John Paul Jones' Last Cruise And Final Resting Place: The United States Naval Academy

John Paul Jones' Last Cruise And Final Resting Place: The United States Naval Academy, written by Henri Marion and published in Washington, D. C. in 1906, is the story of returning the body of John Paul Jones to the United States from France and the subsequent burial at Annapolis. Very interesting book detailing all the military pomp of that era. (104 pages)

The Publisher has copy-edited this book to improve the formatting, style and accuracy of the text to make it readable. This did not involve changing the substance of the text.

Foreword:

.....When Admiral Sigsbee's squadron sailed for France to convey to the United States the body of John Paul Jones it was fortunate that Professor Marion of the Naval Academy accompanied it, and became the historian of the voyage.
.....His acquaintance with the officers of the squadron, his knowledge of the ships, and his participation in the imposing ceremonies incident to the transfer of the remains of the illustrious Naval Commander from Paris to the picturesque military harbor of Cherbourg and thence to Annapolis, eminently qualified him for writing his graphic account of "John Paul Jones' Last Cruise."
.....His work describes the scenes and incidents from the vantage ground of an eye witness, and I am sure that it will be read with interest, not only on account of its accuracy, but because of the attractive manner in which he has told the story.
.....Horace Porter (Ambassador of the United States to France)


To General Horace Porter:
The illustrious Ambassador of the United States to France, to whose patient search his country owes the possession of the remains of here greatest naval fighter, this brief sketch is respectfully dedicated.

Excerpts:

.....NO single event of the present decade has aroused so much interest in both France and the United States as the discovery in Paris and the triumphal return to the United States of the remains of John Paul Jones, and none has been more fruitful in demonstrations of international good will and the promotion of cordial relations between the two great republics of the world.
.....At the time of his death (July 18, 1792), both countries claimed him as their own. The French Assembly passed a unanimous resolution honoring the memory of Paul Jones, "Admiral of the United States of America," and decreed "that twelve of its members should assist at the funeral of a man who had so well served the cause of liberty;" some of its members even proposed that he should be buried in the Pantheon among the illustrious dead of France.
.....The present government of France has shown no less honor than its predecessors to the memory of Paul Jones by the imposing ceremonies organized for the occasion of the transfer of the remains and the magnificent reception given to the American Mission and the American sailors and marines, sent over to claim and escort the body of the most illustrious commodore of the early American Navy.
.....France has vied with America in doing him honor, and the result was a ceremonial imposing in the extreme, which will long be remembered by those who saw it, and which can only be compared in magnificence to the triumphal return from St. Helena of the ashes of Emperor Napoleon.
.....It was the good fortune of the author to have the privilege of being an eye-witness of the ceremonies connected with the transfer of the remains of John Paul Jones from beginning to end, on the flagship Brooklyn, commanded by her genial Captain John M. Hawley, who with Admiral Sigsbee and the commanders of the vessels of his squadron received in Paris from the hands of the President of the French Republic the decoration of the Legion of Honor, in commemoration of this notable event.
.....The vessels forming the expedition, under Admiral Sigsbee, the former commander of the famous battleship Maine, were, besides the Brooklyn, the Tacoma (Captain R. F. Nicholson), the Galveston (Captain W. G. Cutler), and the Chattanooga (Captain A. Sharp).