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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/39403-8.txt b/39403-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..708ecc2 --- /dev/null +++ b/39403-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7483 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Historic Fredericksburg, by John T. Goolrick + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: Historic Fredericksburg + The Story of an Old Town + +Author: John T. Goolrick + +Release Date: April 9, 2012 [EBook #39403] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORIC FREDERICKSBURG *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive.) + + + + + + + + + +HISTORIC FREDERICKSBURG + + + + +[Illustration: FREDERICKSBURG FROM STAFFORD + +_Showing the Steeple that was Used as a Signal Station by Both Armies_] + + +[Illustration: ON THE WILDERNESS BATTLEFIELD + +_President Harding, John T. Goolrick and Gen. Smedley D. Butler_] + + + + + HISTORIC FREDERICKSBURG + + _The Story of an Old Town_ + + + _By_ JOHN T. GOOLRICK + + AUTHOR OF + _"The Life of General Hugh Mercer" + "Irishmen in the Civil War" Etc._ + + + _Printed In U.S.A._ + by + WHITTET & SHEPPERSON RICHMOND VA. + + _Photographs By_ + DAVIS GALLERY, FREDERICKSBURG VA. + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1922 + JOHN T. GOOLRICK + + + + + This Book is Dedicated + To one who has not failed her friends, or her duty. + Who has given freely of her best. + Whose faith has not faltered, nor courage dimmed. + Who has held high her ideals; who has lighted + a pathway for those she loves. + To My Wife + + + + +_Contents_ + + + IN THE OLDER DAYS 13 + _One by one the little cabins are built along the + river bank_ + + AFTER THE REVOLUTION 26 + _In the days of its glory, the Old Town was famed + and prosperous_ + + WAR'S WORST HORRORS 37 + _Shelled by 181 guns for hours, the town becomes + a crumbled ruin_ + + THE FIRST BATTLE 48 + _When, at Marye's Heights and Hamilton's Crossing, + war claimed her sacrifice_ + + AT CHANCELLORSVILLE 55 + _The Struggle in the Pine Woods when death struck + at Southern hearts_ + + TWO GREAT BATTLES 64 + _The fearful fire swept Wilderness, and the Bloody + Angle at Spottsylvania_ + + HEROES OF EARLY DAYS 70 + _The Old Town gives the first Commander, first + Admiral and Great Citizens_ + + MEN OF MODERN TIMES 98 + _Soldiers, Adventurers and Sailors, Heroes and + Artists, mingle here_ + + UNFORGOTTEN WOMEN 123 + _Some of Many Who Left a Record of Brilliancy, + Service or Sacrifice_ + + AT THE RISING SUN 133 + _Where Famous Men Met; and Mine Host Brewed Punch + and Sedition_ + + LAFAYETTE COMES BACK 139 + _After Forty Years of Failure, He Hears the Echo + of His Youthful Triumph_ + + OLD COURT RECORD 142 + _Staid Documents, Writ by Hands That Are Still, + Are History For Us_ + + ECHOES OF THE PAST 151 + _"Ghosts of Dead Hours, and Days That Once Were + Fair"_ + + WHERE BEAUTY BLENDS 165 + _Old Gardens, at Old Mansions, Where Bloom Flowers + from Long Ago_ + + CHURCH AND SCHOOL 173 + _How They Grew in the New World; Pathways to the + Light_ + + THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 181 + _First in Virginia, the Church of England Has the + Longest History_ + + THE 250TH BIRTHDAY 188 + _Fredericksburg Celebrates an Anniversary_ + + APPENDIX 199 + + + + +FREDERICKSBURG + +_A Preface_ + + +Fredericksburg sprawls at the foot of the hills where the scented summer +winds sweep over it out of the valley of brawling waters above. The grass +grows lush in the meadows and tangles in the hills that almost surround +it. In spring the flowers streak the lowlands, climb on the slopes, and +along the ridges; and Autumn makes fair colors in the trees, shading them +in blood crimson, weathered bronze, and the yellow of sunsets. + +Over its shadowed streets hangs the haze of history. It is not rich nor +proud, because it has not sought; it is quiet and content, because it has +sacrificed. It gave its energy to the Revolution. It gave its heart to the +Confederacy; and, once when it was thundered at by guns, and red flames +twisted in its crumbling homes, it gave its soul and all it possessed to +the South. It never abated its loyalty nor cried out its sorrows. + +In Fredericksburg, and on the battlefields near it, almost thirty thousand +men lay on the last couch in the shadowy forests and--we think--heard Her +voice calling and comforting them. To the wounded, the Old Town gave its +best, not visioning the color of their uniforms, nursing them back to +life: And, broken and twisted and in poverty, it began to rebuild itself +and gather up the shattered ideals of its dead past. + +Out of its heart has grown simple kindness; out of its soul simple faith. + +As I look out over the streets, (I knew them well when Lee and Jackson and +Stuart, Lincoln and Grant and Hancock knew them too), they shimmer in the +Autumn sun. Over them, as has ever seemed to me, hangs an old and haunting +beauty. There may not be as great men here as long ago, but here are their +descendants and the descendants of others like them. And he who comes +among them will find loyal hearts and warm hand-clasps. + +Ah, I know the old town. My bare feet ran along its unpaved walks and +passed the cabins many a time in slavery days. I knew it in the Civil War +and reconstruction days, and on and on till now: And it has not failed its +duty. + +Fredericksburg's history brims with achievement and adventure. It has not +been tried in this volume to tell all of these. I have tried to tell a +simple story, with the flame of achievement burning on the shrines and the +echoes of old days sweeping through it, like low winds in the pine woods; +to make men and women more vivid than dates and numbers. I have tried to +be accurate and complete and to vision the past, but above all, I have +loved the things of which I have written. + +There is no possibility of expressing the gratitude the author feels for +the aid given him by others, but he must say, briefly, that without the +assistance of Miss Dora Jett, Mrs. Franklin Stearns, Mrs. John T. +Goolrick, and Dr. J. N. Barney, Mr. Chester B. Goolrick and Mr. John T. +Goolrick, Jr., the book could not have been made as readable as we hope +the public will find it. We owe just as deep thanks to Miss Sally Gravatt +of the Wallace Library. + +JNO. T. GOOLRICK. + + _Fredericksburg, Va._, + October 25, 1921. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +REV. ROBERT CAMPBELL GILMORE. + + +As a public speaker of wide reputation, especially on Southern themes, +Hon. John T. Goolrick, Judge of the Corporation Court of Fredericksburg, +Va., needs no introduction. It is my privilege to introduce him as a +writer of history to an ever widening circle of readers. Other men can +gather facts and put them in logical order, but few can give the history +of the old town of Fredericksburg such filial sympathy and interest, such +beauty of local color, as can this loyal son. + +The father, Peter Goolrick, a man of fine education, came from Ireland and +made his home in Fredericksburg, and was mayor of the town. + +The son has always lived here. The war between the States came in his +boyhood. His first connection with the Confederacy was as a messenger at +the Medical Department headquarters of General Lee. Growing old enough and +tiring of protected service he enlisted in Braxton's Battery of +Fredericksburg Artillery. He was wounded at Fort Harrison, but recovering, +returned to his command and served to the end of the war as "a +distinguished private soldier," and surrendered with "The last eight +thousand" at Appomattox. Since the war he has been prominently connected +with Confederate affairs. At one time he was Commander of the local Camp +of Veterans and is now on the staff of the Commander of all the Veterans +of the South and Virginia. + +After the war young Goolrick studied law, was elected Judge of the +Corporation Court of Fredericksburg, and of the County Court of +Spotsylvania, served for a time as Commonwealth's Attorney of +Fredericksburg, and later was re-elected Judge of the Corporation Court, +which position he has held for sixteen years, and which he now holds. He +has been the inceptor often, and always a worker, in every public event in +the town. + +This is not Judge Goolrick's first appearance as a writer. He has +contributed many articles to newspapers, and magazines, and has published +several books. He is thus particularly fitted to write the history of his +own beloved town. + + + + +HISTORIC FREDERICKSBURG + + + + +_In the Older Days_ + + _One by one the little cabins are built along the river bank--_ + + +Enveloped in the perfume of old English boxwood and the fragrance of still +older poplars, and permeated with the charm of a two hundred and fifty +year old atmosphere, the town of Fredericksburg, Virginia, nestles in the +soft foliage along the banks of the Rappahannock, at the point where the +turbulent waters of the upper river rush abruptly against the back-wash of +the sea, an odd but pleasing mixture of the old and the new. + +Subtly rich with the elegance of the past, it looks proudly back across +its two and a half centuries, but it has not forgotten how to live in the +present, and combines delightfully all that it has of the old with much +that is new and modern. + +Perhaps no other community in the country has had a more intimate and +constant association with the political and historic growth of America +than Fredericksburg. From the earliest Colonial period, when it was a +place of importance, it traces its influence on the nation's development +down through the Revolutionary war, the War of 1812, the Mexican and Civil +wars and the periods of national progress between those conflicts, and +even today, when the old town has lost its touch with affairs as an +important community, it still can claim a close connection with events +through the influence of its descendants--sons and daughters--who have +gone forth in the world and achieved leadership in movements of the day +that are aiding in shaping the destiny of mankind; and of these another +chapter tells. + +But while proud of the accomplishments of these, the old town does not +depend upon them for distinction. It bases its claim to this on the events +with which it actually has been associated, and the importance of the part +it has played in the past is proved by data found in the recorded annals +of the country. + +[Sidenote: _The Spanish Missionaries_] + +It might, indeed, if it sought historical recognition on accepted legend +rather than known fact, assert an origin that antidates that of the first +English permanent colony in America. A historian, writing in the Magazine +of American History, says the spot now occupied by Fredericksburg was +first discovered in 1571 by Spanish Missionaries, who erected there the +first Christian shrine in America. It is almost certain the town was +settled in 1621, three hundred years ago, but this cannot be definitely +proven, and the town has not claimed it as a date in its established +history. It does not claim to have had a beginning with the recorded +arrival of Captain John Smith, one year after the settlement of Jamestown, +but takes as its birthdate May 2d, 1671, at which time the site was +legally recognized by a grant from Sir William Berkley, then Colonial +governor, to John Royston and Thomas Buckner, who are looked upon as the +real founders of community life at the spot now occupied by +Fredericksburg. + +Whether or not white men first reached the location as early as the +suggested arrival of the Spanish Missionaries probably must always remain +a mystery, though there are reasons to believe that this is entirely +probable, as it is known that Spaniards made an early effort at +colonization in Virginia, and in 1526 came up the James River from Haiti +with six hundred people, and, with many negro slaves as workmen, founded +the town of Miguel, near where Jamestown afterwards was established by +Captain John Smith. It is probable that these pioneers ventured into the +surrounding country, and not at all unlikely that some of them strayed as +far as the falls of the Rappahannock. + +But if the data are not sufficient to actually prove this early visit to +the site, it is a fact of record in the diary of "Chirurgeon" Bagnall, a +member of the party, that Captain Smith reached the spot in 1608, one year +after the establishment of Jamestown, and after successfully disputing +possession of the land with a tribe of Indians, disembarked and planted a +cross, later prospecting for gold and other precious metals. The diary of +Smith's companions, still in existence, tells of the trip in accurate +detail and from it is proven that even if the Spanish missionaries did not +come as far as claimed for them, at least the Indians had recognized the +natural advantages of the place by the establishment there of towns, which +might have been in existence for hundreds of years. + +[Sidenote: _Captain Smith's First Visit_] + +Captain Smith made two attempts to explore the Rappahannock. The first, in +June, 1608, ended when the hardy adventurer in plunging his sword into "a +singular fish, like a thornback with a long tail, and from it a poison +sting," ran afoul of the water monster and because of his sufferings was +obliged to turn back. The second trip was started on July 24th, 1608, and +was continued until the falls were reached. + +Dr. Bagnall says in his diary that when near the mouth of the river, the +party encountered "our old friend, Mosco, a lusty savage of Wighconscio, +upon the Patawomeck," who accompanied them as guide and interpreter, and +upon reaching the falls did splendid service against the unfriendly +Indians, "making them pause upon the matter, thinking by his bruit and +skipping there were many savages." In the fighting Captain Smith's party +captured a wounded Indian and much to the disgust of the cheerful Mosco, +who wished to dispatch him forthwith, spared his life and bound his +wounds. This work of mercy resulted in a truce with the Redmen, which made +possible the final undisturbed settlement of the land by the whites, the +prisoner interceding for Smith and his party. + +Captain Smith's first landing on the upper river probably was directly +opposite what now is the heart of Fredericksburg. Dr. Bagnall's diary +says: + +[Sidenote: _About The Indian Villages_] + +"Between Secobeck and Massawteck is a small isle or two, which causes the +river to be broader than ordinary; there it pleased God to take one of +our company, called Master Featherstone, that all the time he had been in +this country had behaved himself honestly, valiently and industriously, +where in a little bay, called Featherstone's bay, we buried him with a +volley of shot * * * + +"The next day we sailed so high as our boat would float, there setting up +crosses and graving our names on trees." + +Captain Quinn, in his excellent History of Fredericksburg, says that +Featherstone's bay "is in Stafford, opposite the upper end of Hunter's +island," but it is probable he did not closely examine facts before making +this statement, as his own location of other places mentioned in Dr. +Bagnall's diary serves to disprove his contention as to the whereabouts of +the bay. + +"Seacobeck," Captain Quinn says, "was just west of the city almshouse." +The almshouse was then situated where the residence of the President of +the State Normal School now stands. Massawteck, Captain Quinn locates as +"just back of Chatham." If his location of these two places is correct, it +is clear that the "small isle or two," which the diary says was located +between them, must have been at a point where a line drawn from the +President's residence, at the Normal School, to "just back of Chatham" +would intersect the river, which would be just a little above the present +location of Scott's island, and that Featherstone's bay occupied what now +are the Stafford flats, extending along the river bank from nearly +opposite the silk mill to the high bank just above the railroad bridge and +followed the course of Claibourne's Run inland, to where the land again +rises. The contours of the land, if followed, here show a natural +depression that might easily have accommodated a body of water, forming a +bay. + +There are other evidences to bear out this conclusion. Dr. Bagnall's diary +says: "The next day we sailed so high as our boat would float." It would +have been an impossibility to proceed "high" (meaning up) the river from +Hunter's island in boats, even had it been possible to go as high as that +point. Notwithstanding contradictory legend, the falls of the +Rappahannock have been where they are today for from five to one hundred +thousand years, and there is no evidence whatever to indicate that +Hunter's Island ever extended into tidewater, the formation of the banks +of the river about that point giving almost absolute proof that it did +not. + +No authentic data can be found to prove the continued use of the site as a +settlement from Smith's visit forward, though the gravestone of a Dr. +Edmond Hedler, bearing the date 1617, which was found near Potomac run in +Stafford county, a few miles from the town, would indicate that there were +white settlers in the section early in the 17th century, and if this is +true there is every reason to believe the falls of the Rappahannock were +not without their share, as the natural advantages of the place for +community settlement would have been appealing and attractive to the +colonists, who would have been quick to recognize them. + +In 1622, according to Howe's history, Captain Smith proposed to the London +Company to provide measures "to protect all their planters from the James +to the Potowmac rivers," a territory that included the Rappahannock +section, which can be taken as another indication of the presence of +settlers in the latter. + +[Sidenote: _Establishment of the Town_] + +The first legal record of the place as a community is had in +1671--strangely enough just one hundred years after the reported coming of +the Spaniards--when Thomas Royston and John Buckner were granted, from Sir +William Berkley, a certain tract of land at "the falls of the +Rappahannock." This was on May 2d, and shortly afterward, together with +forty colonists, they were established on what is now the heart of +Fredericksburg, but known in those remote times as "Leaseland." This is +the date that Fredericksburg officially takes as its birthday, though +additional evidence that colonists already were in that vicinity is had in +the fact that the boundaries of the land described in the grant from +Governor Berkley to the two early settlers, ended where the lands of one +Captain Lawrence Smith began. + +[Sidenote: _Major Lawrence Smith's Fort_] + +Three or four years after the grant was made to Buckner and Royston the +"Grande Assemblie at James Cittie" took official cognizance of the Colony +by ordering Major Lawrence Smith and one hundred and eleven men to the +Falls of the Rappahannock for the purpose of protecting the colonists. +Records in regard to this say, "At a Grande Assemblie at James Cittie, +between the 20th of September, 1674, and the 17th of March, 1675, it was +ordered that one hundred and eleven men out of Gloucester be garrisoned at +one ffort or place of defense, at or near the falls of the Rappahannock +river, of which ffort Major Lawrence Smith is to be captain or chief +commander." It was also ordered that "the ffort be furnished with four +hundred and eight pounds of powder and fourteen hundred pounds of shott." + +A few years later, in 1679, Major Smith was authorized by the Jamestown +government to mark out, below the falls of the Rappahannock, a strip of +land one mile long and one-fourth of a mile wide, to be used as a colony +and, together with eight commissioners, he was empowered to hold court and +administer justice. Within this confine he was instructed to build +habitations for two hundred and fifty men, fifty of whom were to be kept +well armed and ready to respond to the tap of a drum. It would appear that +the "ffort" mentioned in the earlier meeting of the "Grande Assemblie" was +not built until this year. The contention that it was erected on the +Stafford side of the river seems to be without any foundation of fact. + +That the community was now growing seems to be proven by the fact that the +same act, defining the limits mentioned above, also mentioned a larger +district, defined as extending three miles above the fort and two miles +below it for a distance of four miles back, over which Major Smith and his +commissioners were to have jurisdiction. Two years later, in 1681, the +little town received a great impetus when two hundred families came to +join the colony. From this time forward, the community began to take an +important part in the life of the Colonies. + +In 1710, upon the invitation of Baron de Graffenried, a friend of Governor +Spotswood, twelve German families came to America and settled on the +Rapidan river, eighteen miles above Fredericksburg, opening the first iron +mines and establishing the first iron works in America. They named the +place Germanna, and, according to an account left by one of the party, +"packed all their provisions from Fredericksburg," then the principal +trading point of the section. + +In 1715, Governor Spotswood and the now-famed "Knights of the Golden +Horseshoe," started from Germanna (some of them came through +Fredericksburg en route and stopped with Austin Smith). Assembling at +Germanna they left on September 24th and continued across the Blue Ridge +mountains to the Valley of Virginia. An interesting account of the trip, +which has been made the theme of song and story, and even the basis of a +secret society, can be found in the diary of John Fountaine, a member of +the party. + +For a period nothing seems to have happened to the community of sufficient +importance to be recorded, and for the next few years the imagination must +supply the story of the settlement. It probably was a village of +irregular, straggling streets and indifferent houses, with a population +that struggled for a living by trading, trapping and other pursuits of +that day. Its stores were likely very good for those times, but across the +river it had a rival in its neighbor, Falmouth, which as a place of +importance was fast catching up with it, and soon was destined to pass it, +for in 1720, seven years earlier than "The Leaseland," it received its +charter from the House of Burgesses at Williamsburg, who vested its +government in seven trustees. + +[Sidenote: _Falmouth's Fast Growth_] + +If not as a political and social center, at least as a trading point, +Falmouth had soon superceded Fredericksburg. It was the market for all the +grain of the upper country, which by this time was beginning to be +settled, and was in direct commercial communication with England, Europe +and the West Indies by ocean-going vessels, which, when under 140 tons +burden, could come up to its wharves. It was a great milling center and +its merchants began to grow prosperous and wealthy, one of them, Mr. Bazil +Gordon, accumulating the first million dollars ever made in America, +though he was the product of a little later date than that now under +consideration. + +Grain brought out of Falmouth in boats larger than 140 tons was first put +upon barges or flat boats of large capacity, which were conveyed down the +river to waiting vessels and transferred by slave labor. The stories heard +of large vessels docking at the Falmouth wharves are apocryphal; no boat +of great tonnage ever got as far as Falmouth. This may account for +Fredericksburg's final supremacy over Falmouth, which doubtless came about +the time the first ferry was started, permitting the planters to cross the +river with their grain and load directly to the waiting vessels, thus +saving time and work, valuable considerations even in those days of +abundant leisure and cheap slave labor. + +[Sidenote: _"Leaseland" Is Chartered_] + +But, while Falmouth was progressing "Leaseland" was also making strides, +and in 1727 it became of sufficient importance to receive its charter from +the House of Burgesses, and was named in honor of Frederick, Prince of +Wales, son of George II. The Prince died before ascending the throne, but +his son became George III., and it was thus from the domination of the son +of the Prince for whom their town was named that the patriotic people of +the little village later plotted to free themselves. The act giving the +town a charter names John Robinson, Henry Willis, Augustine Smith, John +Taliaferro, Henry Beverly, John Waller and Jeremiah Crowder as trustees, +and the streets were named for members of the Royal family, names which +fortunately endure today, despite an attempt made some years ago to +modernize the town and discard the beautiful and significant old names in +favor of the less distinguished and uglier method of numerical and +alphabetical designations. + + +[Illustration: FROM MRS. WASHINGTON'S FARM + +_One Sees, Across the River, the Homes of Such Families as the Mercer's, +Weeden's, Mortimer's_] + + +Settlers now were rapidly coming into the community which was growing in +importance. In 1732, Colonel Byrd owner of vast tracts where now stands +the magnificent city of Richmond, an important man in the Colonial life of +Virginia, came to Fredericksburg, calling on his friend, Colonel Henry +Willis, "top man of the town," as Colonel Byrd refers to him in his very +interesting account of the visit preserved to posterity. Colonel Byrd was +impressed by Fredericksburg, particularly by the stone jail, which, he +said, seemed strong enough "to hold Jack Shepherd" and with the +versatility of one Sukey Livingstone, or Levinston, doctress and coffee +woman. Some believe that the old stone building at the Free Bridge head is +the jail referred to. + +The seat of justice which had been located at Germanna, was this year +moved to Fredericksburg, St. George's parish established and the church +erected, with Rev. Patrick Henry, uncle of the famous orator, as its first +rector. + +[Sidenote: _"Town Fairs" Are Begun_] + +In 1738 the House of Burgesses authorized the holding twice annually of +town fairs for the sale of cattle, provisions, goods, wares and all kinds +of merchandise, and it is easy to understand how these affairs became the +most important events in the life of the village, attracting plantation +owners from miles and taking on a social as well as business aspect. And +as the act also provided that all persons attending these fairs should be +immune from arrest for two days previous and two days subsequent to the +events, except for capital offenses or breaches of the peace, suits, +controversies and quarrels that might arise during the events, it can well +be imagined that they were lively and exciting gatherings. + +One year later the trustees found it necessary to purchase additional land +for the accommodation of the growing population but a bargain was struck +with Henry Willis, "the top man of the town," and John Lewis only after +the House of Burgesses had taken up the matter deciding the ownership of +the lands in question and fixing the sum to be paid Willis at fifteen +pounds and Lewis at five pounds, not a bad total price, considering the +survey shows that only three acres were bought. + +[Sidenote: _Masonry Is Established_] + +The town had now grown to such importance as a trading point that the +establishment of direct connections with the Stafford shore was made +necessary, and in 1748 the first ferry was authorized by law. Evidently +from this time forward the town began to forge ahead of its thriving +neighbor, Falmouth, for the lessened expense of transferring grain +directly to the waiting ships made it more attractive as a market and many +of the up-country people who formerly had sold their gain and traded in +Falmouth, now crossed on the ferry and spent their money with the +merchants of Fredericksburg. The establishment of Masonry in 1752, at +which time the lodge was known as "The Lodge of Fredericksburg," points to +the growing importance of the place; and that the Colonial citizens were +keenly alive to the benefits to be derived from attracting industry to +their towns is attested to by an act of the General Assembly, passed in +1759, to encourage the arts and manufactury in the Colonies, which set up +a premium of five hundred pounds to be awarded the citizen making the best +ten hogsheads of wine in any one year, within eight years from the passage +of the act. A number of citizens of the town contributed to the fund, +among them George Washington, who gave two pounds. + +In the Indian wars of 1755-57, Fredericksburg became an important depot +and rendezvous for troops. Recruits, provisions, supplies and ordnances +were sent to the town in quantities, and on April 15th, 1757, Governor +Dinwiddie ordered Colonel George Washington to send two hundred men there +to be "Thence sent by vessels to South Carolina, to treat with curtesy the +Indians at Fort London, and to send them out in scalping parties with such +number of men as you can spare." + +But now the peaceable growth and prosperity of the village were to be +halted. Dissatisfaction with the government in England began to grow, and +there were murmurings of discontent and resentment, not by any means +indulged in by all the citizens, for large numbers were still utterly +loyal to the Crown, and those who opposed its policies congregated to +themselves, meeting in secret or standing in little groups about the +streets to give vent to their feelings. + +[Sidenote: _The Revolution Gathers_] + +One well-known place for the meeting of "Revolutionists" was the Rising +Sun tavern still standing in good order, at that time kept by "Mine Host," +George Weedon. This famed old Tavern is told of in another chapter. It is +almost certain that at this tavern the rough draft was made of a +resolution to be later passed in a public town meeting, which was +tantamount to a declaration of independence, and which was passed +twenty-one days before the famous Mecklenburg declaration and more than a +year before that of the American congress. + +These resolutions were adopted on the 29th day of April, 1775, amidst the +greatest public excitement. News of the battle of Lexington, fought on the +20th of April, and of the removal by Lord Dunmore of twenty barrels of +powder from the public magazine at Williamsburg to the English frigate +"Fowey," then lying near Yorktown, which occurred one day after the battle +of Lexington, had just reached Fredericksburg. Immediately the citizens +showed their indignation. More than six hundred men from the town and the +surrounding country armed themselves and sent a courier to General +Washington, then at Williamsburg, offering their services in defense of +the Colonies. Delegates were also dispatched to Richmond to ascertain the +true state of affairs, and to find out at what point the men should +report. The men stayed under arms and in readiness to move at short notice +until General Washington transmitted a message, advising that they +restrain from any hostilities until a congress could be called to decide +upon a general plan of defense. This advice was received by a council of +more than a hundred men, representing fourteen companies (the number under +arms having by this time grown), which decided by a majority of one to +disperse for the present, but to keep themselves in readiness for a call. +Many of them afterwards joined the armies of General Washington. + +[Sidenote: _The Gunnery Is Built_] + +Material preparations for the conflict that everyone, even the Tories, now +felt was certain, were made by the establishment at the town of the first +small arms manufactury in America, which was located on what now is known +as Gunnery Green. Colonel Fielding Lewis, brother-in-law of General +Washington, was one of the commissioners in charge of the gunnery and +active in its management. + +With the coming of the Gunnery, and the formation of companies of troops, +the peaceful atmosphere of Fredericksburg quickly changed to one of a +militaristic aspect. Recruits drilled in the street, the manufacture of +arms was rushed, supplies were received and stored, couriers, with news +from other parts of the country, dashed in to acquaint the eager +townspeople with events, and those loyal to the Colonies went bravely +about with every kind of war preparation, while those inclined to Toryism +kept quiet and to themselves, or moved away with their families, hoping, +and probably succeeding in many cases, in reaching England before the +whole country was affected by the war, in which the part played by +Fredericksburg and its citizens was of the utmost importance. The town +gave to the Revolution an unusually large proportion of troops and many of +the great leaders. + +During the Revolution, although Fredericksburg men were the leaders of the +Army, no fighting occurred here and the period was not one of danger for +the town, but was one of anxiety for the inhabitants. Tarleton passed +close to this city on his raid towards Charlottesville, and Lafayette and +his men built the road still known as "The Marquis Road," through the +Wilderness toward Orange. + +Recently three soldiers, whose uniform buttons testify they were Hessians, +were dug up near Spotsylvania Court House. A prison camp existed about two +miles from here on the Plank Road from which Washington recruited some +artisans to do the interior decorating in the home of his beloved sister, +Betty, at Kenmore. + +[Sidenote: _Regiments Are Recruited_] + +Several Regiments went from Fredericksburg. General William Woodford (see +sketch of life) was elected Commander of the first. Among his descendants +are the late Marion Willis, Mayor Willis and Mr. Benj. Willis. General +Hugh Mercer was chosen Commander of the third regiment, and James Monroe, +of Fredericksburg (afterwards president) was Lieut.-Colonel, while Thomas +Marshall, father of Chief Justice Marshall, was Major. The other Virginia +Regiment was not recruited here. It was commanded by Patrick Henry. + +Although it furnished two of the first three Virginia Regiments, and half +of America's Generals, as well as the Commanding General, Fredericksburg +was not a war center. Its history during that period will be found in the +lives of the men it produced, elsewhere in this book. + +It did give most material aid by furnishing arms from the "Gunnery" of +Col. Fielding Lewis, and was generous in its financial aid, and always +ready for attack. + + + + +_After the Revolution_ + + _In the days of its glory, the Old Town was famed and prosperous_ + + +The first mention of Fredericksburg in the annals of the new Republic is +an act of the legislature in 1781, incorporating the town and vesting the +powers of its government in the hands of a mayor and commonality, +consisting of a council and board of aldermen. Courts were established and +provision made for future elections of its officials. + +The first mayor was Charles Mortimer, and the Board of Aldermen consisted +of William Williams, John Sommerville, Charles Dick, Samuel Roddy and John +Julien, who, together with the mayor, were also justices of the peace, and +required to hold a hustings court monthly. John Legg was appointed +sergeant of the court and corporation, and John Richards and James Jarvis +constables. The town's initial commonwealth's attorney, John Minor, is +said to have been the first man to offer in any legislative body of the +country a bill for the emancipation of the slaves. + +The first action of the court is interesting, especially in these times. +It was giving license to five persons to conduct taverns, immediately +followed by an act to regulate them by establishing prices for alcoholic, +vinous and fermented beverages. There is no mention of opening or closing +hours, Sunday selling, selling to minors or any of the later and stricter +regulations, and the prices to be charged are in terms of pounds, or +parts, per gallon. The American bar was unknown then and probably even in +the taverns and tap rooms, little liquor was sold by the drink. Some of +the prices established translated into dollars, were West Indian rum, per +gallon, $3.34; brandy, $1.67; good whiskey, $1.00; good beer, $0.67 and so +on. + +Having taken care that the tavern keepers could not charge too much for +drink, the court now provided that they should not over charge for food +served, placing the score for a "single diet" at twenty-five cents, a most +reasonable sum according to modern standards. + +While having the power to regulate, the court was not without regulation +from a superior source as the articles of incorporation show that in case +of misconduct on the part of the mayor or any member of the board, the +others would have power to remove him after the charges had been fully +proved, and it further stipulated that should any person elected to office +fail or refuse to serve, he should be fined according to the following +scale: mayor, fifty pounds; recorder, forty pounds; alderman, thirty +pounds; councilman, twenty-five pounds. In 1782 an amendment was passed by +the legislature, enlarging the jurisdiction of the court to include all +territory within one mile of the town limits. + +[Sidenote: _The Famed "Peace Ball"_] + +Fredericksburg was not long in recovering from the effects of the +Revolution. It had suffered no physical damage, though it had lost a great +deal of actual and potential value in the deaths of citizens who gave +their lives for the cause. A magnificent Peace Ball was held, in 1784, in +the assembly room over the old City Hall, at Main Street and "Market +Alley," which was attended by General Washington, General Lafayette, +Rochambeau, Washington's mother, who came leaning on his arm and all the +notables and fashionables of the country. The town was soon again a +thriving hustling center of trade and business. + +New enterprises came as requirements of the times made themselves felt. In +1786 the Virginia Herald made its appearance, the first newspaper +published in the town, and about the same time whipping posts, ducking +stools, and pillories were established to keep down the criminal +tendencies of the unlawfully inclined. In 1789 an act was passed, +empowering the trustees of the Fredericksburg Academy to raise by lottery +$4,000 to defray the expenses of erecting a building on the grounds for +the accommodation of professors, a method of raising money that modern +morals has outlawed. In 1795 the Episcopal Charity School was established +by Archibald McPherson one of the splendid men of the town and in 1799 the +town experienced its first serious fire, which was held by some to have +been the work of an incendiary and by others as due to a wooden chimney. +The council in an effort to assuredly exclude all danger of another such +from either source, offered a reward of $500. for conviction of the +incendiary, and passed an ordinance abolishing wooden chimneys, and stove +pipes sticking through windows or the sides of houses, provided the +buildings were not fire proof. + +[Sidenote: _Commercial Development_] + +From 1800 to 1850 Fredericksburg was the principal depot of trade and +commerce for all that region between the Rappahannock river and the +counties of Orange, Culpeper, Rapidan, Madison and Fauquier in addition to +the contiguous territory and the great section lying between the town and +the Chesapeake bay. Commerce with the upper country, however, was the most +productive, for the lower country people were in close connection with the +rivers and, as in those days all shipping was done by water ways, they +shipped from wharves along the Rappahannock near their homes. They +received much of their goods in this manner and were not so dependent upon +the town as the upper country people who were forced to bring their +products to Fredericksburg by wagon trains, which lumbered slowly down +with their burdens of grain, produce and tobacco, and having unloaded and +tarried awhile, lumbered back even more slowly, loaded with groceries, +wines, liquors, household stores, plantation supplies, dry goods and +merchandise for the country stores. + +These wagons were of huge dimensions, "their curving bodies being before +and behind at least twelve feet from the ground" according to one writer. +They had canvas covers and were drawn by four horses always, sometimes six +and eight, carrying jangling bells upon their collars. As many as two +hundred of them were often on the streets or in the wagon yards of +Fredericksburg at one time, making prosperity for the energetic merchants +of that distant day, and bringing business for the many vessels, some of +them large three masted schooners, which came from all parts of the globe +to anchor at the wharves. + +[Sidenote: _Fires Sweep the Town_] + +At about this time Fredericksburg received two serious blows that greatly +retarded its progress and prosperity. The first was in 1808, when nearly +half the town was destroyed by a fire which broke out at the corner of +Princess Anne and Lewis streets, where the Shepherd residence now stands, +and fanned by a high wind quickly roared its way through the inflammable +houses, such as most of the residences then were, until the town was half +in ashes. At the outbreak of the fire most of the citizens were attending +the races at "Willis Field," just below the town, and before they could +get back it had gained such headway that their efforts to check it were +ineffectual. It is said the fire was caused by the overturning of a candle +in the kitchen of the Stannard home, occupying the present site of the +Shepherd residence, where refreshments were being prepared for the funeral +of Mr. Stannard, and that the remains were gotten out of the house only +with great difficulty on the part of the mourners. In those days funerals +were accompanied by feasts, at which cake in sombre wrappings and wine in +glasses with long black ribbons tied to the stems, were served. + +Much of the brick construction on the upper business section of Main +street, and a number of residences known as Colonial, are results of that +fire, but deserve to be called Colonial as that period, architectually +speaking, extended until about the year 1812. The Shepherd residence, of +course, was built following the fire; the old Doswell home, now occupied +by Mr. A. W. Rowe, probably was erected afterwards and the old Marye home, +now owned by Mr. A. L. Jenkins, has a corner stone bearing the date 1812, +the residence formerly occupying that site having been burned. However, +most of the older residences in Fredericksburg antedate the fire, and are +of an earlier Colonial period. + +[Sidenote: _During The War of 1812_] + +Another blow was the War of 1812, and though, as in the case of the +Revolution, the city did not suffer actual physical damage, its business +and trade were interrupted and severely decreased, if not totally stopped, +due to the English dominance of the seas and during the course of that +conflict, the commercial life must have been slow and stagnant. + +Fredericksburg itself was for a time threatened when the English admiral, +Cockburn, made a raid up the Rappahannock. Many thought his objective was +Fredericksburg and General William Madison, brother of the President, +summoned a small force which took up positions of defense, from which to +repel the raider, but he never got up the river as far as the city, +turning when much lower down and putting back to sea for a cause which +history has not assigned. During this war, as had been the case in the +Revolution, and was to be in the Civil war to come, the Mercer home, now +occupied by Councilman George W. Heflin, which stands on an eminence on +lower Main street commanding a splendid view of the river, was used as a +post from which to watch for the approach of enemy ships, a use that has +given it the name of "The Sentry Box." + +Following the War of 1812, Fredericksburg's trade revived and increased, +and the city settled down to a full enjoyment of that remarkably cultural +era--the only classical civilization America has ever known--which lasted +until the Civil war and which has been made famous in song and story and +the history of the old South. The families of the early settlers had by +now become wealthy; the plantation masters owned hundreds of slaves, +farmed thousands of acres and lived in their handsome old Colonial +mansions in the most magnificent style the times could afford. Surrounded +by many servants and all the comforts known to the day, they entertained +lavishly, kept splendidly stocked wine cellars, boasted of private race +courses and keen thoroughbred hunters and racers, and, as the business of +the plantations was largely in the hands of overseers, they were gentlemen +of splendid leisure with an abundance of time opportunity and means to +devote to sports, politics and literature. Most of them were educated +abroad and were learned in the classics, clever and entertaining +conversationalists, beautiful riders, excellent shots, and when not +engaged in social or literary pursuits that kept them indoors, enjoyed the +sports of the field, hunting to the hounds, gunning for quail, deer, bear, +wild turkey or duck, or fishing in the abundantly supplied streams +tributary to the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers. Hard drinking was not +unusual among them, but they were men of the highest sense of honor and +principle, and were always true to an obligation. + + +[Illustration: THE HOME OF JAMES MONROE + +_Who Began His Official Career as a Councilman in Fredericksburg, and +Became President_] + + +While the townspeople did not enjoy life quite so lavishly as their +plantation neighbors, they were not far behind; entertaining frequently +and hospitably and mingling freely with the people from the country. + +[Sidenote: _Care-Free Era of Gayety_] + +But though it was a gay and carefree day, the times were not without their +troubles. In 1822 the town was again visited by fire, this time +originating at the site of the present Brent's store, at Main and George +streets, destroying the entire business block encompassed between Main and +Princess Anne and George and Hanover streets. Recovery from this fire was +rapid. The merchants were financially substantial and quickly rebuilt the +burned area. + +As early as 1822, Fredericksburg was an important postal point, the mail +for five states being assorted and distributed in the city and sent thence +to its final destination. The conduct of Postmaster General Meigs in +regard to increasing the compensation of carriers on the Fredericksburg +route without authorization from Congress, was the subject of an +investigation by that body, but he was exonerated when it was explained +that the increase was necessary because the mail had become so heavy that +carriers were no longer able to handle it on horse back, being compelled +to use surries, an added expense to them which justified the additional +pay. + +James Monroe, a former resident, lawyer and councilman of Fredericksburg, +was at that time President of the United States, and though the town +doubtless was a naturally important postal distribution, it may have been +that the President's influence had some bearing-on the selection of the +place which had given him his political start. + +[Sidenote: _The Town Grows Richer_] + +For the next decade, the trade and commercial life of the town increased. +The merchants and manufacturers--by this time several large industries of +this character being in operation--were busy and prosperous and had begun +to grow either wealthy, measured in the standards of the time, or were in +very comfortable circumstances, while the citizenry, generally, was +prosperous and free from want. The town was compactly built, many of its +structures now being of brick, and was regularly laid out. The public +buildings consisted of a courthouse, market house, clerks office, the +Episcopal Orphan Asylum, the Episcopal, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist +and Reform Baptist Church. It had two banks, one female and one male +academy of the higher class; a water system supplied through pipes from +Poplar Spring. And the upper river canal was being built, a public +enterprise from which great results were expected and which was to extend +about forty miles up the Rappahannock. Gold was being mined in +considerable quantities in upper Spotsylvania and lower Culpeper counties +and brought to Fredericksburg in exchange for goods, and a generally +thriving trade was being done, chiefly in grain, bacon, tobacco and other +farm products for export. One writer has computed the city's annual +exports at that time as averaging four million dollars, and Government +statistics show that there were in the town in 1840, seventy-three stores, +two tanneries, one grist mill, two printing plants, four semi-weekly +newspapers, five academies with 256 students, and seven schools with 165 +scholars. The population in that year was 3,974. Ten years previous it had +been 3,308, divided as follows: whites, 1,797; slaves, 1,124; free blacks, +387. + +[Sidenote: _The City Limits Are Set_] + +From 1840 until the middle fifties, prosperity was continued. The canal +was completed and had brought about an increased business at a lower cost. +A railroad was in operation from Richmond through Fredericksburg to Aquia +Creek, and steamboats had to some extent taken the place of sailing +vessels as a means of water transportation, meaning quicker trips with +greater burdens. In 1851 the legislature passed an act empowering the town +to extend its limits, which was done according to a survey made by William +Slaughter, and though that was more than seventy years ago, and though the +population has since more than doubled, overflowing the limits and +encroaching on the adjoining county, the limits have not again been +enlarged. + +In 1855 Fredericksburg's trade had ceased to grow at a rate equal to its +average yearly increase for the previous twenty years, a condition for +which the business men of that day were not altogether responsible, but +which rather was brought about by the new commercial era the country and +world was just entering--the era of railroad transportation, which quickly +and cheaply, in comparison to past charges, carried the staples of the +farm to the ports of the sea where waiting vessels stood ready to spread +their sable sails on voyages to foreign markets. This era created the +importance of the seaport and spelled the doom, as important shipping +points, of the tidewater cities--those which had been located at the point +where mountain torrent and still water meet in order to get both the +advantage of power production and trade routes. + +It is true that the business men of the city made the serious mistake +about this period of building a plank road into one portion of the upper +country from which they derived much trade, instead of building a +railroad, for just a little later transportation by wagon train for export +purposes had nearly entirely given away to transportation by rail, and +Fredericksburg was utterly without such connection with its greatest field +of trade, which soon was largely converted into other channels by the +railroads now beginning to practically surround the town at a distance of +approximately forty miles to the west. The single railroad passing through +Fredericksburg had no coast terminal. Throughout its short length it +paralleled the coast, offering no means of shipping for export, which +comprised most of the business of the day. The plantation owners of the +upper country who had dealt nearly entirely in Fredericksburg, now found +it cheaper to haul to the railroad passing through their country and soon +Fredericksburg was belted by little towns to the west. When later the P. +F. & P. R. R. was built to Orange, it did not save the situation and +except for lumber and ties, a trade it still largely enjoys, it has never +hauled much to Fredericksburg for export, though it did help the city +considerably in the matter of retail business. + +Trade, however, had not ceased entirely to grow, nor the town to increase. +In 1860 its population was nearly 5,000 persons, its business men still +were active and prosperous and, but for the Civil war which was to come, +they doubtless would have found a way out of the commercial difficulty +confronting them and a different history of the town from that time +forward might have been written. + +[Sidenote: _The War Ends Prosperity_] + +But over the course of a few years preceding this date, the community was +troubled and torn by political strife and moral dissention. Black and +ominous on the horizon of men's thoughts loomed the slave question, +perplexing the country's leaders and giving threats of the red carnage +that was to follow. A carnage that cost millions in men and money, caused +unreckoned anguish and suffering, and retarded the growth of the South to +such an extent that at the end of the following fifty years it had only +just begun to emerge from the black shadow cast over it by the war. + +By the end of the fifty's, trade had almost ceased, a spirit of patriotism +for the Southland superseded that of commercial enterprise, the quietness +of the soft old Colonial town was broken by wild public meetings; soon the +call of a bugle floated softly across the still air and the heavy +monotonous tread of feet sounded against the ground in unison to the +beating of drums, and though the citizens had been loyal to the Union, +sending by nearly a two-thirds majority a Union man to the State +convention, they made ready for the inevitable conflict, and when the +flame of war burst on the country like a flaring torch, they threw in +their lots with the land of their nativity and bravely shouldering their +arms, marched away from their homes to a fate that would bring them death +or sorrow, and reduce their land to a shambles. The story of the Civil war +as it effected this town is told in other chapters which follow this. + +[Sidenote: _A Town in "No Man's Land"_] + +For many years after the Civil war, Fredericksburg's connection with the +great tragedy was told in the lines of patient suffering that webbed the +faces of the older generation. It was a town of sombre, black figures--the +widows and daughters of soldiers--gentle creatures who moved about in +quiet dignity, bravely concealing the anguish hidden in their hearts, and +smilingly making the best of such disordered conditions and distressing +circumstances as before they had never known. It was a town filled with +broken, crushed men, ill fitted for the harsher demands of their new +lives; men once rich but now suddenly tossed from the foundations that +always had sustained them, who found themselves aliens in an unknown and +unfriendly world. + +Blackened, scarred ruins of what once had been magnificent homes remained +mute, grim evidences of the ghastly horror and the quaint old town was +stunned and still, a tragic wreck of its one time beauty. But as best it +could it gathered up the tangled threads of its existence and for the next +decade struggled dumbly and blindly against the terrible disadvantages +imposed upon it by the ruthlessness of war. + +When the war came with Spain, it showed that the hurt of the Civil strife +was gone, when its young men marched proudly through the streets to take +their parts in the crisis; sent on their missions of patriotism with the +feeble but sincere cheers of aged Confederate veterans ringing in their +ears. + +With the beginnings of the 20th century, Fredericksburg gave visable +evidence of its recovery from the wounds of war. Its business men had +accumulated sufficient capital to revive trade, at least partially, on its +past scale; additional industries were started, new homes and buildings +sprang up and there was the beginning of a general and steady improvement. + + +[Sidenote: _A Change in Government_] + +In 1909 a group of progressive citizens, among whom one of the most +earnest was the late Henry Warden, a man of immense usefulness, realized +their ambition and the consummation of an aim for which they had fought +for years, when the old form, of councilmanic government was abolished in +favor of the City Manager form, Fredericksburg being one of the first +small cities in the country to adopt it. Since its inauguration, the city +has prospered and improved. Well laid granolithic sidewalks are placed +throughout its business and residential sections, splendid hard gravel +streets, topped with smooth asphalt binding, have replaced the old mud +roadways, the water system has been enlarged and improved, fire protection +increased and other municipal improvements made that have taken the town +out of the class of sleepy provincial hamlets and made of it a modern +little city. New hotels of the finest type, business enterprises and +industrial concerns have come to give it new life and color, but with all +this it still retains much that is sweet and old and is filled with the +charm and elegance of the past. + +Though it has just celebrated its two hundred and fiftieth birthday, the +anniversary of a time when America was only beginning to give promise of +its brilliant future, a time when the country was young and weak, but when +manhood was strong and courage held high the torch of hope, Fredericksburg +looks forward to the future with eager longing, confident that in the +mirror of its past is the story of the time to come. + + + + +_War's Worst Horrors_ + + _Shelled by 181 guns for hours, the town becomes a crumbled ruin_ + + +Fredericksburg is the point through which the railway and the roads to +Richmond pass, and is half way between Washington and the Southern city. +During the Civil war the possession of the town was an advantage not to be +despised, and so from the beginning the two great armies of the North and +South were contenders for the town. + +The first attempt toward Fredericksburg was made June 1, 1861, when +Federal gunboats and a small cavalry force were defeated, in an attempt to +land troops at Aquia Creek, by General Daniel Ruggles, C. S. A., in +command of the Department of Fredericksburg. This was the first skirmish +of the war, in Virginia, and occurred nine days before "Big Bethel" and +seven weeks after Virginia seceded. + +On the nineteenth of April, 1862, the Stafford hills were taken by the +Federals, and on April 27th General Marsena R. Patrick marched troops into +the town and placed it under military rule. General Patrick treated the +citizens with consideration and under his rule there was but little +complaint of oppression. He was, in fact, generally admired for his fair +treatment of the populace. + +But with the coming of the conceited and inhuman General Pope, who +followed McClellan in command of the Federal army, all that was changed. +From that time forward this quiet old city between the hills, with its +splendid homes, its old silver and china and tapistry and paintings, its +great trees and broad streets, was to know every cruelty, horror, and +depredation of war. + +[Sidenote: _In the Enemy's Hands_] + +General Pope, driven back by the Confederates, moved through Fauquier and +Culpeper counties to Fredericksburg, and immediately upon securing the +town, his subordinates scoured the city and arrested nineteen of the most +prominent men, alleging no crime but stating frankly that it was done in +reprisal for the arrest by the Confederates of Major Charles Williams of +Fredericksburg, who was held in Richmond to prevent him from aiding the +enemy. These men were sent to the old Capital Prison at Washington, where +they were held from early in August to late September in 1862, and were +then released in exchange for Major Williams and others. There were Rev. +W. F. Broaddus, D. D., James McGuire, Charles Welford, Thomas F. Knox, +Beverly T. Gill, James H. Bradley, Thomas B. Barton, Benjamin Temple, +Lewis Wrenn, Michael Ames, John Coakley, John H. Roberts, John J. Berrey, +Dr. James Cooke, John F. Scott, Montgomery Slaughter, (Mayor), George H. +C. Rowe, Wm. H. Norton, Abraham Cox. + +Fredericksburg was evacuated in August, 1862, when the Northern soldiers +were drawn up in line and marched out of town. A great burden was lifted +from the community. Heavy explosions marked the blowing up of the two +bridges. On September 4th, an advance guard of Confederate cavalry rode +into the town amid shouts of welcome. + +The relief was but for a short period. On November 10th, Captain Dalgren's +(Federal) dragoons crossed the river above Falmouth and clattered down +Main street and met a small force of Confederates under Col. Critcher, who +drove them back. But General Burnside's whole army was following and in a +few days held the Stafford hills. + +Fredericksburg and the country immediately about it was fought over, +marched over, shelled and ravaged and desolated. The town became a dreary +military outpost of battered, falling walls and charred timbers, of +soldiers, now in gray, now in blue. Under its streets and in yards +hundreds of dead were buried to be now and again, in after years, +unearthed. No other American city ever suffered as did this formerly +prosperous town. + +The situation, from a military standpoint, was this: Southeastward of the +city the Rappahannock broadens, so that it is not easily bridged, and +if an army crossed, it still would have to get to Richmond. Northwest (and +much nearer west than north) of the city, the Rappahannock is fordable, +but its course is _away_ from Richmond, and the roads to Richmond _again +lead back toward the rear of Fredericksburg_. + + +[Illustration: THE SLAVE BLOCK + +_Commerce Street, Where Slaves were Sold. The "Step" is Deeply Worn By The +Feet of those Who Mounted It_] + + +There were, therefore, but two feasible plans for the North to accomplish +its "on to Richmond" purpose. One was to take Fredericksburg and with it +the roads and railway to Richmond; Burnside tried this. The other, to +cross the river just above, and get in the rear of Fredericksburg, thus +getting the roads and railways to Richmond; Hooker and Grant tried this. + +[Sidenote: _Threats of Bombardment_] + +On November 20th, General Sumner peremptorily demanded the surrender of +the town, under threat of immediate bombardment, but on receiving a +request from Mayor Slaughter, he consented to extend the time twenty-four +hours and sent General Patrick across the river with a message, as +follows: + + "Gentlemen: Under cover of the houses of your town, shots have been + fired upon the troops of my command. Your mills and factories are + furnishing provisions and materials for clothing for armed bodies in + rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United + States. Your railroads and other means of transportation are removing + supplies to the depot of such troops. This condition of things must + terminate; and by direction of Major-General Burnside, commanding this + army, I accordingly demand the surrender of this city into my hands, + as a representative of the Government of the United States, at or + before five o'clock this afternoon (five o'clock P. M. to-day). + Failing an affirmative reply to this demand by the time indicated, + sixteen hours will be permitted to elapse for the removal from the + city of women and children, the sick, wounded, and aged; which period + having elapsed, I shall proceed to shell the town. + + "Upon obtaining possession of the town, every necessary means will be + taken to preserve order and to secure the protective operation of the + laws and policy of the United States Government." + +While General Patrick waited from 10:00 A. M. until 7:00 P. M. (November +21) in a log house at French John's Wharf, the note was passed through the +hands of a civic committee who had previously met General Lee at +"Snowden," (now the beautiful home of Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Baldwin) on which +were: Mayor Slaughter, William A. Little and Douglas H. Gordon. A note +from General Lee was then transmitted to the town officials by General J. +E. B. Stuart. This Mayor Slaughter, Dr. Wm. S. Scott and Samuel Harrison +delivered late in the afternoon to General Patrick. General Lee simply +said the town was non-combatant; that he would not occupy it, nor would he +allow any one else to occupy it. + +[Sidenote: _The Citizens Driven Out_] + +Advised by General Lee, the inhabitants of the town now began to refugee +to the rear. They went in the dark, in a snow storm, afoot, in vehicles +and some in a railway train, upon which the Northern guns opened heavy +fire. They slept in barns, cabins and the homes of country people, and +left behind their silverware and fine old china, their paintings and +portraits and every kind of property, all of which was doomed to +destruction. + +But the town was not shelled and a few at a time many of the old men and +the women, the boys and girls, crept back from impossible shelters in the +country to their homes in the town. + +Then, twenty-two days later, at dawn of December 11th, at a signal from +the "Long Tom" on Scott's Hill, at Falmouth, Burnside opened on the town, +now half full of residents, with one hundred and eighty-one guns. The guns +were placed along Stafford Heights from the Washington Farm to Falmouth, +and the whole fire was concentrated on the town, where walls toppled, +fires sprang up and chaos reigned. + +Frequently the Union gunners fired a hundred guns a minute, round shot, +case shot and shell. The quick puffs of smoke, touched in the center with +flame, ran incessantly along the hills and a vast thunder echoed thirty +miles away. Soon the town was under a pall of smoke, through which lifted +the white spires of the churches. + +"The scenes following the bombardment," says John Esten Cooke, in +"Jackson," "were cruel. Men, women and children were driven from town. +Hundreds of ladies and children were seen wandering homeless over the +frozen highways, with bare feet and thin clothing. Delicately nurtured +girls walked hurriedly over the various roads, seeking some friendly roof +to cover them." + +The following article by one who, as a little girl, was in Fredericksburg +on the day of the bombardment, catches a glimpse of it in a personal way +that is more convincing than pages of description. + + +THE SHELLING OF FREDERICKSBURG + +Recollections of Mrs. Frances Bernard Goolrick (Mrs. John T. Goolrick) who +was a little girl at that time. + +During the stormy winter of 1862, my mother, a widow with three little +children, was still in her native place, Fredericksburg, Virginia. Many of +the inhabitants had long since left for Richmond and other points farther +south, for the town lying just between the hostile armies was the constant +scene of raids and skirmishes, and no one knew at what instant everything +might be swept away from them. My mother, separated from her relatives by +the fortunes of war, decided that it would be best for her to remain where +she was and thus probably save the household effects she had gathered +around her. The strongest arguments had been used by friends in town and +relatives at a distance to induce her to leave for a place of more safety, +but so far without avail, and though we were often alarmed by raids into +town, as yet we had sustained no injuries of any description. In the fall +the Federal army, under General Burnside, was on the Stafford hills just +across the river, and it was constantly rumored that the town would be +bombarded; but lulled to an insecure rest by many false alarms, the people +had but little faith in these rumors. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Guns Open On The Town_] + +On the 11th of December, one of the most cruel and heartless acts of the +war was to be perpetrated, the town of Fredericksburg was bombarded, the +roar of guns beginning at daybreak, with no one in it but old or invalid +men and helpless women and children. As quick as thought, we were up and +dressed, and my aunt being very rapid in her movements, was the first to +reach the cellar. My mother had long since had some chairs and other +pieces of furniture placed there in case of an emergency. I being the +first child dressed, ran out into the yard, and as I turned towards the +cellar steps I beheld, it seemed to me, the most brilliant light that I +had ever seen; as I looked, my aunt reached out her arms and pulled me, +quivering with terror, into the cellar. A shell had exploded at the back +of the garden, in reality at some distance, but to me it was as if it had +been at my very feet. The family soon assembled, including the servants; +we had also additions in the way of two gentlemen from Stafford, Mr. B. +and Mr. G., who had been detained in town, and a Lieutenant Eustace, of +Braxton's battery, who was returning from a visit to his home. Also a +colored family, Uncle Charles and Aunt Judy, with a small boy named +Douglas and two or three other children. The couple had been left in +charge of their mistress' home (she being out of town), and with no cellar +to their house they were fain to come into ours. + +[Sidenote: _Hiding From The Shells_] + +And now the work of destruction began, and for long hours the only sounds +that greeted our ears were the whizzing and moaning of the shells and the +crash of falling bricks and timber. My mother and we three children were +seated on a low bed with Ca'line, a very small darkey, huddled as close +to us children as she could get, trying to keep warm. Mr. B. and Mr. G. +occupied positions of honor on each side of the large old-fashioned +fire-place, while my aunt was cowering inside, and every time a ball would +roll through the house or a shell explode, she would draw herself up and +moan and shiver. Lieutenant Eustace was a great comfort to my mother, and +having some one to rely on enabled her to keep her courage up during the +terrible ordeal of the cannonading. Although my brother, sister and myself +were all frightened, we could not help laughing at the little darkey +children who were positively stricken dumb with terror, old Aunt Judy +keeping them close to her side and giving them severe cuffs and bangs if +they moved so much as a finger. + +My aunt, as well as the rest of us, now began to feel the pangs of hunger, +and Aunt B. ordered the cook in the most positive manner to go up to the +kitchen and make some coffee, telling her that she knew she was afraid and +we would all be satisfied with only a cup of coffee for the present. I +believe Aunt Sally would have gone without a word if my mother had told +her, but this, from an outsider, she could not bear. (Aunt B. was my +uncle's wife and the family servants had seen very little of her.) She, +therefore, demurred, and Aunt B. calling her a coward, she arose in a +perfect fury, and with insubordination written upon her from her rigid +backbone to her flashing eyes, informed Aunt B. "dat she warn no mo' a +coward dan de res' of 'em, but she didn't b'lieve Mars Gen'l Lee hisself +cud stan' up making coffee under dat tornady." Just about this time Uncle +Charles sprawled himself out upon the floor in ungovernable terror, and +called upon the Lord to save him and his family. "Pray for us all, Uncle +Charles," screamed my aunt, her voice just heard above the roar of +artillery. The cannonading was now something fearful. Our house had been +struck twice and the shrieking balls and bursting bombs were enough to +appall the stoutest heart. My aunt being brave in speech, but in reality +very timorous, and Uncle Charles "a bright and shining light" among the +colored persuasion, she again requested him to pray. Aunt Judy by this +time began to bewail that she had "lef' old Miss cow in the cowshed," and +mistaking the moaning of the shells for the dying groans of the cow, she +and Douglas lamented it in true darkey fashion. Uncle Charles meanwhile +was very willing to pray, but Aunt Judy objected strenuously, saying, "dis +ain't no time to be spendin' in pra'ar, Char's Pryor, wid dem bumb shells +flying over you and a fizzlin' around you, and ole Miss cow dyin' right +dar in your sight." But when the house was struck for the third time, Aunt +B., in despairing accents, begged Uncle Charles to pray, so he fell upon +his knees by an old barrel, in the middle of the cellar floor, upon which +sat a solitary candle, whose flickering light lit up his hushed and solemn +countenance, and in tremulous tones with many interjections, offered up a +prayer. + + * * * * * + +My mother thought of my father's portrait, and afraid of its being injured +she determined to get it herself, and bring it into the cellar. Without +telling anyone of her intentions, she left the cellar and went up into the +parlor; the portrait was hanging just over a sofa, on which she stood to +take it down. She had just reached the door opposite the sofa when a shell +came crashing through the wall, demolishing the sofa on which she had so +recently stood, as well as many other articles of furniture. She reached +the cellar, white and trembling, but with the portrait unhurt in her arms. + +[Sidenote: _Cannons Stop For Dinner_] + +At one o'clock the cannonading suddenly ceased and for one hour we were at +liberty to go above and see the damage that had been done. My mother's +first efforts were directed towards getting a lunch, of which we were all +sorely in need. With the aid of one of the frightened servants she +succeeded in getting a fire and having some coffee made and with this, +together with some cold bread and ham, we had a plentiful repast. + +What a scene met our eyes; our pretty garden was strewn with cannon balls +and pieces of broken shells, limbs knocked off the trees and the grape +arbor a perfect wreck. The house had been damaged considerably, several +large holes torn through it, both in front and back. While we were +deploring the damage that had been done, Lieutenant Eustace returned in +breathless haste to say that he had just heard an order from General Lee +read on Commerce Street, saying that the women and children must leave +town, as he would destroy it with hot shell that night, sooner than let it +fall into the hands of the enemy, who were rapidly crossing the river on +pontoon bridges. They urged my mother to take her children and fly at once +from the town. After resisting until the gentlemen in despair were almost +ready to drag her from her dangerous situation, she finally consented to +leave. The wildest confusion now reigned, the servants wringing their +hands and declaring they could not go without their "Chists," which they +all managed to get somehow, and put upon their heads, but the gentlemen +insisted so that we had only time to save our lives. They would not even +let my mother go back into the house to get her purse or a single +valuable. So we started just as we were; my wrapping, I remember, was an +old ironing blanket, with a large hole burnt in the middle. I never did +find out whether Aunt B. ever got her clothes on, for she stalked ahead of +us, wrapped in a pure white counterpane, a tall, ghostly looking figure, +who seemed to glide with incredible rapidity over the frozen ground. * * * + +[Sidenote: _"Refugeeing" in Winter_] + +We plodded along under a heavy cross fire, balls falling right and left of +us. We left the town by way of the old "plank road," batteries of +Confederates on both sides. The ground was rough and broken up by the +tramping of soldiers and the heavy wagons and artillery that had passed +over it, so that it was difficult and tiresome to walk, and the sun got +warm by this time and the snow was melting rapidly; the mud was +indescribable. + +We had now reached the "Reservoir," a wooden building over "Poplar +Spring," and about a mile from town. I had already lost one of my shoes +several times, because of having no string in it, and my little brother +insisted on giving me one of his, so we sat down by the "Reservoir" +feeling very secure, but were terribly alarmed in a few moments by a ball +coming through the building and whizzing very close to our ears. No, this +would not do, so on we went, footsore and weary; sometimes we would meet a +soldier who would carry one of us a short distance. All of our servants, +except Ca'line, who was only seven years old, had taken some other +direction. When we got about two miles from town we overtook many other +refugees; some were camping by the way, and others pressing on, some to +country houses which were hospitably thrown open to wanderers from home, +and others to "Salem Church," about three miles from Fredericksburg, where +there was a large encampment. Our destination was a house not far from +"Salem Church," which we now call the "Refuge House." Exhausted, we +reached the house by twilight, found there some friends who had been there +some weeks, and who kindly took us into their room and gave us every +attention. And so great was our relief to feel that we had escaped from +the horror of that day, that such small matters as having to sleep in the +room with a dozen people, having no milk and no coffee, our principal diet +consisting of corn bread, bacon and sorghum, seemed only slight troubles. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Pillage and Plunder_] + +From the end of the bombardment, and at the first invasion of the town by +Union forces, until they were driven across the river again, +Fredericksburg was mercilessly sacked. All day, from the houses, and +particularly from the grand old homes that distinguished the town, came +the noise of splintering furniture, the crash of chinaware, and--now and +then--a scream. On the walls hung headless portraits, the face gashed by +bayonets. Bayonets ripped open mattresses and the feathers heaped in piles +or blew about the streets, littered with women's and men's clothing and +letters and papers thrown out of desks. Mahogany furniture warmed the +despoilers, and ten thousand were drunk on pilfered liquors. Windows and +doors were smashed, the streets full of debris, through which drunken +men grotesquely garbed in women's shawls and bonnets, staggered; flames +rose in smoke pillars here and there, and the provost guard was helpless +to control the strange orgy of stragglers and camp followers who were wild +with plunder lust, amid the dead and wounded strewn about. A fearful +picture of war was Fredericksburg in those December days from the eleventh +to the thirteenth. + + +[Illustration: THE CONFEDERATE CEMETERY + +_In The Lower Left Corner the Plank Road and Marye's Heights_] + + +[Sidenote: _A Carnival of Horrors_] + +To the citizens of Fredericksburg, those days meant bankruptcy, for their +slaves walked away, their stores and churches were battered, their +silverware stolen, their homes despoiled and their clothing worn or thrown +away. Wealthy men were to walk back a few days later to their home town as +paupers; women and children were to come back to hunger and discomfort in +bleak winter weather; and all this was the result of what General Lee said +was an entirely "unnecessary" bombardment and of days of pillage, which no +earnest attempt to stop was made. Fredericksburg was the blackest spot on +Burnside's none too effulgent reputation. + +From the army, from Southern cities and from individuals money for relief +came liberally, and in all nearly $170,000. was contributed to aid in +feeding, clothing and making habitable homes for the unfortunate town's +people. A good many carloads of food came, too, but the whole barely +relieved the worst misery, for the $170,000. was Confederate money, with +its purchasing power at low mark. + + + + +_The First Battle_ + + _When, at Mayre's Heights and Hamilton's Crossing, war claimed her + sacrifice_ + + +Following the shelling of Fredericksburg, on December 11th, the Union army +began to cross on pontoons. On the 12th of December, under cover of the +guns and of fog, almost the whole Union army crossed on three pontoons, +one near the foot of Hawk street, another just above the car bridge, and +one at Deep Run. On the morning of December 13th, General Burnside's army +was drawn up in a line of battle from opposite Falmouth to Deep Run. It +was, say they who saw the vast army with artillery and cavalry advanced, +banners flying and the bayonets of their infantry hosts gleaming as the +fog lifted, one of the most imposing sights of the war. + +General Burnside actually had in line and fought during the day, according +to his report, 100,000 effective men. + +General Lee had 57,000 effectives, ranged along the hills from Taylor, +past Snowden, past Marye's Heights, past Hazel Run and on to Hamilton's +Crossing. + +There were preliminary skirminishes of cavalry, light artillery and +infantry. The enemy tried to "feel" General Lee's lines. + +Then, about 10 o'clock, they advanced against the hills near Hamilton's +Crossing, where Jackson's Corps was posted, in a terrific charge across a +broad plateau between the river and the hills to within a quarter of a +mile of the Confederate position, where they broke under terrific +artillery and musketry fire. At one o'clock 55,000 men, the whole of +Franklin's and Hooker's Grand Divisions advanced again in the mightiest +single charge of the Civil War. Stuart and Pelham (he earned that day from +Lee the title of "The Gallant Pelham") raked them with light artillery, +but nevertheless they forced a wedge through Jackson's lines and had won +the day, until Jackson's reserves, thrown into the breach, drove them out +and threw back the whole line. As dusk came on, Stuart and Pelham counter +charged, advancing their guns almost to the Bowling Green road, and +Jackson prepared to charge and "drive them into the river," but was +stopped by the heavy Union guns on Stafford hills. + +[Sidenote: _At Hamilton's Crossing_] + +During the fiercest part of the battle, "Stonewall" Jackson was on the +hill just on the Fredericksburg side of Hamilton's Crossing where Walker's +artillery was posted, but toward evening, fired with his hope of driving +the Union forces across the river, he rode rapidly from place to place, +sending out frequent orders. One of these he gave to an aide. + +"Captain, go through there and if you and your horse come out alive, tell +Stuart I am going to advance my whole line at sunset." It was this charge, +mentioned above, which failed. + +Late that night, rising from the blankets which he shared with a Chaplain, +Jackson wrote some orders. While he was doing this, an orderly came and +standing at the tent flap, said, "General Gregg is dying, General, and +sent me to say to you that he wrote you a letter recently in which he used +expressions he is sorry for. He says he meant no disrespect by that letter +and was only doing what he thought was his duty. He hopes you will forgive +him." + +Without hesitation, Jackson, who was deeply stirred, answered, "Tell +General Gregg I will be with him directly." + +He rode through the woods back to where the brave Georgian was dying, and +day was about to break when he came back to his troops. + +General Maxey Gregg, of Georgia, was killed in action here, as were a +number of other gallant officers. + +Jackson held the right of the Confederate lines all day with 26,000 men +against 55,000. His losses were about 3,415, while Hooker and Franklin +lost 4,447. Meanwhile, against Marye's Heights, the left center of the +line, almost two miles away, General Burnside sent again and again +terrific infantry charges. + +[Sidenote: _The Charge at Marye's Heights_] + +The hills just back of Fredericksburg are fronted by an upward sloping +plane, and at the foot of that part of the hills called Marye's Heights is +a stone wall and the "Sunken Road"--as fatal here for Burnside as was the +Sunken Road at Waterloo for Napoleon. On Marye's Heights was the +Washington Artillery, and a number of guns--a veritable fortress, ready, +as General Pegram said, "to sweep the plans in front as close as a +fine-tooth comb." At the foot of the heights behind the stone wall were +Cobb's Georgians, Kershaw's South Carolinians, and Ransom's and Cobb's +North Carolinas--nine thousand riflemen, six deep, firing over the front +lines' shoulders, so that, so one officer wrote "they literally sent +bullets in sheets." + +Against this impregnable place, Burnside launched charge after charge, and +never did men go more bravely and certainly to death. This was +simultaneous with the fighting at Hamilton's Crossing. + +Meagher's Irish Brigade went first across the plain. Detouring from +Hanover street and George street, they formed line of battle on the lowest +ground, and with cedar branches waving in their hats, bravely green in +memory of "the ould sod" they swept forward until the rifles behind the +wall and the cannon on the hill decimated their ranks; and yet again they +formed and charged, until over the whole plain lay the dead, with green +cedar boughs waving idly in their hats. The Irish Brigade was practically +exterminated, and three more charges by larger bodies failed, although one +Northern officer fell within twenty-five yards of the wall. The day ended +in the utter defeat of the Union Army, which withdrew into Fredericksburg +at night. + +In front of the wall 8,217 Union soldiers were killed or wounded, and in +the "Sunken Road" the Confederates lost 1,962. + +The total Union loss in the whole battle of Fredericksburg was 12,664 and +the Confederates' loss 5,377. + +General J. R. Cook, of the Confederate Army, was killed almost at the spot +where Cobb fell. General C. F. Jackson and General Bayard, of the Union +Army, were killed, the latter dying in the Bernard House, "Mansfield," +where Franklin had his headquarters. + +[Sidenote: _The Death of General Cobb_] + +General T. R. R. Cobb, the gallant commander of the Georgians, fell +mortally wounded at the stone wall, and tradition has said that he was +killed by a shell fired from the lawn of his mother's home, a dramatic +story that is refuted by evidence that he was killed by a sharpshooter in +a house at the left and in front of the "Sunken Road." + +But the brilliant Georgian, who aided in formulating the Confederate +Constitution, was killed within sight of the house, where, more than forty +years before, the elder Cobb met, and in which he married, she who was to +be the General's mother. Journeying late in 1819 North to attend Congress, +Senator John Forsythe, who was born in Fredericksburg, and Senator Cobb, +Sr., were guests of Thomas R. Rootes, Esq., at Federal Hill, a great house +that sits at the edge of the town, overlooking the little valley and +Marye's Heights, and there began a romance that led to marriage of Miss +Rootes and Senator Cobb, in the mansion, in 1820. From the spot where he +stood when he died, had not the smoke of a terrific battle screened it, +their son, the Georgian General, could have clearly seen the windows of +the room in which his parents were married. + +General Cobb died in the yard of a small house, just at the edge of the +"Sunken Road," ministered to in his last moments, as was many another man +who drank the last bitter cup that day, by an angel of mercy and a woman +of dauntless courage, Mrs. Martha Stevens. + +Her house was in the center of the fire, yet she refused to leave it, and +there between the lines, with the charges rolling up to her yard fence and +tons of lead shrieking about her, Mrs. Stevens stayed all day, giving the +wounded drink, and bandaging their wounds until every sheet and piece of +clothing in the house had been used to bind a soldier's hurts. At times +the fire of Northern troops was concentrated on her house so that General +Lee, frowning, turned to those about him and said: "I wish those people +would let Mrs. Stevens alone." + +Nothing in the war was finer than the spirit of this woman, who stayed +between the lines in and about her house, through the planks of which now +and then a bullet splintered its way, miraculously living in a hail of +missiles where, it seemed, nothing else could live. + +[Sidenote: _Lee Spares Old "Chatham"_] + +During the battle at Fredericksburg, General Lee stood on "Lee's Hill," an +eminence near Hazel Run, and between Marye's Heights and Hamilton's +crossing. Looking across the Rappahannock he could see "Chatham," the +great winged brick house where General Burnside had headquarters, and +where, under the wide spreading oaks, General Lee had won his bride, the +pretty Mary Custis. The fine old place was now the property of Major Lacy, +who rode up to Lee and said: "General there are a group of Yankee officers +on my porch. I do not want my house spared. I ask permission to give +orders to shell it." General Lee, smiling, said: "Major, I do not want to +shell your fine old house. Besides, it has tender memories for me. I +courted my bride under its trees." + +In all this saturnalia of blood, it is a relief to find something in +lighter vein, and in this case it is furnished by two Irishmen, Meagher +and Mitchell. This little incident takes us back some years to "Ould +Ireland." Here three young Irishmen, Charles Francis Meagher, John Boyle +O'Reily and John Mitchell, known respectively, as the Irish Orater, Poet +and Patriot, fired by love for Free Ireland and Home Rule, earned exile +for themselves and left Ireland hurriedly. O'Reily settled in Boston and +became a well-known poet and a champion of the North. Meagher settled in +New York, and at the outbreak of the War organized the Irish Brigade, of +which he was made Brigadier-General. Mitchell settled in Richmond, where +he became the editor of the Richmond Enquirer, and, as a spectator, stood +on Marye's Heights during the battle and witnessed the desperate charges +and bloody repulses of his old friend, Meagher; and as he watched he +unburdened his soul. His refrain varied between exultation at the sight of +a fine fight and execration, in picturesque and satisfying language, of +the "renegade Irishman," his one-time friend, who would fight against the +very principle, the advocacy of which had brought them exile from Ireland. + + +[Illustration: MARYE'S HEIGHTS; THE STONE WALL + +_It was Here that the Terrible and Spectacular Charges Spent Themselves. +The Sunken Road is in the Foreground_] + + +Mitchell's grandson was John Purroy Mitchell, mayor of New York City, who +died in the Aviation service during the late war. + +[Sidenote: _The Good Samaritan_] + +There was another soul at the Battle of Fredericksburg whose spirit of +mercy to the suffering was stronger than the dread of death, and in the +Chapel of the Prince of Peace at Gettysburg, is a tablet to him, Dick +Kirkland--the "Angel of Marye's Heights"--a gracious memorial placed by +the Federal survivors of that fight. + +Dick Kirkland, a Southern soldier, who all day long had fought behind the +Stone Wall, laid aside all animosity when night fell and the bitter cries +arose in the chill air from the wounded and dying on the plain. The +pitiful calls for "water, water" so moved the young South Carolinian that +he asked his commanding officer to be allowed to relieve the sufferers. +His request was at first refused, but when he begged, permission was +given, and taking as many full canteens as he could carry, he went out +among the pitiful forms dotting the field, while the shells and rifle fire +still made it most dangerous, administering to the enemy. He was a good +Samaritan and unafraid, who is affectionately remembered by a grateful +foe. Kirkland was more merciful to the wounded Federals than was their +commander, for it was forty-eight hours before General Burnside could +swallow his pride and acknowledge defeat by applying for a truce. In the +interval, during forty-eight hours of winter weather while the wounded lay +unsheltered, chill winds sweeping over them, the wailing and the agonized +crying slowly died out. Every wounded man who could not crawl or walk +died, and when the truce came more than four thousand bodies were piled in +front of the "Sunken Road." + +At night of December 13th, Burnside was utterly defeated and after quietly +facing the Southern forces all day on the 14th, he was practically forced +to abandon his battle plans by the protests of his Generals, who +practically refused to charge again, and moved his army across the river +at night. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _A Critique of the Armies_] + +In the whole action at Fredericksburg, General Lee used but 57,000 men, +while official reports state that the Northern forces "in the fight" +numbered 100,000. As bearing on this (and most assuredly with no intention +to belittle the gallant men of the Federal Army, who fought so bravely) +the condition of Burnside's Army, due to the policy of his government and +to Major-General Hooker's insubordination, is to be considered. An +estimate of this army by the New York Times shows to what pass vacillation +had brought it. The Times said after Fredericksburg: + +"Sad, sad it is to look at this superb Army of the Potomac--the match of +which no conqueror ever led--this incomparable army, fit to perform the +mission the country has imposed upon it--paralyzed, petrified, put under a +blight and a spell. You see men who tell you that they have been in a +dozen battles and have been licked and chased every time--they would like +to chase once to see how it "feels." This begins to tell on them. Their +splendid qualities, their patience, faith, hope and courage, are gradually +oozing out. Certainly never were a graver, gloomier, more sober, sombre, +serious and unmusical body of men than the Army of the Potomac at the +present time." + +On the other hand, thus spoke the correspondent of the London Times of the +"tatterdermalion regiments of the South": + +"It is a strange thing to look at these men, so ragged, slovenly, +sleeveless, without a superfluous ounce of flesh on their bones, with +wild, matted hair, in mendicants rags, and to think, when the battle flags +go to the front, how they can and do fight. 