Daniel Morgan's GRAVE MATTERS (the move to Mt Hebron)
As early as 1843 Mt Hebron reserved a place for Daniel Morgan's remains. Not until 25 years later in 1868 did Daniel Morgan's remains get moved to Mt Hebron. In those 25 years a local recorded in 1855 that a tree was growing through the coffin and its marker. A year kater in 1856 The Continental Morgan guards raised fund to repair this deterioration. But alas someone embezzled the funds. Finally in 1868 the move of his grave with a new coffin and a repaired plaque was accomplished.
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DANIEL MORGAN’S AFTERLIFE
1802 TO 1868
Sources:
Quoted material is in orange and from sources:
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Winchester Frederick County Historical Society Journal Volume XIV 2002 issue on Daniel Morgan, pages 112 to 130, by Elizabeth C Engle and Mary Thomason Morris for an article entitled: Cannons and Marble: A Monument for Daniel Morgan.
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Winchester Frederick County Historical Society Journal Volume XIV 2002 issue on Daniel Morgan, pages 132to 144, by Judge Robert K Woltz for an article entitled The Second Battle of Cowpens.
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Hereafter the above sources will be noted as Engle or as Woltz.
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Links and pictures are added confirming the 2 above sources.
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Daniel Morgan died 6 July 1802 in this house on 226 Amherst Street Winchester VA
July 6, 1802
Daniel Morgan dies
Daniel Morgan died … in his home on Amherst Street. He was buried under a flat stone slab in the grave yard at Old Stone Presbyterian Meeting House on Piccadilly Street. Seven Survivors of the Morgan Riflemen fired a salute over the grave the guns they had used in the Revolutionary War.
From page 115, Engle.
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General Daniel Morgan’s home at 226 Amherst Street. This photo was taken from the street and shows the front and west sides of home. George Flowerdew Norton built the east (right) side of the home in 1797. He sold it to General Morgan in 1800. — from Handley Library’s Stewart Bell Jr Archives
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We have not confirmed whether this house is Daniel Morgan’s or his daughter’s. . . yet.
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We will look into that to see which story is correct.
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This Plaque Inscription on a slab is not upright but rather lays flat on ground.
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Even after the move from Old Stone Presbyterian Meeting House on Piccadilly Street, this slab lays flat on ground at Mount Hebron Cemetery.
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Click on Picture to Enlarge.
Hit Backspace to return here.
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Major-General Daniel Morgan
On July 6th, 1802
in the 67th year of his age.
Patriotism and valor were the
prominent features of his character
and the honorable services he rendered
to his country during the Revolutionary War
crowned him with glory
and will remain in the hearts of his countrymen
a perpetual monument to his memory.
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June 24, 1843
New Resting Place Planned
…minutes of the Mount Hebron Cemetery Company state in part, “Resolved that the central circular plot in the cemetery be and the same is appropriated without charge as a place for the interment of the remain of General Morgan and his companions in arms known as the Dutch Mess, Viz, John Schultz, Peter Lauck, Charles Grim, Adam Heiskell, Adam Kurtz and Jacob Sperry.”
From page 116, Engle.
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Ed note:
But although discussed, noted, and mentioned for the next 25 years, Daniel Morgan’s ghost doesn’t get moved to Mount Hebron until June 13, 1868.
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1855
Miss Hibbard and Bishop Meade
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Postcard of gravestone of Daniel Morgan with insert of Morgan. Grave is at Mt. Hebron Cemetery in Winchester, Va. — Handley Library’s Stewart Bell Jr Archives
Miss Hibbard, a Northern schoolteacher
who was governess for the
children of Bishop Meade of Clarke County
wrote in her diary that the brick vault
was broken and a tree was growing
through one corner.
The broken slab was covered
with moss and leaves,
and the surrounding grass was high enough
to obscure the grave.
From page 115, Engle.
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Click on Photo to enlarge.
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Hit Backspace to return here.
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Ed note:
See Wikipedia on Bishop Meade.
Name is William Meade (November 11, 1789 – March 14, 1862) was a United States Episcopal bishop, the third Bishop of Virginia
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See Marker History website – Bishop Meade lived close to Burwell and Daniel Morgan’s Mill .
