VISITORS TO ALTON USUALLY STOP AT THE REVEREND LOVEJOY MONUMENT.
VOOU FEW EVER VENTURE INTO THE
CEMETERY WHICH HAS OTHER STORIES
TO TELL.
>>
IT RISES LIKE A BEACON, ATTRACTING VISITORS TO THIS HISTORIC CEMETERY.
MANY WHO COME MISTAKE THIS AS
THE LAST RESTING PLACE OF
REVEREND LOVEJOY WHO WAS MURED
FOR HIS ANTI SLAVERY VIEWS.
LOVEJOY WAS MURDERED NOVEMBER 7
OF 1837 AND WAS BURIED THE NEXT
DAY ON HIS BIRTHDAY ACTUALLY.
THERE WAS SOME CONCERN UPON HIS
DEATH HIS BODY WOULD BE
DISINTERRED OR MUTILATED FOR
POLICAL PURPOSES.
MR. LOVEJOY WAS BURIED BY A
BLACK MAN NAMED SCOTT JOHN WAS
WHO WAS A FRIEND OF HIS AND WAS
AT THE WAREHOUSE WHEN HE WAS
MURDERED.
THEY BURIED HIM IN WHAT WAS THEN
AN UNKNOWN SPOT.
>> AFTER THE WAR, BEFORE THIS
MONUMENT, HIS BODY WAS REBURIED
THIS TIME IN A MORE DIGNIFIED
GRAVE ON A SHADED HILLSIDE.
BUT THIS IS NOT THE ONLY CIVIL
WAR RELATED SITE.
IN ANOTHER SECTION IS NATIONAL
CEMETERY.
>> ACTUALLY PUT TOGETHER IN
1907, THE CEMETERY PRIMARILY
CONTAINS THE GRAVES OF OVER 200
SOLDIERS WHO DIED WHILE SERVING
AS PRISON GUARD AT THE ALTON
MILITARY PRISON DURING THE CIVIL
WAR.
MORTALITY RATE OF THE PRISON WAS
14%, IT WAS CLOSE TO THAT
AMONGST OF THE GUARDS WHICH IS
PRETTY BAD.
SMALLPOX, DES IN TERRY WERE
AMONG THE KILLERS MANY.
THERE WERE A NUMBER OF GRAVES OF
SOLDIERS WHO DIED IN TRANSIT
ALSO.
ALTON WAS A STOPPING OFF POINT
FROM POINTS NORTH TO POINT
SOUTH, AND MANY OF THOSE WHO
WERE ILL DURING TRANSIT ENDED UP
HERE IN ALTON, AND SOME ARE
STILL HERE IN THE CEMETERY.
NEARBY IS A MARKER FOR DR. HOPE
WHO OWNED PROPERTY ADJACENT TO
THE OVERCROWDED PRISON AND WHOSE
IDEALS GOT HIM FIRSTHAND
KNOWLEDGE OF HIS CONDITIONS.
>> SOCIETY MILITARY COMMANDER
ASKED TO TO LEASE THE BUILDING.
THIS NO LONGER HAD ROOM IN THE
PRISON.
DR. HOPES SAID I WILL NOT RENT
ANY OF MY PROPERTY WHO THOSE WHO
HAVE THE BLOOD OF THE SOUTHERN
BROTHERS.
THEY SEIZED THE BUILDING AND PUT
DR. HOPE IN THE PRISON.
HE DIDN'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT IT
ANY MORE.
HE SERVED A LITTLE TIME, AND HE
WAS RELEASED.
I AM NOT TOO SURE HOW
COMFORTABLE HE IS HALFWAY
BETWEEN THE NATIONAL CEMETERY,
AND ABOLITIONIST STRAIGHT LINE,
HE IS NOT RESTING HERE TOO
COMFORTABLY, BUT THAT'S HIS
PROBLEM!
(LAUGHING) THIS IS THE GRAVE
SITE OF GEORGE T BROWN, AND HIS
BROTHER, JOSEPH.
