Disassembled Napoleonic Cannon (Mason) - St. Louis, MO
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 38° 41.700 W 090° 13.732
15S E 741004 N 4286576
Brigadier General Richard B. Mason was the first military and civil governor of California. He died at Jefferson Barracks while he was the commanding officer there. After his death, his widow married Major General Don Carlos Buell.
Waymark Code: WM158RT
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 11/10/2021
Views: 2
County of tombstone: St. Louis Independent City
Location of tombstone: Balm & Mausoleum, Inside Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis
Sculptor: John Struthers
Erected: 1850
I was told during a tour of the cemetery by an employee, and tour guide, that in Europe and during our Revolutionary War, it was tradition that when an artillery officer died, his cannon was disassembled and placed on his grave.
This bronze art sculpture of a Napoleonic Cannon disassembled and piled together on Gen. Mason's tombstone is in honor of that tradition.
"19. Brig. Gen. Richard B. Mason,
first military and civil governor of California
John Struthers, architect and sculptor
Erected: c. 1850
Brownstone. Sculpture of shrouded cannon and anchor symbolize life’s
end to military figure.
"Mason was a Brigadier General and the first governor (civil and military) of California. He died of cholera in St. Louis County while serving as a commanding officer at Jefferson Barracks. Mason was born in Virginia to a prominent family. His grandfather, George Mason, was a member of the Continental Congress. Richard began his military
career at age 20 and he spent his lifetime in military service. His widow, Margaret Turner Mason (also at Bellefontaine) married Major General Don Carlos Buell, a Union Army commander, following Mason’s death." ~ NRHP Nomination Form PDF Pages 16 & 55
"Brigadier General Richard B. Mason was the first military and civil governor of California. He died at Jefferson Barracks while he was the commanding officer there. After his death, his widow married Major General Don Carlos Buell, a veteran of the Union Army.
"Both generals, and their wife, Margaret Hunter Mason Buell are buried on the same lot. Marking the grave of General Mason is a brown freestone memorial made in Philadelphia by John Struthers, the man who designed the marble sarcophagus in which the remains of George and Martha Washington repose at Mount Vernon." ~ Bellefontaine Cemetery
Tombstone Text:
(Front):
GENERAL RICHARD BARNES MASON
COLONEL OF THE 1st REGIMENT OF DRAGOONS, U.S. ARMY
Born in Fairfax, Co., Va. Jan. 16, 1797; Died at Jefferson Barracks, Mo. July 25, 1850.
Erected by his Widow and Children
(Rear):
HIS TENDER CARE, AND NOBLE VIRTUES LIVE IN OUR HEARTS
HIS SERVICES TO HIS COUNTRY ARE IDENTIFIED WITH ITS HISTORY