Buried: Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia
Tenth President - 1841-1845
Born: March 29, 1790, in Charles City County, Virginia
Died: 12:15 a.m. on January 18, 1862, in Richmond, Virginia
Age at death: 71
Cause of death: Bilious fever
Final words: “Perhaps it is best.”
Admission to Hollywood Cemetery: Free
William Henry Harrison’s swift and untimely death in 1841 elevated John Tyler to the presidency and earned him the nickname “His Accidency.” At his home in Virginia only a month after the inauguration and unaware of Harrison’s illness, Tyler was shocked to learn of his ascendance to the nation’s highest office.
In 1845, after nearly four fractious years as president, Tyler returned to Sherwood Forest, his plantation near Richmond. Remarried after the death of his first wife to a woman thirty years his junior, Tyler fathered seven additional children after leaving the White House. Our most prolific president, he had fourteen children who lived to maturity.
He remained deeply involved in politics and as the Civil War drew near, supported secession for his beloved Virginia. In November of 1861 he was again elected to public office as a member of the Confederate House of Representatives.
Tyler did not live to serve the Confederacy. He arrived in Richmond, the Confederate capital, to begin his term, and moved into the Exchange Hotel. His wife Julia met him there on January 10, 1862. Though she had not planned to join him so soon, she grew alarmed after dreaming that her husband was gravely ill. Two days after her arrival, Tyler became sick and collapsed in the hotel dining room. His physician determined that Tyler was suffering from bronchitis and liver dysfunction, then known as “bilious fever.” The doctor prescribed morphine and ordered the former president to bed. The Tylers planned to return to Sherwood Forest, but the night before their departure, John Tyler took a turn for the worse. He awoke with difficulty breathing in the middle of the night. A doctor arrived, but there was nothing to be done. Moments before he died, Tyler said, “Perhaps it is best.”
John Tyler’s grave stands near James Monroe’s tomb in Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery
John Tyler’s body lay in state at the Confederate Congress in Richmond with a Confederate flag covering the open casket. Following the funeral at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, a procession of over 150 carriages followed Tyler’s coffin to Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery. He was buried near another former president, James Monroe. Because his active support for the Confederacy was unpopular with officials in Washington, Tyler’s death was virtually ignored by the federal government. This president was viewed as a Confederate and buried near its government. Congress did not place an official marker at his gravesite until more than fifty years later.
Touring John Tyler’s Tomb at Hollywood Cemetery
Hollywood Cemetery is located in Richmond, Virginia. It is open daily from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. There is no admission fee. A tour map is sold in the office for $1.00.
From Interstate 95 southbound or Interstate 64 eastbound: Take exit 76 to Belvidere Street. Follow Belvidere south through downtown over the Downtown Expressway to Spring Street. Make a right onto Spring Street. Continue on Spring until you reach Cherry Street and take a right onto Cherry. The entrance to the cemetery is located at the corner of Cherry and Albemarle Streets.
From Interstate 95 northbound or Interstate 64 westbound: Take exit 76/Chamberlayne Avenue and turn left off the ramp onto Chamberlayne Parkway. Follow the parkway to Leigh Street. Turn left around the Bojangles monument onto Leigh Street and follow Leigh to Belvidere Street. Turn left onto Belvidere. Follow Belvidere south through downtown over the Downtown Expressway to Spring Street. Make a right onto Spring Street. Continue on Spring until you reach Cherry Street and take a right onto Cherry. The entrance to the cemetery is located at the corner of Cherry and Albemarle Streets.
President Tyler’s grave is located in President Circle. From the cemetery entrance, bear right on Hollywood Avenue. Turn left at Westvale Avenue and proceed to Hillside Avenue which leads to President Circle. James Monroe is buried in the center of the circle; Tyler is buried on the circle’s perimeter.
For additional information
Hollywood Cemetery
412 South Cherry Street
Richmond, VA 23220
Phone: (804) 648-8501
www.hollywoodcemetery.org
“…John Tyler, died a traitor.”
—Richard Norton Smith
To date, no American president has been cremated, although many have been condemned to the flames of academic purgatory. One member of the fraternity, John Tyler, died a traitor. After failing to secure a peaceful settlement of sectional differences in the winter of 1860-61, Tyler, a native Virginian, followed his state into the Confederacy. His passing in January 1862, came before he took his seat in the Confederate Congress. Jefferson Davis and other high rebel officials accompanied his cortege to Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery where Davis himself would rest one day, part of a presidential trifecta that includes James Monroe, a Virginian of stauncher nationalist sympathies.
—RNS