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

1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries Podcast

Jon Hagadorn

Society & Culture, History

4.4 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 8 September 2024

⏱️ 47 minutes

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Summary

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.

Transcript

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0:00.0	And the Oh, Welcome back everyone to
0:33.2	one thousand one heroes, legends, histories, and mysteries podcast. This is your
0:37.9	host John Hagenorn. In part one of our story we covered the life and amazing naval career of John Paul Jones,
0:45.2	whose actions as a naval officer, sailing on behalf of the American Navy, became the stuff of legend.
0:50.7	And who's freely given advice to the American Naval Commission helped to forge a strong
0:55.1	and moral Navy.
0:57.2	Many believe, as do I, that his honor of being called the father of the modern American
1:01.8	Navy is accurate and deserved.
1:05.1	My research into his life and actions left me with questions.
1:08.7	One big one being, why did he prefer to live in Paris and not in America?
1:13.7	Had he returned to America, he most likely would have been received as a hero.
1:18.4	Unless, of course, the false claims Russia made about as raping a 12 year old girl wrecked his image and
1:24.1	welcome in America. In May 1790 with Russia in his rearview mirror he
1:29.8	returned to Paris. It had been a long 10 years since he had left in 1780 at the age of 35 seeking
1:36.1	adventure and the rank and pay of an Admiral which Russia was offering and no one else was.
1:42.1	Apparently he had left many pleasant memories in and no one else was.
1:42.7	Apparently he had left many pleasant memories in Paris,
1:45.8	those being mostly female admirers.
1:48.3	Cassandra writes for Smithsonian magazine.
1:51.2	When American Naval Officer John Paul Jones in 1780 at age 33 arrived in
1:56.8	Paris, he quickly became, according to Abigail Adams, favorite among the French
2:01.6	ladies, as we heard in part one.
	...

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