The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-05-22
ToMBs NO MORE REvERED.
Neglected Congressional Cemetary at
Washington.

place consecrated to the illustrious dead of
the Republic-that we have no cemetery
such as the Campo Santos, the Pantheon
of the Pisans, or the Pere la Chaise of
Paris, where La Fontaine, Moliere,
Beaumarchais, Marshal Ney, and host
of other great Frenchmen are buried;
and no temple like the Valhalla of Bava
ria, or Englands Westminster Abbey.
Nevertheless, there is in Washington a
cemetery where something of the idea of
distinguished burial was once officially
attempted. 1t was definitely and finally
abandoned about thirty years ago, but it
never had any effective assistance from
national demand, and what remains to
show that the attempt was made is more
likely to excite ridicule than reverence.
When the Congressional Cemetery was
laid out, in the beginning of the century,
a large portion of the ground was reserved
for the Federal COVE rnment and for fifty
years, whenever member of either
House of Congress died during his term
of office, a stone was erected to his memo
ry, wherever he might be buried. 1t is
difficult to describe these gravestones and
them, in long rows and groups, all of
uniform design, made of large, square
blocks of Potomac sandstone, with
strange, cone-shaped tops. The inscrip-
tons give merely the names and offices of
the dead, with dates of birth and death,
but SO carelessly have they been cut that
frequently these dates are omitted. Thus
William Osborne Goode, of Virginia,
man of some note in his day as South
erner who believed in gradual emancipa-
tion of the slaves, appears as having
t'died -" and Gen. John A. Quitman
a Mississippian of Northern birth and a
celebrated leader of the extreme Southern
party, is immortalized as Gagged -
years" The stone for Thomas H. Bay
ly, Virginia member, states that he
tfDied -, aged --.'' At the end of a
row, side by side, stand the memorials
of Henry Clay and John G. Calhoun, but
the date of birth of neither is inserted.
CALL UP INTERESTING EVENTS.
But passing beyond these wretched ex-
ecutions of an unprotected scheme, one
finds the graves of many men whose
in national history, and sees upon the
monuments evidences of the literature of
epitaph, which has now largely passed in
to disuse. A large tombstone states:
''The tomb of Elbridge Gerry, vice.
president of the United States, who died
suddenly in this city on his way to the
capital as President of the Senate, Nov.
49, 1911, aged 10; thus fulfilling his own
memorable Injunction: 1t is the duty of
every citizen, though he may have but
one day to live, to devote that day to the
good OF his country.
Another monument bears on one side
this inscription:
Gin memory of Midshipman Frederick
Rodgers, drowned near Norfolk, Va
April 5, 1925 aged II years and 1 month,
making noble efforts to, save Midshipmen
Sl1deH and Harrison, his friends and
companions in life and in death, this
tomb is raised by his father.
This is followed by a short tribute to
his ''silent affection, love of truth, and
ingenious modesty." Upon another side
appears the simple record of great naval
commanders death: Commodore John
Rodgers, born 1772; died senior officer of
the United States navy, Aug. 1, 1882,
after forty years of brilliant and import
ant service" and on the third side
minerva Dennison Rodgers, beloved
wife of Commodore John Rodgers. Fond
and faithful mother of eleven children
Born 1884, Married 1866. Died 1877"
The tragedy of Tyler's administration,
when the cannon "Peacemaker,' burst
on board of the frigate Princeton killing
several of the distinguished party who
had assembled to witness the firing, is
brought forcibly to mind by the monu-
ment marking the graves of two of the
victims, Abel P. Upshur, the Secretary
of State, and Capt. Beverly Kennon, his
friend. The inscription reads:
1.-THE lamented men who lie together
beneath this stone We're united BY the
ties of friendship which commenced in
youth, and experienced no interruption
till the awful moment when the lives of
both were terminated by the explosion of
the great gun of the Princeton frigate.
F." United in life, in death they were
not divided.
GRAVE OF PUSHMATAHA.
In the same corner of the cemetery is
the grave of Pushmataha, the Indian
chief, who fought on the American side
in the war of 1912, and whom Gen. Jack
son called "the greatest and bravest In
dian he had ever known A procession
more than mile long followed his body
to the grave, cannon were fired over him,
and John Randolph, of Roanoke, spoke
his eulogy in the Senate one sentence of
which appears in his epitaph
fEPuSh ma ia h3 q ChoctaSp chiaf 1;ac