The Alexandria Gazette Packet Column
In his Alexandria Gazette Packet column, Gravestone Stories founder David Heiby tells the stories of people buried in Alexandria’s historic cemeteries. The Gazette Packet is a Connection newspaper, and each column is drawn from the original research on this site.
Every column below links to the fuller story here on Gravestone Stories, with the sources, family connections, and the place where each person rests. It also links to the printed page in the newspaper’s online archive, which opens the full issue, so the page number is listed for each one.
Every Alexandria Gazette Packet Column, Newest First
October 22, 2026
“The Boy Who Spiked the Guns”
Brevet Brigadier General Thomas Childs. As a young West Point graduate, he helped spike the British guns at Fort Erie in 1814, and in the Mexican War he held Puebla through a 28-day siege. He rests beneath an obelisk in St. Paul’s Cemetery, part of the Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex.
Read the Full Story → Read the column in the Gazette Packet (page 6) ↗
September 17, 2026
“The Colonel at the Cornerstone”
Colonel George Gilpin, Fairfax Resolves signer, surveyor of Alexandria, and honorary pallbearer at Washington’s funeral, whose grave was lost for two centuries and may have been found in Christ Church Episcopal Cemetery, part of the Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex.
Read the Full Story → Read the column in the Gazette Packet (page 10) ↗
September 3, 2026
“The August Alexandria Would Rather Forget”
Anthony Charles Cazenove, accused of treason by the Gazette in 1815 and vindicated by a letter found in the Alexandria Library’s Special Collections in 2026, with Catherine Weinraub’s discovery.
Read the Full Story → Read the column in the Gazette Packet (page 2) ↗
August 6, 2026
“The Tea Party Patriot Buried in Alexandria”
Major Samuel Cooper, Boston Tea Party participant at rest on Wilkes Street.
Read the Full Story → Read the column in the Gazette Packet (page 10) ↗
More Alexandria Gazette Packet Columns to Come
New columns are added here after they appear in print. To hear about them as they’re published, join the Gravestone Stories newsletter, or browse all the stories on Gravestone Stories.
Page last updated: November 2026