1 00:00:00,680 --> 00:00:03,880 Speaker 1: So George Washington would have turned two hundred and ninety 2 00:00:03,920 --> 00:00:07,280 Speaker 1: three years old this weekend on February twenty second, if 3 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:10,640 Speaker 1: he hadn't been killed by some over zealous primitive doctors 4 00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:14,840 Speaker 1: and also was immortal. But a few decades after his passing, 5 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:18,600 Speaker 1: he almost had his head stolen. I'm Patty Steele. What 6 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:22,320 Speaker 1: would anybody want to do with George's head? That's next 7 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:30,320 Speaker 1: on the backstory. The backstory is back. Even though President's 8 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:35,040 Speaker 1: weekend was last weekend, George Washington's birthday takes place this weekend, 9 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:38,200 Speaker 1: February twenty second. He was born two hundred and ninety 10 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 1: three years ago, seventeen thirty two. We know that his 11 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:44,800 Speaker 1: death at the age of sixty seven was likely caused 12 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:48,360 Speaker 1: by over zealous doctors who thought that blood letting was 13 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:51,120 Speaker 1: the best way to treat a patient. Pretty common at 14 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:53,959 Speaker 1: the time, but it turns out that he had developed 15 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:57,560 Speaker 1: a nasty throat infection and was having trouble breathing. All 16 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 1: but one of his doctors believed that by raining a 17 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 1: lot of the blood out of his body, they would 18 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 1: somehow make him well at the end of the night, 19 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 1: likely by cutting into his veins. They had drained over 20 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:12,399 Speaker 1: forty percent of his blood. That weakened him and made 21 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:15,039 Speaker 1: him less likely to be able to fight off the infection. 22 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:20,199 Speaker 1: So the next morning George Washington died. It was December fourteenth, 23 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:24,280 Speaker 1: seventeen ninety nine. Now George was frightened of being buried 24 00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:28,160 Speaker 1: alive and aware that his hours were numbered, he specifically 25 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:30,520 Speaker 1: asked that he not be buried until he had been 26 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:33,400 Speaker 1: dead for three days. While he wanted to be buried 27 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:36,040 Speaker 1: in a crypt at home at Mount Vernon, folks in 28 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:39,720 Speaker 1: Washington wanted their hero to be interred in a special 29 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:43,039 Speaker 1: glass exposed vault in the floor of the rotunda of 30 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:46,000 Speaker 1: the Capitol building. The plan was to have a permanent 31 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:49,760 Speaker 1: ten foot hole covered in glass, which would look down 32 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: on a statue of George Washington standing above his own tomb. 33 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: Wow fancy, right. Martha Washington gave that idea a mild 34 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:02,200 Speaker 1: thumbs up. The Capital wasn't even finished being built yet, 35 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:05,320 Speaker 1: so for the time being, they put George's remain in 36 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:08,480 Speaker 1: a separate crypt at Mount Vernon, and that was that. 37 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:12,240 Speaker 1: Over the next thirty years, the family crypt fell into 38 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:17,720 Speaker 1: total disrepair. The public traveled to Washington's grave to snag artifacts, 39 00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:22,280 Speaker 1: including plants, trees and flowers that surrounded it. Everything was 40 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:25,600 Speaker 1: stripped bare. In fact, even the Russian ambassador to the 41 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:29,120 Speaker 1: United States had an entire branch taken from a tree 42 00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:32,839 Speaker 1: next to the tomb, which he later presented to Alexander 43 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:38,200 Speaker 1: the First. In eighteen thirty, GW's grand nephew, John Augustine 44 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:41,880 Speaker 1: Washington the Second, owned Mount Vernon. The story goes that 45 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:44,919 Speaker 1: he decided to fire one of his gardeners. Well, the 46 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:48,520 Speaker 1: guy was furious. He wanted revenge, so he breaks into 47 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:51,600 Speaker 1: the family crypt with the idea that he'd steal George 48 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:54,919 Speaker 1: Washington's head. People in those days didn't love their relics. 49 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:58,000 Speaker 1: The thought was he'd sell it in Europe, where George 50 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:01,320 Speaker 1: was really admired, or perhaps even have it go out 51 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:04,800 Speaker 1: on tour in a traveling display. But here's where the 52 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:09,240 Speaker 1: gardener ran into a problem. John Augustine Washington had close 53 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:12,640 Speaker 1: to ten kids and a boatload of in laws, many 54 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:15,160 Speaker 1: of whom were buried in the crypt in a pretty 55 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:19,600 Speaker 1: haphazard way. Turns out, time as well as wild animals 56 00:03:19,639 --> 00:03:23,280 Speaker 1: plus folks looking for souvenirs had all taken a real 57 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:26,799 Speaker 1: toll in the crypt. Coffins had rotted. There were bodies 58 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:29,880 Speaker 1: scattered all over the floor. There were at least twenty 59 00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:33,280 Speaker 1: people buried in the crypt. The gardener grabbed a couple 60 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:36,360 Speaker 1: of heads, which later were identified as a man and 61 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:40,120 Speaker 1: a little girl. The bodies of George and Martha Washington, 62 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: on the other hand, had been encased in lead before 63 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:48,280 Speaker 1: their burial, so were spared this indignity, as they put it. Meantime, 64 00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 1: the gardener was nabbed the next day in Alexandria, Virginia, 65 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:54,680 Speaker 1: and