THE RESURRECTION OF JOHN PAUL JONES (PT 2): THE SEARCH FOR A LONG-LOST HERO

1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries Podcast

After the untimely death of Captain John Paul Jones in Paris, a funeral was provided as well as a lead-lined coffin, and the coffin was deposited in the New Orleans area of Paris, a graveyard for non-citizen Protestants. This occurred during the height of the French Revolution, and the papers marking the place of burial were burned, making it difficult years later to locate. In addition, the cemetary became vacant, was filled in with 15 feet of dirt, and used for the building of cheap tenements served by septic tanks as well as a burail yard for dead animals including horses. It was definitely no way to treat a hero- but no one cared at the time and through the 100 years that the body beneath the heap. In 1898 the new Ambassador to France, Horace C. Porter, honored his earlier pledge to recover Jone'sbody and return it with honor to the United States, which had made their naval hero an honorary citizen. It took 6 years to find John Paul Jones- and this is the story of that search and what it means to the US Naval Academy to house the remains of the Father of the American Navy.