“Then Will the Union Be Knit Indissolubly Together” the Tomb for President James Monroe Louis J

“Then Will the Union Be Knit Indissolubly Together” The Tomb for President James Monroe Louis J. Malon On the morning of July 5, 1858, a large crowd gathered on the ample of the rural cemetery movement; third, and most ger- docks at Rockett’s Landing on the James River just below Rich- mane, as a significant architectural achievement. The Mon- mond, Virginia, and became restless as the summer sun grew roe Tomb will be shown to link an emerging technology in ever more oppressive. The citizenry, dressed for a formal oc- America to an unconventional use. The design and execution casion, impatiently watched the visible stretch of the turgid remain, 144 years later, a striking combination of the Gothic river for the arrival of a small flotilla. The agitation and im- and the picturesque (Figures 1-4). patience grew to the point that Joseph Mayo, the mayor of Richmond, was compelled to mount a small platform and re- I. The Governor mind them that they were gathered for a dignified occasion. The story begins, as so much of American history does, Indeed, the crowd that Monday morning had gathered to wel- with politics. Henry Alexander Wise, Governor of the Com- come home to Virginia the coffin containing the remains of monwealth of Virginia from 1855 to 1859, was, like his state President James Monroe. in mid-century, a study in contrasts. Born into one of Virginia’s The fifth president of the United States had been born first families in Accomac County on Virginia’s Eastern Shore one hundred years earlier, in 1758, in Westmoreland County, in 1806, he became the champion of the average man who Virginia. James Monroe had brought honor to himself and his never lost an election. A slave owner from birth, he fought so state in the Revolution and had served two terms as governor strenuously against the slave trade while serving as Ambassa- of Virginia. He also served as a United States Senator, as the dor to Brazil, he was recalled from that post in 1847.1 Wise Ambassador to France (where he was instrumental in the ne- was plagued throughout his political life with a burning de- gotiations that led to the Louisiana Purchase), as the Ambas- sire to be president of the United States. His temper and his sador to Great Britain, as the Secretary of State, and, finally, oratorical excesses (one of his speeches to the 1850/51 Vir- for two terms still referred to as “The Era of Good Feeling,” ginia Constitutional Convention covered five days) cost him as the President of the United States. His popularity was such many one-time political allies including Presidents John Tyler that in 1820 he ran for reelection without opposition, joining and James Buchanan. Determined to save the union as a presi- only George Washington as a candidate who had been elected dential candidate in 1860, he led the secession of Virginia president with no opponent. As testimony to his integrity, it is from the union the following year (Figure 5). claimed, he retired from public service in dire financial straits Henry Wise was a striking physical personality. Renowned and was forced to sell his Virginia home to satisfy creditors. for his spellbinding oratory, his thin build made him appear Following the death of his beloved wife Elizabeth, Monroe taller than his six feet in height. His eyes were dark and hard, spent his last years in New York City in the home of his daugh- his clothes often shabby, his hair unkempt. He was a constant ter and son-in-law. At his death at age 74, on July 4, 1831, he chewer of tobacco. His language could be foul, but Henry Wise was given a proper burial in New York City and there re- was never boring and never ignored. His belief in the fading mained until the summer of 1858, a tense and uncertain time glory of Virginia led him to make grand gestures honoring in Virginia, and the nation, that would deteriorate into full- her past heroes both to remind the nation of Virginia’s pre- blown civil war less than three years later. eminent role in the founding of the nation and to reassert her This discussion examines the memorial tomb that the leadership role in the South. Commonwealth of Virginia prepared for its returning native Henry Wise grew up and remained all his life a true be- son and hero from three perspectives: first, as political theater liever in George Washington and a full participant in the cult orchestrated by Henry A. Wise, the flamboyant and ambitious of Washington.2 He used his influence as governor to assist governor of Virginia; second, as an anchor that secured the the Mount Vernon Ladies Association to purchase success of Richmond’s new, but faltering, Hollywood Cem- Washington’s Mount Vernon in 1858. Also in 1858, he led etery, which is now