'There is only one attitude in +which I should never be ashamed of you seeing my men, and that is when +they are fighting.' These were General Lee's words to me the first time I +ever saw him." + + + + +_At Chancellorsville_ + + _The Struggle in the Pine Woods when death struck at Southern hearts_ + + +From the close of the battle at Fredericksburg in December 1862, until the +spring of 1863, General Burnside's Army of the Potomac and General Lee's +Army of Northern Virginia lay in camp; the first on the north and the +second on the south bank of the Rappahannock. The little town, now fairly +well repopulated by returned refugees, lay between the hosts. The Northern +lines practically began at Falmouth, where General Daniel Butterfield had +headquarters, and at which spot young Count Zeppelin and his assistants +were busily arranging to send up a great Observation Balloon with a +signalling outfit. Southward, Lee's army stretched over thirty-three +miles, from the fords of the Rappahannock, where the hard riding +cavalrymen of Stuart and W. H. F. Lee watched, to Port Royal, Jackson's +right. + +Burnside's headquarters were the Phillips house and Chatham, (recently +owned by the famous journalist, Mark Sullivan and where he and Mrs. +Sullivan made their home for some years). Hooker, part of the time, was at +the Phillips house, Lee in a tent, near Fredericksburg, while General +Jackson had headquarters first in an outbuilding at Moss Neck, now the +home of Count d'Adhemar and later in a tent. It was here that he became +fond of little Farley Carbin, who came every day to perch on his knee and +receive little presents from him. One day he had nothing to give her, and +so, ere she left, he tore the gold braid from the new hat that was part of +a handsome uniform just given him by General "Jeb" Stuart, and placed it +like a garland on her pretty curly head. During the winter the General, +who from the beginning of the war never slept at night outside his army's +camp, nor had an hour's leave of absence, saw for the first time since he +left Lexington, and for next to the last time on earth, his wife and +little daughter, whom he so fervently loved. They spent some weeks near +him at Moss Neck. + +[Sidenote: _Christmas at the Front_] + +Christmas Eve came. In the Southern camp back of the hills down the river +road, up towards Banks Ford, out at Salem Church, and even in the town, +hunger and cold were the lot of all. General Lee, wincing at the +sufferings of his "tatterdermalion" forces, wrote and asked that the +rations of his men be increased, but a doctor-inspector sent out by the +often futile Confederate Government reported that the bacon ration of +Lee's army--one-half a pound a day, might be cut down, as "the men can be +_kept alive_ on this." General Lee himself wrote that his soldiers were +eating berries, leaves, roots and the bark of trees to "supplement the +ration," and although at this time the Confederate Government had a store +of bacon and corn meal that would have fed _all_ its armies a half year, +Lee's ragged soldiers starved throughout the winter. It is worthy of note +here that when Lee's starving army moved, foodless, toward that last day +at Appomattox, they marched past 50,000 pounds of bacon alone, which the +Confederate commissary, at Mr. Jefferson Davis' orders, burned next day. + +We spoke of Christmas Eve, when in the long lines of the two camps' great +fires beamed, voices rose in songs and hymns, and bands played. Late in +the evening, when dusk had settled, a band near Brompton broke out +defiantly into "Dixie," and from the Washington Farm a big band roared out +"The Battle Hymn." There was a pause and then, almost simultaneously, they +began "Home, Sweet Home," and catching the time played it through +together. When it was done, up from the camps of these boys who were to +kill and be killed, who were to die in misery on many a sodden field, rose +a wild cheer. + +Hardly could two great armies ever before have lain for months' within +sight of each other as these two did in almost amicable relations. There +was no firing; the cannon-crowned hills were silent. Drills and great +reviews took place on either bank of the river and in the Confederate +ranks there went on a great religious "revival" that swept through the +organization. Along the banks of the river where pickets; patrolled by +day, and their little fires flamed in the night, trading was active. From +the Union bank would come the call softly: + + "Johnny." + + "Yea, Yank." + + "Got any tobacco?" + + "Yes, want 't trade?" + + "Half pound of coffee for two plugs of tobacco, Reb." + + "'right, send 'er over." + +They traded coffee, tobacco, newspapers and provisions, sometimes wading +out and meeting in mid-river, but as the industry grew, miniature ferry +lines, operated by strings, began to ply. + +Soldiers and Generals passed and repassed in the streets of +Fredericksburg, where wreckage still lay about in confusion, houses +presented dilapidated fronts, and only a few of the citizens attempted to +occupy their homes. + +Once, in midwinter, the armies became active when Burnside attempted to +move his army and cross the river above Fredericksburg; but only for a few +days, for that unfortunate General's plans were ruined by a deluge and his +army "stuck in the mud." General Hooker took his place. + +[Sidenote: _The Coming of Spring_] + +About April 26 Hooker's great army, "The finest army on the planet," he +bombastically called it, moved up the river and began crossing. It was his +purpose to get behind Lee's lines, surprise him and defeat him from the +rear. On April twenty-ninth and thirtieth, Hooker got in position around +Chancellorsville, in strong entrenchments, a part of his army amounting to +85,000 men, but the Confederate skirmishers were already in front of him. + +It was the Northern Commander's plan for Sedgwick, left at Fredericksburg +with 40,000, to drive past Fredericksburg and on to Chancellorsville, and +thus to place the Southern forces between the two big Federal armies and +crush it. + +[Sidenote: _The First Aerial Scout_] + +Before the great battle of Chancellorsville began, this message came down +from the first balloon ever successfully used in war, tugging at its cable +two thousand feet above the Scott house, on Falmouth Heights: + + Balloon in the Air, April 29, 1863. + + Major-General Butterfield, + Chief of Staff, Army of the Potomac. + + General: The enemy's line of battle is formed in the edge of the + woods, at the foot of the heights, from opposite Fredericksburg to + some distance to the left of our lower crossing. Their line appears + quite thin, compared with our forces. Their tents all remain as + heretofore, as far as I can see. + + T. C. S. LOWE, + Chief of Aeronauts. + +But the force did not "remain as heretofore" long, though the tents were +left to confuse the enemy, for on April 29 General Anderson moved to +Chancellorsville, followed on April 30 by General McLaws; and under cover +of darkness "Stonewall Jackson" moved to the same place that night, with +26,000 men. On May 1, then, Hooker's 91,000 at Chancellorsville were being +pressed by Lee's army of 46,000. + +General Early's command of 9,000 and Barksdale's brigade of 1,000 and some +detached troops were left to defend Fredericksburg against Sedgwick's +corps, which was now crossing the Rappahannock, 30,000 strong. At 11 A. +M., May 1, General Lee's army, with Jackson's corps on his left, began the +attack at Chancellorsville, of which this dispatch speaks: + + Balloon in the Air, May 1, 1863. + + Major-General Sedgwick, + Commanding Left Wing, Army of the Potomac. + + General: In a northwest direction, about twelve miles, an engagement + is going on. + + T. C. S. LOWE, + Chief of Aeronauts. + +[Sidenote: _Fight at Chancellorsville_] + +Before evening of May 1 Hooker's advance guard was driven back, and the +Confederate forces swept on until within one mile of Chancellorsville, and +there, stopped by a "position of great natural strength" (General Lee) and +by deep entrenchments, log breastworks and felled trees, they ceased to +progress. It was evident at nightfall that with his inferior force the +Southern commander could not drive Hooker, and that if he failed to do so, +Sedgwick would drive back the small force in Fredericksburg and would come +on from Fredericksburg and crush him. + +Jackson and Lee bivouaced that night near where the Old Plank Road and the +Furnace Road intersect, and here formulated their plans for the morrow. +From Captain Murray Taylor, of General A. P. Hill's staff, they learned +that a road existed, by advancing down which (the Furnace Road) then +turning sharply and marching in a "V" Jackson's plan to turn Hooker's +right might be carried out, and at Captain Taylor's suggestion they sent +for "Jack" Hayden, who could not be gotten at once, and who, being an old +man, was "hiding out" to avoid "Yankee" marauders. + +Lee and Jackson slept on the ground. Jackson, over whom an officer had +thrown his overcoat, despite his protests, waited until the officer dozed, +gently laid the coat over him and slept uncovered, as he had not brought +his own overcoat. Later, arising chilled, he sat by the fire until near +dawn, when his army got in motion. + +When Jackson moved away in the early hours of May 2 there were left to +face Hooker's 91,000 men on the Federal left, Lee's 14,000 men, attacking +and feinting, and nowhere else a man. Jackson was moving through tangled +forests, over unused roads, and before 5 o'clock of that memorable +afternoon of May 2 he had performed the never-equalled feat of moving an +army, infantry and artillery of 26,000 men sixteen miles, entirely around +the enemy, and reversing his own army's front. He was now across the Plank +Road and the Turnpike, about four miles from Chancellorsville, facing +toward Lee's line, six miles away. And Hooker was between them! + +[Sidenote: _Jackson's Stroke of Genius_] + +It was 5:30 when Jackson's command (Colston's and Rhodes' Divisions, with +A. P. Hill in reserve) gave forth the rebel yell and sweeping along +through the woods parallel to the roads, fell on Hooker's right while the +unsuspecting army was at supper. The Federals fled in utter disorder. + +Before his victorious command, Jackson drove Hooker's army through the +dark pine thickets until the Federal left had fallen on Chancellorsville +and the right wing was piled up and the wagon trains fleeing, throwing the +whole retreating army into confusion. At 9 o'clock he held some of the +roads in Hooker's rear, and the Northern army was in his grasp. + +Hill was to go forward now. He rode to the front with his staff, a short +distance behind Jackson, who went a hundred yards ahead of the Confederate +lines on the turnpike to investigate. Bullets suddenly came singing from +the Northern lines and Jackson turned and rode back to his own lines. +Suddenly a Confederate picket shouted "Yankee cavalry," as he rode through +the trees along the edge of the Plank Road. Then a volley from somewhere +in Lane's North Carolina ranks poured out, and three bullets struck +Jackson in the hand and arms. His horse bolted, but was stopped and +turned, and Jackson was aided by General Hill to dismount. Almost all of +Hill's staff were killed or wounded. + +There was trouble getting a litter, and the wounded man tried to walk, +leaning on Major Leigh and Lieutenant James Power Smith. The road was +filled with men, wounded, retreating, lost from their commands. Hill's +lines were forming for a charge and from these Jackson hid his face--they +must not know he was wounded. A litter was brought and they bore the +sufferer through the thickets until a fusilade passed about them and +struck down a litter-bearer, so that the General was thrown from the +litter his crushed shoulder striking a pine stump, and now for the first +time, and last time, he groaned. Again they bore him along the Plank +Road until a gun loaded with canister swept that road clear, and the +litter-bearers fled, leaving General Jackson lying in the road. And here, +with infinite heroism, Lieutenant Smith (see sketch of life) and Major +Leigh lay with their bodies over him to shield him from missiles. + + +[Illustration: WHERE "STONEWALL JACKSON" DIED + +_In the Room on the Lower Floor, the Window of Which Looks Out on the +Little Bush, The South's Hero Passed Away_] + + +[Sidenote: _The Death of "Stonewall"_] + +Later the wounded officer was gotten to a field headquarters near +Wilderness Run, and Dr. Hunter McGuire and assistants amputated one arm +and bound the other arm and hand. Two days later he was removed to Mr. +Chandler's home, near Guineas, where, refusing to enter the mansion +because he feared his presence might bring trouble on the occupants should +the Federals come, and because the house was crowded with other wounded, +he was placed in a small outbuilding, which stands today. The record of +his battle against death in this little cabin, his marvelous trust in God +and his uncomplaining days of suffering until he opened his lips to feebly +say: "Let us pass over the river and rest under the shade of the trees" is +a beautiful story in itself. He died from pneumonia, which developed when +his wounds were beginning to heal. The wounds only would not have killed +him and the pneumonia probably resulted from sleeping uncovered on the +night before referred to. Mrs. Jackson and their little child, Dr. Hunter +McGuire, Lieutenant James Power Smith, his aide-de-camp; Mrs. Beasley and +a negro servant were those closest to him in his dying hours. + +Hill succeeded Jackson, and in twenty minutes was wounded and Stuart +succeeded him, and fighting ceased for the night. + +On May 3, General Lee attacked again, uniting his left wing with Stuart's +right, and a terrific battle took place that lasted all day, and at its +end Hooker's great army was defeated and dispirited, barely holding on in +their third line trenches, close to the river; that worse did not befall +him was due to events about Fredericksburg. (We may note here that Hooker +lost at Chancellorsville 16,751 men while Lee lost about 11,000.) + +[Sidenote: _Battle at Salem Church_] + +For Sedgwick, with 30,000 men, took Marye's Heights at 1 o'clock of this +day, losing about 1,000 men, and immediately General Brooks' division +(10,000) marched out the Plank Road, where on each successive crest, +Wilcox's Alabamians, with a Virginia battery of two guns (4,000 in all) +disputed the way. At Salem Church, General Wilcox planted his troops for a +final stand. + +Here at Salem Church the battle began when Sedgwick's advance guard, +beating its way all day against a handful of Confederates, finally formed +late in the afternoon of May 3, prepared to throw their column in a grand +assault against the few Confederates standing sullenly on the pine ridge +which crosses the Plank Road at right angles about where Salem Church +stands. Less than 4,000 Alabama troops, under General Wilcox, held the +line, and against these General Brooks, of Sedgwick's corps, threw his +10,000 men. They rushed across the slopes, met in the thicket, and here +they fought desperately for an hour. Reinforcements reached the +Confederates at sundown, and next morning General Lee had come with +Anderson's and McLaw's commands, and met nearly the whole of Sedgwick's +command, charging them late in the afternoon of May 4, and driving them so +that, before daybreak, they had retreated across the river. Then, turning +back to attack Hooker, he found the latter also crossing the river. + +Unique in the history of battles are the two monuments which stand near +Salem Church, erected by the State of New Jersey and gallantly uttering +praise of friend and foe. + +They mark the farthest advance of the New Jersey troops. The first, on the +right of the Plank Road as one goes from Fredericksburg to +Chancellorsville, is a monument to the Fifteenth New Jersey troops, and on +one side is inscribed: + + "The survivors of the Fifteenth New Jersey Infantry honor their + comrades who bore themselves bravely in this contest, and bear witness + to the valor of the men who opposed them on this field." + +[Sidenote: _Monument at Salem Church_] + +The other monument stands on the ridge at Salem Church, close to the road, +and about where the charge of the Twenty-third New Jersey shattered itself +against the thin lines of Wilcox's Alabamians. It stands just where these +two bodies of troops fought hand to hand amidst a rolling fire of +musketry, bathing the ground in blood. In the end the Confederates +prevailed, but when the State of New Jersey erected the monument they did +not forget their foe. It is the only monument on a battlefield that pays +homage alike to friend and enemy. + +The monument was unveiled in 1907, Governor E. Bird Gubb, who led the +Twenty-third New Jersey, being the principal speaker. Thousands were +present at the ceremonies. + +On one side of the splendid granite shaft is a tablet, on which is +engraved: + + "To the memory of our heroic comrades who gave their lives for their + country's unity on this battlefield, this tablet is dedicated." + +And on the other side another tablet is inscribed: + + "To the brave Alabama boys, our opponents on this battlefield, whose + memory we honor, this tablet is dedicated." + + + + +_Two Great Battles_ + + _The fearful fire swept Wilderness, and the Bloody Angle at + Spottsylvania_ + + +After Chancellorsville, the Confederate Army invaded the North, and Hooker +left the Stafford Hills to follow Lee into Pennsylvania. When Gettysburg +was over, both armies came back to face each other along the Rappahannock, +twenty to thirty miles above Fredericksburg. + +Now, Chancellorsville is in a quiet tract of scrub pine woods, twelve +miles west of Fredericksburg. The Plank Road and the Turnpike run toward +it and meet there, only to diverge three miles or so west, and six miles +still further west (from Chancellorsville) the two roads cross Wilderness +Run--the Turnpike crosses near Wilderness Tavern, the Plank Road about +five miles southward. + +Two miles from Wilderness Tavern on the Turnpike is Mine Run. Here General +Meade, now commanding the Northern Army, moved his forces, and on December +1, 1863, the two armies were entrenched. But after skirmishes, Meade, who +had started toward Richmond, decided not to fight and retreated with the +loss of 1,000 men. + +In the spring General Grant, now commander-in-chief, began to move from +the vicinity of Warrenton, and on May 4, 1864, his vast army was treading +the shadowed roads through the Wilderness. It was one of the greatest +armies that has ever been engaged in mobile warfare; for, by official +records, Grant had 141,000 men. + +Lee's army--he had now 64,000 men--was moving in three columns from the +general direction of Culpeper. + +Grant intended to get between Lee and Richmond, but he failed, for the +Confederate commander met him in the tangled Wilderness, and one of the +most costly battles of the war began--a battle than can barely be touched +on here, for, fought as it was in the woods, the lines wavering and +shifting and the attack now from one side, now from the other, it became +so involved that a volume is needed to tell the story. + +It is sufficient to say that the first heavy fighting began along the +Turnpike near Wilderness Run, on May 4 and 5, and that shortly afterwards +the lines were heavily engaged on each side of, and parallel to, the Plank +Road. Northward, on the Germanna road, charges and countercharges were +made, and on May 6, Sedgwick's line finally broke and gave ground before a +spirited charge by part of Ewell's corps--the brigades of Gordon, Johnston +and Pegram doubling up that flank. + +The Northern left (on the Plank Road), which had been driven back once, +rallied on the morning of May 6, and in a counter-attack threatened +disaster to the Confederates under Heth and Wilcox who (this was in the +forenoon) were driven back by a terrific charge from the Federal lines +near Brock Road. Expected for hours, Longstreet's march-worn men came up +at this critical moment along Plank Road. Heading this column that had +been moving since midnight was a brigade of Texans and toward these +General Lee rode, calling: + + "What troops are these?" + +The first answer was simply: + + "Texans, General." + +[Sidenote: _"General Lee to the Rear"_] + +"My brave Texas boys, you must charge. You _must_ drive those people +back," the Confederate commander said, so earnestly that the Texas troops +began to form while Lee personally rallied the men who by now were pouring +back from the front. Then as Longstreet's men began to go forward Lee rode +with them until the line paused while the cry arose from all directions +"General Lee, go to the rear. Lee to the rear." Officers seized his +bridle. "If you will go to the rear, General," said an officer waving his +hand toward the lines "these men will drive 'those people' back." His +promise was made good, for as Lee drew back, Longstreet's men--General +Longstreet himself had now reached the head of the column--rushed through +the woods, driving the advancing Federals back, and piercing their lines +in two places. Before a second and heavier assault the whole line fell +back to entrenchments in front of Brock Road, and soon the junction of +that road and Plank Road was within Longstreet's reach, and the Northern +line threatened with irretrievable disaster. + +And now, for the second time, just as a great victory was at hand, the +Southern troops shot their leader. General Longstreet was advancing along +the Plank Road with General Jenkins, at the head of the latter's troops, +when--mistaken for a body of the enemy--they were fired into. General +Longstreet was seriously wounded, General Jenkins killed, and the forward +movement was checked for several hours, during which the Federals +reinforced the defenses at the junction. + +[Sidenote: _Grant's Advance Defeated_] + +At night of May 6 Grant had been defeated of his purpose, his army driven +back over a mile along a front of four miles, and terrific losses +inflicted--for he lost in the Wilderness 17,666 men, while the Confederate +losses were 10,641. General Hays (Federal) was killed near the junction of +Plank and Brock Roads. + +Fire now raged through the tangled pines and out of the smoke through the +long night came the screams of the wounded, who helplessly waited the +coming of the agonizing flames. Thousands of mutilated men lay there for +hours and hours feeling the heated breath of that which was coming to +devour them, helpless to move, while the fire swept on through the +underbrush and dead leaves. + +The battle had no result. Grant was badly defeated, but, unlike Burnside, +Hooker and Meade, he did not retreat across the Rappahannock. Instead, +pursuing his policy and figuring that 140,000 men against 60,000 men could +fight until they killed the 60,000, themselves loosing two to one, and +still have 20,000 left, he moved "by the flank." + +By the morning of May 8 Grant's army, moving by the rear, was reaching +Spotsylvania Court House by the Brock Road and the Chancellorsville Road. +General Lee has no road to move on. But on the night of May 7 his +engineers cut one through the Wilderness to Shady Grove Church and his +advance guard moving over this intercepted Warren's corps two miles from +the Court House and halted the advance. By the night of May 8, Lee's whole +army was in a semi-circle, five or six miles in length, about the Court +House. The center faced northward and crossed the Fredericksburg Road. + +Grant attacked feebly on May 10, and again on May 11, and because of the +lightness of these attacks Lee believed Grant would again move "by the +flank" toward Richmond. But before dawn on May 12 Hancock's corps struck +the apex of a salient just beyond the Court House, breaking the lines and +capturing General Edward Johnson and staff and 1,200 men. + +[Sidenote: _The Day of "Bloody Angle"_] + +In this salient, now known as the "Bloody Angle," occurred one of the most +terrible hand-to-hand conflicts of modern warfare. From dawn to dawn, in +the area of some 500 acres which the deep and well-fortified trenches of +the angle enclosed, more than 60,000 men fought that day. Artillery could +hardly be used, because of the mixture of the lines, but nowhere in the +war was such rifle fire known. The Northern forces broke the left of the +salient, took part of the right, and, already having the apex, pushed +their troops through. The lines swayed, advancing and retreating all day. + +Toward evening the gallant Gordan advancing from base line of the Angle, +with his whole command pouring in rifle fire, but mostly using the +bayonet, drove back the Federals slowly, and at night the Confederates +held all except the apex. But General Lee abandoned the salient after +dark, and put his whole force in the base line. Here General Grant +hesitated to attack him. + +All along the lines about Spotsylvania desperate fighting occurred that +day, but the battle was distinctly a draw. Both armies lay in their +trenches, now and then skirmishing, until May 18, when Grant withdrew, +again moving "by the flank," this time toward Milford, on the R., F. & P. +Railroad. + +Near the Bloody Angle, on the Brock Road, where it is intersected by a +cross road, General Sedgwick was killed by a sharpshooter concealed in a +tree. He fell from his horse, and although his aides summoned medical help +he died almost immediately. The tree from which it is said the +sharpshooter killed him is still standing. + +General Lee had at Spotsylvania about 55,000 men and General Grant about +124,000. + +The Federal loss was 15,577. The Confederate loss was 11,578. A large part +of these, probably 15,000, fell in the Bloody Angle.[1] + + [1] Figures, see official reports. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Our Part in Other Wars_] + +In the War of 1812 only one company was formed here, commanded by Colonel +Hamilton. This company did really very little service. The fear that the +enemy would come up the Rappahannock River to attack this place was never +realized. + + * * * * * + +In the war with Mexico it is not recorded that any distinctive company was +enrolled here, although a number of its young men enlisted, and one of the +Masons of Gunston was the first man killed, in the ambush of the First +Dragoons on the Mexican border. General Daniel Ruggles won honor in this +war. + + * * * * * + +In the Civil War, every man, "from the cradle to the grave," went to the +front voluntarily and cheerfully for the cause. They could be found in +such commands as the Thirtieth Virginia Regiment of Infantry, commanded by +Colonel Robert S. Chew, in which, among the many officers were: Hugh S. +Doggett, Robert T. Know, James S. Knox, Edgar Crutchfield, John K. +Anderson, Edward Hunter, Thomas F. Proctor and many others. Of these it is +sufficient to say that at all times they loyally did their duty, and this +may also be said of the Fredericksburg Artillery, sometimes called +Braxton's Battery, among the officers of which were Carter Braxton, Edward +Marye, John Pollock, John Eustace and others. Some of "our boys" united +themselves with the "Bloody Ninth" Virginia Cavalry, commanded by that +prince of calvarimen, Colonel Thomas W. Waller, of Stafford. Others of the +town, voluntarily enlisted in many other branches. + +Charles T. Goolrick commanded a company of infantry which was organized +and equipped by his father, Peter Goolrick. Later his health gave way and +his brother, Robert Emmett Goolrick, a lieutenant in the company, took +command. + + * * * * * + +When the War with Spain was declared, the old Washington Guards, which has +done its duty at all times in the life of the town, came to the front. +Captain Maurice B. Rowe was its commander at that time; Revere, first +lieutenant, and Robert S. Knox, now of the U. S. Army, second lieutenant. +It is pertinent to state that in the War with Spain there was no draft, +and there were more volunteers than there was work to do. The company +marched away with great hopes, but spent almost the whole period of the +war at Camp Alger, near Washington. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _In the Great World War_] + +When the Great World War came on, Fredericksburg sent two organized +companies to the front. The first, the Washington Guards, under Captain +Gunyon Harrison, and the second, the Coast Artillery Company, under +Captain Johnson. No names can be recorded, for after the companies left, +the draft men went in large bodies, and many won promotion and +distinguished service medals. + +On July 4, 1918, the town gave to the World War soldiers a sincere and +royal "welcome home," in which the people testified to their gratitude to +them. In the war, our boys had added luster to the name of the town, and +splendid credit to themselves. The joy of the occasion and the pleasure of +it were marred by the fact that so many had died in France. + + + + +_Heroes of Early Days_ + + _The Old Town gives the first Commander, first Admiral, and Great + Citizens_ + + +[Sidenote: _Washington's Boyhood Home_] + +Fredericksburg claims George Washington, who although born in Westmoreland +County, Virginia, February 22, 1732, spent most of his boyhood on the +"Ferry Farm," the home of his father, Augustine Washington, situated on a +hill directly opposite the wharf which juts out from the Fredericksburg +side of the river. Here it is that Parson Weems alleged he threw a stone +across the river. + +He was educated in Fredericksburg and Falmouth, a village of gray mists +and traditions, which lords it over Fredericksburg in the matter of +quaintness and antiquity, but obligingly joins its fortunes to those of +the town by a long and picturesque bridge. + +His tutor in Falmouth was a "Master Hobbie," and while this domine was +"strapping the unthinking end of boys," George was evading punishment by +being studious and obedient. He also attended the school of Mr. Marye, at +St. George's Church. It was in this church that the Washingtons +worshipped. + +Shy in boyhood and eclectic in the matter of associates, he had the genius +for real friendships. + +The cherry tree which proclaimed him a disciple of truth has still a few +flourishing descendants on the old farm, and often one sees a tourist +cherishing a twig as a precious souvenir of the ground hallowed by the +tread of America's most famous son. It was on this farm that George was +badly hurt while riding (without permission) his father's chestnut colt. + +We take Washington's career almost for granted, as we watch the stars +without marveling at the forces that drive them on, but when we do stop +to think, we are sure to wonder at the substantial greatness, the +harnessed strength of will, the sagacity and perception, which made him +the man he was. + +He left school at sixteen, after having mastered geometry and +trigonometry, and having learned to use logarithms. + +He became a surveyor. His brother, Lawrence, who at that time owned Mt. +Vernon, recognized this; in fact, got him, in 1740, to survey those wild +lands in the valley of the Alleghany belonging to Lord Fairfax. + +He was given a commission as public surveyor after this. It is hard to +realize that he was only sixteen! We will not attempt to dwell upon his +life in detail. We know that at nineteen he was given a military district, +with the rank of major, in order to meet the dangers of Indian +depredations and French encroachments. His salary was only 150 pounds a +year. + +On November 4, 1752, he was made a Mason in Fredericksburg Lodge, No. 4. +The Bible used in these interesting ceremonies, is still in possession of +the lodge, and is in a fine state of preservation. Washington continued a +member of this lodge until he died, and Lafayette was an honorary member. + +At twenty-one, as a man of "discretion, accustomed to travel, and familiar +with the manners of the Indians," he was sent by Governor Dinwiddie on a +delicate mission which involved encroachments by the French on property +claimed by the English. During all these years he came at close intervals +to visit his mother, now living in her own house in Fredericksburg, which +was still his home. + +After his distinguished campaign against the French army under M. De +Jumonville in the region of Ohio, where he exposed himself with the most +reckless bravery, he came to Mt. Vernon which he inherited from his +brother, Augustus, married Martha Custis, a young widow with two children +and large landed estates, and became a member of the House of Burgesses, +punctually attending all the sessions. + +Indeed, one finds oneself eagerly looking for an occasional lapse in this +epic of punctuality. It would humanize him. Anyway, one is glad to see +that he was a patron of the arts and the theatre, and his industry in +keeping day-books, letter-books, contracts and deeds is somewhat offset by +the fact that he played the flute. + +He seldom spoke in the House of Burgesses, but his opinion was eagerly +sought and followed. We will pass over the time when Dunmore prorogued the +"House," and of the events which ended in Washington's being made +Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. + +We are, perhaps, more interested in another visit to Fredericksburg to see +his mother, after he had resigned his commission. From town and country, +his friends gathered to give him welcome and do him honor. The military +turned out, civic societies paraded, and cannon boomed. + +[Sidenote: _When "George" got Arrested_] + +In between his career as statesmen and as soldier, we strain our eyes for +a thread of color, and we discover that he was once brought before a +justice of the peace and fined for trading horses on Sunday. And again, +that he was summoned before the grand jury and "George William Fairfax, +George Washington, George Mason," and half dozen others were indicted for +"not reporting their wheeled vehicles, according to law." + +It is worth noting, too, that while her son, George, was leading the +American army, Mary, his mother, was a partisan of the King; a tory most +openly. "I am sure I shall hear some day," She told some one, calmly, in +her garden, "that they have hung George." + +Nevertheless, his first two messages, after he crossed the Delaware and +won signal victories, were to Congress and his mother. And after the +hard-riding courier had handed her the note, and the gathering people had +waited until she laid down her trowel, and wiped the garden earth from her +hands, she turned to them and said: "Well, George has crossed the Delaware +and defeated the King's troops at Trenton." + +[Sidenote: _Washington Advises Lovers_] + +The stern fact of the Revolution, which cast upon George Washington +immortal fame and which was followed by his election to the Presidency of +the United States, is softened somewhat by a letter on love written to his +daughter, Nellie Custis. A few excerpts are as follows: + +"When the fire is beginning to kindle, and the heart growing warm, +propound these questions to it. Who is this invader? Is he a man of +character; a man of sense? For be assured, a sensible woman can never be +happy with a fool. Is his fortune sufficient to maintain me in the manner +I have been accustomed to live? And is he one to whom my friends can have +no reasonable objection?" + +And again, "It would be no great departure from the truth to say that it +rarely happens otherwise than that a thorough paced coquette dies in +celibacy, as a punishment for her attempts to mislead others by +encouraging looks, words and actions, given for no other purpose than to +draw men on to make overtures that they may be rejected." + +The letter ends with a blessing bestowed on the young lady to whom is +given such sensible advice. That this letter is characterized by an +admirable poise, cannot be denied. + +George Washington died at Mt. Vernon, December 4, 1799. He upheld the +organization of the American state during the first eight years of its +existence, amid the storms of interstate controversy, and gave it time to +consolidate. + +No other American but himself could have done this--for of all the +American leaders he was the only one whom men felt differed from +themselves. The rest were soldiers, civilians, Federalists or Democrats, +but he--was Washington. + +[Sidenote: _Evidence of Citizenship_] + +Almost immediately after appearing before the public session of Congress, +at which he resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the +Continental armies, an act of which Thackeray speaks as sheathing his +sword after "a life of spotless honor, a purity unreproached, a courage +indomitable and a consummate victory," Washington came to Fredericksburg +to visit his mother. He was the great hero of the age, the uncrowned King +of America and from all over the section crowds flocked to do him honor. +The occasion was of such importance that the city did not trust the words +of welcome to a single individual, but called a meeting of the City +Council at which a short address was adopted and presented to Washington +upon his arrival by William McWilliams, then mayor. + +While beautifully worded to show the appreciation of his services and +respect for his character and courage, the address of welcome contains +nothing of historical significance except the line "And it affords us +great joy to see you once more at a place which claims the honor of your +growing infancy, the seat of your amiable parent and worthy relatives," +which establishes Washington's connection with Fredericksburg. + +In reply, General Washington said: + + Gentlemen: + + With the greatest pleasure I receive in the character of a private + citizen the honor of your address. To a benevolent providence and the + fortitude of a brave and virtuous army, supported by the general + exertion of our common country, I stand indebted for the plaudits you + now bestow. The reflection, however, of having met the congratulating + smiles and approbation of my fellow citizens for the part I have acted + in the cause of Liberty and Independence cannot fail of adding + pleasure to the other sweets of domestic life; and my sense of them is + heightened by their coming from the respectable inhabitants of the + place of my growing infancy and the honorable mention which is made of + my revered mother, by whose maternal hand, (early deprived of a + father) I was led to manhood. For the expression of personal affection + and attachment, and for your kind wishes for my future welfare, I + offer grateful thanks and my sincere prayers for the happiness and + prosperity of the corporate town of Fredericksburg. + + Signed: GEORGE WASHINGTON. + +This address is recorded in the books of the town council and is signed in +a handwriting that looks like that of Washington. + +As it is known that Washington lived at Fredericksburg from the time he +was about six years of age until early manhood, the expression "growing +infancy" is unfortunate, but later, when Mayor Robert Lewis, a nephew of +Washington, delivered the welcome address to General Lafayette when he +visited Fredericksburg in 1824 the real case was made more plain when he +said: + + "The presence of the friend of Washington excites the tenderest + emotions and associations among a people whose town enjoys the + distinguished honor of having been the residence of the Father of his + Country during the days of his childhood and youth," and in reply + General Lafayette said: + + "At this place, Sir, which calls to our recollections several among + the most honored names of the Revolutionary War, I did, many years + ago, salute the first residence of our paternal chief, receiving the + blessings of his venerated mother and of his dear sister, your own + respected mother." Later the same day, at a banquet in the evening, + given in his honor, Lafayette offered the following sentiment, "The + City of Fredericksburg--first residence of Washington--may she more + and more attain all the prosperity which independence, republicanism + and industry cannot fail to secure." + + +JOHN PAUL JONES. + +Of all the men whose homes were in Fredericksburg, none went forth to +greater honor nor greater ignominy than John Paul Jones, who raised the +first American flag on the masthead of his ship, died in Paris and was +buried and slept for 113 years beneath a filthy stable yard, forgotten by +the country he valiantly served. + +He came to Fredericksburg early in 1760 on "The Friendship," as a boy of +thirteen years. Born in a lowly home, he was a mere apprentice seaman, and +without doubt he deserted his ship in those days, when sea life was a +horror, to come to Fredericksburg and join his brother, William Paul, +whose home was here, and who is buried here. There is some record of his +having been befriended by a man in Carolina, and traditions that he left +his ship in a port on the Rappahannock after killing a sailor, and walked +through the wilderness to Fredericksburg. Neither tradition is of +importance; the fact is that he came here and remained four years during +the developing period of his life. + +[Sidenote: _Jones' American Home Here_] + +William Paul had immigrated to Fredericksburg from the Parish of Kirkbeam, +Scotland, (where he and his brother, John, were born), about 1760, had +come to Fredericksburg and conducted a grocery store and tailor shop on +the corner of Caroline and Prussia streets. William died here in 1773, and +is buried in St. George's Church Yard. In his will he left his property to +sisters in the Parish of Kirkbeam, Scotland. + +Alexander McKenzie, in his life of John Paul Jones, says, after referring +to the fact that William Paul is buried in Fredericksburg: "In 1773 he +went back to Fredericksburg to arrange the affairs of his brother, William +Paul," and John Paul Jones himself wrote of Fredericksburg: "It was the +home of my fond election since first I saw it." The Legislature of +Virginia decided in settling William Paul's estate that John Paul Jones +was a legal resident of Fredericksburg. + +Obviously, then, Fredericksburg was the great Admiral's home, for, though +not born here, he chose it when he came to America. + +When he first reached the little town on the Rappahannock he went to work +for his brother, William Paul and one can surmise that he clerked and +carried groceries and messages to the gentry regarding their smart clothes +for his brother. + +The Rising Sun Tavern was then a gathering place for the gentry and +without doubt he saw them there. He may well have learned good manners +from their ways, good language from hearing their conversation and +"sedition" from the great who gathered there. We may picture the lowly +boy, lingering in the background while the gentlemen talked and drank +punch around Mine Host Weedon's great fire, or listening eagerly at the +counter where the tavern-keeper, who was to be a Major-General, delivered +the mail. + +Certainly John Paul Jones was a lowly and uneducated boy at 13. He left +Fredericksburg after four years to go to sea again, and in 1773 came back +to settle his brother's estate, and remained here until December 22, 1775, +when he received at Fredericksburg his commission in the Navy. + +[Sidenote: _From Cabin Boy to Courtier_] + +John Paul Jones' story is more like romance than history. Beginning an +uncouth lad, he became a sea fighter whose temerity outranks all. We see +him aboard the Bonhomme Richard, a poor thing for seafaring, fighting the +Serapis just off British shores, half of his motley crew of French and +Americans dying or dead about him, the scruppers running blood, mad +carnage raging, and when he is asked if he is ready to surrender he says: +"I've just begun to fight," and by his will forcing victory out of defeat. +He was the only American who fought the English on English soil. He never +walked a decent quarter deck, but with the feeble instruments he had, he +captured sixty superior vessels. His ideal of manliness was courage. + +What of this Fredericksburg gave him no one may say, but it is sure that +the chivalry, grace and courtliness which admitted him in later years to +almost every court in Europe was absorbed from the gentry in Virginia. He +did not learn it on merchantmen or in his humble Scotch home, and so he +learned it here. Of him the Duchess de Chartres wrote: + + "Not Bayard, nor Charles le Téméaire could have laid his helmet at a + lady's feet with such knightly grace." + +He won his country's high acclaim, but it gave him no substantial +evidence. He was an Admiral in the Russian Navy, and after a time he went +to Paris to live a few years in poverty, neglect, and bitterness. He died +and was buried in Paris in 1792, at 45 years of age. + +He was a dandy, this John Paul Jones, who walked the streets of +Fredericksburg in rich dress. Lafayette, Jefferson, and, closest of all, +the Scotch physician, Hugh Mercer, were his friends. Slender and not tall, +black-eyed and swarthy, with sensitive eyes, and perfect mouth and chin, +he won the love or friendship of women quicker than that of men. + +He was buried in an old graveyard in Paris and forgotten until the author +of this book wrote for newspapers a series of letters about him. Interest +awoke and Ambassador Porter was directed to search for his body. How +utterly into oblivion had slipped the youth who ventured far, and +conquered always, is plain when it is known that it took the Ambassador +six years to find the body of Commodore John Paul Jones. He found it in an +old cemetery where bodies were heaped three deep under the courtyard of a +stable and a laundry. + + +[Sidenote: _Admiral Jones' Surgeon_] + +SURGEON LAURENS BROOKE + +Surgeon Laurens Brooke, was born in Fredericksburg, in 1720, and was one +of those who accompanied Governor Spottswood as a Knight of the Golden +Horseshoe. He afterwards lived in Fredericksburg, entered the U. S. Navy +as a surgeon and sailed with John Paul Jones on the "Ranger" and on the +"Bon Homme Richard." At the famous battle of Scarborough, between the +latter vessel and the "Serapis," Surgeon Brooke alone had the care of one +hundred and twenty wounded sailors; and later with Surgeon Edgerly, of the +English navy, from the Tempis, performed valiant work and saved many +lives. The surgeons were honored by Captain Paul Jones with a place at his +mess, and the literature of the period refers to Surgeon Brooke as the +"good old Doctor Laurens Brooke." He was with Jones until the end of the +war and spent some time at his home here when a very old man, some years +after the Revolution. His family had a distinguished part in the War +Between the States, being represented in the army and in the C. S. +Congress during that period. + + +GENERAL HUGH MERCER + +We wonder if any one ever declined to take the advice of George +Washington. + +Certain it is that General Hugh Mercer did not, for, at the suggestion of +Washington, Mercer came to Fredericksburg. Many Scotchmen have found the +town to their liking. It makes them feel a sort of kinship with the +country of hill-shadows, and strange romance. + +Mercer was born in Aberdeen in the year 1725. His father was a clergyman; +his mother, a daughter of Sir Robert Munro, who, after distinguishing +himself at Fontenoy and elsewhere, was killed at the battle of Falkirk, +while opposing the young "Pretender." Hugh Mercer did not follow in the +footsteps of his father, but linked his fortunes with Charles Edward's +army, as assistant surgeon, fought with him at Culloden and shared the +gloom of his defeat--a defeat which was not less bitter because his ears +were ringing with the victorious shouts of the army of the Duke of +Cumberland. + +To change a scene that brought sad memories, Dr. Hugh Mercer, in the fall +of 1746, embarked for America. There, on the frontiers of civilization, in +Western Pennsylvania, he spent arduous, unselfish years. He was welcomed +and loved in this unsettled region of scattered homes. + +A rough school it was in which the doctor learned the lessons of life. + +In the year 1755, Mercer made his appearance in the ill-fated army of +Braddock, which met humiliating disaster at Fort Duquesne. Washington's +splendid career began here and here Mercer was wounded. Of this memorable +day of July 9, 1755, it has been said that "The Continentals gave the only +glory to that humiliating disaster." + +In 1756, while an officer in a military association, which was founded to +resist the aggression of the French and Indians, he was wounded and forced +to undergo terrible privations. While pursued by savage foes he sought +refuge in the trunk of a tree, around which the Indians gathered and +discussed the prospect of scalping him in the near future. When they left +he escaped in the opposite direction and completely outwitted them. Then +began a lonely march through an unbroken forest, where he was compelled to +live on roots and herbs, and where the carcass of a rattlesnake proved his +most nourishing meal. He finally succeeded in rejoining his command at +Fort Cumberland. In recognition of his sacrifices and services in these +Indian wars, the Corporation of Philadelphia presented him with a note of +thanks and a splendid memorial medal. In the year 1758 he met George +Washington and then it was that Pennsylvania lost a citizen. In +Fredericksburg, at the time that Mercer came, lived John Paul Jones, and +we do not doubt that they often met and talked of their beloved Scotland. + +During his first years in Fredericksburg, Mercer occupied a small +two-story house on the southwest corner of Princess Anne and Amelia +Streets. There he had his office and apothecary shop. The building is +still standing. + +An Englishman, writing at this time of a visit to Fredericksburg, calls +Mercer "a man of great eminence and possessed of almost every virtue and +accomplishment," truly a sweeping appreciation. + +[Sidenote: _Mercer Joins Masonic Lodge_] + +He belonged to Lodge No. 4, of which George Washington was also a member, +and he occasionally paid a visit to Mount Vernon. + +In September, 1774, the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia. The war +cloud was lowering, it broke, and when the Revolution swept the country, +Mercer was elected Colonel of the Third Virginia Regiment. + +An approbation of the choice of Mercer was prepared by the county +committee, which set forth the importance of the appointment and was an +acknowledgment of his public spirit and willingness to sacrifice his life. + +Colonel Mercer with his men and fifes and drums marched away from his +home, bidding good-bye to his wife (Isabella Gordon), whom he never saw +again. + +There is an interesting story of Mercer at Williamsburg. Among the troops +which were sent there at that time, was a Company of riflemen from beyond +the mountains, commanded by a Captain Gibson. A reckless and violent +opposition to military restraint had gained for this corps the name of +"Gibson's Lambs." After a short time in camp, a mutiny arose among them, +causing much excitement in the army, and alarming the inhabitants of the +city. Free from all restraint, they roamed through the camp, threatening +with instant death any officer who would presume to exercise any authority +over them. + +[Sidenote: _Mercer Quells a Mutiny_] + +At the height of the mutiny an officer was dispatched with the alarming +tidings to the quarters of Colonel Mercer. The citizens of the town vainly +implored him not to risk his life in this infuriated mob. + +Reckless of personal safety, he instantly repaired to the barracks of the +mutinous band and directing a general parade of the troops, he ordered +Gibson's company to be drawn up as offenders and violators of the law, and +to be disarmed in his presence. + +The ringleaders were placed under a strong guard and in the presence of +the whole army he addressed the offenders in an eloquent manner, +impressing on them their duties as citizens and soldiers, and the +certainty of death if they continued to remain in that mutinous spirit +equally disgraceful to them and hazardous to the sacred interests they had +marched to defend. Disorder was instantly checked and the whole company +was ever afterward as efficient in deportment as any troop in the army. + +On June 5, 1776, Mercer was made Brigadier-General in the Continental +Army. It was Mercer who suggested to Washington the crossing of the +Delaware. Major Armstrong, Mercer's Aide-de-Camp, who was present at a +council of officers, and who was with Mercer on that fateful night, is +authority for this statement. + +We, somehow, see the army of the colonists poorly clad, many of them +barefoot, without tents, with few blankets, and badly fed. In front of +them is Cornwallis, with his glittering hosts, and we can almost hear the +boast of General Howe, that Philadelphia would fall when the Delaware +froze. He did not know Washington; and Mercer's daring was not reckoned +with. We wonder if ever a Christmas night was so filled with history as +that on which Washington, with the intrepid Mercer at his side, pushing +through that blinding storm of snow and fighting his way through the +floating ice, crossed the Deleware with the rallying cry of "victory or +death," and executed the brilliant move which won for him the Battle of +Trenton. + +Near Princeton, Washington's army was hemmed in by Cornwallis in front and +the Delaware in the rear. After a consultation at Mercer's headquarters it +was determined to withdraw the Continental forces from the front of the +enemy near Trenton, and attack the detachment then at Princeton. The +pickets of the two armies were within two hundred yards of each other. In +order to deceive the enemy, campfires were left burning on Washington's +front line and thus deceived, the enemy slept. + +[Sidenote: _Death on The Battlefield_] + +A woman guided the Continental army on that night march. A detachment of +two hundred men, under Mercer, was sent to seize a bridge at Worth's Mill. +The night had been dreary; the morning was severely cold. Mercer's +presence was revealed at daybreak. General Mahood counter-marched his +regiment and crossed the bridge at Worth's Mill before Mercer could reach +it. The British troops charged. The Colonials were driven back. General +Mercer dismounted and tried vainly to rally his men. While he was doing +this, he was attacked by a group of British troops, who, with the butts of +muskets, beat him down and demanded that he surrender. He refused. He was +then bayoneted and left for dead on the battlefield. Stabbed in seven +different places, he did not expire until January 12, 1777. + +Washington finally won the Battle of Princeton, but Mercer was a part of +the price he paid. The battles of Trenton and Princeton were the most +brilliant victories in the War of the Revolution. + +At Fredericksburg a monument perpetuates Mercer's fame. At the funeral in +Philadelphia 30,000 people were present, and there his remains rest in +Laurel Hill Cemetery. + +The St. Andrew's Society, which he joined in 1757, erected a monument to +his memory and in the historical painting of the Battle of Princeton, by +Peale Mercer is given a prominent place. The states of Pennsylvania, +Kentucky, Virginia and New Jersey have, by an act of Legislature, named a +county "Mercer," and on October 1, 1897, a bronze tablet to his memory was +unveiled at Princeton, N. J. We have not the space to relate all of his +illustrious life, but somewhere there is a poem, the last lines of which +voice the sentiment of his countrymen. + + "But he, himself, is canonized, + If saintly deeds such fame can give; + As long as liberty is prized, + Hugh Mercer's name shall surely live." + + +SIR LEWIS LITTLEPAGE + +In the possession of a well-known man of Richmond, Va., is a large gold +key. + +It is vastly different from the keys one sees these days, and inquiry +develops that it was once the property of one of the most picturesque +characters in America--a man who began his life in the cornfields of +Hanover County, Va., in 1753, and was swept by the wave of circumstance +into the palace of a King. + +The atmosphere of old William and Mary College, where Lewis Littlepage was +graduated, after the death of his father, gave a mysteriously romantic +note to the beckoning song of adventure, which finally became a definite +urge, when the youth, after residing in Fredericksburg, listened to the +advice of his guardian, Benjamin Lewis, of Spotsylvania County, who placed +him with John Jay, the American Minister at Madrid. + +Six months later, Jay, in a letter to Benjamin Lewis, said of the +seventeen-year-old lad: + +"I am much pleased with your nephew, Lewis Littlepage, whom I regard as a +man of undoubted genius, and a person of unusual culture." + +And a few months after this we discover that the well-known traveler, Mr. +Elekiah Watson, has an entry in his diary which reads: + +"At Nantes I became acquainted with Lewis Littlepage, and although he is +but eighteen years of age, I believe him to be the most remarkable +character of the age. I esteem him a prodigy of genius." + +[Sidenote: _The Poet Takes The Sword_] + +In Madrid, Littlepage got into financial straits, owing to the fact that +his allowance did not reach him, and the next glimpse we get of him is +through the smoke of battle at Fort Mahon, where in 1781, as a member of +the force under the Duke de Crillion, he was painfully wounded while +charging the Turks. + +In 1872, en route to Madrid to join Mr. Jay, he heard that de Crillion was +preparing to storm Gibraltar, and, believing himself in honor bound to +follow the fortunes of his chief, he wrote Mr. Jay that he must turn again +to arms. + +From that day forward he was a soldier, a diplomat, a courtier--the +elected friend of Kings and Princes. + +He aided in storming Gibraltar and left his ship only when it had burned +to the water's edge. He was highly recommended to the King for his +gallantry, and went back to Paris with de Crillion to become a brilliant +figure at court and in the salons. + +Europe knew him, but America refused him even a small commission, though +Kings wrote to our Congress in his behalf. + +He met Lafayette at Gibraltar; in fact, accompanied him to Spain. Then, +after considerable travel in European countries, he again encountered +Prince Nassau, who was his brother at arms in de Crillion's forces, became +his aide-de-camp and, together they found happiness in travel. They +sought the bright lights of gay capitals and followed mysterious moon +tracks on the Danube river. + +[Sidenote: _When Poland's Star Flamed_] + +At the Diet of Grodno, in 1784, where he went with Nassau, he met +Stanislaus Augustus, King of Poland. He captivated the King; and in a +brilliant ball room, Stanislaus offered him a permanent service at his +court. + +Within a year he was chamberlain and secretary to the cabinet of His +Majesty, and for years he was practically the ruler of the empire. + +In 1787, at Kiva, he made a treaty with Catherine, Empress of Russia, and +became her intimate friend. + +He was a special and secret envoy from Poland to the sessions of the grand +quadruple alliance in France. Later we see him leading a division of the +army of Prince Potempkin across the snow-clad steppes of Russia, and a few +months after, he was marching at the head of the Prince's army through the +wild reaches of Tartary. Again, under Prince Nassau, we find him +commanding a fleet against the Turks at Oczacon. + +Shortly after, he was a special high commissioner to Madrid. His mission +completed, he was ordered to return to Russia for the revolution of 1791, +and now he served as aide-de-camp and Major-General. + +In 1794, when the Polish patriot, Kosciusco, headed a revolution, +Littlepage answered his summons and fought through to the storming of +Prague. + +Stanislaus held him the greatest of his generals and his aides and when +the King was captured by the Russians, Littlepage, tired of the broils of +European politics, came home to America. + +[Sidenote: _Ah, But he Had His Memories_] + +When Littlepage was first in Poland, the place was gay and +laughter-loving. An atmosphere of high culture and literary achievements +made a satisfactory entourage for the ill-fated people. He lived happily +there and loved a princess of North Poland. There were starlight meetings +and woodland strolls, vows of faith and the pain of renunciation, when +for diplomatic reasons she was forced to endure another alliance. +Littlepage's reputation and splendid appearance; her beauty and the love +they bore each other and, finally, her death, made a background of red +romance, against which he is silhouetted in one's memory. + +That Lewis Littlepage was a poet of no mean ability was a fact too well +known to be disputed. The last verse of a poem written by him and inspired +by the death of the woman he loved reads: + + "Over there, where you bide--past the sunset's gold glory, + With eyes that are shining, and red lips apart, + Are you waiting to tell me the wonderful story, + That death cannot part us--White Rose of my Heart." + +It is said that Littlepage had more honors and decorations showered upon +him than any other American in history. + +Go to the old Masonic cemetery in Fredericksburg, and in a far corner, +where the wild vines and the hardy grass struggle for mastery, you may see +a legend inscribed upon a large flat stone: This is the tomb of Lewis +Littlepage. For the multitude, it is simply an unpleasant finale to the +life of a well known man. + +To the imaginative, it starts a train of thought--a play of fancy. One +sees the rise of the star of Poland. Gay youths and maids pass and repass +to the sound of music and laughter. The clank of a sword sounds above the +measured foot fall on a polished floor. A soldier passes in all the +bravery of uniform. It is General Littlepage silently going to an audience +with the King. The massive doors open without a challenge, for as a +passport to the palace, on the uniform of this soldier glitters a large +gold key--the gift of Stanislaus. + +Suddenly the scene changes. Amid the surging hosts and in the thick of the +bloody clash at Prague, when the anguish of uncertainty was crumbling the +courage of a kingdom, a man is seen, riding with reckless abandon. Tearing +through the lines and holding aloft the tattered standard of Poland, +comes Littlepage of Virginia. With the rallying cry of his adopted land, +he gathers up his troops and gloriously defends the flag he loves. Our +eyes again stray to the legend on the tomb: Disillusionment! + +His return to his old home! His death! We see this also, but with this is +the knowledge that he lived greatly, and in his ears, while dying, sounded +again, the shout of victory, while his heart held the dream of the old +romance. + + +GEN. GEORGE WEEDON + +Among the first men in America to "fan the flames of sedition," as an +English traveler said of him long before the war, was Mine Host George +Weedon, keeper of the Rising Sun Tavern, Postmaster, and an Irish +immigrant. At his place gathered all the great of his day, spending hours +dicing and drinking punch. + +Over and over among these men--Washington, Mason, Henry, the Lees, +Jefferson and every Virginia gentleman of that section, George Weedon +heard discussion of the Colonies' problems, and he forcibly gave vent to +his opinions. + +Time and again he expressed the idea of freedom before others had thought +of more than protest. His wild Irish talk in the old Rising Sun Tavern +helped to light the torch of liberty in America. + +When war came, Weedon was elected Lieutenant-Colonel of the First +Virginia, of which Hugh Mercer was chosen Colonel. August 17, 1776, he +became its Colonel, and on February 24, 1777, he was made a +Brigadier-General. + +In the Battle of Brandywine, General Weedon's division rendered +conspicuous service, when they checked the pursuit of the British and +saved our army from rout. He commanded brilliantly at Germantown. Wherever +he fought, his great figure and stentorian voice were prominent in the +conflict. + +He admired Washington and his fellow-generals. It was not because of +these, but because he thought Congress to have treated him unfairly about +rank, that he left the Army at Valley Forge. He re-entered in 1780, and in +1781 was given command of the Virginia troops, which he held until the +surrender of Yorktown, where he played an important part. + +George Weedon was the first President of the Virginia Society of the +Cincinnati, a fraternity of Revolutionary officers which General +Washington helped to organize, and this was, indeed, a singular honor. He +was a member of the Fredericksburg Masonic Lodge, of which Washington was +also a member. After the war, he lived at "The Sentry Box," the former +home of his gallant brother-in-law, General Mercer. + +[Sidenote: _A Song For the Yuletide_] + +General Weedon was a man of exuberant spirits, loud of voice and full of +Irish humor. He wrote a song called "Christmas Day in '76," and on each +Yuletide he assembled at his board his old comrades and friends, and, +while two negro boys stood sentinel at the door, drank punch and roared +out the verses: + + "On Christmas Day in '76 + Our ragged troops with bayonets fixed, + For Trenton marched away. + The Delaware ice, the boats below + The lights obscured by hail and snow, + But no signs of dismay." + +Beginning thus, the brave Irishman who verbally and fought among the +foremost for America for over physically thirty years, told the story of +Washington's crossing the Delaware, vividly enough, and every Christmas +his guests stood with him and sang the ballad.[2] + + [2] See Goolrick's "Life of Mercer." + + +MASON OF GUNSTON + +Of George Mason, whom Garland Hunt says is "more than any other man +entitled to be called the Father of the Declaration of Independence," whom +Judge Garland says, "Is the greatest political philosopher the Western +Hemisphere ever produced," of whose Bill of Rights, Gladstone said, "It is +the greatest document that ever emanated from the brain of man," little +can be said here. His home was at Gunston Hall, on the Potomac, but the +Rising Sun knew him well, and his feet often trod Mary Washington's garden +walks, or the floors of Kenmore, Chatham and the other residences of Old +Fredericksburg. + +Mason was intimate here, and here much of his trading and shipping was +done. When he left Gunston, it was usually to come to Fredericksburg and +meet his younger conferees, who were looking up to him as the greatest +leader in America. He died and is buried at Gunston Hall. It was in +Fredericksburg that he first met young Washington, who ever afterward +looked upon "The Sage of Gunston" as his adviser and friend, and as +America's greatest man. + + +GENERAL WILLIAM WOODFORD + +Although he came from Caroline, General William Woodford was a frequenter +of and often resident in Fredericksburg, and it was from this city he went +to Caroline upon the assembling of troops when Lord Dunmore became +hostile. In subsequent military operations he was made Colonel of the +Second Regiment and distinguished himself in the campaign that followed, +and he was honorably mentioned for his valiant conduct at the battle of +Gread Bridge, December 9, 1775, upon which occasion he had the chief +command and gained a brilliant victory. He was later made General of the +First Virginia Brigade. His command was in various actions throughout the +war, in one of which, the Battle of Brandywine, he was severely wounded. +He was made prisoner by the British in 1778 at Charleston, and taken to +New York, where he died. + + +[Sidenote: _The Owner of "Kenmore"_] + +COL. FIELDING LEWIS + +The mansion stands in a park, which in autumn is an explosion of color. An +old wall, covered with Virginia creeper, adds a touch of glamour to the +Colonial house, and a willow tree commanding a conspicuous corner of the +grounds lends a melancholy aspect which makes up the interesting +atmosphere of Kenmore, part of the estate of Colonel Fielding Lewis, who +brought to this home his bride, "Betty," a sister of George Washington, +and where they lived as befitted people of wealth and learning, his wife +giving an added meaning to the social life of the old town, and Colonel +Lewis himself taking an active and prominent part in the civic affairs, as +most people of wealth and culture deemed it their duty to do in the days +gone by. + +Colonel Lewis was an officer in the Patriot Army and commanded a division +at the siege of Yorktown. He was an ardent patriot and when the Revolution +started his activities ran to the manufacture of firearms, which were made +at "The Gunnery" from iron wrought at the foundry, traces of which may +still be seen on the Rappahannock river, just above the village of +Falmouth. + +Colonel Lewis was a magistrate in the town after the war, a member of the +City Council and represented the county in the Legislature. + +His son, Captain Robert Lewis, was one of President Washington's private +secretaries and mayor of Fredericksburg from 1821 to the day of his death. +When LaFayette visited the town in 1824, Colonel Lewis was selected to +deliver the address of welcome. + +However, we are apt to forget the elegancies and excellencies of the +courtly man whose life was dedicated to useful service in a note that is +struck by the home in which he lived. Kenmore, in the light of its past, +sounds an overtone of romance. We cannot escape it, and it persistently +reverberates above the people it sheltered. + + +[Sidenote: _The Greatest Officeholder_] + +JAMES MONROE + +James Monroe was among the most important citizens that ever lived in +Fredericksburg. + +Monroe was born in Westmoreland County, not far from what is now Colonial +Beach. When a young man he was attracted by the larger opportunities +afforded by the town and moved to Fredericksburg, where he began the +practice of law, having an office in the row of old brick buildings on the +west side of Charles Street, just south of Commerce. Records still in the +courthouse show that he bought property on lower Princess Anne Street, +which still is preserved and known as "The Home of James Monroe." Monroe +occupied the house when it was located at Bradley's corner, and it was +afterwards moved to its present site, though some contend that he lived in +the house on its present site. + +Shortly after his arrival he became affiliated with St. George's Church, +soon being elected a vestryman, and when he had been here the proper +length of time he got into politics, and was chosen as one of the Town +Councilmen. From this humble political preferment at the hands of the +Fredericksburg people, he began a career that seemed ever afterward to +have included nothing but officeholding. Later he became Continental +Congressman from the district including Fredericksburg, and was, in turn, +from that time on, Representative in the Virginia convention, Governor of +Virginia, United States Congressman, Envoy Extraordinary to France, again +Governor, Minister to England, Secretary of War, once more Minister to +England, Minister to Madrid, Secretary of State and twice President--if +not a world's record at least one that is not often overmatched. Previous +to his political career, Monroe had served in the Revolutionary Army as a +Captain, having been commissioned while a resident of Fredericksburg. + +Monroe gave to America one of its greatest documents--known to history as +the Monroe Doctrine. It was directed essentially against the purposes of +the Holy Alliance, formed in 1815 by the principal European powers with +the fundamental object of putting down democratic movements on the part of +the people, whether they arose abroad or on this side of the world. After +consultation with English statesmen and with Jefferson, Adams, John Quincy +Adams and Calhoun, Monroe announced his new principle which declared that +the United States of America would resent any attempt of the Alliance to +"extend their system to this part of the Hemisphere." + + +[Sidenote: _"Old Doctor Mortimer"_] + +DR. CHARLES MORTIMER + +In a beautiful old home on lower Main Street, surrounded by a wall, +mellowed by time, and ivy-crowned, lived Washington's dear friend and +physician, Dr. Charles Mortimer. He could often be seen, in the days gone +by, seated on his comfortable "verandah," smoking a long pipe, covered +with curious devices, and discussing the affairs of the moment with those +rare intellects who were drawn there by the interesting atmosphere of +blended beauty and mentality. There was, as a background, a garden, +sloping to the river, and sturdy trees checquered the sunlight. +Old-fashioned flowers nodded in the breeze which blew up from the +Rappahannock, and the Doctor's own tobacco ships, with their returned +English cargoes, swung on their anchors at the foot of the terraces. + +If one entered the house at the dinner hour, every delicacy of land and +water would conspire against a refusal to dine with the host of this +hospitable mansion. Highly polished and massive pewter dishes, disputed +possession of the long mahogany table, with a mammoth bowl of +roses--arrogantly secure of an advantageous position in the center. + +There was often the sound of revelry by night, and the rafters echoed gay +laughter and the music of violins--high, and sweet and clear. + +An historic dinner, following the famous Peace Ball at the old Market +House in November, 1784, was given here, and the hostess, little Maria +Mortimer, sixteen years old, the Doctor's only daughter, with her hair +"cruped high" for the first time, presided, and her bon mots won the +applause of the company, which was quite a social triumph for a +sixteen-year-old girl, trying to hold her own with Lafayette, Count +d'Estang and the famous Rochambeau. They clicked glasses and drank to her +health standing, and little Maria danced with "Betty Lewis' Uncle George +himself," for Washington did not disdain the stately measures of the +minuet. + +But there is an obverse here. The old Doctor did not fail in his duty. On +horseback, with his saddlebag loaded with medicines, he rode down dark +forest paths to the homes of pioneers, traveled the streets of +Fredericksburg and came silently along lone trails in the country in the +dead of night, when hail or snow or driving rains cut at him bitterly +through the trees. He refused no call, and claimed small fees. He was Mary +Washington's physician for years, called on her almost daily, and stood by +her bedside mute, when, the struggle over, she quietly passed on to the +God in whom she had put her deepest faith. + +Of the many people who walk in Hurkamp Park, in the center of the old +town, there are few who know that they are passing daily over the grave of +the genial and popular Doctor, who was Fredericksburg's first mayor, and +Washington's dearest friend. + + +[Sidenote: _Maury--a Master Genius_] + +MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY + +Of all the famous men who went from Fredericksburg to take large parts in +the rapidly moving history of America, or in the work of the world, +Commodore Maury added most to the progress of science. Not only did he +create knowledge, but he created wealth by the immense saving he effected +to shipping by charting shorter ocean routes. He is buried in Hollywood +Cemetery, in Richmond, under a simple shaft which bears the name, "Matthew +Fontaine Maury." The great "pathfinder of the seas" was born in +Spotsylvania County, January, 1806, and died at Lexington in 1873. + +[Sidenote: _A World Famed Scientist_] + +He wore the most prized decorations the monarchs of Europe could give him; +he founded the most valuable natural science known, and was reckoned a +transcendent genius. Of him, Mellin Chamberlain, Librarian of Congress, +said, with calm consideration "I do not suppose there is the least doubt +that Maury was the greatest man America ever produced." + +Alexander Humbolt said that Maury created a new science. + +He plunged into the unknown; he charted the seas and mapped its currents +and winds. He was the first to tell the world that winds and currents were +not of chance, but of fixed and immutable laws, and that even cyclones +were well governed. He knew why a certain coast was dry and another rainy, +and he could, on being informed of the latitude and longitude of a place, +tell what was the prevailing weather and winds. + +Maury went to sea as a midshipman in the American navy in 1825, and in +1831, at twenty-four years of age, he became master of the sloop Falmouth, +with orders to go to the Pacific waters, but, though he sought diligently, +he found no chart of a track for his vessel, no record of currents or of +winds to guide him. The sea was a trackless wilderness, and the winds were +things of vagrant caprice. And he began then to grapple with those +problems which were to immortalize him. + +He came back from ocean wanderings in a few years and married an old +sweetheart, Miss Ann Herndon, of Fredericksburg, and he lived for a time +on Charlotte Street, between Princess Anne and Prince Edward, and wrote +his first book, "A Treatise on Navigation;" while from his pen came a +series of newspaper and magazine articles that startled the world of +scientific thought. For the man had discovered new and unsuspected natural +laws! + +Misfortune--that vastly helped him--came in 1839, when his leg was injured +through the overturning of a stage coach. The government put him in charge +of a new "Bureau of Charts and Instruments," at Washington, and out of +his work here grew the Naval Observatory, the Signal Service and the first +Weather Bureau ever established on earth! Every other science was old. His +science was utterly new, a field untouched. + +[Sidenote: _Charting Seas and Winds_] + +He found a mass of log books of American warships. Over these he pondered. +He sent hundreds of bottles and buoys to be dropped into the seven seas by +fighting craft and merchantmen. + +These were picked up now and again and came back to him, and from the +information sent to him with them, and soundings in thousands of places, +added to what he had gleaned in earlier years, he prepared his greatest +work. It took ultimate form in a series of six "charts" and eight large +volumes of "sailing directions," that comprehended all the waters and +winds in all climes, and on every sea where white sails bend and steamer +smoke drifts. + +The charts exhibit, with wonderful accuracy, the winds and currents, their +force and direction at different seasons, the calm belts, the trade winds, +the rains and storms--the gulf stream, the Japan current--all the great +ocean movements; and the sailing directions are treasure chests for +seamen. Paths were marked out on the ocean, and a practical result was, +that one of the most difficult sea voyages--from New York to San +Francisco, around the Horn--was shortened by forty days. It has been +estimated that by shortening the time of many sea voyages, Commander Maury +has effected a saving of not less than $40,000,000 each year. + +Of his own work, Maury wrote: + +"So to shape the course on voyages at sea as to make the most of winds and +currents, is the perfection of the navigator's art. How the winds blow or +the currents flow along this route or that is no longer a matter of +speculation or opinion. The wind and weather, daily encountered by +hundreds who sailed before him, have been tabulated for the mariner; nay, +the path has been blazed for him on the sea; mile posts have been set +upon the waves and time tables furnished for the trackless waste." + +It was this work that, reaching over Europe and Asia, brought on the +Brussels conference in 1853, to which Maury, founder of the science of +hydrography and meteorology, went as America's representative, and here he +covered himself with honors. He came back to write his "Physical Geography +of the Sea and Its Meteorology." + +This, the essence of his life work, the poetry and the romance of his +science, passed through twenty editions and was known in every school, but +the book's greatest interest was killed by the removal of the poetic +strain that made it beautiful. It has been translated into almost every +language. In it is the story of the sea, its tides and winds, its shore +lines and its myriads of life; its deep and barren bottoms. For Maury also +charted the ocean floors, and it was his work in this line that caused +Cyrus Field to say of the laying of the Atlantic cable: + +"Maury furnished the brains, England furnished the money, and I did the +work." + +[Sidenote: _Honored by All Europe_] + +No other American ever was honored by Emperors and Kings as was Matthew +Fontaine Maury. He was given orders of Knighthood by the Czar of Russia, +the King of Denmark, King of Spain, King of Portugal, King of Belgium and +Emperor of France, while Russia, Austria, Sweden, Holland, Sardenia, +Bremen, Turkey and France struck gold medals in his honor. The pope of +Rome sent him a full set of all the medals struck during his pontificate. +Maximilian decorated him with "The Cross of the Order of Guadaloupe" while +Germany bestowed on him the "Cosmos Medal," struck in honor of Von +Humboldt, and the only duplicate of that medal in existence. + +The current of the Civil War swept Maury away from Washington, and he +declined offers from France, Germany and Russia, joining his native state +in the Confederacy. He introduced the submarine torpedo, and rendered the +South other service before the final wreck, which left him stranded and +penniless. He went to Mexico now, to join his fortunes with those of the +unhappy Maximilian, and when the Emperor met his tragic end he found +himself again resourceless--and crippled. In 1868 when general amnesty was +given, he came back to become the first professor of meteorology at the +Virginia Military Institute. In October, 1872, he became ill and died in +February of the next year. + +And this man, who had from Kings and Emperors more decorations than any +American has ever received, and for whom Europe had ever ready the highest +honors and greatest praise, was ignored by his own government, to which he +gave his life's work. No word of thanks, no tribute of esteem, no reward, +was ever given him. A bill to erect a monument to him lies now rotting in +some pigeonhole in Congress. But an effort to renew this is underway. + + +ARCHIBALD MCPHERSON + +Curiously enough, no more memory is left to Fredericksburg of Archibald +McPherson than the tombstone under the mock orange tree in St. George's +Church, the tablets to his memory in the old charity school on Hanover +Street (now the Christian Science Church) and a few shadowy legends and +unmeaning dates. + +He was born in Scotland and died in Fredericksburg in 1854. He was a +member of St. George's Church and vestry. + +But what manner of man he was, the few recorded acts we know will convey +to every one. He established a Male Charity School with his own funds +principally, and took a deep interest in it, and, dying, he left the small +fortune he had accumulated by Scotch thrift "to the poor of the town," and +provided means of dispensing the interest on this sum for charity +throughout the years to come. Most of this fund was wiped out by +depreciation of money, etc., during the Civil War. + + + + +_Men of Modern Times_ + + _Soldiers, Adventurers and Sailors, Heroes and Artists, mingle here._ + + +A prophet without honor in his own country was Moncure Daniel Conway +because, a Fredericksburger and a Southerner, he opposed slavery. But his +genius won him world praise, and later, honer in his own country. + +Born in 1832, near Falmouth, to which village his people moved later, the +child of Walker Peyton Conway and Marguerite Daniel Conway he inherited +from a long line of ancestry, a brilliant intellect and fearlessness to +tread the paths of freedom. + +The difficult studious child was too much for his teacher, Miss Gaskins, +of Falmouth, so he was sent, at the age of ten, to Fredericksburg +Classical and Mathematical Academy, originally John Marye's famous school, +and made rapid progress. + +His hero was his great uncle, Judge R. C. L. Moncure, of Glencairne, and +his early memoirs are full of loving gratitude for the great man's +toleration and help. The Methodism of his parents did not hold him, for he +several times attended the services at St. George's Church. + +The wrongs of slavery he saw, and after he entered Dickinson College, at +Carlisle, in his fifteenth year, he found an anti-slavery professor, +McClintock, who influenced him and encouraged his dawning agnosticism. His +cousin, John M. Daniel, editor of the Richmond Examiner, became, in 1848, +a leading factor in Conway's life, encouraging his literary efforts and +publishing many of his contributions. + +All beauty, all art appealed to him. Music was always a passion, and we +also find constant and quaint references to beautiful women and girls. It +seemed the superlative compliment, though he valued feminine brains and +ability. + +His great spiritual awakening came with his finding an article by Emerson +and at the age of twenty, to the delight of his family, he became a +Methodist minister. + +His career as such was not a success. After one of his sermons, in which +he ignored Heaven and Hell, his father said: "One thing is certain, Monk, +should the Devil aim at a Methodist preacher, you'd be safe." + +He moved to Cambridge. The prominence of his Southern family, and his own +social and intellectual charms gave him entre to the best homes and +chiefest among them, that of his adored Emerson, where he met and knew all +the great lights of the day. His slavery opinions, valuable as a Southern +slave owner's son, made him an asset in the anti-slavery propaganda of the +time. + +[Sidenote: _Conway's Famous Friends_] + +Among his friends were the Thoreaus, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Oliver Wendell +Holmes and Agassiz. + +I must hurry over the charm of those college days to Moncure Conway's +first Unitarian Church, in Washington. So pronounced were his sermons on +anti-slavery that his father advised him not to come home on a visit. He +did come and had the humiliation of being ordered from Falmouth under pain +of tar and feathers, an indignity which cut him to his soul. His success +in Washington was brilliant, but he found trouble, owing to his +abolitionist opinions, and had to resign. In 1856 he accepted a call to a +Cincinnati church, whose literary and artistic circles made much of the +new preacher. The wealth of that larger population enabled Conway to +establish several charitable homes. He married there Ellen Davis Dana, and +there published his first book, "Tracts For Today." He edited a paper, The +Dial, to which Emerson contributed. + +He went to England to the South Place Chapel, London, an ethical society, +and the round peg seemed to have found its proper hole at last. Here he +labored for twenty years, and became known through all Europe. His +personal recollections of Alfred Tennyson, the Brownings their courtship; +of Carlyle, are classics. A very interesting light is thrown on Freud. He +was intimate with the whole pre-Raphaelite school and gives account among +others of Rossetti and his lovely wife, all friendships he formed in Madam +Brown's charming home. + +Burne Jones, Morris, Whistler, Swinburne, Arthur Hughs, DeMaurier (was +there ever such a collection of genius in one country) are all described +in Conway's vivid pen pictures. Artemus Warde was his friend, and Conway +conducted the funeral services over that world's joy giver, and in his +same South End Chapel, preached memorial addresses on Cobblen, Dickens, +Maurice, Mazzanni, Mill, Straus, Livingstone, George Eliot, Stanley, +Darwin, Longfellow, Carlyle, the beloved Emerson, Tennyson, Huxley and Abe +Lincoln, whom he never admired, though he recognized his brain and +personality. He accused him of precipitating the horrible war for the sake +of a flag and thus murdering a million men. + +Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and his wife visited England in 1872 and +Moncure Conway and his wife knew them intimately and afterwards visited +them in this country. Joseph Jefferson, John Motley, George Eliot, Mrs. +Humphrey Ward (whose book, Robert Elsmere, he flays) and W. S. Gilbert, +all were his friends. The man was a genius, a social Voltaire; a master of +thought and phrase. Where before did an exile from his own country ever +achieve a friendship circle where the names now scintillate over all the +world? + +[Sidenote: _He Travels Through Russia_] + +He visited Paris in 1867 and the story of his travels in Russia later are +full of charm, of folk lore and religious mysticism. But before long we +find him back in his South Place Chapel. His accounts of several woman +preachers there are interesting, as is that of Annie Besant--the wondrous +before-her-time--whom Mrs. Conway befriended in her bitter persecution by +her parson husband for agnosticism. In 1875 Conway returned to America, +and Falmouth town, grieving over the war ravages and his lost boyhood +friends. He toured through the West, lecturing on Demonology, and the +great Englishmen he knew. The death of his son, Dana, and of his wife in +1897, were blows, and his remaining years were spent in Europe with +several visits between to his brother, Peter V. D. Conway, of +Fredericksburg, and friends in America. His life ended in 1907 in Paris. A +great man, a brilliant and a brave one. He fought for his beliefs as +bravely as ever did any warrior or explorer in unknown lands. + + +[Illustration: BEAUTIFUL "BELMONT" + +_On Falmouth Heights, Now the Home of Mr. and Mrs. Gari Melchers_] + + +[Sidenote: _A Great American Artist_] + +GARI MELCHERS + +Crowning a hill, which is the triumphant result of a series of terraces +rising from the town of Falmouth, opposite Fredericksburg, is Belmont, the +home of Gari Melchers, an American artist, who has been more honored +abroad than any of our living painters, with the exception, perhaps, of +John Singer Sargent. + +Born in Detroit, Gari Melchers left America when he was seventeen, to +pursue his studies in Europe. + +His apprentice days were spent in Dusseldorf and Paris, where his +professional debut in 1889 gained for him the coveted Grand Prix--Sargent +and Whistler being the only other American painters similarly honored. + +Italy had to resign to Holland the prestige of lending her country to the +genius of Mr. Melchers, for he intended to reside in Italy, but owing to +the outbreak of the cholera there he settled at Engmond instead. His +studio borrowed the interest of the sea on one side and the charm of a +lazy canal on the other, and over its door were inscribed the words: "Wahr +und Klar" (Truth and Clarity). Here he worked at those objective and +realistic pictures of Dutch life and scenes; and free from all scholastic +pretense, he painted the serene, yet colorful panorama of Holland. + +Christian Brinton says of the art of Gari Melchers that it is explicit and +veracious. Prim interiors are permeated with a light that envelopes all +things with a note of sadness. Exterior scenes reflect the shifting of +seasons or the precise hour of day. He paints air as well as light and +color. Without exaggeration, he manages to suggest the intervening aerial +medium between the seer and the thing seen. + +Mr. Melchers has no set formula. + +In 1918 there was a wonderful "one man" display of his art at the Corcoran +Art Gallery, and in 1919, the Loan Exhibition, held by the Copley Society +at the Boston Art Club, was the second of the two important recent events +in the artist's career since his returning to America. Here his work has +undergone some perceptible change, gaining lightness and freshness of +vision, which shows his reaction to a certain essential Americanism. Mr. +Melchers attacks whatever suits his particular mood, and his art is not +suggestive of a subjective temperament. + +"The Sermon"--"The Communion"--"The Pilots"--"The Shipbuilders"--"The +Sailor and His Sweetheart"--"The Open Door" are some of his well-known +canvases. His reputation as a portrait painter rests upon a secure +foundation. + +His awards include medals from Berlin, Antwerp, Vienna, Paris and Munich, +Ansterdam, Dresden, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and many other +medals for art exhibitions. + +He is an officer of the Legion of Honor, France; officer of the Order of +the "Red Eagle," Prussia; officer of the Order of "St. Michael" Bavaria; +officer of the Order of the "White Falcon," Saxe-Weimar. + +Mr. Melchers himself is frank and not chained by minor conventions. He has +a powerful personality and a charming wife, who dispenses a pleasant +hospitality, in a home that leaves nothing to be desired. + + +[Sidenote: _John Elder's Great Work_] + +JOHN A. ELDER + +Fredericksburg gave John A. Elder, the gifted painter to the world, for he +saw the light of day in this town in February, 1833; and here he first +felt that call to art which had its beginnings when Elder would, as a mere +boy, make chalk drawings on the sides of the buildings, and took the +time, while doing errands for his father, to give rein to his imagination +through some interesting sketch, which would finally drift into the +possession of his friends. His father's opposition to an artistic career +for his son did not long retard his progress, as so great was the urge +within him that he borrowed from a fellow townsman, Mr. John Minor, the +money to study abroad, and before long Dusseldorf, Germany, claimed him as +a student, and there the love of line and color which he had inherited +from his mother's family gained definition. Details of his life in +Dusseldorf are too vague to chronicle but he returned to this country at +the beginning of the Civil War, with a knowledge of his art which gained +him instant recognition, and success followed in his footsteps. + +Elder was a man whose sympathetic personality drew the love of his +fellow-men, and his studio was the rendezvous of such men as +Attorney-General R. T. Daniel, Lord Grant, Peterkin, Fred Daniel, who +represented the United States as consul to Rome for fourteen years, and +many others. + +His experiences in war gave to him a sureness and truth in detail, which, +when added to his technique, produced results which challenged the +admiration of all who saw his work. + +[Sidenote: _Some of Elder's Paintings_] + +His "Battle of the Crater" and "Scout's Prize" were inspired by scenes in +which he had figured. The former hangs on the walls of the Westmoreland +Club, in Richmond, Va., and his canvas "After Appomattox" adorns the State +Library in the same city, along with many portraits which trace their +origin to him. + +His "Lee" and "Jackson" are in the Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington, and +there is a portrait of Mr. Corcoran himself which owes its existence to +his gifted brush. + +He visited Jefferson Davis at "Beauvoir" and painted him there. + +Of ordinary height and rather thick set, Mr. Elder's appearance was +characterized by distinction and force. His eyes were dark and very +expressive; he wore a moustache and "imperial" and in all his photographs +we notice the "artistic flowing tie." On the left of his forehead was a +scar, the result of some encounter in Germany, and as the artist never +married, one is apt to read a romance into his life. However, this is pure +speculation, as there is nothing to substantiate such an assumption. + +"Jack" Elder was a master of the foils, and on one occasion when a noted +Frenchman engaged him in a "bout" Elder disarmed him with ease, and the +Frenchman's foil was thrown against the ceiling. + +The artist returned to Fredericksburg, where he lived six years prior to +his death, which occurred on February 25, 1895, and in these last years he +was ministered to by his nieces and nephews, who showed him much devotion. + + +REV. JAMES POWER SMITH + +Rev. James Power Smith was not born in Fredericksburg, but he preached +here for thirty years, at the Presbyterian Church, aiding the poor and +sick, and always smiling. He was highly successful in his church +achievements and in his years of editorship of the Central Presbyterian. + +One night in his life proved him to be minted of fine metal, and that +night inscribed his name forever in history. It was the fearful night when +Stonewall Jackson received his death blow. + +Captain Smith (now Reverend) was a theological student when war broke out, +and was immediately made a military lieutenant (not a chaplain). +Throughout the war he followed close to Jackson, on his staff. Religion +brought them together and their friendship was deep. + +[Sidenote: _When Jackson Was Wounded_] + +When in the darkness of the trees that overhang the Chancellorsville road, +"Stonewall" Jackson was mortally wounded and others about him killed by +their own troops there were a few men, among them General A. P. Hill, at +hand to help him. He had hardly been taken from his horse when two aides, +Lieutenant Morrison and Lieutenant Smith, arrived. With General Hill +directing, they arrested the bleeding. General Hill had to hurry back to +form his men for an attack. Lieutenant Morrison had just seen a field +piece, not 200 yards away, pointing down the Plank Road. There was no +litter, and General Jackson offered to walk to the rear. Leaning on Major +Leigh and Lieutenant Morrison, he began struggling toward his lines. They +had just placed Jackson on a litter that had been sent up, when the +Federal cannon began to rake the road with canister. Every figure, horse +or gun toward the Confederate lines disappeared. They tried to take him +back, but a litter-bearer was struck down and the Great Leader was dropped +and bruised. + +In a moment, on the dark road swept by awful fire, there were but three +men, and, as the subject of this sketch, Lieutenant Smith, was one of +them, it is apropos to quote what Prof. R. S. Dabney says in his Life of +Jackson: + +"The bearers and all the attendants, excepting Major Leigh and the +general's two aides, had left and fled into the woods. While the sufferer +lay in the road with his feet turned toward the enemy, exposed to the fire +of the guns, his attendants displayed a heroic fidelity which deserved to +go down in history with the immortal name of Jackson. Disdaining to leave +their chief, they lay down beside him, leaning above him and trying as far +as possible to protect him with their bodies. On one side was Major Leigh, +on the other Lieutenant Smith. Again and again was the earth torn by +volleys of canister, and minnie balls hissed over them, the iron striking +flashes from the stones about him." + +Finally when the firing ceased, General Jackson was removed from the +battlefield to a hospital, and then to Mr. Chandler's house at Guinea +Station, where he died, May 10, 1863. + +Lieutenant Smith became The Reverend when war ceased, and married Miss +Agnes Lucy Lacy, a daughter of Major J. Horace Lacy. + +He was well known in Fredericksburg. For thirty years he was pastor here; +for fifty years Secretary of the Presbyterian Synod, and for years editor +of the Central Presbyterian. Many know his works. All men know the deep, +immovable courage it took that night to lie as a barrier, to take whatever +death might be hurled down the shell-swept road toward "Stonewall" +Jackson. + +He still lives, in 1921, in Richmond. His voice is low, his smile soft, +and his religion his life. He is the last surviving member of "Stonewall" +Jackson's staff. + + +MAJOR J. HORACE LACY + +There are many living now who remember him. The strong, stolid figure, the +fine old face traced with the lineage of gentility, the cane that pounded +down the sidewalks as he went where he willed. There are some left who +knew the power and poetry and kindliness of the man. + +Major Lacy was a graduate of Washington and Lee and an attorney at law, +though he seldom practiced. He was married in 1848 at Chatham, when he was +twenty-four years of age, to Miss Betty Churchill Jones, and later became +the owner of "Chatham" and of the "Lacy House," about each of which clings +grim traditions of war; both the Wilderness place and Chatham became known +in those two battles as "The Lacy House." + +Washington Irving was his guest while spending some time in Virginia; +General Robert E. Lee was his guest, and many other widely known men. + +His service in war was well done. He was made a lieutenant at the +beginning and promoted to major on the field of battle at Seven Pines. He +served under General Joseph E. Johnston until the latter surrendered, some +time after Appomattox. + +When the war was ended he went North to do a brave thing. He spoke through +Pennsylvania and Maryland, pleading for funds to bury and put grave +stones over the Confederate dead. He had experiences there. But his +splendid oratory and the courage of his presence usually kept order. + +[Sidenote: _Winning a Hostile Audience_] + +He spoke once at Baltimore, and among his audience was an Irish Federal +regiment, clad half in uniform, half in civilians, as forgotten +ex-privates usually are. Major Lacy was told that most of the audience was +hostile and threatening. + +He walked on the platform and spoke a few words about the unknown men he +came to get funds to decently bury, of the women away where the starlight +was twinkling over cabin and home, of those who waited, listening for a +step; of those who were never again to see the men they loved. + +Shuffling feet and laughter dulled the simple pathos of his words. Then +turning half away from his audience he recited a poem called "The Irish +Immigrant's Lament": + + "I am sitting on the stile, Mary, + Where we sat, side by side, + On that bright May morning long ago, + When first you were my bride." + +He began it thus, and into his voice, filled with the sorrows of the +"Mary's" who wept down in his Southland, he put the full strength of his +expression. The hostile audience was silent as he finished. + + "And often in the far-off world, + I'll sit and close my eyes, + And my heart will travel back again + To where my Mary lies. + And I'll think I see the little stile + Where we sat, side by side, + Mid the young corn on that bright May morn + When you were first my bride." + +The Irishmen who had fought against the cause which Lacy loved were quiet +now, and when he said, "Wouldn't you want a bit of a stone for 'Mary' to +remember you," they yelled and rushed to grasp his hand. From his +"hostile" audience he collected $14,000.00 that night. In the whole tour +he gathered a great sum for Confederate cemeteries. + +During his later years, with his wife, who represented the ladies of +another era, as he did its men, he lived on Washington Avenue, in +Fredericksburg. To few did he ever show the deeper side of his character, +but those who knew him until he died in 1906, knew how much kindly +manliness dwelt therein. + + +MAJOR GENERAL DANIEL RUGGLES + +Although Major General Daniel Ruggles was born in Massachusetts, he +married Miss Richardetta Mason Hooe, a great granddaughter of George +Mason, and the greater part of his life was spent in Fredericksburg, of +which he became a citizen and in which he died. + +During his life in Fredericksburg he concerned himself with the business +of the town, and was known to almost all of its residents. + +He was graduated into the army from West Point in 1883 and lead a small +band into the west and explored the Fox river the same year. + +[Sidenote: _General Ruggles' Career_] + +When the Seminole Indian war broke out Lieutenant Ruggles with fifty men +penetrated the everglades and was commended for his services. In the +Mexican war he stopped the Mexican advance at Palo Alto and was promoted +to Captain on the field. + +Captain Ruggles and his men reached Chapaultepec, drove into the city, +made a determined stand and were the first of the advancing American Army +to raise the American flag over the fort. He was breveted Major by +President Polk "for gallant and meritorious conduct at Chereubusco" and a +little later was made Lieutenant Colonel "for gallant and conspicuous +bravery at Chapaultepec." In 1861 he joined the Confederate Army. + +[Sidenote: _The Real "First Battle"_] + +Placed in command of the most important of the Southern departments at +Fredericksburg, the "gateway to the South," he organized and equipped a +small army. When the Confederacy found that they had no gun caps, +necessary on the old "muzzle loaders," and no copper from which to make +caps, General Ruggles invented a cap made from raw hide and dried in the +sun (specimens are in the National Museum), which were used by the whole +Southern Army during the first three months of the war. + + +[Illustration: OLD "CHATHAM" + +_One of the Most Characteristic of All Virginia Colonial Mansions_] + + +General Ruggles planted artillery and, using these caps with match heads +to explode them, drove off the Union gunboats and a lading force at Aquia +Creek May 31, 1861, nine days before "Big Bethel", and weeks after +Virginia seceded. He thus fought and won the first battle of the Civil +war. + +His career during the war won him wide recognition. His movements won the +battle of Shiloh through finding a weak point in the enemy's line. He was +made Major General March 25, 1865, and surrendered at Augusta, Ga., after +Appomattox. Although he fought in five Indian wars, the Mexican war and +the Civil war, from the start to finish, and was recognized as a man who +would lead his men anywhere, he never received a wound of any kind in his +life. + +Many people in Fredericksburg remember him now, with his fine face, his +erect figure and his long gray whiskers. In his latter days some people +laughed at him, not understanding that there was genius in the man, +because of his first experience with "rainmaking." He invented the method +which is used now by the United States Government, under his patent. He +earned the name of "raincrow" which sometimes reached his ears. He +patented the first propeller which was ever used on a steam boat (model in +the National Museum). He also invented the first principles of the +telephone. He invented in 1858 a system whereby an electric bell on a ship +would ring on the approach of the ship to any rock or point on the shore +equipped with the same apparatus. This was tested by the navy and +proclaimed impractical, but it contained the principles of wireless +telegraphy. It is used by the American navy today. + + +JOHN ROGER CLARK, EXPLORER + +Though a monument has just been erected in another city which claims him +as a citizen, there is excellent evidence of the fact that John Roger +Clarke, reclaimer of the great Northwest, and also his brother, William +Clarke, who with Merriweather Lewis, explored the Mississippi, were born +in Spotsylvania County and lived near Fredericksburg. According to Quinn's +History of Fredericksburg, Maury's History of Virginia and letters from +descendents, the two famous Clarke brothers were sons of Jonathan Clarke, +who lived at Newmarket, Spotsylvania County, where John Roger Clarke was +born. Jonathan Clarke was clerk of the County Court of Spotsylvania and +afterwards moved to Fredericksburg, where it may be probable, the younger +son was born. Later they moved to Albemarle County, near Charlottesville, +where the two sons grew to manhood. + +The history of the two Clarkes' is so well known, even by school children, +that it is needless to go into it here, the purpose of this reference +being to establish their connection with the town. + + +MAJOR ELLIOTT MUSE BRAXTON + +Major Elliott Muse Braxton is widely known, as he was once Congressman +from this district. He was born in the County of Middlesex, October 2, +1823, was a grandson of Carter Braxton, one of Virginia's signers of the +Declaration of Independence. His father was also Carter Braxton, a +successful lawyer in Richmond. + +In 1851 he was elected to the Senate of Virginia. So ably and efficiently +did Major Braxton represent his constituents that he won another election +without any opposition. + +In 1854 he married Anna Marie Marshall, a granddaughter of the great +expounder of the Constitution, Chief Justice Marshall. In 1859 he adopted +Fredericksburg as his home, where he was when "war's dread alarm," came. +He organized a company of infantry, of which he was unanimously elected +captain, from which position he was soon promoted to that of major, and +assigned to the staff of General John R. Cooke. On the conclusion of +hostilities he again engaged in the practice of law, forming a +co-partnership with the late C. Wistar Wallace, Esq. In 1870 he was +nominated at Alexandria by the Democrats for Congress, the City of +Fredericksburg being then a constituent of the Eighth District. + +He continued to practice his profession of law until failing health +admonished him to lay its burdens down. + +On October 2, 1891, he died in his home at Fredericksburg, and Virginia +mourned a son who was always true, loyal and faithful. Elliott Muse +Braxton was a Virginia gentleman and in saying that a good deal is +comprehended. Courteous in manner, considerate in tone and temper, clean +in character, loyal to State and to Church, cherishing with ardor as the +years went by, the obligations and the responsibilities of old Virginia, +he fell asleep. + + +DR. FRANCIS P. WELLFORD + +"But a certain Samaritan as he journeyed came where he was and when he saw +him, he had compassion on him--and went to him and bound up his wounds." +In this way we are told the tender story of the Good Samaritan. + +In 1877 Dr. Francis Preston Wellford, of Fredericksburg, was living in +Jacksonville, Florida, when a scourge of yellow fever invaded Fernandina. +Almost all of its physicians were victims of the disease, or worn out with +work. Dr. Wellford volunteered for service, which was almost certain +death, fell a victim, and died, on the same day and in the next cot to his +fellow-townsman, Dr. Herndon. + + "For whether on the scaffold high, + Or in the battle's van, + The noblest death that man can die; + Is when he dies for man." + +Over his grave in the cemetery at Fredericksburg, there is an imposing +monument, with this simple inscription: + + "Francis Preston Wellford, + Born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, + September 12, 1839." + +On the beautiful memorial window in St. Peter's Church, Fernandina, +Florida, erected by Dr. J. H. Upham, of Boston, who felt that their memory +should not be neglected, one reads: + + "Francis Preston Wellford, M. D. + Born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, + Sept. 12, 1839, + + James Carmicheal Herndon, M. D. + Born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, + Sept. 22, 1821, + Died in the faithful discharge of their duties at + Fernandina, Florida, + Oct. 18, 1877." + + +DR. JAMES C. HERNDON + +When surgeons were needed for the Confederate Army, the Dr. Herndon above +mentioned left his practice and went, although exempted by law. He served +through four years of war, and when peace was declared, made his home in +Florida. + +He was state physician there, when Fernandina was stricken by the dread +yellow fever, and the population was almost helpless. + +Deeming it his duty, Herndon voluntarily went into the city of the dying. +He had worked but a few days when he was stricken, and death followed. + +He died as bravely as a man may die, and few have died for so good a +cause. He sleeps in the silent cemetery in Fredericksburg, his home. + + +HON. A. WELLINGTON WALLACE + +Among the men whose writings have added to Fredericksburg's fame is Hon. +A. Wellington Wallace, at one time Judge of the Corporation Court of +Fredericksburg and, later chosen President of the Virginia Bar +Association. Judge Wallace never sought political office and his abilities +therefore never were fully publicly known in that line, but some of his +literary compositions have been widely read and favorably criticised. The +most important of his work, perhaps, is his epitome on the intents, +purposes and meaning of the constitution. Though brief it clearly and +sharply defines and analyses the important document under which we are +governed, and gives to the reader an intelligent conception of what its +framers aimed at and hoped to do, such as could not be gained in pages of +lengthier reading. + + +HON. A. P. ROWE + +(1817-1900) + +One of the best known and most beloved characters of the after-the-war +period was Absalom P. Rowe, affectionately known as "Marse Ab." He served +as Quartermaster, Confederate States Army, throughout the Civil War, and +after its close, played a leading part in restoring order and system out +of the terrible desolation with which this section was inflicted. He was +prominent in all matters pertaining to the civic and State governments and +was a powerful influence in all the stirring events of that period. + +"Marse Ab" represented the district comprising Fredericksburg and +Spotsylvania county in the State Legislature for the session 1879-1880, +and served as Mayor of Fredericksburg continuously from 1888 to 1900, with +the exception of one term, and had just been re-elected for another term +at the time of his death. + +Fredericksburg was then under its old charter and the police court was +presided over by the Mayor. "Marse Ab's" court was known far and wide, +and his characteristic method of dealing out justice was the cause of fear +to offenders and a source of amusement to large numbers of onlookers who +always attended the sessions of court. "Marse Ab's" decisions were quickly +reached and swiftly delivered, and the penalties inflicted were tempered +with the wisdom and discretion of his long experience and his rare +qualities as a judge of human nature. + +Mayor Rowe was the father of Captain M. B. Rowe, ex-Mayor J. P. Rowe, +Messrs. A. P. Rowe and Alvin T. Rowe, all prominent business men of the +city today. + + +[Sidenote: _A Famous "Tramp Comedian"_] + +NAT C. WILLS + +Not only has Fredericksburg contributed men who took high rank in the +political, economic and scientific up-building of the country, but it has +furnished at least one of those who ranked highest as an amuser of the +Nation. This was Nat Wills, nationally known to the American theater going +public as the foremost exemplifier of the tramp. Wills' real name was +Matthew McGrath Wills. When still a young man he went from Fredericksburg +and made his home in Washington. There he humbly began a stage career as a +tramp comedian that ended, when he was at the pinnacle of success, with +his sudden death in New York some eight years ago. + +Merely to have been a successful "Tramp Comedian" does not imply fame. But +Wills was more than merely a tramp comedian. He was creator of a new art +on the American stage and those who now caricature the lowly