General "Mad" Anthony Wayne
Former estate of General "Mad" Anthony Wayne in Paoli, Pa
He later led the Continental forces at the Battle of Monmouth. Followed later in the war by the Battles of Stoney Point and Green Spring. Stoney Point was his most successful campaign of the Revolutionary War. After serving as a statesman, General Wayne was later called back into service to lead forces during the Indian Wars at Fort Recovery and the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
Statue honoring General Anthony Wayne at Valley Forge, PA
Wayne died in 1796 while returning to Pennsylvania from a western military post. He was buried at Fort Presque Isle which later became Erie, Pennsylvania. There was a blockhouse named after him which is still standing today.
Marker at the site of Fort Presque Isle which contained the Wayne Blockhouse
His family wished to have his remains moved to the family plot in in Radnor, Pennsylvania which is located near Philadelphia, not far from Wayne's home in Paoli, PA. His son, Colonel Issac Wayne traveled to Presque Isle to retrieve his father's remains. However, Issac was traveling with a small horse drawn rickety two wheeled cart. In order to make transport easier, they boiled the flesh from the bones and placed it back into the grave. The bones were then loaded onto the cart for transport back to Philadelphia. The box containing General Wayne's remains kept falling off of the cart. It was discovered upon arrival in Radnor that many of the General's bones were missing. Rather than backtracking and retrieving the missing bones along the trail back to Presque Isle which follows what is now mostly Route 322, what was left of his bones was buried in the family plot at St. Davids Episcopal Church.
General Anthony Wayne's second grave site in Radnor, PA
It is said that every year on General Wayne's Birthday which also happens to be New Year's Day, he rises from his grave and can be seen riding across the state of Pennsylvania back to his original grave in search of his bones.
