The Old American Cemetery

Nestled in the trees at what is currently known as the Louisiana Veterans Memorial Park is the site of what was probably Baton Rouge’s first cemetery. What started as the “Spanish Cemetery,” then called the “Old American Cemetery,” and finally the “Old Protestant Graveyard” was the resting place for many of Baton Rouge’s early notables. And like many other Louisiana cemeteries, it became a lamented eyesore before its ultimate extinction.

In the beginning …

Long before Veterans Memorial Park was the Spanish Cemetery, it was a burial ground for the Native Americans that inhabited the area. Archaeologists believe that these people were from the Coles Creek culture, and like other Woodlands cultures the use of burial mounds was common. A footnote worth mentioning: the mounds at LSU are thought to be much older, and may be the oldest manmade structures in the Americas. But I digress. And I’m glad that this is acknowledged at the site, since so much of our Native American history has was lost as Europeans “discovered” the Americas.

Like the Europeans, it’s likely that the Coles Creek people chose to bury their dead here because of its beauty. Who can blame them?

Early in the Red Stick

Like many other 18th century American cities, Baton Rouge was a planned city—a detail that is evident when one looks at the inorganic and deliberate street layout of the downtown core. And as was the case in many early cities, there was a desire to bury the dead some distance from the densely populated areas for the obvious reasons of sanitation. The land that became the Spanish Cemetery was marked on the earliest known maps as “Public Ground,” and the location was likely selected because of its proximity to what is now known as Capitol Lake (previously “University Lake,” and prior to that the “Bayou”). This picturesque spot on the edge of the wilderness would have been ideal for quiet contemplation and reflection.

It seems impossible to pinpoint when the land came into use as a cemetery. Like most early cemeteries it probably sprang up organically and somewhat spontaneously, much like death itself during this time. During an exhumation of 23 graves in 1931, the remains of Spaniards were discovered that almost certainly dated back to the 18th century. This exhumation took place for an inauspicious reason: the cemetery land abutted what was once the original site for Louisiana State University, which in 1931 was being transformed into Huey Long’s new State Capitol site. One of the powder magazine buildings survived the razing (thanks to the concerted efforts of some local citizens that recognized its value), but the cemetery did not, and the last of its dead were reinterred in a large vault at the corner of the site. Curiously, these 23 coffins were discovered by George Osmond Maher, who employed the use of his recently invented “ground radio machine”—now known as a metal detector—and which is a topic for its own post.

The 1825 and 1839 maps I’ve shown here make no mention of the cemetery, but they do note that this area was “public ground” and it may have been common knowledge at the time that a cemetery would fall under these auspices.

The first mentions of the cemetery that I could find were in period newspapers, and by then there were problems. Here’s the earliest that I could find from 1842:

SACRILEGE.—Last week, as two gentlemen were passing by the old cemetery on North st., they encountered a man, coming out of the cemetery, covered with dust of a reddish hue and having in his hand a quantity of copper tacks. Suspecting all was not right, the gentlemen entered the cemetery by the passage through which the individual had emerged and proceeding a short distance, found a tomb newly broken open and desecrated. They reported the circumstance to his Honor the Mayor, who arrested, tried and committed the man to jail. It appeared in evidence that he was very drunk when discovered, and he was bailed the next day, chiefly on the supposition that he was, at the time of committing the crime, unconscious of its enormity.

The desecration of the tomb—the violation of that profound repose, “where the wicked cease from troubling,” is certainly an offense of the first magnitude, and one which, we think, is none the more excusable because coupled with the disgusting vice of intemperance. But in Baton Rouge, we see not why it should be deemed a crime, or why it should excite the least surprise or horror. It is an every-day privilege permitted to dumb beasts, and why deny it to men? Our cemeteries are little better than open commons, where the graves of our departed friends are hourly subject to mutilation. Those “who sleep,” would find the same repose in the middle of the high-way, as in the place selected for its resemblance to the sad dominion of Silence.

This is shameful, and tells very unfavorably for our city. Unless we repair the enclosures to our cemeteries, we shall one day see the bodies of the lately loved and lost, turned out of the earth by semi to fester and decay in the summer’s sun.