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July 4, 1856
Morgan Continental Guards
Sometime before the date of July 4, 1856, an appeal was placed by the Morgan Continental Guards, addressed to the ‘People of Virginia’ …. In part, the text read, “Almost 80 years have passed since independence, and Morgan’s grave is yet to have a monument .. . When Mount Hebron Cemetery was formed in the 1840s, space was set aside for a gravesite for Morgan and other member of his Dutch Mess.” George Randolph Tucker, Lewis Lauck, and J.B Gileson signed the appeal. Right below the appeal was an invitation from Thomas A.T.Riely and Hugh H.Lee for all to attend the laying of the monument’s cornerstone on July 4, 1856. Further research revealed that the monument funds were embezzled and the project collapsed.
From page 115, Engle.
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Ed note:
Quite a story on these Continental Morgan Guards.
which holds still the original uniform of this group.
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1861-1864
War Between the States
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Daniel Morgan’s grave, shown in an 1864 sketch by James E Taylor, was located in the Old Stone Presbyterian Church Cemetery. His remains were moved to the Mt Hebron Cemetery in 1868 – Caption from Page 18 Quarles’s book Intro to Historic Winchester on Streets, Churches, School Picture from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper.
Thomas Cartmell in his book, Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and Descendants, wrote of Morgan’s grave that during the Civil War “many depredations were made by Union soldiers. …Pieces…were broken off and carried away as relics.” Apparently he felt that only Yankees would be souvenir hunters.
From page 116, Engle.
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Summer of 1865
New Jersey Grave Robbers?
Cartmell also reported that a delegation from New Jersey came to Winchester in the summer of 1865 to take Morgan’s remains back to that state on the grounds that Morgan was a native son. Cartmell credits Col. William R. Denny and the citizens of Winchester with forestalling this attempt by hiding the slab until Morgan’s body was moved from its resting place at the Old Stone Church to Mount Hebron Cemetery in the middle of the night. This story seems to have been embellished in the retelling.
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June 13, 1868
Daniel Morgan Grave Moved
The Mount Hebron Cemetery Minutes state that
“General Morgan’s remains were dis-interred
at the Old Presbyterian graveyard
at 5 o’clock on Saturday evening, June 13, 1868,
and removed and buried in Mount Hebron Cemetery.
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These were present on the occasion :
H.m. Brent, R.Y. Conrad, John N. Bell, Lloyd Logan, Jos. S Carson, Wm. H Streit,
Nat. Brent, O.L. Crum, J.J. Williams, and William R. Denny,
all members of
the Board of Managers of Mount Hebron Cemetery Co.
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Also present:
E.J.Senseney, E.S.Brent, H.M.Brent Jr., Stephen Stackhouse, G.Curry, Mr.Thayer,
and a number of boys, white and black.
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Joe Chapman, Superintendent of Mount Hebron,
and Barney, a colored man,
opened the grave and removed the remains,
consisting of all or nearly all the bones
which were contained in a mahogany coffin
[and] placed [them] in a walnut coffin
[made] by Mr. Stackhouse.
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John F. Wall and Dr. James Conrad arrived on the ground before completed.
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Signed, P.W. Boyd, Secretary.”
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According the authors of this article we are covering, the newspapers of the day that were reviewed in the course of our research did not report on the moving of Morgan’s body.
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Above from Page 116 Engle.
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On page 127 Engles:
We learn much, much later in 1951
something else happened in 1920
regarding this day 13 June 1868,
that the Missouri Historical Society
revealed that the metal identification plate from Morgan’s original coffin was part of their collection. No one seems to know how the nameplate migrated to Missouri, but in 1920 a Henry Hanger of Saint Louis, Missouri had donated it to the Historical Society. The newspaper article from which this information was taken stated that Hanger could not remember how he acquired the artifact. There was inscription on the back of the plate:
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“Taken form the coffin of Maj. Gen. Daniel Morgan, whose remains were this day exhumed after having lain in the ground 66 years. June 13, 1868.”
Page 127, Engle.
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