denizen of +the cross ties, are followers of the lead he took. In mannerism, type and +action they copy Wills' conception of what a true tramp should be, but +none yet has succeeded in portraying the character with the humor that +Wills put into his work. + +Technically speaking Wills was a low comedian, but his wit and humor and +art are not suggested by that term. Dressed in clothes that were +themselves a burlesque of the world's kindness, he represented with +dramatic humor a character that went through life unconscious of his +rags, careless of the present and unafraid of the future, but with a +kindness of heart and a philosophy that is true only to those who have +viewed life from close to its rougher aspects. After he had achieved +success his plays were especially written for him and he had a large part +in their making. His lines were witty and clever and as curtain encores he +sang parodies he had written on whatever were the popular songs of the +day, and these were brilliant satires on the original themes. + + +[Illustration: JOHN PAUL JONES HOME + +_Above: A Grocery Since 1760. Below, Stevens House_] + + +Wills never forgot the city of his nativity. Whenever close enough to be +appreciated, he always told a joke that permitted him to bring in his +connection with the town. His sudden death was a shock to theater goers, +and no one has since supplanted in their affections the particular +character he essayed. Though dead he remains master of the art he created. + + +[Sidenote: _The Gallant Herndon's Death_] + +COMMANDER WM. LEWIS HERNDON + +It is not so much because of his life as of his death, that every +Fredericksburger cherishes the memory of Commander William Lewis Herndon. +He was born here in 1813, and fifteen years afterwards was made a +midshipman and in 1855 reached the rank of Admiral. Commander Herndon made +the first exploration of the Amazon, amidst great dangers, and his book on +this subject became a standard. + +With 478 souls aboard, Commander Herndon started from New York for South +America in 1857 on the big passenger ship "Central America." She sailed +proudly out, the flying fish fleeing her prow down the Gulf Stream through +sunny days, until suddenly in the Gulf of Mexico the ship shattered +against a rock. + +Standing with his sword in his hand, Commander Herndon saw the boats +lowered one by one until each woman and child was safely on the sea in +life boats. Ordering his men to continue disembarking passengers he went +below to put on his dress uniform, and coming back directed the making of +rafts. Hundreds of men jumped and nearly 150 were lost. Commander Herndon +stood last on the ship upon the Bridge that is a Captain's castle, the +gold of his uniform losing its glow as the sun fell behind the far off +shore lines. Still hovering near, the sailors in a half dozen boats in +which were women and children, cried out to him to come over. He bent his +head a moment in prayer then doffed his cocked hat, and smiling, went down +as his ship plunged bow forward into the Gulf waters. There is no +tradition of our Navy more glowing than this one, which Commander Herndon, +of Fredericksburg, added to its legends. + + +[Sidenote: _Men of the Old Navy_] + +CAPTAIN RUDD, U. S. NAVY + +Captain John Rudd was a resident of our City after his retirement from the +U. S. Navy. He was too old to serve in the Confederacy and lived in a +house next to the old Citizens Hall, near where the Catholic Church now +stands. + +He sailed many years in the old Navy, and had many tales to tell to the +young people of his neighborhood concerning his adventures. + + +COMMODORE THEO. R. ROOTES + +Commodore Theo. R. Rootes resigned from the U. S. Navy in 1861, and was +immediately named as commander in the Confederate Navy. He was stationed +in Richmond in the early part of the war and in 1864 was given the command +of the ironclad "Fredericksburg" of the James river fleet. He took part in +the expedition against the U. S. fleet on the James river and was a member +of the Naval Brigade which after the evacuation of Richmond was surrounded +at Sailors Creek, April 6, 1865. He lived in the old Scott house, now +owned by Charles Cole, Esq., on the corner of Prince Edward and Amelia +Streets. + + +[Sidenote: _Two Great Naval Officers_] + +REAR ADMIRAL GRIFFIN + +Of the men whom Fredericksburg has sent forth in its more modern era, Rear +Admiral Robert S. Griffin, who was born in 1857, entered as a cadet +engineer at Annapolis and was graduated in 1878, is among the most +notable. Admiral Griffin has spent no fewer than fourteen years of a busy +career on sea duty, and has been for a decade a recognized authority on +naval engineering. In his position as Chief of the Bureau of Naval +Engineering he is responsible for the innovations and improvements in our +capital ships, the electric drive for cruisers, the turbine reduction gear +for destroyers. + +The high state of efficiency in the Engineering Department is due to +Admiral Griffin's constant efforts and his tact in overcoming Naval and +Congressional opposition is a personal accomplishment. + +Admiral Griffin resigned from the Bureau on September 21, 1921, and was +retired September 27, 1921. + +He lives in Washington, but is a valued visitor to his former City from +time to time. Admiral Griffin's record is almost unexcelled. He rose by +hard work and brains and has for years been a source of pride to +Fredericksburg. He is one of the few men still living whom we may class as +"great." + + +CAPTAIN BARNEY, U. S. NAVY + +Captain Joseph N. Barney was born in Baltimore in 1818. He graduated from +Annapolis first in his class in 1834 and spent many years at sea until +1861, when he resigned to offer his services to the Confederacy. + +He commanded the "Jamestown" at the Battle of Hampton Roads, March 8th and +9th, 1862, and, on April 11th, was sent in to capture vessels under the +guns of the Monitor, hoping to provoke the latter to come out and fight. + +He commanded a battery at the fight at Drury's Bluff, and later in the war +took part in the operations at the Sabine pass and was sent to command +the C. S. Cruiser Florida, but was prevented by ill health. He was +purchasing agent for the Confederacy at the cessation of the hostilities, +and after the war made one voyage in the command of a commercial steamer. +Captain Barney made his home in Fredericksburg from 1874 to 1899, when his +death occurred. His career was a distinguished one and he had in his later +years, spent here, a host of friends in Fredericksburg. + + +CAPTAIN LYNCH, U. S. NAVY + +Captain M. F. Lynch was born near Fredericksburg, in 1801 was appointed a +midshipman in the U. S. Navy in 1819, promoted to Lieutenant in 1828, and +shortly afterwards made an important scientific investigation of the +topography of the Dead Sea Valley in Palestine. He made the first correct +maps and soundings of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, and his report was +published by the United States Government and much valued by the +scientific world. He was made a Captain in 1856 and held this rank when he +resigned to enter the Confederate Navy. His work with the Virginia Navy in +the defenses of Aquia Creek and the Potomac was complimented by his +opponents, and later he took part in the defense of the coast of North +Carolina, winning much credit by his zealous action at the battles of +Hatteras Inlet and Roanoke Island. + +In 1864 Captain Lynch was transferred to duty on the Mississippi River, +where he aided in the preparation of the famous ram, the Arkansas, for her +brilliant career. He died in Baltimore, October 17, 1865. + + +COMMANDER GEORGE MINOR, C. S. N. + +Commander George Minor resigned from the United States Navy in April, +1861, and was immediately put in command of the newly created Bureau of +Ordinance and Hydrography at Richmond. This Bureau was of invaluable +service to the young Confederacy, sending out 220 guns in the first year. +Commander Minor was instrumental in establishing the arsenals at Atlanta +and New Orleans and other points. He spent his last years in our City, +well remembered by many of the present generation. He died in 1878. While +residing in Fredericksburg he lived in what was the late College Building. + + +COMMANDER ROBERT D. THURMAN + +Commander Robert D. Thorburn was a member of the old Naval Service, coming +to Virginia in 1861, and being at once named to take part in the defenses +of the Potomac under Captain Lynch. He later was detailed to duty on the +Gulf Coast, and after the war came to Fredericksburg where he died in +1883. He resided in the house on lower Princess Anne Street, now occupied +by W. D. Scott, Esq. + + +MAJOR EDWARD RUGGLES + +Major Edward Ruggles was graduated from Annapolis in 1859, came South in +1861 and offered his services to the State of Virginia, before that State +joined the Confederacy. He was later transferred to the Confederate Army, +and served on the staff of General Daniel S. Ruggles in the engagements at +Aquia Creek, being present at the first engagement of the Civil War, June +1, 1861. Later he served with the Army of Tennessee and after the war +lived in King George and Fredericksburg, where he died in 1919, at his +residence on lower Main Street. He was one of three men who aided John +Wilkes Booth to cross the Rappahannock at Fort Royal, and directed him to +the Garrett barn, where Booth met his death. + + +COLONEL RICHARD L. MAURY + +Colonel Richard L. Maury, a son of Commodore Matthew Fontaine Maury, was +born in Fredericksburg in 1840. Upon the outbreak of the War between the +States he at once offered his services to his native State, and his Naval +Career, though short, is notable. Detached from Company F, Richmond, 1st +Va. Regiment, by order of the Secretary of the Navy, he took part in the +capture of the St. Nicholas and other vessels on the Potomac and +Chesapeake. He was afterwards returned to the Army and served with the +24th Va. Infantry until Appomattox. After the War he resided in Lexington +and Richmond, in which latter city he died a few years ago. + + +COMMODORE DOMIN + +Commodore Thomas Domin, U. S. N., like many other officers of the old +Navy, often left his family in Fredericksburg while absent on the long +tours of sea duty, sometimes two and even three years in length. Thus, +while a native of Ireland, where he was born in 1801, Commodore Domin +called our town "home" for many years. + +Entering the U. S. Navy in 1818, after many voyages to all parts of the +world he was with Admiral Perry when the latter forced his way into the +Japanese harbors. When the war between the States was imminent, he +retained his place in the old Navy, with the promise that he would not be +ordered to action against his adopted State. + +He served on the Light House Board at Baltimore for the duration of the +war, and upon his retirement in 1870 lived in Fredericksburg, for a time. +He died in Savannah, Ga., in 1873. + +He resided, when in Fredericksburg, in the house now owned by Dr. C. Mason +Smith on Prince Edward Street. + + +WILLIAM HENRY BECK + +Surgeon William Henry Beck, U. S. Navy, came to Virginia from England as a +lad of twelve in 1800. Some years later he entered the Navy as an +Assistant Surgeon, and made several voyages in the old sailing ships to +various ports of the world. + +He married Miss England, of Stafford, and made his home in Fredericksburg. + +He lived in what was then a northwestern suburb, near the present basin, +and this section was known as "Becksville." He was at one time a police +officer in our town, and as the result of an injury in arresting a +prisoner, lost an arm. + +He died in the fifties, and was buried in St. George's Churchyard. A son +bought and lived for years on what is known by our old citizens as "Beck's +Island," now owned and occupied by Mr. J. A. Emery. + + +JOHN RANDOLPH BRYAN + +Lieutenant John Randolph Bryan, U. S. Navy, born in 1806, in Georgia, was +educated in Virginia, and married at Chatham in 1830, Elizabeth Coalter, +daughter of Judge John Coalter, of the Virginia Supreme Court. Leaving +Yale in 1823, Lieutenant Bryan was appointed to the Navy, became +midshipman in 1824, and was ordered to the Peacock. + +He resigned in 1831 and took charge of his estate at Wilmington Island, +and later an estate in Gloucester County, Virginia. + +In 1862, he offered his services to the Confederate Navy, but was judged +too old. He was the ward of John Randolph, who made a deep impression upon +his mentality. + +Lieutenant Bryan was noted for his courtesy and charm of manner. He spent +his latter years in the house of his daughter in Fredericksburg, Mrs. +Spotswood W. Carmichael. He died at the University of Virginia, while on a +visit, on September 13, 1887. + +The name of Mrs. Spotswood W. Carmichael will recall to many Dr. +Carmichael, that splendid physician and gentleman of "the old school" who +ministered to the sick of a previous generation and had a host of loyal +friends. + + +CAPTAIN THOM, U. S. M. C. + +Captain Reuben Thom, of the Confederate Marine Corps, was the son of +"Postmaster Thom" and was born in Fredericksburg. He entered the war at +Norfolk in 1861, and in 1862 was in command of the Marines on the famous +Merrimac in the battle of Hampton Roads. Captain Thom took part in the +engagement at Drury's Bluff. After the war Captain Thom moved to Baltimore +where he died. + + +[Illustration: BETTY WASHINGTON'S HOME + +_"Kenmore" Where George Washington's Sister Lived After Her Marriage. Her +Mother's Home Is Close By_] + + + + +_Unforgotten Women_ + + _Some of Many Who Left a Record of Brilliancy, Service or Sacrifice._ + + +The stars that shine in the galaxy of the heavens do not all glow with the +same lustre. One is gifted with a steady and dependable splendor, another +scintillates and fades to shine afresh. So, it is, that the women of +Fredericksburg have in their individual ways added to the glories of the +town and well sustained its deserved reputation, as being the home of +capable, brilliant, and beautiful women. A distinguished French officer +once said, after meeting one of the women of Fredericksburg, "If such are +the matrons of America, well may she boast of illustrious sons." This was +at the great Peace Ball, given in the town in 1783, to which, of course, +the mother of Washington was especially invited. The simple manner and +appearance of the great woman, surprised the gallant officers present, and +provoked from one of them the remark. + +Clad in a plain but becoming garb, that characterized Virginia women of +her type, she received the many attentions paid to the Mother of the +idolized Commander-in-Chief with the most unaffected dignity and courtesy. +Being accustomed to the pomp and splendor which is attached to Old World +royalty, it was a revelation to them to behold such a woman. How could she +live in the blaze of glory which irradiated her illustrious offspring, and +still preserve her simple dignity of manner, so barren of self pride and +hauteur! + +[Sidenote: _The "Rose of Epping Forest"_] + +But this daughter of Colonel Joseph Ball, of Lancaster County, this "Rose +of Epping Forest" which budded into existence on March 6, 1708, this +unassuming woman, who on the anniversary of her natal day in 1730, gave +her heart and hand to the master of Wakefield, this thrifty and systematic +young housewife and widowed mother at Pine Grove, in Stafford County, this +matron of Fredericksburg, possessed qualities individual to her who +became the author of the being of the greatest and best loved character +figuring on the pages of American history. Her last home selected for her +by General Washington, stands today, on the corner of Charles and Lewis +Streets, the same home with the characteristic simplicity of years ago. +The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, to which +Society it now belongs, has restored in part the interior with its +wainscoting and paneling and its period furniture. The interesting old +brick floored kitchen, with its huge fireplace, and its crane, iron pots, +skillets and equipment of former days, all seem today in perfect accord +with her reception of her cherished offspring in 1783. After an enforced +cessation of visits to his aging mother for a long period of seven years, +she at length was told by an orderly that "His Excellency" had arrived, +and was at her very door. Turning quietly to her faithful, ebony maid, she +said with her habitual self control, "Patsy, George has come, I shall need +a white apron." But beneath this calm exterior, her embrace of her first +born son was overflowing with fervent mother-love, and hidden away in the +deep recesses of her heart was the swelling pride in his glory. Senator +Daniel truthfully said, "The principles which he applied to a nation were +those simple and elementary truths which she first imprinted upon his mind +in the discipline of home." + +The splendid granite monument, erected to her, with its simple +inscription, "Mary, the Mother of Washington," and on the reverse side: +"Erected by her Countrywomen," rises from a massive foundation to a +distance of 59 feet. Her ashes lie beneath, in a spot of her own +selection, (which in her lifetime was a part of the Kenmore estate) and +her favorite resting place. Nearby are the two rocks upon which she used +to sit and read her Bible. These are known as "Meditation Rocks." + + +[Sidenote: _Susan Savage and Anne Maury_] + +The name of Susan Metcalf Savage will always be held in the highest +veneration by those of Fredericksburg who realize and appreciate the many +sacrifices, heart-aches, self-denials and home-longings experienced by +those who give their lives in heathen lands. Brought up in an atmosphere +of love and unselfishness, and herself devoted to every call of duty, it +was no surprise to her many friends to learn that soon after her marriage +to Reverend Dr. Savage in 1838 she would sail with him for tropical +Africa, one of the first woman missionaries from our land. Though her life +in this then unusual field of usefulness was less than two short years, +her labors were not in vain, and her works and her example will live for +years to come. + +Ann Herndon, who became the wife of the great scientist, Matthew Fontaine +Maury, was born in the house on the corner of Princess Anne and George +Streets, erected by her father, Dabney M. Herndon. Her loveliness of face +and character was equalled by her charming manner, and attractive +personality, and whether in Fredericksburg, or Lexington, Va., whether in +Washington or London, her home was the spot where the savant, the +scientist, the literati and men and women representing every phase of +culture and social distinction, were wont to assemble. The beautiful +jewels presented to her by the crowned heads of Europe, (her illustrious +husband, being an officer in the United States Navy, was restricted from +accepting gifts, else his admirers would have showered them upon him), +were deservedly famous. After the death of Commodore Maury a plan was +conceived by a member of one of the royal courts of Europe, and initiatory +steps had already been taken, to raise a munificent sum of mony with which +to honor the widow of the man to whom all educated nations were to pay +homage. But when their project reached her ear, she refused to accept it, +though recognizing and appreciating fully the compliment to her devoted +husband. + + +[Sidenote: _President Arthur's Wife_] + +One of the captivating belles of the town was Ellen Lewis Herndon, +daughter of the Naval Commander, Captain William Lewis Herndon, who in +1857 met his death in the Gulf Stream. Being possessed of a rich +contralto voice, Miss Herndon made frequent visits to the National +Capitol, and delighted the congregations at old St. John's Church with her +sweet, rich tones. It was here that the young attorney, Chester A. Arthur, +afterwards President, became infatuated with the pretty young singer. +Those old days were the parents of these days, and many were the whispers +of conjecture and surmise as to the outcome of those frequent visits of +the handsome Mr. Arthur to the home of Ellen Herndon, (that still +strikingly pretty residence on Main and Charlotte Streets), and shortly +before the War between the States, a pretty wedding was solemnized in New +York City, and Ellen Herndon became the bride of Chester A. Arthur. + + +In the heart-rending times of 1861-'65, the women of Fredericksburg with +untiring energy and courage, in the midst of the agony of war, assumed the +laborious task of ministering alike to soldiers in blue and gray, and many +burdens of sorrow were in some way lightened and many a physical pain +lessened or a soul cheered. Perhaps the women of Fredericksburg were +inspired to great deeds by the example of that splendid specimen of +womanhood, Clara Barton, who for sometime was stationed near Chatham, +carrying on her splendid ministration to the sick and suffering Federal +soldiers. + + +OF WOMAN'S WORK + +It was on May 10, 1866, that the women of Fredericksburg, urged by Mrs. +Frances Seymour White, (widow of an officer in the U. S. Army, who died as +the war began), assembled in the lecture room of St. George's Church to +form an association to care for the memory of the noble Southern heroes, +whose graves were then scattered over battlefield and farm. This was the +first step towards the formation of the Ladies Memorial Association the +work of which organization, begun so earnestly and lovingly, has so +successfully been fulfilled. Mrs. John H. Wallace, was elected President +and Mrs. Frances Seymour White, Vice-President. On Mrs. Wallace's death, +Mrs. White was chosen President, and continued until 1882, when she was +succeeded by her daughter, Mrs. Francis B. Goolrick, who continued to act +as President for eleven years. Mrs. Maria K. Daniel followed next for +seventeen years, and Mrs. Frances B. Goolrick, who was elected in 1912 is +still President. + +With the financial assistance of about all the Southern States and a good +deal from the North the bodies of the Confederate soldiers have been +re-interred in the Confederate cemetery, and each is marked with a solid +granite headstone. Later with some financial assistance the splendid +monument "To the Confederate Dead," was erected in the center of the +cemetery. The base is of gray granite, quarried in Spotsylvania County, +and the life-like statue of the Confederate soldier on dress parade, which +surmounts the apex, is of bronze. + +[Sidenote: _The Memorial Association_] + +The beautiful custom of Memorial Day sprang from Mrs. Frances Seymour +White's idea and spread from this city all over the nation. The name of +"The Ladies Memorial Association" was adopted and in the Spring season +each year, this impressive service is continued. Following those true +hearted women who conceived the task of rescuing from oblivion the memory +of those brave and fallen heroes, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, +and the women of Fredericksburg branch of the American Red Cross, have +each in their respective spheres, earnestly and lovingly performed their +tasks. + + +The recent passing from our midst of the material presence of a worthy +representative of the women of Fredericksburg, inspired the glowing +tribute to the women of Virginia, appearing as an editorial in a local +paper. The writer says in part, "We shall ever cherish the recollection +that old Virginia had a womanhood of whom the people of the nation must be +proud. Lest we be misunderstood we would have it known that we boast today +of our womanhood and are honored by those now among us; yet no one can +successfully deny that the type of women of the Old Dominion of the bygone +years was of an exceptional character. They were the result of the very +environment in which they were born and reared. For purity of purpose, for +modesty of demeanor and conversation, for unselfish devotion to home where +there was real happiness, for gentleness, for refinement, for self +abnegation, for love of God and the Church, for unostentatious charity, +and for high motherhood, she has never had superiors. For all the +essential attributes and elements which go to form a splendid woman +without guile and without reproach, we hazard nothing in declaring that +Virginia--in the World's Hall of Fame--gives to her womanhood of olden +days her laurel of immortal glory." + + +[Sidenote: _Mary Washington Hospital_] + +Another work which will always be a tribute to woman's indefatigable and +preserving efforts, is the Mary Washington Hospital, beautifully situated +on the river's bank immediately facing the lawns and Terraces of Chatham, +and when the trees are bare in winter, affording a view of the imposing +mansion. Here, since 1897, thousands of sick have been cared for and +nursed back to health and strength with more scientific care and almost as +much loving attention as they could receive in their own homes. In 1897 +the corner-stone was laid and from that time the Hospital has steadily +grown and progressed, gaining in strength and usefulness, and now is +recognized as essential to the city and surrounding counties. The idea of +establishing the Hospital was originated by two or three ladies and the +work put actively in motion by Mrs. W. Seymour White and Mrs. M. F. +Tankard, who constituted themselves a committee to form an auxiliary +society, which supported by Mr. W. Seymour White, who was at that time +Mayor of the City, obtained a sufficient sum to purchase a lot and build a +small house of a few rooms. A Hospital Association was formed, and the +women did almost phenomenal work in struggling through many +discouragements, never losing faith, but pressing forward and overcoming +every obstacle until their efforts were crowned with success and the +Hospital established on a firm foundation. Now the few rooms have grown +into a commodious building accommodating thirty or forty patients, a +Nurses Home and corps of young women in training. Mrs. W. Seymour White +became the first president--elected because of her interest in +establishing it, and in recognition of the strong support given it by her +husband as Mayor, who in that capacity was able to weild an influence that +helped materially towards its success. + + +[Sidenote: _Mary Washington Monument_] + +The Mary Washington Monument has a history too long to be embraced in this +volume and only a brief sketch of it will be appropriate. "The Building of +a Monument" was written by Miss Susan Riviere Hetzel, and published in +1903. She was at the time Secretary of the National Mary Washington +Memorial Association, following her mother Mrs. Margaret Hetzel, its first +Secretary. + +The idea of erecting a new monument to Mary Washington seemed to spring up +simultaneously in Fredericksburg and in Boston, and spread like wild-fire +over the country. Miss Hetzel claims priority for her mother, while the +actual first published movement took place in Fredericksburg. Two letters +were written and published on the same date in the Washington Post. Both +letters were written in the spring just at the time of the Johnstown +flood, and held in the newspaper office, probably overlooked, until +October. On October 13th the movement crystalized into a large meeting in +Fredericksburg. The writers of the two letters became acquainted through a +mutual interest. Mrs. Goolrick's letter proposed a National Organization +with a President and one Vice-President for each State. Mrs. Hetzel's +letter suggested that "every woman as far as able give one dollar to the +proposed monument with the Washington Post as Treasurer for the fund, and +to acknowledge daily the donations received." On the appearance of the +letters in the Washington Post Mrs. Hetzel wrote to Mrs. Goolrick, +congratulating her on the plan she proposed, stating that such a plan was +then practically in operation, and had been worked up during the summer, +Mrs. Waite, wife of Chief Justice Waite, was made president, but they +wished no publication or mention made of it until they obtained their +Charter. On November 8th, 1889, the Fredericksburg Association received +its Charter. The National Association was chartered February 22nd, 1890. +On the 10th of May, 1894, the Mary Washington Monument was dedicated, with +great form and ceremony and with the largest crowd ever gathered in +Fredericksburg. Visitors flocked from all over the country. The streets +were in gala attire. American, and Virginia State flags fluttered +everywhere with the buff, blue and gold insignia of the Ball family, which +floated before the homes of Mary Ball's decendants. A special train from +Washington arrived at ten o'clock bringing the President of the United +States, Grover Cleveland, the Chief Justice, members of the Cabinet and +other invited guests with the ladies of the National Mary Washington +Memorial Association, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the +Marine Band. Military Companies from Richmond, Alexandria and other cities +were present, and with the various orders of the city made an imposing +spectacle. The Grand Lodge of Masons from this and other places closed the +procession, with the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Virginia, and the +Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia following +in its wake. On the immense rostrum near the Monument were seated all the +officials, and Societies, with seats reserved for the descendants of Mary +Ball who were specially invited by the National Association. They had been +summoned from the East and from the West, one invitation going to Japan to +Paymaster Mason Ball, U. S. N. + +[Sidenote: _Dedication of Monument_] + +[Sidenote: _Lawrence Washington's Talk_] + +The ceremonies opened with a prayer by Rev. James Power Smith. Mayor Rowe +next welcomed on the part of the city the President, Governor and other +distinguished guests. He gave a brief account of the first monument and +laying of the corner stone by President Andrew Jackson, with an eloquent +tribute to the Mary Washington Association and "the noble women in +various sections, some of whom grace this occasion by their presence +today." The President of the United States was welcomed by Governor +Charles T. O'Ferrall on behalf of the Commonwealth of Virginia. An +impressive address was then delivered by the President. The Monument was +then dedicated by the Grand Master of Masons of Virginia--Mann Page and +the Grand Lodge of Virginia, assisted by Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4 where +Washington was made a Mason, and the Grand Lodge of Alexandria, of which +he was the first Master. Mr. Lawrence Washington was introduced by the +President as a lineal descendant of Mary, the Mother of Washington. He +gave an interesting sketch of her life, home, parentage, widowhood and the +character of her children. The President next introduced the orator of the +day, Hon. John W. Daniel. He is said to have pronounced on this occasion +the ablest oratorical effort of his life. + + +[Illustration: MARY WASHINGTON MONUMENT + +_Standing at the Spot that She Selected for Her Grave. The Only Monument +Built By Women to a Woman_] + + +Governor O'Ferrall at the request of the Fredericksburg Mary Washington +Monument Association read a set of engrossed resolutions which were +presented to Mrs. Waite as President of the National Society. This +concluded the ceremonies. President Cleveland after holding a general +reception on the monument grounds was entertained at the home of Hon. W. +Seymour White, editor of the Free Lance, and afterwards Mayor of the city. +It was a brilliant gathering, Cabinet Officers and their wives, the +Governor of Virginia and Staff, and distinguished citizens of the town and +elsewhere to greet them. The ladies of the National Board were entertained +at the home of Mrs. V. M. Fleming, president of the local association. +President Cleveland repaired to the Mary Washington House where he +requested he should receive all the descendants of the Balls and +Washingtons. "There he had the satisfaction of grasping the hands and +enjoying the conversation of the nearest living relatives of his first and +greatest predecessor, in the home of his honored mother." + +A banquet was given by the citizens in the Opera House, and a large Ball +that night in the same place. Thus closed a memorable day in the annals of +Fredericksburg. + +The land on which the monument is built, on the same site as that occupied +by the first monument, was given by Mr. George Shepherd, a prominent and +wealthy merchant, to the Fredericksburg Mary Washington Monument +Association, and was transferred at the dedication of the monument by a +conditional deed to the National Association. + +[Sidenote: _Story of Older Monument_] + +The first monument to the memory of Mary Washington was partly erected by +Silas Burrows of New York, who as rumor has it, fell in love with one of +the Gregory girls--great nieces of George Washington. It was of handsome +design, but never finished, and the marble shaft lay prostrate for many +years, cracked and discolored, while the base, with its beautiful four +carved columns was a target for both armies during the Civil war. + +The corner stone of this first monument was laid in 1833, with much pomp, +the President of the United States--Gen. Andrew Jackson--taking part with +Cabinet Officers and escorts. The people of Fredericksburg previous to Mr. +Burrows' offer, had made efforts to raise money for a memorial to Mary +Washington. Hearing of this he wrote to the Mayor, offering to give and +erect the monument himself. The monument had reached completion with the +exception of placing the shaft, when Mr. Burrows went abroad and never +reappeared, the same Madam Rumor attributing it to the disappointment he +experienced at the failure to win the hand of Miss Gregory, the daughter +of Mildred Washington, the niece of the immortal George. + +The present monument is splendidly cared for by the National Association +with the Secretary of the Association, a Fredericksburg lady in charge and +living on the grounds in a beautiful cottage built by the National Mary +Washington Monument Association. + + + + +_At the Rising Sun_ + + _Where Famous Men Met; and Mine Host Brewed Punch and Sedition._ + + +Standing back a few feet from the Main Street of Fredericksburg, the +Rising Sun Tavern looks out on the automobiles and trucks that hurry by +over the concrete streets. Silk and woolen mills and "pants" factories +spin and weave and rumble, while the old tavern, with the dignity of its +century and a half calmly flaunts the sign of the rising sun with its +radii of red light. The knocker that felt the hand of almost every famous +American of early days still hangs kindly out. + +Built in 1750 or 1760, the Rising Sun Tavern is at least 160 years old. In +the days when American men were slowly being forced from their English +allegiance it stood in an open space, surrounded by green trees. The road +on which it was built ran out from Fredericksburg toward Falmouth and the +"upper county," and the tavern was outside the city limits. + +If one could stand and see the tavern as in a movie "fade out," the modern +houses about it would dim, and, fresh in making and painting, the old +tavern would stand alone beside a rutted road alongside which a footpath +runs through the grass. Oak trees line the road, and reach down to the +river. On the porch, or passing up and down the steps are gentlemen of the +Northern Neck, the Potomac plantations, and the Rappahannock Valley, in +splendid broadcloth, laced ruffles, black silk stockings, with buckles at +the knees and the instep, powdered hair and the short wigs then the +fashion, and ladies in the fashionable red cloaks and long, full dresses +with the "Gypsy bonnets" tied under their chins, and hair "crimped" and +rolled at each side. + +At the back yard of the tavern in the old garden grew a profusion of +tulips, pink violets, purple iris, hyacinths and the flowering almond and +passion fruit, with here and there rose bushes. Inside in the front room +flamed the log fire and at the rear of this was the dining-room, where for +men and women and boys, the old negro slave who served the gentle folk had +mint juleps, or claret that had thrice crossed the ocean, or brandy and +soda. + +[Sidenote: _When Weedon Was the Host_] + +Virginia in the days between 1760 and 1776 reached the "golden age," and +it was during these times that George Weedon, host of the Rising Sun, made +that hostelry famous for its hospitality, and made himself famous for his +constant advocacy of American liberty. Of Weedon, who was later to become +a general and win commendation at the Battle of Brandywine, the English +traveler, Dr. Smith, wrote: "I put up at the tavern of one Weedon, who was +ever active and zealous in blowing the flames of sedition." + +Weedon, one of the pioneers of the movement for freedom, made his Tavern +the gathering place for all the gentlemen of the "neighborhood" of which +Dr. Smith says: "The neighborhood included all of Westmoreland County, the +Northern Neck and all other counties as far as Mount Vernon." + +John Davis, a Welshman who came to America to teach, has left us a sketch +of the tavern of that day and of the people who frequented it, and a part +of what Mr. Davis wrote is well worth quoting: "On the porch of the +tavern," he says, "I found a party of gentlemen of the neighboring +plantations sitting over a bowl of toddy and smoking cigars. On ascending +the steps to the piazza, every countenance seemed to say, 'This man has a +double claim to our attention, for he is a stranger in the place.' In a +moment room was made for me to sit down, and a new bowl of punch called +for, and every one addressed me with a smile of conciliation. The higher +Virginians seem to venerate themselves. I am persuaded that not one of +that company would have felt embarrassed at being admitted to the presence +and conversation of the greatest monarch on earth." + +[Sidenote: _Where Famous Men Often Met_] + +Attracted by its hospitality and by the constant meeting before the +wood-fire of men whose influence was great, gentlemen from all Virginia +came to the Rising Sun. George Mason, who Gillard Hunt of the Library of +Congress says was "more than any other man entitled to be called the +Father of the Declaration of Independence," was frequently there. The +young man from Monticello, Thomas Jefferson, who was Mason's pupil in +politics, spent much time at Gunston and was often at the tavern. + +George Washington, whose home was in Fredericksburg, knew the tavern well, +and Hugh Mercer, a young physician, and brother-in-law of mine host Weedon +(they having married the two Misses Gordon), spent a great deal of time +there. Other guests who heard the news and who read of events when the +weekly stage brought the belated mail from Williamsburg, to the Tavern +Postoffice, where "Light Horse" Harry Lee and Charles Lee, from their +near-by home at Wakefield, Charles Carter, son of the mighty "King" +Carter, who came from "Cleve"; John Marshall, Dr. Mortimer, the Tayloes, +of "Mt. Airy"; John Minor, (afterwards general,) of Hazel Hill; young +James Monroe, practicing as an attorney in Fredericksburg and acting as a +member of the town council and vestryman of St. George's Church; Samuel, +Charles and John Augustine Washington, brothers of George, as well as +Fielding Lewis, who married George's sister Betty, and was afterwards a +general in the revolutionary army. Many of the frequenters of the tavern +held high commissions during the war. + +It is a matter of undoubted record that these, and half a hundred other +young men, whose names were to become synonymous with freedom, discussed +at the Rising Sun Tavern the topics of the day, chief among which was the +rights of the colonist. The fiery Irishman, George Weedon, arranged and +organized conferences and wrote numerous letters, and long before men had +ceased to respect the English king, he was bold enough to propose for the +first time the toast, "May the Rose grow and the Thistle flourish, and may +the Harp be attuned to the cause of American liberty," thus expressing his +desire that his native land, and Scotland, should aid America. And he was +not disappointed, for afterwards he would say that he was "ever proud that +besides himself, America had for generals such Irishmen as 'Mad Anthony' +Wayne, Sullivan, Moylan and Irvine." + +In these talks at the Rising Sun, where sometimes the great men of the +time met night after night, those principles that went in the Bill of +Rights of Virginia--were fully discussed before freedom from England was +demanded; and here, where gathered lawyers and planters and men of +profession, many of them members of the House of Burgesses, there must +have been conceived a great many principles that afterwards went to make +the Constitution. This was the true "cradle" of American liberty. + +John Paul Jones when only thirteen years old, heard the first discussion +of such things, probably, when he called at the tavern post-office for +mail for his brother, William Paul, who kept a tailor shop and grocery. + +[Sidenote: _First "Rebellions" Troops_] + +When Lord Dunmore seized the powder at Williamsburg in 1775, the first +troops organized in Virginia to fight against the authority of the king, +started from Fredericksburg. It seems certain that the plans were made at +the Rising Sun Tavern, and George Weedon was the leading spirit. Hugh +Mercer was elected colonel, Mordecai Buckner, lieutenant-colonel, and +Robert Johnson, major. + +But the apex of the tavern's glory was reached when the great peace ball +was held officially to celebrate the end of the war, and Washington led +the minuet in the Fredericksburg town hall. Of those who came, tradition +says, none failed to visit General Weedon's tavern, though the genial +Irishman was now about to leave it and move into the home left without a +head when General Mercer fell. + + +[Illustration: RISING SUN TAVERN + +_Where the Great Men of Pre-Revolution Days Gathered, and Freedom Was +Discussed_] + + +Among those who came to Fredericksburg and were at some time guests at the +famous old inn, besides those named were Brigadier General Stephen Moylan, +another Irishman who served as Washington's aide, as commissary general +and as commander of troops at Yorktown; Brigadier-General Irvine, Irish +too, and here at Weedon's insistence; Count Beaumarchais, author of the +"Barber of Seville" and general in the American army; the Marquis de +Lafayette, the Viscounts d'Nouvalles, Count d'Estang, Baron Viominel, and +many others. + +[Sidenote: _Beautiful Colonial Belles_] + +But who were the ladies then? History does not say, but the dancing +master, Mr. Christian, who taught the "gentle young ladies" through the +"neighborhood," and has left sketches of their personal manner and dress, +has described for us a host of them, many of them misses of 15 and 16, who +now would be called girls but were quite young ladies then. + +Miss Lucy Lightfoot Lee was "tall and stately" (at 16), Mr. Christian +says, "wearing a bright chintz gown with a blue stamp, elegantly made, a +blue silk quilt, and stays, now said to be the fashion in London but to my +mind a great nuisance." While Miss Hale danced in "a white Holland gown, +quilt very fine, a lawn apron, her hair crimped up in two rolls at each +side and a tuft of ribbon for a cap." + +It is easy to surmise that the charming Gregory girls, now married, were +there, and that little Maria Mortimer, who on the night following the +Peace Ball, at 15 years of age, was hostess for all the great gentlemen, +was also a guest, as well as Miss Betsy Lee, Martha Custis, and Posey +Custis, Molly Posey, Anne Mason, Alice Lee, and Mary Ambler (later to +become the wife of Chief Justice Marshall), Sally Patton, "lately come +from England to teach," the two Turberville girls, Priscilla Carter, Jenny +Washington and the Lewis girls, the Taylor girls, and the Fitzhughs, of +Boscobel and Chatham. + +[Sidenote: _Names of Great Virginians_] + +The old tavern is well-preserved and is taken care of by the Association +for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. Not much change has been +made in it since the days of its glory, when at its hospitable hearth +young James Monroe argued for the emancipation of slaves, George Mason +spoke his views on the rights of man, Weedon talked forever "sedition" +with Mercer, who hated England since he had felt defeat at the disaster +of Colloden and crept from Scotland a hunted man, Jefferson discussed his +broad principles, and the Randolphs, Blands, Byrds, Harrisons, Moncures, +Taliaferros, Fitzhughs, Lewises of Marmion, Carters of Cleve, Raleigh +Travers (of Sir Walter's family) of Stafford, Peter Daniel of "Crows +Nest," Thomas Fitzhugh, Selden of Salvington, Brent of Bellevue, Ludwell +Lee of "Berry Hill," Richard Henry Lee of "Wakefield," and other famous +men gathered, in those crowded days before the Revolution. + + + + +_Lafayette Comes Back_ + + _After Forty Years of Failure, He Hears the Echo of His Youthful + Triumph._ + + +Forty years after his return to France at the end of the American +Revolution, General Lafayette came back to visit the nation he had helped +to create. Cities of the United States heaped honor and hospitality upon +him. The people greeted him in villages and taverns as he traveled, and it +is not strange that he returned to France "astonished" at the vigor of the +young republic. + +He himself had seen France taste freedom, turn to the Terror, accept +Bonaparte's dictatorship and fight the world--and he had taken his part in +it all, even to five years spent in a prison cell. Now he beheld on the +throne again the scions of the same monarch who had tried in vain to +prevent his aiding America in her fight for freedom, and, his title and +estates gone, he must have felt France's failure to realize such ideals of +government as he and Washington knew, as keenly as he appreciated the +"astonishing" march of democracy on this continent. + +Entertained first in the North, Lafayette hurried South to see Jefferson +at Monticello for a day. From the Charlottesville estate he traveled to +Orange Courthouse, and thence, over the road his army had cut through "The +Wilderness" and which even to this day is known as "The Marquis Road," he +came to Wilderness Tavern, where he was met by an escort from +Fredericksburg. + +Fredericksburg was awaiting him, and Lafayette was glad of the opportunity +to spend the greater part of a week in the "home town" of George +Washington, to visit Washington's relatives, and to meet those of the +Revolutionary general still living in the place. He had been to +Fredericksburg before in 1774, an honored guest at "The Peace Ball." He +had said that he felt more at home in Fredericksburg than anywhere in +America. + +General Washington, Mrs. Washington, General Mercer, General Weedon--a +dozen of his closer friends whom he had left behind forty years ago--were +dead, but among the Fredericksburg people there were still numbers who +knew him, some who had entertained him, and many who had fought with him. + +[Sidenote: _Peculiar Items of Expense_] + +That Fredericksburg did her best and that good cheer was not lacking when +the general arrived, is recorded in the old courthouse of that city in the +official bill of expenses for the entertainment of the distinguished +guest. On these yellow papers written in the careful hand of that day, are +bills for ribbons and laces and cocked hats, sperm candles and cakes, +oranges (at $1.20 a dozen), cockades, cloaks and "everything" that might +assist in making the November days of the Marquis' stay glide right +merrily. + +Before the general arrived there was preliminary work, and this is +recorded in a number of bills, among them that of Sally Stokes who had one +for "cleaning and schowering the town hall, and whitening the steps and +cleaning the walls, etc.--I charge for myself and 2 other women--$2.25." +Her charge was probably a little high as the work was for the city. "Benj. +Day" got the draying contract and profiteered in the following rate: + +"Dr. me for myself and team and dray for 4 days hauling for the +Entertainment Commit. $6.00." Also among the bills for labor is one: + +"To John Scott, Dr. to hire of my man Billy, the painter, for 6 days to +paint the market house, $4.50," while "Mary Lucas," a "freewoman," got +$1.25 for "sawing 2 1-2 cords of wood." + +[Sidenote: _George Cary's Great Thirst_] + +General Lafayette was met at Orange by a committee and under its escort he +journeyed south, (along that forest road which his army cut when with "Mad +Anthony Wayne" he followed Tarleton into the unsettled parts of Virginia +and the Carolinas,) to the Wilderness and to Fredericksburg. It is +possible that some message had to be sent from or to his escort, in fact +it is evident, for George Cary has left record of it, and in presenting +his bill he has left as well his individuality and his photograph behind +him. If one remembers that brandy was $1.00 a gallon, he needs little more +of George Cary's history than this. + +"To George Cary for services rendered as messenger, to the Wilderness, +including self and horse, $7.00." + +"and drink, $1.75" + +"Deduct 50c. advanced him by the Mayor, $8.25." + +Near Fredericksburg, and almost at the spot where during the Revolution +the camp of Hessian prisoners was kept, General Lafayette was met by a +military escort commanded by Colonel John Stannard. When the cavalcade +reached the city it passed through rows of grown-ups and children and +(surely previously rehearsed for many days!), the latter sang in French, +"The Marseillaise," and, stepping from his coach, Lafayette marched +between the rows of children, singing the anthem of the French revolution. + +Only one break was made during the stay of the Marquis in Fredericksburg, +if deductions from these old accounts are correct. The town cannon must +have "busted." And why it did, and the legitimate enthusiasm which led to +such a contretemps, due probably to the exuberance of one who had followed +the general in the great war for liberation forty years before, is +gathered from these bills: + +"To John Phillips, for tending to the gun, $2. Old junk, 37c. Old junk, +27c. Old junk, 23c. 4 kegs of powder, $24., two quarts whisky, 50c." + +"To John Phillips, fireing the cannon, $4." + +"To Thomas Wright, for 21 panes glass broken by the cannon last Saturday +night and on the 19th of November, 10c. a pane and 8×10 each--$2.10." + +When General Lafayette left Fredericksburg he went by stage to Potomac +Creek, by boat to Washington, by stage to Baltimore, and thence he sailed +back to France. With him went Messrs. Mercer and Lewis, both sons of men +who had been Generals in the war for Liberty. + + + + +_Old Court Records_ + + _Staid Documents, Writ by Hands That Are Still, Are History For Us._ + + +For simple beauty of line there is probably no Court House in Virginia +that equals that at Fredericksburg. While to the casual eye its grace is +obvious, to artists' and architects' it makes the stronger appeal, and it +is from those familiar with the lines of new and old world buildings that +the Court House receive highest praise. Inside, in a modern vault, are +many interesting records of the past. The Court House was completed in +1852, at a cost of about $14,000, William M. Boggeth of Baltimore being +the contractor, and J. B. Benwick, Jr., of Baltimore, the architect, and +its completion marked the end of a thirty years factional fight in the +City, which was divided over the issue of building or not building a court +house. The decision to build was made by the Council in spite of a +petition against such action, signed by one hundred and seventy-two +voters. + +[Sidenote: _Building a New Courthouse_] + +The second Court House, a small brick building, stood back from the +street, on a part of the ground the present structure occupies, and had +taken the place of the first plank Court House. But, as early as 1820, the +second structure was complained of by the Court, which went so far as to +"order" the Council to provide funds for a new structure, to which the +Council paid no attention. On June 14, 1849, the Court, composed of Mayor +Semple and Justices William H. White and Peter Goolrick, issued an order +and appointed a committee, as follows: "Thomas B. Barton, John L. Marye, +Robert B. Semple, Wm. C. Beale and John J. Chew, to examine and report to +this Court some plan for the enlargement and repairs or rebuilding of the +Court House of this Corporation." + +But in spite of some excitement following this unusual step of the Court, +the Council continued its way undisturbed. The Court, however, called +before it "the Justices for this Corporation" and at the next session +eight Justices--R. B. Semple, Robert Dickey, Beverly R. Welford, William +C. Beale, William H. White, Peter Goolrick, William Warren and William +Slaughter answered the summons. The report of the committee appointed at +the previous session of the Court was made and the Court finally took this +action: + +"That, in obedience to the act of the General Assembly, which requires +that Courts for the Corporations' within this Commonwealth should cause to +be erected one good, convenient court house, and it being necessary to +build a court house for this corporation," etc., the Court "appoints a +commission, consisting of Mayor Semple, Beverly R. Welford, William H. +White, Thomas B. Barton and John L. Marye to contract for a court house." + +But, despite this, and because of the divided sentiment of the people and +the inaction of the Council, the Court did not build a court house, and at +a later meeting voted four to four on a motion to rescind their previous +order. After various moves and counter moves, the issue was carried into a +regular election held in March, 1851, and a Council in favor of a new +Court House was chosen. The erection of the present structure in 1852 +ended a thirty years disagreement, which built up bitter factions in the +town and left animosities, which did not subside until the Civil War came +on. For many years, until the new Fire House was built, the old hand-drawn +fire apparatus was housed in the south wing of the building. + +The bell which is now in the tower of the Court House, formerly hung in +the second court house, and sounded the call to public meetings, as it +does today, and the alarms of fire and war. It was presented to the town +by Silas Wood in 1828, and has his name and that date on it, as well as +the name of the maker, "Revere, Boston." + +[Sidenote: _How Debtors Were Treated_] + +From the earliest times, debtors who could not pay their bills were +imprisoned in the jail in Court House square or, more properly, slept in +the jail and were imprisoned in the square; for they were allowed the +freedom of the whole square and the adjacent streets, but were not allowed +to enter any store or building on the opposite sides of the streets. Many +men of prominence, it is said, spent short periods in this "Debtors' +Prison," awaiting the time when their release could be secured under the +"Poor Debtors' Law," which gave them freedom when by a schedule of their +property they proved they had no means to meet their obligations. In 1840, +the Court extended the bounds of the "Debtors' Prison" to include four +blocks in the center of the city, and the "footways adjoining them"; but +to go beyond these bounds was contempt of Court. + +No existing records establish what Courts held session in Fredericksburg +prior to the Revolution, and it is probable that successors of Mayor +Lawrence Smith were empowered as Governors and Judges until 1727, after +which time the Trustees of the town may have chosen magistrates, or the +colonial Governors may have done this. + +[Sidenote: _History of the Courts_] + +It is established that the first Court in Fredericksburg was created by +the General Assembly in 1781, when Fredericksburg was incorporated and +given a Common Council and a Hustings Court. The first session of this +Hustings Court was held April 15, 1782, with the following Justices +present: Charles Mortimer, William McWilliams, James Somerville, Charles +Dick, Samuel Ruddy, and John Julien, "the same being Mayor, Recorder and +Aldermen of the town." This continued the only Court until 1788, when +nineteen District Courts were established in the State by the General +Assembly, and one of them was located at Fredericksburg. These courts were +presided over by two of the ten Judges of the General Court at Richmond. +Among the many men of prominence who appeared before this District Court +were James Monroe, Edmund Randolph, and Francis Brooke. This District +Court was abolished in 1809 and a Circuit Court took its place. This new +court was now presided over by one of the Judges of the General Court at +Richmond. With some changes these courts continue to the present, but are +presided over by specially chosen Circuit Judges. But the Circuit Court +is not held at Fredericksburg. + +The Hustings Court, meanwhile, was the local court for Fredericksburg +until 1870, when it became the "Corporation Court" over which, instead of +three Justices of the Peace, the Assembly now provided there be a Judge +"who shall be learned in law." Judge John M. Herndon was the first Judge +of this Court, in 1870, and was succeeded by Judge John T. Goolrick, 1877, +Judge Montgomery Slaughter followed him, Judge A. Wellington Wallace +presided for some years, and Judge Embry served until Judge John T. +Goolrick was again chosen Judge and has continued on the bench for the +last 16 years. + +A more remarkable record is that of the men of the Chew family, who for +ninety-nine years and eleven days were the Clerks of this Court, +succeeding each other by appointment and election in direct lineal line. +Henry Armistead, first Clerk of the Court, died August 1, 1787, and on +August 6, 1787, John Chew, Jr., was appointed to the vacancy. In 1806 his +son, Robert S. Chew, succeeded; In 1826 the latter's son John J. Chew +succeeded; In 1867, the latter's son, Robert S. Chew succeeded and held +office until his death in 1886. Mr. J. Willard Adams is now Clerk of the +Corporation Court. + +There are many interesting documents in the vaults of the Court House, +many of them mere scraps, as that which tells of an inquest in 1813 over +the "Body of a sailor from the Frigate 'Constitution,'" who was drowned +here in the river, and which indicates that the famed old boat was once at +Fredericksburg Wharf. + +Among the oldest and most interesting documents in the archives of the +Court House, is a "List of Males Capable of Militia Duty--1785," and of +the two hundred and sixty-five then listed, (which would indicate a +population of about 1,300 in the city at that time). There are few names +now known in Fredericksburg, nevertheless, there are some, and of these +familiar names the following are examples: + +"Dr. Mortimer, Dr. Brooke, Dr. French, Dr. Hall, Dr. Gillis, Dr. Hand" and +"Bradford, Taylor, Yates, Walker, Maury, Minor, Herndon, White, Brent, +Johnson, Wheeler, Gray, Jenkins, Allen, Crutchfield, Ferneyhough, Brown, +Chew, Weedon, Colbert, Washington, Brooks, Ingram, Middleton, Spooner, +Payne, Gordon, Young, Thompson, Berry, Slaughter, Lewis, Clarke," and many +others whose descendants are well known in this city and vicinity. + +[Sidenote: _Mary Washington's Will_] + +The will of Mary Washington, written by James Mercer, an attorney who was +also Chief Justice of the General Court, (the highest court of Virginia) +and signed by Mary Washington, is preserved in the Court House and has +been seen by hundred of callers. The will was made May 20, 1788, and was +filed after the death of Mrs. Washington. + +"In the name of God, Amen. I, Mary Washington, of Fredericksburg, in the +County of Spottsylvania, being in good health, but calling to mind the +uncertainty of this life and willing to dispose of what remains of my +earthly estate, do make and publish this, my last will, recommending my +soul into the hands of my Creator, hoping for a remission of all my sins +through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of Mankind. +I dispose of all my worldly estate as follows: + +Imprimis: I give to my son, General George Washington, all my lands on +Accokeek Run, in the County of Stafford, and also my negro boy, George, to +him and his Heirs forever; also my best bed, bedstead and Virginia cloth +curtains, (the same that stands in my best room), my quilted Blue and +White quilt and my best dressing glass. + +Item: I give and devise to my son, Charles Washington, my negro man Tom, +to him and his assigns forever. + +Item: I give and devise to my daughter, Betty Lewis, my phaeton and my bay +horse. + +Item: I give and devise to my daughter-in-law, Hannah Washington, my +purple cloth cloak lined with shay. + + +[Illustration: MARY WASHINGTON'S HOME + +_In the Garden Mrs. Washington Greeted Young Lafayette. She Lived And Died +Here_] + + +Item: I give and bequeath to my grandson, Corbin Washington, my negro +wench, Old Bet, my riding chair and two black horses, to him and his +assigns forever. + +Item: I give and bequeath to my grandson, Fielding Lewis, my negro man, +Frederick, to him and his assigns forever; also, eight silver table +spoons, half of my crockery ware, and the blue and white Tea China, with +book case, oval table, one bedstead, two table cloths, six red leather +chairs, half my pewter, and one-half my iron kitchen furniture. + +Item: I give and bequeath to my granddaughter, Betty Carter, my negro +woman, Little Bet, and her future increase, to her and her assigns +forever; also my largest looking glass, my walnut writing desk with +drawers, a square dining table, one bed, bedstead, bolster, one pillow, +one blanket and pair of sheets, white Virginia cloth counterpane, and +purple curtains, my red and white china, teaspoons and other half of my +pewter, crockery ware, and the remainder of my iron kitchen furniture. + +Item: I give to my grandson, George Washington, my next best dressing +glass, one bed, bedstead, bolster, one pillow, one pair of sheets, one +blanket and counterpane. + +Item: I devise all my wearing apparel to be equally divided between my +granddaughters, Betty Carter, Fanny Ball and Milly Washington; but should +my daughter, Betty Lewis, fancy any one, two or three articles, she is to +have them before a division thereof. + +Lastly: I nominate and appoint my said son, General George Washington, +executor of this, my Will, and as I owe few or no debts, I desire my +Executor to give no security nor to appraise my estate, but desire the +same may be allotted to my devisees with as little trouble and delay as +may be, desiring their acceptance thereof as all the token I now have to +give them of my love for them. + +In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 20th day of +May, 1788. + + Mary Washington. + +Witness: John Ferneyhough. + +Signed, sealed and published in our presence, and signed by us in the +presence of the said Mary Washington, and at her desire. + + J. Mercer + Joseph Walker." + +Among the orders of the Court, found on the Order Books, are some which +are of interest as bearing on old customs of the town. One of the first of +these was entered March 1, 1784, when the Court "proceeded to settle the +allowances to the officers of the Corporation" as follows: "Mr. John +Minor, Jr., Attorney for the Commonwealth, two thousand pounds tobacco; +Mr. Henry Armistead, Clerk, twelve hundred pounds tobacco; John Legg, +Sergeant, twelve hundred pounds tobacco; Henry Armistead, for attending +all Courts of inquiry, four hundred pounds; sergeant for same, five +hundred and seventy pounds; Wm. Jenkins, goaler, three hundred and +sixty-four pounds." + +February 7, 1785, "Robert Brooke" (afterwards Governor of Virginia in +1794-96, and still later Attorney General) and Bushrod Washington, (Uncle +of George Washington and later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court) were +admitted to practice law. + +April 25, 1801, the first "watchman" (policeman) was appointed for the +town. + +[Sidenote: _Burial in Streets Stopped_] + +In a peculiar report, made March 27, 1802, the Grand Jury took steps to +put a stop to "a nuisance, the numerous obstructions in the streets, +particularly in St. George Street lot; burying the dead in George and +Princess Anne Streets; also the irregular burying in the ground west of +and adjoining Prince Edward." These graves, the report shows, were on +George, Princess Anne, and in Hanover Street, west of Princess Anne, and +on George Street between Main and the river. + +After twenty-two years, the Court issued its first authorization for a +Minister of the Gospel (none but the Church of England ceremony was +before recognized) to perform the marriage ceremony, December 24, 1804, to +"Benj. Essex," Methodist. Others followed in this order: Samuel Wilson, +Presbyterian, September 22, 1806; William James, Baptist, June 13, 1811. + +The undisputed fact that John Forsythe, who was in his generation one of +America's most famous men, and a sketch of whose life is given elsewhere, +was born in Fredericksburg, is contained in this entry, dated January 12, +1832. + +"The Court orders it to be certified that it was proved to their +satisfaction, by the evidence of Francis S. Scott, a witness sworn in +Court, that Major Robert Forsythe of the Revolutionary army, had two +children, one of whom, Robert, died under age and unmarried, and the +other, John, is now alive, being a Senator in Congress from Georgia." + +[Sidenote: _Court Set Liquor Price_] + +Among the Court's first acts after establishment, the Hustings Court, on +May 20, 1782, thus fixed the prices of certain commodities in the +"Taverns": "Good West India Rum, one pound per gallon; bread, ten +shillings; whiskey, six; strong beer, four; good West India rum toddy, ten +shillings; brandy toddy, seven shillings six pence; rum punch, fifteen +shillings; brandy punch, twelve; rum grog, six; brandy grog, five. Diet: +one meal, one shilling six pence; lodging, one shilling and three pence; +'stablidge' and hay, two shillings; oats and corn, nine pence per gallon." + +The prices of intoxicants is hard to explain. Rum is at the rate of $5.00 +per gallon, but apparently whiskey is only $1.25. A later ordinance of +prices, made May 10, makes various changes. + +"Breakfast, fifty cents; dinner, fifty; supper, fifty; lodging, +twenty-five; grain, per gallon, twelve and one-half; stablidge and hay per +night, twenty-five; Madera Wine, per quart, one dollar; Champagne, per +quart, one dollar and fifty cents; other wine, per quart, fifty cents; +French brandy, twelve and one-half cents per gill; Rum, twelve and +one-half cents per gill; Gin, twelve and one-half cents per gill." + +[Sidenote: _Some of the Judges_] + +A pure judiciary is one of the best assurances of good government, and +Virginia is proud of her Judges, who on the average, have been and are men +of learning, and acknowledged ability. + +In this book, we can only chronicle briefly the names of some who have +presided in the Circuit Courts of this circuit. + +First is the name of John Tayloe Lomax, who had occupied a chair in the +law school at the University of Virginia, and who had written several +books treating on law, before he came to preside as judge here. + +Richard Coleman, of the distinguished family of that name from Caroline +County; + +Eustace Conway, one of the very youngest men elected by the people, and +who died in a few months after he had assumed the duties; + +John Critcher, who soon resigned the judicial office to become an officer +in the Confederate Army; + +William Stone Barton, who was a splendid Judge, a fearless soldier and a +Christian; + +John E. Mason, who executed all the duties of his high office +intelligently and conscientiously. + + + + +_Echoes of the Past_ + + _"Ghosts of Dead Hours, and Days That Once Were Fair"_ + + +Fredericksburg was, in anti-bellum days, the center of a large number of +slave holding land proprietors who lived within its gates, yet cultivated +their farms in the adjacent territory, hence the colored population of the +town was large; and very much to the credit of these colored people as +well as a testimonial to the manner of their treatment, and to the methods +of their humane and kind discipline, the colored population was law +abiding and polite. They were religious in their tendencies, and church +going in their practices. For several years they worshipped in a church of +their own situated on the banks of the Rappahannock known as Shiloh +Baptist Church--for in this section they were Baptist in their creed. +After the war, in consequence of some feuds and factions, they divided up +into several churches, all of the Baptist denomination. Clinging to the +name, there is now "Shiloh Old Site"--and "Shiloh New Site" and some mild +rivalry. + +[Sidenote: _About the Colored People_] + +Among the old time colored brethren were some unique characters. We note a +few only: Scipio, or as he called himself, Scipio Africanus from Ethiopia, +was very popular; kindly and charitable in disposition he was probably the +only infidel among that race. One afternoon, at a Baptizing which always +took place in the River, a very fat sister came near being drowned. After +she was immersed by the preacher, gasping and struggling, she came up and +Scip becoming excited yelled to the colored divine--"Stop there Brother! +Stop I tell you! If you douse that gal again some white man goin' to lose +a valuable nigger by this here foolishness!" Needless to say the indignant +divine released the sister and turned his wrath on Scipio. + +Another colored character was Edmund Walker, who kept a coffee house. He +openly proclaimed he wanted no "poor white trash." Over his emporium in +big letters flourished this sign--"walk in gentlemen, sit at your ease, +Pay for what you call for, and call for what you please." + +Jim Williams was known as a good cook, as well as huntsman. His Master, +Col. Taliaferro told Jim one day that he expected great men for dinner +some time soon, and "Jim, I want a turkey, a fat turkey fattened in a +coop, not shot Jim!" When the day came and dinner was served, Col. +Taliaferro's knife in carving, struck a shot or two. Infuriated, the old +Colonel yelled at Jim--"Didn't I tell you not to bring me any turkey with +a shot in it?" Jim who had obtained the turkey after dark replied, "Dem +shots was 'tended for me not for the turkey. The white folks shot at me, +but the turkey got the shot." + +The loyalty of the colered men and women for their old Masters and +Mistresses during the war cannot be commended too highly. Told time and +again that a victory for the Federal soldiers meant their freedom, many of +them refused to leave their old homes, and remained steadfast to the end. +While we cannot enumerate many of these, the opportunity to chronicle the +name of one, still living cannot be overlooked. The Rev. Cornelius Lucas, +who in the dark and dreadful days of war, followed his old owners, the +Pollocks, is with us yet. He was with them on the march and in camp, +waited on them, and ministered to them. One of the Chapters of the +Daughters of the Confederacy in this town, recently decorated him with its +testimonial, its cross of honor. + +We know of no locality situated so near the Mason and Dixon line as is +Fredericksburg where the Union Armies came with their propaganda of +freedom for the slaves, which presents more of the love of the former +slaves for their former Masters, and more obedience to law and order than +is the case with the colored people of the town of Fredericksburg, for +with rare exceptions, there has been no flagrant violation of the laws. We +are of the opinion that this book would not indeed respond to the +requirements of endeavoring to sketch the town and its life, without +embodying within its pages what it includes of the colored men and women +whose lives have been spent within its limits. + + +[Sidenote: _When Andrew Jackson Came_] + +Early in the nineteenth century, on May 7th, 1833, Fredericksburg was +visited by President Andrew Jackson and escort, the occasion, one of the +most important of that period, being the laying of the corner stone of the +old Mary Washington Monument. People from all over this general section +gathered to greet the hero of New Orleans, and in addition to the +detachment of Marines, which was the President's honor guard, military +organizations from Washington, Alexandria, Fauquier County and +Fredericksburg, led by Col. John Bankhead, chief marshal, took part in the +large parade that preceded the ceremonies. + +History has recorded for us correctly what took place on the occasion. The +President spoke as did also other distinguished men and, as in those +remote days orators were not sparing with the time they took, undoubtedly +the long suffering people stood a verbal fusilage that lasted hours. But +in the end they were repaid, for the program was followed by feasting and +drinking and a general merry time, at which wines, liquors and barbacued +beef were served to 5,000 people, under a big tent. + +The main reception was held in the old Wallace house, which formerly stood +on the site now occupied by the Baker and Wallace wholesale drygoods +house, and it was the scene of an incident that convulsed the dignified +gathering, which was hard put to control its laughter. It came about as +follows. + +While traveling by road from Quantico (which was reached by boat from +Washington,) to Fredericksburg, the presidential party encountered a Major +Randolph, of the army, who lately had been court martialed and reprimanded +on a charge that now is unknown. Major Randolph had appealed the decision +of the court to the President, who much to the indignation of the Major, +approved the findings. When Major Randolph met the President, he stopped, +saluted and then questioned him regarding his decision. The President's +replies were not satisfactory to the indignant major and he pulled the +nose of the Hero of New Orleans. News of the occurrence quickly got about +the town. + +That night a certain old gentleman of the most generous hospitality and +the kindest of hearts but with very poor social instincts, was introduced +to the President. His mental processes are not known, naturally, but +probably in a desire to be especially gracious and to show that +Fredericksburg and its people were deeply considerate of the welfare of +their President, and concerned in all that happened to him, the old +gentleman grasped the hand of the chief dignitary of the land, bowed very +low and said, "Mr. President, I am indeed very glad to meet you and I +sincerely hope, Sir, that Major Randolph did not hurt you when he pulled +your nose to-day." + +The President flared up momentarily but seeing the innocence written in +the countenance of the old gentleman, and the convulsions of those around +him, he joined heartily in the laughter and assured his questioner that he +was quite unharmed. + + +[Sidenote: _General Lee's Week's Visit_] + +In 1869 the Episcopal Council of the State gathered in St. George's Church +and to this Council as a delegate from Grace Church, Lexington, of which +he was a vestryman, came General Robert E. Lee the beloved hero of the +South. Just across the street from St. George's Church was the home of +Judge William S. Barton and there he was the honored guest. Coming so +shortly after the close of the war when the people were in almost a frenzy +of sympathy for him and sorrow for their "Lost Cause" he produced an +impression that will never be forgotten by those who saw him. + +The Barton house was besieged by young and old, anxious to shake hands +with him. The Bartons gave a large reception, and the writer recalls that +scene as if it were yesterday. + + +[Illustration: MONUMENT TO MERCER + +_Erected by Congress to the Brilliant General Who Fell at Princeton. The +Street is Washington Avenue_] + + +General Lee stood with Judge Barton and his stately wife; General Barton +and his wife, and the peerless beauty, Mary Triplett, who was the niece of +the Bartons. To describe General Lee would be superfluous. The majesty of +his presence has been referred to. He inspired no awe or fear, but a +feeling of admiration as if for a superior being. People who spoke to him +turned away with a look of happiness, as if some long felt wish had been +gratified. Toward the conclusion of the reception, when only a few +intimate friends remained, some of the young girls ventured to ask for a +kiss, which was given in fatherly fashion. The Council lasted a week, from +Sunday to Sunday and for that time General Lee remained at the Bartons. + +The home life of this truly representative Virginia family brings back +elusive dreams of the charmed days of old when a gentle elegance, a +dignity, a grace of welcome that was unsurpassed in any land, made them +ideal as homes and supreme in hospitality, and nowhere was this more +clearly evidenced than in the family of Judge Barton. General Lee was +serenaded here by Prof. A. B. Bowering's Band, the same Band which +accompanied the gallant 30th Virginia Regiment on its marches, and cheered +them in Camp with patriotic airs. + +It was Bowering's Band that, when the body of Stonewall Jackson was +removed from the Capitol in Richmond to the railway station, played the +Funeral Dirge. Prof. Bowering has led other bands since then, and is at +present the conductor of an excellent one. + +It was at about this time that Father Ryan wrote one of his most beautiful +poems, of which this is the last verse: + + "Forth from its scabbard, all in vain, + Bright flashed the sword of Lee; + 'Tis shrouded now in its sheath again, + It sleeps the sleep of our noble slain + Defeated, yet without a stain, + Proudly and peacefully." + +[Sidenote: _Mayors of Fredericksburg_] + +The following is a chronological list of mayors of Fredericksburg with the +number of years served by each: Dr. Charles Mortimer, 3; William +McWilliams, 1; James Somerville, 3; George Weedon, 1; George French, 8; +Benjamin Day, 2; William Harvey, 2 and less than a month of the third +year, when he died in office; Fontaine Maury, 3; William Taylor, 1; David +C. Ker, 2; William S. Stone, 1; Charles L. Carter, 1 year and six months, +resigning when half his first term was out; William Smock, six months, +serving the unexpired half of Charles L. Carter's first term; Richard +Johnston, 1; Joseph Walker, 1; John Scott, 1; Garret Minor, 2; Robert +Mackay, 2; David Briggs, 1. + +Briggs' term ended in March, 1821. Up to this time no mayor had served +more than 1 year consecutively, but after this date several served for +many years following each other. Following Briggs was Robert Lewis, who +died in office after nearly nine years; Thomas Goodwin, died in office +after nearly seven years; John H. Wallace, 2; Benjamin Clarke 6; Robert +Baylor Semple, died in office after nearly nine years; John L. Marye, Jr., +1; Peter Goolrick, 3 years and one month, resigning just after the +beginning of his fourth term and almost immediately before the Civil War; +John S. Cardwell, 2; William S. Scott, 1; Montgomery Slaughter, the War +Mayor, who succeeded Peter Goolrick, (when the latter resigned because the +council had refused to endorse some of his appointments), and served until +removed by the military authorities after a few days more than eight +years. He was succeeded by Charles E. Mallam, appointed by the military +authorities in April, 1868, and removed by them in just a little more than +a year. William E. Nye, who followed, was appointed by the military but +resigned in less than a year. He was succeeded by Lawrence B. Rose, +elected by the council and twice later by the people, serving altogether 5 +years, two months and twenty days, dying during his last term; William Roy +Mason, resigning after serving twenty-seven days of his first term, to +which he was elected by the people. Robert Banks Berrey, 2; Hugh S. +Doggett, 3; Joseph W. Sener, 4; Josiah Hazard, 4; Absalom Rowe, 9 years +and eleven months, dying in office during his last term; W. Seymore White, +1 year and not quite five months, dying in office; Henry R. Gouldman, +seven months; Marion G. Willis, 6 years; Thomas P. Wallace, 4; H. Lewis +Wallace, 4; Josiah P. Rowe, a son of Absalom Rowe, 8; J. Garnett King is +at present serving. + +So far as can be gathered ex-Mayor J. P. Rowe is the only son of a mayor +who ever held the same office which his father had filled before him. + + +[Sidenote: _Building of the Railroad_] + +The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad, the great Trunk Line +between the North and the South, in 1837 completed its line to +Fredericksburg by rail, a stage line thence to Potomac Creek, and steamer +connection was made from here to Washington. In 1842, on the 18th of +November, the line was completed to Aquia Creek, making it a total of 75 +miles in length. In 1860 Peter V. Daniel was elected president, and during +his administration the road was fearfully damaged by the Civil War. In +1865, the company, after much rebuilding, again opened service to Aquia +Creek. In 1872 the line was extended to Quantico, and connecting there +with the Washington-Quantico road, filled in the missing link of railway +from the North to the South. + +The railroad has always been financially successful and has provided a +service of exceptional convenience. It has the remarkable record of never +having killed a passenger within its cars, and but two from any cause +whatever. Under the Hon. Eppa Hunton it operates now with great efficiency +and over its tracks pass a string of trains during all of the twenty-four +hours. On all of its trains an employee calls attention just before +passing the house where Stonewall Jackson died. The house has been +purchased and preserved to posterity by the railroad--an act for which it +deserves the highest commendation, as it does for the monument it +generously built at Hamilton's Crossing, where heavy fighting occurred +during the battle of Fredericksburg. + + +[Sidenote: _Jefferson Davis' Speech_] + +Jefferson Davis, when a member of the Senate, was loath to leave that body +and opposed breaking up of the Union. But, when his own State of +Mississippi called, he answered. He had been educated at West Point and +had fought in Mexico. When the representatives met at Montgomery, Alabama, +and elected him President of the Confederacy, he accepted. When the seat +of government was moved to Richmond, he, of course, came with it. + +Soon after this he paid Fredericksburg a visit and while in the town was a +guest of Temple Doswell, Esq., at his home on the corner of Princess Anne +and Lewis Streets. As soon as it was known that he was here a band, +accompanied by a multitude of citizens and Confederate soldiers, gave him +a complimentary reception, to which he replied, in a brief address, from +the porch. The writer remembers very clearly how he appeared. He was tall, +thin, beardless, slightly bald, dressed in black broad cloth that was +slightly worn looking. + +Mr. Davis came to review the troops stationed on the Potomac at Acquia, as +well as some encamped at Fredericksburg. He expressed himself as very much +pleased, not only with the hospitable reception accorded him, but also, +with the conditions of the troops and the general management of the +situation then under General Daniel Ruggles. + +It is an unusual coincidence that during the war between the States, +Fredericksburg should have had within its gates, President Lincoln of the +United States and President Jefferson Davis of the Confederate States, and +that each made a public address from places three blocks apart. + + +[Sidenote: _The National Cemetery_] + +This National Cemetery is located on one of the most prominent and +imposing hills overlooking the City of Fredericksburg, formerly called +Willis Hill. On July 15, 1865, this location was selected and the cemetery +begun. It has since been made beautiful with shrubbery and flowers and +terraced, and now it is known for its attractive appearance. It is, in +fact, counted as one of the most beautiful cemeteries in this Country. It +comprises about twelve acres. Of the soldiers gathered from the adjacent +battlefields there are of the known dead 2,496 and of the unknown 12,798. + +Very many handsome monuments are erected on these grounds, among them one +by General Butterfield in memory of the 5th Corps; another to General +Humphreys by the State of Pennsylvania; and by the same State a monument +in memory of the 127th Pennsylvania Volunteers. Head stones mark the +resting place of very many others. + +On each recurring Decoration Day, May 30th, from a beautifully constructed +forum, services are held in tribute to the memory of the brave men who +sleep there. At these services many who wore the grey and fought on the +other side unite with the boys who wore the blue, in paying this tribute. + + +Near Fredericksburg Governor Spottswood instituted the first iron work in +America, and an old plate cast in his furnace is now in the possession of +Mr. Val Dannehl of this city. It is probably the oldest piece of cast iron +in America. + +Governor Spottswood built the village of Germanna on the upper river for +German workmen brought over here, and it was from that place, the first +Courthouse of Spotsylvania County, that the Knights of the Golden +Horseshoe began their journey. The mansion of this famous Virginian stood +close beside the Germanna road. + +Today, almost on that spot, stands a small white cottage, and within it +are various relics of the Old Governor and his family and of the battle of +the Wilderness. + +But the strangest thing about the small cottage is that within it lives, +with his wife, Alexander Spottswood, the lineal descendant of the +Governor. Mr. Spottswood stands over six feet, erect and with the bearing +that inevitably proclaims the descendants of great men. His daughter +recently married Mr. E. H. Willis. + +Thus a Spottswood lives today on the tract where the great Virginia +Governor built his mansion and where he founded the famous Spottswood +mines and furnace almost two hundred years ago. + + +[Sidenote: _Patti Once Lived Here_] + +An incident brought the great singer Patti to Fredericksburg, to remain +for some time. When she was a girl of sixteen, just beginning to train for +her great career in Grand Opera, her brother Carlo Patti expected to +institute a school of music and was here for that purpose when he was +taken suddenly ill. She came with her sister Madam Strackosh to see her +brother. He remained ill for months and his sisters were with him during +the entire time. They boarded at the Old Exchange Hotel on Main Street, +now the Hotel Maury, and gave more than one concert at what was known then +as "The Citizens Hall." If there are few here now who remember her, there +is still among us one woman, a little child at the time, whom the singer +often held in her arms and caressed. The parents of the child were +boarding at the Hotel temporarily and the mother and Adelina became great +friends and remained so for many years. Madam Strackosh and her famous +sister said they enjoyed "real life" in our little Southern town. Carlo +after regaining his health went farther South, joined a Confederate +Company, and again as one of the boys in gray under the stars and bars, +was in Fredericksburg and was well known to the writer. He entertained the +weary boys in camp when the hard days were over, with his beautiful songs. + +John Forsythe referred to in the above order was born in 1781 in a frame +house, now standing at the corner of Prince Edward and Fauquier Streets. +He graduated from the Princeton Academy early in life, moving later with +his family to Georgia where he studied law, practiced and in 1808 he was +elected Attorney General, and in 1812 was chosen Congressman and served +until 1818. + +In 1819 he was appointed Minister to Spain and while acting as Minister, +he was instrumental in the ratification of the treaty with the Country +for the cession of Florida to the United States. + +In 1827 he was elected Governor of Georgia and in 1829 became a member of +the Senate and was in that body when he accepted the office of Secretary +of State, which position he occupied to the end of Van Buren's +administration. He died in the City of Washington, October 21, 1841, and +is buried in the Congressional Cemetery. + + +[Illustration: NATIONAL CEMETERY + +_And Monument to the Fifth Corps. Here Sleep Thousands Who Died in the +Battles About Fredericksburg_] + + +[Sidenote: _Joe Hooker Comes Again_] + +Fighting "Joe" Hooker, as his troops called him and as he was, came here +shortly after the war to gather evidence to refute the charges his enemies +at the North were disseminating against him in a campaign of scandal. He +attempted while here, and he was here for a long period, to show that his +failure was not entirely his own fault, and the evidence which he +procured, together with his own statements proved sufficiently that Gen. +Hooker's plan for the campaign at Chancellorsville far surpassed any +conception of any other Northern general. They left the inference also +(Lincoln had warned him in a letter that his insubordination to Burnside +and other superior officers would one day result in his inferiors failing +to co-operate with him), that Sedgwick had not put his full heart into the +battle, for, important factor in the movement that he was, he started one +day late and allowed 4,000 men at Salem Church to hold back the advance of +his 30,000 men. Had he won this fight, he could have been at +Chancellorsville and turned the tide of battle long before Jackson's +genius had ruined Hooker's army. + + +The subject of this sketch was the son of Captain and Mrs. Joseph W. +Sener. His father was several times Mayor of this city. Judge Sener +graduated when quite a young man, with the degree of Bachelor of Law, from +the University of Virginia, and was a very successful practitioner for +many years in the courts of this State. He was elected to represent the +first Virginia district in the Congress of the United States several +years after the civil war. After his retirement from Congress he was +appointed by President Hayes Chief Justice of the then Territory of +Wyoming. After performing the duties of this office very acceptably for +several years he returned to Virginia, and again took up the practice of +his profession. Much of his time was spent in Washington where he died. He +was buried in Fredericksburg with Masonic honors, being a very active +member of Lodge No. 4, A. F. and A. M. of this city. + + +[Sidenote: _Abraham Lincoln's Address_] + +When the Federal army first held Fredericksburg, during the winter of +1861, President Lincoln came to stay at Chatham and hold a grand review of +the army of the Potomac. He was accompanied by Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of +State, and Edward Staunton, Secretary of War. On the plateau behind +Chatham there was held a great artillery review. On the following day the +President, accompanied by some of his cabinet officers and the staff +officers of the army, crossed the river on the lower pontoon bridge. They +rode immediately to the provost marshal's headquarters in the building on +the corner of Princess Anne and George Streets, which the National Bank +now occupies. After taking lunch with General Patrick and in response to +the calls of some troops present, President Lincoln from the front steps +made a short but splendid address. The writer of this, sat on the steps of +the St. George's Church, on the opposite side of the street and heard +President Lincoln's speech. + + +On the Bowling Green road, a mile from town, a stone marked +"Stuart-Pelham" shows about where those two brilliant young men met when +they advanced their guns against the Northern host. In the woods, back of +Fredericksburg, a stone marks General Lee's winter headquarters--where +stood his tents. The spot where Cobb fell is marked, and there is a marker +where the pontoon landed near the foot of Hawk street. The New Jersey +monuments are near Salem Church, General Hays monument (where he was +killed) near Plank road on the Brock road. "Lee to the Rear" one mile west +of Brock on Plank road, Sedgwick's monument near Spotsylvania Court House. +Where Jackson fell, monument two miles west of Chancellorsville on Plank +road. + + +[Sidenote: _Other Distinguished Visitors_] + +In the midst of the war England sent Lord Wolesley, who became the +Commander-in-Chief of the English Army, to serve a short time as Military +Observer with the army of General Lee. He was with General Lee about +Fredericksburg and in his commentaries on him said, "There was about +General Lee an air of fine nobility, which I have never encountered in any +other man I have met." General Wolesley attended a dance here in the house +then called the Alsop house, on Princess Anne Street, now occupied by the +Shepherds. + +The Prince of Wales, who afterwards became King Edward the Seventh, +visited Fredericksburg in 1859. The Prince was accompanied by the Duke of +New Castle, Lord Lyons and others of the Royal family. They were welcomed +here in an address by the late Maj. Elliott M. Braxton. The local band +played "God save the Queen" and flowers and bouquets were presented to the +Prince. + +Among those who came in time of peace we record the name of one whose fame +is known to all English readers. Thackeray, the great English novelist, +was here, and on taking leave said, "To come to Virginia and mingle with +its people, to learn how they live and see their home life, is to have +England pictured to you again." + +Again the father left, and we next hear of the little girl as Madam +Romero, wife of the once Secretary of State of Mexico and then Ambassador +to the United States from Mexico. During the stay of Ambassador Romero at +Washington, this girl of Virginia lineage became the leader of the social +life of the Capitol of our Nation, and one of the most popular women ever +known there. + +It was perfectly natural that Chester A. Arthur should be often a visitor +to Fredericksburg for he married Miss Ellen Lewis Herndon, of this city, a +daughter of Captain W. L. Herndon, whose distinguished life has been +touched upon. The home in which President Arthur stopped on his visit is +on Main Street, now occupied by Mrs. R. B. Buffington. + +Certainly the greatest orator who ever visited Fredericksburg was Edward +Everett, of Massachusetts, distinguished among literary men of his day. He +came to this city to speak and was entertained in several homes here. He +afterwards spoke all over the Nation in an effort to aid the Mount Vernon +Association to purchase Washington's home. + +An English officer Colonel Henderson, whose life of "Stonewall Jackson" is +from a literary and military standpoint the best work of its nature in the +world, came here and stayed for a long period securing data for his book. +He lived during his time here at the Old Eagle Hotel, now the Hotel Maury. + +Among our old time merchants was Mr. William Allen. His son married and +lived in many foreign lands. The son's wife died and he returned to visit +his father bringing his beautiful little daughter, a child of ten or +eleven years. The writer recalls her at that time, with her lovely golden +curls. + +Another nobleman who came here drawn by the quaintness of the old American +town and his desire to see the home of Washington, was the Count De Paris, +of the French Royal Family. + +The Irish poet, Thomas Moore, was here once and declared he would not +leave America until he had been a guest in an old Virginia home. + + + + +_Where Beauty Blends_ + + _Old Gardens, at Old Mansions, Where Bloom Flowers from Long Ago_ + + +Buds and blossoms everywhere! and honey-bees, butterflies and birds! It is +Spring now in the lush meadows and sweeping hills about Fredericksburg. +Flowers, leaves, shrubs and vines have burst forth once more with joy and +life. The wild tangle of beauty and fragrance is everywhere perceptible; +hedges of honeysuckle, whose hidden foundation is the crumbling old stone +wall, trellises heavy with old-time roses, arbors redolent with sweet +grapevine, sturdy oaks and maples, whose branches shelter the clinging +tendrils and the purple wistaria blossoms, borders, gay with old-time +favorites, heliotrope, portulaca, petunias, verbenas and hollyhocks, and +the loved English ivy, with a welcome right of way wherever its fancy +leads. + +The characteristic which is conceded to be the chief charm of +Fredericksburg is its historic association and its picturesque past. This +feature alone does not appeal to all who agree that the old town is +charming, but when this is combined with romantic and interesting tales of +the gentry of years agone who have won immortality not only in this +locality, but in this world, the charm is undeniably irresistible to all. +Fredericksburg has many beauty spots which combine these conditions--spots +which are of increasing pride to residents and visitors. + +Some of the gardens here are old, very old, antedating by many years the +celebrated formal gardens at Mt. Vernon, but few preserve so well their +pristine form. Though the box-bordered parterres have largely disappeared, +the old-time favorites are here still, the same loved shrubbery "just +grown tall," descended from those set out originally by those of +generations gone. Mazie V. Caruthers has, in a few words, unknowingly +delineated some of the garden spots here: + + "Long, brick-paved paths, beside which row on row, + Madonna lilies in their sweetness grow-- + Planted by hands to dust turned long ago; + + Odors of fern and moss and pine are there-- + Wild loveliness of roses everywhere + With pinks and mignonette their fragrance share; + + Around the dial, stained by sun and showers + (Whose slender finger marks the passing hours), + Stand purple iris, proudest of the flowers;" + +[Sidenote: _Mary Washington's Home_] + +At the corner of Charles and Lewis Streets stands the pretty little garden +spot, which, since the year 1775 has been associated with Mary Washington. +The tall and vigorous, pungent and aromatic box-wood trees, planted by her +own hand, seem typical today of the splendid old lady. A small section of +the pathway bordered by the same old shrub, which led to "Betty's" home at +Kenmore, is still here. And here is also the sweet-scented lavender, and +the roses, and near the high board fence on the north, is the sun dial, +that still and silent informant of the passing hours. Washington, Mason, +Jefferson, Marshall, the Lees--a score of the great have trod these shaded +walks. + +Not far away are two frame structures. The style of each bears the +unmistakable mark of age, though the date of construction is undetermined. +Both are still private residences, with attractive grounds. From the +continuity of the terraces, it is supposed that in other days only one +spacious and beautiful terraced lawn was here. It is still beautiful with +its carefully kept grassy sward, from which at irregular intervals, spring +the majestic Norway maples, the black walnuts, the apple trees, and +lilacs, the flowering almond, and other climbing and flowering shrubs, +thick with picturesque bird homes, tenanted year after year by possibly +the same line of robin, wren and oriole. In this magnetic atmosphere was +born in 1781, the future governor of Georgia, John Forsythe. + + +[Illustration: IN KENMORE HALL + +_The Remarkable Work About the Mantle and Ceilings Was Done by Hessian +Prisoners, at Washington's Request_] + + +Can it be that some subtle and indefinable influence lurked in these magic +surroundings, and left an ineffaceable impress for good upon the boy? + +[Sidenote: _Old Main Street Homes_] + +A delightful old colonial home is the brick structure on the east side of +lower Main Street. It was built in 1764, and its present attractive +appearance attests the quality of material in its construction, and also +the discerning care with which the old home has ever been maintained. In +Revolutionary times it was the residence of Dr. Charles Mortimer, the +loved physician of Mary Washington. From the east window can be seen the +graceful curves of the river, and the Stafford hills and dales still form +a pretty picture in their verdant beauty and symmetry. Within the solid +ivy covered brick wall encircling the premises two of the most magnificent +trees of this section are noted, a Norway fir and a southern magnolia +which, with other ornamental trees and shrubbery, and a charming rose +garden, are such splendidly beautiful color schemes that one is +constrained to linger in the presence of their beauty and age. + +Across the street stands another solid brick residence, which, though of a +later period in history, is equally beautiful. It is the one-time home of +Matthew Fontaine Maury, one of America's greatest men. Its architecture, +its interior decoration, its moss-covered, serpentine, brick walk leading +to the old kitchen, and the fascinating flower garden, still radiant with +old-time favorites, attest the age of this old home. Nowhere does the +trumpet vine attain such luxuriant and graceful growth, and many other +varieties of flowering shrubs and vines linger in the sun or throw their +fragrance out on silent nights. + +Two other landmarks in the list of charming homes built in bygone +days--the latter part of the 18th century--each with enchanting grounds, +are located one on Hanover, and one on upper Main Street. These are the +old homes of Dr. James Carmichael, and Dr. Robert Welford. Lineal +descendants occupy both of these premises today, and with the same loving +care the bewildering tangles of beauty in leaf, bud, and blossom, which +characterize these alluring old garden spots, with their accompanying +moss-grown brick walks, is continued. The Rappahannock river laves the +east slope of the Welford garden. The picturesque windings of this river, +and its wooded shores, together with glimpses of the ancient and +interesting little village of Falmouth with "the decent Church that tops +the neighboring hill," form a pleasing panorama. At the old Carmichael +home, oak, walnut, apple, and mimosa trees, with a pretty arrangement of +japonica, crepe myrtle, dogwood, lilac, English ivy, and other climbing +and flowering shrubs, combine to make a setting of alluring beauty. + +[Sidenote: _Federal, and Hazel, Hill_] + +Nearby, and still on Hanover Street, is the old colonial residence known +now as Federal Hill, the one time home of the distinguished attorney, +Thomas Reade Rootes. Its white enamelled wainscoting, panelling, and other +interior decorations; its colonial doorways, dormer windows, and spacious +grounds where old-time favorites, both radiant and redolent are enclosed +within its boxwood hedges and honeysuckle glen, all bear witness to a +carefully preserved and graceful old age. Here too is the sun dial, its +pedestal half concealed by luxuriant tangles. + +Beautiful Hazel Hill, with its spreading grounds, the old-time residence +of General John Minor; and the unusually attractive home on Princess Anne +Street, the pre-revolution home of Charles Dick, supposed with every proof +of accuracy to be the oldest house in town; Kenmore, with its storied +frescoes, always associated with Betty Washington, sister of George, where +graceful wood carving was done by Hessian prisoners, is magnificently +beautiful; "the Sentry Box," on lower Main Street, the old home of General +Hugh Mercer, though altered and modernized, has still the same attractive +grounds, and because it was here that the country doctor, who was to be +"General" Hugh Mercer and the tavern keeper who was to be "General" George +Weedon gained the hearts and hands of pretty Isabella and Catherine +Gordon, one infers that this was once the trysting place for many a +gallant cavalier. All these historic spots deserve front rank in the realm +of beautiful and interesting old age. + +[Sidenote: _Beautiful Old "Chatham"_] + +Among the pleasant places worthy of consideration, from an historic, and +artistic viewpoint, none is more interesting than old Chatham, on Stafford +Heights, directly across the Rappahannock from Fredericksburg. Situated on +an eminence commanding