Baton Rouge Tri-Weekly Gazette and Comet, 6 Aug 1842, page 3

An Intractable Problem

Tomb theft and desecration remained a problem at the cemetery, despite its proximity to the nearby barracks. In 1847 the Weekly Advocate newspaper begged a solution to the problem:

We have been requested earnestly to solicit the attention of the town authorities to the almost impassable condition of the road leading to this Cemetery. We would take occasion to ask what has become of the subscription list gotta up some months ago, for enclosing the Cemetery? We learn from a credible source that an amount almost equivalent for the purpose was subscribed, and that it is guaranteed from the most reliable sources, that an amount more than called for can be raised immediately, if the matter would only be attended to properly. Friends, for humanity’s sake, for God’s sake,—let us progress in this matter as becomes men—enlightened men—Christian men.

We are sick and tired of witnessing such apathy as exists in the public mind in relation to this matter.

Weekly Advocate, 1 Sep 1847, page 2

A movement began to surround the cemetery with a fence, and this sharp and sarcastic newspaper article from 1853 describes the movement thus:

Every now and then some charitable fellow under the name of ‘citizen,’ “a Tax Payer,” “Pro Bono Public” or some such title, sits and and labors over an article of half a column, for one of the interesting papers of this city, on some subject of a local character, designed to benefit the “people at large.” We look regularly for something of this sort every now and then; it is a king of blowing off of steam, a relief to the heart and head of some fellow, who has worked himself up into such a fervor of “love for the People,” that an explosion would be the inevitable result of silence. “A Citizen” in last Saturday’s Gazette (our attention has just been called to it, by a communication in another column) asks to know what has become of the money $8,000,00 not $80,000,00 as is sometimes written, which was raised by a fair to enclose the Protestant grave yard? In answer to the question, we say that their are several reasons why the works has not been done. The most important reason is, that the ground cannot be had from the Government. Does a citizen want any better reason than this. Another thing is, that the $80,000,00 when counted only amount to $739, 95½.

We commend the communication signed A. C. to “a citizen,” and as we have’nt the smallest doubt but his outpouring some from the heart overflowing with the very tenderest sympathies for the living, and the kindest regard for the dead; that he will come out after this and lend his valuable services to help the ladies out of the dilemma into which they have fallen with the $800,000, 00. His kind suggestion to the committee will no doubt be met with the consideration it deserves, and they will hand him over “their authority to do nothing, the subscription list with eight millions of money, together with the twenty for item’s volumes of correspondence, with the secretary of War!!! on the subject, and any or all such other information as by bare chance of accident he may not be in possession of.

Weekly Comet, 3 Jul 1853, page 5

The problem persisted well in 1860 (and beyond):

☛ Parents will read the communication elsewhere, signed “A Parent” in reference to the vandalism of children in the Protestant Graveyard. There cannot certainly be much such boys as are referred to, and we would like to know their names. Will the officers of law look that way occasionally, and make an arrest.

Daily Gazette and Comet, 19 Jan 1860, page 3

Decay

☛ We notice the offer for sale on the street, of old iron, which is apparently the fragments of Cemetery railing. It has the appearance of having been hammered to pieces by means of brick bats. Those having iron railed burying places in the American graveyard, should examine the premises and notice if any act of vandalism has been committed.

Weekly Advocate, 5 Sep 1868, page 3

A Cemetery Anew

By 1852, the need for a new cemetery in Baton Rouge was apparent. Resolution Number 220 from that year’s legislative session began the search.

List of Acts of the Legislature.

TITLES OF ACTS AND RESOLUTIONS PASSED AT THE SESSION OF THIS LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA, BEGUN AND HELD AT THE CITY OF BATON ROUGE, FROM THE 19th JANUARY TO 18th MARCH, 1852.

…

No. 220. Resolution, requesting our Senators and Representatives in Congress to obtain from the General Government, the use of a portion of the grounds attached to the U. S. Barracks, at Baton Rouge, as a cemetery for said town.

