Who lies here? - an appropriate epitaph for the outcome of the latest venture to locate the grave of Richard Caswell, North Carolina's first Revolutionary War hero and constitutional governor. The much anticipated archaeological dig in Kinston by students of East Carolina University's Professor Charles Ewen led to the conclusion that the graves in question did not contain Gov. Caswell or his parents. Who then occupies the mysterious graves hidden in the bamboo thicket off Herritage Street, between the Kinston Clinic North and the Bentley Bed & Breakfast? The trail of clues which led to the dig began when local historians Ted Sampley and Jan Barwick started to question the actual whereabouts of Caswell's grave in mid 1998. The pair felt that Caswell deserved to be honored properly for his role in history and as North Carolina's first constitutional governor. The Richard Caswell Memorial Park on Vernon Avenue (now The CSS Neuse and Governor Caswell Memorial Park) was compromised by the state two years ago when it built a large barn in the middle of the Revolutionary War park to house the remains of the Civil War Confederate ironclad CSS Neuse. Sampley decided to kick off a search for Gov. Caswell's grave with a contest to draw interest in the project. He and two other local businessmen chipped in to offer a $1000.00 reward to whomever could provide proof of the exact location of the grave of Richard Caswell. Sampley then sent the entries received along with his own research and conclusions to the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, asking them in February 1999 to review the information and investigate. Sampley and Barwick had concluded after gleaning all the information they had received that the grave of Gov. Caswell was adjacent to that of his daughter, Susan Caswell Gatlin, buried in the Caswell Cemetery in the Gov. Caswell Memorial Park. Jackie Ogburn, spokesman for the Department of Cultural Resources, told the Kinston Free Press, "Mr. Sampley started this contest, and put in the rules of the contest, and then appointed us judge, without any of us knowing." Ogburn said the state had no intention of searching for the grave of the Lost Governor. She said, "we feel it would be a waste of money." Sampley insists the state should be concerned as to where the missing governor lies. "Locating the grave of Gov. Caswell is important if we are ever to have an accurate history of Kinston and North Carolina," he said. As a young surveyor, Caswell helped incorporate Kingston in 1762 in honor of King George III, but would later become England's enemy and a champion for American independence. He became a Revolutionary War hero in the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge in 1776, when his troops defeated the Tories crushing a planned Redcoat invasion of North Carolina. Caswell was soon appointed a brigadier general, commanding North Carolina's militia. He would later serve six terms as governor before his death in 1789. Caswell lived in the house (built in 1747) on Hill Plantation until he built the Red House a few years later just "outside of town." The land where the house on Hill Plantation stood is near the Kinston Clinic North on Herritage Street. Gov. Caswell's parents continued to live on Hill Plantation until Gov. Caswell's father died in 1755 and his mother in 1787. According to Gov. Caswell's will they are both buried somewhere in the cemetery Dr. Ewen's class excavated. Gov. Caswell died in 1789, just two years after his mother, in Fayetteville. Sampley says, that despite claims by state historians to the contrary, there is evidence that a funeral procession left Fayetteville for Kinston shortly after Gov. Caswell died. Most local historians agree that Gov. Caswell is buried in Kinston, and narrow his burial place down to being near either the Hill Plantation or near where the Red House once stood.. The Red House, Sampley believes, was built somewhere near the Caswell Cemetery in the Memorial Park off Vernon Avenue. There is a house near the park that sits on an 18th century foundation. This location corroborates research which indicates the Red House was in the same area. (For further reading on this evidence, see the March 1999 issue of the Olde Kinston Gazette). During the Revolutionary War, Gov. Caswell accumulated enormous debts helping to finance the Continental Army. Because of those debts, when he died his estate was in serious financial trouble forcing his children to sell most of his land. His daughter, Susan Caswell Gatlin, sold the Hill Plantation to a General William Croom. In 1806, Croom conveyed ownership to John Washington, who renamed it Vernon Plantation after Mount Vernon, the home his relative President George Washington. Historians have long believed that Washington's son, John Cobb Washington, an influential Kinstonian during the Civil War is buried on the Hill along with other