| Transcript |
| 0:01 | · | hey all Ron here from military images |
| 0:04 | · | Magazine with a new episode of life on |
| 0:06 | · | the Civil War research Trail I'm |
| 0:09 | · | currently researching John Augustine |
| 0:12 | · | Washington who is perhaps best known as |
| 0:16 | · | the last Washington family member to be |
| 0:20 | · | an owner of Mount |
| 0:22 | · | Vernon he's also known for being an aid |
| 0:26 | · | to General Robert E Lee during the Civil |
| 0:29 | · | War Washington died in the fall of 1861 |
| 0:34 | · | in the western part of Virginia while |
| 0:37 | · | doing some surveillance work on behalf |
| 0:41 | · | of |
| 0:42 | · | Lee so I did something today that I |
| 0:45 | · | haven't done in a long time which is to |
| 0:47 | · | go to a physical Library normally so |
| 0:51 | · | much of my work is done online or by |
| 0:54 | · | communicating with libraries who send me |
| 0:56 | · | digital copies of what they have so the |
| 0:59 | · | actual going to a library was a real |
| 1:02 | · | treat and I went to the George |
| 1:04 | · | Washington Presidential Library which is |
| 1:07 | · | part of the Mount Vernon complex a |
| 1:09 | · | beautiful place about 10 years old just |
| 1:12 | · | everything you would want in a library |
| 1:15 | · | Dana stefanelli was a director and he |
| 1:18 | · | helped me by getting the requests that I |
| 1:21 | · | I had asked for prior to arriving a |
| 1:24 | · | number of letters some specific letters |
| 1:27 | · | written and signed by Robert E Lee that I |
| 1:30 | · | really wanted to see they were cataloged |
| 1:33 | · | but not available digitally so I spent a |
| 1:36 | · | pleasant couple of hours going through |
| 1:38 | · | all this material and collecting the |
| 1:41 | · | information that I needed as I was |
| 1:43 | · | winding down my visit stefanelli asked |
| 1:46 | · | me if there was anything else I was |
| 1:48 | · | looking for I said well if you've got |
| 1:51 | · | anything that describes how the family |
| 1:54 | · | felt in the aftermath of the news of the |
| 1:58 | · | death of John Augustine in Washington I |
| 2:00 | · | would love to know about it and he |
| 2:03 | · | didn't know of anything offand but he |
| 2:06 | · | did recall a group of letters written in |
| 2:08 | · | the |
| 2:09 | · | 1860s and I thought well let's take a |
| 2:12 | · | look at them because there might be |
| 2:13 | · | something of |
| 2:15 | · | Interest what I found was not at all |
| 2:18 | · | what I expected it's this letter right |
| 2:22 | · | here and the title of it will |
| 2:25 | · | immediately immediately stopped me in my |
| 2:28 | · | tracks it's the disinterment of the |
| 2:32 | · | remains of Washington it's not John |
| 2:34 | · | Augustine Washington these are the |
| 2:37 | · | remains of our first president the |
| 2:38 | · | founder of the country the general of |
| 2:41 | · | the Revolutionary Army George |
| 2:44 | · | Washington I read with just I was just |
| 2:48 | · | stunned with what I read information I |
| 2:50 | · | hadn't seen before the letter was |
| 2:53 | · | written in |
| 2:55 | · | 1863 and it was included or included a |
| 3:00 | · | uh a copy excerpts from another letter |
| 3:03 | · | that was written in |
| 3:05 | · | 1858 and the 1858 letter was an |
| 3:10 | · | eyewitness to the interment the |
| 3:13 | · | disinterment if you will that happened |
| 3:16 | · | in |
| 3:17 | · | 1837 so sort of a an interesting series |
| 3:21 | · | of events there leading to this letter |
| 3:25 | · | and I want to read it to you because |
| 3:26 | · | it's absolutely fascinating I was not |
| 3:28 | · | aware that |
| 3:31 | · | Washington's body was viewed in 1837 |
| 3:36 | · | almost four decades after he died in |
| 3:40 | · | 1799 so before I get into the letter I |
| 3:42 | · | want to give you a couple of |
| 3:44 | · | names uh so that you're aware of the |
| 3:48 | · | backstory here because you names that |
| 3:51 | · | you might not be aware of um one of them |
| 3:53 | · | is John |
| 3:54 | · | Struthers he is a Philadelphia Merchant |
| 3:58 | · | who made the sarcophagus and donated it |
| 4:02 | · | to the |
| 4:03 | · | family Lawrence Lewis is a nephew of |
| 4:06 | · | George Washington and the letter writer |
| 4:10 | · | of this letter is Benjamin silan he was |
| 4:13 | · | a chemist a science professor and a |
| 4:16 | · | founder of the American Journal of |
| 4:19 | · | science so that's the |
