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John Eager Howard Chapter event at Davidge Hall with a ceremony at Westminster Hall Catacombs

26 August, 2008 - 14:15 — webmaster
09/27/2008 - 11:30

John Eager Howard Chapter event at Davidge Hall with a ceremony at Westminster Hall Catacombs


You are invited to our next Chapter Meeting at yet another unique location – Davidge Hall in Baltimore; come meet with the SAR officers and fellow members.      

LOCATION:                 522 West Lombard Street, Chemical Hall, Davidge Hall, University of Maryland Medical School, Baltimore, MD, 21201

DATE/TIME:                September 27, 2008 at 11:30 A.M.

Anatomical Hall in Davidge Hall, where General Lafayette spoke will also be opened for us that day.  Also, following the meeting and luncheon, a tour of the catacombs at Westminster Hall will take place.  This includes a wreath laying for Col. Paul Bentalou the French Revolutionary War soldier who is buried there.  We will be charging a price of $15.00 rather than our normal $10.00 since its $5.00 per person for the Westminster Cemetery Catacombs tour.

Westminster Hall Catacombs

The graveyard was established in 1786 by the First Presbyterian Church, a congregation of socially and economically elite local Presbyterians. Over the next 60 years, the burying grounds became the final resting place for important and influential merchants, politicians, statesmen, and dozens of veterans of the American Revolutionary War and War of 1812. Today, this "who's who" of early Baltimore is overshadowed by the presence of writer Edgar Allan Poe, who was buried here in October 1849 following his sudden and mysterious death. In 1852, a church was erected overtop the graveyard, its brick piers straddling gravestones and burial vaults to create what later Baltimoreans referred to as "catacombs."  

More about Col. Paul Bentalou :
Birth:   Aug. 15, 1755, France
Death:   Sep. 26, 1826
Baltimore
Baltimore city
Maryland, USA

Continental Army Colonel. Born in Montauban , France , he joined the Royal French Dragoons at age 15. Like other French idealists Bentalou left for the United States in 1776 to join the Crusade for Independence. He received a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant of Cavalry, German Regiment, September 15, 1776, 1st Lt., German Regiment, June 21, 1777 and was also a member of the Baltimore Mechanical Company. He met the famed Polish Cavalry hero of the Revolution, Count Pulaski, at the battle of Brandywine. Pulaski, impressed with the young man, had Bentalou transferred under his command as a Captain of Cavalry and he served the next two years of the war as Aide-de-Camp to General Casmir Pulaski. He fought at Egg Harbor on October 15, 1778, and under the command of General Lincoln they were instrumental in saving Charleston in February 1779. Considered one of the heroes at the Battle of Savannah, he was wounded and yet it was him who carried the mortally wounded Pulaski from the field on October 9, 1779. Paroled by the British, he spent the rest of the war in Baltimore as a Recruiting Officer and it was then that he met and married Elizabeth Keeports in 1780.

 

Colonel Bentalou retired on June 1, 1781, and settled in Baltimore commanding a company of Volunteer Cavalry in 1798. Bentalou was a successful shipping merchant and U.S. Marshall for the District of Maryland from 1817 until his death in 1826. He wrote a reply to Judge Johnson's Remarks on an article in the North American Review relating to Count Pulaski. Baltimore: J. D. Toy, 1826, because of derisive comments about the late general and a lesser known pamphlet concerning the slave trade effect on the shipping business in Baltimore. There is a street and an elementary school named after him in Baltimore. He died in Baltimore City from a fall in a warehouse.

 

See the following websites for details about Davidge Hall and Westminster Hall Cemetery:

http://medschool.umaryland.edu/davidge.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster_Hall_and_Burying_Ground

 

Parking: On Saturday, there should be plenty of on street parking available in the area plus there are numerous parking garages available in the area.  The address of Davidge Hall is 522 W. Lombard Street, Baltimore, MD 21201.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Please RSVP by September 10th if you are attending.

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       Yes, I/we ____________________________ will attend. Make check made payable to Col. John Eager Howard Chapter is enclosed for $15 per person that includes light lunch.  

 

Mail check to: Ed Foreman, Treasurer, 40 Lyndale Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21236-4322

 

Download the flyer here.