the skull was returned to the crypt anyway. As 66 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:58,280 Speaker 1: a result of the attempted theft, Congress decided once again 67 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:01,800 Speaker 1: it wanted to take Washington's body and in tumbe him 68 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:04,440 Speaker 1: in the Capitol as part of the celebration of his 69 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:08,280 Speaker 1: one hundredth birthday on February twenty second, eighteen thirty two. 70 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:12,120 Speaker 1: But John Washington refused, saying he had just built a 71 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:15,320 Speaker 1: new and improved family crypt and he could not disturb 72 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:19,479 Speaker 1: President Washington's perfect tranquility, as he put it. The bodies 73 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:22,120 Speaker 1: of George and Martha Washington were moved to the side 74 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty one, and a security guard was hired 75 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:28,800 Speaker 1: to keep an eye on the tomb. In eighteen thirty seven, 76 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:32,320 Speaker 1: after a new and more fancy sarcophagus was built out 77 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: of Pennsylvania marble, the original lead interior coffins of George 78 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:40,840 Speaker 1: and Martha were moved. That's when the coffin was unsealed 79 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:44,599 Speaker 1: for the first and last time, so John Washington could 80 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:47,279 Speaker 1: take a look at his uncle's body, maybe to ensure 81 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:49,680 Speaker 1: no one else had tried to steal GW's head, or 82 00:04:49,839 --> 00:04:53,880 Speaker 1: maybe it was just morbid curiosity. Anyway, Harper's New Monthly 83 00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:57,520 Speaker 1: magazine said the corpse appeared to have suffered little from 84 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:01,480 Speaker 1: the effects of time and was notable for its large dimensions. 85 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 1: In life, George Washington was more than six feet tall, 86 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:08,960 Speaker 1: unusually large for the eighteenth century. The article said he 87 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,839 Speaker 1: had a massive head, with tremendously large hands and size 88 00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:16,359 Speaker 1: thirteen feet. There have also been claims that locks of 89 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:19,360 Speaker 1: hair were removed from George's head at that point when 90 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:22,280 Speaker 1: they had the coffin open, because people love getting their 91 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:26,320 Speaker 1: hands on that stuff, but nobody's for sure whether that happened. 92 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:29,680 Speaker 1: But full on body snatching was a big problem throughout 93 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:33,320 Speaker 1: the eighteen hundreds, and Washington wasn't the only president targeted. 94 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:37,080 Speaker 1: Abe Lincoln's remains were nearly snatched in an election day 95 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:40,480 Speaker 1: plot in eighteen seventy six, but those guys were foiled. 96 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:44,800 Speaker 1: The body of Thomas Paine, the Revolutionary War influencer who 97 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:48,480 Speaker 1: wrote Common Sense, was dug up in eighteen nineteen and 98 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:51,520 Speaker 1: shipped to England, who was never returned, and over the 99 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:54,520 Speaker 1: years his bones were split up. Where it is the 100 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:57,640 Speaker 1: skull is somewhere in Australia, and a leg bone is 101 00:05:57,640 --> 00:05:59,919 Speaker 1: said to be in the wall of an English tavern. 102 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:05,279 Speaker 1: Here's the thing. George Washington was a monumentally towering figure 103 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:09,120 Speaker 1: for a brand new country just getting its footing. Everybody 104 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:12,280 Speaker 1: wanted to celebrate him, be like him, have their kids 105 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:16,000 Speaker 1: grow up to be like him. People then described visiting 106 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:20,560 Speaker 1: his tomb as being a rapturous, almost religious experience, and 107 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:22,719 Speaker 1: there was a sense that putting his bones in DC 108 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:25,800 Speaker 1: would help bind the country together in the run up 109 00:06:25,839 --> 00:06:29,760 Speaker 1: to the Civil War. As one biographer said, the question 110 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:33,320 Speaker 1: was whether Washington's memory belonged more to the state he 111 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:37,120 Speaker 1: called home or to the country he created. So in 112 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:40,240 Speaker 1: the race to capture a relic of George Washington, whether 113 00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:43,119 Speaker 1: it was a lock of his hair or his entire head, 114 00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 1: the motivation seems to have been based on the desire 115 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:50,240 Speaker 1: to somehow hold on to his physical presence in people's 116 00:06:50,279 --> 00:06:56,120 Speaker 1: lives for as long as they possibly could. Hope you're 117 00:06:56,160 --> 00:06:59,720 Speaker 1: enjoying The Backstory with Patty Steele. Follow or subscribe for 118 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:03,120 Speaker 1: freek to get new episodes delivered automatically, and feel free 119 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:04,919 Speaker 1: to dm me if you have a story you would 120 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 1: like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and 121 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:13,800 Speaker 1: on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories 122 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:17,960 Speaker 1: a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group, 123 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:21,800 Speaker 1: and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our 124 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:25,960 Speaker 1: writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. 125 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:28,560 Speaker 1: Feel free to reach out to me with comments and 126 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:32,560 Speaker 1: even story suggestions on Instagram at real Patty Steele and 127 00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:35,640 Speaker 1: on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the 128 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:39,400 Speaker 1: Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces of history you didn't 129 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:40,560 Speaker 1: know you needed to know.