prominent members of the Washington family. Gov. Caswell stated in his will that his mother and father and brother Samuel are buried at the cemetery on the Hill. The will also reserved forever a half-acre of grounds centered on their graves to be kept forever as the Caswell family cemetery. Long time local historian, Dr. Charles R. Holloman wrote a letter February 16, 1971 to Attorney Marion Parrott of Kinston detailing the historical importance of the cemetery on the Hill. At that time, owners of Kinston Clinic North were attempting to have the cemetery moved so they could continue to expand the clinic's parking lot. During the expansion they had accidentally disturbed several ancient crypts forcing a halt to the expansion. Holloman explained that the graves in the cemetery were unique in that they were vaulted brick underground graves. The removal of the cemetery would have meant destroying the vaulted bricks. He wrote that "these tombs go back to the eighteenth century and as early as 1755 when Gov. Caswell's father was buried on the premises. It is quite likely that Gov. Caswell's brother-in-law, Dr. Francis Stringer, was buried on this site in 1753. We know positively that the governor's father was buried there (Richard Caswell, Sr.) in 1755 and his mother and brother Samuel were later. Samuel Caswell was the Commander of the State Regiment (bodyguard of the Governor and the government offices and officials during most of the period of the Revolution.)" Gov. Caswell's will, according to Holloman, is ultimately the deciding factor: "It is my opinion that the land comprising these grave sites has not been conveyed to the present owners of Vernon [the former Vernon Hall, now the Bentley] or the Clinic or to any other owners, inasmuch as the reservation made by Gov. Caswell has never been revoked in any way, shape or form; but, even if it is found deficient, the reservation by the heirs of Eliza Heritage Washington Knox in Deed Book 14, page 527, is effective and subsisting." The Hill Plantation graveyard came to Dr. Ewen's attention after Stephanie Bourdas Smith wrote a letter to the Kinston Free Press recalling an incident taht took place in 1962 or 1963 while she and her brother and cousin played in the thick bamboo behind Kinston Clinic. During a hurricane, Smith wrote, an oak tree was uprooted revealing a hole and what appeared to be a brick tunnel. Smith said that she and her playmates crawled inside the tunnel she described as "very long." In the tunnel, Smith said she saw a full skeleton and a crumbling wood casket. "It scared us so bad we jumped out," Smith said. She said she was reminded of the incident after the Kinston Free Press ran and article detailing Sampley's search for Gov. Caswell. She wondered if she had accidentally found Gov. Caswell's grave nearly 40 years-ago. Credence was given to the possibility that Gov. Caswell himself rested on the Hill when Dr. Ewen's archaeology class quickly uncovered two vaulted crypts using ground penetrating radar. After opening the crypts, Ewen concluded that the cast iron coffins in the graves were not old enough to be those of Gov. Caswell or his parents because the irons and bolts used to make the coffins dated them to the 19th century sometime around 1850 to 1880. Caswell relative Susan Burgess Hoffman of Williamsburg, Va., a fifth generation descendant, was present for the excavation. She watched eagerly as the events unfolded in the search for her famous ancestor. "I would like to see an actual tombstone, an actual marker, instead of crumbling stone where he might be," Hoffman said. "I want my family, and my brand new grandson, to be able to visit where he is buried." Echoing Gov. Caswell's instructions in his will, she adds "even if he's not there [on the Hill Plantation land], it is where a prominent family lived. If they can find where the cemetery is, we can fence it off and preserve it forever." Hoffman agrees with Sampley's belief that Gov. Caswell is probably buried in the Memorial Park near his daughter. However, the conclusion reached in the dig only deepens the mystery surrounding Gov. Caswell. Who is buried in those two graves and where are Gov. Caswell"s parents buried? Sampley says he Sampley says he believes the caskets contain the remains of some of the Washington family, possibly John Cobb Washington and his wife. He said he has found evidence of several more underground crypts near the two Dr. Ewen's class uncovered. Adding to the buzz around the mystery is the fact that the Smithsonian Institute has expressed interest in the partially excavated graves. Sampley says it helps to keep the project alive, which will keep the search for Gov. Caswell going. In November, Sampley filled the graves with builder's sand to protect them from the elements and vandalism until it is decided just what will be done next. 
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