recognized as an outstanding early ex- the ceremonial unveiling of Thomas Crawford’s magnificent 1 Craig Michael Simpson, “Henry A. Wise in Antebellum Politics, 1850- 2 For a summary discussion of the efforts to memorialize George Washing- 1861” (Ph.D. diss., Stanford UP, 1973) 17-18. ton with various monuments, see Charles Brownell, et al. The Making of Virginia Architecture (Richmond: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1992) 60-63. ATHANOR XXI LOUIS J. MALON bronze equestrian statue of Washington, ringed by six of grounds from the center of the city was driven by both practi- Virginia’s other heroes, on the grounds of the Virginia State cality and aesthetic preference. The Europeans, particularly Capitol. the French and Germans, were already dealing with the ne- George W. Munford, Virginia’s Secretary of State, articu- cessity of finding larger available tracts of land for burial at lated the plan that Wise had devised, but, was unable to ful- the outer fringes of densely built cities. Massachusetts lays fill: claim to the first American rural cemetery with the develop- And if at some future time, Virginia shall ment of Mount Auburn in Cambridge in 1831. These rural bring, as she hopes she will, to the same cemeteries, followed within the decade by similar develop- spot, the remains of her Jefferson and her ments in Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Baltimore, and Cincinnati, Madison, and lay them side by side with were intended as much for the living as the deceased.5 The those of Monroe … and the people of every cemetery was detached from a church and from any particular sister State shall make their pilgrimage to denomination. They were created in picturesque, park-like her shrine, to pay reverence and respect to settings that fostered not only remembrance of the dead but her Washington, and their Washington, and contemplation and aesthetic pleasure among the living. The to these her sons, and their sons, then will preferred setting for the rural cemetery was a rolling land- the Union be knit indissolubly together, and scape that allowed for arresting picturesque views and mean- the powers of the earth same wrestle with dering trails (which none too coincidentally allowed for many us in vain.3 choice ‘corner lots’ for sale by the entrepreneurs developing Whatever the motives of Wise and his circle—whether to fur- these grounds). ther his individual political ambitions or to preserve and Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia had been designed strengthen the union of the States—they were unsuccessful. by John Notman (1810-1865), an important architect and land- Jefferson and Madison remain buried at their Virginia homes. scape architect in New Jersey and Philadelphia in the mid- Monroe’s is the only tomb in the three adjacent plots pur- nineteenth century. Notman’s design of Laurel Hill (1836- chased by the Commonwealth in 1858. Visitors come to this 1839) and Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati (1845) day, regularly, to pay their respects to James Monroe and his brought him to the attention of the new proprietors of a 42- memorial tomb. However, it is likely that as many are drawn acre tract of rolling land just west of the city limits of Rich- to Monroe’s Tomb as an inevitable part of a visit to Holly- mond. In February 1848, Notman submitted his design, which wood Cemetery than drawn to Hollywood Cemetery as a visit intertwined the functionalism and aesthetics that were the to the tomb. hallmarks of his design philosophy.6 It was Notman who sug- gested the name of the cemetery be Holly-Wood in honor of II. The Cemetery the beautiful trees adorning the grounds. While the Virginia General Assembly considered the bill The plan was executed and the results were praised. Eco- authorizing the removal of Monroe’s remains from New York nomically, however, the cemetery languished and lot sales were to Virginia, the Petersburg Express, a newspaper in a city not slow the first few years. The decision of Governor Wise to thirty miles south of Richmond, weighed in, supporting the purchase three lots for the proposed re-internment of three effort and even suggesting a fitting location for the final rest- glorious former presidents was the validation that the grow- ing place. ing elite of Richmond needed to spur their participation. Within There is a lovely eminence at the western a few years, Hollywood’s success was assured. Its reputation extremity of Hollywood Cemetery, to which was further enhanced following the burial and memorialization the stranger is taken to look down on the of thousands of Confederate soldiers within its walls. thriving city and fertile wheatfields, green islets and foaming rapids which make up III.

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