Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: 1944 Volume 6 Number 1, Pages 23–24

The burial of General Anthony Wayne at St. David's

Page 23

Supplied by Crosswell McBee, D.D.
Letter Prom the Secretary of the Eric County Historical Society to
Mr. Charles Abell Murphy

June 27th, 1938

Dear Sir:
Replying to your favor of June 23rd concerning the kettle in which General Anthony Wayne's bones were boiled, I nay say that there scene to be no doubt about this matter, although you seem to have never encountered the story. I think, if you will consult any reliable History of Erie County, to wit, Laura Sanford's History of Erie County, Nelson's History of Erie County, Beer's History of Erie County, John Miller's History of Erie County, or my own History of Erie County, as well as scattered manuscripts, correspondence, etc., you will have no difficulty in locating it.

It is somewhat as follows:
In December, 1796, General Anthony Wayne, while traveling from his successful campaign of Fallen Timbers to his home, near Philadelphia, was attacked with a severe case of gout, and the captain of the vessel landed him at Presque Isle, he being unable to proceed further. However, in this frontier post there were no remedies available, either on the ship or at the fort. His old friend and physician, Dr. J. C. Wallace, who had served with him as a surgeon in the Indian Campaign, was at Fort Fayette near Pittsburgh, and was sent for in haste. In the meantime, General Wayne was being cared for in the only quarters available at the Presque Isle Post, where the second story of the blockhouse was used as sleeping quarters for him, and he was given every care that could be obtained. However, he grew rapidly worse, and realizing that death was near, he directed how and where he was to be buried, in the case of his death, and his wishes were faithfully carried out. Two days after his death his remains were placed in a plain board casket, with his uniform and boots on, and he was buried at the foot of the flagstaff of that blockhouse, with the Stars and Stripes which he had served and loved so well flying overhead at half mast. Upon the top of the coffin was inscribed: "A.W., O.B. December 15, 1796" with round-headed brass tacks driven, into its wood. His friend, Dr. Wallace, who was hurrying to his bedside, learned on arriving at Fort Franklin, eighty miles away, of the death of his friend on December 15th. It is said that Wayne's body rested in this frontier grave until the Spring of 1809, when his son, Colonel Isaac Wayne, came to Erie with horse and sulky, to have his father's remains lifted, taken home and reburied in the old family lot in Chester County. Arriving at Erie, he engaged Dr. J. C. Wallace, the old friend of his father, to manage the entire matter of disinterment, preparation of the remains for transportation and such other matters as would be necessary, stating that he did not care to be present or to witness the work, preferring to remember his father as he had seen him in life.

Upon opening the grave, Dr. Wallace and those helping him were astonished to find the body in a most remarkable state of preservation, having been transformed into ether more permanent elements, excepting one foot and one leg which had suffered the usual process. Most of the clothing and that one boot had almost disappeared. Dr. Wallace, meeting this unexpected situation, endeavored to secure the bones which were all that had been expected to be found and removed, but found it very hard

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to secure them separately, and found the remains were altogether too bulky for the means of transportation then available. He cast about for a method to make the errand of the son possible, without consulting him, and surgeon-like, separated the body into convenient sections, and being unable to separate the flesh from the bones readily, obtained a large iron kettle, and placed these sections in it, when he found the transformed flesh to be readily separated from the bones. They were then cleaned, placed in a casket of such a size as would enable the son to convey them to the home burial place, and the flesh and other articles found in the grave were again placed in the tomb and covered up.

Colonel Wayne, in speaking of this matter afterwards, said: "I always regretted it; had I known the state the remains were in before separated, I think I should certainly have had them again deposited there, and let them rest, and had a monument erected to his memory."

The kettle used on that occasion was a noteworthy object at the time, and continues to be venerated as an historical object. I believe it is now in the Public Museum in the basement of the Public Library of the City of Erie. Some years later, Dr. Germer, a reputable physician of Erie, instituted a search for the General's grave, and located it by finding a piece of board studded with brass tacks, and covered with remains of leather covering. This verified the grave, and a new blockhouse, a replica of the ancient one in which General Wayne died, was erected over the spot, and is now a venerated site for our citizens and visitors to this city. Dr. Germer found no bones in the grave, but he did find some surgeon's knives and other small implements which had been used.

You will find the foregoing story recited in my History of Erie County, published in 1925, pages 336 to 339 inclusive.

Trusting the foregoing may assist you in your request, I am

Very truly yours,
(Signed) J. E. REED, Secretary
ERIE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

APPENDIX

By Dr. McBee
The Reverend Crosswell McBee, Rector of St. David's Church, in whose sacred burying ground lie the bones of General Wayne, adds to the foregoing account two items of information which are both germane and authentic. The late Mr. William Wayne of Waynesborough, General Wayne's ancestral home near Paoli, made to him the statement that when he and his sister, --Mrs. John M. Wirgman, were children, they used to play in the old under-slung buggy in which the journey to Erie was made and in which the bones of General Wayne were brought back.

Mrs. Edward Ilsley, who was a devoted member of St. David's Church and is buried in its church-yard, told the Rector that she had an ancestor, a Captain Dobbins, who was present when the body of General Wayne was exhumed. That, further, one of the General's boots was very well preserved and that the innkeeper there took this boot for his personal use, having a now boot made as mate for it, and wore the pair. This detail, no less gruesome than authentic, attests the bravery of the innkeeper. No coward he who would appropriate and wear General Wayne's boot!

A typical colonial grist mill in southeastern Pennsylvania