The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1919-06-17


supposed to be crumbling with the
remains of others of no kin with him
and ascertain if the reports that his
remains had indeed been deposited
| in this certain vault were true. There
! seemed to be 10 positiveness as to
whether Gen. Greene had been bur-
led there-or in some other grave,
some other vault, some other grave
yard, in some other seton.
The committee went to work with
proper authority-and failed utterly
to determine if the contents of this
certain vault contained the dust of
Gen. Greene. Another administration
came into Office and the committee
was revived-and made new and flu
tile efforts to locate the remains. La
ter not only one more, but several
efforts were made-and failed.
Rhode Island Took Action.
The Rhode Island Society of the
Cincinnati joined in the Search TWEEN
ty years ago. That organization de-
termined to locate the place "on the
Mulberry Grove plantation" where
Gen. Greene was buried-or, to de-
termine if the reports were true that
he lay with others in vault in the
Colonial Park in Savannah. Some of
the most prominent men in the state
Joined in the search.
Johnson's Life of Greene, publish
ed in 1922, declared that the services
of the church were said over the
body of the revolutionary hero by
Honorable William Stevens, as there
was not minister in the city, and
the body deposited in a vault-but
the identic vault remains a mystery
There were four contiguous vaults
/ in row-but into which the body was
| placed could not be established with
out search. Investigation into the
vaults was prevented or delayed from
time to time-till three of the vaults
/ had been searched to reveal no evil
dences sought. 1t developed later
that the body had been soon after
being deposited removed to another
vault-the fourth of the row located,
| the one which had not been opened.
A Clue Is Found.
On March 3, 1901-eighteen years
ago, just century and quarter af-
ter the death of General Greene
committee from council with permits
sion from Mayor Myers to open any
vaults for which no owners could be
found in the city, took up the search.
/ March they entered the vault sup
posed to have been that of the "Jones
family"-a family prominent in Sa-
vannah in the period following the
revolution. One of the members of
the committee found corroded cof-
fin plate on which he professed to
decipher the letter, "Gen. Greene"
The numerals, "1786" were seen-in
support. Buttons were found and
! fanciful traces Of the figure of an
eagle were discernible upon them
committeeman declared But two bod
ieis were located by the traces of the
skeletons, side by side. One, the larg-
er, was believed to be the relics of
the revolutionary general. The 9TH
er it was thought was the body of
George Washington Greene-drown-
ed at the age of nineteen.
Token to Police Barracks.
The remains were placed in two
boxes, inscribed with legends to dis
tinguish them, and carried to the
police barracks of the city. These
boxes were later transferred to the
vault of the Southern Bank for safe
keeping.
The coffin plate and buttons were
taken to New York and examined by
Gen. DiCesnola, of the Metropolitan
Museum of Arts. April 8, 1901, the
scientist made report. The inscription
had been subjected to delicate pro-
cess of inspection and this wording
was revealed conclusively: Nathan
iel Greene, Obit., June 10, 1886. Age
"A years."
The eyesight of the council com
mitteemen had been corroborated.
AS fate would have it, only this
plate could be definitely deciphered--
the other name plate was so badly
rusted ard corroded that nothing
could be made of it. Photographs of
the plate from Gen. Greene's coffin
were made to be deposited in the
archives of the Georgia Historical
| Society.
William Harden, librarian of the
society, pressed his investigation and
found that the vault in which the re-
mains had been found was not the
Jones vault, as first believed, but the
vault of the Nossomane, an append
age of the Mulberry Plantation prop
erty. He established that the body
had remained untouched in that vault
from 1866 to 1901.
1t developed, too, that the council
committee of 1919 which began the
search did not open the Mossman
vault on account of the fact that
member of the Mossman family had
been recently laid away in it-and
! had died from the scourge of yellow
fever;
The Greene Monument.
Dates again appear, co-incidentally
interesting. In May, 1919, exactly
one hundred years ago, President
Monroe visited Savannah-and there
was revival from his visit of interest
in the record of General Greene. La |
ter, few years, General Lafayette
visited the United States-and came
to Savannah. While here he laid the |