Joshua Graham

Joshua Graham, nicknamed the Burned Man or Hanged Man was a former Mormon missionary and, together with Caesar himself, founder of the Caesar's Legion. After the defeat at Hoover Dam, Caesar ordered his execution, although there are rumors that he might have survived.

Caesar's Legion
Mormon missionary Joshua Graham encountered two Followers of the Apocalypse in the Grand Canyon. One of them later established the Legion and became its Caesar, with Graham as his right-hand man.

The Legion rose to power during the reign of the Twisted Hair, one of the most domineering tribes in the wasteland that regularly raided neighboring tribes for food, supplies, and slaves. The Legion taught the tribes to fight back and the Twisted Hairs were soon driven from their lands. Weakened and on the retreat, the Twisted Hairs were set upon by the Legion and destroyed. No one was spared, but one woman managed to escape. The only survivor of this massacre later became the tribal "goddess" Hecate.

After the Battle of Hoover Dam
Graham was Caesar's second in command until he lost the first battle of Hoover Dam against the NCR. After the defeat, Caesar ordered Graham to be set on fire and thrown into the Grand Canyon, in order to demonstrate that defeat was not tolerated in the Legion. It was then prohibited for Legionaries to speak of his name ever again. Thus, Graham became known as the Burned Man.

It is possible that Graham has survived, as he had a reputation for being unkillable. This is thought due to some graffiti found on a movie screen located at the Mojave Drive-In just south of Nipton stating "Joshua Graham Lives" and "The Burned Man Walks!", these can also be found on the side of a derelict truck bordering a radioactive pool of water at the north end of the road near Brooks Tumbleweed Ranch. Legionaries and their slaves speak about the Burned Man as if he were a vengeful spirit, and rumors persist Caesar's scouts still regularly scour Legion territory for any sign of him.

Van Buren plot

 * The Prisoner was to encounter somebody hanged by the neck from a pole at Fort Abandon, obviously still alive and enraged. If cut down, the Hanged Man would tag along with the Prisoner. He was wrapped from head to toe in bandages as he had been burned pretty much all over. Save for the fact that he had a connection to Caesar's Legion and was particularly ticked off at them he would not provide many details about himself.
 * Rescuing the Hanged Man would cause all the tribals in the region to be angry with the Prisoner as the tribals would blame him for future crimes committed by the Hanged Man. In addition, the Hanged Man may piss off any tribals he encounters and try to butcher any Twin Mothers tribals he could find. Having him in the party would make dealing with tribals and some towns extremely difficult.
 * The Hanged Man would not enter New Canaan. Upon arrival, he would initiate dialogue with the Prisoner and tell him/her that he had something to take care of, offering to meet at Burham Springs later on . Bishop Mordecai would be able to reveal some details about him.
 * Upon entering Burham Springs, the Hanged Man might quote 2 Chronicles 28, ... and he burned incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burned his sons as an offering... . The Hanged Man would laughingly refuse to drop his weapons if commanded to by Phil, possibly even inciting Phil to open fire on the party. It would be very difficult for the Prisoner to defuse the situation.

Game mechanics

 * The Prisoner was supposed to be able to find all the CNPCs early on, but designers didn't want the Hanged Man to be too good then.
 * If Hanged Man was intended to be the first CNPC to join, there are few ways to arrange this: the Prisoner can’t join anybody in Tibbets and could escape only to Fort Abandon or the only other location known to him during escape was Fort Abandon.

Trivia
It is possible the "Joshua Graham Lives!" graffiti is a reference to the "John May lives!" slogan from V. Though dissimilar in plot the other similarities are fairly obvious.