an extended view up and down the picturesque river, +and with glimpses of the church spires, and quaint roof tops of the old +town, gleaming through the splendid shade trees dotting the grounds, it +has stood for almost 200 years, a typical colonial Manor house, with +characteristically beautiful proportions, an example of English material +and English workmanship. + +It was built in the year 1728 by that sterling patriot, William Fitzhugh. +"Fitzhugh of Chatham," as he was known, was the descendant of the old +Norman of the same name, progenitor of all of the race of Fitzhugh in +Virginia. He was the intimate friend and classmate of William Pitt, Earl +of Chatham, and the plans for the mansion on his large Virginia estate, +which he named for the earl, are said, with every proof of accuracy, to +have been drawn by Sir Christopher Wrenn. + +Writers of long ago tell of the beautiful box-bordered garden at Chatham, +and of the wonderful terraces, built by numberless slaves, "stepping down +to the river like a giant's stairway." These latter still exist in their +beauty, and form one of the chief attractions of the place, which has ever +been famous, and whose most recent owner was the brilliant journalist, +Mark Sullivan, and Mrs. Sullivan, who made their home there until +recently. + +William Fitzhugh, Esq., married Ann Bolling Randolph, and their daughter +Mary, who married George Washington Parke Custis, of Arlington, was the +mother of Mary Custis, the wife of General Robert E. Lee. A conversation +between General Lee and Major J. Horace Lacy, (who with his family owned +and occupied Chatham until the War Between the States) is illustrative of +the devotion of both of these men for the old colonial homestead. + +[Sidenote: _General Lee Spares Chatham_] + +On the day before the battle of Fredericksburg, Major Lacy was at the +headquarters battery of General Lee. By the aid of field glasses he saw +across the river the white porches of his home filled with Federal +officers, and simultaneously there was wafted on the breeze the strains of +"Yankee Doodle" and "Hail Columbia." He requested General Lee to authorize +the fire of the heavy guns, which would have laid Chatham in the dust. +With a sad smile, General Lee refused to do so, and taking his seat on the +trunk of an old tree, he said, "Major, I never permit the unnecessary +effusion of blood. War is terrible enough at best to a Christian man; I +hope yet to see you and your dear family happy in your old home. Do you +know I love Chatham better than any place in the world except Arlington! I +courted and won my dear wife under the shade of those trees." + +Space does not permit a recital of the accomplishments of those who +followed Mr. Fitzhugh, of Major Churchill Jones, of William Jones, his +brother, or of Judge John Coalter. + +The Lacys returned to Chatham after the war and occupied it until 1872. + +The attractive interior with its hand-carved panels and corners is well +worthy of detailed description, particularly the west bedchamber, with its +alluring old fireplace and its high mantel, and is said to have been the +room occupied by George and Martha Washington, who spent a day or two here +during their honeymoon. Not alone have distinguished men of the Revolution +reposed in this room, but John Randolph of Roanoke was also here, and +later General Lee, and still later President Lincoln when he came to +review the Union Army. Clara Barton, to whom suffering humanity owes such +a debt of gratitude, was also here, a day or so previous to the battle of +Fredericksburg, and Washington Irving and other notable men visited Major +Lacy at the old mansion after the war. + +[Sidenote: _The Fall Hill Estate_] + +The interesting and historic old estate, Fall Hill, which is now the +attractive home of Mr. and Mrs. Fred H. Robinson, commands a view +surpassing almost any near Fredericksburg. The house, built in 1738, is of +the Georgian type of architecture, and its white panelling, its mantel +pieces, and other decorations bear the impress of the care and taste with +which the solid old brick structure was planned. In close proximity to the +Falls Plantation, and the Falls of the Rappahannock river, this homestead +well sustains its reputation as having had an artistic and romantic past, +which is inseparably intertwined with the present. + +Situated on a high eminence in Spotsylvania County, about two miles from +Fredericksburg, it commands an entrancing view, for miles, of the +glistening waters of the river, and the hills and dales of the +Rappahannock Valley, with its smiling cornfields, and its cheerful apple +orchards, and of the white pillared porches of Snowden, the charming seat +adjacent. + +It is a wonderful panorama. At the Falls are numberless moss-covered, +age-old rocks, over which the waters flash and sparkle in the sunlight, +fresh, soft, green, masses of grassy sward are here, dotted with the +stately poplar, sycamore, and cedar trees; over there the gnarled old oak +spreads its hoary branches, and honey locusts and elms are near, and +climbing honeysuckle everywhere. Under the cedar tree, hollowed out of the +flinty bosom of the big boulder, is Francis Thornton's punch-bowl, with +"1720" and "F. T." engraved on the circle. All of this is close to the +great house at Snowden. + +Though not so old, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Frank C. Baldwin at "Snowden," +has long passed the century mark, and the substantial brick structure, +with its massive white pillared portico, its wealth of English ivy, +wistaria, and other shrubs, its magnificent shade trees, planted +irregularly on the extensive lawn, its flower garden on the west, in which +peonies, hollyhocks, crepe myrtle, and other gay perennials vie with each +other in glowing color and beauty, all unite to form a lovely spot. Nor +can one forget that here General Lee and his staff, and citizens of +Fredericksburg, sat in the old parlor twice before they decided that +though the Federals carried out their threat to devastate Fredericksburg, +they would not submit to an unjust demand, and for the only time in the +war save at Appomatox and where Jackson died, tears gleamed in General +Lee's eyes as he stepped in boots and gauntlets from "Snowden's" front +porch to mount Traveler on the driveway. + +[Sidenote: _"Brompton" and "Mannsfield Hall"_] + +The old Marye home, Brompton, on far-famed Marye's Heights, is today a +handsome and imposing brick structure, with its white columned portico, +and its impressive and enticing doorway, so suggestive of good cheer and +hospitality. Each of these spots will appeal to all who see them, and each +will bring back from the rich past a memory of its own. + +Mannsfield Hall, a beautiful home below Fredericksburg, owned by Capt. R. +Conroy Vance is part of the original grant by the Virginia Company to +Major Thomas Lawrence Smith in 1671, his duty under the grant being to +keep at the mouth of the Massaponax a troop of 150 sharpshooters and to +erect a fort as protection against Indians. For this he was granted land +two miles north and two miles south of the Massaponax. + +The estate was known as Smithfield and the original house was of stone and +two dwellings still standing are now being used. The present house built +in 1805 was added to in 1906, and Smithfield was joined to Mannsfield, one +of the Page family estates. Mann Page in 1749 built the beautiful old +mansion of stone as a replica of the home of his second wife Judith +Tayloe, of Mount Airy, in Richmond County. This house was burned at the +close of the Civil War by accident, by the North Carolina soldiers +returning home. + +The Mannsfield Hall estate of today practically marks the right and left +of the contending armies during the battle of Fredericksburg, being +bounded on the south by the old Mine Road to Hamilton's Crossing which is +on the property. It was at Mannsfield that the great Virginia jurist, +Judge Brooke was born, the property being owned by that family until sold +in 1805 to the Pratts. + + +[Illustration: THE SENTRY BOX + +_Below, Where Gen. Mercer Lived. Above, Mansfield Hall, a Splendid Old +Home_] + + + + +_Church and School_ + + _How They Grew in the New World; Pathways to the Light._ + + +In the spring of 1877, during the rectorate of Reverend E. C. Murdaugh at +St. George's Church, questions arose as to certain forms of the Episcopal +ritual. Some of the members of the congregation approving Dr. Murdaugh's +views, believed them to be in perfect accord with the doctrines of the +church, but others felt that the introduction of these debated minor forms +was an innovation and tended towards a High Church ritual. These +discussions were followed by the resignation of Dr. Murdaugh, and his +followers assembled in old Citizen's Hall on the 7th day of August, 1877, +and steps were there taken to organize Trinity Church. + +Reverend Dr. Murdaugh was promptly called to the rectorship of the new +church, and Reverend Robert J. McBryde was called from the chaplaincy of +the University of Virginia, to fill the vacancy at St. George's. With the +kindly good fellowship, the tact, and the piety characteristic of his +Scotch ancestry, "he lived in accord with men of all persuasions" both in +the Mother Church and the youthful Trinity. + +This congregation first worshiped in the unoccupied Methodist Church on +Hanover Street, but on Christmas Day, 1881, they assembled in their own +attractive edifice, which had just been completed on the corner of Hanover +and Prince Edward Streets. Through the efforts of the Reverend J. Green +Shackelford, (who succeeded Dr. Murdaugh,) and the congregation, the debt +was finally paid, and on February 12, 1890, the church was consecrated by +Rt. Reverend Francis M. Whittle. + +One of the prominent characteristics of this congregation has ever been +the energy and perseverance with which they grapple discouraging problems, +and the unfailing and stubborn optimism of its women, out of which is +born that success which almost invariably crowns their oftentimes +unpromising efforts. Reverend John F. W. Feild, the present rector, is a +young man of unusual attainments, and under his able leadership the church +is a vigorous organization. A handsome parish house has been built. + + +THE BAPTIST CHURCH + +Very little credence has been put in the old superstition that an +inauspicious beginning implies the promise of a good ending, but the +Baptist Church here is a conspicuous example of the truth of the old +saying. + +In 1768 three Baptist zealots were imprisoned here on two charges: "for +preaching the gospel contrary to law," and, to use the words of the +attorney bringing the second charge, "May it please your worships, these +men cannot meet a man upon the road, but they must ram a text of scripture +down his throat." But this intrepid trio continued to preach their +doctrine, and to sing their hymns from the grated doors and windows of +their prison cells, and each day drew crowds of awed and interested +listeners. + +To the Rev. Andrew Broaddus, who organized the Church here in 1804, to +Reverend Thomas S. Dunaway, whose pastorate covered a period of thirty-two +years, to Reverend Emerson L. Swift, the present efficient pastor, and +many other able and faithful men, is the church indebted for the largest +membership in church and Sunday School in the city, the communion roll +numbering twelve hundred and eighty-nine members, and eight hundred and +twenty-eight officers, teachers, and pupils of the Sunday School. + +The present large and splendidly equipped building on the corner of +Princess Anne and Amelia Streets was erected in 1854, under the pastorate +of Reverend William F. Broaddus, and has had frequent additions as the +increasing activities and congregations demanded. Dr. Broaddus conducted a +successful school for young women in the basement of his church for +several years preceding the War between the States. + + +THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH + +To the Presbyterians belongs the distinction of having the oldest house of +worship in the town. The present brick edifice on George Street was +erected in 1833, the ground having been donated by Mrs. Robert Patton, the +daughter of General Hugh Mercer. At the time of the coming of Reverend +Samuel B. Wilson, as a domestic missionary in 1806, there were two +Presbyterians in the town--surely an unpromising outlook. + +This was about the time of the critical period in the life of the +Episcopal Church in Virginia. For various reasons many of St. George's +congregation had become dissatisfied. This fact strengthened by the +forceful intellectuality, and the magnetic sympathy of Dr. Wilson, brought +about the subsequent rapid growth of Presbyterianism, and proved that the +psychological moment had arrived for its development here. In 1810 their +first house of worship was built on the corner of Amelia and Charles +Streets. + +Adjacent to the present church on Princess Ann Street is the beautiful +chapel, built of Spotsylvania granite, through the donation of the late +Mr. Seth B. French of New York, in memory of a much loved daughter. + +Dr. Wilson resigned his pastorate in 1841, and among the names of his +efficient successors are Rev. A. A. Hodge, D. D., Rev. Thomas Walker +Gilmer, Rev. James Power Smith, and the present much loved pastor, Rev. +Robert C. Gilmore. + +Dr. Wilson organized the female school which was taught for years by him +at his residence on Charles and Lewis Streets, the former home of Mary +Ball Washington. One of his teachers, Miss Mary Ralls, continued this +school with great success, and admitted boys. How interesting would be the +register of this old school, if it were available today! The older +residents of the town remember well, and with pleasure, some of the men +who were educated there, and won distinction in their chosen fields. Among +others are Judge William S. Barton, John A. Elder, Judge Peter Gray, of +Texas, Dr. Howard Barton, of Lexington, Dr. Robert Welford, +Lieutenant-Governor John L. Marye, Byrd Stevenson, attorney, and the +Virginian historian, Robert R. Howison, LL. D. + +Dr. Francis A. March, the renowned philologist, and for years' president +of Lafayette College, taught school here for several years, assisting +Reverend George W. McPhail, the Presbyterian minister who succeeded Dr. +Wilson. Dr. March married Miss Mildred Conway, one of his pupils, and +General Peyton Conway March, so well known in military circles, is a son +of his, and is claimed by Fredericksburg, though he was not born here. + + +THE METHODIST CHURCH + +Shortly after the Revolution, the Methodists began to hold services here. +It is thought that for some years they had their meetings at private +residences, as there is no record of a house of worship until 1822, when a +church was erected on George Street, in the rear of where Hurkamp Park now +is. Reverend "Father" Kobler began his ministry here in 1789, and +continued for more than half a century. He died in 1843, and his ashes, +with those of his wife, repose today beneath the pulpit of the present +church. As a result of his godliness and assiduity, combined with the +fervor and zeal characteristic of that communion, the Methodists, under +the leadership of faithful men, have enjoyed a successive series of +prosperous years, materially and spiritually, culminating today in a +handsome, modern brick edifice on Hanover Street, well equipped for its +many activities, and a large membership both in Church and Sunday School. +Reverend H. L. Hout, the present pastor, is a conscientious, capable, and +intelligent leader. + + +ROMAN CATHOLIC + +Until a sermon of unusual ability and power was delivered here in 1856, by +Bishop McGill, of the Roman Catholic faith, that denomination had no +organization of any kind. This event, together with the energy and +enthusiasm of the small band of disciples of that faith, was the impetus +which forwarded the establishment of the church here in 1859. The visits +of Bishop Gibbons--the late Cardinal--and Bishop Keene greatly +strengthened the prospects of the church, and though its membership roll +is not a long one, it embraces today some of our solid and successful +citizens. They have erected a neat brick church, and comfortable parsonage +adjacent on Princess Anne Street. The priests who have officiated have +been men deserving the high esteem of the community, and well able to +carry on; the genial Father Thomas B. Martin is the present priest in +charge. + + +THE CAMPBELLITE CHURCH + +An inconspicuous red brick building on Main Street which has the +undeniable stamp of age, though decorated with a new and modern front, is +the Christian, or Campbellite Church, built in 1834. This was only two +years after Alexander Campbell, the eloquent founder of the sect, came +here to expound his creed, and to organize his church. Its little band of +workers has passed through many stages of discouragement, but with +fortitude and energy they have again and again revivified the spark of +life, which at times seemed to burn so low. The building was used, during +the War between the States, as a hospital. Under the leadership of +Reverend Landon Cutler, Reverend Cephas Shelburne, Reverend Samuel H. +Forrer, and others, with the labors of the present pastor, Reverend Daniel +E. Motley, the membership has of late been greatly increased. The Bible +used by Alexander Campbell on some of his visits here, is a highly +esteemed relic. + + +SOME SCHOOLS OF FREDERICKSBURG + +The Public School system was established here as early as 1870. At first +the schools were not well patronized, owing in part to the unusual and +well-merited success of the private schools, and old-time prejudice +against new methods, then termed "socialistic." Their popularity increased +with their efficiency, prejudice was entirely eliminated, and to-day we +have a splendid brick building on Main and Lewis Streets, which houses the +elementary grades, well-equipped and with a commodious auditorium. + +The handsome high school building on Liberty street has been completed +within the past year. It cost 125,000 and is a credit to the town. The +chief problem here is the lack of room to accommodate the unexpectedly +increasing number of lads and lasses who present themselves on the opening +September morn. More than several times have the efficient and painstaking +principal and teachers congratulated themselves on acquiring adequate +conditions for placing the pupils, when in an incredibly short time, +"congestion," and "half-day sessions," are again topics in school circles. + + +THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL + +The crowning glory of Fredericksburg in the educational line and probably +the most far-reaching in its benefits and results is the State Normal +School, established here by Act of the Virginia legislature in 1908, State +Senator C. O'Conner Goolrick being most active in securing its location +here. The massive buildings crown the apex of one of the most picturesque +slopes on the left of the far-famed Marye's Heights. An institution of +this caliber, in order to radiate the best in every line of its many +activities, must be apart from the business, social, and commercial life +of the community, and yet near enough to benefit from the many obvious +advantages its proximity to such a center affords. The Normal School fully +meets this condition. The drive of about a mile from the center of the +town is an interesting one, and, when the summit of the hill is reached, +the driveway circles around the imposing brick structures; the +Administration Building, Frances Willard Hall, Virginia Hall, Monroe Hall, +and others. To the east, in all its historic pride lies the ancient city. +To the west, beyond the carefully kept, and attractive campus, and over +the Athletic Field, nothing is visible but fields and forests and rolling +hills,--nature's handiwork,--and, as the eye sweeps the horizon, it is +arrested by more hills and dales of that region of our state named in +honor of that daring and picturesque character, "The Knight of the Golden +Horseshoe." + + +[Illustration: NEAR BLOODY ANGLE + +_Monument at the Spot Where General Sedgwick, of Connecticut, Was Killed +by a Confederate Sharpshooter_] + + +Under President A. B. Chandler, Jr., and a faculty of teachers chosen to +provide that type of instruction calculated to prepare young women for +successful vocations, the school is a success. + + +SCHOOLS OF OLD TIMES + +If justice were done to each of the excellent schools of varying +characteristics, in the old days of Fredericksburg, many times the space +allotted to this subject would be infringed upon. But at the risk of this +infringement, the names of some of the local educators of other days must +be included. Mr. Thomas H. Hanson was sometime Master of the +Fredericksburg Academy, that old school which is said to have begun its +existence on Gunnery Green, which in its early days disseminated the seeds +of learning to many youths, who afterwards became distinguished statesman. +Messrs. Powell and Morrison were principals of a girl's school in old +Citizens Hall; Mr. John Goolrick and son George educated some of our most +influential citizens of the past generation; Judge Richard H. Coleman +taught a school for boys at Kenmore, and also at Hazel Hill; Mrs. John +Peyton Little conducted a popular school for girls at her residence, the +old Union House on Main Street; Colonel W. Winston Fontaine had a large +school for girls, and at a later period Miss Frank Chinn, Miss Tillie +Slaughter, and others, and still later Miss Willie Schooler (Mrs. Frank +Page) conducted elementary schools, which by reason of their efficiency +gained great popularity. The school of the late Charles Wisner was largely +attended by both sexes. + + +FREDERICKSBURG COLLEGE + +The interesting building (now the home of Mr. W. E. Lang, Smithsonia) has +almost since its construction been closely associated with the religious +or educational life of the community. In it for years was conducted +successfully, under various teachers, a school for young ladies, always +under Presbyterian management. For years it housed some of the departments +of the Presbyterian Home and School, of which that popular and efficient +institution, familiarly known as The Fredericksburg College was a part. + +Founded in 1893 by Reverend A. P. Saunders, D. D., the beneficial +activities of this institution continued until 1915. Not only were the +widows and orphans of Presbyterian ministers the beneficiaries in many +ways, but it afforded unusually fine opportunities to the youth of the +town, and surrounding country, not only in the usual college courses, but +in its school of music and art as well. In many instances its graduates +have distinguished themselves at the University of Virginia, Johns +Hopkins, and elsewhere. + + +COLORED INSTITUTIONS + +The colored citizens of the town--and the phrase is synonymous with +law-abiding, respectful and intelligent citizens--have shown commendable +energy and interest in their churches and schools, as is manifested in the +substantial buildings housing their religious and educational activities. +Three churches, all of the Baptist denomination, each with its own pastor, +hold services regularly. Each has a large congregation and a flourishing +Sunday School. Though the equipment of both high and graded schools is +only fair, the corps of teachers, all of their own race, is as efficient +as anywhere in the State. + +"Shiloh Old Site" and "Shiloh New Site" are the leading colored churches, +and each of these has been steadily growing for years. + + + + +_The Church of England_ + + _First in Virginia, the Church of England Has the Longest History._ + + +It has been said, and by reliable searchers after historical truths, that +the first Christian shrine in America was built by Spanish missionaries, +and on the site where now stands the City of Fredericksburg. But as no +proof has been found, we relinquish this claim, and find our first +authentic beginnings of Christianity in an old entry found in the records +of Spotsylvania County, 1724: "Information brought by Thomas Chew, Church +warden, against John Diggs for absenting himself from the place of divine +worship; he is fined ten shillings, or one hundred pounds of tobacco, or +must receive corporal punishment in lieu thereof, as the law directs." +These were days in the infant colony when religious freedom had no place. +Legislation was paramount and, though never since those times has the need +of the gospel been so obvious, the people had to accept the Minister that +"His Honorable, the Governor," sent them. + +St. George's parish and the early history of Fredericksburg are +inseparably linked. Affairs of Church and affairs of State were embodied +in one system. + +In the main the character and manner of living of the early ministers of +the Church of England here were not in accord with the dignity of their +mission. Incidents so indicating were not at all unusual: on one occasion +a clergyman of gigantic size and strength had a rough and tumble fight +with members of his vestry, in which the laymen were knocked out. The +burly Englishman took as his text the following Sunday, "And I contended +with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off +their hair." Bishop Meade says, "Surely God must have greatly loved this +branch of his Holy Catholic Church, or he would not have borne so long +with her unfaithfulness, and so readily forgiven her sins." But happily, +all those who in the olden days ministered in the Parish of St. George +were not of this type. + +[Sidenote: _Some of the Early Rectors_] + +St. George's Parish and the County of Spotsylvania were contemporaneously +established in 1720. The first official record of the parish extant is the +notice of the vestry meeting on January 16, 1726, at Mattaponi, one of the +three churches then in the parish, Reverend Theodosius Staige, minister. +Reverend Rodman Kennor succeeded Mr. Staige. It was not until the 10th of +April, 1732, that Colonel Henry Willis contracted to build a church on the +site of the present St. George's, seventy-five thousand pounds of tobacco +being the consideration. After much discussion accompanied by usual +excitement, the State urging its claims and the vestry not indifferent as +to who "His Honorable, the Governor," would send them, the Reverend +Patrick Henry, uncle of the famous Patrick Henry, became minister. Colonel +Henry Willis and Colonel John Waller, "or he that first goes to +Williamsburgh" is desired to return thanks to His Honor. + +Reverend Patrick Henry resigned his charge in 1734, and Sir William Gooch, +Governor, sent a Mr. Smith, who, on account of his "faithfulness or the +contrary," was very generally disliked, and after two sermons, left. The +names of two ministers, father and son, appear successively on the +interesting old yellow rolls at this time, Reverend James Marye, Sr., and +Reverend James Marye, Jr. who officiated at St. George's for almost half a +century, and who were faithful and zealous. The salary of these men was +fixed by law at sixteen thousand pounds of tobacco. It is impossible to +compute with accuracy this equivalent in English money, "minister's +tobacco" representing many varieties, and its value seeming to fluctuate. +In general four pounds of tobacco equaled one shilling. The elder Marye +married Letitia Mary Ann Staige, the sister of the first rector; and +Yeamans Smith, who built the attractive country seat "Snowden" in 1806, +married Ann Osborne, a daughter of James Marye, Jr. From these families +are lineally descended many of the worshipers at old St. George's today. + +[Sidenote: _The Oldest Cemetery Here_] + +In 1751 the first bell, the gift of John Spotswood, was used. In 1755 the +legislature passed an act directing that each parish should provide for +the maintenance of the poor, thus the first "poor-house" was established. +In 1722 an act was passed by the General Assembly relating to the +churchyard, and authorizing the vestry to reduce the dimensions thereof. +This small and interesting spot, so carefully maintained today, was used +as "God's Acre," before the legal establishment of Fredericksburg in 1727. +Contiguous to the church on the north, this little "City of the dead," is +a grassy hillside, sloping gently to the east; and amid the sturdy elms +and maples, the graceful fronds and purple blossoms of the wistaria and +lilac, the old fashioned roses, the clinging ivy and periwinkle, rest the +ashes of those who helped to make the Fredericksburg of long, long ago. We +love to think of those noted personages sleeping there, that + + "It is not hard to be a part of the garden's pageantry + When the heart climbs too, set free." + +Colonel Fielding Lewis, of Kenmore, and his three infant grandchildren, +sleep beneath the old stone steps of the church. William Paul, the brother +of John Paul Jones, is under the linden tree. Archibald McPherson, the +generous Scotchman and friend of the poor, sleeps under a tangle of ivy +and roses. Reverend E. C. McGuire and his relict, Judith Lewis, great +niece of General Washington lie close to the loved old church beneath the +weeping willow. Under the shade of the same beautiful tree, sleeps the +father of Martha Washington, Colonel John Dandridge of New Kent County. +Others, well known, are not far away. + +Reverend James Marye, Jr., a faithful scion of the Huguenot faith, taught +a parochial school here, which George Washington as a youth attended. It +is thought to have been at this school that he wrote, under Mr. Marye's +dictation, his celebrated "Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior," the +original of which is preserved among the country's archives. The faithful +service of Reverend James Marye, Jr., ended with his death on October 1, +1780, and during seven years following the parish was without a minister. + +In 1785 agreeably to the law passed in the legislature giving all +Christian denominations the privilege of incorporation, the people of St. +George's Church met, and elected the following vestrymen: John Chew, John +Steward, Mann Page, Thomas Colson, Thomas Crutcher, Daniel Branham, Thomas +Sharp and James Lewis. + +In 1787 Reverend Thomas Thornton was unanimously elected rector of the +church. Steady faith, unaffected piety, ability to associate the dignity +of the minister with the familiarity of the man, are some of the +characteristics which his biographers have attributed to him, and which +made him acceptable to all classes. It was during his ministrations that +the Fredericksburg Academy was held in such high estimation. Many eminent +men have attended this old school. + +[Sidenote: _Washington's Last Attendance_] + +Four pews in the gallery of St. George's were reserved for the use of the +professors and students. An interesting incident which occurred at this +time is told by Judge John T. Lomax, then a small boy. An addition to the +galleries had just been completed, when George Washington, with freshly +won honors, came on what proved to be his last visit to his mother, and as +usual attended service at St George's Church. Because of the presence of +the hero, a great crowd gathered. Suddenly, during the service, there was +heard from the galleries the sound of creaking timbers; this proved to be +only the settling of the new rafters, which had not been well adjusted, +but which caused great fear and excitement in the congregation. + +After the resignation of Mr. Thornton in 1792, the following names appear +on the church rolls, and follow each other in quick succession: Reverend +John Woodville, James Stevenson, Abner Waugh, Samuel Low and George +Strebeck. During the ministry of Reverend James Stevenson two institutions +of learning were established, and the benefit and advantages derived +therefrom are felt to this day. The male Charity School had its beginnings +in 1795, with these gentlemen as subscribers: Benjamin Day, Charles Yates, +Elisha Hall, William Lovell, Fontaine Maury, George French and Daniel +Henderson. + +Though this school ceased to exist years ago, there are still three stone +tablets inset in the wall of the old building on Hanover Street, where the +sessions of this school were held. (This building has been rejuvenated +lately, and is now the home of the Christian Science Society.) These +tablets are in memory of three of Fredericksburg's philanthropists, +Archibald McPherson, who died in 1754, bequeathing his property to the +poor of the town, Benjamin Day and Thomas Colson, whose services to the +school were many and valuable and whose charity was broad. + +[Sidenote: _The Female Charity School_] + +The Female Charity School was established in 1802, by the women of St. +George's parish, generously assisted financially by Miss Sophia Carter, of +Prince William County, and is still maintained to this day; their present +substantial brick building on upper Main Street has been occupied since +1836 and houses at the present time eight happy little maidens who, with +their predecessors numbering into many hundreds, would probably, without +its gracious influence have grown into womanhood without a spark of that +light attained by education and religious influence. + +But notwithstanding these blessings times grew sad for the Church of +England in Virginia. The Revolution in which each was involved was +destructive to the upbuilding of the Church and the growth of Virginia. +The results of that war were many and far reaching. The church had been +closely associated with that tyrannical government which the people had +now thrown off. Its liturgy, its constitution, its ministry and members +were naturally subjects of criticism, prejudice and abuse. Having had the +strong right arm of a strong government for protection, it was now forced +to stand alone, and it seemed for a while to totter, and almost to fall. + +Such were the conditions under which Reverend Edward C. McGuire took +charge of St. George's Church in 1813. In writing of his reception here he +says, "I was received with very little cordiality, in consequence I +suppose of the shameful conduct of several ministers who preceded me in +this place.... Under these disastrous circumstances, I commenced a career +most unpromising in the estimation of men." + +Nevertheless, this inexperienced young man of thirty years proved that by +living himself the gospel of truth and love and preaching "simplicity and +godly sincerity," he could overcome those difficulties implied in the +hopeless condition which prevailed at the outset of his ministry, when, we +are told, there were only eight or ten communicants of the church. But his +long ministry of forty-five years was one of prosperity and blessing. + +[Sidenote: _New Edifice Consecrated_] + +In 1816 the second church on the same site and this time a brick edifice, +was consecrated and Bishop Moore confirmed a class of sixty persons. +Reverend Philip Slaughter says in his history of St. George's Parish, +published in 1847, "There is apparently but one thing wanting to the +outward prosperity of this congregation and that is, room for its +growth.... I trust that the parishioners will build such a house for God +... as will be a fit monument for their thankfulness ... a suitable reward +to their venerable pastor for his life-long devotion to their service." +His hope materialized, for in the fall of 1849 the present beautiful +edifice was completed. A few years after the completion of this building, +July 9, 1854, a fire occurred, and the church was damaged. The loss was +covered by insurance, and the building quickly restored to its former +beauty. There is an authenticated story told in connection with this fire; +the day succeeding the fire there was found, on the Chatham bridge, the +charred and blackened remnant of a leaf from an old Bible and almost the +only words legible was the significant verse from Isaiah, _Our holy and +our beautiful house, where our fathers praised Thee, is burned up with +fire and all our pleasant things are laid waste_. + +[Sidenote: _Some Notable Vestrymen_] + +Shortly before the death of Dr. McGuire, in 1858, the climax of his +ministry was realized in the class of eighty-eight souls, which he +presented to Bishop Meade for confirmation. Reverend Alfred M. Randolph, +afterwards beloved Bishop of the diocese, succeeded Dr. McGuire, and in +chronological order came Rev. Magruder Maury, Rev. Edmund C. Murdaugh, D. +D., Rev. Robert J. McBryde, Rev. J. K. Mason, Rev. William M. Clarke, Rev. +William D. Smith, Rev. Robert J. McBryde, D. D., the second time, and Rev. +John J. Lanier, scholar and author, who is the present rector. + +These men were all more or less gifted with a high degree of mentality and +spirituality. Of a later and another day they were potent agents in +diffusing the blessed light which must emanate from the church. + +For nearly two centuries St. George's Church, its three edifices each more +costly and imposing than its predecessor, has commanded the summit of the +hill at Princess Anne and George Streets. Its interesting tablets and +beautiful windows tell in part, the story of its engaging past. + +In glancing over that precious manuscript, the old parish vestry book, +which numbers its birthdays by hundreds of years, names familiar to every +student of American history are noted. Colonel Fielding Lewis is there and +General Hugh Mercer, General George Weedon, and Colonel Charles +Washington, also Dr. Charles Mortimer, the physician of Mary Washington. +Others dear to the hearts of old Fredericksburgers are Reuben T. Thom, who +held the unusual record of serving the vestry for a successive period of +fifty-two years; Zachary Lewis, attorney to his majesty, the King of +England; Lewis Willis, grandfather of Catherine, Princess Murat; Captain +John Herndon, Francis Thornton, Ambrose Grayson, Francis Talliaferro, +Robert Beverly; but for the fact that there is such a vast assemblage of +names, interesting to the generation of today, an entertaining recital of +them in this brief sketch, would be possible. + + + + +_The 250th Birthday_ + + _Fredericksburg Celebrates an Anniversary_ + + +Many months were given to preparation for this greatest event in the +modern history of Fredericksburg, the celebration of her 250th birthday as +a chartered community. Much thought was spent on how best to portray the +Town's history from the granting of the "Lease Lands" by Governor Berkley, +in May, 1671, to be settled by the Colonists. + +The entire city officially and individually had given itself up, +practically, to staging a Celebration befitting the unique occasion. All +the hard working committees declared things ready for the Morning of the +25th of May, when the ceremonies of the day would begin at nine o'clock +with an official reception to delegates with credentials, and special +guests of the city, at the Court House. Doubtful ones had not lacked +prediction of failure, and they were confirmed in their fears when the +early morning began with a thunder storm and down pour. The stout hearted +and faithful who had carried on the work were, however, at their posts of +duty, and gladly saw the sun break through just in time for the opening +festivities. The entire city was elaborately decorated, flags flying and +"the colors" displayed in bunting on every home and building. A program, +replete with events, half solemn, gay or merry, was arranged for the day, +of which every moment was taken up. Never before in its varied history did +such an air of gayety envelop the city. Visitors flocked to Fredericksburg +and long before the beginning thousands had gathered, sidewalks, steps and +porches were crowded with merry throngs in carnival mood. While the +thousands of visitors were pouring into the town by railroad and by +highway the celebration was formally inaugurated when the official guests +appeared at the courthouse and presented Chairman W. L. Brannan of the +Celebration Committee, and Mayor J. Garnett King their credentials, +which will become a part of the archives of the town. This formality took +but a few minutes. + + +[Illustration: FEDERAL HILL + +_Built by Judge Brooke, Brother of Surgeon Brooke, of the Bon Homme +Richard_] + + +At nine thirty A. M., exercises were held on Lewis Street to mark the +boundaries of the Lease Lands, which was done under the auspices of the A. +P. V. A., one of whose members, Mrs. V. M. Fleming, had in searching old +records, come across the forgotten document of the Lease Lands and worked +hard for the celebration. A granite marker was unveiled with the following +ceremonies: + + Opening prayer--Rev. R. C Gilmore. + + Address--Dr. J. P. Smith, introduced by Dr. Barney. + + Unveiling--by Jacquelin Smith, a descendant of Lawrence Smith, first + Commander of the town. + + Acceptance--Mayor J. Garnett King. + + Benediction--Rev. J. J. Lanier. + +These exercises were very impressive and largely attended. + +Receptions, addresses by distinguished guests, parades of soldiers and +marines, veterans of three wars and descendants of Indians were all on the +program which followed and fascinated the crowds at various points. In +front of the Princess Anne Hotel was presented a lively scene, with one of +the bands of marines from Quantico playing on the balcony while throngs of +gaily dressed women, citizens, officials and marine officers made up a +remarkably brilliant ensemble. + +[Sidenote: _Real Indians In War Dance_] + +One of the most interesting numbers of the morning program was an Indian +War Dance, in costume, by members of the Rappahannock tribe of Indians, +actual descendants of the men who concluded the first treaty with Capt. +John Smith. This was in the City Park at 11:30 A. M. The tribal dances +were most picturesque and were in keeping with the birthday celebration. A +concert by the Marine Band followed the exhibition by the Indians. The +other principal point of interest at the same time was Washington Avenue +where the Fort Myer Cavalry Troop gave an exhibition of wonderful skill. +These manoeuvers were magnificently executed and received with +enthusiastic applause by the crowd. The Troops fell in line at the +whistle. The two platoons then broke from the center and executed column +right and left respectively. The first platoon executed troopers by the +left flank and the second platoon serpentined in and out. The whole troop +spiraled and unwound at a gallop, then executed by fours by the left flank +center and rode to the opposite end of the field. + +[Sidenote: _The Distinguished Guests_] + +A large platform at the north end of Washington Avenue held the speakers, +and the specially invited guests. Among the distinguished guests and +delegates present were His Excellency, Westmoreland Davis, his staff of 15 +members, Mrs. Davis, Hon. Herbert L. Bridgman, member of the New York +State Board of Regents and author, journalist and scientist, Hon. Chas. +Beatty Alexander, vice-president general of the Society of the Cincinnati, +and millionaire philanthropist, of New York, Gen. Smedley D. Butler, U. S. +M. C., Quantico, Gen. John A. Lejeune, U. S. M. C., Senator Claude A. +Swanson, Washington, Col. F. Nash Bilisoly, State Commissioner of +Fisheries; Chief George Nelson, Rappahannock Indians; Chief G. N. Cooke, +Pamunkies; Chief C. Costello, Mattaponi, Chief O. W. Adkins, Chickahominy, +John Halsey, representing the Sons of Revolution of New Jersey; Mrs. +Archibald R. Harmon, representative of the city of Philadelphia; Capt. M. +W. Davis, commander of cavalry from Fort Myer; Major Walter Guest Kellog, +Regent of the State of New York; Newbold Noyes, associate editor and part +owner of the Washington Star; Major General Adelbert Cronkite, commander, +80th division U. S. Army and others. As a native of Fredericksburg a warm +welcome was accorded to Admiral Robert S. Griffin, who has won fame and +distinction in the U. S. Navy and he was accompanied by his son, Commander +Griffin. Dr. Kate Waller Barrett, born in Stafford County, and a woman +widely known for her activities in philanthropic and social work, was +another who received marked attention. + +Mayor J. Garnett King was the official host of the city, and so well were +his arduous duties performed that no one felt neglected. The Chairman, +President W. L. Brannan, of the Chamber of Commerce, presided, and under +his skillful direction these ceremonies were conducted harmoniously and +impressively. Mr. Brannan did the hardest work in organizing the +Anniversary Celebration and its success was largely due to his energies +and efforts and efficiency. + +[Sidenote: _Mr. C. B. Alexander's Address_] + +Following the cavalry drill about 11:15 A. M., Hon. Chas. Beatty +Alexander, LL. D., LITT. D., vice-president general of the Society of the +Cincinnati and a Regent of the State of New York, was introduced by Judge +John T. Goolrick and made the following address of which we quote a few +words: + +"When I was about ten years of age I was sent with my Aunt, Janett +Alexander, the daughter of Archibald Alexander, of Rockbridge County, +Virginia, to visit at Chatham, I can vividly recall the generous yet +well-ordered life which prevailed at that time under the benign auspices +of the beautiful Mrs. J. Horace Lacy, with her noble husband, and I +remember the huge wood fires in every room and the delicious Virginia +food. Each of us in the house, I remember, was furnished with a body +servant who was charged with the duty of seeing that we were made +thoroughly comfortable. I was shown the interesting tree under which it +was said that General Washington and General Lee both proposed to their +future wives and I am interested to learn that the Rev. James Power Smith, +A. D. C. to Stonewall Jackson, also under that very tree proposed to the +lovely Agnes Lacy, the daughter of the house. + +Every night the family and guests would gather around the huge log fire +and discuss the issues of the day. On the way South I had been taken to +the Senate to hear Senator Crittenton present his famous compromise. I +also had the pleasure of spending the Christmas day of 1859 at the Seddons +house, at Snowden, about eight miles from here. Their home was destroyed +later by order of General Benj. F. Butler, Mr. Seddon's brother, James A. +Seddon, being Secretary of War of the Confederacy. I can readily recall +the appearance of the streets of Fredericksburg." + +Before Dr. Alexander completed his address, over in the City Park a few +blocks away, real Rappahannock Indians, descendants of those redskins who +inhabited this area, launched into a series of yells, with accompanying +dances and waving of tomahawks over their heads, and gave to the people an +exhibition of the tribal dance of their ancestors, a preliminary to an +informal severance of diplomatic relations with pale faces or some other +tribe of Indians that had incurred their enmity. This spectacular ceremony +was accompanied by music from a band representing a modern fighting +element, the marines. + +[Sidenote: _Banquets and Luncheons_] + +Again the crowd scattered over the city. People kept open house that day. +Besides the private entertaining, large dinners were served in Hurkamp +Park, and other selected places to thousands of marines from Quantico, as +well as to all those who came unprovided with their own luncheons. A +banquet was given by the city at Princess Anne Hotel to two hundred +invited guests. Prior to the luncheon a reception was held there by +Governor Davis, who shook hands with hundreds of people. Practically a +reception was in progress at this hotel during the whole morning. Many +ladies had been appointed by the Chairman and the Mayor on the official +Reception Committee. They met there at nine o'clock in the morning to +greet the guests. The luncheon was beautifully appointed and served at +round tables, holding eight. A long table extended across the end of the +large dining hall, where sat Governor Davis and Mrs. Davis, the speakers +and other distinguished guests, Mayor and Mrs. King, Chairman Brannan, +Judge John T. Goolrick and other city officials and their wives. Music was +furnished during the luncheon by the Franklin Orchestra of the city. + +After the luncheon, the biggest event of the Celebration, the Parade +started to move. It is not the part of this historian to describe the work +or the executive ability of those in charge, that led up to the final +accomplishment of this pageant of exquisite beauty, or the forty-five +floats exhibited in this parade. The scenes were perfect and carried out +the idea of the town's history. Mrs. L. L. Coghill, Chairman of this, the +principal feature of the Anniversary Celebration, worked out the entire +scheme giving her personal attention to each float, in the outline of its +general plan, details and coloring. The beauty and reality of the parade +surprised even the most optimistic. The closest attention was paid to the +genuine historical aspects of each period visualized, and the characters +and costumes were wisely chosen. The parade was nearly two miles long, and +took one hour to pass in review. A fleet of airplanes circled over the +city and gave a modern touch to the picturesque setting. + +To Mrs. Coghill and her committee the multitude paid tribute in applause. + +[Sidenote: _The Order of Parade_] + +Led by a platoon of police, the parade passed as follows: Chief Marshall +Edgar M. Young and his two chief aides, W. S. Embrey and J. Conway +Chichester. Three color-bearers, one each for the American flag, the +Colonial flag and the Virginia State flag followed. The music for this, +the first division, was furnished by the United States Cavalry Band from +Fort Myer and behind it came Troop K, 3rd United States Cavalry, Fort +Myer. The glistening brown horses and the snappy appearance of the +troopers brought forth the plaudits of the crowds. The United States +Marine Post Band, from Quantico, followed, heading the second division, +which was composed entirely of floats giving Fredericksburg's 250 years in +picture. This display arranged under the direction of Mrs. L. L. Coghill, +brought forth most favorable comment. No important point in +Fredericksburg's long series of historic events was overlooked. + +[Sidenote: _Some of the Beautiful Floats_] + +It began with floats of the four tribes of Indians in this section which +recognized the great king Powhatan as their ruler, the Mattaponi, +Chickahominy, Pamunkey and the Rappahannock tribes. The war paint of the +redskins stood out in deep contrast to the pure white of the floats. On +down through the days of Capt. John Smith and the men who established a +colony here came the floats, depicting and demonstrating in brilliant +succession the history of the town in every aspect of its political and +social life. There was Washington and his cherry tree, Washington as the +student, John Paul Jones who once worked in a store here; Revolutionary +generals; ducking stools, pillories and stocks; the peace ball attended by +Washington and his officers; "To live and Die in Dixie," showing typical +darkies before the war; "The Blue and Gray", Dr. James P. Smith, last of +"Stonewall" Jackson's staff, who participated in other festivities during +the day, and Maj. T. B. Robinson, of the Union Army, riding side by side +in an old shay drawn by the principal motive power of that day, oxen. One +of the purposes of the celebration of the city's 250th birthday was to +acquaint the public with Fredericksburg's past, and certainly that past +was visibly before the eyes of the onlookers. Each float in passing +received its meed of praise and applause. It would be a pleasure to +describe them all, but the scope of the present volume will permit only a +brief sketch of this beautiful feature. + +The Knights of the Golden Horseshoe, personified by the gallant boys of +Spotsylvania, represented this splendid band of former Virginians whose +ride across the mountains brought them everlasting fame. + +"Virginia" was truly regal in its setting. Between four white eagle topped +columns a beautiful and stately young woman clad in white and gold +draperies stood over the prostrate form of the tyrant imperiously +proclaiming in her pose "Sic Semper Tyrannis", the proud motto of the +State. + +The shades of morning were used to make this one of the most attractive of +the floats, it being our Dawn of Day. Pink draperies with morning glories +twining over them--pink, blue, white and purple, presented a beautiful +background for the figures of the typical group of men and women +presenting and receiving the "Leased Land" commission from Governor +Berkeley. + +The float of the period of 1608, which well represented the story +intended, was the Captain John Smith float. That distinguished man with +his two companions, was shown mooring his boat, on the shore of the +Rappahannock. An old Indian and his young son (real Indians of the +Pamunkey tribe) were stepping into the boat, intensely interested in the +beads and other baubles which Captain Smith temptingly holds out as +barter. + +An unique and most interesting feature was the coach containing "Col. +Henry Willis"--the top man of the town--and Col. William Byrd and his +fifteen year old wife going to visit at Willis Hill. The coach was mounted +high and the body glass encased, with steps that let down; there were old +time tallow candles in holders for light. Sitting in state with her lordly +spouse and the top man of the town, was the quaint and pretty little +fifteen year old bride, doubtless enjoying the mimic occasion as much as +her predecessor did the real one. + +[Sidenote: _Floats Depict Town's Story_] + +The float "Revolutionary Generals of Fredericksburg" was one that brought +much cheering. A group of popular young men in Colonial uniforms with +swords and side arms, representing Washington, Mercer, Weedon and others, +were the principals in this. + +Following this came one representing our first postoffice. General Weedon, +Postmaster; scene taken from the small room in the Rising Sun Tavern, and +the characters all descendants of General Weedon. + +The "Peace Ball" float was copied from the celebrated painting, a colored +engraving of which (given by Mr. Gordon) hangs over the mantel in the Mary +Washington House. This was gorgeous in decorations of black and gold, +which threw into high relief the picturesque costumes and coloring of +Colonial days. Mary Washington, her son George, and the young French lord +Lafayette were the outstanding figures. + +The Ducking Stool, showing also a Pillory, Stocks, and a refractory wife +perched upon the stool about to receive a ducking, caused much hilarity. + +The Battles of "Fredericksburg" and "Appomattox" were realistic in effect, +the latter shown by an old Confederate soldier leaning on his musket with +the beloved flag he followed for four years furled amidst the stacked +guns. + +"To live and die in Dixie" may well be described as a scene typical of the +"Old South." A negro cabin ornamented with pine saplings and an old darkey +sitting at ease with his pipe, in the doorway, and just outside a +contented "old Mammy," in characteristic pose. The really excellent +pageant came down to the present day with "Woman's Work." "The American +Legion"--"Armistice" and "The Hope of the Future"--the latter an immense +float filled with happy children. Even after the passing of the last float +there was little diminution of the masses of people on Washington +Avenue--apparently their favorite stage setting. + +A Marine Band concert filled in an hour or more, delighting the audience +with a wide range of selections. + +[Sidenote: _Chorus Songs Are Thrilling_] + +Grouped on the immense platform a chorus of one hundred voices followed. +The program was attractively arranged with a series of period songs, +several of which were illustrated with tableaux. The solemn strains of +"America" were thrillingly rendered amid patriotic scenes, the people +standing between the monument to Mary the Mother of Washington, and that +of the gallant Revolutionary General Hugh Mercer, and on ground +consecrated by the blood of the armies of the North and the South in the +Civil War where each army had planted, at different times, its guns, and +on ground that belonged to Washington's family. The hills of the +Rappahannock, once crowned so threateningly with battlements of artillery, +echoed the volume of sound, until it rung across the valley. + +"The Land of Sky Blue Water" a period song, rendered by Mr. Taylor Scott +in his magnificent baritone, was illustrated with an Indian tableau posed +by State Normal School students in costume. "Hail Columbia" by an entire +chorus and "Drink to me only with Thine Eyes" a song of Colonial period, +by male voices. "The Star Spangled Banner" period of 1812 was sung with +tableau by American Soldiers. + + +[Illustration: "THE 250TH BIRTHDAY" + +_Three of the Floats in the Parade, May 21, 1921_] + + +Civil War Period: "Old Folks at Home," "The Roses Nowhere Bloom So Fair As +In Virginia," tune of "Maryland, My Maryland," "Carry Me Back to Ole +Virginia," by a bevy of young girls attired in frocks of "the sixties." + +The Battle Hymn of the Republic and Dixie with its ever inspiring melody +were sung, and then the Spanish American War period exemplified by "A Hot +Time in the Old Town To-Night." + +The songs and tableaux of the World War period struck a more tender note, +and revived in many hearts the anxieties and sorrows of that epoch in the +World's History, when days of apprehension and sleepless nights were the +"common fate of all." The Tableau shown with it, represented a Red Cross +Nurse, a Soldier and a Sailor of the United States. + +"Auld Lang Syne," sung by the Chorus, ended the Concert and the great +crowd scattered like leaves before the wind, many hastening to attend +private receptions, others to get ready for the public ball at the +Princess Anne Hotel at which would gather all the notables who had helped +to make the day successful. The Mayor of the City, Dr. King and Mrs. King, +gave an official reception at their home on Prince Edward Street tendered +to Governor and Mrs. Davis and other guests of the Anniversary occasion. +Among the special guests present, in addition to Gov. and Mrs. Davis and +staff, were Gen. and Mrs. John A. LeJeune and staff, Gen. Smedley D. +Butler, Hon. Herbert L. Bridgman and Hon. Chas. B. Alexander. Several +hundred citizens of the city called and met Fredericksburg's distinguished +guests. The reception was a brilliant and most enjoyable affair. + +Later Mr. and Mrs. C. O'Connor Goolrick entertained at a smaller reception +a number of their friends and some invited guests of the city, including +many of those at the reception given by the Mayor. + +[Sidenote: _Mr. Whitbeck Entertains_] + +The reception at "Kenmore" to all visiting men, and men citizens was one +of the biggest affairs of the evening, and the hospitality of the host, +Mr. H. A. Whitbeck, made the occasion especially pleasant. An hour or +more was spent in good fellowship, the mingling of old friends and hearty +greetings to new ones. "Kenmore," grand old mansion that it is, was +resplendent under the lights and beautiful decorations and Mr. Whitbeck's +party for the men was one of the most attractive of all the social events. + +[Sidenote: _Ball at the Princess Anne_] + +As a fitting climax to the unique celebration which will go down the +annals of Fredericksburg as one of the greatest in its history, was a +Colonial ball at Hotel Princess Anne. In the early part of the evening the +hotel was crowded with a merry throng of guests which almost prohibited +dancing for the lack of space. The lobby, ladies' parlor and ball room +were filled to overflowing with handsomely gowned women and men in evening +clothes. With an unusually good orchestra from the Marine Post at Quantico +supplying the music, the ball was opened by a grand march, led by Governor +Westmoreland Davis and Mrs. Judge John T. Goolrick, who wore a handsome +evening dress of sapphire blue. + +As the evening advanced the crowd of spectators which occupied much of the +floor space, thinned out and more room was available for the dancing +couples. About midnight a supply of horns, confetti and streamers were +distributed to all present and the dance assumed a merry cabaret aspect. +The orchestra was full of pep, as were the dancers, and the scene was one +of much gaiety and fun. Dancing continued until two o'clock Thursday +morning, when lights were out and the gayest day in the long annals of the +Picture City between the hills of the Rappahannock, "historic +Fredericksburg," became one of her treasured memories; not to be +forgotten, but to be kept alive with her traditions by the descendants of +the splendid men and women who have made and preserved her history, and +caused her to become known to the world. + + + + +_Appendix_ + + +Thomas Jefferson in the Virginia Convention of 1776 was the successful +patron and aggressive advocate of the resolution for the appointment of a +Committee to revise certain laws in order that they might be in accordance +with and conform to the changed status and conditions of the State, from a +Colony of Great Britain to an independent sovereignty. + +This Committee, consisting of Thomas Jefferson, George Mason of Gunston +Hall, George Wythe, Edmund Pendleton and Thomas L. Lee, met in the Rising +Sun Tavern in Fredericksburg on January 13, 1777, where they inaugurated +and formulated bills of great and far reaching import, which were +subsequently enacted into laws by the Legislature of Virginia and followed +by the other thirteen States of the Confederation. + +These four bills were then considered as forming a system by which every +fibre of ancient or future aristocracy would be eradicated and a +foundation laid for a government truly republican. + +To only four of these we make reference--namely-- + +THE REPEAL OF THE OLD ENGLISH LAWS OF PRIMOGENITURE then the law of the +State, by which the eldest son as a matter of law and right became by +descent entitled to property rights and privileges above and beyond all +other heirs:-- + +THE REPEAL OF ALL ENTAIL which would prevent the accumulation and +perpetuation of wealth in select families and preserve the soil of the +country for its people, thus promoting an equality of opportunity for the +average citizen:-- + +THE ESTABLISHMENT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION AND OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS FOR ALL +CHILDREN--OF COLLEGES TEACHING THE HIGHEST GRADE OF SCIENCE--From this has +evolved the present public school system, and Jefferson being saturated +with this idea commenced by the establishment of the University of +Virginia. A great service performed by this Committee fostered and largely +encouraged by Jefferson and Mason was its BILL FOR RELIGIOUS +FREEDOM--which met with more active opposition than did the other three, +for it did not become a law until 1785. By it the State received its +charter of divorcement from the Church--religion and politics were +separated. It provided "that henceforth no man could be compelled to +frequent or support any religious worship place or ministry, but all men +should be free to profess and by argument maintain their opinions in +matters of religion and the same should in no wise diminish, enlarge or +effect their civil capacity." + +No elaborate or extended thesis or dissertation on the too apparent +merits, virtue, value and importance of these measures, in this brief +sketch, is attempted. The purpose really being, with emphasis, to declare +without successful contradiction or any possible doubt or dispute _that in +the Rising Sun Tavern at Fredericksburg on January 13, 1777_, these all +pervading, all important laws of the greatest import were formulated and +inaugurated by the Committee referred to. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Historic Fredericksburg, by John T. 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Goolrick + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: Historic Fredericksburg + The Story of an Old Town + +Author: John T. Goolrick + +Release Date: April 9, 2012 [EBook #39403] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORIC FREDERICKSBURG *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" /></div> + +<p> </p><p> </p> + +<h1><span class="smcap">Historic Fredericksburg</span></h1> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 600px; height: 379px;"><img src="images/img01.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Fredericksburg from Stafford</span><br /> +<i>Showing the Steeple that was Used as a Signal Station by Both Armies</i></p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 600px; height: 380px;"><img src="images/img02.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">On the Wilderness Battlefield</span><br /> +<i>President Harding, John T. Goolrick and Gen. Smedley D. Butler</i></p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="giant"><span class="smcap">Historic<br /> +Fredericksburg</span></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="large"><i>The Story of an Old Town</i></span></p> +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><i>By</i><br /> +<span class="large"><span class="smcap">John T. Goolrick</span></span><br /> +<small>AUTHOR OF</small><br /> +“<i>The Life of General Hugh Mercer</i>”<br /> +“<i>Irishmen in the Civil War</i>”<br /> +<i>Etc.</i></p> +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><i>Printed In U.S.A.<br /> +by</i><br /> +<small>WHITTET & SHEPPERSON RICHMOND VA.</small><br /> +<i>Photographs By</i><br /> +<small>DAVIS GALLERY, FREDERICKSBURG VA.</small></p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center"><small>COPYRIGHT, 1922<br /> +JOHN T. GOOLRICK</small></p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="large">This Book is Dedicated</span><br /> +To one who has not failed her friends, or her duty.<br /> +Who has given freely of her best.<br /> +Whose faith has not faltered, nor courage dimmed.<br /> +Who has held high her ideals; who has lighted<br /> +a pathway for those she loves.<br /> +<span class="large">To My Wife</span></p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> +<p class="title"><i>Contents</i></p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="table"> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">In The Older Days</span></td> + <td><span class="spacer"> </span></td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="dent"><i>One by one the little cabins are built along the river bank</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">After the Revolution</span></td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="dent"><i>In the days of its glory, the Old Town was famed and prosperous</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">War’s Worst Horrors</span></td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="dent"><i>Shelled by 181 guns for hours, the town becomes a crumbled ruin</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">The First Battle</span></td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="dent"><i>When, at Marye’s Heights and Hamilton’s Crossing, war claimed her sacrifice</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">At Chancellorsville</span></td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="dent"><i>The Struggle in the Pine Woods when death struck at Southern hearts</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Two Great Battles</span></td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="dent"><i>The fearful fire swept Wilderness, and the Bloody Angle at Spottsylvania</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Heroes of Early Days</span></td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="dent"><i>The Old Town gives the first Commander, first Admiral and Great Citizens</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Men of Modern Times</span></td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="dent"><i>Soldiers, Adventurers and Sailors, Heroes and Artists, mingle here</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Unforgotten Women</span></td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="dent"><i>Some of Many Who Left a Record of Brilliancy, Service or Sacrifice</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">At the Rising Sun</span></td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_133">133</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="dent"><i>Where Famous Men Met; and Mine Host Brewed Punch and Sedition</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Lafayette Comes Back</span></td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="dent"><i>After Forty Years of Failure, He Hears the Echo of His Youthful Triumph</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Old Court Record</span></td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="dent"><i>Staid Documents, Writ by Hands That Are Still, Are History For Us</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Echoes of the Past</span></td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="dent"><i>“Ghosts of Dead Hours, and Days That Once Were Fair”</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Where Beauty Blends</span></td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_165">165</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="dent"><i>Old Gardens, at Old Mansions, Where Bloom Flowers from Long Ago</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Church and School</span></td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_173">173</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="dent"><i>How They Grew in the New World; Pathways to the Light</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Church of England</span></td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_181">181</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="dent"><i>First in Virginia, the Church of England Has the Longest History</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">The 250th Birthday</span></td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_188">188</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="dent"><i>Fredericksburg Celebrates an Anniversary</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="smcap">Appendix</span></td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_199">199</a></td></tr></table> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> +<h2>FREDERICKSBURG<br /> +<i>A Preface</i></h2> + +<p>Fredericksburg sprawls at the foot of the hills where the scented summer +winds sweep over it out of the valley of brawling waters above. The grass +grows lush in the meadows and tangles in the hills that almost surround +it. In spring the flowers streak the lowlands, climb on the slopes, and +along the ridges; and Autumn makes fair colors in the trees, shading them +in blood crimson, weathered bronze, and the yellow of sunsets.</p> + +<p>Over its shadowed streets hangs the haze of history. It is not rich nor +proud, because it has not sought; it is quiet and content, because it has +sacrificed. It gave its energy to the Revolution. It gave its heart to the +Confederacy; and, once when it was thundered at by guns, and red flames +twisted in its crumbling homes, it gave its soul and all it possessed to +the South. It never abated its loyalty nor cried out its sorrows.</p> + +<p>In Fredericksburg, and on the battlefields near it, almost thirty thousand +men lay on the last couch in the shadowy forests and—we think—heard Her +voice calling and comforting them. To the wounded, the Old Town gave its +best, not visioning the color of their uniforms, nursing them back to +life: And, broken and twisted and in poverty, it began to rebuild itself +and gather up the shattered ideals of its dead past.</p> + +<p>Out of its heart has grown simple kindness; out of its soul simple faith.</p> + +<p>As I look out over the streets, (I knew them well when Lee and Jackson and +Stuart, Lincoln and Grant and Hancock<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> knew them too), they shimmer in the +Autumn sun. Over them, as has ever seemed to me, hangs an old and haunting +beauty. There may not be as great men here as long ago, but here are their +descendants and the descendants of others like them. And he who comes +among them will find loyal hearts and warm hand-clasps.</p> + +<p>Ah, I know the old town. My bare feet ran along its unpaved walks and +passed the cabins many a time in slavery days. I knew it in the Civil War +and reconstruction days, and on and on till now: And it has not failed its +duty.</p> + +<p>Fredericksburg’s history brims with achievement and adventure. It has not +been tried in this volume to tell all of these. I have tried to tell a +simple story, with the flame of achievement burning on the shrines and the +echoes of old days sweeping through it, like low winds in the pine woods; +to make men and women more vivid than dates and numbers. I have tried to +be accurate and complete and to vision the past, but above all, I have +loved the things of which I have written.</p> + +<p>There is no possibility of expressing the gratitude the author feels for +the aid given him by others, but he must say, briefly, that without the +assistance of Miss Dora Jett, Mrs. Franklin Stearns, Mrs. John T. +Goolrick, and Dr. J. N. Barney, Mr. Chester B. Goolrick and Mr. John T. +Goolrick, Jr., the book could not have been made as readable as we hope +the public will find it. We owe just as deep thanks to Miss Sally Gravatt +of the Wallace Library.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;"><span class="smcap">Jno. T. Goolrick.</span></span></p> + +<p><i>Fredericksburg, Va.</i>,<br /> +October 25, 1921.</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> +<h2>INTRODUCTION</h2> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Rev. Robert Campbell Gilmore.</span></p> + + +<p>As a public speaker of wide reputation, especially on Southern themes, +Hon. John T. Goolrick, Judge of the Corporation Court of Fredericksburg, +Va., needs no introduction. It is my privilege to introduce him as a +writer of history to an ever widening circle of readers. Other men can +gather facts and put them in logical order, but few can give the history +of the old town of Fredericksburg such filial sympathy and interest, such +beauty of local color, as can this loyal son.</p> + +<p>The father, Peter Goolrick, a man of fine education, came from Ireland and +made his home in Fredericksburg, and was mayor of the town.</p> + +<p>The son has always lived here. The war between the States came in his +boyhood. His first connection with the Confederacy was as a messenger at +the Medical Department headquarters of General Lee. Growing old enough and +tiring of protected service he enlisted in Braxton’s Battery of +Fredericksburg Artillery. He was wounded at Fort Harrison, but recovering, +returned to his command and served to the end of the war as “a +distinguished private soldier,” and surrendered with “The last eight +thousand” at Appomattox. Since the war he has been prominently connected +with Confederate affairs. At one time he was Commander of the local Camp +of Veterans and is now on the staff of the Commander of all the Veterans +of the South and Virginia.</p> + +<p>After the war young Goolrick studied law, was elected Judge of the +Corporation Court of Fredericksburg, and of the County Court of +Spotsylvania, served for a time as Commonwealth’s Attorney of +Fredericksburg, and later was re-elected<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> Judge of the Corporation Court, +which position he has held for sixteen years, and which he now holds. He +has been the inceptor often, and always a worker, in every public event in +the town.</p> + +<p>This is not Judge Goolrick’s first appearance as a writer. He has +contributed many articles to newspapers, and magazines, and has published +several books. He is thus particularly fitted to write the history of his +own beloved town.</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="giant"><span class="smcap">Historic Fredericksburg</span></span></p> +<p> </p> +<h2><i>In the Older Days</i></h2> +<div class="note"><p class="center"><i>One by one the little cabins are built along the river bank—</i></p></div> + + +<p>Enveloped in the perfume of old English boxwood and the fragrance of still +older poplars, and permeated with the charm of a two hundred and fifty +year old atmosphere, the town of Fredericksburg, Virginia, nestles in the +soft foliage along the banks of the Rappahannock, at the point where the +turbulent waters of the upper river rush abruptly against the back-wash of +the sea, an odd but pleasing mixture of the old and the new.</p> + +<p>Subtly rich with the elegance of the past, it looks proudly back across +its two and a half centuries, but it has not forgotten how to live in the +present, and combines delightfully all that it has of the old with much +that is new and modern.</p> + +<p>Perhaps no other community in the country has had a more intimate and +constant association with the political and historic growth of America +than Fredericksburg. From the earliest Colonial period, when it was a +place of importance, it traces its influence on the nation’s development +down through the Revolutionary war, the War of 1812, the Mexican and Civil +wars and the periods of national progress between those conflicts, and +even today, when the old town has lost its touch with affairs as an +important community, it still can claim a close connection with events +through the influence of its descendants—sons and daughters—who have +gone forth in the world and achieved leadership in movements of the day +that are aiding in shaping the destiny of mankind; and of these another +chapter tells.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>But while proud of the accomplishments of these, the old town does not +depend upon them for distinction. It bases its claim to this on the events +with which it actually has been associated, and the importance of the part +it has played in the past is proved by data found in the recorded annals +of the country.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The Spanish Missionaries</i></div> + +<p>It might, indeed, if it sought historical recognition on accepted legend +rather than known fact, assert an origin that antidates that of the first +English permanent colony in America. A historian, writing in the Magazine +of American History, says the spot now occupied by Fredericksburg was +first discovered in 1571 by Spanish Missionaries, who erected there the +first Christian shrine in America. It is almost certain the town was +settled in 1621, three hundred years ago, but this cannot be definitely +proven, and the town has not claimed it as a date in its established +history. It does not claim to have had a beginning with the recorded +arrival of Captain John Smith, one year after the settlement of Jamestown, +but takes as its birthdate May 2d, 1671, at which time the site was +legally recognized by a grant from Sir William Berkley, then Colonial +governor, to John Royston and Thomas Buckner, who are looked upon as the +real founders of community life at the spot now occupied by +Fredericksburg.</p> + +<p>Whether or not white men first reached the location as early as the +suggested arrival of the Spanish Missionaries probably must always remain +a mystery, though there are reasons to believe that this is entirely +probable, as it is known that Spaniards made an early effort at +colonization in Virginia, and in 1526 came up the James River from Haiti +with six hundred people, and, with many negro slaves as workmen, founded +the town of Miguel, near where Jamestown afterwards was established by +Captain John Smith. It is probable that these pioneers ventured into the +surrounding country, and not at all unlikely that some of them strayed as +far as the falls of the Rappahannock.</p> + +<p>But if the data are not sufficient to actually prove this early visit to +the site, it is a fact of record in the diary of “Chirurgeon”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> Bagnall, a +member of the party, that Captain Smith reached the spot in 1608, one year +after the establishment of Jamestown, and after successfully disputing +possession of the land with a tribe of Indians, disembarked and planted a +cross, later prospecting for gold and other precious metals. The diary of +Smith’s companions, still in existence, tells of the trip in accurate +detail and from it is proven that even if the Spanish missionaries did not +come as far as claimed for them, at least the Indians had recognized the +natural advantages of the place by the establishment there of towns, which +might have been in existence for hundreds of years.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Captain Smith’s First Visit</i></div> + +<p>Captain Smith made two attempts to explore the Rappahannock. The first, in +June, 1608, ended when the hardy adventurer in plunging his sword into “a +singular fish, like a thornback with a long tail, and from it a poison +sting,” ran afoul of the water monster and because of his sufferings was +obliged to turn back. The second trip was started on July 24th, 1608, and +was continued until the falls were reached.</p> + +<p>Dr. Bagnall says in his diary that when near the mouth of the river, the +party encountered “our old friend, Mosco, a lusty savage of Wighconscio, +upon the Patawomeck,” who accompanied them as guide and interpreter, and +upon reaching the falls did splendid service against the unfriendly +Indians, “making them pause upon the matter, thinking by his bruit and +skipping there were many savages.” In the fighting Captain Smith’s party +captured a wounded Indian and much to the disgust of the cheerful Mosco, +who wished to dispatch him forthwith, spared his life and bound his +wounds. This work of mercy resulted in a truce with the Redmen, which made +possible the final undisturbed settlement of the land by the whites, the +prisoner interceding for Smith and his party.</p> + +<p>Captain Smith’s first landing on the upper river probably was directly +opposite what now is the heart of Fredericksburg. Dr. Bagnall’s diary +says:</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>About The Indian Villages</i></div> + +<p>“Between Secobeck and Massawteck is a small isle or two, which causes the +river to be broader than ordinary; there it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> pleased God to take one of +our company, called Master Featherstone, that all the time he had been in +this country had behaved himself honestly, valiently and industriously, +where in a little bay, called Featherstone’s bay, we buried him with a +volley of shot * * *</p> + +<p>“The next day we sailed so high as our boat would float, there setting up +crosses and graving our names on trees.”</p> + +<p>Captain Quinn, in his excellent History of Fredericksburg, says that +Featherstone’s bay “is in Stafford, opposite the upper end of Hunter’s +island,” but it is probable he did not closely examine facts before making +this statement, as his own location of other places mentioned in Dr. +Bagnall’s diary serves to disprove his contention as to the whereabouts of +the bay.</p> + +<p>“Seacobeck,” Captain Quinn says, “was just west of the city almshouse.” +The almshouse was then situated where the residence of the President of +the State Normal School now stands. Massawteck, Captain Quinn locates as +“just back of Chatham.” If his location of these two places is correct, it +is clear that the “small isle or two,” which the diary says was located +between them, must have been at a point where a line drawn from the +President’s residence, at the Normal School, to “just back of Chatham” +would intersect the river, which would be just a little above the present +location of Scott’s island, and that Featherstone’s bay occupied what now +are the Stafford flats, extending along the river bank from nearly +opposite the silk mill to the high bank just above the railroad bridge and +followed the course of Claibourne’s Run inland, to where the land again +rises. The contours of the land, if followed, here show a natural +depression that might easily have accommodated a body of water, forming a +bay.</p> + +<p>There are other evidences to bear out this conclusion. Dr. Bagnall’s diary +says: “The next day we sailed so high as our boat would float.” It would +have been an impossibility to proceed “high” (meaning up) the river from +Hunter’s island in boats, even had it been possible to go as high as that +point.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> Notwithstanding contradictory legend, the falls of the +Rappahannock have been where they are today for from five to one hundred +thousand years, and there is no evidence whatever to indicate that +Hunter’s Island ever extended into tidewater, the formation of the banks +of the river about that point giving almost absolute proof that it did +not.</p> + +<p>No authentic data can be found to prove the continued use of the site as a +settlement from Smith’s visit forward, though the gravestone of a Dr. +Edmond Hedler, bearing the date 1617, which was found near Potomac run in +Stafford county, a few miles from the town, would indicate that there were +white settlers in the section early in the 17th century, and if this is +true there is every reason to believe the falls of the Rappahannock were +not without their share, as the natural advantages of the place for +community settlement would have been appealing and attractive to the +colonists, who would have been quick to recognize them.</p> + +<p>In 1622, according to Howe’s history, Captain Smith proposed to the London +Company to provide measures “to protect all their planters from the James +to the Potowmac rivers,” a territory that included the Rappahannock +section, which can be taken as another indication of the presence of +settlers in the latter.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Establishment of the Town</i></div> + +<p>The first legal record of the place as a community is had in +1671—strangely enough just one hundred years after the reported coming of +the Spaniards—when Thomas Royston and John Buckner were granted, from Sir +William Berkley, a certain tract of land at “the falls of the +Rappahannock.” This was on May 2d, and shortly afterward, together with +forty colonists, they were established on what is now the heart of +Fredericksburg, but known in those remote times as “Leaseland.” This is +the date that Fredericksburg officially takes as its birthday, though +additional evidence that colonists already were in that vicinity is had in +the fact that the boundaries of the land described in the grant from +Governor Berkley to the two early settlers, ended where the lands of one +Captain Lawrence Smith began.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Major Lawrence Smith’s Fort</i></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>Three or four years after the grant was made to Buckner and Royston the +“Grande Assemblie at James Cittie” took official cognizance of the Colony +by ordering Major Lawrence Smith and one hundred and eleven men to the +Falls of the Rappahannock for the purpose of protecting the colonists. +Records in regard to this say, “At a Grande Assemblie at James Cittie, +between the 20th of September, 1674, and the 17th of March, 1675, it was +ordered that one hundred and eleven men out of Gloucester be garrisoned at +one ffort or place of defense, at or near the falls of the Rappahannock +river, of which ffort Major Lawrence Smith is to be captain or chief +commander.” It was also ordered that “the ffort be furnished with four +hundred and eight pounds of powder and fourteen hundred pounds of shott.”</p> + +<p>A few years later, in 1679, Major Smith was authorized by the Jamestown +government to mark out, below the falls of the Rappahannock, a strip of +land one mile long and one-fourth of a mile wide, to be used as a colony +and, together with eight commissioners, he was empowered to hold court and +administer justice. Within this confine he was instructed to build +habitations for two hundred and fifty men, fifty of whom were to be kept +well armed and ready to respond to the tap of a drum. It would appear that +the “ffort” mentioned in the earlier meeting of the “Grande Assemblie” was +not built until this year. The contention that it was erected on the +Stafford side of the river seems to be without any foundation of fact.</p> + +<p>That the community was now growing seems to be proven by the fact that the +same act, defining the limits mentioned above, also mentioned a larger +district, defined as extending three miles above the fort and two miles +below it for a distance of four miles back, over which Major Smith and his +commissioners were to have jurisdiction. Two years later, in 1681, the +little town received a great impetus when two hundred families came to +join the colony. From this time forward, the community began to take an +important part in the life of the Colonies.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>In 1710, upon the invitation of Baron de Graffenried, a friend of Governor +Spotswood, twelve German families came to America and settled on the +Rapidan river, eighteen miles above Fredericksburg, opening the first iron +mines and establishing the first iron works in America. They named the +place Germanna, and, according to an account left by one of the party, +“packed all their provisions from Fredericksburg,” then the principal +trading point of the section.</p> + +<p>In 1715, Governor Spotswood and the now-famed “Knights of the Golden +Horseshoe,” started from Germanna (some of them came through +Fredericksburg en route and stopped with Austin Smith). Assembling at +Germanna they left on September 24th and continued across the Blue Ridge +mountains to the Valley of Virginia. An interesting account of the trip, +which has been made the theme of song and story, and even the basis of a +secret society, can be found in the diary of John Fountaine, a member of +the party.</p> + +<p>For a period nothing seems to have happened to the community of sufficient +importance to be recorded, and for the next few years the imagination must +supply the story of the settlement. It probably was a village of +irregular, straggling streets and indifferent houses, with a population +that struggled for a living by trading, trapping and other pursuits of +that day. Its stores were likely very good for those times, but across the +river it had a rival in its neighbor, Falmouth, which as a place of +importance was fast catching up with it, and soon was destined to pass it, +for in 1720, seven years earlier than “The Leaseland,” it received its +charter from the House of Burgesses at Williamsburg, who vested its +government in seven trustees.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Falmouth’s Fast Growth</i></div> + +<p>If not as a political and social center, at least as a trading point, +Falmouth had soon superceded Fredericksburg. It was the market for all the +grain of the upper country, which by this time was beginning to be +settled, and was in direct commercial communication with England, Europe +and the West Indies by ocean-going vessels, which, when under 140 tons<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +burden, could come up to its wharves. It was a great milling center and +its merchants began to grow prosperous and wealthy, one of them, Mr. Bazil +Gordon, accumulating the first million dollars ever made in America, +though he was the product of a little later date than that now under +consideration.</p> + +<p>Grain brought out of Falmouth in boats larger than 140 tons was first put +upon barges or flat boats of large capacity, which were conveyed down the +river to waiting vessels and transferred by slave labor. The stories heard +of large vessels docking at the Falmouth wharves are apocryphal; no boat +of great tonnage ever got as far as Falmouth. This may account for +Fredericksburg’s final supremacy over Falmouth, which doubtless came about +the time the first ferry was started, permitting the planters to cross the +river with their grain and load directly to the waiting vessels, thus +saving time and work, valuable considerations even in those days of +abundant leisure and cheap slave labor.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>“Leaseland” Is Chartered</i></div> + +<p>But, while Falmouth was progressing “Leaseland” was also making strides, +and in 1727 it became of sufficient importance to receive its charter from +the House of Burgesses, and was named in honor of Frederick, Prince of +Wales, son of George II. The Prince died before ascending the throne, but +his son became George III., and it was thus from the domination of the son +of the Prince for whom their town was named that the patriotic people of +the little village later plotted to free themselves. The act giving the +town a charter names John Robinson, Henry Willis, Augustine Smith, John +Taliaferro, Henry Beverly, John Waller and Jeremiah Crowder as trustees, +and the streets were named for members of the Royal family, names which +fortunately endure today, despite an attempt made some years ago to +modernize the town and discard the beautiful and significant old names in +favor of the less distinguished and uglier method of numerical and +alphabetical designations.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 600px; height: 377px;"><img src="images/img03.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">From Mrs. Washington’s Farm</span><br /> +<i>One Sees, Across the River, the Homes of Such Families as the Mercer’s, Weeden’s, Mortimer’s</i></p> +<p> </p> + +<p>Settlers now were rapidly coming into the community which was growing in +importance. In 1732, Colonel Byrd<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> owner of vast tracts where now stands +the magnificent city of Richmond, an important man in the Colonial life of +Virginia, came to Fredericksburg, calling on his friend, Colonel Henry +Willis, “top man of the town,” as Colonel Byrd refers to him in his very +interesting account of the visit preserved to posterity. Colonel Byrd was +impressed by Fredericksburg, particularly by the stone jail, which, he +said, seemed strong enough “to hold Jack Shepherd” and with the +versatility of one Sukey Livingstone, or Levinston, doctress and coffee +woman. Some believe that the old stone building at the Free Bridge head is +the jail referred to.</p> + +<p>The seat of justice which had been located at Germanna, was this year +moved to Fredericksburg, St. George’s parish established and the church +erected, with Rev. Patrick Henry, uncle of the famous orator, as its first +rector.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>“Town Fairs” Are Begun</i></div> + +<p>In 1738 the House of Burgesses authorized the holding twice annually of +town fairs for the sale of cattle, provisions, goods, wares and all kinds +of merchandise, and it is easy to understand how these affairs became the +most important events in the life of the village, attracting plantation +owners from miles and taking on a social as well as business aspect. And +as the act also provided that all persons attending these fairs should be +immune from arrest for two days previous and two days subsequent to the +events, except for capital offenses or breaches of the peace, suits, +controversies and quarrels that might arise during the events, it can well +be imagined that they were lively and exciting gatherings.</p> + +<p>One year later the trustees found it necessary to purchase additional land +for the accommodation of the growing population but a bargain was struck +with Henry Willis, “the top man of the town,” and John Lewis only after +the House of Burgesses had taken up the matter deciding the ownership of +the lands in question and fixing the sum to be paid Willis at fifteen +pounds and Lewis at five pounds, not a bad total price, considering the +survey shows that only three acres were bought.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Masonry Is Established</i></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>The town had now grown to such importance as a trading point that the +establishment of direct connections with the Stafford shore was made +necessary, and in 1748 the first ferry was authorized by law. Evidently +from this time forward the town began to forge ahead of its thriving +neighbor, Falmouth, for the lessened expense of transferring grain +directly to the waiting ships made it more attractive as a market and many +of the up-country people who formerly had sold their gain and traded in +Falmouth, now crossed on the ferry and spent their money with the +merchants of Fredericksburg. The establishment of Masonry in 1752, at +which time the lodge was known as “The Lodge of Fredericksburg,” points to +the growing importance of the place; and that the Colonial citizens were +keenly alive to the benefits to be derived from attracting industry to +their towns is attested to by an act of the General Assembly, passed in +1759, to encourage the arts and manufactury in the Colonies, which set up +a premium of five hundred pounds to be awarded the citizen making the best +ten hogsheads of wine in any one year, within eight years from the passage +of the act. A number of citizens of the town contributed to the fund, +among them George Washington, who gave two pounds.</p> + +<p>In the Indian wars of 1755-57, Fredericksburg became an important depot +and rendezvous for troops. Recruits, provisions, supplies and ordnances +were sent to the town in quantities, and on April 15th, 1757, Governor +Dinwiddie ordered Colonel George Washington to send two hundred men there +to be “Thence sent by vessels to South Carolina, to treat with curtesy the +Indians at Fort London, and to send them out in scalping parties with such +number of men as you can spare.”</p> + +<p>But now the peaceable growth and prosperity of the village were to be +halted. Dissatisfaction with the government in England began to grow, and +there were murmurings of discontent and resentment, not by any means +indulged in by all the citizens, for large numbers were still utterly +loyal to the Crown, and those who opposed its policies congregated to +themselves, meeting in secret or standing in little groups about the +streets to give vent to their feelings.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The Revolution Gathers</i></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>One well-known place for the meeting of “Revolutionists” was the Rising +Sun tavern still standing in good order, at that time kept by “Mine Host,” +George Weedon. This famed old Tavern is told of in another chapter. It is +almost certain that at this tavern the rough draft was made of a +resolution to be later passed in a public town meeting, which was +tantamount to a declaration of independence, and which was passed +twenty-one days before the famous Mecklenburg declaration and more than a +year before that of the American congress.</p> + +<p>These resolutions were adopted on the 29th day of April, 1775, amidst the +greatest public excitement. News of the battle of Lexington, fought on the +20th of April, and of the removal by Lord Dunmore of twenty barrels of +powder from the public magazine at Williamsburg to the English frigate +“Fowey,” then lying near Yorktown, which occurred one day after the battle +of Lexington, had just reached Fredericksburg. Immediately the citizens +showed their indignation. More than six hundred men from the town and the +surrounding country armed themselves and sent a courier to General +Washington, then at Williamsburg, offering their services in defense of +the Colonies. Delegates were also dispatched to Richmond to ascertain the +true state of affairs, and to find out at what point the men should +report. The men stayed under arms and in readiness to move at short notice +until General Washington transmitted a message, advising that they +restrain from any hostilities until a congress could be called to decide +upon a general plan of defense. This advice was received by a council of +more than a hundred men, representing fourteen companies (the number under +arms having by this time grown), which decided by a majority of one to +disperse for the present, but to keep themselves in readiness for a call. +Many of them afterwards joined the armies of General Washington.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The Gunnery Is Built</i></div> + +<p>Material preparations for the conflict that everyone, even the Tories, now +felt was certain, were made by the establishment at the town of the first +small arms manufactury in America, which was located on what now is known +as Gunnery Green. Colonel Fielding Lewis, brother-in-law of General<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +Washington, was one of the commissioners in charge of the gunnery and +active in its management.</p> + +<p>With the coming of the Gunnery, and the formation of companies of troops, +the peaceful atmosphere of Fredericksburg quickly changed to one of a +militaristic aspect. Recruits drilled in the street, the manufacture of +arms was rushed, supplies were received and stored, couriers, with news +from other parts of the country, dashed in to acquaint the eager +townspeople with events, and those loyal to the Colonies went bravely +about with every kind of war preparation, while those inclined to Toryism +kept quiet and to themselves, or moved away with their families, hoping, +and probably succeeding in many cases, in reaching England before the +whole country was affected by the war, in which the part played by +Fredericksburg and its citizens was of the utmost importance. The town +gave to the Revolution an unusually large proportion of troops and many of +the great leaders.</p> + +<p>During the Revolution, although Fredericksburg men were the leaders of the +Army, no fighting occurred here and the period was not one of danger for +the town, but was one of anxiety for the inhabitants. Tarleton passed +close to this city on his raid towards Charlottesville, and Lafayette and +his men built the road still known as “The Marquis Road,” through the +Wilderness toward Orange.</p> + +<p>Recently three soldiers, whose uniform buttons testify they were Hessians, +were dug up near Spotsylvania Court House. A prison camp existed about two +miles from here on the Plank Road from which Washington recruited some +artisans to do the interior decorating in the home of his beloved sister, +Betty, at Kenmore.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Regiments Are Recruited</i></div> + +<p>Several Regiments went from Fredericksburg. General William Woodford (see +sketch of life) was elected Commander of the first. Among his descendants +are the late Marion Willis, Mayor Willis and Mr. Benj. Willis. General +Hugh Mercer was chosen Commander of the third regiment, and James Monroe, +of Fredericksburg (afterwards president)<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> was Lieut.-Colonel, while Thomas +Marshall, father of Chief Justice Marshall, was Major. The other Virginia +Regiment was not recruited here. It was commanded by Patrick Henry.</p> + +<p>Although it furnished two of the first three Virginia Regiments, and half +of America’s Generals, as well as the Commanding General, Fredericksburg +was not a war center. Its history during that period will be found in the +lives of the men it produced, elsewhere in this book.</p> + +<p>It did give most material aid by furnishing arms from the “Gunnery” of +Col. Fielding Lewis, and was generous in its financial aid, and always +ready for attack.</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> +<h2><i>After the Revolution</i></h2> +<div class="note"><p class="center"><i>In the days of its glory, the Old Town was famed and prosperous</i></p></div> + + +<p>The first mention of Fredericksburg in the annals of the new Republic is +an act of the legislature in 1781, incorporating the town and vesting the +powers of its government in the hands of a mayor and commonality, +consisting of a council and board of aldermen. Courts were established and +provision made for future elections of its officials.