Baton Rouge Tri-Weekly Gazette & Comet, 1 May 1852, page 2

By June of 1852, a committee had been formed to procure a new location.

We are glad to perceive that a move has been made by the Board of Selectmen to procure a suitable piece of ground for a public cemetery. On motion of Mr. Kellum, a committee of three was appointed by the Board, for that purpose.

This is an important move, one which we are surprised has been so long neglected. The purchase of such a piece of ground by the Corporation will reflect much credit upon the Board.

It is indeed surprising that there is no public burying ground at the State Capital. The Catholics have one, but exclusively for Catholics. The ground belonging to the United States now used for a burying ground is full, and may be closed to the citizens at any time. We trust then that the committee will set with the energy characteristic of those who compose it and that those who have grounds suitable for the purpose, will sell them to the Corporation upon reasonable terms.—The objet is no holy one, and we say let it be purchased at once, let the citizen and stranger who happened to be with us for a time, know and feel that there is a spot which is to be ever held sacred for the purpose of receiving the dead, this will soften the death bed, and in some measure will be a relief to the sorrows of surviving friends.

We know of nothing which forces the mind to contemplate upon the stern reality that death must visit us sooner or later, with greater force than the knowledge that there is a public burial ground, the contemplation of this truth is calculated to make men better. Surviving friends would rather a pride in constructing tombs over the departed, if satisfied that it was ever to remain consecrated to the dead, fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters and cousins, would aid in the construction of such tombs as would mark the spot which contained the dead.

Upon the score of expenses, it would cost the city nothing, the sale of vaults or lots to citizens would be more than sufficient to pay for the ground, and to enclose and ornament it. We sincerely hope soon to be able to announce the purchase of such a piece of ground.

Baton Rouge Tri-Weekly Gazette & Comet, 12 Jun 1852, page 3

Less than two months later, the newspapers reported that:

☛ The committee for the selection of a site for a Public Cemetery, have, we understand, purchased twenty arpents of ground, lying east of the terminus of Church and Florida streets.

Baton Rouge Tri-Weekly Gazette & Comet, 7 Aug 1852, page 3

In September of 1852, the new cemetery committee was announced, as was Baton Rouge’s newest public burial ground, Magnolia Cemetery.

CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS.

Baton Rouge, Monday, Sept. 6th, 1852.

The board of selectmen met this day present:—

John R. Dufrocq, Esq., Mayor.
Joseph Monget,
Levi Kellum,
Saml. M. Hart,
Chas. Guedry,
Eugene Lanoue.

The proceedings of last meeting were read and approved.

The committee on Public Cemetery submitted the following report, which on motion was received and adopted:

REPORT.

Baton Rouge, Sept. 6th 1852.

The undersigned committee, to whom was refered the subject matter in relation to a piece of ground bounded South by Florida street, East by Corporation line, North by lands owned by John Gallis, and West by the street lately opened and connecting Florida with Church street, purchased from John Buhler, by the city of Baton Rouge for a Cemetery, beg leave to make the following report:

1.—The above mentioned piece of ground shall be known under the name and style of “Magnolia Cemetery,” and shall be forever used as a public place of Burial, under such rules and regulations as may be hereafter adopted.

2.—The affairs of said Cemetery shall be managed by a Board of Trustees, consisting of five persons, who shall be elected by the city council, on the first Monday in September in each year. Said Board shall be down under the name and style of the “Board of Trustees for the Magnolia Cemetery,” one of whom shall be elected President by the members thereof; said board shall have power to fill vacancies, and to make their own By-laws and Regulations.

3.—Any Three members of the Board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, and in the absence of the President may choose one from among themselves to act as President pro tem.

4.—The said “Board of Trustees” shall elect annually, a Secretary, Treasurer, and Sexton, who shall receive such compensation for their services as the Board may determine.

5.—It shall be the duty of the “Board of Trustees” to lay off the ground in such a manner as they may deem proper, and to sell the same to individuals, benevolent societies or churches in such quantities, and at such prices, as they may think just and equitable—provided however, that at least one Fourth of said ground shall be reserved as a burial place for the use of the public, for which no charge shall be made.

