Lewis Powell's skull and Joseph Gawler

[PaigeBooth]

After the death of Lewis Powell, it is my understanding that Powell's family requested his remains, but where denied. In 1869, when the conspirators bodies were finally released to their families, no one claimed Powell's body (is it true that at this time Powell's family was not aware that his body was now available to be claimed?)

Since Powell's body was not claimed (and was moved a few times) I understand that undertaker Joseph Gawler kept track of the whereabouts of Powell's remains. From what I have been reading, it appears Gawler took Powell's skull, but my question is, at what time did Gawler take the skull? Was it during the time Powell was moved from Holmead Cemetery to Rock Creek Cemetery? Or did Gawler take the skull at an earlier time?

I am also wondering, why did Gawler take Powell's skull? What reason did he have for taking the skull instead of allowing it to remain with Powell's body? Did Gawler simply want the skull? Or did the Army Medical Museum pay him for the skull?

[BettyO]

When the bodies were released in 1869, Powell's family had given up securing his body. One family legend states that the body was claimed and taken back to Florida, but different factions of the family dispute this claim. The Powell family had actually moved further into the Lake District of Florida and were probably unaware that the remains of their son and brother had been released. There was a movement afoot according to a few newspapers, by a group of "young Mr. Payne's friends" to acquire a fund to have his body buried in Baltimore. Go figure....I don't have to guess who these "Baltimore friends" were - more than likely the Branson ladies if this story is true. Gawler's firm was hired by the government to exhume the remains of not only Powell, but the rest of the conspirators as well. Their bodies were turned over to their respective families who took charge as to which funeral home would handle the remains. Since there was no one to claim Powell's body, Gawler took charge. He was present when Powell's body was exhumed from the Arsenal wareroom and taken to Graceland, and when Powell was further exhumed and buried in Holmead. It was thought that Powell's skull was removed when his body was taken from Holmead to Rock Creek for burial in an unmarked grave.

There is nothing to identify why Gawler took Powell's skull - something which would have serious repercussions today as a charge of "descrecration of human remains." Whether or not he was paid by the Army Medical Museum we don't know; but I doubt it. Supposedly, he kept it at his funeral home, or so I heard....

At least we can be thankful that Gawler did take the skull, as disrespectful as it was, because had he not done so, poor Lew Powell would never at least partly, rest in peace beside his mom!

   

Joseph Gawler who took Powell's skull

[PaigeBooth]

Thank you so much, Betty! Being a girl of southern feeling, I too, am glad Powell had a proper burial next to his mother. It is terrible the bodies were not released to the families immediately, but in the end they all received a proper resting place.

[LincolnToddFan]

I agree with both Paige and Betty. I do not understand the logic of denying a grieving family the right to claim the remains of an executed family member.

This one has the mark of Stanton and Andrew Johnson on it. Perhaps they were concerned that the final resting place(s) of the various Lincoln conspirators not become places of pilgrimage for Confederate sympathizers?

[BettyO]

You are so right, Toia! That is exactly what both Stanton and Johnson feared....

[SpruceCreekHawk]

On a slightly different tangent, I have been trying to determine whether Detective John Clarvoe was present at the arrest of Lewis Powell. Although some sources place him there, in John Surratt's trial it was testified that Clarvoe was with the group which headed off to Canada around 3 p.m. on Monday, April 17th but he got off the train around 11 p.m. in Philadelphia, where he arrested Celestino. It seems to defy the space-time continuum that he could have returned to Washington, D.C. in time to arrest Powell at the Surratt boarding house around midnight (or even the time of 3-4 a.m. on the 18th, as reported in the Daily Republican's extra.) Does anyone know of documentation which places him at Powell's arrest? Thanks!

[L Verge]

I cannot answer your question, but since it is about John Clarvoe, I will throw in an extra puzzlement. I have had discussions over the years with members of E. Pliny Bryan's descendants. As some of you know, Pliny was a native of Southern Maryland, born and raised a few miles from Surratt's Tavern, owned the land across from Mt. Vernon that is now the National Colonial Farm, was an ardent Confederate and agent for the cause.

You are also probably familiar with the village of Piscataway, about five miles from Surrattsville and a definite hub of secret Confederate underground activity -- to the point where the Union's Potomac Flotilla and various cavalry units kept it on their list of places to harass. Confederate agent Thomas Harbin's abode was there for awhile.

Cutting to the chase, the Bryan descendants claim that at least one branch of the Clarvoes lived in Piscataway during the Civil War and that Detective Clarvoe may have really been a Confederate agent inserted into the Union movements. I have never taken the time to research this, but would welcome the efforts of someone who might attempt to do so...

[Susan Higginbotham]

(01-31-2015 09:33 AM)SpruceCreekHawk Wrote:  On a slightly different tangent, I have been trying to determine whether Detective John Clarvoe was present at the arrest of Lewis Powell. Although some sources place him there, in John Surratt's trial it was testified that Clarvoe was with the group which headed off to Canada around 3 p.m. on Monday, April 17th but he got off the train around 11 p.m. in Philadelphia, where he arrested Celestino. It seems to defy the space-time continuum that he could have returned to Washington, D.C. in time to arrest Powell at the Surratt boarding house around midnight (or even the time of 3-4 a.m. on the 18th, as reported in the Daily Republican's extra.) Does anyone know of documentation which places him at Powell's arrest? Thanks!

In the rewards file, Clarvoe never claims to have been present at Powell's arrest. Since he was eager to get his share of the reward money, I think that he would have certainly mentioned being there if he had been. Perhaps the sources are confusing his visit to the boarding house about 2 a.m. on April 15 with the arrests on April 17.

[BettyO]

As far as I know, the only detectives present during Powell's arrest were Roche, DeVoe, Smith and Sampson. I've not heard that he was actually present in the April 17th raid on 541 H Street.

[SpruceCreekHawk]

Not that it precludes John A. W. Clarvoe from being a Confederate agent, but in his Washington Star obit he was said to have served in the Navy prior to the war and he served as a a three-month enlistment in 1861 in Co. A, Battn. 6, DC Infantry, for which his widow received a pension. While Maryland looks likely as the state of origin for his family I can't confirm that; however, John A. W. reputedly was born on a steamboat between Alexandria and Washington, which provided him with his middle initials (and his mother one heck of an experience, if true.)