The Washington critic., 1888-10-04
HISTnRIC GRAVES.
some Noted Tombs in Forgotten
guot.

those of any other city, says Thomas
j. Todd i'm recent Washington letter
Washington is city of historic places
and tombs. which would be the leading
objects of interest of any other town, but
are passed by here unnOtced. | visited
the Congressional Cemetery to-day 1t
is near the Jail, on the banks of d branch
of the Potomac. surrounded by squalld
negro cabins, and in most disrcputablc
part of the capital Still here lie the
bones of two Vice Presidents and monu-
mcnts to n hundred old congressman
have here been erected.
This cemetery was laid cut in 1907,
and an act of Congress was passed pro-
viding that every Senator or representa-
tive who died in Washington should have
a memorial stone here. These stones are
uniform in shape, they look like bcehivcs
with big sugar-loaf caps placed on the
top of them. They are five feet high,
and an uglier set of grave stones / have
never seen. What their material is do
not know. They appear to be made of
sandstone, and they have received coat
of white paint.
Among them I noted the name of
John Quincy Adams, and not far from
IL was one which bore the letters Thad-
deus Stevens. Preston II. Brooks, the
relative of Senator Butler who cancd
Charles Sumner while he was sitting in
his seat in the Senate chamber, has u
tombstone here, and two of these bee
hive monuments are labeled with the
names of John G. Calhoun and Henry
Clay. | took sketch of the monument
of William Writ, the great Attorney
| General and the author of the life of
Patrick Henry. 1t is tall marble
shaft, rising high above these congress
| Sional bCehiVcs, and the collin was prob
ably deposited in it's pedestal. The
ton bstone is of marble, and its base is
big marble box with n marble door
which is not as securely fastened as
would be such tomb in these body
snatching days.
Writ died in 1884. lie was a Mary
land man by birth. and he wrote two
novels in addition to his life of Patrick
| Henry He was Attorney-General when
| Madison was President, and he held his
| office through the administrations of
! Monroe and John Quincy Adams.
! Though not college-bred, he was given
the title of LII. d. by Harvard College,
and he was one of the scholars of our
carly days.
Tobias Lear, the Dan. lamont of
| George Washington's day, rests not far
off fIom this tomb of Writ. Lear had
not aS much influence with Washing
ton as Lamont has with Cleveland, but
he was his confidential private secre-
tary and was quite figure in the days
of 1890. lie and Washington took
walks every afternoon while they were
| in Philadelphia, and the records say
that they acted as though they were on
dress parade They strutted up and
down the shady sides of the street, did
not carry on any conversation together
during their walk, and seemed to breathe
the air because they felt it their duty
to do so. Lear was with Washington
during the whole of his Presidency. He
went with him to Mount Vernon when
he retired, and he was, L think, at his
bedside when he died. Washington re-
membered him in his will, and after
| Washington's death he obtained num-
Der of fat offices from the Government
and died here in the Government employ.
Two Vice Presidents rest in this
cemetery, and two gooodly monuments Is
our greatest Vice Presidents and both
had remarkable histories, yet how few
remember them and how few. know that
they lie here. Elbridge Gerry was in
augurated Vice President in 813, and
he was at that time one of the greatest
statesmen in the country. A graduate
of Harvard College, he had been Min
lister to France, a member of Congress
and Governor of Massachusetts. He
had helped make the Constitution Of the
United States and had signed the Decla
ration of Independence. He had beer
n member of the Continental Congres.
during the days Of the Revolution, ant
he had escaped capture by the British
during this time by hiding in corr
field while the troops searched Tor hlm
His tombstone here was erected by Con
gress. 1t is beautiful monument OF
white marble, now rusty with age. Ii
consists of a vase on sort oil Greclan
temple, and the whole stands upon Q
pyramid of marble.
Within the shadow of this monument
lies the grave of Vice President Clinton
1t has also a marble shaft over it, anC
this shaft states that it was erected by
Clintons children. Clinton was Gov
crnor of New York for eighteen years, ant
he presided over the Senate for eight years
He began his life as n sailor, studied law
and was brigadier-genera in the army un
der Washington. His tombstone is shat
of white marble with an iron lantcrI
above it, which is, suppose, intended Il
convey the idea of the perpetual burning
of incense. The monument is Il very flint
one, and the inscription upon its face
that Clinton was a soldier and statesman
of the Revolution, eminent i'll council
and distinguished in war. He filed witt
uneXampled usefulness, purity and abilt,
many Of the high offices of the country
While he lived his virtue, purity ant
Valor were the pride, the ornament ant
security of his country, and when he diet
he left an illustrious example OF well
spent life worthy of all imitation
Jonathan Cilley, one of the heroes o
the Graves-Cilley duel, who fell on tn
Bladensburg duelling ground, is buriet
here, and near by is u tombstone defacct
by one of the letters of the name of tn
dead beneath being cut from it, Con
nected with IL is reminiscence of tn
bitter feeling at the time OF the war. Th
inscription was originally BENJAMIN Lin
coin Lear, Congressman. Some wanda
cut Lincoln's name from the tombstone
in 1862, and the desecration created
sOmr excitement at the time. The per
petratOF, however, was never discovered
There is receiving vault in thi
cemetery which belongs to Congress
and in it have lain many of the grea
men who have died in Washington an
who have from here been carried t
their homes This is n massive struC
ture, entered by an iron door whic
leads into q passage to second iro
door, which opens into the vault.
was to this vault that President FAC
Taylor was carried when he died, wit
his historic war horse walking in tn
funeral procession behind him, and
was here, too, that Harrison's body wa
carried.
/ am told that the remains of on
Senator lay in this vault unclaimed 70
years. and they were finally removes
and buried at the cost of the officials q
the cemetery.
\ Two ommandcrs-in-Chief of tn
United States Army are buried here, an
the monument of Gen, Alexander Ma
comb, one of the heroes of the war 0
1872, is one of the finest in tho cemC