6.—The said “Board of Trustees” shall have the power to expend such sums of money, arising from the sale of lots or from any other source as they may deem necessary, for enclosing, laying off, improving and ornamenting said Cemetery.

7.—Said “Board of Trustees” shall keep a Book, in which shall be recorded all their proceedings, which shall be subject at all times to the inspection of the Mayor, or any member of the board of selectmen.

8.—The said “Board of Trustees,” shall be required to make a semi-annual report of all their proceedings, to the city council, showing a statement of their receipts and disbursements during that period.

EUGENE LANOUE.
JOSEPH MONGET.
S. M. HART.

Daily Comet, 10 Sep 1852, page 2

Moving

With the establishment of Magnolia Cemetery, the Old American graveyard fell into even worse disrepair. This account from 1867 described the lurid conditions:

The Old American graveyard is now an open common, the hogs and cows tread and root over the old tombs and graves. The Bays and Hollies have been cut down and private enclosures can no longer be kept up. It is time that the ashes of our kindred should be removed to a spot belonging to their people where the evergreens and flowers planted over them will be undisturbed, until the present living and the past dead are alike forgotten.

Daily Advocate, 29 Apr 1867, page 3

Despite this, interments continued to take place at Old American Cemetery, with 10 burials recorded in the week of September 1, 1866. During the same week, only 4 burials were recorded at Magnolia Cemetery.

The movement of burials out of the Old American Cemetery was slow, and in 1885 the following article noted that tombs were still being broken into:

We are informed that some time during the past week a number of tombs in the old American Cemetery were broken open, the coffins pulled out and also broken open. One was the tomb of Mrs. John R. Dufrocq, nee Converse, and the other was the tomb of a child of the late John Buhler, formerly a sheriff of this parish. Such vandalism was no doubt perpetrated by some heartless villain who hoped to find valuables in the coffins. Some kind hearted ladies visited the spot last Saturday and cared for the remains named above as well as they could. The authorities should use all possible exertions to find out who the guilty party is that just punishment of the law may be enforced.

Daily Advocate, 9 Mar 1885, page 3

An eyewitness account that August gave an even more graphic description of the desecrations:

Receiving information that depredations were being perpetrated on the tombs, in the old American grave yard, our reporter, on Tuesday evening last, visited this old and neglected burying ground and found, as stated, that a number of brick tombs had been broken open and acts of vandalism committed. In several instances tombs has been opened at the head of the grave, the metallic cases in them drawn out sufficiently to enable the party or parties engaged in this outrageous work to remove the plate from over the face of the corpse, the glass plates being broken in, thus exposing the remains of the dead. Some of these our reporter noted. One of the tombs thus desecrated is situated near atomic and on the southside of a monument erected to the memory of Dr. Dudley Avery. The tomb in which rest the remains of Mrs. John R. Dufrocq nee Anna E. Converse, has been opened on the southside and the case broken. Near it, the tomb of Edward William Duplesis has also been disturbed. The marble slab over the grave of Gen. Philemon Thomas has been partially removed from over the grave, and the tomb of Thomas W. Robbins, who evidently had been an Odd Fellow, has also been broken. The brick tombs of two children have been opened as well as several other brick tombs from which the marble slabs, have been removed. He also noted the fact that the heavy marble slab over the tomb of the wife of the late Capt. Surles has been broken and partially removed. In conversation with a person residing in the neighborhood our reporter was informed that persons are known to have gone into that burying ground and to have removed bricks from the tombs for the purpose of building chimneys, etc. It is also asserted that marble slabs have been taken from the graves by persons not authorized to do so, and that they had either been appropriated, by the parties taking them, for their own uses or had been disposed of to other persons after the inscriptions had been defaced. If these latter statements be true, some action should be taken by the authorities. At all events, investigation of these reports should be had.