</p> + +<p>The first mayor was Charles Mortimer, and the Board of Aldermen consisted +of William Williams, John Sommerville, Charles Dick, Samuel Roddy and John +Julien, who, together with the mayor, were also justices of the peace, and +required to hold a hustings court monthly. John Legg was appointed +sergeant of the court and corporation, and John Richards and James Jarvis +constables. The town’s initial commonwealth’s attorney, John Minor, is +said to have been the first man to offer in any legislative body of the +country a bill for the emancipation of the slaves.</p> + +<p>The first action of the court is interesting, especially in these times. +It was giving license to five persons to conduct taverns, immediately +followed by an act to regulate them by establishing prices for alcoholic, +vinous and fermented beverages. There is no mention of opening or closing +hours, Sunday selling, selling to minors or any of the later and stricter +regulations, and the prices to be charged are in terms of pounds, or +parts, per gallon. The American bar was unknown then and probably even in +the taverns and tap rooms, little liquor was sold by the drink. Some of +the prices established translated into dollars, were West Indian rum, per +gallon, $3.34; brandy, $1.67; good whiskey, $1.00; good beer, $0.67 and so +on.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>Having taken care that the tavern keepers could not charge too much for +drink, the court now provided that they should not over charge for food +served, placing the score for a “single diet” at twenty-five cents, a most +reasonable sum according to modern standards.</p> + +<p>While having the power to regulate, the court was not without regulation +from a superior source as the articles of incorporation show that in case +of misconduct on the part of the mayor or any member of the board, the +others would have power to remove him after the charges had been fully +proved, and it further stipulated that should any person elected to office +fail or refuse to serve, he should be fined according to the following +scale: mayor, fifty pounds; recorder, forty pounds; alderman, thirty +pounds; councilman, twenty-five pounds. In 1782 an amendment was passed by +the legislature, enlarging the jurisdiction of the court to include all +territory within one mile of the town limits.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The Famed “Peace Ball”</i></div> + +<p>Fredericksburg was not long in recovering from the effects of the +Revolution. It had suffered no physical damage, though it had lost a great +deal of actual and potential value in the deaths of citizens who gave +their lives for the cause. A magnificent Peace Ball was held, in 1784, in +the assembly room over the old City Hall, at Main Street and “Market +Alley,” which was attended by General Washington, General Lafayette, +Rochambeau, Washington’s mother, who came leaning on his arm and all the +notables and fashionables of the country. The town was soon again a +thriving hustling center of trade and business.</p> + +<p>New enterprises came as requirements of the times made themselves felt. In +1786 the Virginia Herald made its appearance, the first newspaper +published in the town, and about the same time whipping posts, ducking +stools, and pillories were established to keep down the criminal +tendencies of the unlawfully inclined. In 1789 an act was passed, +empowering the trustees of the Fredericksburg Academy to raise by lottery +$4,000 to defray the expenses of erecting a building on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> grounds for +the accommodation of professors, a method of raising money that modern +morals has outlawed. In 1795 the Episcopal Charity School was established +by Archibald McPherson one of the splendid men of the town and in 1799 the +town experienced its first serious fire, which was held by some to have +been the work of an incendiary and by others as due to a wooden chimney. +The council in an effort to assuredly exclude all danger of another such +from either source, offered a reward of $500. for conviction of the +incendiary, and passed an ordinance abolishing wooden chimneys, and stove +pipes sticking through windows or the sides of houses, provided the +buildings were not fire proof.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Commercial Development</i></div> + +<p>From 1800 to 1850 Fredericksburg was the principal depot of trade and +commerce for all that region between the Rappahannock river and the +counties of Orange, Culpeper, Rapidan, Madison and Fauquier in addition to +the contiguous territory and the great section lying between the town and +the Chesapeake bay. Commerce with the upper country, however, was the most +productive, for the lower country people were in close connection with the +rivers and, as in those days all shipping was done by water ways, they +shipped from wharves along the Rappahannock near their homes. They +received much of their goods in this manner and were not so dependent upon +the town as the upper country people who were forced to bring their +products to Fredericksburg by wagon trains, which lumbered slowly down +with their burdens of grain, produce and tobacco, and having unloaded and +tarried awhile, lumbered back even more slowly, loaded with groceries, +wines, liquors, household stores, plantation supplies, dry goods and +merchandise for the country stores.</p> + +<p>These wagons were of huge dimensions, “their curving bodies being before +and behind at least twelve feet from the ground” according to one writer. +They had canvas covers and were drawn by four horses always, sometimes six +and eight, carrying jangling bells upon their collars. As many as two +hundred of them were often on the streets or in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> wagon yards of +Fredericksburg at one time, making prosperity for the energetic merchants +of that distant day, and bringing business for the many vessels, some of +them large three masted schooners, which came from all parts of the globe +to anchor at the wharves.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Fires Sweep the Town</i></div> + +<p>At about this time Fredericksburg received two serious blows that greatly +retarded its progress and prosperity. The first was in 1808, when nearly +half the town was destroyed by a fire which broke out at the corner of +Princess Anne and Lewis streets, where the Shepherd residence now stands, +and fanned by a high wind quickly roared its way through the inflammable +houses, such as most of the residences then were, until the town was half +in ashes. At the outbreak of the fire most of the citizens were attending +the races at “Willis Field,” just below the town, and before they could +get back it had gained such headway that their efforts to check it were +ineffectual. It is said the fire was caused by the overturning of a candle +in the kitchen of the Stannard home, occupying the present site of the +Shepherd residence, where refreshments were being prepared for the funeral +of Mr. Stannard, and that the remains were gotten out of the house only +with great difficulty on the part of the mourners. In those days funerals +were accompanied by feasts, at which cake in sombre wrappings and wine in +glasses with long black ribbons tied to the stems, were served.</p> + +<p>Much of the brick construction on the upper business section of Main +street, and a number of residences known as Colonial, are results of that +fire, but deserve to be called Colonial as that period, architectually +speaking, extended until about the year 1812. The Shepherd residence, of +course, was built following the fire; the old Doswell home, now occupied +by Mr. A. W. Rowe, probably was erected afterwards and the old Marye home, +now owned by Mr. A. L. Jenkins, has a corner stone bearing the date 1812, +the residence formerly occupying that site having been burned. However, +most of the older residences in Fredericksburg antedate the fire, and are +of an earlier Colonial period.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>During The War of 1812</i></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>Another blow was the War of 1812, and though, as in the case of the +Revolution, the city did not suffer actual physical damage, its business +and trade were interrupted and severely decreased, if not totally stopped, +due to the English dominance of the seas and during the course of that +conflict, the commercial life must have been slow and stagnant.</p> + +<p>Fredericksburg itself was for a time threatened when the English admiral, +Cockburn, made a raid up the Rappahannock. Many thought his objective was +Fredericksburg and General William Madison, brother of the President, +summoned a small force which took up positions of defense, from which to +repel the raider, but he never got up the river as far as the city, +turning when much lower down and putting back to sea for a cause which +history has not assigned. During this war, as had been the case in the +Revolution, and was to be in the Civil war to come, the Mercer home, now +occupied by Councilman George W. Heflin, which stands on an eminence on +lower Main street commanding a splendid view of the river, was used as a +post from which to watch for the approach of enemy ships, a use that has +given it the name of “The Sentry Box.”</p> + +<p>Following the War of 1812, Fredericksburg’s trade revived and increased, +and the city settled down to a full enjoyment of that remarkably cultural +era—the only classical civilization America has ever known—which lasted +until the Civil war and which has been made famous in song and story and +the history of the old South. The families of the early settlers had by +now become wealthy; the plantation masters owned hundreds of slaves, +farmed thousands of acres and lived in their handsome old Colonial +mansions in the most magnificent style the times could afford. Surrounded +by many servants and all the comforts known to the day, they entertained +lavishly, kept splendidly stocked wine cellars, boasted of private race +courses and keen thoroughbred hunters and racers, and, as the business of +the plantations was largely in the hands of overseers, they were gentlemen +of splendid leisure with an abundance of time opportunity and means to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>devote to sports, politics and literature. Most of them were educated +abroad and were learned in the classics, clever and entertaining +conversationalists, beautiful riders, excellent shots, and when not +engaged in social or literary pursuits that kept them indoors, enjoyed the +sports of the field, hunting to the hounds, gunning for quail, deer, bear, +wild turkey or duck, or fishing in the abundantly supplied streams +tributary to the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers. Hard drinking was not +unusual among them, but they were men of the highest sense of honor and +principle, and were always true to an obligation.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 600px; height: 378px;"><img src="images/img04.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Home of James Monroe</span><br /> +<i>Who Began His Official Career as a Councilman in Fredericksburg, and Became President</i></p> +<p> </p> + +<p>While the townspeople did not enjoy life quite so lavishly as their +plantation neighbors, they were not far behind; entertaining frequently +and hospitably and mingling freely with the people from the country.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Care-Free Era of Gayety</i></div> + +<p>But though it was a gay and carefree day, the times were not without their +troubles. In 1822 the town was again visited by fire, this time +originating at the site of the present Brent’s store, at Main and George +streets, destroying the entire business block encompassed between Main and +Princess Anne and George and Hanover streets. Recovery from this fire was +rapid. The merchants were financially substantial and quickly rebuilt the +burned area.</p> + +<p>As early as 1822, Fredericksburg was an important postal point, the mail +for five states being assorted and distributed in the city and sent thence +to its final destination. The conduct of Postmaster General Meigs in +regard to increasing the compensation of carriers on the Fredericksburg +route without authorization from Congress, was the subject of an +investigation by that body, but he was exonerated when it was explained +that the increase was necessary because the mail had become so heavy that +carriers were no longer able to handle it on horse back, being compelled +to use surries, an added expense to them which justified the additional +pay.</p> + +<p>James Monroe, a former resident, lawyer and councilman of Fredericksburg, +was at that time President of the United States, and though the town +doubtless was a naturally<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> important postal distribution, it may have been +that the President’s influence had some bearing-on the selection of the +place which had given him his political start.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The Town Grows Richer</i></div> + +<p>For the next decade, the trade and commercial life of the town increased. +The merchants and manufacturers—by this time several large industries of +this character being in operation—were busy and prosperous and had begun +to grow either wealthy, measured in the standards of the time, or were in +very comfortable circumstances, while the citizenry, generally, was +prosperous and free from want. The town was compactly built, many of its +structures now being of brick, and was regularly laid out. The public +buildings consisted of a courthouse, market house, clerks office, the +Episcopal Orphan Asylum, the Episcopal, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist +and Reform Baptist Church. It had two banks, one female and one male +academy of the higher class; a water system supplied through pipes from +Poplar Spring. And the upper river canal was being built, a public +enterprise from which great results were expected and which was to extend +about forty miles up the Rappahannock. Gold was being mined in +considerable quantities in upper Spotsylvania and lower Culpeper counties +and brought to Fredericksburg in exchange for goods, and a generally +thriving trade was being done, chiefly in grain, bacon, tobacco and other +farm products for export. One writer has computed the city’s annual +exports at that time as averaging four million dollars, and Government +statistics show that there were in the town in 1840, seventy-three stores, +two tanneries, one grist mill, two printing plants, four semi-weekly +newspapers, five academies with 256 students, and seven schools with 165 +scholars. The population in that year was 3,974. Ten years previous it had +been 3,308, divided as follows: whites, 1,797; slaves, 1,124; free blacks, +387.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The City Limits Are Set</i></div> + +<p>From 1840 until the middle fifties, prosperity was continued. The canal +was completed and had brought about an increased business at a lower cost. +A railroad was in operation from Richmond through Fredericksburg to Aquia +Creek, and steamboats had to some extent taken the place of sailing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +vessels as a means of water transportation, meaning quicker trips with +greater burdens. In 1851 the legislature passed an act empowering the town +to extend its limits, which was done according to a survey made by William +Slaughter, and though that was more than seventy years ago, and though the +population has since more than doubled, overflowing the limits and +encroaching on the adjoining county, the limits have not again been +enlarged.</p> + +<p>In 1855 Fredericksburg’s trade had ceased to grow at a rate equal to its +average yearly increase for the previous twenty years, a condition for +which the business men of that day were not altogether responsible, but +which rather was brought about by the new commercial era the country and +world was just entering—the era of railroad transportation, which quickly +and cheaply, in comparison to past charges, carried the staples of the +farm to the ports of the sea where waiting vessels stood ready to spread +their sable sails on voyages to foreign markets. This era created the +importance of the seaport and spelled the doom, as important shipping +points, of the tidewater cities—those which had been located at the point +where mountain torrent and still water meet in order to get both the +advantage of power production and trade routes.</p> + +<p>It is true that the business men of the city made the serious mistake +about this period of building a plank road into one portion of the upper +country from which they derived much trade, instead of building a +railroad, for just a little later transportation by wagon train for export +purposes had nearly entirely given away to transportation by rail, and +Fredericksburg was utterly without such connection with its greatest field +of trade, which soon was largely converted into other channels by the +railroads now beginning to practically surround the town at a distance of +approximately forty miles to the west. The single railroad passing through +Fredericksburg had no coast terminal. Throughout its short length it +paralleled the coast, offering no means of shipping for export, which +comprised most of the business of the day. The plantation owners of the +upper country who had dealt nearly entirely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> in Fredericksburg, now found +it cheaper to haul to the railroad passing through their country and soon +Fredericksburg was belted by little towns to the west. When later the P. +F. & P. R. R. was built to Orange, it did not save the situation and +except for lumber and ties, a trade it still largely enjoys, it has never +hauled much to Fredericksburg for export, though it did help the city +considerably in the matter of retail business.</p> + +<p>Trade, however, had not ceased entirely to grow, nor the town to increase. +In 1860 its population was nearly 5,000 persons, its business men still +were active and prosperous and, but for the Civil war which was to come, +they doubtless would have found a way out of the commercial difficulty +confronting them and a different history of the town from that time +forward might have been written.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The War Ends Prosperity</i></div> + +<p>But over the course of a few years preceding this date, the community was +troubled and torn by political strife and moral dissention. Black and +ominous on the horizon of men’s thoughts loomed the slave question, +perplexing the country’s leaders and giving threats of the red carnage +that was to follow. A carnage that cost millions in men and money, caused +unreckoned anguish and suffering, and retarded the growth of the South to +such an extent that at the end of the following fifty years it had only +just begun to emerge from the black shadow cast over it by the war.</p> + +<p>By the end of the fifty’s, trade had almost ceased, a spirit of patriotism +for the Southland superseded that of commercial enterprise, the quietness +of the soft old Colonial town was broken by wild public meetings; soon the +call of a bugle floated softly across the still air and the heavy +monotonous tread of feet sounded against the ground in unison to the +beating of drums, and though the citizens had been loyal to the Union, +sending by nearly a two-thirds majority a Union man to the State +convention, they made ready for the inevitable conflict, and when the +flame of war burst on the country like a flaring torch, they threw in +their lots with the land of their nativity and bravely shouldering their +arms, marched<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> away from their homes to a fate that would bring them death +or sorrow, and reduce their land to a shambles. The story of the Civil war +as it effected this town is told in other chapters which follow this.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>A Town in “No Man’s Land”</i></div> + +<p>For many years after the Civil war, Fredericksburg’s connection with the +great tragedy was told in the lines of patient suffering that webbed the +faces of the older generation. It was a town of sombre, black figures—the +widows and daughters of soldiers—gentle creatures who moved about in +quiet dignity, bravely concealing the anguish hidden in their hearts, and +smilingly making the best of such disordered conditions and distressing +circumstances as before they had never known. It was a town filled with +broken, crushed men, ill fitted for the harsher demands of their new +lives; men once rich but now suddenly tossed from the foundations that +always had sustained them, who found themselves aliens in an unknown and +unfriendly world.</p> + +<p>Blackened, scarred ruins of what once had been magnificent homes remained +mute, grim evidences of the ghastly horror and the quaint old town was +stunned and still, a tragic wreck of its one time beauty. But as best it +could it gathered up the tangled threads of its existence and for the next +decade struggled dumbly and blindly against the terrible disadvantages +imposed upon it by the ruthlessness of war.</p> + +<p>When the war came with Spain, it showed that the hurt of the Civil strife +was gone, when its young men marched proudly through the streets to take +their parts in the crisis; sent on their missions of patriotism with the +feeble but sincere cheers of aged Confederate veterans ringing in their +ears.</p> + +<p>With the beginnings of the 20th century, Fredericksburg gave visable +evidence of its recovery from the wounds of war. Its business men had +accumulated sufficient capital to revive trade, at least partially, on its +past scale; additional industries were started, new homes and buildings +sprang up and there was the beginning of a general and steady improvement.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>A Change in Government</i></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>In 1909 a group of progressive citizens, among whom one of the most +earnest was the late Henry Warden, a man of immense usefulness, realized +their ambition and the consummation of an aim for which they had fought +for years, when the old form, of councilmanic government was abolished in +favor of the City Manager form, Fredericksburg being one of the first +small cities in the country to adopt it. Since its inauguration, the city +has prospered and improved. Well laid granolithic sidewalks are placed +throughout its business and residential sections, splendid hard gravel +streets, topped with smooth asphalt binding, have replaced the old mud +roadways, the water system has been enlarged and improved, fire protection +increased and other municipal improvements made that have taken the town +out of the class of sleepy provincial hamlets and made of it a modern +little city. New hotels of the finest type, business enterprises and +industrial concerns have come to give it new life and color, but with all +this it still retains much that is sweet and old and is filled with the +charm and elegance of the past.</p> + +<p>Though it has just celebrated its two hundred and fiftieth birthday, the +anniversary of a time when America was only beginning to give promise of +its brilliant future, a time when the country was young and weak, but when +manhood was strong and courage held high the torch of hope, Fredericksburg +looks forward to the future with eager longing, confident that in the +mirror of its past is the story of the time to come.</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p> +<h2><i>War’s Worst Horrors</i></h2> +<div class="note"><p class="center"><i>Shelled by 181 guns for hours, the town becomes a crumbled ruin</i></p></div> + + +<p>Fredericksburg is the point through which the railway and the roads to +Richmond pass, and is half way between Washington and the Southern city. +During the Civil war the possession of the town was an advantage not to be +despised, and so from the beginning the two great armies of the North and +South were contenders for the town.</p> + +<p>The first attempt toward Fredericksburg was made June 1, 1861, when +Federal gunboats and a small cavalry force were defeated, in an attempt to +land troops at Aquia Creek, by General Daniel Ruggles, C. S. A., in +command of the Department of Fredericksburg. This was the first skirmish +of the war, in Virginia, and occurred nine days before “Big Bethel” and +seven weeks after Virginia seceded.</p> + +<p>On the nineteenth of April, 1862, the Stafford hills were taken by the +Federals, and on April 27th General Marsena R. Patrick marched troops into +the town and placed it under military rule. General Patrick treated the +citizens with consideration and under his rule there was but little +complaint of oppression. He was, in fact, generally admired for his fair +treatment of the populace.</p> + +<p>But with the coming of the conceited and inhuman General Pope, who +followed McClellan in command of the Federal army, all that was changed. +From that time forward this quiet old city between the hills, with its +splendid homes, its old silver and china and tapistry and paintings, its +great trees and broad streets, was to know every cruelty, horror, and +depredation of war.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>In the Enemy’s Hands</i></div> + +<p>General Pope, driven back by the Confederates, moved through Fauquier and +Culpeper counties to Fredericksburg, and immediately upon securing the +town, his subordinates <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>scoured the city and arrested nineteen of the most +prominent men, alleging no crime but stating frankly that it was done in +reprisal for the arrest by the Confederates of Major Charles Williams of +Fredericksburg, who was held in Richmond to prevent him from aiding the +enemy. These men were sent to the old Capital Prison at Washington, where +they were held from early in August to late September in 1862, and were +then released in exchange for Major Williams and others. There were Rev. +W. F. Broaddus, D. D., James McGuire, Charles Welford, Thomas F. Knox, +Beverly T. Gill, James H. Bradley, Thomas B. Barton, Benjamin Temple, +Lewis Wrenn, Michael Ames, John Coakley, John H. Roberts, John J. Berrey, +Dr. James Cooke, John F. Scott, Montgomery Slaughter, (Mayor), George H. +C. Rowe, Wm. H. Norton, Abraham Cox.</p> + +<p>Fredericksburg was evacuated in August, 1862, when the Northern soldiers +were drawn up in line and marched out of town. A great burden was lifted +from the community. Heavy explosions marked the blowing up of the two +bridges. On September 4th, an advance guard of Confederate cavalry rode +into the town amid shouts of welcome.</p> + +<p>The relief was but for a short period. On November 10th, Captain Dalgren’s +(Federal) dragoons crossed the river above Falmouth and clattered down +Main street and met a small force of Confederates under Col. Critcher, who +drove them back. But General Burnside’s whole army was following and in a +few days held the Stafford hills.</p> + +<p>Fredericksburg and the country immediately about it was fought over, +marched over, shelled and ravaged and desolated. The town became a dreary +military outpost of battered, falling walls and charred timbers, of +soldiers, now in gray, now in blue. Under its streets and in yards +hundreds of dead were buried to be now and again, in after years, +unearthed. No other American city ever suffered as did this formerly +prosperous town.</p> + +<p>The situation, from a military standpoint, was this: Southeastward of the +city the Rappahannock broadens, so that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> it is not easily bridged, and +if an army crossed, it still would have to get to Richmond. Northwest (and +much nearer west than north) of the city, the Rappahannock is fordable, +but its course is <i>away</i> from Richmond, and the roads to Richmond <i>again +lead back toward the rear of Fredericksburg</i>.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 600px; height: 378px;"><img src="images/img05.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Slave Block</span><br /> +<i>Commerce Street, Where Slaves were Sold.<br />The “Step” is Deeply Worn By The Feet of those Who Mounted It</i></p> +<p> </p> + +<p>There were, therefore, but two feasible plans for the North to accomplish +its “on to Richmond” purpose. One was to take Fredericksburg and with it +the roads and railway to Richmond; Burnside tried this. The other, to +cross the river just above, and get in the rear of Fredericksburg, thus +getting the roads and railways to Richmond; Hooker and Grant tried this.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Threats of Bombardment</i></div> + +<p>On November 20th, General Sumner peremptorily demanded the surrender of +the town, under threat of immediate bombardment, but on receiving a +request from Mayor Slaughter, he consented to extend the time twenty-four +hours and sent General Patrick across the river with a message, as +follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Gentlemen: Under cover of the houses of your town, shots have been +fired upon the troops of my command. Your mills and factories are +furnishing provisions and materials for clothing for armed bodies in +rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United +States. Your railroads and other means of transportation are removing +supplies to the depot of such troops. This condition of things must +terminate; and by direction of Major-General Burnside, commanding this +army, I accordingly demand the surrender of this city into my hands, +as a representative of the Government of the United States, at or +before five o’clock this afternoon (five o’clock P. M. to-day). +Failing an affirmative reply to this demand by the time indicated, +sixteen hours will be permitted to elapse for the removal from the +city of women and children, the sick, wounded, and aged; which period +having elapsed, I shall proceed to shell the town.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>“Upon obtaining possession of the town, every necessary means will be +taken to preserve order and to secure the protective operation of the +laws and policy of the United States Government.”</p></div> + +<p>While General Patrick waited from 10:00 A. M. until 7:00 P. M. (November +21) in a log house at French John’s Wharf, the note was passed through the +hands of a civic committee who had previously met General Lee at +“Snowden,” (now the beautiful home of Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Baldwin) on which +were: Mayor Slaughter, William A. Little and Douglas H. Gordon. A note +from General Lee was then transmitted to the town officials by General J. +E. B. Stuart. This Mayor Slaughter, Dr. Wm. S. Scott and Samuel Harrison +delivered late in the afternoon to General Patrick. General Lee simply +said the town was non-combatant; that he would not occupy it, nor would he +allow any one else to occupy it.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The Citizens Driven Out</i></div> + +<p>Advised by General Lee, the inhabitants of the town now began to refugee +to the rear. They went in the dark, in a snow storm, afoot, in vehicles +and some in a railway train, upon which the Northern guns opened heavy +fire. They slept in barns, cabins and the homes of country people, and +left behind their silverware and fine old china, their paintings and +portraits and every kind of property, all of which was doomed to +destruction.</p> + +<p>But the town was not shelled and a few at a time many of the old men and +the women, the boys and girls, crept back from impossible shelters in the +country to their homes in the town.</p> + +<p>Then, twenty-two days later, at dawn of December 11th, at a signal from +the “Long Tom” on Scott’s Hill, at Falmouth, Burnside opened on the town, +now half full of residents, with one hundred and eighty-one guns. The guns +were placed along Stafford Heights from the Washington Farm to Falmouth, +and the whole fire was concentrated on the town, where walls toppled, +fires sprang up and chaos reigned.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>Frequently the Union gunners fired a hundred guns a minute, round shot, +case shot and shell. The quick puffs of smoke, touched in the center with +flame, ran incessantly along the hills and a vast thunder echoed thirty +miles away. Soon the town was under a pall of smoke, through which lifted +the white spires of the churches.</p> + +<p>“The scenes following the bombardment,” says John Esten Cooke, in +“Jackson,” “were cruel. Men, women and children were driven from town. +Hundreds of ladies and children were seen wandering homeless over the +frozen highways, with bare feet and thin clothing. Delicately nurtured +girls walked hurriedly over the various roads, seeking some friendly roof +to cover them.”</p> + +<p>The following article by one who, as a little girl, was in Fredericksburg +on the day of the bombardment, catches a glimpse of it in a personal way +that is more convincing than pages of description.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Shelling of Fredericksburg</span></p> + +<p>Recollections of Mrs. Frances Bernard Goolrick (Mrs. John T. Goolrick) who +was a little girl at that time.</p> + +<p>During the stormy winter of 1862, my mother, a widow with three little +children, was still in her native place, Fredericksburg, Virginia. Many of +the inhabitants had long since left for Richmond and other points farther +south, for the town lying just between the hostile armies was the constant +scene of raids and skirmishes, and no one knew at what instant everything +might be swept away from them. My mother, separated from her relatives by +the fortunes of war, decided that it would be best for her to remain where +she was and thus probably save the household effects she had gathered +around her. The strongest arguments had been used by friends in town and +relatives at a distance to induce her to leave for a place of more safety, +but so far without avail, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> though we were often alarmed by raids into +town, as yet we had sustained no injuries of any description. In the fall +the Federal army, under General Burnside, was on the Stafford hills just +across the river, and it was constantly rumored that the town would be +bombarded; but lulled to an insecure rest by many false alarms, the people +had but little faith in these rumors.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Guns Open On The Town</i></div> + +<p>On the 11th of December, one of the most cruel and heartless acts of the +war was to be perpetrated, the town of Fredericksburg was bombarded, the +roar of guns beginning at daybreak, with no one in it but old or invalid +men and helpless women and children. As quick as thought, we were up and +dressed, and my aunt being very rapid in her movements, was the first to +reach the cellar. My mother had long since had some chairs and other +pieces of furniture placed there in case of an emergency. I being the +first child dressed, ran out into the yard, and as I turned towards the +cellar steps I beheld, it seemed to me, the most brilliant light that I +had ever seen; as I looked, my aunt reached out her arms and pulled me, +quivering with terror, into the cellar. A shell had exploded at the back +of the garden, in reality at some distance, but to me it was as if it had +been at my very feet. The family soon assembled, including the servants; +we had also additions in the way of two gentlemen from Stafford, Mr. B. +and Mr. G., who had been detained in town, and a Lieutenant Eustace, of +Braxton’s battery, who was returning from a visit to his home. Also a +colored family, Uncle Charles and Aunt Judy, with a small boy named +Douglas and two or three other children. The couple had been left in +charge of their mistress’ home (she being out of town), and with no cellar +to their house they were fain to come into ours.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Hiding From The Shells</i></div> + +<p>And now the work of destruction began, and for long hours the only sounds +that greeted our ears were the whizzing and moaning of the shells and the +crash of falling bricks and timber. My mother and we three children were +seated on a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> low bed with Ca’line, a very small darkey, huddled as close +to us children as she could get, trying to keep warm. Mr. B. and Mr. G. +occupied positions of honor on each side of the large old-fashioned +fire-place, while my aunt was cowering inside, and every time a ball would +roll through the house or a shell explode, she would draw herself up and +moan and shiver. Lieutenant Eustace was a great comfort to my mother, and +having some one to rely on enabled her to keep her courage up during the +terrible ordeal of the cannonading. Although my brother, sister and myself +were all frightened, we could not help laughing at the little darkey +children who were positively stricken dumb with terror, old Aunt Judy +keeping them close to her side and giving them severe cuffs and bangs if +they moved so much as a finger.</p> + +<p>My aunt, as well as the rest of us, now began to feel the pangs of hunger, +and Aunt B. ordered the cook in the most positive manner to go up to the +kitchen and make some coffee, telling her that she knew she was afraid and +we would all be satisfied with only a cup of coffee for the present. I +believe Aunt Sally would have gone without a word if my mother had told +her, but this, from an outsider, she could not bear. (Aunt B. was my +uncle’s wife and the family servants had seen very little of her.) She, +therefore, demurred, and Aunt B. calling her a coward, she arose in a +perfect fury, and with insubordination written upon her from her rigid +backbone to her flashing eyes, informed Aunt B. “dat she warn no mo’ a +coward dan de res’ of ’em, but she didn’t b’lieve Mars Gen’l Lee hisself +cud stan’ up making coffee under dat tornady.” Just about this time Uncle +Charles sprawled himself out upon the floor in ungovernable terror, and +called upon the Lord to save him and his family. “Pray for us all, Uncle +Charles,” screamed my aunt, her voice just heard above the roar of +artillery. The cannonading was now something fearful. Our house had been +struck twice and the shrieking balls and bursting bombs were enough to +appall the stoutest heart. My aunt being brave in speech, but in reality +very timorous, and Uncle Charles “a bright and shining light” among the +colored <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>persuasion, she again requested him to pray. Aunt Judy by this +time began to bewail that she had “lef’ old Miss cow in the cowshed,” and +mistaking the moaning of the shells for the dying groans of the cow, she +and Douglas lamented it in true darkey fashion. Uncle Charles meanwhile +was very willing to pray, but Aunt Judy objected strenuously, saying, “dis +ain’t no time to be spendin’ in pra’ar, Char’s Pryor, wid dem bumb shells +flying over you and a fizzlin’ around you, and ole Miss cow dyin’ right +dar in your sight.” But when the house was struck for the third time, Aunt +B., in despairing accents, begged Uncle Charles to pray, so he fell upon +his knees by an old barrel, in the middle of the cellar floor, upon which +sat a solitary candle, whose flickering light lit up his hushed and solemn +countenance, and in tremulous tones with many interjections, offered up a +prayer.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span></p> + +<p>My mother thought of my father’s portrait, and afraid of its being injured +she determined to get it herself, and bring it into the cellar. Without +telling anyone of her intentions, she left the cellar and went up into the +parlor; the portrait was hanging just over a sofa, on which she stood to +take it down. She had just reached the door opposite the sofa when a shell +came crashing through the wall, demolishing the sofa on which she had so +recently stood, as well as many other articles of furniture. She reached +the cellar, white and trembling, but with the portrait unhurt in her arms.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Cannons Stop For Dinner</i></div> + +<p>At one o’clock the cannonading suddenly ceased and for one hour we were at +liberty to go above and see the damage that had been done. My mother’s +first efforts were directed towards getting a lunch, of which we were all +sorely in need. With the aid of one of the frightened servants she +succeeded in getting a fire and having some coffee made and with this, +together with some cold bread and ham, we had a plentiful repast.</p> + +<p>What a scene met our eyes; our pretty garden was strewn with cannon balls +and pieces of broken shells, limbs knocked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> off the trees and the grape +arbor a perfect wreck. The house had been damaged considerably, several +large holes torn through it, both in front and back. While we were +deploring the damage that had been done, Lieutenant Eustace returned in +breathless haste to say that he had just heard an order from General Lee +read on Commerce Street, saying that the women and children must leave +town, as he would destroy it with hot shell that night, sooner than let it +fall into the hands of the enemy, who were rapidly crossing the river on +pontoon bridges. They urged my mother to take her children and fly at once +from the town. After resisting until the gentlemen in despair were almost +ready to drag her from her dangerous situation, she finally consented to +leave. The wildest confusion now reigned, the servants wringing their +hands and declaring they could not go without their “Chists,” which they +all managed to get somehow, and put upon their heads, but the gentlemen +insisted so that we had only time to save our lives. They would not even +let my mother go back into the house to get her purse or a single +valuable. So we started just as we were; my wrapping, I remember, was an +old ironing blanket, with a large hole burnt in the middle. I never did +find out whether Aunt B. ever got her clothes on, for she stalked ahead of +us, wrapped in a pure white counterpane, a tall, ghostly looking figure, +who seemed to glide with incredible rapidity over the frozen ground. * * *</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>“Refugeeing” in Winter</i></div> + +<p>We plodded along under a heavy cross fire, balls falling right and left of +us. We left the town by way of the old “plank road,” batteries of +Confederates on both sides. The ground was rough and broken up by the +tramping of soldiers and the heavy wagons and artillery that had passed +over it, so that it was difficult and tiresome to walk, and the sun got +warm by this time and the snow was melting rapidly; the mud was +indescribable.</p> + +<p>We had now reached the “Reservoir,” a wooden building over “Poplar +Spring,” and about a mile from town. I had already lost one of my shoes +several times, because of having<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> no string in it, and my little brother +insisted on giving me one of his, so we sat down by the “Reservoir” +feeling very secure, but were terribly alarmed in a few moments by a ball +coming through the building and whizzing very close to our ears. No, this +would not do, so on we went, footsore and weary; sometimes we would meet a +soldier who would carry one of us a short distance. All of our servants, +except Ca’line, who was only seven years old, had taken some other +direction. When we got about two miles from town we overtook many other +refugees; some were camping by the way, and others pressing on, some to +country houses which were hospitably thrown open to wanderers from home, +and others to “Salem Church,” about three miles from Fredericksburg, where +there was a large encampment. Our destination was a house not far from +“Salem Church,” which we now call the “Refuge House.” Exhausted, we +reached the house by twilight, found there some friends who had been there +some weeks, and who kindly took us into their room and gave us every +attention. And so great was our relief to feel that we had escaped from +the horror of that day, that such small matters as having to sleep in the +room with a dozen people, having no milk and no coffee, our principal diet +consisting of corn bread, bacon and sorghum, seemed only slight troubles.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Pillage and Plunder</i></div> + +<p>From the end of the bombardment, and at the first invasion of the town by +Union forces, until they were driven across the river again, +Fredericksburg was mercilessly sacked. All day, from the houses, and +particularly from the grand old homes that distinguished the town, came +the noise of splintering furniture, the crash of chinaware, and—now and +then—a scream. On the walls hung headless portraits, the face gashed by +bayonets. Bayonets ripped open mattresses and the feathers heaped in piles +or blew about the streets, littered with women’s and men’s clothing and +letters and papers thrown out of desks. Mahogany furniture warmed the +despoilers, and ten thousand were drunk on pilfered liquors. Windows and +doors were smashed, the streets full of debris, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>through which drunken +men grotesquely garbed in women’s shawls and bonnets, staggered; flames +rose in smoke pillars here and there, and the provost guard was helpless +to control the strange orgy of stragglers and camp followers who were wild +with plunder lust, amid the dead and wounded strewn about. A fearful +picture of war was Fredericksburg in those December days from the eleventh +to the thirteenth.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 600px; height: 380px;"><img src="images/img06.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Confederate Cemetery</span><br /> +<i>In The Lower Left Corner the Plank Road and Marye’s Heights</i></p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>A Carnival of Horrors</i></div> + +<p>To the citizens of Fredericksburg, those days meant bankruptcy, for their +slaves walked away, their stores and churches were battered, their +silverware stolen, their homes despoiled and their clothing worn or thrown +away. Wealthy men were to walk back a few days later to their home town as +paupers; women and children were to come back to hunger and discomfort in +bleak winter weather; and all this was the result of what General Lee said +was an entirely “unnecessary” bombardment and of days of pillage, which no +earnest attempt to stop was made. Fredericksburg was the blackest spot on +Burnside’s none too effulgent reputation.</p> + +<p>From the army, from Southern cities and from individuals money for relief +came liberally, and in all nearly $170,000. was contributed to aid in +feeding, clothing and making habitable homes for the unfortunate town’s +people. A good many carloads of food came, too, but the whole barely +relieved the worst misery, for the $170,000. was Confederate money, with +its purchasing power at low mark.</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> +<h2><i>The First Battle</i></h2> +<div class="note"><p class="center"><i>When, at Mayre’s Heights and Hamilton’s Crossing, war claimed her sacrifice</i></p></div> + + +<p>Following the shelling of Fredericksburg, on December 11th, the Union army +began to cross on pontoons. On the 12th of December, under cover of the +guns and of fog, almost the whole Union army crossed on three pontoons, +one near the foot of Hawk street, another just above the car bridge, and +one at Deep Run. On the morning of December 13th, General Burnside’s army +was drawn up in a line of battle from opposite Falmouth to Deep Run. It +was, say they who saw the vast army with artillery and cavalry advanced, +banners flying and the bayonets of their infantry hosts gleaming as the +fog lifted, one of the most imposing sights of the war.</p> + +<p>General Burnside actually had in line and fought during the day, according +to his report, 100,000 effective men.</p> + +<p>General Lee had 57,000 effectives, ranged along the hills from Taylor, +past Snowden, past Marye’s Heights, past Hazel Run and on to Hamilton’s +Crossing.</p> + +<p>There were preliminary skirminishes of cavalry, light artillery and +infantry. The enemy tried to “feel” General Lee’s lines.</p> + +<p>Then, about 10 o’clock, they advanced against the hills near Hamilton’s +Crossing, where Jackson’s Corps was posted, in a terrific charge across a +broad plateau between the river and the hills to within a quarter of a +mile of the Confederate position, where they broke under terrific +artillery and musketry fire. At one o’clock 55,000 men, the whole of +Franklin’s and Hooker’s Grand Divisions advanced again in the mightiest +single charge of the Civil War. Stuart and Pelham (he earned that day from +Lee the title of “The Gallant Pelham”) raked them with light artillery, +but nevertheless they forced a wedge through Jackson’s lines and had won +the day, until Jackson’s reserves, thrown into the breach, drove them out +and threw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> back the whole line. As dusk came on, Stuart and Pelham counter +charged, advancing their guns almost to the Bowling Green road, and +Jackson prepared to charge and “drive them into the river,” but was +stopped by the heavy Union guns on Stafford hills.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>At Hamilton’s Crossing</i></div> + +<p>During the fiercest part of the battle, “Stonewall” Jackson was on the +hill just on the Fredericksburg side of Hamilton’s Crossing where Walker’s +artillery was posted, but toward evening, fired with his hope of driving +the Union forces across the river, he rode rapidly from place to place, +sending out frequent orders. One of these he gave to an aide.</p> + +<p>“Captain, go through there and if you and your horse come out alive, tell +Stuart I am going to advance my whole line at sunset.” It was this charge, +mentioned above, which failed.</p> + +<p>Late that night, rising from the blankets which he shared with a Chaplain, +Jackson wrote some orders. While he was doing this, an orderly came and +standing at the tent flap, said, “General Gregg is dying, General, and +sent me to say to you that he wrote you a letter recently in which he used +expressions he is sorry for. He says he meant no disrespect by that letter +and was only doing what he thought was his duty. He hopes you will forgive +him.”</p> + +<p>Without hesitation, Jackson, who was deeply stirred, answered, “Tell +General Gregg I will be with him directly.”</p> + +<p>He rode through the woods back to where the brave Georgian was dying, and +day was about to break when he came back to his troops.</p> + +<p>General Maxey Gregg, of Georgia, was killed in action here, as were a +number of other gallant officers.</p> + +<p>Jackson held the right of the Confederate lines all day with 26,000 men +against 55,000. His losses were about 3,415, while Hooker and Franklin +lost 4,447. Meanwhile, against Marye’s Heights, the left center of the +line, almost two miles away, General Burnside sent again and again +terrific infantry charges.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The Charge at Marye’s Heights</i></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>The hills just back of Fredericksburg are fronted by an upward sloping +plane, and at the foot of that part of the hills called Marye’s Heights is +a stone wall and the “Sunken Road”—as fatal here for Burnside as was the +Sunken Road at Waterloo for Napoleon. On Marye’s Heights was the +Washington Artillery, and a number of guns—a veritable fortress, ready, +as General Pegram said, “to sweep the plans in front as close as a +fine-tooth comb.” At the foot of the heights behind the stone wall were +Cobb’s Georgians, Kershaw’s South Carolinians, and Ransom’s and Cobb’s +North Carolinas—nine thousand riflemen, six deep, firing over the front +lines’ shoulders, so that, so one officer wrote “they literally sent +bullets in sheets.”</p> + +<p>Against this impregnable place, Burnside launched charge after charge, and +never did men go more bravely and certainly to death. This was +simultaneous with the fighting at Hamilton’s Crossing.</p> + +<p>Meagher’s Irish Brigade went first across the plain. Detouring from +Hanover street and George street, they formed line of battle on the lowest +ground, and with cedar branches waving in their hats, bravely green in +memory of “the ould sod” they swept forward until the rifles behind the +wall and the cannon on the hill decimated their ranks; and yet again they +formed and charged, until over the whole plain lay the dead, with green +cedar boughs waving idly in their hats. The Irish Brigade was practically +exterminated, and three more charges by larger bodies failed, although one +Northern officer fell within twenty-five yards of the wall. The day ended +in the utter defeat of the Union Army, which withdrew into Fredericksburg +at night.</p> + +<p>In front of the wall 8,217 Union soldiers were killed or wounded, and in +the “Sunken Road” the Confederates lost 1,962.</p> + +<p>The total Union loss in the whole battle of Fredericksburg was 12,664 and +the Confederates’ loss 5,377.</p> + +<p>General J. R. Cook, of the Confederate Army, was killed almost at the spot +where Cobb fell. General C. F. Jackson<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> and General Bayard, of the Union +Army, were killed, the latter dying in the Bernard House, “Mansfield,” +where Franklin had his headquarters.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The Death of General Cobb</i></div> + +<p>General T. R. R. Cobb, the gallant commander of the Georgians, fell +mortally wounded at the stone wall, and tradition has said that he was +killed by a shell fired from the lawn of his mother’s home, a dramatic +story that is refuted by evidence that he was killed by a sharpshooter in +a house at the left and in front of the “Sunken Road.”</p> + +<p>But the brilliant Georgian, who aided in formulating the Confederate +Constitution, was killed within sight of the house, where, more than forty +years before, the elder Cobb met, and in which he married, she who was to +be the General’s mother. Journeying late in 1819 North to attend Congress, +Senator John Forsythe, who was born in Fredericksburg, and Senator Cobb, +Sr., were guests of Thomas R. Rootes, Esq., at Federal Hill, a great house +that sits at the edge of the town, overlooking the little valley and +Marye’s Heights, and there began a romance that led to marriage of Miss +Rootes and Senator Cobb, in the mansion, in 1820. From the spot where he +stood when he died, had not the smoke of a terrific battle screened it, +their son, the Georgian General, could have clearly seen the windows of +the room in which his parents were married.</p> + +<p>General Cobb died in the yard of a small house, just at the edge of the +“Sunken Road,” ministered to in his last moments, as was many another man +who drank the last bitter cup that day, by an angel of mercy and a woman +of dauntless courage, Mrs. Martha Stevens.</p> + +<p>Her house was in the center of the fire, yet she refused to leave it, and +there between the lines, with the charges rolling up to her yard fence and +tons of lead shrieking about her, Mrs. Stevens stayed all day, giving the +wounded drink, and bandaging their wounds until every sheet and piece of +clothing in the house had been used to bind a soldier’s hurts. At times +the fire of Northern troops was concentrated on her house so that General +Lee, frowning, turned to those about him and said: “I wish those people +would let Mrs. Stevens alone.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>Nothing in the war was finer than the spirit of this woman, who stayed +between the lines in and about her house, through the planks of which now +and then a bullet splintered its way, miraculously living in a hail of +missiles where, it seemed, nothing else could live.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Lee Spares Old “Chatham”</i></div> + +<p>During the battle at Fredericksburg, General Lee stood on “Lee’s Hill,” an +eminence near Hazel Run, and between Marye’s Heights and Hamilton’s +crossing. Looking across the Rappahannock he could see “Chatham,” the +great winged brick house where General Burnside had headquarters, and +where, under the wide spreading oaks, General Lee had won his bride, the +pretty Mary Custis. The fine old place was now the property of Major Lacy, +who rode up to Lee and said: “General there are a group of Yankee officers +on my porch. I do not want my house spared. I ask permission to give +orders to shell it.” General Lee, smiling, said: “Major, I do not want to +shell your fine old house. Besides, it has tender memories for me. I +courted my bride under its trees.”</p> + +<p>In all this saturnalia of blood, it is a relief to find something in +lighter vein, and in this case it is furnished by two Irishmen, Meagher +and Mitchell. This little incident takes us back some years to “Ould +Ireland.” Here three young Irishmen, Charles Francis Meagher, John Boyle +O’Reily and John Mitchell, known respectively, as the Irish Orater, Poet +and Patriot, fired by love for Free Ireland and Home Rule, earned exile +for themselves and left Ireland hurriedly. O’Reily settled in Boston and +became a well-known poet and a champion of the North. Meagher settled in +New York, and at the outbreak of the War organized the Irish Brigade, of +which he was made Brigadier-General. Mitchell settled in Richmond, where +he became the editor of the Richmond Enquirer, and, as a spectator, stood +on Marye’s Heights during the battle and witnessed the desperate charges +and bloody repulses of his old friend, Meagher; and as he watched he +unburdened his soul. His refrain varied between exultation at the sight of +a fine fight and execration, in picturesque and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> satisfying language, of +the “renegade Irishman,” his one-time friend, who would fight against the +very principle, the advocacy of which had brought them exile from Ireland.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 600px; height: 380px;"><img src="images/img07.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Marye’s Heights; The Stone Wall</span><br /> +<i>It was Here that the Terrible and Spectacular Charges Spent Themselves.<br />The Sunken Road is in the Foreground</i></p> +<p> </p> + +<p>Mitchell’s grandson was John Purroy Mitchell, mayor of New York City, who +died in the Aviation service during the late war.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The Good Samaritan</i></div> + +<p>There was another soul at the Battle of Fredericksburg whose spirit of +mercy to the suffering was stronger than the dread of death, and in the +Chapel of the Prince of Peace at Gettysburg, is a tablet to him, Dick +Kirkland—the “Angel of Marye’s Heights”—a gracious memorial placed by +the Federal survivors of that fight.</p> + +<p>Dick Kirkland, a Southern soldier, who all day long had fought behind the +Stone Wall, laid aside all animosity when night fell and the bitter cries +arose in the chill air from the wounded and dying on the plain. The +pitiful calls for “water, water” so moved the young South Carolinian that +he asked his commanding officer to be allowed to relieve the sufferers. +His request was at first refused, but when he begged, permission was +given, and taking as many full canteens as he could carry, he went out +among the pitiful forms dotting the field, while the shells and rifle fire +still made it most dangerous, administering to the enemy. He was a good +Samaritan and unafraid, who is affectionately remembered by a grateful +foe. Kirkland was more merciful to the wounded Federals than was their +commander, for it was forty-eight hours before General Burnside could +swallow his pride and acknowledge defeat by applying for a truce. In the +interval, during forty-eight hours of winter weather while the wounded lay +unsheltered, chill winds sweeping over them, the wailing and the agonized +crying slowly died out. Every wounded man who could not crawl or walk +died, and when the truce came more than four thousand bodies were piled in +front of the “Sunken Road.”</p> + +<p>At night of December 13th, Burnside was utterly defeated and after quietly +facing the Southern forces all day on the 14th, he was practically forced +to abandon his battle plans by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> the protests of his Generals, who +practically refused to charge again, and moved his army across the river +at night.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>A Critique of the Armies</i></div> + +<p>In the whole action at Fredericksburg, General Lee used but 57,000 men, +while official reports state that the Northern forces “in the fight” +numbered 100,000. As bearing on this (and most assuredly with no intention +to belittle the gallant men of the Federal Army, who fought so bravely) +the condition of Burnside’s Army, due to the policy of his government and +to Major-General Hooker’s insubordination, is to be considered. An +estimate of this army by the New York Times shows to what pass vacillation +had brought it. The Times said after Fredericksburg:</p> + +<p>“Sad, sad it is to look at this superb Army of the Potomac—the match of +which no conqueror ever led—this incomparable army, fit to perform the +mission the country has imposed upon it—paralyzed, petrified, put under a +blight and a spell. You see men who tell you that they have been in a +dozen battles and have been licked and chased every time—they would like +to chase once to see how it “feels.” This begins to tell on them. Their +splendid qualities, their patience, faith, hope and courage, are gradually +oozing out. Certainly never were a graver, gloomier, more sober, sombre, +serious and unmusical body of men than the Army of the Potomac at the +present time.”</p> + +<p>On the other hand, thus spoke the correspondent of the London Times of the +“tatterdermalion regiments of the South”:</p> + +<p>“It is a strange thing to look at these men, so ragged, slovenly, +sleeveless, without a superfluous ounce of flesh on their bones, with +wild, matted hair, in mendicants rags, and to think, when the battle flags +go to the front, how they can and do fight. ‘There is only one attitude in +which I should never be ashamed of you seeing my men, and that is when +they are fighting.’ These were General Lee’s words to me the first time I +ever saw him.”</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> +<h2><i>At Chancellorsville</i></h2> +<div class="note"><p class="center"><i>The Struggle in the Pine Woods when death struck at Southern hearts</i></p></div> + + +<p>From the close of the battle at Fredericksburg in December 1862, until the +spring of 1863, General Burnside’s Army of the Potomac and General Lee’s +Army of Northern Virginia lay in camp; the first on the north and the +second on the south bank of the Rappahannock. The little town, now fairly +well repopulated by returned refugees, lay between the hosts. The Northern +lines practically began at Falmouth, where General Daniel Butterfield had +headquarters, and at which spot young Count Zeppelin and his assistants +were busily arranging to send up a great Observation Balloon with a +signalling outfit. Southward, Lee’s army stretched over thirty-three +miles, from the fords of the Rappahannock, where the hard riding +cavalrymen of Stuart and W. H. F. Lee watched, to Port Royal, Jackson’s +right.</p> + +<p>Burnside’s headquarters were the Phillips house and Chatham, (recently +owned by the famous journalist, Mark Sullivan and where he and Mrs. +Sullivan made their home for some years). Hooker, part of the time, was at +the Phillips house, Lee in a tent, near Fredericksburg, while General +Jackson had headquarters first in an outbuilding at Moss Neck, now the +home of Count d’Adhemar and later in a tent. It was here that he became +fond of little Farley Carbin, who came every day to perch on his knee and +receive little presents from him. One day he had nothing to give her, and +so, ere she left, he tore the gold braid from the new hat that was part of +a handsome uniform just given him by General “Jeb” Stuart, and placed it +like a garland on her pretty curly head. During the winter the General, +who from the beginning of the war never slept at night outside his army’s +camp, nor had an hour’s leave of absence, saw for the first time since he +left Lexington, and for next to the last time on earth, his wife and +little daughter,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> whom he so fervently loved. They spent some weeks near +him at Moss Neck.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Christmas at the Front</i></div> + +<p>Christmas Eve came. In the Southern camp back of the hills down the river +road, up towards Banks Ford, out at Salem Church, and even in the town, +hunger and cold were the lot of all. General Lee, wincing at the +sufferings of his “tatterdermalion” forces, wrote and asked that the +rations of his men be increased, but a doctor-inspector sent out by the +often futile Confederate Government reported that the bacon ration of +Lee’s army—one-half a pound a day, might be cut down, as “the men can be +<i>kept alive</i> on this.” General Lee himself wrote that his soldiers were +eating berries, leaves, roots and the bark of trees to “supplement the +ration,” and although at this time the Confederate Government had a store +of bacon and corn meal that would have fed <i>all</i> its armies a half year, +Lee’s ragged soldiers starved throughout the winter. It is worthy of note +here that when Lee’s starving army moved, foodless, toward that last day +at Appomattox, they marched past 50,000 pounds of bacon alone, which the +Confederate commissary, at Mr. Jefferson Davis’ orders, burned next day.</p> + +<p>We spoke of Christmas Eve, when in the long lines of the two camps’ great +fires beamed, voices rose in songs and hymns, and bands played. Late in +the evening, when dusk had settled, a band near Brompton broke out +defiantly into “Dixie,” and from the Washington Farm a big band roared out +“The Battle Hymn.” There was a pause and then, almost simultaneously, they +began “Home, Sweet Home,” and catching the time played it through +together. When it was done, up from the camps of these boys who were to +kill and be killed, who were to die in misery on many a sodden field, rose +a wild cheer.</p> + +<p>Hardly could two great armies ever before have lain for months’ within +sight of each other as these two did in almost amicable relations. There +was no firing; the cannon-crowned hills were silent. Drills and great +reviews took place on either bank of the river and in the Confederate +ranks there went on a great religious “revival” that swept through the +organization.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> Along the banks of the river where pickets; patrolled by +day, and their little fires flamed in the night, trading was active. From +the Union bank would come the call softly:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Johnny.”</p> + +<p>“Yea, Yank.”</p> + +<p>“Got any tobacco?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, want ’t trade?”</p> + +<p>“Half pound of coffee for two plugs of tobacco, Reb.”</p> + +<p>“’right, send ’er over.”</p></div> + +<p>They traded coffee, tobacco, newspapers and provisions, sometimes wading +out and meeting in mid-river, but as the industry grew, miniature ferry +lines, operated by strings, began to ply.</p> + +<p>Soldiers and Generals passed and repassed in the streets of +Fredericksburg, where wreckage still lay about in confusion, houses +presented dilapidated fronts, and only a few of the citizens attempted to +occupy their homes.</p> + +<p>Once, in midwinter, the armies became active when Burnside attempted to +move his army and cross the river above Fredericksburg; but only for a few +days, for that unfortunate General’s plans were ruined by a deluge and his +army “stuck in the mud.” General Hooker took his place.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The Coming of Spring</i></div> + +<p>About April 26 Hooker’s great army, “The finest army on the planet,” he +bombastically called it, moved up the river and began crossing. It was his +purpose to get behind Lee’s lines, surprise him and defeat him from the +rear. On April twenty-ninth and thirtieth, Hooker got in position around +Chancellorsville, in strong entrenchments, a part of his army amounting to +85,000 men, but the Confederate skirmishers were already in front of him.</p> + +<p>It was the Northern Commander’s plan for Sedgwick, left at Fredericksburg +with 40,000, to drive past Fredericksburg and on to Chancellorsville, and +thus to place the Southern forces between the two big Federal armies and +crush it.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The First Aerial Scout</i></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>Before the great battle of Chancellorsville began, this message came down +from the first balloon ever successfully used in war, tugging at its cable +two thousand feet above the Scott house, on Falmouth Heights:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right">Balloon in the Air, April 29, 1863.</p> + +<p>Major-General Butterfield,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Chief of Staff, Army of the Potomac.</span></p> + +<p>General: The enemy’s line of battle is formed in the edge of the +woods, at the foot of the heights, from opposite Fredericksburg to +some distance to the left of our lower crossing. Their line appears +quite thin, compared with our forces. Their tents all remain as +heretofore, as far as I can see.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;">T. C. S. LOWE,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Chief of Aeronauts.</span></p></div> + +<p>But the force did not “remain as heretofore” long, though the tents were +left to confuse the enemy, for on April 29 General Anderson moved to +Chancellorsville, followed on April 30 by General McLaws; and under cover +of darkness “Stonewall Jackson” moved to the same place that night, with +26,000 men. On May 1, then, Hooker’s 91,000 at Chancellorsville were being +pressed by Lee’s army of 46,000.</p> + +<p>General Early’s command of 9,000 and Barksdale’s brigade of 1,000 and some +detached troops were left to defend Fredericksburg against Sedgwick’s +corps, which was now crossing the Rappahannock, 30,000 strong. At 11 A. +M., May 1, General Lee’s army, with Jackson’s corps on his left, began the +attack at Chancellorsville, of which this dispatch speaks:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right">Balloon in the Air, May 1, 1863.</p> + +<p>Major-General Sedgwick,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Commanding Left Wing, Army of the Potomac.</span></p> + +<p>General: In a northwest direction, about twelve miles, an engagement +is going on.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;">T. C. S. LOWE,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Chief of Aeronauts.</span></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Fight at Chancellorsville</i></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>Before evening of May 1 Hooker’s advance guard was driven back, and the +Confederate forces swept on until within one mile of Chancellorsville, and +there, stopped by a “position of great natural strength” (General Lee) and +by deep entrenchments, log breastworks and felled trees, they ceased to +progress. It was evident at nightfall that with his inferior force the +Southern commander could not drive Hooker, and that if he failed to do so, +Sedgwick would drive back the small force in Fredericksburg and would come +on from Fredericksburg and crush him.</p> + +<p>Jackson and Lee bivouaced that night near where the Old Plank Road and the +Furnace Road intersect, and here formulated their plans for the morrow. +From Captain Murray Taylor, of General A. P. Hill’s staff, they learned +that a road existed, by advancing down which (the Furnace Road) then +turning sharply and marching in a “V” Jackson’s plan to turn Hooker’s +right might be carried out, and at Captain Taylor’s suggestion they sent +for “Jack” Hayden, who could not be gotten at once, and who, being an old +man, was “hiding out” to avoid “Yankee” marauders.</p> + +<p>Lee and Jackson slept on the ground. Jackson, over whom an officer had +thrown his overcoat, despite his protests, waited until the officer dozed, +gently laid the coat over him and slept uncovered, as he had not brought +his own overcoat. Later, arising chilled, he sat by the fire until near +dawn, when his army got in motion.</p> + +<p>When Jackson moved away in the early hours of May 2 there were left to +face Hooker’s 91,000 men on the Federal left, Lee’s 14,000 men, attacking +and feinting, and nowhere else a man. Jackson was moving through tangled +forests, over unused roads, and before 5 o’clock of that memorable +afternoon of May 2 he had performed the never-equalled feat of moving an +army, infantry and artillery of 26,000 men sixteen miles, entirely around +the enemy, and reversing his own army’s front. He was now across the Plank +Road and the Turnpike, about four miles from Chancellorsville, facing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +toward Lee’s line, six miles away. And Hooker was between them!</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Jackson’s Stroke of Genius</i></div> + +<p>It was 5:30 when Jackson’s command (Colston’s and Rhodes’ Divisions, with +A. P. Hill in reserve) gave forth the rebel yell and sweeping along +through the woods parallel to the roads, fell on Hooker’s right while the +unsuspecting army was at supper. The Federals fled in utter disorder.</p> + +<p>Before his victorious command, Jackson drove Hooker’s army through the +dark pine thickets until the Federal left had fallen on Chancellorsville +and the right wing was piled up and the wagon trains fleeing, throwing the +whole retreating army into confusion. At 9 o’clock he held some of the +roads in Hooker’s rear, and the Northern army was in his grasp.</p> + +<p>Hill was to go forward now. He rode to the front with his staff, a short +distance behind Jackson, who went a hundred yards ahead of the Confederate +lines on the turnpike to investigate. Bullets suddenly came singing from +the Northern lines and Jackson turned and rode back to his own lines. +Suddenly a Confederate picket shouted “Yankee cavalry,” as he rode through +the trees along the edge of the Plank Road. Then a volley from somewhere +in Lane’s North Carolina ranks poured out, and three bullets struck +Jackson in the hand and arms. His horse bolted, but was stopped and +turned, and Jackson was aided by General Hill to dismount. Almost all of +Hill’s staff were killed or wounded.</p> + +<p>There was trouble getting a litter, and the wounded man tried to walk, +leaning on Major Leigh and Lieutenant James Power Smith. The road was +filled with men, wounded, retreating, lost from their commands. Hill’s +lines were forming for a charge and from these Jackson hid his face—they +must not know he was wounded. A litter was brought and they bore the +sufferer through the thickets until a fusilade passed about them and +struck down a litter-bearer, so that the General was thrown from the +litter his crushed shoulder striking a pine stump, and now for the first +time, and last time, he groaned. Again they <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>bore him along the Plank +Road until a gun loaded with canister swept that road clear, and the +litter-bearers fled, leaving General Jackson lying in the road. And here, +with infinite heroism, Lieutenant Smith (see sketch of life) and Major +Leigh lay with their bodies over him to shield him from missiles.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 600px; height: 381px;"><img src="images/img08.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Where “Stonewall Jackson” Died</span><br /> +<i>In the Room on the Lower Floor, the Window of Which Looks Out on the Little Bush,<br />The South’s Hero Passed Away</i></p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The Death of “Stonewall”</i></div> + +<p>Later the wounded officer was gotten to a field headquarters near +Wilderness Run, and Dr. Hunter McGuire and assistants amputated one arm +and bound the other arm and hand. Two days later he was removed to Mr. +Chandler’s home, near Guineas, where, refusing to enter the mansion +because he feared his presence might bring trouble on the occupants should +the Federals come, and because the house was crowded with other wounded, +he was placed in a small outbuilding, which stands today. The record of +his battle against death in this little cabin, his marvelous trust in God +and his uncomplaining days of suffering until he opened his lips to feebly +say: “Let us pass over the river and rest under the shade of the trees” is +a beautiful story in itself. He died from pneumonia, which developed when +his wounds were beginning to heal. The wounds only would not have killed +him and the pneumonia probably resulted from sleeping uncovered on the +night before referred to. Mrs. Jackson and their little child, Dr. Hunter +McGuire, Lieutenant James Power Smith, his aide-de-camp; Mrs. Beasley and +a negro servant were those closest to him in his dying hours.</p> + +<p>Hill succeeded Jackson, and in twenty minutes was wounded and Stuart +succeeded him, and fighting ceased for the night.</p> + +<p>On May 3, General Lee attacked again, uniting his left wing with Stuart’s +right, and a terrific battle took place that lasted all day, and at its +end Hooker’s great army was defeated and dispirited, barely holding on in +their third line trenches, close to the river; that worse did not befall +him was due to events about Fredericksburg. (We may note here that Hooker +lost at Chancellorsville 16,751 men while Lee lost about 11,000.)</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Battle at Salem Church</i></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>For Sedgwick, with 30,000 men, took Marye’s Heights at 1 o’clock of this +day, losing about 1,000 men, and immediately General Brooks’ division +(10,000) marched out the Plank Road, where on each successive crest, +Wilcox’s Alabamians, with a Virginia battery of two guns (4,000 in all) +disputed the way. At Salem Church, General Wilcox planted his troops for a +final stand.</p> + +<p>Here at Salem Church the battle began when Sedgwick’s advance guard, +beating its way all day against a handful of Confederates, finally formed +late in the afternoon of May 3, prepared to throw their column in a grand +assault against the few Confederates standing sullenly on the pine ridge +which crosses the Plank Road at right angles about where Salem Church +stands. Less than 4,000 Alabama troops, under General Wilcox, held the +line, and against these General Brooks, of Sedgwick’s corps, threw his +10,000 men. They rushed across the slopes, met in the thicket, and here +they fought desperately for an hour. Reinforcements reached the +Confederates at sundown, and next morning General Lee had come with +Anderson’s and McLaw’s commands, and met nearly the whole of Sedgwick’s +command, charging them late in the afternoon of May 4, and driving them so +that, before daybreak, they had retreated across the river. Then, turning +back to attack Hooker, he found the latter also crossing the river.</p> + +<p>Unique in the history of battles are the two monuments which stand near +Salem Church, erected by the State of New Jersey and gallantly uttering +praise of friend and foe.</p> + +<p>They mark the farthest advance of the New Jersey troops. The first, on the +right of the Plank Road as one goes from Fredericksburg to +Chancellorsville, is a monument to the Fifteenth New Jersey troops, and on +one side is inscribed:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“The survivors of the Fifteenth New Jersey Infantry honor their +comrades who bore themselves bravely in this contest, and bear witness +to the valor of the men who opposed them on this field.”</p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Monument at Salem Church</i></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>The other monument stands on the ridge at Salem Church, close to the road, +and about where the charge of the Twenty-third New Jersey shattered itself +against the thin lines of Wilcox’s Alabamians. It stands just where these +two bodies of troops fought hand to hand amidst a rolling fire of +musketry, bathing the ground in blood. In the end the Confederates +prevailed, but when the State of New Jersey erected the monument they did +not forget their foe. It is the only monument on a battlefield that pays +homage alike to friend and enemy.</p> + +<p>The monument was unveiled in 1907, Governor E. Bird Gubb, who led the +Twenty-third New Jersey, being the principal speaker. Thousands were +present at the ceremonies.</p> + +<p>On one side of the splendid granite shaft is a tablet, on which is +engraved:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“To the memory of our heroic comrades who gave their lives for their +country’s unity on this battlefield, this tablet is dedicated.”</p></div> + +<p>And on the other side another tablet is inscribed:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“To the brave Alabama boys, our opponents on this battlefield, whose +memory we honor, this tablet is dedicated.”</p></div> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p> +<h2><i>Two Great Battles</i></h2> +<div class="note"><p class="center"><i>The fearful fire swept Wilderness, and the Bloody Angle at Spottsylvania</i></p></div> + + +<p>After Chancellorsville, the Confederate Army invaded the North, and Hooker +left the Stafford Hills to follow Lee into Pennsylvania. When Gettysburg +was over, both armies came back to face each other along the Rappahannock, +twenty to thirty miles above Fredericksburg.</p> + +<p>Now, Chancellorsville is in a quiet tract of scrub pine woods, twelve +miles west of Fredericksburg. The Plank Road and the Turnpike run toward +it and meet there, only to diverge three miles or so west, and six miles +still further west (from Chancellorsville) the two roads cross Wilderness +Run—the Turnpike crosses near Wilderness Tavern, the Plank Road about +five miles southward.</p> + +<p>Two miles from Wilderness Tavern on the Turnpike is Mine Run. Here General +Meade, now commanding the Northern Army, moved his forces, and on December +1, 1863, the two armies were entrenched. But after skirmishes, Meade, who +had started toward Richmond, decided not to fight and retreated with the +loss of 1,000 men.</p> + +<p>In the spring General Grant, now commander-in-chief, began to move from +the vicinity of Warrenton, and on May 4, 1864, his vast army was treading +the shadowed roads through the Wilderness. It was one of the greatest +armies that has ever been engaged in mobile warfare; for, by official +records, Grant had 141,000 men.</p> + +<p>Lee’s army—he had now 64,000 men—was moving in three columns from the +general direction of Culpeper.</p> + +<p>Grant intended to get between Lee and Richmond, but he failed, for the +Confederate commander met him in the tangled Wilderness, and one of the +most costly battles of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> war began—a battle than can barely be touched +on here, for, fought as it was in the woods, the lines wavering and +shifting and the attack now from one side, now from the other, it became +so involved that a volume is needed to tell the story.</p> + +<p>It is sufficient to say that the first heavy fighting began along the +Turnpike near Wilderness Run, on May 4 and 5, and that shortly afterwards +the lines were heavily engaged on each side of, and parallel to, the Plank +Road. Northward, on the Germanna road, charges and countercharges were +made, and on May 6, Sedgwick’s line finally broke and gave ground before a +spirited charge by part of Ewell’s corps—the brigades of Gordon, Johnston +and Pegram doubling up that flank.</p> + +<p>The Northern left (on the Plank Road), which had been driven back once, +rallied on the morning of May 6, and in a counter-attack threatened +disaster to the Confederates under Heth and Wilcox who (this was in the +forenoon) were driven back by a terrific charge from the Federal lines +near Brock Road. Expected for hours, Longstreet’s march-worn men came up +at this critical moment along Plank Road. Heading this column that had +been moving since midnight was a brigade of Texans and toward these +General Lee rode, calling:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“What troops are these?”</p></div> + +<p>The first answer was simply:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Texans, General.”</p></div> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>“General Lee to the Rear”</i></div> + +<p>“My brave Texas boys, you must charge. You <i>must</i> drive those people +back,” the Confederate commander said, so earnestly that the Texas troops +began to form while Lee personally rallied the men who by now were pouring +back from the front. Then as Longstreet’s men began to go forward Lee rode +with them until the line paused while the cry arose from all directions +“General Lee, go to the rear. Lee to the rear.” Officers seized his +bridle. “If you will go to the rear, General,” said an officer waving his +hand toward the lines “these men will drive ‘those people’ back.” His +promise was made good,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> for as Lee drew back, Longstreet’s men—General +Longstreet himself had now reached the head of the column—rushed through +the woods, driving the advancing Federals back, and piercing their lines +in two places. Before a second and heavier assault the whole line fell +back to entrenchments in front of Brock Road, and soon the junction of +that road and Plank Road was within Longstreet’s reach, and the Northern +line threatened with irretrievable disaster.</p> + +<p>And now, for the second time, just as a great victory was at hand, the +Southern troops shot their leader. General Longstreet was advancing along +the Plank Road with General Jenkins, at the head of the latter’s troops, +when—mistaken for a body of the enemy—they were fired into. General +Longstreet was seriously wounded, General Jenkins killed, and the forward +movement was checked for several hours, during which the Federals +reinforced the defenses at the junction.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Grant’s Advance Defeated</i></div> + +<p>At night of May 6 Grant had been defeated of his purpose, his army driven +back over a mile along a front of four miles, and terrific losses +inflicted—for he lost in the Wilderness 17,666 men, while the Confederate +losses were 10,641. General Hays (Federal) was killed near the junction of +Plank and Brock Roads.</p> + +<p>Fire now raged through the tangled pines and out of the smoke through the +long night came the screams of the wounded, who helplessly waited the +coming of the agonizing flames. Thousands of mutilated men lay there for +hours and hours feeling the heated breath of that which was coming to +devour them, helpless to move, while the fire swept on through the +underbrush and dead leaves.</p> + +<p>The battle had no result. Grant was badly defeated, but, unlike Burnside, +Hooker and Meade, he did not retreat across the Rappahannock. Instead, +pursuing his policy and figuring that 140,000 men against 60,000 men could +fight until they killed the 60,000, themselves loosing two to one, and +still have 20,000 left, he moved “by the flank.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>By the morning of May 8 Grant’s army, moving by the rear, was reaching +Spotsylvania Court House by the Brock Road and the Chancellorsville Road. +General Lee has no road to move on. But on the night of May 7 his +engineers cut one through the Wilderness to Shady Grove Church and his +advance guard moving over this intercepted Warren’s corps two miles from +the Court House and halted the advance. By the night of May 8, Lee’s whole +army was in a semi-circle, five or six miles in length, about the Court +House. The center faced northward and crossed the Fredericksburg Road.</p> + +<p>Grant attacked feebly on May 10, and again on May 11, and because of the +lightness of these attacks Lee believed Grant would again move “by the +flank” toward Richmond. But before dawn on May 12 Hancock’s corps struck +the apex of a salient just beyond the Court House, breaking the lines and +capturing General Edward Johnson and staff and 1,200 men.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The Day of “Bloody Angle”</i></div> + +<p>In this salient, now known as the “Bloody Angle,” occurred one of the most +terrible hand-to-hand conflicts of modern warfare. From dawn to dawn, in +the area of some 500 acres which the deep and well-fortified trenches of +the angle enclosed, more than 60,000 men fought that day. Artillery could +hardly be used, because of the mixture of the lines, but nowhere in the +war was such rifle fire known. The Northern forces broke the left of the +salient, took part of the right, and, already having the apex, pushed +their troops through. The lines swayed, advancing and retreating all day.</p> + +<p>Toward evening the gallant Gordan advancing from base line of the Angle, +with his whole command pouring in rifle fire, but mostly using the +bayonet, drove back the Federals slowly, and at night the Confederates +held all except the apex. But General Lee abandoned the salient after +dark, and put his whole force in the base line. Here General Grant +hesitated to attack him.</p> + +<p>All along the lines about Spotsylvania desperate fighting occurred that +day, but the battle was distinctly a draw. Both<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> armies lay in their +trenches, now and then skirmishing, until May 18, when Grant withdrew, +again moving “by the flank,” this time toward Milford, on the R., F. & P. +Railroad.</p> + +<p>Near the Bloody Angle, on the Brock Road, where it is intersected by a +cross road, General Sedgwick was killed by a sharpshooter concealed in a +tree. He fell from his horse, and although his aides summoned medical help +he died almost immediately. The tree from which it is said the +sharpshooter killed him is still standing.</p> + +<p>General Lee had at Spotsylvania about 55,000 men and General Grant about +124,000.</p> + +<p>The Federal loss was 15,577. The Confederate loss was 11,578. A large part +of these, probably 15,000, fell in the Bloody Angle.<small><a name="f1.1" id="f1.1" href="#f1">[1]</a></small></p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Our Part in Other Wars</i></div> + +<p>In the War of 1812 only one company was formed here, commanded by Colonel +Hamilton. This company did really very little service. The fear that the +enemy would come up the Rappahannock River to attack this place was never +realized.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + +<p>In the war with Mexico it is not recorded that any distinctive company was +enrolled here, although a number of its young men enlisted, and one of the +Masons of Gunston was the first man killed, in the ambush of the First +Dragoons on the Mexican border. General Daniel Ruggles won honor in this +war.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + +<p>In the Civil War, every man, “from the cradle to the grave,” went to the +front voluntarily and cheerfully for the cause. They could be found in +such commands as the Thirtieth Virginia Regiment of Infantry, commanded by +Colonel Robert S. Chew, in which, among the many officers were: Hugh S. +Doggett, Robert T. Know, James S. Knox, Edgar Crutchfield, John K. +Anderson, Edward Hunter, Thomas F. Proctor and many others. Of these it is +sufficient to say that at all times they loyally did their duty, and this +may also be said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> of the Fredericksburg Artillery, sometimes called +Braxton’s Battery, among the officers of which were Carter Braxton, Edward +Marye, John Pollock, John Eustace and others. Some of “our boys” united +themselves with the “Bloody Ninth” Virginia Cavalry, commanded by that +prince of calvarimen, Colonel Thomas W. Waller, of Stafford. Others of the +town, voluntarily enlisted in many other branches.</p> + +<p>Charles T. Goolrick commanded a company of infantry which was organized +and equipped by his father, Peter Goolrick. Later his health gave way and +his brother, Robert Emmett Goolrick, a lieutenant in the company, took +command.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + +<p>When the War with Spain was declared, the old Washington Guards, which has +done its duty at all times in the life of the town, came to the front. +Captain Maurice B. Rowe was its commander at that time; Revere, first +lieutenant, and Robert S. Knox, now of the U. S. Army, second lieutenant. +It is pertinent to state that in the War with Spain there was no draft, +and there were more volunteers than there was work to do. The company +marched away with great hopes, but spent almost the whole period of the +war at Camp Alger, near Washington.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>In the Great World War</i></div> + +<p>When the Great World War came on, Fredericksburg sent two organized +companies to the front. The first, the Washington Guards, under Captain +Gunyon Harrison, and the second, the Coast Artillery Company, under +Captain Johnson. No names can be recorded, for after the companies left, +the draft men went in large bodies, and many won promotion and +distinguished service medals.</p> + +<p>On July 4, 1918, the town gave to the World War soldiers a sincere and +royal “welcome home,” in which the people testified to their gratitude to +them. In the war, our boys had added luster to the name of the town, and +splendid credit to themselves. The joy of the occasion and the pleasure of +it were marred by the fact that so many had died in France.</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> +<h2><i>Heroes of Early Days</i></h2> +<div class="note"><p class="center"><i>The Old Town gives the first Commander, first Admiral, and Great Citizens</i></p></div> + + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Washington’s Boyhood Home</i></div> + +<p>Fredericksburg claims George Washington, who although born in Westmoreland +County, Virginia, February 22, 1732, spent most of his boyhood on the +“Ferry Farm,” the home of his father, Augustine Washington, situated on a +hill directly opposite the wharf which juts out from the Fredericksburg +side of the river. Here it is that Parson Weems alleged he threw a stone +across the river.</p> + +<p>He was educated in Fredericksburg and Falmouth, a village of gray mists +and traditions, which lords it over Fredericksburg in the matter of +quaintness and antiquity, but obligingly joins its fortunes to those of +the town by a long and picturesque bridge.</p> + +<p>His tutor in Falmouth was a “Master Hobbie,” and while this domine was +“strapping the unthinking end of boys,” George was evading punishment by +being studious and obedient. He also attended the school of Mr. Marye, at +St. George’s Church. It was in this church that the Washingtons +worshipped.</p> + +<p>Shy in boyhood and eclectic in the matter of associates, he had the genius +for real friendships.</p> + +<p>The cherry tree which proclaimed him a disciple of truth has still a few +flourishing descendants on the old farm, and often one sees a tourist +cherishing a twig as a precious souvenir of the ground hallowed by the +tread of America’s most famous son. It was on this farm that George was +badly hurt while riding (without permission) his father’s chestnut colt.</p> + +<p>We take Washington’s career almost for granted, as we watch the stars +without marveling at the forces that drive them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> on, but when we do stop +to think, we are sure to wonder at the substantial greatness, the +harnessed strength of will, the sagacity and perception, which made him +the man he was.</p> + +<p>He left school at sixteen, after having mastered geometry and +trigonometry, and having learned to use logarithms.</p> + +<p>He became a surveyor. His brother, Lawrence, who at that time owned Mt. +Vernon, recognized this; in fact, got him, in 1740, to survey those wild +lands in the valley of the Alleghany belonging to Lord Fairfax.</p> + +<p>He was given a commission as public surveyor after this. It is hard to +realize that he was only sixteen! We will not attempt to dwell upon his +life in detail. We know that at nineteen he was given a military district, +with the rank of major, in order to meet the dangers of Indian +depredations and French encroachments. His salary was only 150 pounds a +year.</p> + +<p>On November 4, 1752, he was made a Mason in Fredericksburg Lodge, No. 4. +The Bible used in these interesting ceremonies, is still in possession of +the lodge, and is in a fine state of preservation. Washington continued a +member of this lodge until he died, and Lafayette was an honorary member.</p> + +<p>At twenty-one, as a man of “discretion, accustomed to travel, and familiar +with the manners of the Indians,” he was sent by Governor Dinwiddie on a +delicate mission which involved encroachments by the French on property +claimed by the English. During all these years he came at close intervals +to visit his mother, now living in her own house in Fredericksburg, which +was still his home.</p> + +<p>After his distinguished campaign against the French army under M. De +Jumonville in the region of Ohio, where he exposed himself with the most +reckless bravery, he came to Mt. Vernon which he inherited from his +brother, Augustus, married Martha Custis, a young widow with two children +and large landed estates, and became a member of the House of Burgesses, +punctually attending all the sessions.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>Indeed, one finds oneself eagerly looking for an occasional lapse in this +epic of punctuality. It would humanize him. Anyway, one is glad to see +that he was a patron of the arts and the theatre, and his industry in +keeping day-books, letter-books, contracts and deeds is somewhat offset by +the fact that he played the flute.</p> + +<p>He seldom spoke in the House of Burgesses, but his opinion was eagerly +sought and followed. We will pass over the time when Dunmore prorogued the +“House,” and of the events which ended in Washington’s being made +Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army.</p> + +<p>We are, perhaps, more interested in another visit to Fredericksburg to see +his mother, after he had resigned his commission. From town and country, +his friends gathered to give him welcome and do him honor. The military +turned out, civic societies paraded, and cannon boomed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>When “George” got Arrested</i></div> + +<p>In between his career as statesmen and as soldier, we strain our eyes for +a thread of color, and we discover that he was once brought before a +justice of the peace and fined for trading horses on Sunday. And again, +that he was summoned before the grand jury and “George William Fairfax, +George Washington, George Mason,” and half dozen others were indicted for +“not reporting their wheeled vehicles, according to law.”</p> + +<p>It is worth noting, too, that while her son, George, was leading the +American army, Mary, his mother, was a partisan of the King; a tory most +openly. “I am sure I shall hear some day,” She told some one, calmly, in +her garden, “that they have hung George.”</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, his first two messages, after he crossed the Delaware and +won signal victories, were to Congress and his mother. And after the +hard-riding courier had handed her the note, and the gathering people had +waited until she laid down her trowel, and wiped the garden earth from her +hands, she turned to them and said: “Well, George has crossed the Delaware +and defeated the King’s troops at Trenton.”</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Washington Advises Lovers</i></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>The stern fact of the Revolution, which cast upon George Washington +immortal fame and which was followed by his election to the Presidency of +the United States, is softened somewhat by a letter on love written to his +daughter, Nellie Custis. A few excerpts are as follows:</p> + +<p>“When the fire is beginning to kindle, and the heart growing warm, +propound these questions to it. Who is this invader? Is he a man of +character; a man of sense? For be assured, a sensible woman can never be +happy with a fool. Is his fortune sufficient to maintain me in the manner +I have been accustomed to live? And is he one to whom my friends can have +no reasonable objection?”</p> + +<p>And again, “It would be no great departure from the truth to say that it +rarely happens otherwise than that a thorough paced coquette dies in +celibacy, as a punishment for her attempts to mislead others by +encouraging looks, words and actions, given for no other purpose than to +draw men on to make overtures that they may be rejected.”</p> + +<p>The letter ends with a blessing bestowed on the young lady to whom is +given such sensible advice. That this letter is characterized by an +admirable poise, cannot be denied.</p> + +<p>George Washington died at Mt. Vernon, December 4, 1799. He upheld the +organization of the American state during the first eight years of its +existence, amid the storms of interstate controversy, and gave it time to +consolidate.</p> + +<p>No other American but himself could have done this—for of all the +American leaders he was the only one whom men felt differed from +themselves. The rest were soldiers, civilians, Federalists or Democrats, +but he—was Washington.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Evidence of Citizenship</i></div> + +<p>Almost immediately after appearing before the public session of Congress, +at which he resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the +Continental armies, an act of which Thackeray speaks as sheathing his +sword after “a life of spotless honor, a purity unreproached, a courage +indomitable and a consummate victory,” Washington came to Fredericksburg<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +to visit his mother. He was the great hero of the age, the uncrowned King +of America and from all over the section crowds flocked to do him honor. +The occasion was of such importance that the city did not trust the words +of welcome to a single individual, but called a meeting of the City +Council at which a short address was adopted and presented to Washington +upon his arrival by William McWilliams, then mayor.</p> + +<p>While beautifully worded to show the appreciation of his services and +respect for his character and courage, the address of welcome contains +nothing of historical significance except the line “And it affords us +great joy to see you once more at a place which claims the honor of your +growing infancy, the seat of your amiable parent and worthy relatives,” +which establishes Washington’s connection with Fredericksburg.</p> + +<p>In reply, General Washington said:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Gentlemen:</p> + +<p>With the greatest pleasure I receive in the character of a private +citizen the honor of your address. To a benevolent providence and the +fortitude of a brave and virtuous army, supported by the general +exertion of our common country, I stand indebted for the plaudits you +now bestow. The reflection, however, of having met the congratulating +smiles and approbation of my fellow citizens for the part I have acted +in the cause of Liberty and Independence cannot fail of adding +pleasure to the other sweets of domestic life; and my sense of them is +heightened by their coming from the respectable inhabitants of the +place of my growing infancy and the honorable mention which is made of +my revered mother, by whose maternal hand, (early deprived of a +father) I was led to manhood. For the expression of personal affection +and attachment, and for your kind wishes for my future welfare, I +offer grateful thanks and my sincere prayers for the happiness and +prosperity of the corporate town of Fredericksburg.