Captain Townsend's Anchor

The Townsend family plot is a large fenced lot alongside the Moordanaers Kill on a low path between the Cemetery's Middle and South Ridges.  Located just across from the De Peyster Douw hillside crypt, it contains a number of noteworthy graves, but the most distinctive monument here is undoubtedly the massive granite anchor marking the resting place of Captain Robert Townsend.

A member of a prominent Albany family which included mayors, generals, and businessmen, Captain Townsend served in the U.S. Navy during the Mexican War (commanding the Porpoise) and the Civil War (commanding the Miami and Essex).  At the age of forty-six, he died of heatstroke in China while in command of the Wachusett

 A set of historic artifacts which once belonged to Captain Robert Townsend was recently the subject of a Times Union article. 

The photo below shows Townsend lot as it appeared in the late 1800s.  An early history of the Cemetery describes the anchor tomb as "at once elegant, modest, and substantial." 

 

Anchors appears on a number of other monuments in the Cemetery (such as the John Bogart marble), either as a symbol of steadfast faith or an emblem of a maritime career. 

(An iron cover made by the Townsend Furnace can still be seen near the Capitol.  Click here for a photo.)

Major Lewis N. Morris

It's said that the funeral of Major Lewis N. Morris was the longest in Albany's history, stretching all the way from downtown to the high and scenic Middle Ridge of the Rural Cemetery nearly three miles away.

The son of Col. Staats Morris (who served under "Mad Anthony" Wayne during the Revolution) and grandson of a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Lewis N. Morris graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1820.

Morris served in the Mexican War and took part in the Battles of Palo Alto and Resace de la Palma, earning recognition for his "gallant and meritorious conduct." On September 21, 1846, he was killed by a shot to the heart during the American victory at Monterey.

The following year, the citizens of Albany erected a massive sandstone monument on his grave "to commemorate the gallantry of the soldier, the worth of the man."

The monument which features a soldier's cap and a large cannon barrel draped with a wreath and a flag, was reportedly the prototype for many of the Cemetery's Civil War monuments a generation later.

(Major Morris' son, Lewis O. Morris, followed in his footsteps. During the public memorials for Major Lewis, a sword commissioned for the father was presented to the son. Lewis O. Morris received an Army commission the following year and was killed at Cold Harbor during the Civil War)