Daily Advocate, 26 Aug 1885, page 3

Sadly, I could find no account of the cemetery’s demise, and this article (which has far less substance than I would like) may be its only obituary. It appeared that the dregs of the vandalized cemetery lingered into the early 20th century, and the clearing of the land in 1931 for the new State Capitol saw what remained of the cemetery razed entirely. Many of its most notable citizens had been relocated to other cemeteries, but it’s likely that thousands of burials remain under the grassy greens of the modern-day Veterans Memorial Park.

The People

By some accounts there were thousands of burials in the American Cemetery. The following articles describe a few of these people.

Who’s There?—A few evenings ago, when leaving the Protestant Cemetery, after having performed the last rites to a departed mortal with a meager band; we met a cart at the gate, in which there was a rough box, badly stained with lamp black and designed for a coffin. A small negro boy with a cart whip was the only living soul with the waggon, and to our question of “qui veve,” the reply was; “a man.” “Where from?” “The Penitentiary”—and the cart passed on to a smart crack of the whip, with a “ge long John,” leaving the gate to the left and going outside of the enclosure. What a lesson! what a chapter in the history of life and death! Here was some poor nameless fellow, who may have been regarded as the gem of an affectionate family; fondled with, carressed and petted by a doting father and mother, and idolized by his brothers and sisters; and now, he goes to dust without even a solitary mourner—and no friend to see him placed gently “i’the earth!” Who is responsible for this, but you and I and every one of us? Is there not a “community in sin,” and is not the man who has it in his power to correct the errors of his brother, by kind advice and gentle words, responsible for this? Yea; and the prison, which is called into existence, by the errors of our social system; is the great manufactory—the finishing shop for outlaws, who cannot be blamed for making war to the very hilt of the knife, on those who have made them what they are, and then condemned them for it. Let us take the wings of the morning and travel a century hence; may we not then look back on this period, and see the barbarism of the age, to which our eye is now closed?

Baton Rouge Tri-Weekly Gazette and Comet, 19 Sep 1855, page 2

Baton Rouge has lost one of the few remaining lives that linked her to a historical past. The clods that fell recently into the grave of Dr. Cornelius R. French, at his burial in the old American Cemetery sent back a melancholy and touching echo for those even slightly acquainted with the life and associations of the deceased. It was like taking a last farewell of “the days that are no more.” It was like consigning to the grave the history of Baton Rouge, from its earliest and through (perhaps?) its palmiest days.

Dr. French was seventy-seven years and six months of age when he departed this life, on the 28th of June, 1863, at his residence in Baton Rouge, of which he had been a citizen for upwards of half a century. He leaves three daughters and is survived by his venerable consort, the partner of his youth and vigor, who still accompanied him in his feebleness down the vale of years, until the “grave did them sever”—for a little while! No citizen, and especially no native of Baton Rouge, who loves the memories of the olden time, can contemplate this relict without a sentiment of tender veneration.

The modest virtues and unobtrusive beauties of character which illustrated the quiet walks of the deceased, will be attested by all who knew him, either in the prime or the decline of his life. His professional character is well exhibited in the subjoined remarks touching his medical labors which we extract from the Baton Rouge Gazette of Sept. 10th, 1855:

“There are, perhaps few still living, who knew him forty years ago, when young, and sometimes the only physician, outside of the garrison, he would diligently attend to every call, and never inquired if his labors would be rewarded or not. Many of the families raised here have in their early days, received their first medical attendance from his hands; and now, after a residence of more than forty years in Baton Rouge, and at the scriptural age of “three scores and ten,” we find him from early dawn, until after the darkness of the evening covers the earth, traveling from North to South, from East to West, the different streets of this town, in the discharge of his duties as Corporation Physician, visiting and giving medical aid to suffering humanity, requiring his care. His attention to patients is remarkable. Most of them, being poor, neglect to call for medical aid, until the disease has made so much progress as to be of little use, but the Doctor believed in “trying,” and if two or three visits a day are required, he will go there, on foot, whether fatigued or not, and his assiduity and constant care has restored many a desperate case. His success, in cases where he has been called in time, has been unsurpassed. For all this fatigue and services, he receives a salary of $150 a year from the Corporation.”