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;">Signed: <span class="smcap">George Washington</span>.</span></p></div> + +<p>This address is recorded in the books of the town council and is signed in +a handwriting that looks like that of Washington.</p> + +<p>As it is known that Washington lived at Fredericksburg from the time he +was about six years of age until early<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> manhood, the expression “growing +infancy” is unfortunate, but later, when Mayor Robert Lewis, a nephew of +Washington, delivered the welcome address to General Lafayette when he +visited Fredericksburg in 1824 the real case was made more plain when he +said:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“The presence of the friend of Washington excites the tenderest +emotions and associations among a people whose town enjoys the +distinguished honor of having been the residence of the Father of his +Country during the days of his childhood and youth,” and in reply +General Lafayette said:</p> + +<p>“At this place, Sir, which calls to our recollections several among +the most honored names of the Revolutionary War, I did, many years +ago, salute the first residence of our paternal chief, receiving the +blessings of his venerated mother and of his dear sister, your own +respected mother.” Later the same day, at a banquet in the evening, +given in his honor, Lafayette offered the following sentiment, “The +City of Fredericksburg—first residence of Washington—may she more +and more attain all the prosperity which independence, republicanism +and industry cannot fail to secure.”</p></div> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">John Paul Jones.</span></p> + +<p>Of all the men whose homes were in Fredericksburg, none went forth to +greater honor nor greater ignominy than John Paul Jones, who raised the +first American flag on the masthead of his ship, died in Paris and was +buried and slept for 113 years beneath a filthy stable yard, forgotten by +the country he valiantly served.</p> + +<p>He came to Fredericksburg early in 1760 on “The Friendship,” as a boy of +thirteen years. Born in a lowly home, he was a mere apprentice seaman, and +without doubt he deserted his ship in those days, when sea life was a +horror, to come to Fredericksburg and join his brother, William Paul, +whose home was here, and who is buried here. There is some record of his +having been befriended by a man in Carolina, and traditions that he left +his ship in a port on the Rappahannock after killing a sailor, and walked +through the wilderness to Fredericksburg. Neither tradition is of +importance; the fact is that he came here and remained four years during +the developing period of his life.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Jones’ American Home Here</i></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>William Paul had immigrated to Fredericksburg from the Parish of Kirkbeam, +Scotland, (where he and his brother, John, were born), about 1760, had +come to Fredericksburg and conducted a grocery store and tailor shop on +the corner of Caroline and Prussia streets. William died here in 1773, and +is buried in St. George’s Church Yard. In his will he left his property to +sisters in the Parish of Kirkbeam, Scotland.</p> + +<p>Alexander McKenzie, in his life of John Paul Jones, says, after referring +to the fact that William Paul is buried in Fredericksburg: “In 1773 he +went back to Fredericksburg to arrange the affairs of his brother, William +Paul,” and John Paul Jones himself wrote of Fredericksburg: “It was the +home of my fond election since first I saw it.” The Legislature of +Virginia decided in settling William Paul’s estate that John Paul Jones +was a legal resident of Fredericksburg.</p> + +<p>Obviously, then, Fredericksburg was the great Admiral’s home, for, though +not born here, he chose it when he came to America.</p> + +<p>When he first reached the little town on the Rappahannock he went to work +for his brother, William Paul and one can surmise that he clerked and +carried groceries and messages to the gentry regarding their smart clothes +for his brother.</p> + +<p>The Rising Sun Tavern was then a gathering place for the gentry and +without doubt he saw them there. He may well have learned good manners +from their ways, good language from hearing their conversation and +“sedition” from the great who gathered there. We may picture the lowly +boy, lingering in the background while the gentlemen talked and drank +punch around Mine Host Weedon’s great fire, or listening eagerly at the +counter where the tavern-keeper, who was to be a Major-General, delivered +the mail.</p> + +<p>Certainly John Paul Jones was a lowly and uneducated boy at 13. He left +Fredericksburg after four years to go to sea again, and in 1773 came back +to settle his brother’s estate, and remained here until December 22, 1775, +when he received at Fredericksburg his commission in the Navy.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>From Cabin Boy to Courtier</i></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>John Paul Jones’ story is more like romance than history. Beginning an +uncouth lad, he became a sea fighter whose temerity outranks all. We see +him aboard the Bonhomme Richard, a poor thing for seafaring, fighting the +Serapis just off British shores, half of his motley crew of French and +Americans dying or dead about him, the scruppers running blood, mad +carnage raging, and when he is asked if he is ready to surrender he says: +“I’ve just begun to fight,” and by his will forcing victory out of defeat. +He was the only American who fought the English on English soil. He never +walked a decent quarter deck, but with the feeble instruments he had, he +captured sixty superior vessels. His ideal of manliness was courage.</p> + +<p>What of this Fredericksburg gave him no one may say, but it is sure that +the chivalry, grace and courtliness which admitted him in later years to +almost every court in Europe was absorbed from the gentry in Virginia. He +did not learn it on merchantmen or in his humble Scotch home, and so he +learned it here. Of him the Duchess de Chartres wrote:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Not Bayard, nor Charles le Téméaire could have laid his helmet at a +lady’s feet with such knightly grace.”</p></div> + +<p>He won his country’s high acclaim, but it gave him no substantial +evidence. He was an Admiral in the Russian Navy, and after a time he went +to Paris to live a few years in poverty, neglect, and bitterness. He died +and was buried in Paris in 1792, at 45 years of age.</p> + +<p>He was a dandy, this John Paul Jones, who walked the streets of +Fredericksburg in rich dress. Lafayette, Jefferson, and, closest of all, +the Scotch physician, Hugh Mercer, were his friends. Slender and not tall, +black-eyed and swarthy, with sensitive eyes, and perfect mouth and chin, +he won the love or friendship of women quicker than that of men.</p> + +<p>He was buried in an old graveyard in Paris and forgotten until the author +of this book wrote for newspapers a series of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> letters about him. Interest +awoke and Ambassador Porter was directed to search for his body. How +utterly into oblivion had slipped the youth who ventured far, and +conquered always, is plain when it is known that it took the Ambassador +six years to find the body of Commodore John Paul Jones. He found it in an +old cemetery where bodies were heaped three deep under the courtyard of a +stable and a laundry.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="sidenote"><i>Admiral Jones’ Surgeon</i></div> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Surgeon Laurens Brooke</span></p> + +<p>Surgeon Laurens Brooke, was born in Fredericksburg, in 1720, and was one +of those who accompanied Governor Spottswood as a Knight of the Golden +Horseshoe. He afterwards lived in Fredericksburg, entered the U. S. Navy +as a surgeon and sailed with John Paul Jones on the “Ranger” and on the +“Bon Homme Richard.” At the famous battle of Scarborough, between the +latter vessel and the “Serapis,” Surgeon Brooke alone had the care of one +hundred and twenty wounded sailors; and later with Surgeon Edgerly, of the +English navy, from the Tempis, performed valiant work and saved many +lives. The surgeons were honored by Captain Paul Jones with a place at his +mess, and the literature of the period refers to Surgeon Brooke as the +“good old Doctor Laurens Brooke.” He was with Jones until the end of the +war and spent some time at his home here when a very old man, some years +after the Revolution. His family had a distinguished part in the War +Between the States, being represented in the army and in the C. S. +Congress during that period.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">General Hugh Mercer</span></p> + +<p>We wonder if any one ever declined to take the advice of George +Washington.</p> + +<p>Certain it is that General Hugh Mercer did not, for, at the suggestion of +Washington, Mercer came to Fredericksburg. Many Scotchmen have found the +town to their liking. It makes them feel a sort of kinship with the +country of hill-shadows, and strange romance.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>Mercer was born in Aberdeen in the year 1725. His father was a clergyman; +his mother, a daughter of Sir Robert Munro, who, after distinguishing +himself at Fontenoy and elsewhere, was killed at the battle of Falkirk, +while opposing the young “Pretender.” Hugh Mercer did not follow in the +footsteps of his father, but linked his fortunes with Charles Edward’s +army, as assistant surgeon, fought with him at Culloden and shared the +gloom of his defeat—a defeat which was not less bitter because his ears +were ringing with the victorious shouts of the army of the Duke of +Cumberland.</p> + +<p>To change a scene that brought sad memories, Dr. Hugh Mercer, in the fall +of 1746, embarked for America. There, on the frontiers of civilization, in +Western Pennsylvania, he spent arduous, unselfish years. He was welcomed +and loved in this unsettled region of scattered homes.</p> + +<p>A rough school it was in which the doctor learned the lessons of life.</p> + +<p>In the year 1755, Mercer made his appearance in the ill-fated army of +Braddock, which met humiliating disaster at Fort Duquesne. Washington’s +splendid career began here and here Mercer was wounded. Of this memorable +day of July 9, 1755, it has been said that “The Continentals gave the only +glory to that humiliating disaster.”</p> + +<p>In 1756, while an officer in a military association, which was founded to +resist the aggression of the French and Indians, he was wounded and forced +to undergo terrible privations. While pursued by savage foes he sought +refuge in the trunk of a tree, around which the Indians gathered and +discussed the prospect of scalping him in the near future. When they left +he escaped in the opposite direction and completely outwitted them. Then +began a lonely march through an unbroken forest, where he was compelled to +live on roots and herbs, and where the carcass of a rattlesnake proved his +most nourishing meal. He finally succeeded in rejoining his command at +Fort Cumberland. In recognition of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> his sacrifices and services in these +Indian wars, the Corporation of Philadelphia presented him with a note of +thanks and a splendid memorial medal. In the year 1758 he met George +Washington and then it was that Pennsylvania lost a citizen. In +Fredericksburg, at the time that Mercer came, lived John Paul Jones, and +we do not doubt that they often met and talked of their beloved Scotland.</p> + +<p>During his first years in Fredericksburg, Mercer occupied a small +two-story house on the southwest corner of Princess Anne and Amelia +Streets. There he had his office and apothecary shop. The building is +still standing.</p> + +<p>An Englishman, writing at this time of a visit to Fredericksburg, calls +Mercer “a man of great eminence and possessed of almost every virtue and +accomplishment,” truly a sweeping appreciation.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Mercer Joins Masonic Lodge</i></div> + +<p>He belonged to Lodge No. 4, of which George Washington was also a member, +and he occasionally paid a visit to Mount Vernon.</p> + +<p>In September, 1774, the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia. The war +cloud was lowering, it broke, and when the Revolution swept the country, +Mercer was elected Colonel of the Third Virginia Regiment.</p> + +<p>An approbation of the choice of Mercer was prepared by the county +committee, which set forth the importance of the appointment and was an +acknowledgment of his public spirit and willingness to sacrifice his life.</p> + +<p>Colonel Mercer with his men and fifes and drums marched away from his +home, bidding good-bye to his wife (Isabella Gordon), whom he never saw +again.</p> + +<p>There is an interesting story of Mercer at Williamsburg. Among the troops +which were sent there at that time, was a Company of riflemen from beyond +the mountains, commanded by a Captain Gibson. A reckless and violent +opposition to military restraint had gained for this corps the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> name of +“Gibson’s Lambs.” After a short time in camp, a mutiny arose among them, +causing much excitement in the army, and alarming the inhabitants of the +city. Free from all restraint, they roamed through the camp, threatening +with instant death any officer who would presume to exercise any authority +over them.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Mercer Quells a Mutiny</i></div> + +<p>At the height of the mutiny an officer was dispatched with the alarming +tidings to the quarters of Colonel Mercer. The citizens of the town vainly +implored him not to risk his life in this infuriated mob.</p> + +<p>Reckless of personal safety, he instantly repaired to the barracks of the +mutinous band and directing a general parade of the troops, he ordered +Gibson’s company to be drawn up as offenders and violators of the law, and +to be disarmed in his presence.</p> + +<p>The ringleaders were placed under a strong guard and in the presence of +the whole army he addressed the offenders in an eloquent manner, +impressing on them their duties as citizens and soldiers, and the +certainty of death if they continued to remain in that mutinous spirit +equally disgraceful to them and hazardous to the sacred interests they had +marched to defend. Disorder was instantly checked and the whole company +was ever afterward as efficient in deportment as any troop in the army.</p> + +<p>On June 5, 1776, Mercer was made Brigadier-General in the Continental +Army. It was Mercer who suggested to Washington the crossing of the +Delaware. Major Armstrong, Mercer’s Aide-de-Camp, who was present at a +council of officers, and who was with Mercer on that fateful night, is +authority for this statement.</p> + +<p>We, somehow, see the army of the colonists poorly clad, many of them +barefoot, without tents, with few blankets, and badly fed. In front of +them is Cornwallis, with his glittering hosts, and we can almost hear the +boast of General Howe, that Philadelphia would fall when the Delaware +froze. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> did not know Washington; and Mercer’s daring was not reckoned +with. We wonder if ever a Christmas night was so filled with history as +that on which Washington, with the intrepid Mercer at his side, pushing +through that blinding storm of snow and fighting his way through the +floating ice, crossed the Deleware with the rallying cry of “victory or +death,” and executed the brilliant move which won for him the Battle of +Trenton.</p> + +<p>Near Princeton, Washington’s army was hemmed in by Cornwallis in front and +the Delaware in the rear. After a consultation at Mercer’s headquarters it +was determined to withdraw the Continental forces from the front of the +enemy near Trenton, and attack the detachment then at Princeton. The +pickets of the two armies were within two hundred yards of each other. In +order to deceive the enemy, campfires were left burning on Washington’s +front line and thus deceived, the enemy slept.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Death on The Battlefield</i></div> + +<p>A woman guided the Continental army on that night march. A detachment of +two hundred men, under Mercer, was sent to seize a bridge at Worth’s Mill. +The night had been dreary; the morning was severely cold. Mercer’s +presence was revealed at daybreak. General Mahood counter-marched his +regiment and crossed the bridge at Worth’s Mill before Mercer could reach +it. The British troops charged. The Colonials were driven back. General +Mercer dismounted and tried vainly to rally his men. While he was doing +this, he was attacked by a group of British troops, who, with the butts of +muskets, beat him down and demanded that he surrender. He refused. He was +then bayoneted and left for dead on the battlefield. Stabbed in seven +different places, he did not expire until January 12, 1777.</p> + +<p>Washington finally won the Battle of Princeton, but Mercer was a part of +the price he paid. The battles of Trenton and Princeton were the most +brilliant victories in the War of the Revolution.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>At Fredericksburg a monument perpetuates Mercer’s fame. At the funeral in +Philadelphia 30,000 people were present, and there his remains rest in +Laurel Hill Cemetery.</p> + +<p>The St. Andrew’s Society, which he joined in 1757, erected a monument to +his memory and in the historical painting of the Battle of Princeton, by +Peale Mercer is given a prominent place. The states of Pennsylvania, +Kentucky, Virginia and New Jersey have, by an act of Legislature, named a +county “Mercer,” and on October 1, 1897, a bronze tablet to his memory was +unveiled at Princeton, N. J. We have not the space to relate all of his +illustrious life, but somewhere there is a poem, the last lines of which +voice the sentiment of his countrymen.</p> + +<p class="poem"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">“But he, himself, is canonized,</span><br /> +If saintly deeds such fame can give;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As long as liberty is prized,</span><br /> +Hugh Mercer’s name shall surely live.”</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Sir Lewis Littlepage</span></p> + +<p>In the possession of a well-known man of Richmond, Va., is a large gold +key.</p> + +<p>It is vastly different from the keys one sees these days, and inquiry +develops that it was once the property of one of the most picturesque +characters in America—a man who began his life in the cornfields of +Hanover County, Va., in 1753, and was swept by the wave of circumstance +into the palace of a King.</p> + +<p>The atmosphere of old William and Mary College, where Lewis Littlepage was +graduated, after the death of his father, gave a mysteriously romantic +note to the beckoning song of adventure, which finally became a definite +urge, when the youth, after residing in Fredericksburg, listened to the +advice of his guardian, Benjamin Lewis, of Spotsylvania County, who placed +him with John Jay, the American Minister at Madrid.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>Six months later, Jay, in a letter to Benjamin Lewis, said of the +seventeen-year-old lad:</p> + +<p>“I am much pleased with your nephew, Lewis Littlepage, whom I regard as a +man of undoubted genius, and a person of unusual culture.”</p> + +<p>And a few months after this we discover that the well-known traveler, Mr. +Elekiah Watson, has an entry in his diary which reads:</p> + +<p>“At Nantes I became acquainted with Lewis Littlepage, and although he is +but eighteen years of age, I believe him to be the most remarkable +character of the age. I esteem him a prodigy of genius.”</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The Poet Takes The Sword</i></div> + +<p>In Madrid, Littlepage got into financial straits, owing to the fact that +his allowance did not reach him, and the next glimpse we get of him is +through the smoke of battle at Fort Mahon, where in 1781, as a member of +the force under the Duke de Crillion, he was painfully wounded while +charging the Turks.</p> + +<p>In 1872, en route to Madrid to join Mr. Jay, he heard that de Crillion was +preparing to storm Gibraltar, and, believing himself in honor bound to +follow the fortunes of his chief, he wrote Mr. Jay that he must turn again +to arms.</p> + +<p>From that day forward he was a soldier, a diplomat, a courtier—the +elected friend of Kings and Princes.</p> + +<p>He aided in storming Gibraltar and left his ship only when it had burned +to the water’s edge. He was highly recommended to the King for his +gallantry, and went back to Paris with de Crillion to become a brilliant +figure at court and in the salons.</p> + +<p>Europe knew him, but America refused him even a small commission, though +Kings wrote to our Congress in his behalf.</p> + +<p>He met Lafayette at Gibraltar; in fact, accompanied him to Spain. Then, +after considerable travel in European countries, he again encountered +Prince Nassau, who was his brother at arms in de Crillion’s forces, became +his aide-de-camp and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> together they found happiness in travel. They +sought the bright lights of gay capitals and followed mysterious moon +tracks on the Danube river.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>When Poland’s Star Flamed</i></div> + +<p>At the Diet of Grodno, in 1784, where he went with Nassau, he met +Stanislaus Augustus, King of Poland. He captivated the King; and in a +brilliant ball room, Stanislaus offered him a permanent service at his +court.</p> + +<p>Within a year he was chamberlain and secretary to the cabinet of His +Majesty, and for years he was practically the ruler of the empire.</p> + +<p>In 1787, at Kiva, he made a treaty with Catherine, Empress of Russia, and +became her intimate friend.</p> + +<p>He was a special and secret envoy from Poland to the sessions of the grand +quadruple alliance in France. Later we see him leading a division of the +army of Prince Potempkin across the snow-clad steppes of Russia, and a few +months after, he was marching at the head of the Prince’s army through the +wild reaches of Tartary. Again, under Prince Nassau, we find him +commanding a fleet against the Turks at Oczacon.</p> + +<p>Shortly after, he was a special high commissioner to Madrid. His mission +completed, he was ordered to return to Russia for the revolution of 1791, +and now he served as aide-de-camp and Major-General.</p> + +<p>In 1794, when the Polish patriot, Kosciusco, headed a revolution, +Littlepage answered his summons and fought through to the storming of +Prague.</p> + +<p>Stanislaus held him the greatest of his generals and his aides and when +the King was captured by the Russians, Littlepage, tired of the broils of +European politics, came home to America.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Ah, But he Had His Memories</i></div> + +<p>When Littlepage was first in Poland, the place was gay and +laughter-loving. An atmosphere of high culture and literary achievements +made a satisfactory entourage for the ill-fated people. He lived happily +there and loved a princess of North Poland. There were starlight meetings +and woodland<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> strolls, vows of faith and the pain of renunciation, when +for diplomatic reasons she was forced to endure another alliance. +Littlepage’s reputation and splendid appearance; her beauty and the love +they bore each other and, finally, her death, made a background of red +romance, against which he is silhouetted in one’s memory.</p> + +<p>That Lewis Littlepage was a poet of no mean ability was a fact too well +known to be disputed. The last verse of a poem written by him and inspired +by the death of the woman he loved reads:</p> + +<p class="poem">“Over there, where you bide—past the sunset’s gold glory,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With eyes that are shining, and red lips apart,</span><br /> +Are you waiting to tell me the wonderful story,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That death cannot part us—White Rose of my Heart.”</span></p> + +<p>It is said that Littlepage had more honors and decorations showered upon +him than any other American in history.</p> + +<p>Go to the old Masonic cemetery in Fredericksburg, and in a far corner, +where the wild vines and the hardy grass struggle for mastery, you may see +a legend inscribed upon a large flat stone: This is the tomb of Lewis +Littlepage. For the multitude, it is simply an unpleasant finale to the +life of a well known man.</p> + +<p>To the imaginative, it starts a train of thought—a play of fancy. One +sees the rise of the star of Poland. Gay youths and maids pass and repass +to the sound of music and laughter. The clank of a sword sounds above the +measured foot fall on a polished floor. A soldier passes in all the +bravery of uniform. It is General Littlepage silently going to an audience +with the King. The massive doors open without a challenge, for as a +passport to the palace, on the uniform of this soldier glitters a large +gold key—the gift of Stanislaus.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the scene changes. Amid the surging hosts and in the thick of the +bloody clash at Prague, when the anguish of uncertainty was crumbling the +courage of a kingdom, a man is seen, riding with reckless abandon. Tearing +through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> the lines and holding aloft the tattered standard of Poland, +comes Littlepage of Virginia. With the rallying cry of his adopted land, +he gathers up his troops and gloriously defends the flag he loves. Our +eyes again stray to the legend on the tomb: Disillusionment!</p> + +<p>His return to his old home! His death! We see this also, but with this is +the knowledge that he lived greatly, and in his ears, while dying, sounded +again, the shout of victory, while his heart held the dream of the old +romance.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Gen. George Weedon</span></p> + +<p>Among the first men in America to “fan the flames of sedition,” as an +English traveler said of him long before the war, was Mine Host George +Weedon, keeper of the Rising Sun Tavern, Postmaster, and an Irish +immigrant. At his place gathered all the great of his day, spending hours +dicing and drinking punch.</p> + +<p>Over and over among these men—Washington, Mason, Henry, the Lees, +Jefferson and every Virginia gentleman of that section, George Weedon +heard discussion of the Colonies’ problems, and he forcibly gave vent to +his opinions.</p> + +<p>Time and again he expressed the idea of freedom before others had thought +of more than protest. His wild Irish talk in the old Rising Sun Tavern +helped to light the torch of liberty in America.</p> + +<p>When war came, Weedon was elected Lieutenant-Colonel of the First +Virginia, of which Hugh Mercer was chosen Colonel. August 17, 1776, he +became its Colonel, and on February 24, 1777, he was made a +Brigadier-General.</p> + +<p>In the Battle of Brandywine, General Weedon’s division rendered +conspicuous service, when they checked the pursuit of the British and +saved our army from rout. He commanded brilliantly at Germantown. Wherever +he fought, his great figure and stentorian voice were prominent in the +conflict.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>He admired Washington and his fellow-generals. It was not because of +these, but because he thought Congress to have treated him unfairly about +rank, that he left the Army at Valley Forge. He re-entered in 1780, and in +1781 was given command of the Virginia troops, which he held until the +surrender of Yorktown, where he played an important part.</p> + +<p>George Weedon was the first President of the Virginia Society of the +Cincinnati, a fraternity of Revolutionary officers which General +Washington helped to organize, and this was, indeed, a singular honor. He +was a member of the Fredericksburg Masonic Lodge, of which Washington was +also a member. After the war, he lived at “The Sentry Box,” the former +home of his gallant brother-in-law, General Mercer.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>A Song For the Yuletide</i></div> + +<p>General Weedon was a man of exuberant spirits, loud of voice and full of +Irish humor. He wrote a song called “Christmas Day in ’76,” and on each +Yuletide he assembled at his board his old comrades and friends, and, +while two negro boys stood sentinel at the door, drank punch and roared +out the verses:</p> + +<p class="poem">“On Christmas Day in ’76<br /> +Our ragged troops with bayonets fixed,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For Trenton marched away.</span><br /> +The Delaware ice, the boats below<br /> +The lights obscured by hail and snow,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But no signs of dismay.”</span></p> + +<p>Beginning thus, the brave Irishman who verbally and fought among the +foremost for America for over physically thirty years, told the story of +Washington’s crossing the Delaware, vividly enough, and every Christmas +his guests stood with him and sang the ballad.<small><a name="f2.1" id="f2.1" href="#f2">[2]</a></small></p> + + +<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Mason of Gunston</span></p> + +<p>Of George Mason, whom Garland Hunt says is “more than any other man +entitled to be called the Father of the Declaration of Independence,” whom +Judge Garland says, “Is the greatest political philosopher the Western +Hemisphere ever produced,” of whose Bill of Rights, Gladstone said, “It is +the greatest document that ever emanated from the brain of man,” little +can be said here. His home was at Gunston Hall, on the Potomac, but the +Rising Sun knew him well, and his feet often trod Mary Washington’s garden +walks, or the floors of Kenmore, Chatham and the other residences of Old +Fredericksburg.</p> + +<p>Mason was intimate here, and here much of his trading and shipping was +done. When he left Gunston, it was usually to come to Fredericksburg and +meet his younger conferees, who were looking up to him as the greatest +leader in America. He died and is buried at Gunston Hall. It was in +Fredericksburg that he first met young Washington, who ever afterward +looked upon “The Sage of Gunston” as his adviser and friend, and as +America’s greatest man.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">General William Woodford</span></p> + +<p>Although he came from Caroline, General William Woodford was a frequenter +of and often resident in Fredericksburg, and it was from this city he went +to Caroline upon the assembling of troops when Lord Dunmore became +hostile. In subsequent military operations he was made Colonel of the +Second Regiment and distinguished himself in the campaign that followed, +and he was honorably mentioned for his valiant conduct at the battle of +Gread Bridge, December 9, 1775, upon which occasion he had the chief +command and gained a brilliant victory. He was later made General of the +First Virginia Brigade. His command was in various actions throughout the +war, in one of which, the Battle of Brandywine, he was severely wounded. +He was made prisoner by the British in 1778 at Charleston, and taken to +New York, where he died.</p> + + +<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> +<div class="sidenote"><i>The Owner of “Kenmore”</i></div> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Col. Fielding Lewis</span></p> + +<p>The mansion stands in a park, which in autumn is an explosion of color. An +old wall, covered with Virginia creeper, adds a touch of glamour to the +Colonial house, and a willow tree commanding a conspicuous corner of the +grounds lends a melancholy aspect which makes up the interesting +atmosphere of Kenmore, part of the estate of Colonel Fielding Lewis, who +brought to this home his bride, “Betty,” a sister of George Washington, +and where they lived as befitted people of wealth and learning, his wife +giving an added meaning to the social life of the old town, and Colonel +Lewis himself taking an active and prominent part in the civic affairs, as +most people of wealth and culture deemed it their duty to do in the days +gone by.</p> + +<p>Colonel Lewis was an officer in the Patriot Army and commanded a division +at the siege of Yorktown. He was an ardent patriot and when the Revolution +started his activities ran to the manufacture of firearms, which were made +at “The Gunnery” from iron wrought at the foundry, traces of which may +still be seen on the Rappahannock river, just above the village of +Falmouth.</p> + +<p>Colonel Lewis was a magistrate in the town after the war, a member of the +City Council and represented the county in the Legislature.</p> + +<p>His son, Captain Robert Lewis, was one of President Washington’s private +secretaries and mayor of Fredericksburg from 1821 to the day of his death. +When LaFayette visited the town in 1824, Colonel Lewis was selected to +deliver the address of welcome.</p> + +<p>However, we are apt to forget the elegancies and excellencies of the +courtly man whose life was dedicated to useful service in a note that is +struck by the home in which he lived. Kenmore, in the light of its past, +sounds an overtone of romance. We cannot escape it, and it persistently +reverberates above the people it sheltered.</p> + +<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p> +<div class="sidenote"><i>The Greatest Officeholder</i></div> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">James Monroe</span></p> + +<p>James Monroe was among the most important citizens that ever lived in +Fredericksburg.</p> + +<p>Monroe was born in Westmoreland County, not far from what is now Colonial +Beach. When a young man he was attracted by the larger opportunities +afforded by the town and moved to Fredericksburg, where he began the +practice of law, having an office in the row of old brick buildings on the +west side of Charles Street, just south of Commerce. Records still in the +courthouse show that he bought property on lower Princess Anne Street, +which still is preserved and known as “The Home of James Monroe.” Monroe +occupied the house when it was located at Bradley’s corner, and it was +afterwards moved to its present site, though some contend that he lived in +the house on its present site.</p> + +<p>Shortly after his arrival he became affiliated with St. George’s Church, +soon being elected a vestryman, and when he had been here the proper +length of time he got into politics, and was chosen as one of the Town +Councilmen. From this humble political preferment at the hands of the +Fredericksburg people, he began a career that seemed ever afterward to +have included nothing but officeholding. Later he became Continental +Congressman from the district including Fredericksburg, and was, in turn, +from that time on, Representative in the Virginia convention, Governor of +Virginia, United States Congressman, Envoy Extraordinary to France, again +Governor, Minister to England, Secretary of War, once more Minister to +England, Minister to Madrid, Secretary of State and twice President—if +not a world’s record at least one that is not often overmatched. Previous +to his political career, Monroe had served in the Revolutionary Army as a +Captain, having been commissioned while a resident of Fredericksburg.</p> + +<p>Monroe gave to America one of its greatest documents—known to history as +the Monroe Doctrine. It was directed essentially against the purposes of +the Holy Alliance, formed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> in 1815 by the principal European powers with +the fundamental object of putting down democratic movements on the part of +the people, whether they arose abroad or on this side of the world. After +consultation with English statesmen and with Jefferson, Adams, John Quincy +Adams and Calhoun, Monroe announced his new principle which declared that +the United States of America would resent any attempt of the Alliance to +“extend their system to this part of the Hemisphere.”</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="sidenote"><i>“Old Doctor Mortimer”</i></div> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Dr. Charles Mortimer</span></p> + +<p>In a beautiful old home on lower Main Street, surrounded by a wall, +mellowed by time, and ivy-crowned, lived Washington’s dear friend and +physician, Dr. Charles Mortimer. He could often be seen, in the days gone +by, seated on his comfortable “verandah,” smoking a long pipe, covered +with curious devices, and discussing the affairs of the moment with those +rare intellects who were drawn there by the interesting atmosphere of +blended beauty and mentality. There was, as a background, a garden, +sloping to the river, and sturdy trees checquered the sunlight. +Old-fashioned flowers nodded in the breeze which blew up from the +Rappahannock, and the Doctor’s own tobacco ships, with their returned +English cargoes, swung on their anchors at the foot of the terraces.</p> + +<p>If one entered the house at the dinner hour, every delicacy of land and +water would conspire against a refusal to dine with the host of this +hospitable mansion. Highly polished and massive pewter dishes, disputed +possession of the long mahogany table, with a mammoth bowl of +roses—arrogantly secure of an advantageous position in the center.</p> + +<p>There was often the sound of revelry by night, and the rafters echoed gay +laughter and the music of violins—high, and sweet and clear.</p> + +<p>An historic dinner, following the famous Peace Ball at the old Market +House in November, 1784, was given here, and the hostess, little Maria +Mortimer, sixteen years old, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> Doctor’s only daughter, with her hair +“cruped high” for the first time, presided, and her bon mots won the +applause of the company, which was quite a social triumph for a +sixteen-year-old girl, trying to hold her own with Lafayette, Count +d’Estang and the famous Rochambeau. They clicked glasses and drank to her +health standing, and little Maria danced with “Betty Lewis’ Uncle George +himself,” for Washington did not disdain the stately measures of the +minuet.</p> + +<p>But there is an obverse here. The old Doctor did not fail in his duty. On +horseback, with his saddlebag loaded with medicines, he rode down dark +forest paths to the homes of pioneers, traveled the streets of +Fredericksburg and came silently along lone trails in the country in the +dead of night, when hail or snow or driving rains cut at him bitterly +through the trees. He refused no call, and claimed small fees. He was Mary +Washington’s physician for years, called on her almost daily, and stood by +her bedside mute, when, the struggle over, she quietly passed on to the +God in whom she had put her deepest faith.</p> + +<p>Of the many people who walk in Hurkamp Park, in the center of the old +town, there are few who know that they are passing daily over the grave of +the genial and popular Doctor, who was Fredericksburg’s first mayor, and +Washington’s dearest friend.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="sidenote"><i>Maury—a Master Genius</i></div> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Matthew Fontaine Maury</span></p> + +<p>Of all the famous men who went from Fredericksburg to take large parts in +the rapidly moving history of America, or in the work of the world, +Commodore Maury added most to the progress of science. Not only did he +create knowledge, but he created wealth by the immense saving he effected +to shipping by charting shorter ocean routes. He is buried in Hollywood +Cemetery, in Richmond, under a simple shaft which bears the name, “Matthew +Fontaine Maury.” The great “pathfinder of the seas” was born in +Spotsylvania County, January, 1806, and died at Lexington in 1873.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>A World Famed Scientist</i></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>He wore the most prized decorations the monarchs of Europe could give him; +he founded the most valuable natural science known, and was reckoned a +transcendent genius. Of him, Mellin Chamberlain, Librarian of Congress, +said, with calm consideration “I do not suppose there is the least doubt +that Maury was the greatest man America ever produced.”</p> + +<p>Alexander Humbolt said that Maury created a new science.</p> + +<p>He plunged into the unknown; he charted the seas and mapped its currents +and winds. He was the first to tell the world that winds and currents were +not of chance, but of fixed and immutable laws, and that even cyclones +were well governed. He knew why a certain coast was dry and another rainy, +and he could, on being informed of the latitude and longitude of a place, +tell what was the prevailing weather and winds.</p> + +<p>Maury went to sea as a midshipman in the American navy in 1825, and in +1831, at twenty-four years of age, he became master of the sloop Falmouth, +with orders to go to the Pacific waters, but, though he sought diligently, +he found no chart of a track for his vessel, no record of currents or of +winds to guide him. The sea was a trackless wilderness, and the winds were +things of vagrant caprice. And he began then to grapple with those +problems which were to immortalize him.</p> + +<p>He came back from ocean wanderings in a few years and married an old +sweetheart, Miss Ann Herndon, of Fredericksburg, and he lived for a time +on Charlotte Street, between Princess Anne and Prince Edward, and wrote +his first book, “A Treatise on Navigation;” while from his pen came a +series of newspaper and magazine articles that startled the world of +scientific thought. For the man had discovered new and unsuspected natural +laws!</p> + +<p>Misfortune—that vastly helped him—came in 1839, when his leg was injured +through the overturning of a stage coach. The government put him in charge +of a new “Bureau<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> of Charts and Instruments,” at Washington, and out of +his work here grew the Naval Observatory, the Signal Service and the first +Weather Bureau ever established on earth! Every other science was old. His +science was utterly new, a field untouched.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Charting Seas and Winds</i></div> + +<p>He found a mass of log books of American warships. Over these he pondered. +He sent hundreds of bottles and buoys to be dropped into the seven seas by +fighting craft and merchantmen.</p> + +<p>These were picked up now and again and came back to him, and from the +information sent to him with them, and soundings in thousands of places, +added to what he had gleaned in earlier years, he prepared his greatest +work. It took ultimate form in a series of six “charts” and eight large +volumes of “sailing directions,” that comprehended all the waters and +winds in all climes, and on every sea where white sails bend and steamer +smoke drifts.</p> + +<p>The charts exhibit, with wonderful accuracy, the winds and currents, their +force and direction at different seasons, the calm belts, the trade winds, +the rains and storms—the gulf stream, the Japan current—all the great +ocean movements; and the sailing directions are treasure chests for +seamen. Paths were marked out on the ocean, and a practical result was, +that one of the most difficult sea voyages—from New York to San +Francisco, around the Horn—was shortened by forty days. It has been +estimated that by shortening the time of many sea voyages, Commander Maury +has effected a saving of not less than $40,000,000 each year.</p> + +<p>Of his own work, Maury wrote:</p> + +<p>“So to shape the course on voyages at sea as to make the most of winds and +currents, is the perfection of the navigator’s art. How the winds blow or +the currents flow along this route or that is no longer a matter of +speculation or opinion. The wind and weather, daily encountered by +hundreds who sailed before him, have been tabulated for the mariner; nay, +the path has been blazed for him on the sea; mile posts have been set<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +upon the waves and time tables furnished for the trackless waste.”</p> + +<p>It was this work that, reaching over Europe and Asia, brought on the +Brussels conference in 1853, to which Maury, founder of the science of +hydrography and meteorology, went as America’s representative, and here he +covered himself with honors. He came back to write his “Physical Geography +of the Sea and Its Meteorology.”</p> + +<p>This, the essence of his life work, the poetry and the romance of his +science, passed through twenty editions and was known in every school, but +the book’s greatest interest was killed by the removal of the poetic +strain that made it beautiful. It has been translated into almost every +language. In it is the story of the sea, its tides and winds, its shore +lines and its myriads of life; its deep and barren bottoms. For Maury also +charted the ocean floors, and it was his work in this line that caused +Cyrus Field to say of the laying of the Atlantic cable:</p> + +<p>“Maury furnished the brains, England furnished the money, and I did the +work.”</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Honored by All Europe</i></div> + +<p>No other American ever was honored by Emperors and Kings as was Matthew +Fontaine Maury. He was given orders of Knighthood by the Czar of Russia, +the King of Denmark, King of Spain, King of Portugal, King of Belgium and +Emperor of France, while Russia, Austria, Sweden, Holland, Sardenia, +Bremen, Turkey and France struck gold medals in his honor. The pope of +Rome sent him a full set of all the medals struck during his pontificate. +Maximilian decorated him with “The Cross of the Order of Guadaloupe” while +Germany bestowed on him the “Cosmos Medal,” struck in honor of Von +Humboldt, and the only duplicate of that medal in existence.</p> + +<p>The current of the Civil War swept Maury away from Washington, and he +declined offers from France, Germany and Russia, joining his native state +in the Confederacy. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> introduced the submarine torpedo, and rendered the +South other service before the final wreck, which left him stranded and +penniless. He went to Mexico now, to join his fortunes with those of the +unhappy Maximilian, and when the Emperor met his tragic end he found +himself again resourceless—and crippled. In 1868 when general amnesty was +given, he came back to become the first professor of meteorology at the +Virginia Military Institute. In October, 1872, he became ill and died in +February of the next year.</p> + +<p>And this man, who had from Kings and Emperors more decorations than any +American has ever received, and for whom Europe had ever ready the highest +honors and greatest praise, was ignored by his own government, to which he +gave his life’s work. No word of thanks, no tribute of esteem, no reward, +was ever given him. A bill to erect a monument to him lies now rotting in +some pigeonhole in Congress. But an effort to renew this is underway.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Archibald McPherson</span></p> + +<p>Curiously enough, no more memory is left to Fredericksburg of Archibald +McPherson than the tombstone under the mock orange tree in St. George’s +Church, the tablets to his memory in the old charity school on Hanover +Street (now the Christian Science Church) and a few shadowy legends and +unmeaning dates.</p> + +<p>He was born in Scotland and died in Fredericksburg in 1854. He was a +member of St. George’s Church and vestry.</p> + +<p>But what manner of man he was, the few recorded acts we know will convey +to every one. He established a Male Charity School with his own funds +principally, and took a deep interest in it, and, dying, he left the small +fortune he had accumulated by Scotch thrift “to the poor of the town,” and +provided means of dispensing the interest on this sum for charity +throughout the years to come. Most of this fund was wiped out by +depreciation of money, etc., during the Civil War.</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p> +<h2><i>Men of Modern Times</i></h2> +<div class="note"><p class="center"><i>Soldiers, Adventurers and Sailors, Heroes and Artists, mingle here.</i></p></div> + + +<p>A prophet without honor in his own country was Moncure Daniel Conway +because, a Fredericksburger and a Southerner, he opposed slavery. But his +genius won him world praise, and later, honer in his own country.</p> + +<p>Born in 1832, near Falmouth, to which village his people moved later, the +child of Walker Peyton Conway and Marguerite Daniel Conway he inherited +from a long line of ancestry, a brilliant intellect and fearlessness to +tread the paths of freedom.</p> + +<p>The difficult studious child was too much for his teacher, Miss Gaskins, +of Falmouth, so he was sent, at the age of ten, to Fredericksburg +Classical and Mathematical Academy, originally John Marye’s famous school, +and made rapid progress.</p> + +<p>His hero was his great uncle, Judge R. C. L. Moncure, of Glencairne, and +his early memoirs are full of loving gratitude for the great man’s +toleration and help. The Methodism of his parents did not hold him, for he +several times attended the services at St. George’s Church.</p> + +<p>The wrongs of slavery he saw, and after he entered Dickinson College, at +Carlisle, in his fifteenth year, he found an anti-slavery professor, +McClintock, who influenced him and encouraged his dawning agnosticism. His +cousin, John M. Daniel, editor of the Richmond Examiner, became, in 1848, +a leading factor in Conway’s life, encouraging his literary efforts and +publishing many of his contributions.</p> + +<p>All beauty, all art appealed to him. Music was always a passion, and we +also find constant and quaint references to beautiful women and girls. It +seemed the superlative compliment, though he valued feminine brains and +ability.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>His great spiritual awakening came with his finding an article by Emerson +and at the age of twenty, to the delight of his family, he became a +Methodist minister.</p> + +<p>His career as such was not a success. After one of his sermons, in which +he ignored Heaven and Hell, his father said: “One thing is certain, Monk, +should the Devil aim at a Methodist preacher, you’d be safe.”</p> + +<p>He moved to Cambridge. The prominence of his Southern family, and his own +social and intellectual charms gave him entre to the best homes and +chiefest among them, that of his adored Emerson, where he met and knew all +the great lights of the day. His slavery opinions, valuable as a Southern +slave owner’s son, made him an asset in the anti-slavery propaganda of the +time.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Conway’s Famous Friends</i></div> + +<p>Among his friends were the Thoreaus, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Oliver Wendell +Holmes and Agassiz.</p> + +<p>I must hurry over the charm of those college days to Moncure Conway’s +first Unitarian Church, in Washington. So pronounced were his sermons on +anti-slavery that his father advised him not to come home on a visit. He +did come and had the humiliation of being ordered from Falmouth under pain +of tar and feathers, an indignity which cut him to his soul. His success +in Washington was brilliant, but he found trouble, owing to his +abolitionist opinions, and had to resign. In 1856 he accepted a call to a +Cincinnati church, whose literary and artistic circles made much of the +new preacher. The wealth of that larger population enabled Conway to +establish several charitable homes. He married there Ellen Davis Dana, and +there published his first book, “Tracts For Today.” He edited a paper, The +Dial, to which Emerson contributed.</p> + +<p>He went to England to the South Place Chapel, London, an ethical society, +and the round peg seemed to have found its proper hole at last. Here he +labored for twenty years, and became known through all Europe. His +personal recollections of Alfred Tennyson, the Brownings their courtship; +of Carlyle, are classics. A very interesting light is thrown on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> Freud. He +was intimate with the whole pre-Raphaelite school and gives account among +others of Rossetti and his lovely wife, all friendships he formed in Madam +Brown’s charming home.</p> + +<p>Burne Jones, Morris, Whistler, Swinburne, Arthur Hughs, DeMaurier (was +there ever such a collection of genius in one country) are all described +in Conway’s vivid pen pictures. Artemus Warde was his friend, and Conway +conducted the funeral services over that world’s joy giver, and in his +same South End Chapel, preached memorial addresses on Cobblen, Dickens, +Maurice, Mazzanni, Mill, Straus, Livingstone, George Eliot, Stanley, +Darwin, Longfellow, Carlyle, the beloved Emerson, Tennyson, Huxley and Abe +Lincoln, whom he never admired, though he recognized his brain and +personality. He accused him of precipitating the horrible war for the sake +of a flag and thus murdering a million men.</p> + +<p>Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and his wife visited England in 1872 and +Moncure Conway and his wife knew them intimately and afterwards visited +them in this country. Joseph Jefferson, John Motley, George Eliot, Mrs. +Humphrey Ward (whose book, Robert Elsmere, he flays) and W. S. Gilbert, +all were his friends. The man was a genius, a social Voltaire; a master of +thought and phrase. Where before did an exile from his own country ever +achieve a friendship circle where the names now scintillate over all the +world?</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>He Travels Through Russia</i></div> + +<p>He visited Paris in 1867 and the story of his travels in Russia later are +full of charm, of folk lore and religious mysticism. But before long we +find him back in his South Place Chapel. His accounts of several woman +preachers there are interesting, as is that of Annie Besant—the wondrous +before-her-time—whom Mrs. Conway befriended in her bitter persecution by +her parson husband for agnosticism. In 1875 Conway returned to America, +and Falmouth town, grieving over the war ravages and his lost boyhood +friends. He toured through the West, lecturing on Demonology, and the +great Englishmen he knew. The death of his son, Dana, and of his wife in +1897, were blows, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>and his remaining years were spent in Europe with +several visits between to his brother, Peter V. D. Conway, of +Fredericksburg, and friends in America. His life ended in 1907 in Paris. A +great man, a brilliant and a brave one. He fought for his beliefs as +bravely as ever did any warrior or explorer in unknown lands.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 600px; height: 380px;"><img src="images/img09.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Beautiful “Belmont”</span><br /> +<i>On Falmouth Heights, Now the Home of Mr. and Mrs. Gari Melchers</i></p> +<p> </p> + + +<div class="sidenote"><i>A Great American Artist</i></div> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Gari Melchers</span></p> + +<p>Crowning a hill, which is the triumphant result of a series of terraces +rising from the town of Falmouth, opposite Fredericksburg, is Belmont, the +home of Gari Melchers, an American artist, who has been more honored +abroad than any of our living painters, with the exception, perhaps, of +John Singer Sargent.</p> + +<p>Born in Detroit, Gari Melchers left America when he was seventeen, to +pursue his studies in Europe.</p> + +<p>His apprentice days were spent in Dusseldorf and Paris, where his +professional debut in 1889 gained for him the coveted Grand Prix—Sargent +and Whistler being the only other American painters similarly honored.</p> + +<p>Italy had to resign to Holland the prestige of lending her country to the +genius of Mr. Melchers, for he intended to reside in Italy, but owing to +the outbreak of the cholera there he settled at Engmond instead. His +studio borrowed the interest of the sea on one side and the charm of a +lazy canal on the other, and over its door were inscribed the words: “Wahr +und Klar” (Truth and Clarity). Here he worked at those objective and +realistic pictures of Dutch life and scenes; and free from all scholastic +pretense, he painted the serene, yet colorful panorama of Holland.</p> + +<p>Christian Brinton says of the art of Gari Melchers that it is explicit and +veracious. Prim interiors are permeated with a light that envelopes all +things with a note of sadness. Exterior scenes reflect the shifting of +seasons or the precise hour of day. He paints air as well as light and +color. Without<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> exaggeration, he manages to suggest the intervening aerial +medium between the seer and the thing seen.</p> + +<p>Mr. Melchers has no set formula.</p> + +<p>In 1918 there was a wonderful “one man” display of his art at the Corcoran +Art Gallery, and in 1919, the Loan Exhibition, held by the Copley Society +at the Boston Art Club, was the second of the two important recent events +in the artist’s career since his returning to America. Here his work has +undergone some perceptible change, gaining lightness and freshness of +vision, which shows his reaction to a certain essential Americanism. Mr. +Melchers attacks whatever suits his particular mood, and his art is not +suggestive of a subjective temperament.</p> + +<p>“The Sermon”—“The Communion”—“The Pilots”—“The Shipbuilders”—“The +Sailor and His Sweetheart”—“The Open Door” are some of his well-known +canvases. His reputation as a portrait painter rests upon a secure +foundation.</p> + +<p>His awards include medals from Berlin, Antwerp, Vienna, Paris and Munich, +Ansterdam, Dresden, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and many other +medals for art exhibitions.</p> + +<p>He is an officer of the Legion of Honor, France; officer of the Order of +the “Red Eagle,” Prussia; officer of the Order of “St. Michael” Bavaria; +officer of the Order of the “White Falcon,” Saxe-Weimar.</p> + +<p>Mr. Melchers himself is frank and not chained by minor conventions. He has +a powerful personality and a charming wife, who dispenses a pleasant +hospitality, in a home that leaves nothing to be desired.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="sidenote"><i>John Elder’s Great Work</i></div> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">John A. Elder</span></p> + +<p>Fredericksburg gave John A. Elder, the gifted painter to the world, for he +saw the light of day in this town in February, 1833; and here he first +felt that call to art which had its beginnings when Elder would, as a mere +boy, make chalk drawings<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> on the sides of the buildings, and took the +time, while doing errands for his father, to give rein to his imagination +through some interesting sketch, which would finally drift into the +possession of his friends. His father’s opposition to an artistic career +for his son did not long retard his progress, as so great was the urge +within him that he borrowed from a fellow townsman, Mr. John Minor, the +money to study abroad, and before long Dusseldorf, Germany, claimed him as +a student, and there the love of line and color which he had inherited +from his mother’s family gained definition. Details of his life in +Dusseldorf are too vague to chronicle but he returned to this country at +the beginning of the Civil War, with a knowledge of his art which gained +him instant recognition, and success followed in his footsteps.</p> + +<p>Elder was a man whose sympathetic personality drew the love of his +fellow-men, and his studio was the rendezvous of such men as +Attorney-General R. T. Daniel, Lord Grant, Peterkin, Fred Daniel, who +represented the United States as consul to Rome for fourteen years, and +many others.</p> + +<p>His experiences in war gave to him a sureness and truth in detail, which, +when added to his technique, produced results which challenged the +admiration of all who saw his work.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Some of Elder’s Paintings</i></div> + +<p>His “Battle of the Crater” and “Scout’s Prize” were inspired by scenes in +which he had figured. The former hangs on the walls of the Westmoreland +Club, in Richmond, Va., and his canvas “After Appomattox” adorns the State +Library in the same city, along with many portraits which trace their +origin to him.</p> + +<p>His “Lee” and “Jackson” are in the Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington, and +there is a portrait of Mr. Corcoran himself which owes its existence to +his gifted brush.</p> + +<p>He visited Jefferson Davis at “Beauvoir” and painted him there.</p> + +<p>Of ordinary height and rather thick set, Mr. Elder’s appearance was +characterized by distinction and force. His eyes were dark and very +expressive; he wore a moustache and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> “imperial” and in all his photographs +we notice the “artistic flowing tie.” On the left of his forehead was a +scar, the result of some encounter in Germany, and as the artist never +married, one is apt to read a romance into his life. However, this is pure +speculation, as there is nothing to substantiate such an assumption.</p> + +<p>“Jack” Elder was a master of the foils, and on one occasion when a noted +Frenchman engaged him in a “bout” Elder disarmed him with ease, and the +Frenchman’s foil was thrown against the ceiling.</p> + +<p>The artist returned to Fredericksburg, where he lived six years prior to +his death, which occurred on February 25, 1895, and in these last years he +was ministered to by his nieces and nephews, who showed him much devotion.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Rev. James Power Smith</span></p> + +<p>Rev. James Power Smith was not born in Fredericksburg, but he preached +here for thirty years, at the Presbyterian Church, aiding the poor and +sick, and always smiling. He was highly successful in his church +achievements and in his years of editorship of the Central Presbyterian.</p> + +<p>One night in his life proved him to be minted of fine metal, and that +night inscribed his name forever in history. It was the fearful night when +Stonewall Jackson received his death blow.</p> + +<p>Captain Smith (now Reverend) was a theological student when war broke out, +and was immediately made a military lieutenant (not a chaplain). +Throughout the war he followed close to Jackson, on his staff. Religion +brought them together and their friendship was deep.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>When Jackson Was Wounded</i></div> + +<p>When in the darkness of the trees that overhang the Chancellorsville road, +“Stonewall” Jackson was mortally wounded and others about him killed by +their own troops there were a few men, among them General A. P. Hill, at +hand to help him. He had hardly been taken from his horse when two aides,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +Lieutenant Morrison and Lieutenant Smith, arrived. With General Hill +directing, they arrested the bleeding. General Hill had to hurry back to +form his men for an attack. Lieutenant Morrison had just seen a field +piece, not 200 yards away, pointing down the Plank Road. There was no +litter, and General Jackson offered to walk to the rear. Leaning on Major +Leigh and Lieutenant Morrison, he began struggling toward his lines. They +had just placed Jackson on a litter that had been sent up, when the +Federal cannon began to rake the road with canister. Every figure, horse +or gun toward the Confederate lines disappeared. They tried to take him +back, but a litter-bearer was struck down and the Great Leader was dropped +and bruised.</p> + +<p>In a moment, on the dark road swept by awful fire, there were but three +men, and, as the subject of this sketch, Lieutenant Smith, was one of +them, it is apropos to quote what Prof. R. S. Dabney says in his Life of +Jackson:</p> + +<p>“The bearers and all the attendants, excepting Major Leigh and the +general’s two aides, had left and fled into the woods. While the sufferer +lay in the road with his feet turned toward the enemy, exposed to the fire +of the guns, his attendants displayed a heroic fidelity which deserved to +go down in history with the immortal name of Jackson. Disdaining to leave +their chief, they lay down beside him, leaning above him and trying as far +as possible to protect him with their bodies. On one side was Major Leigh, +on the other Lieutenant Smith. Again and again was the earth torn by +volleys of canister, and minnie balls hissed over them, the iron striking +flashes from the stones about him.”</p> + +<p>Finally when the firing ceased, General Jackson was removed from the +battlefield to a hospital, and then to Mr. Chandler’s house at Guinea +Station, where he died, May 10, 1863.</p> + +<p>Lieutenant Smith became The Reverend when war ceased, and married Miss +Agnes Lucy Lacy, a daughter of Major J. Horace Lacy.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>He was well known in Fredericksburg. For thirty years he was pastor here; +for fifty years Secretary of the Presbyterian Synod, and for years editor +of the Central Presbyterian. Many know his works. All men know the deep, +immovable courage it took that night to lie as a barrier, to take whatever +death might be hurled down the shell-swept road toward “Stonewall” +Jackson.</p> + +<p>He still lives, in 1921, in Richmond. His voice is low, his smile soft, +and his religion his life. He is the last surviving member of “Stonewall” +Jackson’s staff.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Major J. Horace Lacy</span></p> + +<p>There are many living now who remember him. The strong, stolid figure, the +fine old face traced with the lineage of gentility, the cane that pounded +down the sidewalks as he went where he willed. There are some left who +knew the power and poetry and kindliness of the man.</p> + +<p>Major Lacy was a graduate of Washington and Lee and an attorney at law, +though he seldom practiced. He was married in 1848 at Chatham, when he was +twenty-four years of age, to Miss Betty Churchill Jones, and later became +the owner of “Chatham” and of the “Lacy House,” about each of which clings +grim traditions of war; both the Wilderness place and Chatham became known +in those two battles as “The Lacy House.”</p> + +<p>Washington Irving was his guest while spending some time in Virginia; +General Robert E. Lee was his guest, and many other widely known men.</p> + +<p>His service in war was well done. He was made a lieutenant at the +beginning and promoted to major on the field of battle at Seven Pines. He +served under General Joseph E. Johnston until the latter surrendered, some +time after Appomattox.</p> + +<p>When the war was ended he went North to do a brave thing. He spoke through +Pennsylvania and Maryland, pleading<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> for funds to bury and put grave +stones over the Confederate dead. He had experiences there. But his +splendid oratory and the courage of his presence usually kept order.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Winning a Hostile Audience</i></div> + +<p>He spoke once at Baltimore, and among his audience was an Irish Federal +regiment, clad half in uniform, half in civilians, as forgotten +ex-privates usually are. Major Lacy was told that most of the audience was +hostile and threatening.</p> + +<p>He walked on the platform and spoke a few words about the unknown men he +came to get funds to decently bury, of the women away where the starlight +was twinkling over cabin and home, of those who waited, listening for a +step; of those who were never again to see the men they loved.</p> + +<p>Shuffling feet and laughter dulled the simple pathos of his words. Then +turning half away from his audience he recited a poem called “The Irish +Immigrant’s Lament”:</p> + +<p class="poem">“I am sitting on the stile, Mary,<br /> +Where we sat, side by side,<br /> +On that bright May morning long ago,<br /> +When first you were my bride.”</p> + +<p>He began it thus, and into his voice, filled with the sorrows of the +“Mary’s” who wept down in his Southland, he put the full strength of his +expression. The hostile audience was silent as he finished.</p> + +<p class="poem">“And often in the far-off world,<br /> +I’ll sit and close my eyes,<br /> +And my heart will travel back again<br /> +To where my Mary lies.<br /> +And I’ll think I see the little stile<br /> +Where we sat, side by side,<br /> +Mid the young corn on that bright May morn<br /> +When you were first my bride.”</p> + +<p>The Irishmen who had fought against the cause which Lacy loved were quiet +now, and when he said, “Wouldn’t you want a bit of a stone for ‘Mary’ to +remember you,” they yelled and rushed to grasp his hand. From his +“hostile” audience he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> collected $14,000.00 that night. In the whole tour +he gathered a great sum for Confederate cemeteries.</p> + +<p>During his later years, with his wife, who represented the ladies of +another era, as he did its men, he lived on Washington Avenue, in +Fredericksburg. To few did he ever show the deeper side of his character, +but those who knew him until he died in 1906, knew how much kindly +manliness dwelt therein.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Major General Daniel Ruggles</span></p> + +<p>Although Major General Daniel Ruggles was born in Massachusetts, he +married Miss Richardetta Mason Hooe, a great granddaughter of George +Mason, and the greater part of his life was spent in Fredericksburg, of +which he became a citizen and in which he died.</p> + +<p>During his life in Fredericksburg he concerned himself with the business +of the town, and was known to almost all of its residents.</p> + +<p>He was graduated into the army from West Point in 1883 and lead a small +band into the west and explored the Fox river the same year.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>General Ruggles’ Career</i></div> + +<p>When the Seminole Indian war broke out Lieutenant Ruggles with fifty men +penetrated the everglades and was commended for his services. In the +Mexican war he stopped the Mexican advance at Palo Alto and was promoted +to Captain on the field.</p> + +<p>Captain Ruggles and his men reached Chapaultepec, drove into the city, +made a determined stand and were the first of the advancing American Army +to raise the American flag over the fort. He was breveted Major by +President Polk “for gallant and meritorious conduct at Chereubusco” and a +little later was made Lieutenant Colonel “for gallant and conspicuous +bravery at Chapaultepec.” In 1861 he joined the Confederate Army.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The Real “First Battle”</i></div> + +<p>Placed in command of the most important of the Southern departments at +Fredericksburg, the “gateway to the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>South,” he organized and equipped a +small army. When the Confederacy found that they had no gun caps, +necessary on the old “muzzle loaders,” and no copper from which to make +caps, General Ruggles invented a cap made from raw hide and dried in the +sun (specimens are in the National Museum), which were used by the whole +Southern Army during the first three months of the war.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 600px; height: 379px;"><img src="images/img10.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Old “Chatham”</span><br /> +<i>One of the Most Characteristic of All Virginia Colonial Mansions</i></p> +<p> </p> + +<p>General Ruggles planted artillery and, using these caps with match heads +to explode them, drove off the Union gunboats and a lading force at Aquia +Creek May 31, 1861, nine days before “Big Bethel”, and weeks after +Virginia seceded. He thus fought and won the first battle of the Civil +war.</p> + +<p>His career during the war won him wide recognition. His movements won the +battle of Shiloh through finding a weak point in the enemy’s line. He was +made Major General March 25, 1865, and surrendered at Augusta, Ga., after +Appomattox. Although he fought in five Indian wars, the Mexican war and +the Civil war, from the start to finish, and was recognized as a man who +would lead his men anywhere, he never received a wound of any kind in his +life.</p> + +<p>Many people in Fredericksburg remember him now, with his fine face, his +erect figure and his long gray whiskers. In his latter days some people +laughed at him, not understanding that there was genius in the man, +because of his first experience with “rainmaking.” He invented the method +which is used now by the United States Government, under his patent. He +earned the name of “raincrow” which sometimes reached his ears. He +patented the first propeller which was ever used on a steam boat (model in +the National Museum). He also invented the first principles of the +telephone. He invented in 1858 a system whereby an electric bell on a ship +would ring on the approach of the ship to any rock or point on the shore +equipped with the same apparatus. This was tested by the navy and +proclaimed impractical, but it contained the principles of wireless +telegraphy. It is used by the American navy today.</p> + + +<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">John Roger Clark, Explorer</span></p> + +<p>Though a monument has just been erected in another city which claims him +as a citizen, there is excellent evidence of the fact that John Roger +Clarke, reclaimer of the great Northwest, and also his brother, William +Clarke, who with Merriweather Lewis, explored the Mississippi, were born +in Spotsylvania County and lived near Fredericksburg. According to Quinn’s +History of Fredericksburg, Maury’s History of Virginia and letters from +descendents, the two famous Clarke brothers were sons of Jonathan Clarke, +who lived at Newmarket, Spotsylvania County, where John Roger Clarke was +born. Jonathan Clarke was clerk of the County Court of Spotsylvania and +afterwards moved to Fredericksburg, where it may be probable, the younger +son was born. Later they moved to Albemarle County, near Charlottesville, +where the two sons grew to manhood.</p> + +<p>The history of the two Clarkes’ is so well known, even by school children, +that it is needless to go into it here, the purpose of this reference +being to establish their connection with the town.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Major Elliott Muse Braxton</span></p> + +<p>Major Elliott Muse Braxton is widely known, as he was once Congressman +from this district. He was born in the County of Middlesex, October 2, +1823, was a grandson of Carter Braxton, one of Virginia’s signers of the +Declaration of Independence. His father was also Carter Braxton, a +successful lawyer in Richmond.</p> + +<p>In 1851 he was elected to the Senate of Virginia. So ably and efficiently +did Major Braxton represent his constituents that he won another election +without any opposition.</p> + +<p>In 1854 he married Anna Marie Marshall, a granddaughter of the great +expounder of the Constitution, Chief Justice Marshall. In 1859 he adopted +Fredericksburg as his home, where he was when “war’s dread alarm,” came. +He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> organized a company of infantry, of which he was unanimously elected +captain, from which position he was soon promoted to that of major, and +assigned to the staff of General John R. Cooke. On the conclusion of +hostilities he again engaged in the practice of law, forming a +co-partnership with the late C. Wistar Wallace, Esq. In 1870 he was +nominated at Alexandria by the Democrats for Congress, the City of +Fredericksburg being then a constituent of the Eighth District.</p> + +<p>He continued to practice his profession of law until failing health +admonished him to lay its burdens down.</p> + +<p>On October 2, 1891, he died in his home at Fredericksburg, and Virginia +mourned a son who was always true, loyal and faithful. Elliott Muse +Braxton was a Virginia gentleman and in saying that a good deal is +comprehended. Courteous in manner, considerate in tone and temper, clean +in character, loyal to State and to Church, cherishing with ardor as the +years went by, the obligations and the responsibilities of old Virginia, +he fell asleep.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Dr. Francis P. Wellford</span></p> + +<p>“But a certain Samaritan as he journeyed came where he was and when he saw +him, he had compassion on him—and went to him and bound up his wounds.” +In this way we are told the tender story of the Good Samaritan.</p> + +<p>In 1877 Dr. Francis Preston Wellford, of Fredericksburg, was living in +Jacksonville, Florida, when a scourge of yellow fever invaded Fernandina. +Almost all of its physicians were victims of the disease, or worn out with +work. Dr. Wellford volunteered for service, which was almost certain +death, fell a victim, and died, on the same day and in the next cot to his +fellow-townsman, Dr. Herndon.</p> + +<p class="poem">“For whether on the scaffold high,<br /> +Or in the battle’s van,<br /> +The noblest death that man can die;<br /> +Is when he dies for man.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>Over his grave in the cemetery at Fredericksburg, there is an imposing +monument, with this simple inscription:</p> + +<table style="margin-left: 15%;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td align="center">“Francis Preston Wellford,<br /> +Born in Fredericksburg, Virginia,<br /> +September 12, 1839.”</td></tr></table> + +<p>On the beautiful memorial window in St. Peter’s Church, Fernandina, +Florida, erected by Dr. J. H. Upham, of Boston, who felt that their memory +should not be neglected, one reads:</p> + +<table style="margin-left: 15%;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td align="center">“Francis Preston Wellford, M. D.<br /> +Born in Fredericksburg, Virginia,<br /> +Sept. 12, 1839,<br /> +<br /> +James Carmicheal Herndon, M. D.<br /> +Born in Fredericksburg, Virginia,<br /> +Sept. 22, 1821,<br /> +Died in the faithful discharge of their duties at<br /> +Fernandina, Florida,<br /> +Oct. 18, 1877.”</td></tr></table> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Dr. James C. Herndon</span></p> + +<p>When surgeons were needed for the Confederate Army, the Dr. Herndon above +mentioned left his practice and went, although exempted by law. He served +through four years of war, and when peace was declared, made his home in +Florida.</p> + +<p>He was state physician there, when Fernandina was stricken by the dread +yellow fever, and the population was almost helpless.</p> + +<p>Deeming it his duty, Herndon voluntarily went into the city of the dying. +He had worked but a few days when he was stricken, and death followed.</p> + +<p>He died as bravely as a man may die, and few have died for so good a +cause. He sleeps in the silent cemetery in Fredericksburg, his home.</p> + + +<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Hon. A. Wellington Wallace</span></p> + +<p>Among the men whose writings have added to Fredericksburg’s fame is Hon. +A. Wellington Wallace, at one time Judge of the Corporation Court of +Fredericksburg and, later chosen President of the Virginia Bar +Association. Judge Wallace never sought political office and his abilities +therefore never were fully publicly known in that line, but some of his +literary compositions have been widely read and favorably criticised. The +most important of his work, perhaps, is his epitome on the intents, +purposes and meaning of the constitution. Though brief it clearly and +sharply defines and analyses the important document under which we are +governed, and gives to the reader an intelligent conception of what its +framers aimed at and hoped to do, such as could not be gained in pages of +lengthier reading.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Hon. A. P. Rowe</span><br /> +(1817-1900)</p> + +<p>One of the best known and most beloved characters of the after-the-war +period was Absalom P. Rowe, affectionately known as “Marse Ab.” He served +as Quartermaster, Confederate States Army, throughout the Civil War, and +after its close, played a leading part in restoring order and system out +of the terrible desolation with which this section was inflicted. He was +prominent in all matters pertaining to the civic and State governments and +was a powerful influence in all the stirring events of that period.</p> + +<p>“Marse Ab” represented the district comprising Fredericksburg and +Spotsylvania county in the State Legislature for the session 1879-1880, +and served as Mayor of Fredericksburg continuously from 1888 to 1900, with +the exception of one term, and had just been re-elected for another term +at the time of his death.</p> + +<p>Fredericksburg was then under its old charter and the police court was +presided over by the Mayor. “Marse Ab’s”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> court was known far and wide, +and his characteristic method of dealing out justice was the cause of fear +to offenders and a source of amusement to large numbers of onlookers who +always attended the sessions of court. “Marse Ab’s” decisions were quickly +reached and swiftly delivered, and the penalties inflicted were tempered +with the wisdom and discretion of his long experience and his rare +qualities as a judge of human nature.</p> + +<p>Mayor Rowe was the father of Captain M. B. Rowe, ex-Mayor J. P. Rowe, +Messrs. A. P. Rowe and Alvin T. Rowe, all prominent business men of the +city today.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="sidenote"><i>A Famous “Tramp Comedian”</i></div> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Nat C. Wills</span></p> + +<p>Not only has Fredericksburg contributed men who took high rank in the +political, economic and scientific up-building of the country, but it has +furnished at least one of those who ranked highest as an amuser of the +Nation. This was Nat Wills, nationally known to the American theater going +public as the foremost exemplifier of the tramp. Wills’ real name was +Matthew McGrath Wills. When still a young man he went from Fredericksburg +and made his home in Washington. There he humbly began a stage career as a +tramp comedian that ended, when he was at the pinnacle of success, with +his sudden death in New York some eight years ago.</p> + +<p>Merely to have been a successful “Tramp Comedian” does not imply fame. But +Wills was more than merely a tramp comedian. He was creator of a new art +on the American stage and those who now caricature the lowly denizen of +the cross ties, are followers of the lead he took. In mannerism, type and +action they copy Wills’ conception of what a true tramp should be, but +none yet has succeeded in portraying the character with the humor that +Wills put into his work.</p> + +<p>Technically speaking Wills was a low comedian, but his wit and humor and +art are not suggested by that term. Dressed in clothes that were +themselves a burlesque of the world’s kindness, he represented with +dramatic humor a character that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>went through life unconscious of his +rags, careless of the present and unafraid of the future, but with a +kindness of heart and a philosophy that is true only to those who have +viewed life from close to its rougher aspects. After he had achieved +success his plays were especially written for him and he had a large part +in their making. His lines were witty and clever and as curtain encores he +sang parodies he had written on whatever were the popular songs of the +day, and these were brilliant satires on the original themes.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 312px; height: 500px;"><img src="images/img11.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">John Paul Jones Home</span><br /> +<i>Above: A Grocery Since 1760. Below, Stevens House</i></p> +<p> </p> + +<p>Wills never forgot the city of his nativity. Whenever close enough to be +appreciated, he always told a joke that permitted him to bring in his +connection with the town. His sudden death was a shock to theater goers, +and no one has since supplanted in their affections the particular +character he essayed. Though dead he remains master of the art he created.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="sidenote"><i>The Gallant Herndon’s Death</i></div> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Commander Wm. Lewis Herndon</span></p> + +<p>It is not so much because of his life as of his death, that every +Fredericksburger cherishes the memory of Commander William Lewis Herndon. +He was born here in 1813, and fifteen years afterwards was made a +midshipman and in 1855 reached the rank of Admiral. Commander Herndon made +the first exploration of the Amazon, amidst great dangers, and his book on +this subject became a standard.</p> + +<p>With 478 souls aboard, Commander Herndon started from New York for South +America in 1857 on the big passenger ship “Central America.” She sailed +proudly out, the flying fish fleeing her prow down the Gulf Stream through +sunny days, until suddenly in the Gulf of Mexico the ship shattered +against a rock.</p> + +<p>Standing with his sword in his hand, Commander Herndon saw the boats +lowered one by one until each woman and child was safely on the sea in +life boats. Ordering his men to continue disembarking passengers he went +below to put on his dress uniform, and coming back directed the making of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> +rafts. Hundreds of men jumped and nearly 150 were lost. Commander Herndon +stood last on the ship upon the Bridge that is a Captain’s castle, the +gold of his uniform losing its glow as the sun fell behind the far off +shore lines. Still hovering near, the sailors in a half dozen boats in +which were women and children, cried out to him to come over. He bent his +head a moment in prayer then doffed his cocked hat, and smiling, went down +as his ship plunged bow forward into the Gulf waters. There is no +tradition of our Navy more glowing than this one, which Commander Herndon, +of Fredericksburg, added to its legends.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="sidenote"><i>Men of the Old Navy</i></div> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Captain Rudd, U. S. Navy</span></p> + +<p>Captain John Rudd was a resident of our City after his retirement from the +U. S. Navy. He was too old to serve in the Confederacy and lived in a +house next to the old Citizens Hall, near where the Catholic Church now +stands.</p> + +<p>He sailed many years in the old Navy, and had many tales to tell to the +young people of his neighborhood concerning his adventures.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Commodore Theo. R. Rootes</span></p> + +<p>Commodore Theo. R. Rootes resigned from the U. S. Navy in 1861, and was +immediately named as commander in the Confederate Navy. He was stationed +in Richmond in the early part of the war and in 1864 was given the command +of the ironclad “Fredericksburg” of the James river fleet. He took part in +the expedition against the U. S. fleet on the James river and was a member +of the Naval Brigade which after the evacuation of Richmond was surrounded +at Sailors Creek, April 6, 1865. He lived in the old Scott house, now +owned by Charles Cole, Esq., on the corner of Prince Edward and Amelia +Streets.</p> + +<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p> +<div class="sidenote"><i>Two Great Naval Officers</i></div> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Rear Admiral Griffin</span></p> + +<p>Of the men whom Fredericksburg has sent forth in its more modern era, Rear +Admiral Robert S. Griffin, who was born in 1857, entered as a cadet +engineer at Annapolis and was graduated in 1878, is among the most +notable. Admiral Griffin has spent no fewer than fourteen years of a busy +career on sea duty, and has been for a decade a recognized authority on +naval engineering. In his position as Chief of the Bureau of Naval +Engineering he is responsible for the innovations and improvements in our +capital ships, the electric drive for cruisers, the turbine reduction gear +for destroyers.</p> + +<p>The high state of efficiency in the Engineering Department is due to +Admiral Griffin’s constant efforts and his tact in overcoming Naval and +Congressional opposition is a personal accomplishment.</p> + +<p>Admiral Griffin resigned from the Bureau on September 21, 1921, and was +retired September 27, 1921.</p> + +<p>He lives in Washington, but is a valued visitor to his former City from +time to time. Admiral Griffin’s record is almost unexcelled. He rose by +hard work and brains and has for years been a source of pride to +Fredericksburg. He is one of the few men still living whom we may class as +“great.”</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Captain Barney, U. S. Navy</span></p> + +<p>Captain Joseph N. Barney was born in Baltimore in 1818. He graduated from +Annapolis first in his class in 1834 and spent many years at sea until +1861, when he resigned to offer his services to the Confederacy.</p> + +<p>He commanded the “Jamestown” at the Battle of Hampton Roads, March 8th and +9th, 1862, and, on April 11th, was sent in to capture vessels under the +guns of the Monitor, hoping to provoke the latter to come out and fight.</p> + +<p>He commanded a battery at the fight at Drury’s Bluff, and later in the war +took part in the operations at the Sabine<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> pass and was sent to command +the C. S. Cruiser Florida, but was prevented by ill health. He was +purchasing agent for the Confederacy at the cessation of the hostilities, +and after the war made one voyage in the command of a commercial steamer. +Captain Barney made his home in Fredericksburg from 1874 to 1899, when his +death occurred. His career was a distinguished one and he had in his later +years, spent here, a host of friends in Fredericksburg.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Captain Lynch, U. S. Navy</span></p> + +<p>Captain M. F. Lynch was born near Fredericksburg, in 1801 was appointed a +midshipman in the U. S. Navy in 1819, promoted to Lieutenant in 1828, and +shortly afterwards made an important scientific investigation of the +topography of the Dead Sea Valley in Palestine. He made the first correct +maps and soundings of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, and his report was +published by the United States Government and much valued by the +scientific world. He was made a Captain in 1856 and held this rank when he +resigned to enter the Confederate Navy. His work with the Virginia Navy in +the defenses of Aquia Creek and the Potomac was complimented by his +opponents, and later he took part in the defense of the coast of North +Carolina, winning much credit by his zealous action at the battles of +Hatteras Inlet and Roanoke Island.</p> + +<p>In 1864 Captain Lynch was transferred to duty on the Mississippi River, +where he aided in the preparation of the famous ram, the Arkansas, for her +brilliant career. He died in Baltimore, October 17, 1865.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Commander George Minor, C. S. N.</span></p> + +<p>Commander George Minor resigned from the United States Navy in April, +1861, and was immediately put in command of the newly created Bureau of +Ordinance and Hydrography at Richmond. This Bureau was of invaluable +service<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> to the young Confederacy, sending out 220 guns in the first year. +Commander Minor was instrumental in establishing the arsenals at Atlanta +and New Orleans and other points. He spent his last years in our City, +well remembered by many of the present generation. He died in 1878. While +residing in Fredericksburg he lived in what was the late College Building.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Commander Robert D. Thurman</span></p> + +<p>Commander Robert D. Thorburn was a member of the old Naval Service, coming +to Virginia in 1861, and being at once named to take part in the defenses +of the Potomac under Captain Lynch. He later was detailed to duty on the +Gulf Coast, and after the war came to Fredericksburg where he died in +1883. He resided in the house on lower Princess Anne Street, now occupied +by W. D. Scott, Esq.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Major Edward Ruggles</span></p> + +<p>Major Edward Ruggles was graduated from Annapolis in 1859, came South in +1861 and offered his services to the State of Virginia, before that State +joined the Confederacy. He was later transferred to the Confederate Army, +and served on the staff of General Daniel S. Ruggles in the engagements at +Aquia Creek, being present at the first engagement of the Civil War, June +1, 1861. Later he served with the Army of Tennessee and after the war +lived in King George and Fredericksburg, where he died in 1919, at his +residence on lower Main Street. He was one of three men who aided John +Wilkes Booth to cross the Rappahannock at Fort Royal, and directed him to +the Garrett barn, where Booth met his death.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Colonel Richard L. Maury</span></p> + +<p>Colonel Richard L. Maury, a son of Commodore Matthew Fontaine Maury, was +born in Fredericksburg in 1840. Upon the outbreak of the War between the +States he at once offered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> his services to his native State, and his Naval +Career, though short, is notable. Detached from Company F, Richmond, 1st +Va. Regiment, by order of the Secretary of the Navy, he took part in the +capture of the St. Nicholas and other vessels on the Potomac and +Chesapeake. He was afterwards returned to the Army and served with the +24th Va. Infantry until Appomattox. After the War he resided in Lexington +and Richmond, in which latter city he died a few years ago.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Commodore Domin</span></p> + +<p>Commodore Thomas Domin, U. S. N., like many other officers of the old +Navy, often left his family in Fredericksburg while absent on the long +tours of sea duty, sometimes two and even three years in length. Thus, +while a native of Ireland, where he was born in 1801, Commodore Domin +called our town “home” for many years.</p> + +<p>Entering the U. S. Navy in 1818, after many voyages to all parts of the +world he was with Admiral Perry when the latter forced his way into the +Japanese harbors. When the war between the States was imminent, he +retained his place in the old Navy, with the promise that he would not be +ordered to action against his adopted State.</p> + +<p>He served on the Light House Board at Baltimore for the duration of the +war, and upon his retirement in 1870 lived in Fredericksburg, for a time. +He died in Savannah, Ga., in 1873.</p> + +<p>He resided, when in Fredericksburg, in the house now owned by Dr. C. Mason +Smith on Prince Edward Street.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">William Henry Beck</span></p> + +<p>Surgeon William Henry Beck, U. S. Navy, came to Virginia from England as a +lad of twelve in 1800. Some years later he entered the Navy as an +Assistant Surgeon, and made several voyages in the old sailing ships to +various ports of the world.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>He married Miss England, of Stafford, and made his home in Fredericksburg.</p> + +<p>He lived in what was then a northwestern suburb, near the present basin, +and this section was known as “Becksville.” He was at one time a police +officer in our town, and as the result of an injury in arresting a +prisoner, lost an arm.</p> + +<p>He died in the fifties, and was buried in St. George’s Churchyard. A son +bought and lived for years on what is known by our old citizens as “Beck’s +Island,” now owned and occupied by Mr. J. A. Emery.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">John Randolph Bryan</span></p> + +<p>Lieutenant John Randolph Bryan, U. S. Navy, born in 1806, in Georgia, was +educated in Virginia, and married at Chatham in 1830, Elizabeth Coalter, +daughter of Judge John Coalter, of the Virginia Supreme Court. Leaving +Yale in 1823, Lieutenant Bryan was appointed to the Navy, became +midshipman in 1824, and was ordered to the Peacock.</p> + +<p>He resigned in 1831 and took charge of his estate at Wilmington Island, +and later an estate in Gloucester County, Virginia.</p> + +<p>In 1862, he offered his services to the Confederate Navy, but was judged +too old. He was the ward of John Randolph, who made a deep impression upon +his mentality.</p> + +<p>Lieutenant Bryan was noted for his courtesy and charm of manner. He spent +his latter years in the house of his daughter in Fredericksburg, Mrs. +Spotswood W. Carmichael. He died at the University of Virginia, while on a +visit, on September 13, 1887.</p> + +<p>The name of Mrs. Spotswood W. Carmichael will recall to many Dr. +Carmichael, that splendid physician and gentleman of “the old school” who +ministered to the sick of a previous generation and had a host of loyal +friends.</p> + + +<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Captain Thom, U. S. M. C.</span></p> + +<p>Captain Reuben Thom, of the Confederate Marine Corps, was the son of +“Postmaster Thom” and was born in Fredericksburg. He entered the war at +Norfolk in 1861, and in 1862 was in command of the Marines on the famous +Merrimac in the battle of Hampton Roads. Captain Thom took part in the +engagement at Drury’s Bluff. After the war Captain Thom moved to Baltimore +where he died.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 600px; height: 376px;"><img src="images/img12.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Betty Washington’s Home</span><br /> +<i>“Kenmore” Where George Washington’s Sister Lived After Her Marriage.<br />Her Mother’s Home Is Close By</i></p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p> +<h2><i>Unforgotten Women</i></h2> +<div class="note"><p class="center"><i>Some of Many Who Left a Record of Brilliancy, Service or Sacrifice.</i></p></div> + + +<p>The stars that shine in the galaxy of the heavens do not all glow with the +same lustre. One is gifted with a steady and dependable splendor, another +scintillates and fades to shine afresh. So, it is, that the women of +Fredericksburg have in their individual ways added to the glories of the +town and well sustained its deserved reputation, as being the home of +capable, brilliant, and beautiful women. A distinguished French officer +once said, after meeting one of the women of Fredericksburg, “If such are +the matrons of America, well may she boast of illustrious sons.” This was +at the great Peace Ball, given in the town in 1783, to which, of course, +the mother of Washington was especially invited. The simple manner and +appearance of the great woman, surprised the gallant officers present, and +provoked from one of them the remark.</p> + +<p>Clad in a plain but becoming garb, that characterized Virginia women of +her type, she received the many attentions paid to the Mother of the +idolized Commander-in-Chief with the most unaffected dignity and courtesy. +Being accustomed to the pomp and splendor which is attached to Old World +royalty, it was a revelation to them to behold such a woman. How could she +live in the blaze of glory which irradiated her illustrious offspring, and +still preserve her simple dignity of manner, so barren of self pride and +hauteur!</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The “Rose of Epping Forest”</i></div> + +<p>But this daughter of Colonel Joseph Ball, of Lancaster County, this “Rose +of Epping Forest” which budded into existence on March 6, 1708, this +unassuming woman, who on the anniversary of her natal day in 1730, gave +her heart and hand to the master of Wakefield, this thrifty and systematic +young housewife and widowed mother at Pine Grove, in Stafford County, this +matron of Fredericksburg, possessed qualities<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> individual to her who +became the author of the being of the greatest and best loved character +figuring on the pages of American history. Her last home selected for her +by General Washington, stands today, on the corner of Charles and Lewis +Streets, the same home with the characteristic simplicity of years ago. +The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, to which +Society it now belongs, has restored in part the interior with its +wainscoting and paneling and its period furniture. The interesting old +brick floored kitchen, with its huge fireplace, and its crane, iron pots, +skillets and equipment of former days, all seem today in perfect accord +with her reception of her cherished offspring in 1783. After an enforced +cessation of visits to his aging mother for a long period of seven years, +she at length was told by an orderly that “His Excellency” had arrived, +and was at her very door. Turning quietly to her faithful, ebony maid, she +said with her habitual self control, “Patsy, George has come, I shall need +a white apron.” But beneath this calm exterior, her embrace of her first +born son was overflowing with fervent mother-love, and hidden away in the +deep recesses of her heart was the swelling pride in his glory. Senator +Daniel truthfully said, “The principles which he applied to a nation were +those simple and elementary truths which she first imprinted upon his mind +in the discipline of home.”</p> + +<p>The splendid granite monument, erected to her, with its simple +inscription, “Mary, the Mother of Washington,” and on the reverse side: +“Erected by her Countrywomen,” rises from a massive foundation to a +distance of 59 feet. Her ashes lie beneath, in a spot of her own +selection, (which in her lifetime was a part of the Kenmore estate) and +her favorite resting place. Nearby are the two rocks upon which she used +to sit and read her Bible. These are known as “Meditation Rocks.”</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="sidenote"><i>Susan Savage and Anne Maury</i></div> + +<p>The name of Susan Metcalf Savage will always be held in the highest +veneration by those of Fredericksburg who realize and appreciate the many +sacrifices, heart-aches, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>self-denials and home-longings experienced by +those who give their lives in heathen lands. Brought up in an atmosphere +of love and unselfishness, and herself devoted to every call of duty, it +was no surprise to her many friends to learn that soon after her marriage +to Reverend Dr. Savage in 1838 she would sail with him for tropical +Africa, one of the first woman missionaries from our land. Though her life +in this then unusual field of usefulness was less than two short years, +her labors were not in vain, and her works and her example will live for +years to come.