| 4:22 | · | backstory I want to get into the letter |
| 4:25 | · | now and so here we go that title A dis |
| 4:30 | · | of the remains of |
| 4:32 | · | Washington Mr John Struthers a generous |
| 4:35 | · | and noble-hearted Scotchman of |
| 4:37 | · | Philadelphia constructed and presented |
| 4:40 | · | to the family of Washington a marble |
| 4:43 | · | sarcophagus the marble being from a |
| 4:46 | · | Pennsylvania |
| 4:47 | · | Quarry Mr Struthers was entrusted by |
| 4:50 | · | Major Lawrence Lewis with the duty of |
| 4:53 | · | removing the remains from the old family |
| 4:55 | · | Vault and the following particulars are |
| 4:58 | · | extracted from a private letter dated |
| 5:01 | · | Philadelphia February 25th |
| 5:05 | · | 1858 I'm going to pause here because the |
| 5:09 | · | letter is written as I mentioned |
| 5:12 | · | February 25th |
| 5:14 | · | 1858 and it's an eyewitness who was |
| 5:17 | · | there in |
| 5:19 | · | 1837 reading a little bit between the |
| 5:21 | · | lines I suspect that San the letter |
| 5:24 | · | writer contacted Mr Struthers at some |
| 5:29 | · | point |
| 5:30 | · | and this is actually Struthers who is |
| 5:32 | · | describing what happened that's just |
| 5:34 | · | speculation based on what I'm seeing |
| 5:37 | · | here because the actual uh excerpt of |
| 5:40 | · | the 1858 letter is not identified I |
| 5:44 | · | should say the letter writer is not |
| 5:46 | · | identified so here's that excerpt from |
| 5:48 | · | the |
| 5:49 | · | eyewitness at the 1837 installation |
| 5:52 | · | ceremony and by the way it's October 7th |
| 5:55 | · | 1837 a |
| 5:57 | · | Saturday so here we go |
| 6:00 | · | upon opening the door of the Vault we |
| 6:03 | · | entered accompanied by Major Lewis and |
| 6:05 | · | his son the coffin containing the |
| 6:08 | · | remains of Washington was at the extreme |
| 6:11 | · | back part of the Vault and it was |
| 6:14 | · | necessary to remove the intervening |
| 6:17 | · | coffins the exterior case containing the |
| 6:20 | · | remains of Washington being much decayed |
| 6:23 | · | was stripped off when the lead of the |
| 6:27 | · | lid of the Interior coffin was found to |
| 6:30 | · | have sunk considerably from head to foot |
| 6:35 | · | and this settling of the metal had |
| 6:37 | · | perhaps caused the soldering of the |
| 6:40 | · | joints to give way about the upper and |
| 6:43 | · | widest part of the coffin |
| 6:46 | · | so coffin was |
| 6:49 | · | collapsing By Request of major Lewis the |
| 6:52 | · | fractured part was turned over on the |
| 6:55 | · | lower part of the lid exposing to view a |
| 7:00 | · | head and Brass of large dimensions which |
| 7:04 | · | appeared by the dim light of the candles |
| 7:07 | · | to have suffered very little from the |
| 7:10 | · | effects of |
| 7:11 | · | time the eye sockets were large and deep |
| 7:15 | · | and the breath across the temples |
| 7:17 | · | together with the forehead appeared of |
| 7:20 | · | unusual size there was no appearance of |
| 7:24 | · | grave |
| 7:25 | · | clothes the chest was broad the color |
| 7:28 | · | dark with the appearance of dried flesh |
| 7:32 | · | adhering closely to the |
| 7:34 | · | bones we saw no hair nor was there any |
| 7:37 | · | offensive odor from the body a hand was |
| 7:41 | · | laid upon the head and instantly |
| 7:44 | · | removed the lead of the lid was restored |
| 7:47 | · | to its place the body raised by six men |
| 7:50 | · | was carried and laid in the marble |
| 7:52 | · | coffin and the ponderous covering being |
| 7:55 | · | put on and Seed in cement it was sealed |
| 7:59 | · | from our site on Saturday the 7th of |
| 8:02 | · | October |
| 8:04 | · | 1837 he died in the month of December |
| 8:07 | · | 1799 and had been more than 38 years in |
| 8:10 | · | the |
| 8:11 | · | grave the relatives who were present |
| 8:13 | · | were major Lawrence Lewis Lorenzo Lewis |
| 8:17 | · | John Augustine Washington George |
| 8:20 | · | Washington the Reverend Mr Johnson and |
| 8:22 | · | lady and Miss Jane Washington who after |
| 8:26 | · | the removal returned to the family |
| 8:29 | · | Mansion signed bsan December 8th |
| 8:36 | · | 1863 so there you have the letter I |
| 8:40 | · | thought I would go into newspapers.com |
| 8:42 | · | my favorite database and see if I could |
| 8:45 | · | find anything and sure enough I did |
| 8:48 | · | there is a |
| 8:50 | · | description a version of this letter or |
