Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1895-10-05
RESCUED tRoM OBLIVION.
Graves of Seven OF John Browns Fol-
lowers Located at Last.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22.-Dr. Thorn
as Featherstonhaugh, medical referee
of the Pension Bureau, has just re-
turned from Hsrper's Ferry, where
he has succeeded in definitely locat-
ing the burial place of seven ofJohn
Browns followers who were killed
in that memorable raid in October,
1859.
Numerous attempts have been
made hitherto to locate these graves,
but have proven unsuccessful. The
tradition at Harper's Ferry was that
they were buried beneath the Shen-
andoah River and that all traces
of the graves had long since been
washed away. The bodies of Oliver
and Watson Brown, two sons Of
John Brown, were sent home to
North Elba, Essex county,N. Y. for
burial, The body OF j. I'll. Kagi,
was thrown into a barrel and sent
to a medical college at Winchester,
Va, where it was dissected. The
bodies of the other seven, Stewart
Taylor, W. Fl. Leeman, Jeremiah
Anderson. Dauphin Thompson, Will
liam Thompson, Dangerfeld Newly,
(colored) and Lewis S. Leary,
(colored), were thrown into two
large dry goods boxes and taken
away for burial.
DR.. Featherstonhaugh has for the
last five years been gathering ma
terial for a history of the John
Brown raid. After much painstaking
labor he has secured portraits Of
every member Of the raiding party,
except one of the negroes, and has
now located the graves.
On Loudon Heights across the
Shenandoah from Harpcr's Ferry,
in Virginia, he found an aged white
man named James Foreman, who
assisted in the burial of the dead
raiders. Mr.. Foreman guided DR..
Featherstonhaugh up the south tank
of the Shenandoah to point about
half a mile above Harpet's Ferry,
and there, in the low ground between
the heights and the river, washed by
every spring freshet, he pointed out
a depression in the ground.
"There,' said he, "yon will find
four of them, aud just beyond the
other three
Shovels and picks were set to
work, and with his own hands
DR.. Featherstonhaugh pulled off
the rotten cover of the huge dry
goods box. In it, mingled with clay
and silt which had seeped through
from the over-fowing river, were the
ragged garments and the skeletons
of four of the principals of the
tragedy. Then the boards were re-
placed and the soil was again thrown
over them. The site Of the other
grave was marked by DR.. Feather
stonhaugh with a few punches of
wild flowers. DR.. Featherstonhaugh
believes that he will be able, from
the testimony in his possession of
the physical characteristics Of each
man and statements of the gunshot
wounds which each received, to finally
identify the body of each.
When the engine-house, which
formed old John Browns fort is re-
turned from Chicago and again set
up at Harper's Ferry it is DR..
Featherstonhaugh's purpose to have
the bodies of these men carefully re-
inferred near the fort and a monu-
ment erected above them, bearing
their names and the incidents of
their death. In view Of the historic
Importance of the incident it Is be-
lieved that there will be sufficient
contributions from people throughout
the country to make the monument
fitting for the place and occasion.
DR.. Featherstonhaugh is from
Schenectady, N. Y. His great.
grandfather was James Duane, men,
Der of the Continental Congress and
the first mayor of New York City,
after the close of the Revolution.
His grandfather was G.. w. Feather
stonhaugh, an English scientist, who
came to the United States in con-
Dection with the negotiations preced-
ing the Ashburton treaty, and re-
manned In this country and became
one of the most prominent and best
known geologists of his day.