William Thornton Re-examined by Bob Arnebeck

The Doctor Examined, or Why William Thornton Did Not Design the Octagon House or the Capitol by Bob Arnebeck Table of contents Chapter 11: Rivaling Tayloe Mrs. Thornton by Stuart 1804 How to immortalize the General with a monument had been debated since 1783, and Thornton's opinion counted for little. After all he had not served during the Revolution and his association with the General occurred during the least glorious phase of the Great One's life, his second term. But Thornton thought he had the rhetorical skills to impose his ideas especially after he read that the House of Representatives resolved that the General's tomb should be in the Capitol. He wrote to the author of the resolves, General John Marshall, whom he had never met: I doubted not they would deposit the body in the place that was long since contemplated for its reception, I accordingly requested it might be enclosed in lead. It was done, and I cannot easily express the pleasure I feel at this melanchol...