THE TOMBSTONE TOURIST - CALVARY CEMETERY, ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

In 2010, while traveling to the NCAA Tournament in Oklahoma City, I took a day to visit some of the historic cemeteries of the St. Louis, Missouri area.  Earlier in day I visited Bellefontaine Cemetery, and then moved to the adjacent Calvary Cemetery.

Calvary Cemetery is a Roman Catholic Cemetery that is operated by the Archdiocese of St, Louis. It is about 470 acres and is the final resting place of more than 300,000 people.

In 1849 a cholera epidemic struck St. Louis and more than 4,000 people died. The fear of another epidemic prompted the City of St. Louis to pass an ordinance which banned the creation of any new cemeteries. During this time, most of the cemeteries within in the city of St. Louis were either full or nearing capacity.  As a result, the Archdiocese of St. Louis purchased Senator Henry Clay's "Old Orchard Farm" which was originally located a few miles north of the city. The farm became the site of Calvary Cemetery, which opened for burials in 1854.

My first stop in Calvary Cemetery was at the grave of General William Tecumseh Sherman.  General Sherman was one of the most notorious generals of the Civil War and is know for his "March to the Sea," where is basically practiced a scorched earth policy of burning and destroying every thing in his path. In the days following General Lee's surrender at Appomattox, General Sherman pressed the last remaining Confederate Army under the command of General Joseph E. Johnston through North Carolina.  The final battles of the Civil War occurred near Durham, North Carolina. In late April 1865, Sherman and Johnston met at Bennett's Farm near Durham, North Carolina to discuss the terms of surrender.  After agreeing to terms, General Sherman accepted the surrender of more than 60,000 Confederate Soldiers, more than at Appomattox and the largest of the War.

William Tecumseh Sherman

  In the years that followed,Sherman and Johnston became close friends, and when General Sherman died in 1891, Johnston served as a pallbearer at Sherman's funeral which was held in New York City.

Following the Civil War, Sherman continued his military service and was appointed to the rank of General of Army. He moved his command to St. Louis so that he could direct the American campaign again the Indians on the western frontier. On November 1, 1883, Sherman stepped down as commanding General of the Army and retired from military service on February 8, 1884 and moved to New York City where he lived the rest of his life. General William Tecumseh Sherman died of Pneumonia on February 14, 1891. Following a funeral in New York City, his body was transported to St. Louis where he was laid to rest here in Calvary Cemetery.

Powhatan Clark

Calvary Cemetery is also the final resting place of Medal of Honor recipient  Powhatan Clark, who graduated from West Point in 1884. Clarke was a Second Lieutenant in the Buffalo Soldiers, 10th Calvary stations at Fort Davis, Texas when on May 3, 1886 he and his fellow soldiers came under attack from the Apaches at Pinito Mountains. During the attack, Lieutenant Clarke rescued Corporal Edward Scott who was wounded and lay in open ground. For his actions, Lieutenant Clarke was awarded the Medal of Honor.  His Medal of Honor citation simple reads:

"Rushed forward to the rescue of a soldier who was severely wounded and lay, disabled, exposed to the enemy's fire, and carried him to a place of safety."


One of the more interesting monument in Calvary Cemetery is dedicated to the four Nez Perce warriors who traveled to St. Louis in 1831.  During the Lewis and Clark expedition, the explorers relied on assistance that they received from the Nez Perce. As a result of the friendship the explorers established with the Nez Perce people, four of their warriors traveled more than 2,000 miles to visit Leggins, No Horns On His Head, Black Eagle and Speaking Eagle met with William Clark a few days after they arrived in the city.  Shortly after their meeting with Clark, the warriors became ill and Black Eagle and Speaking Eagle died in the city, while No Horns On His Head and Rabbit Skin Leggins left the city and are though to have died on the way back to their home in the Pacific Northwest. Black Eagle and Speaking Eagle were buried in St. Louis. In 2000 their graves were found and in 2003 this monument was erected at their grave site here in Calvary Cemetery.
St. Louis. Upon arrival the warriors found it impossible to communicated
and had to rely on hand gestures to communicate, so no one really knows the purpose of their visit. The four warriors, Rabbit Skin

Dred Scott

Another of the more notable graves in Calvary Cemetery is that of Dred Scott who was the subject of the famed Dred Scott Decision in 1857. Scott and his wife Harriett were slaves, owned first by the Peter Blow who later sold the Scott's to Dr. John Emerson who was a surgeon in the Army. Emerson's army service require them to relocate quite often. The finally settled in Missouri, near Jefferson Barracks and in 1846, Dred and Harriett attempted unsuccessfully to purchase their freedom. I was then that the Scott's began exploring legal means to obtain their freedom, which eventually lead them to sue the United States.  The case made its way all the way to the United States Supreme Court which ruled in a 7-2 decision written by Chief Justice Roger Taney, that negro, whose ancestors were imported into the United States, and sold as slaves" whether enslaved or free, could not be an American citizen and therefore had no standing to sue in federal court, and that the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in the federal territories acquired after the creation of the United States. Following the Supreme Court Decision, Dred and Harriett were eventually sold to Taylor Blow, the son of their original owner, Peter Blow. Taylor Blow granted the Scott's their freedom on May 26, 1857. After obtaining his freedom Dred Scott worked as a porter in a St. Louis Hotel, until he fell ill in early 1858.  Dred Scott died on September 17, 1858 from the effects of tuberculosis. 

Tennessee Williams

My final stop in Calvary Cemetery is at the grave site of Tennessee Williams.  Thomas Lanier Williams was born on March 26 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi.  After graduating from college he moved to New Orleans where he would become one of the most notable playwrights of the 20th century.   While in New Orleans, he changed his name to Tennessee Williams, simply because that is where his father was from. On March 31, 1945, his play "The Glass Menagerie," opened on Broadway and two years later "A Streetcar Named Desire," earned him his first Pulitzer Prize. In 1955, Williams won his second Pulitzer Prize for "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." Tennessee Williams died on February 25, 1983.

The rain and cold hampered my visit and I decided to cut it short and head out and find some lunch and hope that in the afternoon the skies would clear and the temps would climb.  Here is a short video of my visit to Calvary Cemetery.