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Ann Herndon, who became the wife of the great scientist, Matthew Fontaine +Maury, was born in the house on the corner of Princess Anne and George +Streets, erected by her father, Dabney M. Herndon. Her loveliness of face +and character was equalled by her charming manner, and attractive +personality, and whether in Fredericksburg, or Lexington, Va., whether in +Washington or London, her home was the spot where the savant, the +scientist, the literati and men and women representing every phase of +culture and social distinction, were wont to assemble. The beautiful +jewels presented to her by the crowned heads of Europe, (her illustrious +husband, being an officer in the United States Navy, was restricted from +accepting gifts, else his admirers would have showered them upon him), +were deservedly famous. After the death of Commodore Maury a plan was +conceived by a member of one of the royal courts of Europe, and initiatory +steps had already been taken, to raise a munificent sum of mony with which +to honor the widow of the man to whom all educated nations were to pay +homage. But when their project reached her ear, she refused to accept it, +though recognizing and appreciating fully the compliment to her devoted +husband.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="sidenote"><i>President Arthur’s Wife</i></div> + +<p>One of the captivating belles of the town was Ellen Lewis Herndon, +daughter of the Naval Commander, Captain William Lewis Herndon, who in +1857 met his death in the Gulf<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> Stream. Being possessed of a rich +contralto voice, Miss Herndon made frequent visits to the National +Capitol, and delighted the congregations at old St. John’s Church with her +sweet, rich tones. It was here that the young attorney, Chester A. Arthur, +afterwards President, became infatuated with the pretty young singer. +Those old days were the parents of these days, and many were the whispers +of conjecture and surmise as to the outcome of those frequent visits of +the handsome Mr. Arthur to the home of Ellen Herndon, (that still +strikingly pretty residence on Main and Charlotte Streets), and shortly +before the War between the States, a pretty wedding was solemnized in New +York City, and Ellen Herndon became the bride of Chester A. Arthur.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>In the heart-rending times of 1861-’65, the women of Fredericksburg with +untiring energy and courage, in the midst of the agony of war, assumed the +laborious task of ministering alike to soldiers in blue and gray, and many +burdens of sorrow were in some way lightened and many a physical pain +lessened or a soul cheered. Perhaps the women of Fredericksburg were +inspired to great deeds by the example of that splendid specimen of +womanhood, Clara Barton, who for sometime was stationed near Chatham, +carrying on her splendid ministration to the sick and suffering Federal +soldiers.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Of Woman’s Work</span></p> + +<p>It was on May 10, 1866, that the women of Fredericksburg, urged by Mrs. +Frances Seymour White, (widow of an officer in the U. S. Army, who died as +the war began), assembled in the lecture room of St. George’s Church to +form an association to care for the memory of the noble Southern heroes, +whose graves were then scattered over battlefield and farm. This was the +first step towards the formation of the Ladies Memorial Association the +work of which organization, begun so earnestly and lovingly, has so +successfully been <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>fulfilled. Mrs. John H. Wallace, was elected President +and Mrs. Frances Seymour White, Vice-President. On Mrs. Wallace’s death, +Mrs. White was chosen President, and continued until 1882, when she was +succeeded by her daughter, Mrs. Francis B. Goolrick, who continued to act +as President for eleven years. Mrs. Maria K. Daniel followed next for +seventeen years, and Mrs. Frances B. Goolrick, who was elected in 1912 is +still President.</p> + +<p>With the financial assistance of about all the Southern States and a good +deal from the North the bodies of the Confederate soldiers have been +re-interred in the Confederate cemetery, and each is marked with a solid +granite headstone. Later with some financial assistance the splendid +monument “To the Confederate Dead,” was erected in the center of the +cemetery. The base is of gray granite, quarried in Spotsylvania County, +and the life-like statue of the Confederate soldier on dress parade, which +surmounts the apex, is of bronze.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The Memorial Association</i></div> + +<p>The beautiful custom of Memorial Day sprang from Mrs. Frances Seymour +White’s idea and spread from this city all over the nation. The name of +“The Ladies Memorial Association” was adopted and in the Spring season +each year, this impressive service is continued. Following those true +hearted women who conceived the task of rescuing from oblivion the memory +of those brave and fallen heroes, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, +and the women of Fredericksburg branch of the American Red Cross, have +each in their respective spheres, earnestly and lovingly performed their +tasks.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>The recent passing from our midst of the material presence of a worthy +representative of the women of Fredericksburg, inspired the glowing +tribute to the women of Virginia, appearing as an editorial in a local +paper. The writer says in part, “We shall ever cherish the recollection +that old Virginia had a womanhood of whom the people of the nation must be +proud. Lest we be misunderstood we would have it known that we boast today +of our womanhood and are <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>honored by those now among us; yet no one can +successfully deny that the type of women of the Old Dominion of the bygone +years was of an exceptional character. They were the result of the very +environment in which they were born and reared. For purity of purpose, for +modesty of demeanor and conversation, for unselfish devotion to home where +there was real happiness, for gentleness, for refinement, for self +abnegation, for love of God and the Church, for unostentatious charity, +and for high motherhood, she has never had superiors. For all the +essential attributes and elements which go to form a splendid woman +without guile and without reproach, we hazard nothing in declaring that +Virginia—in the World’s Hall of Fame—gives to her womanhood of olden +days her laurel of immortal glory.”</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="sidenote"><i>Mary Washington Hospital</i></div> + +<p>Another work which will always be a tribute to woman’s indefatigable and +preserving efforts, is the Mary Washington Hospital, beautifully situated +on the river’s bank immediately facing the lawns and Terraces of Chatham, +and when the trees are bare in winter, affording a view of the imposing +mansion. Here, since 1897, thousands of sick have been cared for and +nursed back to health and strength with more scientific care and almost as +much loving attention as they could receive in their own homes. In 1897 +the corner-stone was laid and from that time the Hospital has steadily +grown and progressed, gaining in strength and usefulness, and now is +recognized as essential to the city and surrounding counties. The idea of +establishing the Hospital was originated by two or three ladies and the +work put actively in motion by Mrs. W. Seymour White and Mrs. M. F. +Tankard, who constituted themselves a committee to form an auxiliary +society, which supported by Mr. W. Seymour White, who was at that time +Mayor of the City, obtained a sufficient sum to purchase a lot and build a +small house of a few rooms. A Hospital Association was formed, and the +women did almost phenomenal work in struggling through many +discouragements, never losing faith, but pressing forward and overcoming +every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> obstacle until their efforts were crowned with success and the +Hospital established on a firm foundation. Now the few rooms have grown +into a commodious building accommodating thirty or forty patients, a +Nurses Home and corps of young women in training. Mrs. W. Seymour White +became the first president—elected because of her interest in +establishing it, and in recognition of the strong support given it by her +husband as Mayor, who in that capacity was able to weild an influence that +helped materially towards its success.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="sidenote"><i>Mary Washington Monument</i></div> + +<p>The Mary Washington Monument has a history too long to be embraced in this +volume and only a brief sketch of it will be appropriate. “The Building of +a Monument” was written by Miss Susan Riviere Hetzel, and published in +1903. She was at the time Secretary of the National Mary Washington +Memorial Association, following her mother Mrs. Margaret Hetzel, its first +Secretary.</p> + +<p>The idea of erecting a new monument to Mary Washington seemed to spring up +simultaneously in Fredericksburg and in Boston, and spread like wild-fire +over the country. Miss Hetzel claims priority for her mother, while the +actual first published movement took place in Fredericksburg. Two letters +were written and published on the same date in the Washington Post. Both +letters were written in the spring just at the time of the Johnstown +flood, and held in the newspaper office, probably overlooked, until +October. On October 13th the movement crystalized into a large meeting in +Fredericksburg. The writers of the two letters became acquainted through a +mutual interest. Mrs. Goolrick’s letter proposed a National Organization +with a President and one Vice-President for each State. Mrs. Hetzel’s +letter suggested that “every woman as far as able give one dollar to the +proposed monument with the Washington Post as Treasurer for the fund, and +to acknowledge daily the donations received.” On the appearance of the +letters in the Washington Post Mrs. Hetzel wrote to Mrs. Goolrick, +congratulating her on the plan she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> proposed, stating that such a plan was +then practically in operation, and had been worked up during the summer, +Mrs. Waite, wife of Chief Justice Waite, was made president, but they +wished no publication or mention made of it until they obtained their +Charter. On November 8th, 1889, the Fredericksburg Association received +its Charter. The National Association was chartered February 22nd, 1890. +On the 10th of May, 1894, the Mary Washington Monument was dedicated, with +great form and ceremony and with the largest crowd ever gathered in +Fredericksburg. Visitors flocked from all over the country. The streets +were in gala attire. American, and Virginia State flags fluttered +everywhere with the buff, blue and gold insignia of the Ball family, which +floated before the homes of Mary Ball’s decendants. A special train from +Washington arrived at ten o’clock bringing the President of the United +States, Grover Cleveland, the Chief Justice, members of the Cabinet and +other invited guests with the ladies of the National Mary Washington +Memorial Association, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the +Marine Band. Military Companies from Richmond, Alexandria and other cities +were present, and with the various orders of the city made an imposing +spectacle. The Grand Lodge of Masons from this and other places closed the +procession, with the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Virginia, and the +Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia following +in its wake. On the immense rostrum near the Monument were seated all the +officials, and Societies, with seats reserved for the descendants of Mary +Ball who were specially invited by the National Association. They had been +summoned from the East and from the West, one invitation going to Japan to +Paymaster Mason Ball, U. S. N.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Dedication of Monument</i><br /><br /> +<i>Lawrence Washington’s Talk</i></div> + +<p>The ceremonies opened with a prayer by Rev. James Power Smith. Mayor Rowe +next welcomed on the part of the city the President, Governor and other +distinguished guests. He gave a brief account of the first monument and +laying of the corner stone by President Andrew Jackson, with an eloquent +tribute to the Mary Washington Association and “the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>noble women in +various sections, some of whom grace this occasion by their presence +today.” The President of the United States was welcomed by Governor +Charles T. O’Ferrall on behalf of the Commonwealth of Virginia. An +impressive address was then delivered by the President. The Monument was +then dedicated by the Grand Master of Masons of Virginia—Mann Page and +the Grand Lodge of Virginia, assisted by Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4 where +Washington was made a Mason, and the Grand Lodge of Alexandria, of which +he was the first Master. Mr. Lawrence Washington was introduced by the +President as a lineal descendant of Mary, the Mother of Washington. He +gave an interesting sketch of her life, home, parentage, widowhood and the +character of her children. The President next introduced the orator of the +day, Hon. John W. Daniel. He is said to have pronounced on this occasion +the ablest oratorical effort of his life.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 312px; height: 500px;"><img src="images/img13.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Mary Washington Monument</span><br /> +<i>Standing at the Spot that She Selected for Her Grave.<br />The Only Monument Built By Women to a Woman</i></p> +<p> </p> + +<p>Governor O’Ferrall at the request of the Fredericksburg Mary Washington +Monument Association read a set of engrossed resolutions which were +presented to Mrs. Waite as President of the National Society. This +concluded the ceremonies. President Cleveland after holding a general +reception on the monument grounds was entertained at the home of Hon. W. +Seymour White, editor of the Free Lance, and afterwards Mayor of the city. +It was a brilliant gathering, Cabinet Officers and their wives, the +Governor of Virginia and Staff, and distinguished citizens of the town and +elsewhere to greet them. The ladies of the National Board were entertained +at the home of Mrs. V. M. Fleming, president of the local association. +President Cleveland repaired to the Mary Washington House where he +requested he should receive all the descendants of the Balls and +Washingtons. “There he had the satisfaction of grasping the hands and +enjoying the conversation of the nearest living relatives of his first and +greatest predecessor, in the home of his honored mother.”</p> + +<p>A banquet was given by the citizens in the Opera House, and a large Ball +that night in the same place. Thus closed a memorable day in the annals of +Fredericksburg.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>The land on which the monument is built, on the same site as that occupied +by the first monument, was given by Mr. George Shepherd, a prominent and +wealthy merchant, to the Fredericksburg Mary Washington Monument +Association, and was transferred at the dedication of the monument by a +conditional deed to the National Association.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Story of Older Monument</i></div> + +<p>The first monument to the memory of Mary Washington was partly erected by +Silas Burrows of New York, who as rumor has it, fell in love with one of +the Gregory girls—great nieces of George Washington. It was of handsome +design, but never finished, and the marble shaft lay prostrate for many +years, cracked and discolored, while the base, with its beautiful four +carved columns was a target for both armies during the Civil war.</p> + +<p>The corner stone of this first monument was laid in 1833, with much pomp, +the President of the United States—Gen. Andrew Jackson—taking part with +Cabinet Officers and escorts. The people of Fredericksburg previous to Mr. +Burrows’ offer, had made efforts to raise money for a memorial to Mary +Washington. Hearing of this he wrote to the Mayor, offering to give and +erect the monument himself. The monument had reached completion with the +exception of placing the shaft, when Mr. Burrows went abroad and never +reappeared, the same Madam Rumor attributing it to the disappointment he +experienced at the failure to win the hand of Miss Gregory, the daughter +of Mildred Washington, the niece of the immortal George.</p> + +<p>The present monument is splendidly cared for by the National Association +with the Secretary of the Association, a Fredericksburg lady in charge and +living on the grounds in a beautiful cottage built by the National Mary +Washington Monument Association.</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p> +<h2><i>At the Rising Sun</i></h2> +<div class="note"><p class="center"><i>Where Famous Men Met; and Mine Host Brewed Punch and Sedition.</i></p></div> + + +<p>Standing back a few feet from the Main Street of Fredericksburg, the +Rising Sun Tavern looks out on the automobiles and trucks that hurry by +over the concrete streets. Silk and woolen mills and “pants” factories +spin and weave and rumble, while the old tavern, with the dignity of its +century and a half calmly flaunts the sign of the rising sun with its +radii of red light. The knocker that felt the hand of almost every famous +American of early days still hangs kindly out.</p> + +<p>Built in 1750 or 1760, the Rising Sun Tavern is at least 160 years old. In +the days when American men were slowly being forced from their English +allegiance it stood in an open space, surrounded by green trees. The road +on which it was built ran out from Fredericksburg toward Falmouth and the +“upper county,” and the tavern was outside the city limits.</p> + +<p>If one could stand and see the tavern as in a movie “fade out,” the modern +houses about it would dim, and, fresh in making and painting, the old +tavern would stand alone beside a rutted road alongside which a footpath +runs through the grass. Oak trees line the road, and reach down to the +river. On the porch, or passing up and down the steps are gentlemen of the +Northern Neck, the Potomac plantations, and the Rappahannock Valley, in +splendid broadcloth, laced ruffles, black silk stockings, with buckles at +the knees and the instep, powdered hair and the short wigs then the +fashion, and ladies in the fashionable red cloaks and long, full dresses +with the “Gypsy bonnets” tied under their chins, and hair “crimped” and +rolled at each side.</p> + +<p>At the back yard of the tavern in the old garden grew a profusion of +tulips, pink violets, purple iris, hyacinths and the flowering almond and +passion fruit, with here and there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> rose bushes. Inside in the front room +flamed the log fire and at the rear of this was the dining-room, where for +men and women and boys, the old negro slave who served the gentle folk had +mint juleps, or claret that had thrice crossed the ocean, or brandy and +soda.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>When Weedon Was the Host</i></div> + +<p>Virginia in the days between 1760 and 1776 reached the “golden age,” and +it was during these times that George Weedon, host of the Rising Sun, made +that hostelry famous for its hospitality, and made himself famous for his +constant advocacy of American liberty. Of Weedon, who was later to become +a general and win commendation at the Battle of Brandywine, the English +traveler, Dr. Smith, wrote: “I put up at the tavern of one Weedon, who was +ever active and zealous in blowing the flames of sedition.”</p> + +<p>Weedon, one of the pioneers of the movement for freedom, made his Tavern +the gathering place for all the gentlemen of the “neighborhood” of which +Dr. Smith says: “The neighborhood included all of Westmoreland County, the +Northern Neck and all other counties as far as Mount Vernon.”</p> + +<p>John Davis, a Welshman who came to America to teach, has left us a sketch +of the tavern of that day and of the people who frequented it, and a part +of what Mr. Davis wrote is well worth quoting: “On the porch of the +tavern,” he says, “I found a party of gentlemen of the neighboring +plantations sitting over a bowl of toddy and smoking cigars. On ascending +the steps to the piazza, every countenance seemed to say, ‘This man has a +double claim to our attention, for he is a stranger in the place.’ In a +moment room was made for me to sit down, and a new bowl of punch called +for, and every one addressed me with a smile of conciliation. The higher +Virginians seem to venerate themselves. I am persuaded that not one of +that company would have felt embarrassed at being admitted to the presence +and conversation of the greatest monarch on earth.”</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Where Famous Men Often Met</i></div> + +<p>Attracted by its hospitality and by the constant meeting before the +wood-fire of men whose influence was great, gentlemen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> from all Virginia +came to the Rising Sun. George Mason, who Gillard Hunt of the Library of +Congress says was “more than any other man entitled to be called the +Father of the Declaration of Independence,” was frequently there. The +young man from Monticello, Thomas Jefferson, who was Mason’s pupil in +politics, spent much time at Gunston and was often at the tavern.</p> + +<p>George Washington, whose home was in Fredericksburg, knew the tavern well, +and Hugh Mercer, a young physician, and brother-in-law of mine host Weedon +(they having married the two Misses Gordon), spent a great deal of time +there. Other guests who heard the news and who read of events when the +weekly stage brought the belated mail from Williamsburg, to the Tavern +Postoffice, where “Light Horse” Harry Lee and Charles Lee, from their +near-by home at Wakefield, Charles Carter, son of the mighty “King” +Carter, who came from “Cleve”; John Marshall, Dr. Mortimer, the Tayloes, +of “Mt. Airy”; John Minor, (afterwards general,) of Hazel Hill; young +James Monroe, practicing as an attorney in Fredericksburg and acting as a +member of the town council and vestryman of St. George’s Church; Samuel, +Charles and John Augustine Washington, brothers of George, as well as +Fielding Lewis, who married George’s sister Betty, and was afterwards a +general in the revolutionary army. Many of the frequenters of the tavern +held high commissions during the war.</p> + +<p>It is a matter of undoubted record that these, and half a hundred other +young men, whose names were to become synonymous with freedom, discussed +at the Rising Sun Tavern the topics of the day, chief among which was the +rights of the colonist. The fiery Irishman, George Weedon, arranged and +organized conferences and wrote numerous letters, and long before men had +ceased to respect the English king, he was bold enough to propose for the +first time the toast, “May the Rose grow and the Thistle flourish, and may +the Harp be attuned to the cause of American liberty,” thus expressing his +desire that his native land, and Scotland, should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> aid America. And he was +not disappointed, for afterwards he would say that he was “ever proud that +besides himself, America had for generals such Irishmen as ‘Mad Anthony’ +Wayne, Sullivan, Moylan and Irvine.”</p> + +<p>In these talks at the Rising Sun, where sometimes the great men of the +time met night after night, those principles that went in the Bill of +Rights of Virginia—were fully discussed before freedom from England was +demanded; and here, where gathered lawyers and planters and men of +profession, many of them members of the House of Burgesses, there must +have been conceived a great many principles that afterwards went to make +the Constitution. This was the true “cradle” of American liberty.</p> + +<p>John Paul Jones when only thirteen years old, heard the first discussion +of such things, probably, when he called at the tavern post-office for +mail for his brother, William Paul, who kept a tailor shop and grocery.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>First “Rebellions” Troops</i></div> + +<p>When Lord Dunmore seized the powder at Williamsburg in 1775, the first +troops organized in Virginia to fight against the authority of the king, +started from Fredericksburg. It seems certain that the plans were made at +the Rising Sun Tavern, and George Weedon was the leading spirit. Hugh +Mercer was elected colonel, Mordecai Buckner, lieutenant-colonel, and +Robert Johnson, major.</p> + +<p>But the apex of the tavern’s glory was reached when the great peace ball +was held officially to celebrate the end of the war, and Washington led +the minuet in the Fredericksburg town hall. Of those who came, tradition +says, none failed to visit General Weedon’s tavern, though the genial +Irishman was now about to leave it and move into the home left without a +head when General Mercer fell.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 600px; height: 380px;"><img src="images/img14.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Rising Sun Tavern</span><br /> +<i>Where the Great Men of Pre-Revolution Days Gathered, and Freedom Was Discussed</i></p> +<p> </p> + +<p>Among those who came to Fredericksburg and were at some time guests at the +famous old inn, besides those named were Brigadier General Stephen Moylan, +another Irishman who served as Washington’s aide, as commissary general +and as commander of troops at Yorktown; Brigadier-General<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> Irvine, Irish +too, and here at Weedon’s insistence; Count Beaumarchais, author of the +“Barber of Seville” and general in the American army; the Marquis de +Lafayette, the Viscounts d’Nouvalles, Count d’Estang, Baron Viominel, and +many others.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Beautiful Colonial Belles</i></div> + +<p>But who were the ladies then? History does not say, but the dancing +master, Mr. Christian, who taught the “gentle young ladies” through the +“neighborhood,” and has left sketches of their personal manner and dress, +has described for us a host of them, many of them misses of 15 and 16, who +now would be called girls but were quite young ladies then.</p> + +<p>Miss Lucy Lightfoot Lee was “tall and stately” (at 16), Mr. Christian +says, “wearing a bright chintz gown with a blue stamp, elegantly made, a +blue silk quilt, and stays, now said to be the fashion in London but to my +mind a great nuisance.” While Miss Hale danced in “a white Holland gown, +quilt very fine, a lawn apron, her hair crimped up in two rolls at each +side and a tuft of ribbon for a cap.”</p> + +<p>It is easy to surmise that the charming Gregory girls, now married, were +there, and that little Maria Mortimer, who on the night following the +Peace Ball, at 15 years of age, was hostess for all the great gentlemen, +was also a guest, as well as Miss Betsy Lee, Martha Custis, and Posey +Custis, Molly Posey, Anne Mason, Alice Lee, and Mary Ambler (later to +become the wife of Chief Justice Marshall), Sally Patton, “lately come +from England to teach,” the two Turberville girls, Priscilla Carter, Jenny +Washington and the Lewis girls, the Taylor girls, and the Fitzhughs, of +Boscobel and Chatham.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Names of Great Virginians</i></div> + +<p>The old tavern is well-preserved and is taken care of by the Association +for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. Not much change has been +made in it since the days of its glory, when at its hospitable hearth +young James Monroe argued for the emancipation of slaves, George Mason +spoke his views on the rights of man, Weedon talked forever “sedition” +with Mercer, who hated England since he had felt defeat <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>at the disaster +of Colloden and crept from Scotland a hunted man, Jefferson discussed his +broad principles, and the Randolphs, Blands, Byrds, Harrisons, Moncures, +Taliaferros, Fitzhughs, Lewises of Marmion, Carters of Cleve, Raleigh +Travers (of Sir Walter’s family) of Stafford, Peter Daniel of “Crows +Nest,” Thomas Fitzhugh, Selden of Salvington, Brent of Bellevue, Ludwell +Lee of “Berry Hill,” Richard Henry Lee of “Wakefield,” and other famous +men gathered, in those crowded days before the Revolution.</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p> +<h2><i>Lafayette Comes Back</i></h2> +<div class="note"><p class="center"><i>After Forty Years of Failure, He Hears the Echo of His Youthful Triumph.</i></p></div> + + +<p>Forty years after his return to France at the end of the American +Revolution, General Lafayette came back to visit the nation he had helped +to create. Cities of the United States heaped honor and hospitality upon +him. The people greeted him in villages and taverns as he traveled, and it +is not strange that he returned to France “astonished” at the vigor of the +young republic.</p> + +<p>He himself had seen France taste freedom, turn to the Terror, accept +Bonaparte’s dictatorship and fight the world—and he had taken his part in +it all, even to five years spent in a prison cell. Now he beheld on the +throne again the scions of the same monarch who had tried in vain to +prevent his aiding America in her fight for freedom, and, his title and +estates gone, he must have felt France’s failure to realize such ideals of +government as he and Washington knew, as keenly as he appreciated the +“astonishing” march of democracy on this continent.</p> + +<p>Entertained first in the North, Lafayette hurried South to see Jefferson +at Monticello for a day. From the Charlottesville estate he traveled to +Orange Courthouse, and thence, over the road his army had cut through “The +Wilderness” and which even to this day is known as “The Marquis Road,” he +came to Wilderness Tavern, where he was met by an escort from +Fredericksburg.</p> + +<p>Fredericksburg was awaiting him, and Lafayette was glad of the opportunity +to spend the greater part of a week in the “home town” of George +Washington, to visit Washington’s relatives, and to meet those of the +Revolutionary general still living in the place. He had been to +Fredericksburg before in 1774, an honored guest at “The Peace Ball.” He +had said that he felt more at home in Fredericksburg than anywhere in +America.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>General Washington, Mrs. Washington, General Mercer, General Weedon—a +dozen of his closer friends whom he had left behind forty years ago—were +dead, but among the Fredericksburg people there were still numbers who +knew him, some who had entertained him, and many who had fought with him.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Peculiar Items of Expense</i></div> + +<p>That Fredericksburg did her best and that good cheer was not lacking when +the general arrived, is recorded in the old courthouse of that city in the +official bill of expenses for the entertainment of the distinguished +guest. On these yellow papers written in the careful hand of that day, are +bills for ribbons and laces and cocked hats, sperm candles and cakes, +oranges (at $1.20 a dozen), cockades, cloaks and “everything” that might +assist in making the November days of the Marquis’ stay glide right +merrily.</p> + +<p>Before the general arrived there was preliminary work, and this is +recorded in a number of bills, among them that of Sally Stokes who had one +for “cleaning and schowering the town hall, and whitening the steps and +cleaning the walls, etc.—I charge for myself and 2 other women—$2.25.” +Her charge was probably a little high as the work was for the city. “Benj. +Day” got the draying contract and profiteered in the following rate:</p> + +<p>“Dr. me for myself and team and dray for 4 days hauling for the +Entertainment Commit. $6.00.” Also among the bills for labor is one:</p> + +<p>“To John Scott, Dr. to hire of my man Billy, the painter, for 6 days to +paint the market house, $4.50,” while “Mary Lucas,” a “freewoman,” got +$1.25 for “sawing 2 1-2 cords of wood.”</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>George Cary’s Great Thirst</i></div> + +<p>General Lafayette was met at Orange by a committee and under its escort he +journeyed south, (along that forest road which his army cut when with “Mad +Anthony Wayne” he followed Tarleton into the unsettled parts of Virginia +and the Carolinas,) to the Wilderness and to Fredericksburg. It is +possible that some message had to be sent from or to his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> escort, in fact +it is evident, for George Cary has left record of it, and in presenting +his bill he has left as well his individuality and his photograph behind +him. If one remembers that brandy was $1.00 a gallon, he needs little more +of George Cary’s history than this.</p> + +<p>“To George Cary for services rendered as messenger, to the Wilderness, +including self and horse, $7.00.”</p> + +<p>“and drink, $1.75”</p> + +<p>“Deduct 50c. advanced him by the Mayor, $8.25.”</p> + +<p>Near Fredericksburg, and almost at the spot where during the Revolution +the camp of Hessian prisoners was kept, General Lafayette was met by a +military escort commanded by Colonel John Stannard. When the cavalcade +reached the city it passed through rows of grown-ups and children and +(surely previously rehearsed for many days!), the latter sang in French, +“The Marseillaise,” and, stepping from his coach, Lafayette marched +between the rows of children, singing the anthem of the French revolution.</p> + +<p>Only one break was made during the stay of the Marquis in Fredericksburg, +if deductions from these old accounts are correct. The town cannon must +have “busted.” And why it did, and the legitimate enthusiasm which led to +such a contretemps, due probably to the exuberance of one who had followed +the general in the great war for liberation forty years before, is +gathered from these bills:</p> + +<p>“To John Phillips, for tending to the gun, $2. Old junk, 37c. Old junk, +27c. Old junk, 23c. 4 kegs of powder, $24., two quarts whisky, 50c.”</p> + +<p>“To John Phillips, fireing the cannon, $4.”</p> + +<p>“To Thomas Wright, for 21 panes glass broken by the cannon last Saturday +night and on the 19th of November, 10c. a pane and 8×10 each—$2.10.”</p> + +<p>When General Lafayette left Fredericksburg he went by stage to Potomac +Creek, by boat to Washington, by stage to Baltimore, and thence he sailed +back to France. With him went Messrs. Mercer and Lewis, both sons of men +who had been Generals in the war for Liberty.</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p> +<h2><i>Old Court Records</i></h2> +<div class="note"><p class="center"><i>Staid Documents, Writ by Hands That Are Still, Are History For Us.</i></p></div> + + +<p>For simple beauty of line there is probably no Court House in Virginia +that equals that at Fredericksburg. While to the casual eye its grace is +obvious, to artists’ and architects’ it makes the stronger appeal, and it +is from those familiar with the lines of new and old world buildings that +the Court House receive highest praise. Inside, in a modern vault, are +many interesting records of the past. The Court House was completed in +1852, at a cost of about $14,000, William M. Boggeth of Baltimore being +the contractor, and J. B. Benwick, Jr., of Baltimore, the architect, and +its completion marked the end of a thirty years factional fight in the +City, which was divided over the issue of building or not building a court +house. The decision to build was made by the Council in spite of a +petition against such action, signed by one hundred and seventy-two +voters.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Building a New Courthouse</i></div> + +<p>The second Court House, a small brick building, stood back from the +street, on a part of the ground the present structure occupies, and had +taken the place of the first plank Court House. But, as early as 1820, the +second structure was complained of by the Court, which went so far as to +“order” the Council to provide funds for a new structure, to which the +Council paid no attention. On June 14, 1849, the Court, composed of Mayor +Semple and Justices William H. White and Peter Goolrick, issued an order +and appointed a committee, as follows: “Thomas B. Barton, John L. Marye, +Robert B. Semple, Wm. C. Beale and John J. Chew, to examine and report to +this Court some plan for the enlargement and repairs or rebuilding of the +Court House of this Corporation.”</p> + +<p>But in spite of some excitement following this unusual step of the Court, +the Council continued its way undisturbed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> The Court, however, called +before it “the Justices for this Corporation” and at the next session +eight Justices—R. B. Semple, Robert Dickey, Beverly R. Welford, William +C. Beale, William H. White, Peter Goolrick, William Warren and William +Slaughter answered the summons. The report of the committee appointed at +the previous session of the Court was made and the Court finally took this +action:</p> + +<p>“That, in obedience to the act of the General Assembly, which requires +that Courts for the Corporations’ within this Commonwealth should cause to +be erected one good, convenient court house, and it being necessary to +build a court house for this corporation,” etc., the Court “appoints a +commission, consisting of Mayor Semple, Beverly R. Welford, William H. +White, Thomas B. Barton and John L. Marye to contract for a court house.”</p> + +<p>But, despite this, and because of the divided sentiment of the people and +the inaction of the Council, the Court did not build a court house, and at +a later meeting voted four to four on a motion to rescind their previous +order. After various moves and counter moves, the issue was carried into a +regular election held in March, 1851, and a Council in favor of a new +Court House was chosen. The erection of the present structure in 1852 +ended a thirty years disagreement, which built up bitter factions in the +town and left animosities, which did not subside until the Civil War came +on. For many years, until the new Fire House was built, the old hand-drawn +fire apparatus was housed in the south wing of the building.</p> + +<p>The bell which is now in the tower of the Court House, formerly hung in +the second court house, and sounded the call to public meetings, as it +does today, and the alarms of fire and war. It was presented to the town +by Silas Wood in 1828, and has his name and that date on it, as well as +the name of the maker, “Revere, Boston.”</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>How Debtors Were Treated</i></div> + +<p>From the earliest times, debtors who could not pay their bills were +imprisoned in the jail in Court House square or, more properly, slept in +the jail and were imprisoned in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> square; for they were allowed the +freedom of the whole square and the adjacent streets, but were not allowed +to enter any store or building on the opposite sides of the streets. Many +men of prominence, it is said, spent short periods in this “Debtors’ +Prison,” awaiting the time when their release could be secured under the +“Poor Debtors’ Law,” which gave them freedom when by a schedule of their +property they proved they had no means to meet their obligations. In 1840, +the Court extended the bounds of the “Debtors’ Prison” to include four +blocks in the center of the city, and the “footways adjoining them”; but +to go beyond these bounds was contempt of Court.</p> + +<p>No existing records establish what Courts held session in Fredericksburg +prior to the Revolution, and it is probable that successors of Mayor +Lawrence Smith were empowered as Governors and Judges until 1727, after +which time the Trustees of the town may have chosen magistrates, or the +colonial Governors may have done this.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>History of the Courts</i></div> + +<p>It is established that the first Court in Fredericksburg was created by +the General Assembly in 1781, when Fredericksburg was incorporated and +given a Common Council and a Hustings Court. The first session of this +Hustings Court was held April 15, 1782, with the following Justices +present: Charles Mortimer, William McWilliams, James Somerville, Charles +Dick, Samuel Ruddy, and John Julien, “the same being Mayor, Recorder and +Aldermen of the town.” This continued the only Court until 1788, when +nineteen District Courts were established in the State by the General +Assembly, and one of them was located at Fredericksburg. These courts were +presided over by two of the ten Judges of the General Court at Richmond. +Among the many men of prominence who appeared before this District Court +were James Monroe, Edmund Randolph, and Francis Brooke. This District +Court was abolished in 1809 and a Circuit Court took its place. This new +court was now presided over by one of the Judges of the General Court at +Richmond. With some changes these courts continue to the present, but are +presided over by <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>specially chosen Circuit Judges. But the Circuit Court +is not held at Fredericksburg.</p> + +<p>The Hustings Court, meanwhile, was the local court for Fredericksburg +until 1870, when it became the “Corporation Court” over which, instead of +three Justices of the Peace, the Assembly now provided there be a Judge +“who shall be learned in law.” Judge John M. Herndon was the first Judge +of this Court, in 1870, and was succeeded by Judge John T. Goolrick, 1877, +Judge Montgomery Slaughter followed him, Judge A. Wellington Wallace +presided for some years, and Judge Embry served until Judge John T. +Goolrick was again chosen Judge and has continued on the bench for the +last 16 years.</p> + +<p>A more remarkable record is that of the men of the Chew family, who for +ninety-nine years and eleven days were the Clerks of this Court, +succeeding each other by appointment and election in direct lineal line. +Henry Armistead, first Clerk of the Court, died August 1, 1787, and on +August 6, 1787, John Chew, Jr., was appointed to the vacancy. In 1806 his +son, Robert S. Chew, succeeded; In 1826 the latter’s son John J. Chew +succeeded; In 1867, the latter’s son, Robert S. Chew succeeded and held +office until his death in 1886. Mr. J. Willard Adams is now Clerk of the +Corporation Court.</p> + +<p>There are many interesting documents in the vaults of the Court House, +many of them mere scraps, as that which tells of an inquest in 1813 over +the “Body of a sailor from the Frigate ‘Constitution,’” who was drowned +here in the river, and which indicates that the famed old boat was once at +Fredericksburg Wharf.</p> + +<p>Among the oldest and most interesting documents in the archives of the +Court House, is a “List of Males Capable of Militia Duty—1785,” and of +the two hundred and sixty-five then listed, (which would indicate a +population of about 1,300 in the city at that time). There are few names +now known in Fredericksburg, nevertheless, there are some, and of these +familiar names the following are examples:</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>“Dr. Mortimer, Dr. Brooke, Dr. French, Dr. Hall, Dr. Gillis, Dr. Hand” and +“Bradford, Taylor, Yates, Walker, Maury, Minor, Herndon, White, Brent, +Johnson, Wheeler, Gray, Jenkins, Allen, Crutchfield, Ferneyhough, Brown, +Chew, Weedon, Colbert, Washington, Brooks, Ingram, Middleton, Spooner, +Payne, Gordon, Young, Thompson, Berry, Slaughter, Lewis, Clarke,” and many +others whose descendants are well known in this city and vicinity.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Mary Washington’s Will</i></div> + +<p>The will of Mary Washington, written by James Mercer, an attorney who was +also Chief Justice of the General Court, (the highest court of Virginia) +and signed by Mary Washington, is preserved in the Court House and has +been seen by hundred of callers. The will was made May 20, 1788, and was +filed after the death of Mrs. Washington.</p> + +<p>“In the name of God, Amen. I, Mary Washington, of Fredericksburg, in the +County of Spottsylvania, being in good health, but calling to mind the +uncertainty of this life and willing to dispose of what remains of my +earthly estate, do make and publish this, my last will, recommending my +soul into the hands of my Creator, hoping for a remission of all my sins +through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of Mankind. +I dispose of all my worldly estate as follows:</p> + +<p>Imprimis: I give to my son, General George Washington, all my lands on +Accokeek Run, in the County of Stafford, and also my negro boy, George, to +him and his Heirs forever; also my best bed, bedstead and Virginia cloth +curtains, (the same that stands in my best room), my quilted Blue and +White quilt and my best dressing glass.</p> + +<p>Item: I give and devise to my son, Charles Washington, my negro man Tom, +to him and his assigns forever.</p> + +<p>Item: I give and devise to my daughter, Betty Lewis, my phaeton and my bay +horse.</p> + +<p>Item: I give and devise to my daughter-in-law, Hannah Washington, my +purple cloth cloak lined with shay.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 600px; height: 380px;"><img src="images/img15.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Mary Washington’s Home</span><br /> +<i>In the Garden Mrs. Washington Greeted Young Lafayette. She Lived And Died Here</i></p> +<p> </p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>Item: I give and bequeath to my grandson, Corbin Washington, my negro +wench, Old Bet, my riding chair and two black horses, to him and his +assigns forever.</p> + +<p>Item: I give and bequeath to my grandson, Fielding Lewis, my negro man, +Frederick, to him and his assigns forever; also, eight silver table +spoons, half of my crockery ware, and the blue and white Tea China, with +book case, oval table, one bedstead, two table cloths, six red leather +chairs, half my pewter, and one-half my iron kitchen furniture.</p> + +<p>Item: I give and bequeath to my granddaughter, Betty Carter, my negro +woman, Little Bet, and her future increase, to her and her assigns +forever; also my largest looking glass, my walnut writing desk with +drawers, a square dining table, one bed, bedstead, bolster, one pillow, +one blanket and pair of sheets, white Virginia cloth counterpane, and +purple curtains, my red and white china, teaspoons and other half of my +pewter, crockery ware, and the remainder of my iron kitchen furniture.</p> + +<p>Item: I give to my grandson, George Washington, my next best dressing +glass, one bed, bedstead, bolster, one pillow, one pair of sheets, one +blanket and counterpane.</p> + +<p>Item: I devise all my wearing apparel to be equally divided between my +granddaughters, Betty Carter, Fanny Ball and Milly Washington; but should +my daughter, Betty Lewis, fancy any one, two or three articles, she is to +have them before a division thereof.</p> + +<p>Lastly: I nominate and appoint my said son, General George Washington, +executor of this, my Will, and as I owe few or no debts, I desire my +Executor to give no security nor to appraise my estate, but desire the +same may be allotted to my devisees with as little trouble and delay as +may be, desiring their acceptance thereof as all the token I now have to +give them of my love for them.</p> + +<p>In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 20th day of +May, 1788.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;">Mary Washington.</span></p> + +<p>Witness: John Ferneyhough.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>Signed, sealed and published in our presence, and signed by us in the +presence of the said Mary Washington, and at her desire.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;">J. Mercer</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Joseph Walker.”</span></p> + +<p>Among the orders of the Court, found on the Order Books, are some which +are of interest as bearing on old customs of the town. One of the first of +these was entered March 1, 1784, when the Court “proceeded to settle the +allowances to the officers of the Corporation” as follows: “Mr. John +Minor, Jr., Attorney for the Commonwealth, two thousand pounds tobacco; +Mr. Henry Armistead, Clerk, twelve hundred pounds tobacco; John Legg, +Sergeant, twelve hundred pounds tobacco; Henry Armistead, for attending +all Courts of inquiry, four hundred pounds; sergeant for same, five +hundred and seventy pounds; Wm. Jenkins, goaler, three hundred and +sixty-four pounds.”</p> + +<p>February 7, 1785, “Robert Brooke” (afterwards Governor of Virginia in +1794-96, and still later Attorney General) and Bushrod Washington, (Uncle +of George Washington and later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court) were +admitted to practice law.</p> + +<p>April 25, 1801, the first “watchman” (policeman) was appointed for the +town.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Burial in Streets Stopped</i></div> + +<p>In a peculiar report, made March 27, 1802, the Grand Jury took steps to +put a stop to “a nuisance, the numerous obstructions in the streets, +particularly in St. George Street lot; burying the dead in George and +Princess Anne Streets; also the irregular burying in the ground west of +and adjoining Prince Edward.” These graves, the report shows, were on +George, Princess Anne, and in Hanover Street, west of Princess Anne, and +on George Street between Main and the river.</p> + +<p>After twenty-two years, the Court issued its first authorization for a +Minister of the Gospel (none but the Church of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> England ceremony was +before recognized) to perform the marriage ceremony, December 24, 1804, to +“Benj. Essex,” Methodist. Others followed in this order: Samuel Wilson, +Presbyterian, September 22, 1806; William James, Baptist, June 13, 1811.</p> + +<p>The undisputed fact that John Forsythe, who was in his generation one of +America’s most famous men, and a sketch of whose life is given elsewhere, +was born in Fredericksburg, is contained in this entry, dated January 12, +1832.</p> + +<p>“The Court orders it to be certified that it was proved to their +satisfaction, by the evidence of Francis S. Scott, a witness sworn in +Court, that Major Robert Forsythe of the Revolutionary army, had two +children, one of whom, Robert, died under age and unmarried, and the +other, John, is now alive, being a Senator in Congress from Georgia.”</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Court Set Liquor Price</i></div> + +<p>Among the Court’s first acts after establishment, the Hustings Court, on +May 20, 1782, thus fixed the prices of certain commodities in the +“Taverns”: “Good West India Rum, one pound per gallon; bread, ten +shillings; whiskey, six; strong beer, four; good West India rum toddy, ten +shillings; brandy toddy, seven shillings six pence; rum punch, fifteen +shillings; brandy punch, twelve; rum grog, six; brandy grog, five. Diet: +one meal, one shilling six pence; lodging, one shilling and three pence; +‘stablidge’ and hay, two shillings; oats and corn, nine pence per gallon.”</p> + +<p>The prices of intoxicants is hard to explain. Rum is at the rate of $5.00 +per gallon, but apparently whiskey is only $1.25. A later ordinance of +prices, made May 10, makes various changes.</p> + +<p>“Breakfast, fifty cents; dinner, fifty; supper, fifty; lodging, +twenty-five; grain, per gallon, twelve and one-half; stablidge and hay per +night, twenty-five; Madera Wine, per quart, one dollar; Champagne, per +quart, one dollar and fifty cents; other wine, per quart, fifty cents; +French brandy, twelve and one-half cents per gill; Rum, twelve and +one-half cents per gill; Gin, twelve and one-half cents per gill.”</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Some of the Judges</i></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>A pure judiciary is one of the best assurances of good government, and +Virginia is proud of her Judges, who on the average, have been and are men +of learning, and acknowledged ability.</p> + +<p>In this book, we can only chronicle briefly the names of some who have +presided in the Circuit Courts of this circuit.</p> + +<p>First is the name of John Tayloe Lomax, who had occupied a chair in the +law school at the University of Virginia, and who had written several +books treating on law, before he came to preside as judge here.</p> + +<p>Richard Coleman, of the distinguished family of that name from Caroline +County;</p> + +<p>Eustace Conway, one of the very youngest men elected by the people, and +who died in a few months after he had assumed the duties;</p> + +<p>John Critcher, who soon resigned the judicial office to become an officer +in the Confederate Army;</p> + +<p>William Stone Barton, who was a splendid Judge, a fearless soldier and a +Christian;</p> + +<p>John E. Mason, who executed all the duties of his high office +intelligently and conscientiously.</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p> +<h2><i>Echoes of the Past</i></h2> +<div class="note"><p class="center"><i>“Ghosts of Dead Hours, and Days That Once Were Fair”</i></p></div> + + +<p>Fredericksburg was, in anti-bellum days, the center of a large number of +slave holding land proprietors who lived within its gates, yet cultivated +their farms in the adjacent territory, hence the colored population of the +town was large; and very much to the credit of these colored people as +well as a testimonial to the manner of their treatment, and to the methods +of their humane and kind discipline, the colored population was law +abiding and polite. They were religious in their tendencies, and church +going in their practices. For several years they worshipped in a church of +their own situated on the banks of the Rappahannock known as Shiloh +Baptist Church—for in this section they were Baptist in their creed. +After the war, in consequence of some feuds and factions, they divided up +into several churches, all of the Baptist denomination. Clinging to the +name, there is now “Shiloh Old Site”—and “Shiloh New Site” and some mild +rivalry.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>About the Colored People</i></div> + +<p>Among the old time colored brethren were some unique characters. We note a +few only: Scipio, or as he called himself, Scipio Africanus from Ethiopia, +was very popular; kindly and charitable in disposition he was probably the +only infidel among that race. One afternoon, at a Baptizing which always +took place in the River, a very fat sister came near being drowned. After +she was immersed by the preacher, gasping and struggling, she came up and +Scip becoming excited yelled to the colored divine—“Stop there Brother! +Stop I tell you! If you douse that gal again some white man goin’ to lose +a valuable nigger by this here foolishness!” Needless to say the indignant +divine released the sister and turned his wrath on Scipio.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>Another colored character was Edmund Walker, who kept a coffee house. He +openly proclaimed he wanted no “poor white trash.” Over his emporium in +big letters flourished this sign—“walk in gentlemen, sit at your ease, +Pay for what you call for, and call for what you please.”</p> + +<p>Jim Williams was known as a good cook, as well as huntsman. His Master, +Col. Taliaferro told Jim one day that he expected great men for dinner +some time soon, and “Jim, I want a turkey, a fat turkey fattened in a +coop, not shot Jim!” When the day came and dinner was served, Col. +Taliaferro’s knife in carving, struck a shot or two. Infuriated, the old +Colonel yelled at Jim—“Didn’t I tell you not to bring me any turkey with +a shot in it?” Jim who had obtained the turkey after dark replied, “Dem +shots was ’tended for me not for the turkey. The white folks shot at me, +but the turkey got the shot.”</p> + +<p>The loyalty of the colered men and women for their old Masters and +Mistresses during the war cannot be commended too highly. Told time and +again that a victory for the Federal soldiers meant their freedom, many of +them refused to leave their old homes, and remained steadfast to the end. +While we cannot enumerate many of these, the opportunity to chronicle the +name of one, still living cannot be overlooked. The Rev. Cornelius Lucas, +who in the dark and dreadful days of war, followed his old owners, the +Pollocks, is with us yet. He was with them on the march and in camp, +waited on them, and ministered to them. One of the Chapters of the +Daughters of the Confederacy in this town, recently decorated him with its +testimonial, its cross of honor.</p> + +<p>We know of no locality situated so near the Mason and Dixon line as is +Fredericksburg where the Union Armies came with their propaganda of +freedom for the slaves, which presents more of the love of the former +slaves for their former Masters, and more obedience to law and order than +is the case with the colored people of the town of Fredericksburg, for +with rare exceptions, there has been no flagrant violation of the laws. We +are of the opinion that this book would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> not indeed respond to the +requirements of endeavoring to sketch the town and its life, without +embodying within its pages what it includes of the colored men and women +whose lives have been spent within its limits.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="sidenote"><i>When Andrew Jackson Came</i></div> + +<p>Early in the nineteenth century, on May 7th, 1833, Fredericksburg was +visited by President Andrew Jackson and escort, the occasion, one of the +most important of that period, being the laying of the corner stone of the +old Mary Washington Monument. People from all over this general section +gathered to greet the hero of New Orleans, and in addition to the +detachment of Marines, which was the President’s honor guard, military +organizations from Washington, Alexandria, Fauquier County and +Fredericksburg, led by Col. John Bankhead, chief marshal, took part in the +large parade that preceded the ceremonies.</p> + +<p>History has recorded for us correctly what took place on the occasion. The +President spoke as did also other distinguished men and, as in those +remote days orators were not sparing with the time they took, undoubtedly +the long suffering people stood a verbal fusilage that lasted hours. But +in the end they were repaid, for the program was followed by feasting and +drinking and a general merry time, at which wines, liquors and barbacued +beef were served to 5,000 people, under a big tent.</p> + +<p>The main reception was held in the old Wallace house, which formerly stood +on the site now occupied by the Baker and Wallace wholesale drygoods +house, and it was the scene of an incident that convulsed the dignified +gathering, which was hard put to control its laughter. It came about as +follows.</p> + +<p>While traveling by road from Quantico (which was reached by boat from +Washington,) to Fredericksburg, the presidential party encountered a Major +Randolph, of the army, who lately had been court martialed and reprimanded +on a charge that now is unknown. Major Randolph had appealed the decision +of the court to the President, who much to the indignation of the Major, +approved the findings. When<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> Major Randolph met the President, he stopped, +saluted and then questioned him regarding his decision. The President’s +replies were not satisfactory to the indignant major and he pulled the +nose of the Hero of New Orleans. News of the occurrence quickly got about +the town.</p> + +<p>That night a certain old gentleman of the most generous hospitality and +the kindest of hearts but with very poor social instincts, was introduced +to the President. His mental processes are not known, naturally, but +probably in a desire to be especially gracious and to show that +Fredericksburg and its people were deeply considerate of the welfare of +their President, and concerned in all that happened to him, the old +gentleman grasped the hand of the chief dignitary of the land, bowed very +low and said, “Mr. President, I am indeed very glad to meet you and I +sincerely hope, Sir, that Major Randolph did not hurt you when he pulled +your nose to-day.”</p> + +<p>The President flared up momentarily but seeing the innocence written in +the countenance of the old gentleman, and the convulsions of those around +him, he joined heartily in the laughter and assured his questioner that he +was quite unharmed.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="sidenote"><i>General Lee’s Week’s Visit</i></div> + +<p>In 1869 the Episcopal Council of the State gathered in St. George’s Church +and to this Council as a delegate from Grace Church, Lexington, of which +he was a vestryman, came General Robert E. Lee the beloved hero of the +South. Just across the street from St. George’s Church was the home of +Judge William S. Barton and there he was the honored guest. Coming so +shortly after the close of the war when the people were in almost a frenzy +of sympathy for him and sorrow for their “Lost Cause” he produced an +impression that will never be forgotten by those who saw him.</p> + +<p>The Barton house was besieged by young and old, anxious to shake hands +with him. The Bartons gave a large reception, and the writer recalls that +scene as if it were yesterday.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 600px; height: 376px;"><img src="images/img16.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Monument to Mercer</span><br /> +<i>Erected by Congress to the Brilliant General Who Fell at Princeton.<br />The Street is Washington Avenue</i></p> +<p> </p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>General Lee stood with Judge Barton and his stately wife; General Barton +and his wife, and the peerless beauty, Mary Triplett, who was the niece of +the Bartons. To describe General Lee would be superfluous. The majesty of +his presence has been referred to. He inspired no awe or fear, but a +feeling of admiration as if for a superior being. People who spoke to him +turned away with a look of happiness, as if some long felt wish had been +gratified. Toward the conclusion of the reception, when only a few +intimate friends remained, some of the young girls ventured to ask for a +kiss, which was given in fatherly fashion. The Council lasted a week, from +Sunday to Sunday and for that time General Lee remained at the Bartons.</p> + +<p>The home life of this truly representative Virginia family brings back +elusive dreams of the charmed days of old when a gentle elegance, a +dignity, a grace of welcome that was unsurpassed in any land, made them +ideal as homes and supreme in hospitality, and nowhere was this more +clearly evidenced than in the family of Judge Barton. General Lee was +serenaded here by Prof. A. B. Bowering’s Band, the same Band which +accompanied the gallant 30th Virginia Regiment on its marches, and cheered +them in Camp with patriotic airs.</p> + +<p>It was Bowering’s Band that, when the body of Stonewall Jackson was +removed from the Capitol in Richmond to the railway station, played the +Funeral Dirge. Prof. Bowering has led other bands since then, and is at +present the conductor of an excellent one.</p> + +<p>It was at about this time that Father Ryan wrote one of his most beautiful +poems, of which this is the last verse:</p> + +<p class="poem">“Forth from its scabbard, all in vain,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bright flashed the sword of Lee;</span><br /> +’Tis shrouded now in its sheath again,<br /> +It sleeps the sleep of our noble slain<br /> +Defeated, yet without a stain,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Proudly and peacefully.”</span></p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Mayors of Fredericksburg</i></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>The following is a chronological list of mayors of Fredericksburg with the +number of years served by each: Dr. Charles Mortimer, 3; William +McWilliams, 1; James Somerville, 3; George Weedon, 1; George French, 8; +Benjamin Day, 2; William Harvey, 2 and less than a month of the third +year, when he died in office; Fontaine Maury, 3; William Taylor, 1; David +C. Ker, 2; William S. Stone, 1; Charles L. Carter, 1 year and six months, +resigning when half his first term was out; William Smock, six months, +serving the unexpired half of Charles L. Carter’s first term; Richard +Johnston, 1; Joseph Walker, 1; John Scott, 1; Garret Minor, 2; Robert +Mackay, 2; David Briggs, 1.</p> + +<p>Briggs’ term ended in March, 1821. Up to this time no mayor had served +more than 1 year consecutively, but after this date several served for +many years following each other. Following Briggs was Robert Lewis, who +died in office after nearly nine years; Thomas Goodwin, died in office +after nearly seven years; John H. Wallace, 2; Benjamin Clarke 6; Robert +Baylor Semple, died in office after nearly nine years; John L. Marye, Jr., +1; Peter Goolrick, 3 years and one month, resigning just after the +beginning of his fourth term and almost immediately before the Civil War; +John S. Cardwell, 2; William S. Scott, 1; Montgomery Slaughter, the War +Mayor, who succeeded Peter Goolrick, (when the latter resigned because the +council had refused to endorse some of his appointments), and served until +removed by the military authorities after a few days more than eight +years. He was succeeded by Charles E. Mallam, appointed by the military +authorities in April, 1868, and removed by them in just a little more than +a year. William E. Nye, who followed, was appointed by the military but +resigned in less than a year. He was succeeded by Lawrence B. Rose, +elected by the council and twice later by the people, serving altogether 5 +years, two months and twenty days, dying during his last term; William Roy +Mason, resigning after serving twenty-seven days of his first term, to +which he was elected by the people. Robert Banks Berrey, 2;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> Hugh S. +Doggett, 3; Joseph W. Sener, 4; Josiah Hazard, 4; Absalom Rowe, 9 years +and eleven months, dying in office during his last term; W. Seymore White, +1 year and not quite five months, dying in office; Henry R. Gouldman, +seven months; Marion G. Willis, 6 years; Thomas P. Wallace, 4; H. Lewis +Wallace, 4; Josiah P. Rowe, a son of Absalom Rowe, 8; J. Garnett King is +at present serving.</p> + +<p>So far as can be gathered ex-Mayor J. P. Rowe is the only son of a mayor +who ever held the same office which his father had filled before him.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="sidenote"><i>Building of the Railroad</i></div> + +<p>The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad, the great Trunk Line +between the North and the South, in 1837 completed its line to +Fredericksburg by rail, a stage line thence to Potomac Creek, and steamer +connection was made from here to Washington. In 1842, on the 18th of +November, the line was completed to Aquia Creek, making it a total of 75 +miles in length. In 1860 Peter V. Daniel was elected president, and during +his administration the road was fearfully damaged by the Civil War. In +1865, the company, after much rebuilding, again opened service to Aquia +Creek. In 1872 the line was extended to Quantico, and connecting there +with the Washington-Quantico road, filled in the missing link of railway +from the North to the South.</p> + +<p>The railroad has always been financially successful and has provided a +service of exceptional convenience. It has the remarkable record of never +having killed a passenger within its cars, and but two from any cause +whatever. Under the Hon. Eppa Hunton it operates now with great efficiency +and over its tracks pass a string of trains during all of the twenty-four +hours. On all of its trains an employee calls attention just before +passing the house where Stonewall Jackson died. The house has been +purchased and preserved to posterity by the railroad—an act for which it +deserves the highest commendation, as it does for the monument it +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>generously built at Hamilton’s Crossing, where heavy fighting occurred +during the battle of Fredericksburg.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="sidenote"><i>Jefferson Davis’ Speech</i></div> + +<p>Jefferson Davis, when a member of the Senate, was loath to leave that body +and opposed breaking up of the Union. But, when his own State of +Mississippi called, he answered. He had been educated at West Point and +had fought in Mexico. When the representatives met at Montgomery, Alabama, +and elected him President of the Confederacy, he accepted. When the seat +of government was moved to Richmond, he, of course, came with it.</p> + +<p>Soon after this he paid Fredericksburg a visit and while in the town was a +guest of Temple Doswell, Esq., at his home on the corner of Princess Anne +and Lewis Streets. As soon as it was known that he was here a band, +accompanied by a multitude of citizens and Confederate soldiers, gave him +a complimentary reception, to which he replied, in a brief address, from +the porch. The writer remembers very clearly how he appeared. He was tall, +thin, beardless, slightly bald, dressed in black broad cloth that was +slightly worn looking.</p> + +<p>Mr. Davis came to review the troops stationed on the Potomac at Acquia, as +well as some encamped at Fredericksburg. He expressed himself as very much +pleased, not only with the hospitable reception accorded him, but also, +with the conditions of the troops and the general management of the +situation then under General Daniel Ruggles.</p> + +<p>It is an unusual coincidence that during the war between the States, +Fredericksburg should have had within its gates, President Lincoln of the +United States and President Jefferson Davis of the Confederate States, and +that each made a public address from places three blocks apart.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="sidenote"><i>The National Cemetery</i></div> + +<p>This National Cemetery is located on one of the most prominent and +imposing hills overlooking the City of Fredericksburg, formerly called +Willis Hill. On July 15, 1865, this location was selected and the cemetery +begun. It has since been made beautiful with shrubbery and flowers and +terraced,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> and now it is known for its attractive appearance. It is, in +fact, counted as one of the most beautiful cemeteries in this Country. It +comprises about twelve acres. Of the soldiers gathered from the adjacent +battlefields there are of the known dead 2,496 and of the unknown 12,798.</p> + +<p>Very many handsome monuments are erected on these grounds, among them one +by General Butterfield in memory of the 5th Corps; another to General +Humphreys by the State of Pennsylvania; and by the same State a monument +in memory of the 127th Pennsylvania Volunteers. Head stones mark the +resting place of very many others.</p> + +<p>On each recurring Decoration Day, May 30th, from a beautifully constructed +forum, services are held in tribute to the memory of the brave men who +sleep there. At these services many who wore the grey and fought on the +other side unite with the boys who wore the blue, in paying this tribute.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Near Fredericksburg Governor Spottswood instituted the first iron work in +America, and an old plate cast in his furnace is now in the possession of +Mr. Val Dannehl of this city. It is probably the oldest piece of cast iron +in America.</p> + +<p>Governor Spottswood built the village of Germanna on the upper river for +German workmen brought over here, and it was from that place, the first +Courthouse of Spotsylvania County, that the Knights of the Golden +Horseshoe began their journey. The mansion of this famous Virginian stood +close beside the Germanna road.</p> + +<p>Today, almost on that spot, stands a small white cottage, and within it +are various relics of the Old Governor and his family and of the battle of +the Wilderness.</p> + +<p>But the strangest thing about the small cottage is that within it lives, +with his wife, Alexander Spottswood, the lineal descendant of the +Governor. Mr. Spottswood stands over six feet, erect and with the bearing +that inevitably proclaims the descendants of great men. His daughter +recently married Mr. E. H. Willis.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>Thus a Spottswood lives today on the tract where the great Virginia +Governor built his mansion and where he founded the famous Spottswood +mines and furnace almost two hundred years ago.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="sidenote"><i>Patti Once Lived Here</i></div> + +<p>An incident brought the great singer Patti to Fredericksburg, to remain +for some time. When she was a girl of sixteen, just beginning to train for +her great career in Grand Opera, her brother Carlo Patti expected to +institute a school of music and was here for that purpose when he was +taken suddenly ill. She came with her sister Madam Strackosh to see her +brother. He remained ill for months and his sisters were with him during +the entire time. They boarded at the Old Exchange Hotel on Main Street, +now the Hotel Maury, and gave more than one concert at what was known then +as “The Citizens Hall.” If there are few here now who remember her, there +is still among us one woman, a little child at the time, whom the singer +often held in her arms and caressed. The parents of the child were +boarding at the Hotel temporarily and the mother and Adelina became great +friends and remained so for many years. Madam Strackosh and her famous +sister said they enjoyed “real life” in our little Southern town. Carlo +after regaining his health went farther South, joined a Confederate +Company, and again as one of the boys in gray under the stars and bars, +was in Fredericksburg and was well known to the writer. He entertained the +weary boys in camp when the hard days were over, with his beautiful songs.</p> + +<p>John Forsythe referred to in the above order was born in 1781 in a frame +house, now standing at the corner of Prince Edward and Fauquier Streets. +He graduated from the Princeton Academy early in life, moving later with +his family to Georgia where he studied law, practiced and in 1808 he was +elected Attorney General, and in 1812 was chosen Congressman and served +until 1818.</p> + +<p>In 1819 he was appointed Minister to Spain and while acting as Minister, +he was instrumental in the ratification of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>the treaty with the Country +for the cession of Florida to the United States.</p> + +<p>In 1827 he was elected Governor of Georgia and in 1829 became a member of +the Senate and was in that body when he accepted the office of Secretary +of State, which position he occupied to the end of Van Buren’s +administration. He died in the City of Washington, October 21, 1841, and +is buried in the Congressional Cemetery.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 600px; height: 381px;"><img src="images/img17.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">National Cemetery</span><br /> +<i>And Monument to the Fifth Corps.<br />Here Sleep Thousands Who Died in the Battles About Fredericksburg</i></p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Joe Hooker Comes Again</i></div> + +<p>Fighting “Joe” Hooker, as his troops called him and as he was, came here +shortly after the war to gather evidence to refute the charges his enemies +at the North were disseminating against him in a campaign of scandal. He +attempted while here, and he was here for a long period, to show that his +failure was not entirely his own fault, and the evidence which he +procured, together with his own statements proved sufficiently that Gen. +Hooker’s plan for the campaign at Chancellorsville far surpassed any +conception of any other Northern general. They left the inference also +(Lincoln had warned him in a letter that his insubordination to Burnside +and other superior officers would one day result in his inferiors failing +to co-operate with him), that Sedgwick had not put his full heart into the +battle, for, important factor in the movement that he was, he started one +day late and allowed 4,000 men at Salem Church to hold back the advance of +his 30,000 men. Had he won this fight, he could have been at +Chancellorsville and turned the tide of battle long before Jackson’s +genius had ruined Hooker’s army.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>The subject of this sketch was the son of Captain and Mrs. Joseph W. +Sener. His father was several times Mayor of this city. Judge Sener +graduated when quite a young man, with the degree of Bachelor of Law, from +the University of Virginia, and was a very successful practitioner for +many years in the courts of this State. He was elected to represent the +first Virginia district in the Congress of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> United States several +years after the civil war. After his retirement from Congress he was +appointed by President Hayes Chief Justice of the then Territory of +Wyoming. After performing the duties of this office very acceptably for +several years he returned to Virginia, and again took up the practice of +his profession. Much of his time was spent in Washington where he died. He +was buried in Fredericksburg with Masonic honors, being a very active +member of Lodge No. 4, A. F. and A. M. of this city.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="sidenote"><i>Abraham Lincoln’s Address</i></div> + +<p>When the Federal army first held Fredericksburg, during the winter of +1861, President Lincoln came to stay at Chatham and hold a grand review of +the army of the Potomac. He was accompanied by Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of +State, and Edward Staunton, Secretary of War. On the plateau behind +Chatham there was held a great artillery review. On the following day the +President, accompanied by some of his cabinet officers and the staff +officers of the army, crossed the river on the lower pontoon bridge. They +rode immediately to the provost marshal’s headquarters in the building on +the corner of Princess Anne and George Streets, which the National Bank +now occupies. After taking lunch with General Patrick and in response to +the calls of some troops present, President Lincoln from the front steps +made a short but splendid address. The writer of this, sat on the steps of +the St. George’s Church, on the opposite side of the street and heard +President Lincoln’s speech.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>On the Bowling Green road, a mile from town, a stone marked +“Stuart-Pelham” shows about where those two brilliant young men met when +they advanced their guns against the Northern host. In the woods, back of +Fredericksburg, a stone marks General Lee’s winter headquarters—where +stood his tents. The spot where Cobb fell is marked, and there is a marker +where the pontoon landed near the foot of Hawk street. The New Jersey +monuments are near Salem Church,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> General Hays monument (where he was +killed) near Plank road on the Brock road. “Lee to the Rear” one mile west +of Brock on Plank road, Sedgwick’s monument near Spotsylvania Court House. +Where Jackson fell, monument two miles west of Chancellorsville on Plank +road.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="sidenote"><i>Other Distinguished Visitors</i></div> + +<p>In the midst of the war England sent Lord Wolesley, who became the +Commander-in-Chief of the English Army, to serve a short time as Military +Observer with the army of General Lee. He was with General Lee about +Fredericksburg and in his commentaries on him said, “There was about +General Lee an air of fine nobility, which I have never encountered in any +other man I have met.” General Wolesley attended a dance here in the house +then called the Alsop house, on Princess Anne Street, now occupied by the +Shepherds.</p> + +<p>The Prince of Wales, who afterwards became King Edward the Seventh, +visited Fredericksburg in 1859. The Prince was accompanied by the Duke of +New Castle, Lord Lyons and others of the Royal family. They were welcomed +here in an address by the late Maj. Elliott M. Braxton. The local band +played “God save the Queen” and flowers and bouquets were presented to the +Prince.</p> + +<p>Among those who came in time of peace we record the name of one whose fame +is known to all English readers. Thackeray, the great English novelist, +was here, and on taking leave said, “To come to Virginia and mingle with +its people, to learn how they live and see their home life, is to have +England pictured to you again.”</p> + +<p>Again the father left, and we next hear of the little girl as Madam +Romero, wife of the once Secretary of State of Mexico and then Ambassador +to the United States from Mexico. During the stay of Ambassador Romero at +Washington, this girl of Virginia lineage became the leader of the social +life of the Capitol of our Nation, and one of the most popular women ever +known there.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>It was perfectly natural that Chester A. Arthur should be often a visitor +to Fredericksburg for he married Miss Ellen Lewis Herndon, of this city, a +daughter of Captain W. L. Herndon, whose distinguished life has been +touched upon. The home in which President Arthur stopped on his visit is +on Main Street, now occupied by Mrs. R. B. Buffington.</p> + +<p>Certainly the greatest orator who ever visited Fredericksburg was Edward +Everett, of Massachusetts, distinguished among literary men of his day. He +came to this city to speak and was entertained in several homes here. He +afterwards spoke all over the Nation in an effort to aid the Mount Vernon +Association to purchase Washington’s home.</p> + +<p>An English officer Colonel Henderson, whose life of “Stonewall Jackson” is +from a literary and military standpoint the best work of its nature in the +world, came here and stayed for a long period securing data for his book. +He lived during his time here at the Old Eagle Hotel, now the Hotel Maury.</p> + +<p>Among our old time merchants was Mr. William Allen. His son married and +lived in many foreign lands. The son’s wife died and he returned to visit +his father bringing his beautiful little daughter, a child of ten or +eleven years. The writer recalls her at that time, with her lovely golden +curls.</p> + +<p>Another nobleman who came here drawn by the quaintness of the old American +town and his desire to see the home of Washington, was the Count De Paris, +of the French Royal Family.</p> + +<p>The Irish poet, Thomas Moore, was here once and declared he would not +leave America until he had been a guest in an old Virginia home.</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p> +<h2><i>Where Beauty Blends</i></h2> +<div class="note"><p class="center"><i>Old Gardens, at Old Mansions, Where Bloom Flowers from Long Ago</i></p></div> + + +<p>Buds and blossoms everywhere! and honey-bees, butterflies and birds! It is +Spring now in the lush meadows and sweeping hills about Fredericksburg. +Flowers, leaves, shrubs and vines have burst forth once more with joy and +life. The wild tangle of beauty and fragrance is everywhere perceptible; +hedges of honeysuckle, whose hidden foundation is the crumbling old stone +wall, trellises heavy with old-time roses, arbors redolent with sweet +grapevine, sturdy oaks and maples, whose branches shelter the clinging +tendrils and the purple wistaria blossoms, borders, gay with old-time +favorites, heliotrope, portulaca, petunias, verbenas and hollyhocks, and +the loved English ivy, with a welcome right of way wherever its fancy +leads.</p> + +<p>The characteristic which is conceded to be the chief charm of +Fredericksburg is its historic association and its picturesque past. This +feature alone does not appeal to all who agree that the old town is +charming, but when this is combined with romantic and interesting tales of +the gentry of years agone who have won immortality not only in this +locality, but in this world, the charm is undeniably irresistible to all. +Fredericksburg has many beauty spots which combine these conditions—spots +which are of increasing pride to residents and visitors.</p> + +<p>Some of the gardens here are old, very old, antedating by many years the +celebrated formal gardens at Mt. Vernon, but few preserve so well their +pristine form. Though the box-bordered parterres have largely disappeared, +the old-time favorites are here still, the same loved shrubbery “just +grown tall,” descended from those set out originally by those of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> +generations gone. Mazie V. Caruthers has, in a few words, unknowingly +delineated some of the garden spots here:</p> + +<p class="poem">“Long, brick-paved paths, beside which row on row,<br /> +Madonna lilies in their sweetness grow—<br /> +Planted by hands to dust turned long ago;<br /> +<br /> +Odors of fern and moss and pine are there—<br /> +Wild loveliness of roses everywhere<br /> +With pinks and mignonette their fragrance share;<br /> +<br /> +Around the dial, stained by sun and showers<br /> +(Whose slender finger marks the passing hours),<br /> +Stand purple iris, proudest of the flowers;”</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Mary Washington’s Home</i></div> + +<p>At the corner of Charles and Lewis Streets stands the pretty little garden +spot, which, since the year 1775 has been associated with Mary Washington. +The tall and vigorous, pungent and aromatic box-wood trees, planted by her +own hand, seem typical today of the splendid old lady. A small section of +the pathway bordered by the same old shrub, which led to “Betty’s” home at +Kenmore, is still here. And here is also the sweet-scented lavender, and +the roses, and near the high board fence on the north, is the sun dial, +that still and silent informant of the passing hours. Washington, Mason, +Jefferson, Marshall, the Lees—a score of the great have trod these shaded +walks.</p> + +<p>Not far away are two frame structures. The style of each bears the +unmistakable mark of age, though the date of construction is undetermined. +Both are still private residences, with attractive grounds. From the +continuity of the terraces, it is supposed that in other days only one +spacious and beautiful terraced lawn was here. It is still beautiful with +its carefully kept grassy sward, from which at irregular intervals, spring +the majestic Norway maples, the black walnuts, the apple trees, and +lilacs, the flowering almond, and other climbing and flowering shrubs, +thick with picturesque bird homes, tenanted year after year by possibly +the same line of robin, wren and oriole. In this magnetic atmosphere was +born in 1781, the future governor of Georgia, John Forsythe.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 600px; height: 382px;"><img src="images/img18.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">In Kenmore Hall</span><br /> +<i>The Remarkable Work About the Mantle and Ceilings Was Done<br />by Hessian Prisoners, at Washington’s Request</i></p> +<p> </p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>Can it be that some subtle and indefinable influence lurked in these magic +surroundings, and left an ineffaceable impress for good upon the boy?</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Old Main Street Homes</i></div> + +<p>A delightful old colonial home is the brick structure on the east side of +lower Main Street. It was built in 1764, and its present attractive +appearance attests the quality of material in its construction, and also +the discerning care with which the old home has ever been maintained. In +Revolutionary times it was the residence of Dr. Charles Mortimer, the +loved physician of Mary Washington. From the east window can be seen the +graceful curves of the river, and the Stafford hills and dales still form +a pretty picture in their verdant beauty and symmetry. Within the solid +ivy covered brick wall encircling the premises two of the most magnificent +trees of this section are noted, a Norway fir and a southern magnolia +which, with other ornamental trees and shrubbery, and a charming rose +garden, are such splendidly beautiful color schemes that one is +constrained to linger in the presence of their beauty and age.</p> + +<p>Across the street stands another solid brick residence, which, though of a +later period in history, is equally beautiful. It is the one-time home of +Matthew Fontaine Maury, one of America’s greatest men. Its architecture, +its interior decoration, its moss-covered, serpentine, brick walk leading +to the old kitchen, and the fascinating flower garden, still radiant with +old-time favorites, attest the age of this old home. Nowhere does the +trumpet vine attain such luxuriant and graceful growth, and many other +varieties of flowering shrubs and vines linger in the sun or throw their +fragrance out on silent nights.</p> + +<p>Two other landmarks in the list of charming homes built in bygone +days—the latter part of the 18th century—each with enchanting grounds, +are located one on Hanover, and one on upper Main Street. These are the +old homes of Dr. James Carmichael, and Dr. Robert Welford. Lineal +descendants<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> occupy both of these premises today, and with the same loving +care the bewildering tangles of beauty in leaf, bud, and blossom, which +characterize these alluring old garden spots, with their accompanying +moss-grown brick walks, is continued. The Rappahannock river laves the +east slope of the Welford garden. The picturesque windings of this river, +and its wooded shores, together with glimpses of the ancient and +interesting little village of Falmouth with “the decent Church that tops +the neighboring hill,” form a pleasing panorama. At the old Carmichael +home, oak, walnut, apple, and mimosa trees, with a pretty arrangement of +japonica, crepe myrtle, dogwood, lilac, English ivy, and other climbing +and flowering shrubs, combine to make a setting of alluring beauty.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Federal, and Hazel, Hill</i></div> + +<p>Nearby, and still on Hanover Street, is the old colonial residence known +now as Federal Hill, the one time home of the distinguished attorney, +Thomas Reade Rootes. Its white enamelled wainscoting, panelling, and other +interior decorations; its colonial doorways, dormer windows, and spacious +grounds where old-time favorites, both radiant and redolent are enclosed +within its boxwood hedges and honeysuckle glen, all bear witness to a +carefully preserved and graceful old age. Here too is the sun dial, its +pedestal half concealed by luxuriant tangles.</p> + +<p>Beautiful Hazel Hill, with its spreading grounds, the old-time residence +of General John Minor; and the unusually attractive home on Princess Anne +Street, the pre-revolution home of Charles Dick, supposed with every proof +of accuracy to be the oldest house in town; Kenmore, with its storied +frescoes, always associated with Betty Washington, sister of George, where +graceful wood carving was done by Hessian prisoners, is magnificently +beautiful; “the Sentry Box,” on lower Main Street, the old home of General +Hugh Mercer, though altered and modernized, has still the same attractive +grounds, and because it was here that the country doctor, who was to be +“General” Hugh Mercer and the tavern keeper who was to be “General” George +Weedon gained the hearts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> and hands of pretty Isabella and Catherine +Gordon, one infers that this was once the trysting place for many a +gallant cavalier. All these historic spots deserve front rank in the realm +of beautiful and interesting old age.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Beautiful Old “Chatham”</i></div> + +<p>Among the pleasant places worthy of consideration, from an historic, and +artistic viewpoint, none is more interesting than old Chatham, on Stafford +Heights, directly across the Rappahannock from Fredericksburg. Situated on +an eminence commanding an extended view up and down the picturesque river, +and with glimpses of the church spires, and quaint roof tops of the old +town, gleaming through the splendid shade trees dotting the grounds, it +has stood for almost 200 years, a typical colonial Manor house, with +characteristically beautiful proportions, an example of English material +and English workmanship.</p> + +<p>It was built in the year 1728 by that sterling patriot, William Fitzhugh. +“Fitzhugh of Chatham,” as he was known, was the descendant of the old +Norman of the same name, progenitor of all of the race of Fitzhugh in +Virginia. He was the intimate friend and classmate of William Pitt, Earl +of Chatham, and the plans for the mansion on his large Virginia estate, +which he named for the earl, are said, with every proof of accuracy, to +have been drawn by Sir Christopher Wrenn.</p> + +<p>Writers of long ago tell of the beautiful box-bordered garden at Chatham, +and of the wonderful terraces, built by numberless slaves, “stepping down +to the river like a giant’s stairway.” These latter still exist in their +beauty, and form one of the chief attractions of the place, which has ever +been famous, and whose most recent owner was the brilliant journalist, +Mark Sullivan, and Mrs. Sullivan, who made their home there until +recently.</p> + +<p>William Fitzhugh, Esq., married Ann Bolling Randolph, and their daughter +Mary, who married George Washington Parke Custis, of Arlington, was the +mother of Mary Custis, the wife of General Robert E. Lee. A conversation +between General Lee and Major J. Horace Lacy, (who with his family<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> owned +and occupied Chatham until the War Between the States) is illustrative of +the devotion of both of these men for the old colonial homestead.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>General Lee Spares Chatham</i></div> + +<p>On the day before the battle of Fredericksburg, Major Lacy was at the +headquarters battery of General Lee. By the aid of field glasses he saw +across the river the white porches of his home filled with Federal +officers, and simultaneously there was wafted on the breeze the strains of +“Yankee Doodle” and “Hail Columbia.” He requested General Lee to authorize +the fire of the heavy guns, which would have laid Chatham in the dust. +With a sad smile, General Lee refused to do so, and taking his seat on the +trunk of an old tree, he said, “Major, I never permit the unnecessary +effusion of blood. War is terrible enough at best to a Christian man; I +hope yet to see you and your dear family happy in your old home. Do you +know I love Chatham better than any place in the world except Arlington! I +courted and won my dear wife under the shade of those trees.”</p> + +<p>Space does not permit a recital of the accomplishments of those who +followed Mr. Fitzhugh, of Major Churchill Jones, of William Jones, his +brother, or of Judge John Coalter.</p> + +<p>The Lacys returned to Chatham after the war and occupied it until 1872.</p> + +<p>The attractive interior with its hand-carved panels and corners is well +worthy of detailed description, particularly the west bedchamber, with its +alluring old fireplace and its high mantel, and is said to have been the +room occupied by George and Martha Washington, who spent a day or two here +during their honeymoon. Not alone have distinguished men of the Revolution +reposed in this room, but John Randolph of Roanoke was also here, and +later General Lee, and still later President Lincoln when he came to +review the Union Army. Clara Barton, to whom suffering humanity owes such +a debt of gratitude, was also here, a day or so previous to the battle of +Fredericksburg, and Washington Irving and other notable men visited Major +Lacy at the old mansion after the war.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The Fall Hill Estate</i></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>The interesting and historic old estate, Fall Hill, which is now the +attractive home of Mr. and Mrs. Fred H. Robinson, commands a view +surpassing almost any near Fredericksburg. The house, built in 1738, is of +the Georgian type of architecture, and its white panelling, its mantel +pieces, and other decorations bear the impress of the care and taste with +which the solid old brick structure was planned. In close proximity to the +Falls Plantation, and the Falls of the Rappahannock river, this homestead +well sustains its reputation as having had an artistic and romantic past, +which is inseparably intertwined with the present.</p> + +<p>Situated on a high eminence in Spotsylvania County, about two miles from +Fredericksburg, it commands an entrancing view, for miles, of the +glistening waters of the river, and the hills and dales of the +Rappahannock Valley, with its smiling cornfields, and its cheerful apple +orchards, and of the white pillared porches of Snowden, the charming seat +adjacent.</p> + +<p>It is a wonderful panorama. At the Falls are numberless moss-covered, +age-old rocks, over which the waters flash and sparkle in the sunlight, +fresh, soft, green, masses of grassy sward are here, dotted with the +stately poplar, sycamore, and cedar trees; over there the gnarled old oak +spreads its hoary branches, and honey locusts and elms are near, and +climbing honeysuckle everywhere. Under the cedar tree, hollowed out of the +flinty bosom of the big boulder, is Francis Thornton’s punch-bowl, with +“1720” and “F. T.” engraved on the circle. All of this is close to the +great house at Snowden.</p> + +<p>Though not so old, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Frank C. Baldwin at “Snowden,” +has long passed the century mark, and the substantial brick structure, +with its massive white pillared portico, its wealth of English ivy, +wistaria, and other shrubs, its magnificent shade trees, planted +irregularly on the extensive lawn, its flower garden on the west, in which +peonies, hollyhocks, crepe myrtle, and other gay perennials vie with each +other in glowing color and beauty, all unite to form a lovely spot. Nor +can one forget that here General Lee and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> his staff, and citizens of +Fredericksburg, sat in the old parlor twice before they decided that +though the Federals carried out their threat to devastate Fredericksburg, +they would not submit to an unjust demand, and for the only time in the +war save at Appomatox and where Jackson died, tears gleamed in General +Lee’s eyes as he stepped in boots and gauntlets from “Snowden’s” front +porch to mount Traveler on the driveway.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>“Brompton” and “Mannsfield Hall”</i></div> + +<p>The old Marye home, Brompton, on far-famed Marye’s Heights, is today a +handsome and imposing brick structure, with its white columned portico, +and its impressive and enticing doorway, so suggestive of good cheer and +hospitality. Each of these spots will appeal to all who see them, and each +will bring back from the rich past a memory of its own.</p> + +<p>Mannsfield Hall, a beautiful home below Fredericksburg, owned by Capt. R. +Conroy Vance is part of the original grant by the Virginia Company to +Major Thomas Lawrence Smith in 1671, his duty under the grant being to +keep at the mouth of the Massaponax a troop of 150 sharpshooters and to +erect a fort as protection against Indians. For this he was granted land +two miles north and two miles south of the Massaponax.</p> + +<p>The estate was known as Smithfield and the original house was of stone and +two dwellings still standing are now being used. The present house built +in 1805 was added to in 1906, and Smithfield was joined to Mannsfield, one +of the Page family estates. Mann Page in 1749 built the beautiful old +mansion of stone as a replica of the home of his second wife Judith +Tayloe, of Mount Airy, in Richmond County. This house was burned at the +close of the Civil War by accident, by the North Carolina soldiers +returning home.</p> + +<p>The Mannsfield Hall estate of today practically marks the right and left +of the contending armies during the battle of Fredericksburg, being +bounded on the south by the old Mine Road to Hamilton’s Crossing which is +on the property. It was at Mannsfield that the great Virginia jurist, +Judge Brooke was born, the property being owned by that family until sold +in 1805 to the Pratts.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 600px; height: 380px;"><img src="images/img19.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Sentry Box</span><br /> +<i>Below, Where Gen. Mercer Lived. Above, Mansfield Hall, a Splendid Old Home</i></p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p> +<h2><i>Church and School</i></h2> +<div class="note"><p class="center"><i>How They Grew in the New World; Pathways to the Light.</i></p></div> + + +<p>In the spring of 1877, during the rectorate of Reverend E. C. Murdaugh at +St. George’s Church, questions arose as to certain forms of the Episcopal +ritual. Some of the members of the congregation approving Dr. Murdaugh’s +views, believed them to be in perfect accord with the doctrines of the +church, but others felt that the introduction of these debated minor forms +was an innovation and tended towards a High Church ritual. These +discussions were followed by the resignation of Dr. Murdaugh, and his +followers assembled in old Citizen’s Hall on the 7th day of August, 1877, +and steps were there taken to organize Trinity Church.</p> + +<p>Reverend Dr. Murdaugh was promptly called to the rectorship of the new +church, and Reverend Robert J. McBryde was called from the chaplaincy of +the University of Virginia, to fill the vacancy at St. George’s. With the +kindly good fellowship, the tact, and the piety characteristic of his +Scotch ancestry, “he lived in accord with men of all persuasions” both in +the Mother Church and the youthful Trinity.</p> + +<p>This congregation first worshiped in the unoccupied Methodist Church on +Hanover Street, but on Christmas Day, 1881, they assembled in their own +attractive edifice, which had just been completed on the corner of Hanover +and Prince Edward Streets. Through the efforts of the Reverend J. Green +Shackelford, (who succeeded Dr. Murdaugh,) and the congregation, the debt +was finally paid, and on February 12, 1890, the church was consecrated by +Rt. Reverend Francis M. Whittle.</p> + +<p>One of the prominent characteristics of this congregation has ever been +the energy and perseverance with which they grapple discouraging problems, +and the unfailing and stubborn<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> optimism of its women, out of which is +born that success which almost invariably crowns their oftentimes +unpromising efforts. Reverend John F. W. Feild, the present rector, is a +young man of unusual attainments, and under his able leadership the church +is a vigorous organization. A handsome parish house has been built.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Baptist Church</span></p> + +<p>Very little credence has been put in the old superstition that an +inauspicious beginning implies the promise of a good ending, but the +Baptist Church here is a conspicuous example of the truth of the old +saying.</p> + +<p>In 1768 three Baptist zealots were imprisoned here on two charges: “for +preaching the gospel contrary to law,” and, to use the words of the +attorney bringing the second charge, “May it please your worships, these +men cannot meet a man upon the road, but they must ram a text of scripture +down his throat.” But this intrepid trio continued to preach their +doctrine, and to sing their hymns from the grated doors and windows of +their prison cells, and each day drew crowds of awed and interested +listeners.