The SAR MAGAZINE is the official quarterly publication of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution published quarterly.
Issue link: http://sar.epubxp.com/i/132097
l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l by French antiquary Charles Read. Quoting Read's copy, Johnson confirmed Jones' burial in the Protestant cemetery was on July 20, "year 4 of Liberty" (French Revolution). Johnson also debunked Charles Dickens' account in his December 1869 magazine All The Year Round, which claimed that Jones' remains had been removed from Paris and reinterred in Washington in 1851. With access to Johnson's letter, Porter undertook what became a fouryear search. He leafed through mortuary records and old archives before beginning a physical search. The original St. Louis Cemetery, abandoned years earlier, had been built upon with middling dwellings and small shops. The original burial ground's 120 feet by 210 feet dimensions were no longer discernable, and the infill of the land had reposited the graves at an unknown depth. Porter spared no effort, negotiating with the property owners whose buildings rested atop the old cemetery, to gain the rights to excavate the entire site. The landowners consented, each securing compensation for damages and disruption of their quiet. Hiring workmen was another costly step. Porter enlisted the help of the chief engineer of the municipal department of Paris to oversee what could be considered an archeological dig. The estimated cost of the entire endeavor was 180,000 francs or $35,000, with Porter covering all expenses. Swinging pickaxes and manning shovels, the men cut vertical shafts into the earth and tunneled lateral subterranean passageways. It was tedious labor removing one barrow of dirt at a time. But soon a cable arrived in America from Porter: "sunk shaft; found rows of graves undisturbed at a depth of 17 feet." But which one held the remains of John Paul Jones? Porter had few details. Centuryold records pointed to an approximate location of Jones' grave and gave him the clue to look for a lead coffin. The cemetery retained about 500 bodies, some of which were buried in lead coffins. While unearthing the leaden capsules, it was discovered all but one carried a nameplate. It made perfect sense that the American hero would be buried under temporary conditions, needing no permanent identifying tag on his coffin. The French government naturally assumed the U.S. would send for this hero's body at a later date. Other facts pointed to the circumstances of his temporary burial. It was revealed that Jones' body was immersed in alcohol to aid in preserving the corpse, wrapped in linen and packed in straw as if it were a package that would be moved in the near future. As the workmen pulled the unidentified coffin from its grave and opened the casket, they doffed their caps The dedication of Jones' memorial in Washington was a celebration in which a nation offered gratitude to one who had done so much for his adopted country A bust of Jones by noted scuptor Jean-Antoine Houdon, right, along with two portraits, assisted in the identification of Jones' well-preserved body, left. SAR MAGAZINE