| 8:55 | · | at least a version of the contents of |
| 8:58 | · | this letter spun slightly |
| 9:01 | · | differently as you're going to find out |
| 9:03 | · | here in just a moment this particular |
| 9:07 | · | article it's not long it appeared |
| 9:09 | · | initially in the Philadelphia |
| 9:12 | · | Gazette and it was reprinted in the |
| 9:15 | · | madisonian a newspaper out of Washington |
| 9:18 | · | DC dated December 28th |
| 9:23 | · | 1837 here we |
| 9:25 | · | go General Washington the remains of |
| 9:28 | · | this illustrious man the father and |
| 9:31 | · | savior of his country were recently |
| 9:33 | · | placed in the sarcophagus made by Mr |
| 9:36 | · | Struthers of the city from whom we learn |
| 9:39 | · | that when the Vault and coffin were |
| 9:41 | · | opened where they had laid him the |
| 9:44 | · | sacred form of Washington was discovered |
| 9:47 | · | in a wonderful state of |
| 9:49 | · | preservation the high pale brow wore a |
| 9:52 | · | calm and Serene expression and the lips |
| 9:55 | · | pressed still together had a grave and |
| 9:57 | · | solemn smile such as they doubtless wore |
| 10:01 | · | when the first president gave up his |
| 10:03 | · | blameless mortal life for an immortal |
| 10:07 | · | existence when his soft breath with pain |
| 10:11 | · | was yielded to the elements |
| 10:14 | · | again the impressive aspect of the great |
| 10:17 | · | departed overpowered the man whose lot |
| 10:20 | · | it was to transfer the Hallow dust to |
| 10:23 | · | its last tenament and he was unable to |
| 10:26 | · | conceal his emotions he placed his hand |
| 10:30 | · | upon the ample forehead once highest in |
| 10:33 | · | the ranks of battle or throbbing with |
| 10:35 | · | the cares of an infant Empire and he |
| 10:38 | · | lamented we doubt not that the vice of |
| 10:41 | · | Fame could not provoke the silent clay |
| 10:43 | · | of life again or pour its tones of |
| 10:46 | · | Revival into the dull cold ear of death |
| 10:50 | · | the last acts of patriotic sepulture |
| 10:53 | · | were thus consummated and this figure |
| 10:57 | · | which we can scarcely dis associate from |
| 11:00 | · | an |
| 11:00 | · | apotheosis consigned to its law a dim |
| 11:04 | · | Mansion to be seen no more until |
| 11:07 | · | mortality and the vesture of Decay be |
| 11:10 | · | changed to the bright garments of |
| 11:12 | · | endless |
| 11:14 | · | incorruption so my reading of that |
| 11:17 | · | newspaper article as you can see there's |
| 11:20 | · | a real spin there The Immortal |
| 11:23 | · | Washington the |
| 11:24 | · | apotheosis the smile upon his lips the |
| 11:28 | · | broad forehead the hand resting on it |
| 11:31 | · | for just a moment all of that except for |
| 11:34 | · | the lips is echoed in this letter and |
| 11:38 | · | that article suggests to me that in fact |
| 11:40 | · | it was Struthers who was relaying the |
| 11:43 | · | experience and Struthers who wrote this |
| 11:46 | · | letter that silon was copying here in |
| 11:50 | · | December of December of 1863 in fact is |
| 11:53 | · | when suon wrote the letter one more item |
| 11:58 | · | that's worthy of note December of |
| 12:01 | · | 1863 or in the middle of the Civil War |
| 12:05 | · | Gettysburg has happened and the |
| 12:07 | · | Confederates have withdrawn they're now |
| 12:11 | · | on the down the downside of the war |
| 12:15 | · | Vicksburg has closed off the Mississippi |
| 12:19 | · | River and the idea of Washington the |
| 12:23 | · | founder of the country the founder of |
| 12:25 | · | the United States of America caught in |
| 12:29 | · | between all of this the Confederate |
| 12:32 | · | States of America Virginia home to Mount |
| 12:35 | · | Vernon Washington and owner of enslaved |
| 12:40 | · | people all of those threads are coming |
| 12:43 | · | into play here ownership of Washington |
| 12:47 | · | the idea is claimed by both sides and so |
| 12:52 | · | uh who owns his memory who owns |
| 12:56 | · | Washington the idea of Washington |
| 12:58 | · | something that was hotly debated so this |
| 13:01 | · | December 1863 letter suggests to me that |
| 13:06 | · | that that that debate is still underway |
| 13:10 | · | and is part of everyone's attention and |
| 13:14 | · | Imagination so there you have it today's |
| 13:17 | · | episode of life on the Civil War |
| 13:19 | · | research Trail we'll see you again for |
| 13:22 | · | another episode until then take care |