Dr. French lived early and late enough in Baton Rouge to see it under the flags of five successive regimes—namely: that of Spain; the lone star flag of Gen. Philemon Thomas and his men in 1810, when they captured the fort at Baton Rouge from the Spaniards; that of the United States in 1811; that of the seceding State of Louisiana in 1861; and, lastly, that of the United States replanted. Amid all these changes the Doctor himself was perhaps the most unchangeable feature in the scene. “Semper idem.” Times might change and circumstances might vary; but, until he saw the “last of earth,” there was a brisk, active, nervous—bilious, benevolent and intelligent looking little old man, a quaint and curious monument of immutability.

We could not, perhaps, convey a better idea of the nature of the multitude of early reminisces that cluster about the name of Dr. French, than by appending the following extract from a number of the Baton Rouge Gazette and Comet of 1857:

“In the month of October, 1811, our fellow-citizen, Dr. C. R. French endwise, mounted their horses in Baton Rouge to visit Cincinnati, Ohio. After a pleasant ride through Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, they reached Newport, Kr., having traveled through the Choctaw Nation, at the rate of 40 miles a day. Dr. F. having been a surgeon in the U. S. Army, had many acquaintances with the officers, among whom was Major Martin, then stationed at Newport, who made him a welcome guest at headquarters, and assigned him one of the best rooms in his quarters. During the night Dr. F. was aroused by his wife and told, “some one was under the bed shaking it.” He ran to the window for a light, and looking out, saw the sentinel leaning on his musket, with bayonet fastened in the earth. He heard the officer call out, “run out of the house, it will fall down.” In a few minutes the inmates of the stone dwelling were in the open air, the reeling earth and tottering walls told, “it is an earthquake.” The Doctor says the shock was such as to cause them to think, “the town of Cincinnati was sunk.” At the dawn of day, the town opposite was still in existence, only having been terribly shaken and its inhabitants awfully frightened.

After spending a short time with relatives and friends, Dr. F. proceeded alone, on horseback, to New York, and on the 8th day of May, 1812, encountered this most fearful snow-storm he ever witnessed. The reflections which suggest themselves to our minds, after hearing the recital of the above from our esteemed and venerated friend, are many. Who would now think of undertaking a journey from this city to Cincinnati on horseback? What would our effeminate wives and daughters say, were we to propose such a trip! and then, on a return, to travel as Dr. F. and wife did, on a barge heavily laden with cannon and shot.

Dr. French is yet in vigorous strength and with the same companion who journeyed with him through the wilderness in 1811, is making a more pleasant journey as the evening shadows of life throw off quiet protection along his pathway.”

Baton Rouge Tri-Weekly Gazette and Comet, 29 Aug 1863, page 2

The demise of another one of our oldest and best citizens, re-awakens the mournful reflection that the unsparing scythe of Time is fast mowing down to earth the few remaining representatives of that old regime of our population, who like faded links in the human chain bind the present with the past.

Joseph Monget, we believe, was a native of Natchez (Miss.,) but came to Baton Rouge in early life, where he grew up and became a fixed, unchanging resident up to the period of his death—an event which occurred on Monday night last. During his long life of uprightness and integrity he was honored at different times by his fellow-citizens with offices of trust and responsibility. For many years he served as city constable, afterwards as mayor and finally up to the day of his decease, he held the position of commissary of the market. In the discharge of the duties devolving upon him in these several capacities, he proved himself a most faithful and competent officer—the right man in the right place—equal to any emergency, and receiving the general commendation of “well done, good and faithful servant.”

Mr. Monget was a widower—leaving a son and daughter besides a large number of other connections, together with an almost unlimited circle of friends, to mourn his departure.

Although possessed, of a constitution which in one of younger years might have repelled successfully the rude shock of disease, yet the inroads of time had become too severely graven upon his bodily frame and he fell, stricken with apoplexy.

His remains were followed to their last resting place in the old American Grave Yard, by many friends, among whom were his brethren of the De Soto I. O. O. F. Lodge and Encampment, of which he was an ancient, honored and useful member.

Baton Rouge Tri-Weekly Gazette & Comet, 1 Aug 1867, page 3