364 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.

farm”—on which they were situated) should be removed to and buried in the graveyard of the Reformed Dutch church, and a monument erected over them. A committee, of which General Johnson was chairman,1 was appointed to carry the resolution into effect; but their application, in 1793, was refused by Mr. Jackson, who, being a prominent politician and a Sachem of the then influential Tammany Society, or Columbian Order, had conceived the idea of turning to a political use, and to his personal aggrandizement, the large deposit of prison_ship remains of which he had accidentally become the possessor. In accordance with this plan, he subsequently offered to the Tammany Society an eligible piece of land upon his property in the Wallabout, for the purpose of erecting thereon a suitable sepulchre. The society accepted his offer, and on the 10th of February, 1803, an eloquent memorial was prepared, and presented by the learned and distinguished Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell to the House of Representatives, then in session in Washington. From Congress, indeed, much was expected , as the subject of the application to them was purely national, and one which deeply interested the public sensibility. No measures were, however, adopted by that honorable body, and the matter rested until 1808.2 On February 1st of that year it was again revived by the Tammany Society, who appointed a Wallabout Committee, which proceeded to take immediate steps towards effecting the long-talked-of and long-neglected sepulture of the remains, of which upwards of thirteen hogsheads had been collected. They initiated an extensive correspondence, published a stirring appeal in the columns of the public press, invited the cordial co-operation of their patriotic fellow

by those who knew him, as a large man, of coarse features and florid complexion, loud spoken, energetic in his movements, and an ardent politician.

1 This movement was undoubtedly made at the suggestion of General Johnson himself.

2 In the interim, however, the patriotism of a private citizen, Mr. Benjamin Aycrigg, reproved the hesitation of the Congress of a great people. As we learn from documents published in the Transactions of the American Institute for 1852, Mr. Aycrigg, shocked at the exposed condition of these remains, during the summer of 1805, made a written contract with an Irishman living in the Wallabout, by which the latter was to “collect all the human bones as far as may be without digging,” and deliver the same to Mr. A. at a stipulated price—which was done, and the remains thus collected formed a portion of those which were subsequently interred in the vault erected by the Tammany Society. A biographical sketch of Mr. Aycrigg will be found in StilesÕ privately printed edition of the Hist. Account of the Interment of the Martyrs, etc., pp. 218-220.