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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

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