a cottage there, curious wierd
| like lady with very white hair, and with traces
OF former great beauty. That lady was the
| widow of Stephen Decatur. For long years she
| was i'll the world but not of it, She took up her
| abode with the good nuns, who tenderly cared
for her and who closed her eyes in her last
sleep.
The tomb is an unpretentious little structure;
the part above ground consisting of a rectangu-
lar pen of brick, ten feet by twelve, and less
than five feet in height On each side of the
door, which is on the westerly side, is inserted
slab of marble, which indicates the names
and the date of death of the occupants. In
addition to the names already given there is
the name of "Joel Barlow, Patriot Poet, and
Philosopher, who lies buried at Zarawln, Po-
land, where he died December 26, 1872 aged
81 years" Mr.. Barlow had married sister of
Judge Baldwin and of Mrs Bomford and he
had been sent by Mr.. Madison as minister to
France, and it was necessary for him to COM
municate as soon as possible with Napoleon,
who, however, was away in Poland, and Mr..
Barlow in trying to find him became mixed up
with the Army, was taken sick and died in one
of the military hospitals, and was buried
among the soldiers in the trenches, we believe.
| without anyone knowing even who he was.
THE BoMFoRD AND BALDWIN FAMILIES.
The discussion of the tomb and KaIorama
brings to remembrance many things connected
with the Bomford and Baldwin families, which
are worth mentioning Colonel Bomford was
one of the earliest graduates of the Military
Academy, being the eighth in number of those
who have received diplomas from that institu-
| ton. He was born in 1850, and he did not el-
| ter the Academy until he was nearly twenty
| four years old, in 1904. He was graduated in
| 1906 but although he had less than one year of
| service at West Point he must not be clasSed
| wit those gentlemen who i'll these days gradu-
| ate in six months or year after entering. He
served in the Engineer Corps and in the Ord
nance department from 1905 until the close of
| tha aI-ar pf12 Nvhar ha
antcolonel, the head of the Ordnance Corps.
| On the reduction of the Army in 1921, he be-
| came Northumberland of the list Artillery,
and he was made colonel and chief of ordnance
in 1882. Cullum says: ''To the skill and in
| ventive talent of this invaluable officer the
country was largely indebted preceding and
during the war of 1S12-15, he being almost the
| only one well informed in the manufacture of
ordnance and ordnance stores" He was twice
married, and he had, we believe, two sons and
one daughter by each marriage. General Jas.
| V. Bomford, now retired, is a son by the first
marriage. The late Richard Derby, of Boston,
mother of Lieut.. Derby of the Navy, was
daughter by the first marriage. Mrs. Derby
was first married to Mr.. Lear, the son of the
Col. Lear who was private secretary to WASH
| ington, by whom she had one daughter, now
| Mrs. Wilson Eyre, of Newport, r. l. All the
members of Col. Bomford's family were well
known and much beloved in Washington in
| what might be called old times, but there are
innumerable stories told of the oddities, eccen-
On one occasion, on cool morning, the colon
ell was coming up to Kalorama from the direc-
| tion of the tomb, and he remarked to one of
his guests that he had been in the tomb to look
at Judge Baldwin, whose teeth were little out
of ORDER and that he had cleaned them for
him. And he was perfectly serious in the mat
ter.
General Jas. Bomford, SO long an officer of
the Sth Infantry, was, in his younger DAYS a
marvel of personal strength. While his regi-
ment was at Toluca, during the Mexican war,
there was Mexican there, who had been an
officer of the Army-a man of huge siZe-who
had on several occasions evinced "a disposition
bordering on insolence towards the officers and
soldiers of our Army stationed there. Bomford
was then a captain, and he was determined to
give the Mexican a wholesome lesson. So one
day he saw him enter store and he followed
him in, and as the Mexican had his hand laid
flat on the counter, Bomford, without saying
word, took his place by his side and placed the
point of his elbow on the back of the hand and
pressed it as though it had been in vice. The
astonished Mexican squirmed and twisted in
every way in his efforts to extricate his hand,
but to no purpose, and he resigned himself to
the position. Then Bomford asked some tri-