That was Samuel E. Clements, not Samuel L. Clemens, and Whitman wasn't involved; he was just an apprentice for Clements at the newspaper Clements edited. Cleme

That was Samuel E. Clements, not Samuel L. Clemens, and Whitman wasn't involved; he was just an apprentice for Clements at the newspaper Clements edited. Clements did succeed at digging up the grave, but apparently the mold and busts were destroyed during an argument over money. Source: Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography by David Reynolds