[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 97 (Friday, June 27, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8826-S8827]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         CONGRESSIONAL CEMETERY

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I call to the attention of the Senate and 
the country something that is important. Some while ago I went to what 
is called the Congressional Cemetery here in Washington, DC. I want to 
state why I did that.
  I went to visit a gravesite of a man named Scarlet Crow, an American 
Indian. He came to Washington, DC, in 1867 with some other American 
Indians from my part of the country, a member of the Wahpeton-Sisseton 
Sioux Tribe. He came here to negotiate a treaty. He was found under the 
Occoquan bridge one morning, dead. The death certificate said Scarlet 
Crow committed suicide. I actually got a record of the investigation of 
Scarlet Crow's death--remember, now, this is 1867--and discovered the 
police reports in Alexandria, VA, and the investigator who investigated 
Scarlet Crow's death seem to suggest that Scarlet Crow was murdered. He 
did not commit suicide, in fact, he was murdered. He was found lying 
under a bridge with a blanket neatly folded over him. They say he 
hanged himself. The police investigators said the branch from which 
they allege Scarlet Crow hanged himself could not have held a 6-year-
old child.
  That was a different time. American Indians came to this town to 
negotiate treaties. This man, Scarlet Crow, never returned to the 
Dakotas because he died under the Occoquan bridge under mysterious and 
strange circumstances. It appears his death was not fully investigated 
or resolved. The death certificate simply says he committed suicide.
  Because I was interested in this and because he came from a part of 
the country where I reside, I went to the cemetery one day to find 
Scarlet Crow's gravesite. Here is Scarlet Crow's tombstone. It is at a 
place called the Congressional Cemetery. The Congressional Cemetery is 
a place I had not previously visited. It is here in Washington, DC. It 
holds the bodies of many Congressmen and Senators and others. It was 
founded in 1807 by a group of citizens residing in the eastern section 
of the new Federal city of Washington. Immediately, it became the sole 
burial place in Washington for Members of Congress. For over 60 years, 
Members of Congress and other Government officials were interred at 
what was known as Congressional Cemetery. The Government appropriated 
money to help construct some buildings, roads, and walls and to make 
other site improvements.
  Other than relatively small and very infrequent Federal dollars, 
Government support ended many decades ago and the cemetery has fallen 
into disrepair. It is a rather forlorn place, as a matter of fact. I 
will show some pictures. This is the entrance to Congressional 
Cemetery. You can see the beat-up roads. Let me show an example of the 
roads inside the Congressional Cemetery. This, one would think, would 
be a place of honor, a place that is repaired and made to look 
presentable. Instead, here is what the Congressional Cemetery appears 
like to those who visit it. Roads in desperate disrepair. This does not 
look like a cemetery that has been maintained at all. It has not been.
  Here is another picture of what the cemetery looks like inside. Roads 
in disrepair, grass growing out of the middle of those roads.
  One wonders why, with a Congressional Cemetery, which was the burial 
place for so many Members of Congress, and many others over so many 
years, why the Federal Government and Congress would not restore it to 
its place of honor.
  I am pleased that some of my colleagues, at my request, included some 
small amount of money in the Legislative Branch appropriations bill in 
FY2002, and a bit earlier, as well.
  As we begin the appropriations process this year, I think in the 
honor of those who are laid to rest in that Congressional Cemetery, we 
really do need to do what is necessary to make that cemetery a place of 
honor.
  Let me discuss a couple of the people who are buried at this 
cemetery. Vice President Elbridge Gerry is buried at the cemetery. I 
have a picture showing his tombstone. This is a tombstone of former 
Vice President of the United States Elbridge Gerry. He is buried in the 
cemetery.
  There is a term, ``gerrymandering,'' in politics that many will 
recognize. Gerrymandering comes from Elbridge Gerry.
  His marker describes he was born in 1744, died in 1814. It quotes on 
his words on his grave marker:

       It is the duty of every man, though he may have but one day 
     to live, to devote that day to the good of his country.

