John Paul Jones has been lauded since 1775 as the Father of the US Navy. His influence and leadership were foundational in the establishment of our Navy and in many ways the success of our War of Independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The corporal remains of John Paul Jones were interred into the crypt beneath the Naval Academy crypt in 1906 in a ceremony presided over by President Theodore Roosevelt. From the point of his death in 1792 until then John Paul Jones’ remains had been in a grave in France, where he died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the French Revolution, Commodore John Paul\nJones, the great naval leader of the American Revolution, died in Paris at the\nage of 45. Lacking official status and without financial security, Jones died\nalone in his apartment on July 18, 1792. An admiring French friend arranged for\nhis funeral and provided for a handsome lead coffin. John Paul Jones was buried\nin St. Louis Cemetery, the property of the French royal family. Four years\nlater France’s revolutionary government sold the property and the cemetery was\nforgotten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over a century later, a search began to find the\nbody of John Paul Jones for the purpose of returning his remains to the United\nStates. The American Ambassador to France, General Horace Porter, personally\nled in the research to relocate the forgotten cemetery, provided the funds to\nexcavate the casket and coordinated the efforts to repatriate the mortal\nremains of the great naval hero. Correspondence, antique maps and other records\nin the French national library and archives provided Ambassador Porter the\ninformation which helped in the discovery of the built-over cemetery. After\nweeks of tunneling through basement walls and streets, the casket of Jones was\nfound and disinterred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Remarkably, his corpse, which had been wrapped in a\nwinding cloth and placed in straw and alcohol in a tightly sealed lead casket,\nwas nearly perfectly preserved. He was taken to the University of Paris where a\ncomplete autopsy was performed. There the head of the corpse was compared to\nthe sculptured portrait bust of Jones executed in 1780 by Jean Antoine Houdon,\nwho had taken a plaster impression directly for his subject’s head. The autopsy\nand forensic study proved conclusively that the body was John Paul Jones. He\nhad died of the kidney ailment nephritis, complicated by pneumonia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following an impressive parade, a religious service\nin Paris and a special train arranged by the French government to the port of\nCherbourg, the remains of John Paul Jones were transferred to the USS Brooklyn,\nflagship of a special naval squadron sent by President Theodore Roosevelt to\nbring Jones home to his “country of fond election” and to the nation for\nwhich he immeasurably helped gain independence. On July 24, 1905, the naval tug\nStandish carried the casket ashore at Annapolis, Md., for placement in a\ntemporary vault across the street from the new U.S. Naval Academy Chapel, which\nwas under construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On April 24, 1906, elaborate and impressive\nceremonies in commemoration of John Paul Jones were held in Dahlgren Hall, the\nnew Naval Academy armory. Incidentally, this day was the anniversary of the\nbattle between the Jones’s Ranger and HMS Drake, fought in the Irish Sea in\n1778. It had been the first major naval battle fought under the newly adopted\n“starred and striped” flag and had resulted in Jones’ capture of an\nimportant warship in Great Britain’s home waters. President Roosevelt,\nAmbassador Porter, Admiral George Dewey and many other dignitaries attended the\nceremonies. France sent an entire naval fleet up the Chesapeake Bay to mark the\noccasion. Afterwards the casket of John Paul Jones was placed in the Academy’s\nBancroft Hall to await completion of his permanent tomb, in the new Naval\nAcademy Chapel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jones was bid to rest in the crypt of the Naval\nAcademy Chapel on Jan. 26, 1913. The crypt was designed by Beaux Arts architect\nWhitney Warren, and the 21-ton sarcophagus and surrounding columns of black and\nwhite Royal Pyrenees marble were the work of sculptor Sylvain Salieres. The\nsarcophagus is supported by bronze dolphins and is embellished with cast\ngarlands of bronze sea plants. Inscribed in set-in brass letters around the\nbase of the tomb are the names of the Continental Navy ships commanded by John\nPaul Jones during the American Revolution: Providence, Alfred, Ranger, Bonhomme\nRichard, Serapis, Alliance and Ariel. American national ensigns (flags) and\nunion jacks are placed between the marble columns. Set in brass in the marble\nfloor at the head of the sarcophagus is the inscription:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Important historic objects related to Jones’ life\nand naval career are exhibited in niches around the periphery of the circular\nspace. Visitors today the Naval Academy can see an original marble copy of the\nHoudon portrait bust, the gold medal awarded to Jones by the Congress in 1787,\nthe gold-hilted presentation sword given by Louis XVI of France and Jones\ncommission as Captain, Continental (U.S.) Navy, signed by John Hancock. Here,\ntoo, is a plaque to Ambassador Porter, who was responsible for repatriating the\ngreat naval leader.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":602,"parent":0,"template":"","businesses_cat":[6,39],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intermap.pro\/annapolis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/business\/601"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intermap.pro\/annapolis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/business"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intermap.pro\/annapolis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/business"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intermap.pro\/annapolis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intermap.pro\/annapolis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"businesses_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intermap.pro\/annapolis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/businesses_cat?post=601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}