GEORGE WAS -- BECAME AN
IMPORTANT FIGURE IN 1868 AS THE
SERGEANT OF ARMS OF THE UNITED
STATES SENATE.
HE WAS THE INDIVIDUAL THAT WAS
RESPONSIBLE OF DELIVERING THE
IMPEACHMENT PAPERS TO ANDREW
JOHNSON IN WASHINGTON D.C.
>> HE WOULD LATER BECOME MAYOR
OF ALTON AS DID HIS BROTHER WHO
WOULD GO ONTO SERVE AS MAYOR OF
ST. LOUIS.
BUT NOT EVERY ONE LAID TO REST
HERE WAS INVOLVED WITH THE CIVIL
WAR.
>> THIS IS THE GRAVE OF COLONEL
STEPHEN LONG.
COLONEL LONG WAS THE CHIEF TOP
GRAPHICAL ENGINEER FOR THE
UNITED STATES ARMY PRIOR TO THE
SIVE WAR.
HE ACCOMPANIED ZEBULIN PIKE ON
HIS TRIP OUT WEST IN 1807 JUST
AFTER THE LEWIS AND CLARK
EXPEDITION.
AS THERE IS A PIKE'S PEEK IN
COLORADO, THERE IS ALSO LONG'S
PEEK RIGHT NEXT TO IT.
>> HIS MATCH GAINED IMPORTANCE
AS THE RAILROADS LAID TRACKS
WESTWARD.
IN ANOTHER CORNER OF THE
CEMETERY IS A MARKER FROM AN
EVENT AT THE BEGINNING OF A
WORLD WAR.
>> THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED IN
MEMORIAL IUM, IT WAS PRIOR TO
THE UNITED STATES ENTRY IN WORLD
WAR ONE.
THAT SORT OF ACCELERATED OUR
ENTRY INTO THE WAR.
IT WOULDN'T BE MORE INTERESTING
EXCEPT FOR THE STORIES WHICH
FOLLOWS IN 1919, A JUDGE IN NEW
YORK DECIDED ESTATE, MR. TESSEN
HAD A FAMILY.
MRS. TESSEN WAS MARRIED
PREVIOUSLY.
WE HAD TWO ESTATES INVOLVED
HERE.
JUDGE RULED THE ESTATE SHOULD GO
TO MR. TESSEN'S FAMILY BECAUSE
HE, BEING THE MALE, WOULD
NORMALLY AND NATURALLY HAVE
FOUGHT LONGER AND HARDER TO
SURVIVE.
THIS IS THE MINOR WATSON, NOT A
VERY RECOGNIZABLE NAME TO MOST
PEOPLE. BUT MR. WATSON APPEARED
IN 111 MOVIES MAINLY IN
CHARACTER ROLES, CAMEO ROLES.
HE WAS IN QUITE A FEW VERY
RECOGNIZABLE MOVIES SUCH AS
"YANKEE DOODLE DANDY" CANAL
DIARY, MANY MANY OF WHICH MOST
PEOPLE WOULD RECOGNIZE.
SIMPLY NOT GOT THE KIND OF NAME
YOU REMEMBER.
>> OVER NEAR THE VINE STREET
GATE OF THE CEMETERY, WE HAVE A
LITTLE KIOSK BUILT WITH
INFORMATION ON THE CEMETERY AND
THERE ARE SOME SELF GUIDED TOURS
THERE THAT THEY ARE VERY EASY
TOURS TO FOLLOW HERE IN THE
CEMETERY BECAUSE THEY TAKE YOU
AROUND THE ROAD.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO WANDER OFF IN
THE GRASS.
YOU CAN PRETTY MUCH SEE
EVERYTHING BY MAKING SHORT
CIRCULAR ROUTE AROUND THE
CEMETERY.
IT MENTIONS ALL THE PROMINENT
PEOPLE IN ALTON HISTORY AND
OTHERWISE THAT MIGHT BE HERE IN
THE CEMETERY.
>>
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE ALTON CEMETERY, CONTACT THE GREATER ALTON TWIN RIVERS
CONVENTION AND VISITOR'S BUREAU
AT 1-800-ALTON-IL.