  These words describe how Gerry lived. In fact, the day that Gerry 
died he had to get to the temporary Senate Chambers in the Patent 
Office building so he could preside over the Senate. British troops 
burned the Capitol in the War of 1812 and the Senate was functioning 
from a temporary location in 1814. In those days, the Vice President 
presided over the Senate almost daily because the President pro tempore 
did not have a continuous office. On November 23, 1814, determined to 
preside over the Senate, Gerry suffered a fatal stroke.
  At that time, Members of the Senate gathered in their chairs at the 
customary hour. Upon hearing the reports that Vice President Gerry had 
died, the body voted to send two Senators to the Vice President's home 
to ``ascertain the fact.'' When they returned with confirmation, the 
Senate appointed a joint committee to ``consider and report measures 
most proper to manifest the public respect for the memory of the 
deceased,'' and then the Senate adjourned. On the following day, the 
Senate ordered that the President's chair ``be shrouded with black 
during the present session; and as a further testimony of respect for 
the deceased, the members of the Senate will go into mourning, and wear 
black crape around the left arm for thirty days.''
  Gerry is the only signer of the Declaration of Independence buried in 
Washington, DC. On the Fourth of July, there is annually an event at 
his tomb in the Congressional Cemetery with the Sons and Daughters of 
the American Revolution.
  There is another person buried at the cemetery who is an interesting 
person. His name is Issac Bassett. He was the second page who served in 
the U.S. Senate. He came to work in the Senate at age 9 in 1831. He 
never left. He worked there until 1895. He came to work at age 9 as a 
page in the U.S. Senate, and he worked here for 64 years. One wonders 
whether any of the current pages will work continuously for the next 64 
years. I don't expect so. He was here even longer than the longest 
serving U.S. Senator, the late Strom Thurmond. He is buried at the 
cemetery. Right next to him is a larger marker for Alexander Bache, the 
founder of the U.S. Coastal Survey and a charter member of the National 
Academies of Science and its first president.

[[Page S8827]]

  In addition to the nearly 80 Members of the House and Senate buried 
in the Congressional Cemetery, there are also 128 cenotaphs erected to 
honor former Members.
  Here is what they look like.
  The latest cenotaphs were for Speaker Tip O'Neill, Hale Boggs, and 
Nicholas Begich. It is something that has been done for quite some 
while. There is currently some interest in placing a cenotaph for our 
recently departed colleague, Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
  These cenotaphs were designed by the distinguished Capitol Architect, 
Benjamin Henry Latrobe.
  As transportation improved, it became custom to remove remains to a 
congressman's home state for burial, but a cenotaph was placed in the 
Congressional Cemetery in their memory. The practice ceased in 1877.
  It is my hope that this Congress will take a look at this cemetery 
and understand that the Congressional Cemetery is the final resting 
place of nearly 80 Members of the House and the Senate, a signer of the 
Declaration of Independence and two Vice Presidents. It is where you 
will find the grave of John Phillip Sousa. You will see the gravestone 
of J. Edgar Hoover. It is quite a remarkable cemetery.
  Let me again show a photograph that shows the entrance and the roads 
in this cemetery. It is in desperate, desperate disrepair. The 
Congressional Cemetery ought to be a place of honor. It is the final 
resting place for many who served this country with great distinction 
for so many years.
  As this Congress considers what our responsibilities are and what we 
can and should do, it is my hope that we will invest the small amount 
of resources necessary to once again provide the honor and majesty that 
should accompany this monument of ourselves called the Congressional 
Cemetery.

  Cemeteries have a way of casting personalities. Everywhere you go at 
the Congressional Cemetery, you can't help but notice strong 
personalities who served this country over its more than two centuries.
  I indicated when I started that this cemetery doesn't belong to the 
U.S. Government. It is run by a nonprofit organization. But when the 
cemetery was started in 1807, it received financial support from the 
federal government. It was created by a group of citizens who wanted it 
to become the sole burial place in Washington, DC, for Members of 
Congress. And over nearly two centuries--Senators, Congressmen, and 
public officials who served this country in a remarkable way have found 
their way to this final resting place in the Congressional Cemetery. It 
is a shame, in my judgment, for it to have fallen into such desperate 
disrepair.
  My hope is that in the coming couple of weeks in the appropriations 
process, we may once again continue to make some progress to address 
it. I have spoken with Mr. Byrd, the Senator from West Virginia, at 
some length about this and with other colleagues. I think all recognize 
that this is something to which we should pay some attention. I know 
there are many other very big issues we deal with here in the Senate. 
But this is something that I think is important to the memory of who we 
are, who served our country, how we treat them in death, and how we 
respect their memories. We can and should do better to bring a sense of 
repair and majesty to the Congressional Cemetery.
  It is not too far from this building. I encourage all of my 
colleagues to go to the Congressional Cemetery and drive down those 
roads full of potholes in great disrepair and ask yourself if we don't 
have an obligation to do something about it. I hope so.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.

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