</p> + +<p>To the Rev. Andrew Broaddus, who organized the Church here in 1804, to +Reverend Thomas S. Dunaway, whose pastorate covered a period of thirty-two +years, to Reverend Emerson L. Swift, the present efficient pastor, and +many other able and faithful men, is the church indebted for the largest +membership in church and Sunday School in the city, the communion roll +numbering twelve hundred and eighty-nine members, and eight hundred and +twenty-eight officers, teachers, and pupils of the Sunday School.</p> + +<p>The present large and splendidly equipped building on the corner of +Princess Anne and Amelia Streets was erected in 1854, under the pastorate +of Reverend William F. Broaddus, and has had frequent additions as the +increasing activities and congregations demanded. Dr. Broaddus conducted a +successful school for young women in the basement of his church for +several years preceding the War between the States.</p> + + +<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Presbyterian Church</span></p> + +<p>To the Presbyterians belongs the distinction of having the oldest house of +worship in the town. The present brick edifice on George Street was +erected in 1833, the ground having been donated by Mrs. Robert Patton, the +daughter of General Hugh Mercer. At the time of the coming of Reverend +Samuel B. Wilson, as a domestic missionary in 1806, there were two +Presbyterians in the town—surely an unpromising outlook.</p> + +<p>This was about the time of the critical period in the life of the +Episcopal Church in Virginia. For various reasons many of St. George’s +congregation had become dissatisfied. This fact strengthened by the +forceful intellectuality, and the magnetic sympathy of Dr. Wilson, brought +about the subsequent rapid growth of Presbyterianism, and proved that the +psychological moment had arrived for its development here. In 1810 their +first house of worship was built on the corner of Amelia and Charles +Streets.</p> + +<p>Adjacent to the present church on Princess Ann Street is the beautiful +chapel, built of Spotsylvania granite, through the donation of the late +Mr. Seth B. French of New York, in memory of a much loved daughter.</p> + +<p>Dr. Wilson resigned his pastorate in 1841, and among the names of his +efficient successors are Rev. A. A. Hodge, D. D., Rev. Thomas Walker +Gilmer, Rev. James Power Smith, and the present much loved pastor, Rev. +Robert C. Gilmore.</p> + +<p>Dr. Wilson organized the female school which was taught for years by him +at his residence on Charles and Lewis Streets, the former home of Mary +Ball Washington. One of his teachers, Miss Mary Ralls, continued this +school with great success, and admitted boys. How interesting would be the +register of this old school, if it were available today! The older +residents of the town remember well, and with pleasure, some of the men +who were educated there, and won distinction in their chosen fields. Among +others are Judge William<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> S. Barton, John A. Elder, Judge Peter Gray, of +Texas, Dr. Howard Barton, of Lexington, Dr. Robert Welford, +Lieutenant-Governor John L. Marye, Byrd Stevenson, attorney, and the +Virginian historian, Robert R. Howison, LL. D.</p> + +<p>Dr. Francis A. March, the renowned philologist, and for years’ president +of Lafayette College, taught school here for several years, assisting +Reverend George W. McPhail, the Presbyterian minister who succeeded Dr. +Wilson. Dr. March married Miss Mildred Conway, one of his pupils, and +General Peyton Conway March, so well known in military circles, is a son +of his, and is claimed by Fredericksburg, though he was not born here.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Methodist Church</span></p> + +<p>Shortly after the Revolution, the Methodists began to hold services here. +It is thought that for some years they had their meetings at private +residences, as there is no record of a house of worship until 1822, when a +church was erected on George Street, in the rear of where Hurkamp Park now +is. Reverend “Father” Kobler began his ministry here in 1789, and +continued for more than half a century. He died in 1843, and his ashes, +with those of his wife, repose today beneath the pulpit of the present +church. As a result of his godliness and assiduity, combined with the +fervor and zeal characteristic of that communion, the Methodists, under +the leadership of faithful men, have enjoyed a successive series of +prosperous years, materially and spiritually, culminating today in a +handsome, modern brick edifice on Hanover Street, well equipped for its +many activities, and a large membership both in Church and Sunday School. +Reverend H. L. Hout, the present pastor, is a conscientious, capable, and +intelligent leader.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Roman Catholic</span></p> + +<p>Until a sermon of unusual ability and power was delivered here in 1856, by +Bishop McGill, of the Roman Catholic faith, that denomination had no +organization of any kind. This event, together with the energy and +enthusiasm of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>small band of disciples of that faith, was the impetus +which forwarded the establishment of the church here in 1859. The visits +of Bishop Gibbons—the late Cardinal—and Bishop Keene greatly +strengthened the prospects of the church, and though its membership roll +is not a long one, it embraces today some of our solid and successful +citizens. They have erected a neat brick church, and comfortable parsonage +adjacent on Princess Anne Street. The priests who have officiated have +been men deserving the high esteem of the community, and well able to +carry on; the genial Father Thomas B. Martin is the present priest in +charge.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Campbellite Church</span></p> + +<p>An inconspicuous red brick building on Main Street which has the +undeniable stamp of age, though decorated with a new and modern front, is +the Christian, or Campbellite Church, built in 1834. This was only two +years after Alexander Campbell, the eloquent founder of the sect, came +here to expound his creed, and to organize his church. Its little band of +workers has passed through many stages of discouragement, but with +fortitude and energy they have again and again revivified the spark of +life, which at times seemed to burn so low. The building was used, during +the War between the States, as a hospital. Under the leadership of +Reverend Landon Cutler, Reverend Cephas Shelburne, Reverend Samuel H. +Forrer, and others, with the labors of the present pastor, Reverend Daniel +E. Motley, the membership has of late been greatly increased. The Bible +used by Alexander Campbell on some of his visits here, is a highly +esteemed relic.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Some Schools of Fredericksburg</span></p> + +<p>The Public School system was established here as early as 1870. At first +the schools were not well patronized, owing in part to the unusual and +well-merited success of the private schools, and old-time prejudice +against new methods, then termed “socialistic.” Their popularity increased +with their efficiency, prejudice was entirely eliminated, and to-day we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> +have a splendid brick building on Main and Lewis Streets, which houses the +elementary grades, well-equipped and with a commodious auditorium.</p> + +<p>The handsome high school building on Liberty street has been completed +within the past year. It cost 125,000 and is a credit to the town. The +chief problem here is the lack of room to accommodate the unexpectedly +increasing number of lads and lasses who present themselves on the opening +September morn. More than several times have the efficient and painstaking +principal and teachers congratulated themselves on acquiring adequate +conditions for placing the pupils, when in an incredibly short time, +“congestion,” and “half-day sessions,” are again topics in school circles.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The State Normal School</span></p> + +<p>The crowning glory of Fredericksburg in the educational line and probably +the most far-reaching in its benefits and results is the State Normal +School, established here by Act of the Virginia legislature in 1908, State +Senator C. O’Conner Goolrick being most active in securing its location +here. The massive buildings crown the apex of one of the most picturesque +slopes on the left of the far-famed Marye’s Heights. An institution of +this caliber, in order to radiate the best in every line of its many +activities, must be apart from the business, social, and commercial life +of the community, and yet near enough to benefit from the many obvious +advantages its proximity to such a center affords. The Normal School fully +meets this condition. The drive of about a mile from the center of the +town is an interesting one, and, when the summit of the hill is reached, +the driveway circles around the imposing brick structures; the +Administration Building, Frances Willard Hall, Virginia Hall, Monroe Hall, +and others. To the east, in all its historic pride lies the ancient city. +To the west, beyond the carefully kept, and attractive campus, and over +the Athletic Field, nothing is visible but fields and forests and rolling +hills,—nature’s handiwork,—and, as the eye sweeps <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>the horizon, it is +arrested by more hills and dales of that region of our state named in +honor of that daring and picturesque character, “The Knight of the Golden +Horseshoe.”</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 317px; height: 500px;"><img src="images/img20.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Near Bloody Angle</span><br /> +<i>Monument at the Spot Where General Sedgwick, of<br />Connecticut, Was Killed by a Confederate Sharpshooter</i></p> +<p> </p> + +<p>Under President A. B. Chandler, Jr., and a faculty of teachers chosen to +provide that type of instruction calculated to prepare young women for +successful vocations, the school is a success.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Schools of Old Times</span></p> + +<p>If justice were done to each of the excellent schools of varying +characteristics, in the old days of Fredericksburg, many times the space +allotted to this subject would be infringed upon. But at the risk of this +infringement, the names of some of the local educators of other days must +be included. Mr. Thomas H. Hanson was sometime Master of the +Fredericksburg Academy, that old school which is said to have begun its +existence on Gunnery Green, which in its early days disseminated the seeds +of learning to many youths, who afterwards became distinguished statesman. +Messrs. Powell and Morrison were principals of a girl’s school in old +Citizens Hall; Mr. John Goolrick and son George educated some of our most +influential citizens of the past generation; Judge Richard H. Coleman +taught a school for boys at Kenmore, and also at Hazel Hill; Mrs. John +Peyton Little conducted a popular school for girls at her residence, the +old Union House on Main Street; Colonel W. Winston Fontaine had a large +school for girls, and at a later period Miss Frank Chinn, Miss Tillie +Slaughter, and others, and still later Miss Willie Schooler (Mrs. Frank +Page) conducted elementary schools, which by reason of their efficiency +gained great popularity. The school of the late Charles Wisner was largely +attended by both sexes.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Fredericksburg College</span></p> + +<p>The interesting building (now the home of Mr. W. E. Lang, Smithsonia) has +almost since its construction been closely associated with the religious +or educational life of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> community. In it for years was conducted +successfully, under various teachers, a school for young ladies, always +under Presbyterian management. For years it housed some of the departments +of the Presbyterian Home and School, of which that popular and efficient +institution, familiarly known as The Fredericksburg College was a part.</p> + +<p>Founded in 1893 by Reverend A. P. Saunders, D. D., the beneficial +activities of this institution continued until 1915. Not only were the +widows and orphans of Presbyterian ministers the beneficiaries in many +ways, but it afforded unusually fine opportunities to the youth of the +town, and surrounding country, not only in the usual college courses, but +in its school of music and art as well. In many instances its graduates +have distinguished themselves at the University of Virginia, Johns +Hopkins, and elsewhere.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Colored Institutions</span></p> + +<p>The colored citizens of the town—and the phrase is synonymous with +law-abiding, respectful and intelligent citizens—have shown commendable +energy and interest in their churches and schools, as is manifested in the +substantial buildings housing their religious and educational activities. +Three churches, all of the Baptist denomination, each with its own pastor, +hold services regularly. Each has a large congregation and a flourishing +Sunday School. Though the equipment of both high and graded schools is +only fair, the corps of teachers, all of their own race, is as efficient +as anywhere in the State.</p> + +<p>“Shiloh Old Site” and “Shiloh New Site” are the leading colored churches, +and each of these has been steadily growing for years.</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p> +<h2><i>The Church of England</i></h2> +<div class="note"><p class="center"><i>First in Virginia, the Church of England Has the Longest History.</i></p></div> + + +<p>It has been said, and by reliable searchers after historical truths, that +the first Christian shrine in America was built by Spanish missionaries, +and on the site where now stands the City of Fredericksburg. But as no +proof has been found, we relinquish this claim, and find our first +authentic beginnings of Christianity in an old entry found in the records +of Spotsylvania County, 1724: “Information brought by Thomas Chew, Church +warden, against John Diggs for absenting himself from the place of divine +worship; he is fined ten shillings, or one hundred pounds of tobacco, or +must receive corporal punishment in lieu thereof, as the law directs.” +These were days in the infant colony when religious freedom had no place. +Legislation was paramount and, though never since those times has the need +of the gospel been so obvious, the people had to accept the Minister that +“His Honorable, the Governor,” sent them.</p> + +<p>St. George’s parish and the early history of Fredericksburg are +inseparably linked. Affairs of Church and affairs of State were embodied +in one system.</p> + +<p>In the main the character and manner of living of the early ministers of +the Church of England here were not in accord with the dignity of their +mission. Incidents so indicating were not at all unusual: on one occasion +a clergyman of gigantic size and strength had a rough and tumble fight +with members of his vestry, in which the laymen were knocked out. The +burly Englishman took as his text the following Sunday, “And I contended +with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off +their hair.” Bishop Meade says, “Surely God must have greatly loved this +branch of his Holy Catholic Church, or he would not have borne so long +with her unfaithfulness, and so readily forgiven her sins.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> But happily, +all those who in the olden days ministered in the Parish of St. George +were not of this type.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Some of the Early Rectors</i></div> + +<p>St. George’s Parish and the County of Spotsylvania were contemporaneously +established in 1720. The first official record of the parish extant is the +notice of the vestry meeting on January 16, 1726, at Mattaponi, one of the +three churches then in the parish, Reverend Theodosius Staige, minister. +Reverend Rodman Kennor succeeded Mr. Staige. It was not until the 10th of +April, 1732, that Colonel Henry Willis contracted to build a church on the +site of the present St. George’s, seventy-five thousand pounds of tobacco +being the consideration. After much discussion accompanied by usual +excitement, the State urging its claims and the vestry not indifferent as +to who “His Honorable, the Governor,” would send them, the Reverend +Patrick Henry, uncle of the famous Patrick Henry, became minister. Colonel +Henry Willis and Colonel John Waller, “or he that first goes to +Williamsburgh” is desired to return thanks to His Honor.</p> + +<p>Reverend Patrick Henry resigned his charge in 1734, and Sir William Gooch, +Governor, sent a Mr. Smith, who, on account of his “faithfulness or the +contrary,” was very generally disliked, and after two sermons, left. The +names of two ministers, father and son, appear successively on the +interesting old yellow rolls at this time, Reverend James Marye, Sr., and +Reverend James Marye, Jr. who officiated at St. George’s for almost half a +century, and who were faithful and zealous. The salary of these men was +fixed by law at sixteen thousand pounds of tobacco. It is impossible to +compute with accuracy this equivalent in English money, “minister’s +tobacco” representing many varieties, and its value seeming to fluctuate. +In general four pounds of tobacco equaled one shilling. The elder Marye +married Letitia Mary Ann Staige, the sister of the first rector; and +Yeamans Smith, who built the attractive country seat “Snowden” in 1806, +married Ann Osborne, a daughter of James Marye, Jr. From these families +are lineally descended many of the worshipers at old St. George’s today.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The Oldest Cemetery Here</i></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>In 1751 the first bell, the gift of John Spotswood, was used. In 1755 the +legislature passed an act directing that each parish should provide for +the maintenance of the poor, thus the first “poor-house” was established. +In 1722 an act was passed by the General Assembly relating to the +churchyard, and authorizing the vestry to reduce the dimensions thereof. +This small and interesting spot, so carefully maintained today, was used +as “God’s Acre,” before the legal establishment of Fredericksburg in 1727. +Contiguous to the church on the north, this little “City of the dead,” is +a grassy hillside, sloping gently to the east; and amid the sturdy elms +and maples, the graceful fronds and purple blossoms of the wistaria and +lilac, the old fashioned roses, the clinging ivy and periwinkle, rest the +ashes of those who helped to make the Fredericksburg of long, long ago. We +love to think of those noted personages sleeping there, that</p> + +<p class="poem">“It is not hard to be a part of the garden’s pageantry<br /> +When the heart climbs too, set free.”</p> + +<p>Colonel Fielding Lewis, of Kenmore, and his three infant grandchildren, +sleep beneath the old stone steps of the church. William Paul, the brother +of John Paul Jones, is under the linden tree. Archibald McPherson, the +generous Scotchman and friend of the poor, sleeps under a tangle of ivy +and roses. Reverend E. C. McGuire and his relict, Judith Lewis, great +niece of General Washington lie close to the loved old church beneath the +weeping willow. Under the shade of the same beautiful tree, sleeps the +father of Martha Washington, Colonel John Dandridge of New Kent County. +Others, well known, are not far away.</p> + +<p>Reverend James Marye, Jr., a faithful scion of the Huguenot faith, taught +a parochial school here, which George Washington as a youth attended. It +is thought to have been at this school that he wrote, under Mr. Marye’s +dictation, his celebrated “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior,” the +original of which is preserved among the country’s archives. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> faithful +service of Reverend James Marye, Jr., ended with his death on October 1, +1780, and during seven years following the parish was without a minister.</p> + +<p>In 1785 agreeably to the law passed in the legislature giving all +Christian denominations the privilege of incorporation, the people of St. +George’s Church met, and elected the following vestrymen: John Chew, John +Steward, Mann Page, Thomas Colson, Thomas Crutcher, Daniel Branham, Thomas +Sharp and James Lewis.</p> + +<p>In 1787 Reverend Thomas Thornton was unanimously elected rector of the +church. Steady faith, unaffected piety, ability to associate the dignity +of the minister with the familiarity of the man, are some of the +characteristics which his biographers have attributed to him, and which +made him acceptable to all classes. It was during his ministrations that +the Fredericksburg Academy was held in such high estimation. Many eminent +men have attended this old school.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Washington’s Last Attendance</i></div> + +<p>Four pews in the gallery of St. George’s were reserved for the use of the +professors and students. An interesting incident which occurred at this +time is told by Judge John T. Lomax, then a small boy. An addition to the +galleries had just been completed, when George Washington, with freshly +won honors, came on what proved to be his last visit to his mother, and as +usual attended service at St George’s Church. Because of the presence of +the hero, a great crowd gathered. Suddenly, during the service, there was +heard from the galleries the sound of creaking timbers; this proved to be +only the settling of the new rafters, which had not been well adjusted, +but which caused great fear and excitement in the congregation.</p> + +<p>After the resignation of Mr. Thornton in 1792, the following names appear +on the church rolls, and follow each other in quick succession: Reverend +John Woodville, James Stevenson, Abner Waugh, Samuel Low and George +Strebeck. During the ministry of Reverend James Stevenson two institutions +of learning were established, and the benefit and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>advantages derived +therefrom are felt to this day. The male Charity School had its beginnings +in 1795, with these gentlemen as subscribers: Benjamin Day, Charles Yates, +Elisha Hall, William Lovell, Fontaine Maury, George French and Daniel +Henderson.</p> + +<p>Though this school ceased to exist years ago, there are still three stone +tablets inset in the wall of the old building on Hanover Street, where the +sessions of this school were held. (This building has been rejuvenated +lately, and is now the home of the Christian Science Society.) These +tablets are in memory of three of Fredericksburg’s philanthropists, +Archibald McPherson, who died in 1754, bequeathing his property to the +poor of the town, Benjamin Day and Thomas Colson, whose services to the +school were many and valuable and whose charity was broad.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The Female Charity School</i></div> + +<p>The Female Charity School was established in 1802, by the women of St. +George’s parish, generously assisted financially by Miss Sophia Carter, of +Prince William County, and is still maintained to this day; their present +substantial brick building on upper Main Street has been occupied since +1836 and houses at the present time eight happy little maidens who, with +their predecessors numbering into many hundreds, would probably, without +its gracious influence have grown into womanhood without a spark of that +light attained by education and religious influence.</p> + +<p>But notwithstanding these blessings times grew sad for the Church of +England in Virginia. The Revolution in which each was involved was +destructive to the upbuilding of the Church and the growth of Virginia. +The results of that war were many and far reaching. The church had been +closely associated with that tyrannical government which the people had +now thrown off. Its liturgy, its constitution, its ministry and members +were naturally subjects of criticism, prejudice and abuse. Having had the +strong right arm of a strong government for protection, it was now forced +to stand alone, and it seemed for a while to totter, and almost to fall.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>Such were the conditions under which Reverend Edward C. McGuire took +charge of St. George’s Church in 1813. In writing of his reception here he +says, “I was received with very little cordiality, in consequence I +suppose of the shameful conduct of several ministers who preceded me in +this place.... Under these disastrous circumstances, I commenced a career +most unpromising in the estimation of men.”</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, this inexperienced young man of thirty years proved that by +living himself the gospel of truth and love and preaching “simplicity and +godly sincerity,” he could overcome those difficulties implied in the +hopeless condition which prevailed at the outset of his ministry, when, we +are told, there were only eight or ten communicants of the church. But his +long ministry of forty-five years was one of prosperity and blessing.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>New Edifice Consecrated</i></div> + +<p>In 1816 the second church on the same site and this time a brick edifice, +was consecrated and Bishop Moore confirmed a class of sixty persons. +Reverend Philip Slaughter says in his history of St. George’s Parish, +published in 1847, “There is apparently but one thing wanting to the +outward prosperity of this congregation and that is, room for its +growth.... I trust that the parishioners will build such a house for God +... as will be a fit monument for their thankfulness ... a suitable reward +to their venerable pastor for his life-long devotion to their service.” +His hope materialized, for in the fall of 1849 the present beautiful +edifice was completed. A few years after the completion of this building, +July 9, 1854, a fire occurred, and the church was damaged. The loss was +covered by insurance, and the building quickly restored to its former +beauty. There is an authenticated story told in connection with this fire; +the day succeeding the fire there was found, on the Chatham bridge, the +charred and blackened remnant of a leaf from an old Bible and almost the +only words legible was the significant verse from Isaiah, <i>Our holy and +our beautiful house, where our fathers praised Thee, is burned up with +fire and all our pleasant things are laid waste</i>.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Some Notable Vestrymen</i></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>Shortly before the death of Dr. McGuire, in 1858, the climax of his +ministry was realized in the class of eighty-eight souls, which he +presented to Bishop Meade for confirmation. Reverend Alfred M. Randolph, +afterwards beloved Bishop of the diocese, succeeded Dr. McGuire, and in +chronological order came Rev. Magruder Maury, Rev. Edmund C. Murdaugh, D. +D., Rev. Robert J. McBryde, Rev. J. K. Mason, Rev. William M. Clarke, Rev. +William D. Smith, Rev. Robert J. McBryde, D. D., the second time, and Rev. +John J. Lanier, scholar and author, who is the present rector.</p> + +<p>These men were all more or less gifted with a high degree of mentality and +spirituality. Of a later and another day they were potent agents in +diffusing the blessed light which must emanate from the church.</p> + +<p>For nearly two centuries St. George’s Church, its three edifices each more +costly and imposing than its predecessor, has commanded the summit of the +hill at Princess Anne and George Streets. Its interesting tablets and +beautiful windows tell in part, the story of its engaging past.</p> + +<p>In glancing over that precious manuscript, the old parish vestry book, +which numbers its birthdays by hundreds of years, names familiar to every +student of American history are noted. Colonel Fielding Lewis is there and +General Hugh Mercer, General George Weedon, and Colonel Charles +Washington, also Dr. Charles Mortimer, the physician of Mary Washington. +Others dear to the hearts of old Fredericksburgers are Reuben T. Thom, who +held the unusual record of serving the vestry for a successive period of +fifty-two years; Zachary Lewis, attorney to his majesty, the King of +England; Lewis Willis, grandfather of Catherine, Princess Murat; Captain +John Herndon, Francis Thornton, Ambrose Grayson, Francis Talliaferro, +Robert Beverly; but for the fact that there is such a vast assemblage of +names, interesting to the generation of today, an entertaining recital of +them in this brief sketch, would be possible.</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p> +<h2><i>The 250th Birthday</i></h2> +<div class="note"><p class="center"><i>Fredericksburg Celebrates an Anniversary</i></p></div> + + +<p>Many months were given to preparation for this greatest event in the +modern history of Fredericksburg, the celebration of her 250th birthday as +a chartered community. Much thought was spent on how best to portray the +Town’s history from the granting of the “Lease Lands” by Governor Berkley, +in May, 1671, to be settled by the Colonists.</p> + +<p>The entire city officially and individually had given itself up, +practically, to staging a Celebration befitting the unique occasion. All +the hard working committees declared things ready for the Morning of the +25th of May, when the ceremonies of the day would begin at nine o’clock +with an official reception to delegates with credentials, and special +guests of the city, at the Court House. Doubtful ones had not lacked +prediction of failure, and they were confirmed in their fears when the +early morning began with a thunder storm and down pour. The stout hearted +and faithful who had carried on the work were, however, at their posts of +duty, and gladly saw the sun break through just in time for the opening +festivities. The entire city was elaborately decorated, flags flying and +“the colors” displayed in bunting on every home and building. A program, +replete with events, half solemn, gay or merry, was arranged for the day, +of which every moment was taken up. Never before in its varied history did +such an air of gayety envelop the city. Visitors flocked to Fredericksburg +and long before the beginning thousands had gathered, sidewalks, steps and +porches were crowded with merry throngs in carnival mood. While the +thousands of visitors were pouring into the town by railroad and by +highway the celebration was formally inaugurated when the official guests +appeared at the courthouse and presented Chairman W. L. Brannan of the +Celebration Committee, and Mayor J. Garnett King their credentials,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> +which will become a part of the archives of the town. This formality took +but a few minutes.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 600px; height: 383px;"><img src="images/img21.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Federal Hill</span><br /> +<i>Built by Judge Brooke, Brother of Surgeon Brooke, of the Bon Homme Richard</i></p> +<p> </p> + +<p>At nine thirty A. M., exercises were held on Lewis Street to mark the +boundaries of the Lease Lands, which was done under the auspices of the A. +P. V. A., one of whose members, Mrs. V. M. Fleming, had in searching old +records, come across the forgotten document of the Lease Lands and worked +hard for the celebration. A granite marker was unveiled with the following +ceremonies:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Opening prayer—Rev. R. C Gilmore.</p> + +<p>Address—Dr. J. P. Smith, introduced by Dr. Barney.</p> + +<p>Unveiling—by Jacquelin Smith, a descendant of Lawrence Smith, first +Commander of the town.</p> + +<p>Acceptance—Mayor J. Garnett King.</p> + +<p>Benediction—Rev. J. J. Lanier.</p></div> + +<p>These exercises were very impressive and largely attended.</p> + +<p>Receptions, addresses by distinguished guests, parades of soldiers and +marines, veterans of three wars and descendants of Indians were all on the +program which followed and fascinated the crowds at various points. In +front of the Princess Anne Hotel was presented a lively scene, with one of +the bands of marines from Quantico playing on the balcony while throngs of +gaily dressed women, citizens, officials and marine officers made up a +remarkably brilliant ensemble.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Real Indians In War Dance</i></div> + +<p>One of the most interesting numbers of the morning program was an Indian +War Dance, in costume, by members of the Rappahannock tribe of Indians, +actual descendants of the men who concluded the first treaty with Capt. +John Smith. This was in the City Park at 11:30 A. M. The tribal dances +were most picturesque and were in keeping with the birthday celebration. A +concert by the Marine Band followed the exhibition by the Indians. The +other principal point of interest at the same time was Washington Avenue +where the Fort Myer Cavalry Troop gave an exhibition of wonderful skill. +These manoeuvers were magnificently executed and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> received with +enthusiastic applause by the crowd. The Troops fell in line at the +whistle. The two platoons then broke from the center and executed column +right and left respectively. The first platoon executed troopers by the +left flank and the second platoon serpentined in and out. The whole troop +spiraled and unwound at a gallop, then executed by fours by the left flank +center and rode to the opposite end of the field.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The Distinguished Guests</i></div> + +<p>A large platform at the north end of Washington Avenue held the speakers, +and the specially invited guests. Among the distinguished guests and +delegates present were His Excellency, Westmoreland Davis, his staff of 15 +members, Mrs. Davis, Hon. Herbert L. Bridgman, member of the New York +State Board of Regents and author, journalist and scientist, Hon. Chas. +Beatty Alexander, vice-president general of the Society of the Cincinnati, +and millionaire philanthropist, of New York, Gen. Smedley D. Butler, U. S. +M. C., Quantico, Gen. John A. Lejeune, U. S. M. C., Senator Claude A. +Swanson, Washington, Col. F. Nash Bilisoly, State Commissioner of +Fisheries; Chief George Nelson, Rappahannock Indians; Chief G. N. Cooke, +Pamunkies; Chief C. Costello, Mattaponi, Chief O. W. Adkins, Chickahominy, +John Halsey, representing the Sons of Revolution of New Jersey; Mrs. +Archibald R. Harmon, representative of the city of Philadelphia; Capt. M. +W. Davis, commander of cavalry from Fort Myer; Major Walter Guest Kellog, +Regent of the State of New York; Newbold Noyes, associate editor and part +owner of the Washington Star; Major General Adelbert Cronkite, commander, +80th division U. S. Army and others. As a native of Fredericksburg a warm +welcome was accorded to Admiral Robert S. Griffin, who has won fame and +distinction in the U. S. Navy and he was accompanied by his son, Commander +Griffin. Dr. Kate Waller Barrett, born in Stafford County, and a woman +widely known for her activities in philanthropic and social work, was +another who received marked attention.</p> + +<p>Mayor J. Garnett King was the official host of the city, and so well were +his arduous duties performed that no one felt neglected. The Chairman, +President W. L. Brannan, of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> the Chamber of Commerce, presided, and under +his skillful direction these ceremonies were conducted harmoniously and +impressively. Mr. Brannan did the hardest work in organizing the +Anniversary Celebration and its success was largely due to his energies +and efforts and efficiency.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Mr. C. B. Alexander’s Address</i></div> + +<p>Following the cavalry drill about 11:15 A. M., Hon. Chas. Beatty +Alexander, LL. D., LITT. D., vice-president general of the Society of the +Cincinnati and a Regent of the State of New York, was introduced by Judge +John T. Goolrick and made the following address of which we quote a few +words:</p> + +<p>“When I was about ten years of age I was sent with my Aunt, Janett +Alexander, the daughter of Archibald Alexander, of Rockbridge County, +Virginia, to visit at Chatham, I can vividly recall the generous yet +well-ordered life which prevailed at that time under the benign auspices +of the beautiful Mrs. J. Horace Lacy, with her noble husband, and I +remember the huge wood fires in every room and the delicious Virginia +food. Each of us in the house, I remember, was furnished with a body +servant who was charged with the duty of seeing that we were made +thoroughly comfortable. I was shown the interesting tree under which it +was said that General Washington and General Lee both proposed to their +future wives and I am interested to learn that the Rev. James Power Smith, +A. D. C. to Stonewall Jackson, also under that very tree proposed to the +lovely Agnes Lacy, the daughter of the house.</p> + +<p>Every night the family and guests would gather around the huge log fire +and discuss the issues of the day. On the way South I had been taken to +the Senate to hear Senator Crittenton present his famous compromise. I +also had the pleasure of spending the Christmas day of 1859 at the Seddons +house, at Snowden, about eight miles from here. Their home was destroyed +later by order of General Benj. F. Butler, Mr. Seddon’s brother, James A. +Seddon, being Secretary of War of the Confederacy. I can readily recall +the appearance of the streets of Fredericksburg.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>Before Dr. Alexander completed his address, over in the City Park a few +blocks away, real Rappahannock Indians, descendants of those redskins who +inhabited this area, launched into a series of yells, with accompanying +dances and waving of tomahawks over their heads, and gave to the people an +exhibition of the tribal dance of their ancestors, a preliminary to an +informal severance of diplomatic relations with pale faces or some other +tribe of Indians that had incurred their enmity. This spectacular ceremony +was accompanied by music from a band representing a modern fighting +element, the marines.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Banquets and Luncheons</i></div> + +<p>Again the crowd scattered over the city. People kept open house that day. +Besides the private entertaining, large dinners were served in Hurkamp +Park, and other selected places to thousands of marines from Quantico, as +well as to all those who came unprovided with their own luncheons. A +banquet was given by the city at Princess Anne Hotel to two hundred +invited guests. Prior to the luncheon a reception was held there by +Governor Davis, who shook hands with hundreds of people. Practically a +reception was in progress at this hotel during the whole morning. Many +ladies had been appointed by the Chairman and the Mayor on the official +Reception Committee. They met there at nine o’clock in the morning to +greet the guests. The luncheon was beautifully appointed and served at +round tables, holding eight. A long table extended across the end of the +large dining hall, where sat Governor Davis and Mrs. Davis, the speakers +and other distinguished guests, Mayor and Mrs. King, Chairman Brannan, +Judge John T. Goolrick and other city officials and their wives. Music was +furnished during the luncheon by the Franklin Orchestra of the city.</p> + +<p>After the luncheon, the biggest event of the Celebration, the Parade +started to move. It is not the part of this historian to describe the work +or the executive ability of those in charge, that led up to the final +accomplishment of this pageant of exquisite beauty, or the forty-five +floats exhibited in this parade. The scenes were perfect and carried out +the idea of the town’s history. Mrs. L. L. Coghill, Chairman of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> this, the +principal feature of the Anniversary Celebration, worked out the entire +scheme giving her personal attention to each float, in the outline of its +general plan, details and coloring. The beauty and reality of the parade +surprised even the most optimistic. The closest attention was paid to the +genuine historical aspects of each period visualized, and the characters +and costumes were wisely chosen. The parade was nearly two miles long, and +took one hour to pass in review. A fleet of airplanes circled over the +city and gave a modern touch to the picturesque setting.</p> + +<p>To Mrs. Coghill and her committee the multitude paid tribute in applause.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>The Order of Parade</i></div> + +<p>Led by a platoon of police, the parade passed as follows: Chief Marshall +Edgar M. Young and his two chief aides, W. S. Embrey and J. Conway +Chichester. Three color-bearers, one each for the American flag, the +Colonial flag and the Virginia State flag followed. The music for this, +the first division, was furnished by the United States Cavalry Band from +Fort Myer and behind it came Troop K, 3rd United States Cavalry, Fort +Myer. The glistening brown horses and the snappy appearance of the +troopers brought forth the plaudits of the crowds. The United States +Marine Post Band, from Quantico, followed, heading the second division, +which was composed entirely of floats giving Fredericksburg’s 250 years in +picture. This display arranged under the direction of Mrs. L. L. Coghill, +brought forth most favorable comment. No important point in +Fredericksburg’s long series of historic events was overlooked.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Some of the Beautiful Floats</i></div> + +<p>It began with floats of the four tribes of Indians in this section which +recognized the great king Powhatan as their ruler, the Mattaponi, +Chickahominy, Pamunkey and the Rappahannock tribes. The war paint of the +redskins stood out in deep contrast to the pure white of the floats. On +down through the days of Capt. John Smith and the men who established a +colony here came the floats, depicting and demonstrating in brilliant +succession the history of the town in every aspect of its political and +social life. There was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> Washington and his cherry tree, Washington as the +student, John Paul Jones who once worked in a store here; Revolutionary +generals; ducking stools, pillories and stocks; the peace ball attended by +Washington and his officers; “To live and Die in Dixie,” showing typical +darkies before the war; “The Blue and Gray”, Dr. James P. Smith, last of +“Stonewall” Jackson’s staff, who participated in other festivities during +the day, and Maj. T. B. Robinson, of the Union Army, riding side by side +in an old shay drawn by the principal motive power of that day, oxen. One +of the purposes of the celebration of the city’s 250th birthday was to +acquaint the public with Fredericksburg’s past, and certainly that past +was visibly before the eyes of the onlookers. Each float in passing +received its meed of praise and applause. It would be a pleasure to +describe them all, but the scope of the present volume will permit only a +brief sketch of this beautiful feature.</p> + +<p>The Knights of the Golden Horseshoe, personified by the gallant boys of +Spotsylvania, represented this splendid band of former Virginians whose +ride across the mountains brought them everlasting fame.</p> + +<p>“Virginia” was truly regal in its setting. Between four white eagle topped +columns a beautiful and stately young woman clad in white and gold +draperies stood over the prostrate form of the tyrant imperiously +proclaiming in her pose “Sic Semper Tyrannis”, the proud motto of the +State.</p> + +<p>The shades of morning were used to make this one of the most attractive of +the floats, it being our Dawn of Day. Pink draperies with morning glories +twining over them—pink, blue, white and purple, presented a beautiful +background for the figures of the typical group of men and women +presenting and receiving the “Leased Land” commission from Governor +Berkeley.</p> + +<p>The float of the period of 1608, which well represented the story +intended, was the Captain John Smith float. That distinguished man with +his two companions, was shown mooring<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> his boat, on the shore of the +Rappahannock. An old Indian and his young son (real Indians of the +Pamunkey tribe) were stepping into the boat, intensely interested in the +beads and other baubles which Captain Smith temptingly holds out as +barter.</p> + +<p>An unique and most interesting feature was the coach containing “Col. +Henry Willis”—the top man of the town—and Col. William Byrd and his +fifteen year old wife going to visit at Willis Hill. The coach was mounted +high and the body glass encased, with steps that let down; there were old +time tallow candles in holders for light. Sitting in state with her lordly +spouse and the top man of the town, was the quaint and pretty little +fifteen year old bride, doubtless enjoying the mimic occasion as much as +her predecessor did the real one.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Floats Depict Town’s Story</i></div> + +<p>The float “Revolutionary Generals of Fredericksburg” was one that brought +much cheering. A group of popular young men in Colonial uniforms with +swords and side arms, representing Washington, Mercer, Weedon and others, +were the principals in this.</p> + +<p>Following this came one representing our first postoffice. General Weedon, +Postmaster; scene taken from the small room in the Rising Sun Tavern, and +the characters all descendants of General Weedon.</p> + +<p>The “Peace Ball” float was copied from the celebrated painting, a colored +engraving of which (given by Mr. Gordon) hangs over the mantel in the Mary +Washington House. This was gorgeous in decorations of black and gold, +which threw into high relief the picturesque costumes and coloring of +Colonial days. Mary Washington, her son George, and the young French lord +Lafayette were the outstanding figures.</p> + +<p>The Ducking Stool, showing also a Pillory, Stocks, and a refractory wife +perched upon the stool about to receive a ducking, caused much hilarity.</p> + +<p>The Battles of “Fredericksburg” and “Appomattox” were realistic in effect, +the latter shown by an old Confederate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> soldier leaning on his musket with +the beloved flag he followed for four years furled amidst the stacked +guns.</p> + +<p>“To live and die in Dixie” may well be described as a scene typical of the +“Old South.” A negro cabin ornamented with pine saplings and an old darkey +sitting at ease with his pipe, in the doorway, and just outside a +contented “old Mammy,” in characteristic pose. The really excellent +pageant came down to the present day with “Woman’s Work.” “The American +Legion”—“Armistice” and “The Hope of the Future”—the latter an immense +float filled with happy children. Even after the passing of the last float +there was little diminution of the masses of people on Washington +Avenue—apparently their favorite stage setting.</p> + +<p>A Marine Band concert filled in an hour or more, delighting the audience +with a wide range of selections.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Chorus Songs Are Thrilling</i></div> + +<p>Grouped on the immense platform a chorus of one hundred voices followed. +The program was attractively arranged with a series of period songs, +several of which were illustrated with tableaux. The solemn strains of +“America” were thrillingly rendered amid patriotic scenes, the people +standing between the monument to Mary the Mother of Washington, and that +of the gallant Revolutionary General Hugh Mercer, and on ground +consecrated by the blood of the armies of the North and the South in the +Civil War where each army had planted, at different times, its guns, and +on ground that belonged to Washington’s family. The hills of the +Rappahannock, once crowned so threateningly with battlements of artillery, +echoed the volume of sound, until it rung across the valley.</p> + +<p>“The Land of Sky Blue Water” a period song, rendered by Mr. Taylor Scott +in his magnificent baritone, was illustrated with an Indian tableau posed +by State Normal School students in costume. “Hail Columbia” by an entire +chorus and “Drink to me only with Thine Eyes” a song of Colonial period, +by male voices. “The Star Spangled Banner” period of 1812 was sung with +tableau by American Soldiers.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class="bbox" style="width: 312px; height: 500px;"><img src="images/img22.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="center">“<span class="smcap">The 250th Birthday</span>”<br /> +<i>Three of the Floats in the Parade, May 21, 1921</i></p> +<p> </p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>Civil War Period: “Old Folks at Home,” “The +Roses Nowhere Bloom So Fair As In Virginia,” tune of “Maryland, My Maryland,” “Carry Me Back to Ole +Virginia,” by a bevy of young girls attired in frocks of “the sixties.”</p> + +<p>The Battle Hymn of the Republic and Dixie with its ever inspiring melody +were sung, and then the Spanish American War period exemplified by “A Hot +Time in the Old Town To-Night.”</p> + +<p>The songs and tableaux of the World War period struck a more tender note, +and revived in many hearts the anxieties and sorrows of that epoch in the +World’s History, when days of apprehension and sleepless nights were the +“common fate of all.” The Tableau shown with it, represented a Red Cross +Nurse, a Soldier and a Sailor of the United States.</p> + +<p>“Auld Lang Syne,” sung by the Chorus, ended the Concert and the great +crowd scattered like leaves before the wind, many hastening to attend +private receptions, others to get ready for the public ball at the +Princess Anne Hotel at which would gather all the notables who had helped +to make the day successful. The Mayor of the City, Dr. King and Mrs. King, +gave an official reception at their home on Prince Edward Street tendered +to Governor and Mrs. Davis and other guests of the Anniversary occasion. +Among the special guests present, in addition to Gov. and Mrs. Davis and +staff, were Gen. and Mrs. John A. LeJeune and staff, Gen. Smedley D. +Butler, Hon. Herbert L. Bridgman and Hon. Chas. B. Alexander. Several +hundred citizens of the city called and met Fredericksburg’s distinguished +guests. The reception was a brilliant and most enjoyable affair.</p> + +<p>Later Mr. and Mrs. C. O’Connor Goolrick entertained at a smaller reception +a number of their friends and some invited guests of the city, including +many of those at the reception given by the Mayor.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Mr. Whitbeck Entertains</i></div> + +<p>The reception at “Kenmore” to all visiting men, and men citizens was one +of the biggest affairs of the evening, and the hospitality of the host, +Mr. H. A. Whitbeck, made the occasion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> especially pleasant. An hour or +more was spent in good fellowship, the mingling of old friends and hearty +greetings to new ones. “Kenmore,” grand old mansion that it is, was +resplendent under the lights and beautiful decorations and Mr. Whitbeck’s +party for the men was one of the most attractive of all the social events.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Ball at the Princess Anne</i></div> + +<p>As a fitting climax to the unique celebration which will go down the +annals of Fredericksburg as one of the greatest in its history, was a +Colonial ball at Hotel Princess Anne. In the early part of the evening the +hotel was crowded with a merry throng of guests which almost prohibited +dancing for the lack of space. The lobby, ladies’ parlor and ball room +were filled to overflowing with handsomely gowned women and men in evening +clothes. With an unusually good orchestra from the Marine Post at Quantico +supplying the music, the ball was opened by a grand march, led by Governor +Westmoreland Davis and Mrs. Judge John T. Goolrick, who wore a handsome +evening dress of sapphire blue.</p> + +<p>As the evening advanced the crowd of spectators which occupied much of the +floor space, thinned out and more room was available for the dancing +couples. About midnight a supply of horns, confetti and streamers were +distributed to all present and the dance assumed a merry cabaret aspect. +The orchestra was full of pep, as were the dancers, and the scene was one +of much gaiety and fun. Dancing continued until two o’clock Thursday +morning, when lights were out and the gayest day in the long annals of the +Picture City between the hills of the Rappahannock, “historic +Fredericksburg,” became one of her treasured memories; not to be +forgotten, but to be kept alive with her traditions by the descendants of +the splendid men and women who have made and preserved her history, and +caused her to become known to the world.</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p> +<h2><i>Appendix</i></h2> + + +<p>Thomas Jefferson in the Virginia Convention of 1776 was the successful +patron and aggressive advocate of the resolution for the appointment of a +Committee to revise certain laws in order that they might be in accordance +with and conform to the changed status and conditions of the State, from a +Colony of Great Britain to an independent sovereignty.</p> + +<p>This Committee, consisting of Thomas Jefferson, George Mason of Gunston +Hall, George Wythe, Edmund Pendleton and Thomas L. Lee, met in the Rising +Sun Tavern in Fredericksburg on January 13, 1777, where they inaugurated +and formulated bills of great and far reaching import, which were +subsequently enacted into laws by the Legislature of Virginia and followed +by the other thirteen States of the Confederation.</p> + +<p>These four bills were then considered as forming a system by which every +fibre of ancient or future aristocracy would be eradicated and a +foundation laid for a government truly republican.</p> + +<p>To only four of these we make reference—namely—</p> + +<p>THE REPEAL OF THE OLD ENGLISH LAWS OF PRIMOGENITURE then the law of the +State, by which the eldest son as a matter of law and right became by +descent entitled to property rights and privileges above and beyond all +other heirs:—</p> + +<p>THE REPEAL OF ALL ENTAIL which would prevent the accumulation and +perpetuation of wealth in select families and preserve the soil of the +country for its people, thus promoting an equality of opportunity for the +average citizen:—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>THE ESTABLISHMENT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION AND OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS FOR ALL +CHILDREN—OF COLLEGES TEACHING THE HIGHEST GRADE OF SCIENCE—From this has +evolved the present public school system, and Jefferson being saturated +with this idea commenced by the establishment of the University of +Virginia. A great service performed by this Committee fostered and largely +encouraged by Jefferson and Mason was its BILL FOR RELIGIOUS +FREEDOM—which met with more active opposition than did the other three, +for it did not become a law until 1785. By it the State received its +charter of divorcement from the Church—religion and politics were +separated. It provided “that henceforth no man could be compelled to +frequent or support any religious worship place or ministry, but all men +should be free to profess and by argument maintain their opinions in +matters of religion and the same should in no wise diminish, enlarge or +effect their civil capacity.”</p> + +<p>No elaborate or extended thesis or dissertation on the too apparent +merits, virtue, value and importance of these measures, in this brief +sketch, is attempted. The purpose really being, with emphasis, to declare +without successful contradiction or any possible doubt or dispute <i>that in +the Rising Sun Tavern at Fredericksburg on January 13, 1777</i>, these all +pervading, all important laws of the greatest import were formulated and +inaugurated by the Committee referred to.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><strong>Footnotes:</strong></p> +<p><a name="f1" id="f1" href="#f1.1">[1]</a> Figures, see official reports.</p> + +<p><a name="f2" id="f2" href="#f2.1">[2]</a> See Goolrick’s “Life of Mercer.”</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Historic Fredericksburg, by John T. 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Goolrick + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: Historic Fredericksburg + The Story of an Old Town + +Author: John T. Goolrick + +Release Date: April 9, 2012 [EBook #39403] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORIC FREDERICKSBURG *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive.) + + + + + + + + + +HISTORIC FREDERICKSBURG + + + + +[Illustration: FREDERICKSBURG FROM STAFFORD + +_Showing the Steeple that was Used as a Signal Station by Both Armies_] + + +[Illustration: ON THE WILDERNESS BATTLEFIELD + +_President Harding, John T. Goolrick and Gen. Smedley D. Butler_] + + + + + HISTORIC FREDERICKSBURG + + _The Story of an Old Town_ + + + _By_ JOHN T. GOOLRICK + + AUTHOR OF + _"The Life of General Hugh Mercer" + "Irishmen in the Civil War" Etc._ + + + _Printed In U.S.A._ + by + WHITTET & SHEPPERSON RICHMOND VA. + + _Photographs By_ + DAVIS GALLERY, FREDERICKSBURG VA. + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1922 + JOHN T. GOOLRICK + + + + + This Book is Dedicated + To one who has not failed her friends, or her duty. + Who has given freely of her best. + Whose faith has not faltered, nor courage dimmed. + Who has held high her ideals; who has lighted + a pathway for those she loves. + To My Wife + + + + +_Contents_ + + + IN THE OLDER DAYS 13 + _One by one the little cabins are built along the + river bank_ + + AFTER THE REVOLUTION 26 + _In the days of its glory, the Old Town was famed + and prosperous_ + + WAR'S WORST HORRORS 37 + _Shelled by 181 guns for hours, the town becomes + a crumbled ruin_ + + THE FIRST BATTLE 48 + _When, at Marye's Heights and Hamilton's Crossing, + war claimed her sacrifice_ + + AT CHANCELLORSVILLE 55 + _The Struggle in the Pine Woods when death struck + at Southern hearts_ + + TWO GREAT BATTLES 64 + _The fearful fire swept Wilderness, and the Bloody + Angle at Spottsylvania_ + + HEROES OF EARLY DAYS 70 + _The Old Town gives the first Commander, first + Admiral and Great Citizens_ + + MEN OF MODERN TIMES 98 + _Soldiers, Adventurers and Sailors, Heroes and + Artists, mingle here_ + + UNFORGOTTEN WOMEN 123 + _Some of Many Who Left a Record of Brilliancy, + Service or Sacrifice_ + + AT THE RISING SUN 133 + _Where Famous Men Met; and Mine Host Brewed Punch + and Sedition_ + + LAFAYETTE COMES BACK 139 + _After Forty Years of Failure, He Hears the Echo + of His Youthful Triumph_ + + OLD COURT RECORD 142 + _Staid Documents, Writ by Hands That Are Still, + Are History For Us_ + + ECHOES OF THE PAST 151 + _"Ghosts of Dead Hours, and Days That Once Were + Fair"_ + + WHERE BEAUTY BLENDS 165 + _Old Gardens, at Old Mansions, Where Bloom Flowers + from Long Ago_ + + CHURCH AND SCHOOL 173 + _How They Grew in the New World; Pathways to the + Light_ + + THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 181 + _First in Virginia, the Church of England Has the + Longest History_ + + THE 250TH BIRTHDAY 188 + _Fredericksburg Celebrates an Anniversary_ + + APPENDIX 199 + + + + +FREDERICKSBURG + +_A Preface_ + + +Fredericksburg sprawls at the foot of the hills where the scented summer +winds sweep over it out of the valley of brawling waters above. The grass +grows lush in the meadows and tangles in the hills that almost surround +it. In spring the flowers streak the lowlands, climb on the slopes, and +along the ridges; and Autumn makes fair colors in the trees, shading them +in blood crimson, weathered bronze, and the yellow of sunsets. + +Over its shadowed streets hangs the haze of history. It is not rich nor +proud, because it has not sought; it is quiet and content, because it has +sacrificed. It gave its energy to the Revolution. It gave its heart to the +Confederacy; and, once when it was thundered at by guns, and red flames +twisted in its crumbling homes, it gave its soul and all it possessed to +the South. It never abated its loyalty nor cried out its sorrows. + +In Fredericksburg, and on the battlefields near it, almost thirty thousand +men lay on the last couch in the shadowy forests and--we think--heard Her +voice calling and comforting them. To the wounded, the Old Town gave its +best, not visioning the color of their uniforms, nursing them back to +life: And, broken and twisted and in poverty, it began to rebuild itself +and gather up the shattered ideals of its dead past. + +Out of its heart has grown simple kindness; out of its soul simple faith. + +As I look out over the streets, (I knew them well when Lee and Jackson and +Stuart, Lincoln and Grant and Hancock knew them too), they shimmer in the +Autumn sun. Over them, as has ever seemed to me, hangs an old and haunting +beauty. There may not be as great men here as long ago, but here are their +descendants and the descendants of others like them. And he who comes +among them will find loyal hearts and warm hand-clasps. + +Ah, I know the old town. My bare feet ran along its unpaved walks and +passed the cabins many a time in slavery days. I knew it in the Civil War +and reconstruction days, and on and on till now: And it has not failed its +duty. + +Fredericksburg's history brims with achievement and adventure. It has not +been tried in this volume to tell all of these. I have tried to tell a +simple story, with the flame of achievement burning on the shrines and the +echoes of old days sweeping through it, like low winds in the pine woods; +to make men and women more vivid than dates and numbers. I have tried to +be accurate and complete and to vision the past, but above all, I have +loved the things of which I have written. + +There is no possibility of expressing the gratitude the author feels for +the aid given him by others, but he must say, briefly, that without the +assistance of Miss Dora Jett, Mrs. Franklin Stearns, Mrs. John T. +Goolrick, and Dr. J. N. Barney, Mr. Chester B. Goolrick and Mr. John T. +Goolrick, Jr., the book could not have been made as readable as we hope +the public will find it. We owe just as deep thanks to Miss Sally Gravatt +of the Wallace Library. + +JNO. T. GOOLRICK. + + _Fredericksburg, Va._, + October 25, 1921. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +REV. ROBERT CAMPBELL GILMORE. + + +As a public speaker of wide reputation, especially on Southern themes, +Hon. John T. Goolrick, Judge of the Corporation Court of Fredericksburg, +Va., needs no introduction. It is my privilege to introduce him as a +writer of history to an ever widening circle of readers. Other men can +gather facts and put them in logical order, but few can give the history +of the old town of Fredericksburg such filial sympathy and interest, such +beauty of local color, as can this loyal son. + +The father, Peter Goolrick, a man of fine education, came from Ireland and +made his home in Fredericksburg, and was mayor of the town. + +The son has always lived here. The war between the States came in his +boyhood. His first connection with the Confederacy was as a messenger at +the Medical Department headquarters of General Lee. Growing old enough and +tiring of protected service he enlisted in Braxton's Battery of +Fredericksburg Artillery. He was wounded at Fort Harrison, but recovering, +returned to his command and served to the end of the war as "a +distinguished private soldier," and surrendered with "The last eight +thousand" at Appomattox. Since the war he has been prominently connected +with Confederate affairs. At one time he was Commander of the local Camp +of Veterans and is now on the staff of the Commander of all the Veterans +of the South and Virginia. + +After the war young Goolrick studied law, was elected Judge of the +Corporation Court of Fredericksburg, and of the County Court of +Spotsylvania, served for a time as Commonwealth's Attorney of +Fredericksburg, and later was re-elected Judge of the Corporation Court, +which position he has held for sixteen years, and which he now holds. He +has been the inceptor often, and always a worker, in every public event in +the town. + +This is not Judge Goolrick's first appearance as a writer. He has +contributed many articles to newspapers, and magazines, and has published +several books. He is thus particularly fitted to write the history of his +own beloved town. + + + + +HISTORIC FREDERICKSBURG + + + + +_In the Older Days_ + + _One by one the little cabins are built along the river bank--_ + + +Enveloped in the perfume of old English boxwood and the fragrance of still +older poplars, and permeated with the charm of a two hundred and fifty +year old atmosphere, the town of Fredericksburg, Virginia, nestles in the +soft foliage along the banks of the Rappahannock, at the point where the +turbulent waters of the upper river rush abruptly against the back-wash of +the sea, an odd but pleasing mixture of the old and the new. + +Subtly rich with the elegance of the past, it looks proudly back across +its two and a half centuries, but it has not forgotten how to live in the +present, and combines delightfully all that it has of the old with much +that is new and modern. + +Perhaps no other community in the country has had a more intimate and +constant association with the political and historic growth of America +than Fredericksburg. From the earliest Colonial period, when it was a +place of importance, it traces its influence on the nation's development +down through the Revolutionary war, the War of 1812, the Mexican and Civil +wars and the periods of national progress between those conflicts, and +even today, when the old town has lost its touch with affairs as an +important community, it still can claim a close connection with events +through the influence of its descendants--sons and daughters--who have +gone forth in the world and achieved leadership in movements of the day +that are aiding in shaping the destiny of mankind; and of these another +chapter tells. + +But while proud of the accomplishments of these, the old town does not +depend upon them for distinction. It bases its claim to this on the events +with which it actually has been associated, and the importance of the part +it has played in the past is proved by data found in the recorded annals +of the country. + +[Sidenote: _The Spanish Missionaries_] + +It might, indeed, if it sought historical recognition on accepted legend +rather than known fact, assert an origin that antidates that of the first +English permanent colony in America. A historian, writing in the Magazine +of American History, says the spot now occupied by Fredericksburg was +first discovered in 1571 by Spanish Missionaries, who erected there the +first Christian shrine in America. It is almost certain the town was +settled in 1621, three hundred years ago, but this cannot be definitely +proven, and the town has not claimed it as a date in its established +history. It does not claim to have had a beginning with the recorded +arrival of Captain John Smith, one year after the settlement of Jamestown, +but takes as its birthdate May 2d, 1671, at which time the site was +legally recognized by a grant from Sir William Berkley, then Colonial +governor, to John Royston and Thomas Buckner, who are looked upon as the +real founders of community life at the spot now occupied by +Fredericksburg. + +Whether or not white men first reached the location as early as the +suggested arrival of the Spanish Missionaries probably must always remain +a mystery, though there are reasons to believe that this is entirely +probable, as it is known that Spaniards made an early effort at +colonization in Virginia, and in 1526 came up the James River from Haiti +with six hundred people, and, with many negro slaves as workmen, founded +the town of Miguel, near where Jamestown afterwards was established by +Captain John Smith. It is probable that these pioneers ventured into the +surrounding country, and not at all unlikely that some of them strayed as +far as the falls of the Rappahannock. + +But if the data are not sufficient to actually prove this early visit to +the site, it is a fact of record in the diary of "Chirurgeon" Bagnall, a +member of the party, that Captain Smith reached the spot in 1608, one year +after the establishment of Jamestown, and after successfully disputing +possession of the land with a tribe of Indians, disembarked and planted a +cross, later prospecting for gold and other precious metals. The diary of +Smith's companions, still in existence, tells of the trip in accurate +detail and from it is proven that even if the Spanish missionaries did not +come as far as claimed for them, at least the Indians had recognized the +natural advantages of the place by the establishment there of towns, which +might have been in existence for hundreds of years. + +[Sidenote: _Captain Smith's First Visit_] + +Captain Smith made two attempts to explore the Rappahannock. The first, in +June, 1608, ended when the hardy adventurer in plunging his sword into "a +singular fish, like a thornback with a long tail, and from it a poison +sting," ran afoul of the water monster and because of his sufferings was +obliged to turn back. The second trip was started on July 24th, 1608, and +was continued until the falls were reached. + +Dr. Bagnall says in his diary that when near the mouth of the river, the +party encountered "our old friend, Mosco, a lusty savage of Wighconscio, +upon the Patawomeck," who accompanied them as guide and interpreter, and +upon reaching the falls did splendid service against the unfriendly +Indians, "making them pause upon the matter, thinking by his bruit and +skipping there were many savages." In the fighting Captain Smith's party +captured a wounded Indian and much to the disgust of the cheerful Mosco, +who wished to dispatch him forthwith, spared his life and bound his +wounds. This work of mercy resulted in a truce with the Redmen, which made +possible the final undisturbed settlement of the land by the whites, the +prisoner interceding for Smith and his party. + +Captain Smith's first landing on the upper river probably was directly +opposite what now is the heart of Fredericksburg. Dr. Bagnall's diary +says: + +[Sidenote: _About The Indian Villages_] + +"Between Secobeck and Massawteck is a small isle or two, which causes the +river to be broader than ordinary; there it pleased God to take one of +our company, called Master Featherstone, that all the time he had been in +this country had behaved himself honestly, valiently and industriously, +where in a little bay, called Featherstone's bay, we buried him with a +volley of shot * * * + +"The next day we sailed so high as our boat would float, there setting up +crosses and graving our names on trees." + +Captain Quinn, in his excellent History of Fredericksburg, says that +Featherstone's bay "is in Stafford, opposite the upper end of Hunter's +island," but it is probable he did not closely examine facts before making +this statement, as his own location of other places mentioned in Dr. +Bagnall's diary serves to disprove his contention as to the whereabouts of +the bay. + +"Seacobeck," Captain Quinn says, "was just west of the city almshouse." +The almshouse was then situated where the residence of the President of +the State Normal School now stands. Massawteck, Captain Quinn locates as +"just back of Chatham." If his location of these two places is correct, it +is clear that the "small isle or two," which the diary says was located +between them, must have been at a point where a line drawn from the +President's residence, at the Normal School, to "just back of Chatham" +would intersect the river, which would be just a little above the present +location of Scott's island, and that Featherstone's bay occupied what now +are the Stafford flats, extending along the river bank from nearly +opposite the silk mill to the high bank just above the railroad bridge and +followed the course of Claibourne's Run inland, to where the land again +rises. The contours of the land, if followed, here show a natural +depression that might easily have accommodated a body of water, forming a +bay. + +There are other evidences to bear out this conclusion. Dr. Bagnall's diary +says: "The next day we sailed so high as our boat would float." It would +have been an impossibility to proceed "high" (meaning up) the river from +Hunter's island in boats, even had it been possible to go as high as that +point. Notwithstanding contradictory legend, the falls of the +Rappahannock have been where they are today for from five to one hundred +thousand years, and there is no evidence whatever to indicate that +Hunter's Island ever extended into tidewater, the formation of the banks +of the river about that point giving almost absolute proof that it did +not. + +No authentic data can be found to prove the continued use of the site as a +settlement from Smith's visit forward, though the gravestone of a Dr. +Edmond Hedler, bearing the date 1617, which was found near Potomac run in +Stafford county, a few miles from the town, would indicate that there were +white settlers in the section early in the 17th century, and if this is +true there is every reason to believe the falls of the Rappahannock were +not without their share, as the natural advantages of the place for +community settlement would have been appealing and attractive to the +colonists, who would have been quick to recognize them. + +In 1622, according to Howe's history, Captain Smith proposed to the London +Company to provide measures "to protect all their planters from the James +to the Potowmac rivers," a territory that included the Rappahannock +section, which can be taken as another indication of the presence of +settlers in the latter. + +[Sidenote: _Establishment of the Town_] + +The first legal record of the place as a community is had in +1671--strangely enough just one hundred years after the reported coming of +the Spaniards--when Thomas Royston and John Buckner were granted, from Sir +William Berkley, a certain tract of land at "the falls of the +Rappahannock." This was on May 2d, and shortly afterward, together with +forty colonists, they were established on what is now the heart of +Fredericksburg, but known in those remote times as "Leaseland." This is +the date that Fredericksburg officially takes as its birthday, though +additional evidence that colonists already were in that vicinity is had in +the fact that the boundaries of the land described in the grant from +Governor Berkley to the two early settlers, ended where the lands of one +Captain Lawrence Smith began. + +[Sidenote: _Major Lawrence Smith's Fort_] + +Three or four years after the grant was made to Buckner and Royston the +"Grande Assemblie at James Cittie" took official cognizance of the Colony +by ordering Major Lawrence Smith and one hundred and eleven men to the +Falls of the Rappahannock for the purpose of protecting the colonists. +Records in regard to this say, "At a Grande Assemblie at James Cittie, +between the 20th of September, 1674, and the 17th of March, 1675, it was +ordered that one hundred and eleven men out of Gloucester be garrisoned at +one ffort or place of defense, at or near the falls of the Rappahannock +river, of which ffort Major Lawrence Smith is to be captain or chief +commander." It was also ordered that "the ffort be furnished with four +hundred and eight pounds of powder and fourteen hundred pounds of shott." + +A few years later, in 1679, Major Smith was authorized by the Jamestown +government to mark out, below the falls of the Rappahannock, a strip of +land one mile long and one-fourth of a mile wide, to be used as a colony +and, together with eight commissioners, he was empowered to hold court and +administer justice. Within this confine he was instructed to build +habitations for two hundred and fifty men, fifty of whom were to be kept +well armed and ready to respond to the tap of a drum. It would appear that +the "ffort" mentioned in the earlier meeting of the "Grande Assemblie" was +not built until this year. The contention that it was erected on the +Stafford side of the river seems to be without any foundation of fact. + +That the community was now growing seems to be proven by the fact that the +same act, defining the limits mentioned above, also mentioned a larger +district, defined as extending three miles above the fort and two miles +below it for a distance of four miles back, over which Major Smith and his +commissioners were to have jurisdiction. Two years later, in 1681, the +little town received a great impetus when two hundred families came to +join the colony. From this time forward, the community began to take an +important part in the life of the Colonies. + +In 1710, upon the invitation of Baron de Graffenried, a friend of Governor +Spotswood, twelve German families came to America and settled on the +Rapidan river, eighteen miles above Fredericksburg, opening the first iron +mines and establishing the first iron works in America. They named the +place Germanna, and, according to an account left by one of the party, +"packed all their provisions from Fredericksburg," then the principal +trading point of the section. + +In 1715, Governor Spotswood and the now-famed "Knights of the Golden +Horseshoe," started from Germanna (some of them came through +Fredericksburg en route and stopped with Austin Smith). Assembling at +Germanna they left on September 24th and continued across the Blue Ridge +mountains to the Valley of Virginia. An interesting account of the trip, +which has been made the theme of song and story, and even the basis of a +secret society, can be found in the diary of John Fountaine, a member of +the party. + +For a period nothing seems to have happened to the community of sufficient +importance to be recorded, and for the next few years the imagination must +supply the story of the settlement. It probably was a village of +irregular, straggling streets and indifferent houses, with a population +that struggled for a living by trading, trapping and other pursuits of +that day. Its stores were likely very good for those times, but across the +river it had a rival in its neighbor, Falmouth, which as a place of +importance was fast catching up with it, and soon was destined to pass it, +for in 1720, seven years earlier than "The Leaseland," it received its +charter from the House of Burgesses at Williamsburg, who vested its +government in seven trustees. + +[Sidenote: _Falmouth's Fast Growth_] + +If not as a political and social center, at least as a trading point, +Falmouth had soon superceded Fredericksburg. It was the market for all the +grain of the upper country, which by this time was beginning to be +settled, and was in direct commercial communication with England, Europe +and the West Indies by ocean-going vessels, which, when under 140 tons +burden, could come up to its wharves. It was a great milling center and +its merchants began to grow prosperous and wealthy, one of them, Mr. Bazil +Gordon, accumulating the first million dollars ever made in America, +though he was the product of a little later date than that now under +consideration. + +Grain brought out of Falmouth in boats larger than 140 tons was first put +upon barges or flat boats of large capacity, which were conveyed down the +river to waiting vessels and transferred by slave labor. The stories heard +of large vessels docking at the Falmouth wharves are apocryphal; no boat +of great tonnage ever got as far as Falmouth. This may account for +Fredericksburg's final supremacy over Falmouth, which doubtless came about +the time the first ferry was started, permitting the planters to cross the +river with their grain and load directly to the waiting vessels, thus +saving time and work, valuable considerations even in those days of +abundant leisure and cheap slave labor. + +[Sidenote: _"Leaseland" Is Chartered_] + +But, while Falmouth was progressing "Leaseland" was also making strides, +and in 1727 it became of sufficient importance to receive its charter from +the House of Burgesses, and was named in honor of Frederick, Prince of +Wales, son of George II. The Prince died before ascending the throne, but +his son became George III., and it was thus from the domination of the son +of the Prince for whom their town was named that the patriotic people of +the little village later plotted to free themselves. The act giving the +town a charter names John Robinson, Henry Willis, Augustine Smith, John +Taliaferro, Henry Beverly, John Waller and Jeremiah Crowder as trustees, +and the streets were named for members of the Royal family, names which +fortunately endure today, despite an attempt made some years ago to +modernize the town and discard the beautiful and significant old names in +favor of the less distinguished and uglier method of numerical and +alphabetical designations. + + +[Illustration: FROM MRS. WASHINGTON'S FARM + +_One Sees, Across the River, the Homes of Such Families as the Mercer's, +Weeden's, Mortimer's_] + + +Settlers now were rapidly coming into the community which was growing in +importance. In 1732, Colonel Byrd owner of vast tracts where now stands +the magnificent city of Richmond, an important man in the Colonial life of +Virginia, came to Fredericksburg, calling on his friend, Colonel Henry +Willis, "top man of the town," as Colonel Byrd refers to him in his very +interesting account of the visit preserved to posterity. Colonel Byrd was +impressed by Fredericksburg, particularly by the stone jail, which, he +said, seemed strong enough "to hold Jack Shepherd" and with the +versatility of one Sukey Livingstone, or Levinston, doctress and coffee +woman. Some believe that the old stone building at the Free Bridge head is +the jail referred to. + +The seat of justice which had been located at Germanna, was this year +moved to Fredericksburg, St. George's parish established and the church +erected, with Rev. Patrick Henry, uncle of the famous orator, as its first +rector. + +[Sidenote: _"Town Fairs" Are Begun_] + +In 1738 the House of Burgesses authorized the holding twice annually of +town fairs for the sale of cattle, provisions, goods, wares and all kinds +of merchandise, and it is easy to understand how these affairs became the +most important events in the life of the village, attracting plantation +owners from miles and taking on a social as well as business aspect. And +as the act also provided that all persons attending these fairs should be +immune from arrest for two days previous and two days subsequent to the +events, except for capital offenses or breaches of the peace, suits, +controversies and quarrels that might arise during the events, it can well +be imagined that they were lively and exciting gatherings. + +One year later the trustees found it necessary to purchase additional land +for the accommodation of the growing population but a bargain was struck +with Henry Willis, "the top man of the town," and John Lewis only after +the House of Burgesses had taken up the matter deciding the ownership of +the lands in question and fixing the sum to be paid Willis at fifteen +pounds and Lewis at five pounds, not a bad total price, considering the +survey shows that only three acres were bought. + +[Sidenote: _Masonry Is Established_] + +The town had now grown to such importance as a trading point that the +establishment of direct connections with the Stafford shore was made +necessary, and in 1748 the first ferry was authorized by law. Evidently +from this time forward the town began to forge ahead of its thriving +neighbor, Falmouth, for the lessened expense of transferring grain +directly to the waiting ships made it more attractive as a market and many +of the up-country people who formerly had sold their gain and traded in +Falmouth, now crossed on the ferry and spent their money with the +merchants of Fredericksburg. The establishment of Masonry in 1752, at +which time the lodge was known as "The Lodge of Fredericksburg," points to +the growing importance of the place; and that the Colonial citizens were +keenly alive to the benefits to be derived from attracting industry to +their towns is attested to by an act of the General Assembly, passed in +1759, to encourage the arts and manufactury in the Colonies, which set up +a premium of five hundred pounds to be awarded the citizen making the best +ten hogsheads of wine in any one year, within eight years from the passage +of the act. A number of citizens of the town contributed to the fund, +among them George Washington, who gave two pounds. + +In the Indian wars of 1755-57, Fredericksburg became an important depot +and rendezvous for troops. Recruits, provisions, supplies and ordnances +were sent to the town in quantities, and on April 15th, 1757, Governor +Dinwiddie ordered Colonel George Washington to send two hundred men there +to be "Thence sent by vessels to South Carolina, to treat with curtesy the +Indians at Fort London, and to send them out in scalping parties with such +number of men as you can spare." + +But now the peaceable growth and prosperity of the village were to be +halted. Dissatisfaction with the government in England began to grow, and +there were murmurings of discontent and resentment, not by any means +indulged in by all the citizens, for large numbers were still utterly +loyal to the Crown, and those who opposed its policies congregated to +themselves, meeting in secret or standing in little groups about the +streets to give vent to their feelings. + +[Sidenote: _The Revolution Gathers_] + +One well-known place for the meeting of "Revolutionists" was the Rising +Sun tavern still standing in good order, at that time kept by "Mine Host," +George Weedon. This famed old Tavern is told of in another chapter. It is +almost certain that at this tavern the rough draft was made of a +resolution to be later passed in a public town meeting, which was +tantamount to a declaration of independence, and which was passed +twenty-one days before the famous Mecklenburg declaration and more than a +year before that of the American congress. + +These resolutions were adopted on the 29th day of April, 1775, amidst the +greatest public excitement. News of the battle of Lexington, fought on the +20th of April, and of the removal by Lord Dunmore of twenty barrels of +powder from the public magazine at Williamsburg to the English frigate +"Fowey," then lying near Yorktown, which occurred one day after the battle +of Lexington, had just reached Fredericksburg. Immediately the citizens +showed their indignation. More than six hundred men from the town and the +surrounding country armed themselves and sent a courier to General +Washington, then at Williamsburg, offering their services in defense of +the Colonies. Delegates were also dispatched to Richmond to ascertain the +true state of affairs, and to find out at what point the men should +report. The men stayed under arms and in readiness to move at short notice +until General Washington transmitted a message, advising that they +restrain from any hostilities until a congress could be called to decide +upon a general plan of defense. This advice was received by a council of +more than a hundred men, representing fourteen companies (the number under +arms having by this time grown), which decided by a majority of one to +disperse for the present, but to keep themselves in readiness for a call. +Many of them afterwards joined the armies of General Washington. + +[Sidenote: _The Gunnery Is Built_] + +Material preparations for the conflict that everyone, even the Tories, now +felt was certain, were made by the establishment at the town of the first +small arms manufactury in America, which was located on what now is known +as Gunnery Green. Colonel Fielding Lewis, brother-in-law of General +Washington, was one of the commissioners in charge of the gunnery and +active in its management. + +With the coming of the Gunnery, and the formation of companies of troops, +the peaceful atmosphere of Fredericksburg quickly changed to one of a +militaristic aspect. Recruits drilled in the street, the manufacture of +arms was rushed, supplies were received and stored, couriers, with news +from other parts of the country, dashed in to acquaint the eager +townspeople with events, and those loyal to the Colonies went bravely +about with every kind of war preparation, while those inclined to Toryism +kept quiet and to themselves, or moved away with their families, hoping, +and probably succeeding in many cases, in reaching England before the +whole country was affected by the war, in which the part played by +Fredericksburg and its citizens was of the utmost importance. The town +gave to the Revolution an unusually large proportion of troops and many of +the great leaders. + +During the Revolution, although Fredericksburg men were the leaders of the +Army, no fighting occurred here and the period was not one of danger for +the town, but was one of anxiety for the inhabitants. Tarleton passed +close to this city on his raid towards Charlottesville, and Lafayette and +his men built the road still known as "The Marquis Road," through the +Wilderness toward Orange. + +Recently three soldiers, whose uniform buttons testify they were Hessians, +were dug up near Spotsylvania Court House. A prison camp existed about two +miles from here on the Plank Road from which Washington recruited some +artisans to do the interior decorating in the home of his beloved sister, +Betty, at Kenmore. + +[Sidenote: _Regiments Are Recruited_] + +Several Regiments went from Fredericksburg. General William Woodford (see +sketch of life) was elected Commander of the first. Among his descendants +are the late Marion Willis, Mayor Willis and Mr. Benj. Willis. General +Hugh Mercer was chosen Commander of the third regiment, and James Monroe, +of Fredericksburg (afterwards president) was Lieut.-Colonel, while Thomas +Marshall, father of Chief Justice Marshall, was Major. The other Virginia +Regiment was not recruited here. It was commanded by Patrick Henry. + +Although it furnished two of the first three Virginia Regiments, and half +of America's Generals, as well as the Commanding General, Fredericksburg +was not a war center. Its history during that period will be found in the +lives of the men it produced, elsewhere in this book. + +It did give most material aid by furnishing arms from the "Gunnery" of +Col. Fielding Lewis, and was generous in its financial aid, and always +ready for attack. + + + + +_After the Revolution_ + + _In the days of its glory, the Old Town was famed and prosperous_ + + +The first mention of Fredericksburg in the annals of the new Republic is +an act of the legislature in 1781, incorporating the town and vesting the +powers of its government in the hands of a mayor and commonality, +consisting of a council and board of aldermen. Courts were established and +provision made for future elections of its officials. + +The first mayor was Charles Mortimer, and the Board of Aldermen consisted +of William Williams, John Sommerville, Charles Dick, Samuel Roddy and John +Julien, who, together with the mayor, were also justices of the peace, and +required to hold a hustings court monthly. John Legg was appointed +sergeant of the court and corporation, and John Richards and James Jarvis +constables. The town's initial commonwealth's attorney, John Minor, is +said to have been the first man to offer in any legislative body of the +country a bill for the emancipation of the slaves. + +The first action of the court is interesting, especially in these times. +It was giving license to five persons to conduct taverns, immediately +followed by an act to regulate them by establishing prices for alcoholic, +vinous and fermented beverages. There is no mention of opening or closing +hours, Sunday selling, selling to minors or any of the later and stricter +regulations, and the prices to be charged are in terms of pounds, or +parts, per gallon. The American bar was unknown then and probably even in +the taverns and tap rooms, little liquor was sold by the drink. Some of +the prices established translated into dollars, were West Indian rum, per +gallon, $3.34; brandy, $1.67; good whiskey, $1.00; good beer, $0.67 and so +on. + +Having taken care that the tavern keepers could not charge too much for +drink, the court now provided that they should not over charge for food +served, placing the score for a "single diet" at twenty-five cents, a most +reasonable sum according to modern standards. + +While having the power to regulate, the court was not without regulation +from a superior source as the articles of incorporation show that in case +of misconduct on the part of the mayor or any member of the board, the +others would have power to remove him after the charges had been fully +proved, and it further stipulated that should any person elected to office +fail or refuse to serve, he should be fined according to the following +scale: mayor, fifty pounds; recorder, forty pounds; alderman, thirty +pounds; councilman, twenty-five pounds. In 1782 an amendment was passed by +the legislature, enlarging the jurisdiction of the court to include all +territory within one mile of the town limits. + +[Sidenote: _The Famed "Peace Ball"_] + +Fredericksburg was not long in recovering from the effects of the +Revolution. It had suffered no physical damage, though it had lost a great +deal of actual and potential value in the deaths of citizens who gave +their lives for the cause. A magnificent Peace Ball was held, in 1784, in +the assembly room over the old City Hall, at Main Street and "Market +Alley," which was attended by General Washington, General Lafayette, +Rochambeau, Washington's mother, who came leaning on his arm and all the +notables and fashionables of the country. The town was soon again a +thriving hustling center of trade and business. + +New enterprises came as requirements of the times made themselves felt. In +1786 the Virginia Herald made its appearance, the first newspaper +published in the town, and about the same time whipping posts, ducking +stools, and pillories were established to keep down the criminal +tendencies of the unlawfully inclined. In 1789 an act was passed, +empowering the trustees of the Fredericksburg Academy to raise by lottery +$4,000 to defray the expenses of erecting a building on the grounds for +the accommodation of professors, a method of raising money that modern +morals has outlawed. In 1795 the Episcopal Charity School was established +by Archibald McPherson one of the splendid men of the town and in 1799 the +town experienced its first serious fire, which was held by some to have +been the work of an incendiary and by others as due to a wooden chimney. +The council in an effort to assuredly exclude all danger of another such +from either source, offered a reward of $500. for conviction of the +incendiary, and passed an ordinance abolishing wooden chimneys, and stove +pipes sticking through windows or the sides of houses, provided the +buildings were not fire proof. + +[Sidenote: _Commercial Development_] + +From 1800 to 1850 Fredericksburg was the principal depot of trade and +commerce for all that region between the Rappahannock river and the +counties of Orange, Culpeper, Rapidan, Madison and Fauquier in addition to +the contiguous territory and the great section lying between the town and +the Chesapeake bay. Commerce with the upper country, however, was the most +productive, for the lower country people were in close connection with the +rivers and, as in those days all shipping was done by water ways, they +shipped from wharves along the Rappahannock near their homes. They +received much of their goods in this manner and were not so dependent upon +the town as the upper country people who were forced to bring their +products to Fredericksburg by wagon trains, which lumbered slowly down +with their burdens of grain, produce and tobacco, and having unloaded and +tarried awhile, lumbered back even more slowly, loaded with groceries, +wines, liquors, household stores, plantation supplies, dry goods and +merchandise for the country stores. + +These wagons were of huge dimensions, "their curving bodies being before +and behind at least twelve feet from the ground" according to one writer. +They had canvas covers and were drawn by four horses always, sometimes six +and eight, carrying jangling bells upon their collars. As many as two +hundred of them were often on the streets or in the wagon yards of +Fredericksburg at one time, making prosperity for the energetic merchants +of that distant day, and bringing business for the many vessels, some of +them large three masted schooners, which came from all parts of the globe +to anchor at the wharves. + +[Sidenote: _Fires Sweep the Town_] + +At about this time Fredericksburg received two serious blows that greatly +retarded its progress and prosperity. The first was in 1808, when nearly +half the town was destroyed by a fire which broke out at the corner of +Princess Anne and Lewis streets, where the Shepherd residence now stands, +and fanned by a high wind quickly roared its way through the inflammable +houses, such as most of the residences then were, until the town was half +in ashes. At the outbreak of the fire most of the citizens were attending +the races at "Willis Field," just below the town, and before they could +get back it had gained such headway that their efforts to check it were +ineffectual. It is said the fire was caused by the overturning of a candle +in the kitchen of the Stannard home, occupying the present site of the +Shepherd residence, where refreshments were being prepared for the funeral +of Mr. Stannard, and that the remains were gotten out of the house only +with great difficulty on the part of the mourners. In those days funerals +were accompanied by feasts, at which cake in sombre wrappings and wine in +glasses with long black ribbons tied to the stems, were served. + +Much of the brick construction on the upper business section of Main +street, and a number of residences known as Colonial, are results of that +fire, but deserve to be called Colonial as that period, architectually +speaking, extended until about the year 1812. The Shepherd residence, of +course, was built following the fire; the old Doswell home, now occupied +by Mr. A. W. Rowe, probably was erected afterwards and the old Marye home, +now owned by Mr. A. L. Jenkins, has a corner stone bearing the date 1812, +the residence formerly occupying that site having been burned. However, +most of the older residences in Fredericksburg antedate the fire, and are +of an earlier Colonial period. + +[Sidenote: _During The War of 1812_] + +Another blow was the War of 1812, and though, as in the case of the +Revolution, the city did not suffer actual physical damage, its business +and trade were interrupted and severely decreased, if not totally stopped, +due to the English dominance of the seas and during the course of that +conflict, the commercial life must have been slow and stagnant. + +Fredericksburg itself was for a time threatened when the English admiral, +Cockburn, made a raid up the Rappahannock. Many thought his objective was +Fredericksburg and General William Madison, brother of the President, +summoned a small force which took up positions of defense, from which to +repel the raider, but he never got up the river as far as the city, +turning when much lower down and putting back to sea for a cause which +history has not assigned. During this war, as had been the case in the +Revolution, and was to be in the Civil war to come, the Mercer home, now +occupied by Councilman George W. Heflin, which stands on an eminence on +lower Main street commanding a splendid view of the river, was used as a +post from which to watch for the approach of enemy ships, a use that has +given it the name of "The Sentry Box." + +Following the War of 1812, Fredericksburg's trade revived and increased, +and the city settled down to a full enjoyment of that remarkably cultural +era--the only classical civilization America has ever known--which lasted +until the Civil war and which has been made famous in song and story and +the history of the old South. The families of the early settlers had by +now become wealthy; the plantation masters owned hundreds of slaves, +farmed thousands of acres and lived in their handsome old Colonial +mansions in the most magnificent style the times could afford. Surrounded +by many servants and all the comforts known to the day, they entertained +lavishly, kept splendidly stocked wine cellars, boasted of private race +courses and keen thoroughbred hunters and racers, and, as the business of +the plantations was largely in the hands of overseers, they were gentlemen +of splendid leisure with an abundance of time opportunity and means to +devote to sports, politics and literature. Most of them were educated +abroad and were learned in the classics, clever and entertaining +conversationalists, beautiful riders, excellent shots, and when not +engaged in social or literary pursuits that kept them indoors, enjoyed the +sports of the field, hunting to the hounds, gunning for quail, deer, bear, +wild turkey or duck, or fishing in the abundantly supplied streams +tributary to the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers. Hard drinking was not +unusual among them, but they were men of the highest sense of honor and +principle, and were always true to an obligation. + + +[Illustration: THE HOME OF JAMES MONROE + +_Who Began His Official Career as a Councilman in Fredericksburg, and +Became President_] + + +While the townspeople did not enjoy life quite so lavishly as their +plantation neighbors, they were not far behind; entertaining frequently +and hospitably and mingling freely with the people from the country. + +[Sidenote: _Care-Free Era of Gayety_] + +But though it was a gay and carefree day, the times were not without their +troubles. In 1822 the town was again visited by fire, this time +originating at the site of the present Brent's store, at Main and George +streets, destroying the entire business block encompassed between Main and +Princess Anne and George and Hanover streets. Recovery from this fire was +rapid. The merchants were financially substantial and quickly rebuilt the +burned area. + +As early as 1822, Fredericksburg was an important postal point, the mail +for five states being assorted and distributed in the city and sent thence +to its final destination. The conduct of Postmaster General Meigs in +regard to increasing the compensation of carriers on the Fredericksburg +route without authorization from Congress, was the subject of an +investigation by that body, but he was exonerated when it was explained +that the increase was necessary because the mail had become so heavy that +carriers were no longer able to handle it on horse back, being compelled +to use surries, an added expense to them which justified the additional +pay. + +James Monroe, a former resident, lawyer and councilman of Fredericksburg, +was at that time President of the United States, and though the town +doubtless was a naturally important postal distribution, it may have been +that the President's influence had some bearing-on the selection of the +place which had given him his political start. + +[Sidenote: _The Town Grows Richer_] + +For the next decade, the trade and commercial life of the town increased. +The merchants and manufacturers--by this time several large industries of +this character being in operation--were busy and prosperous and had begun +to grow either wealthy, measured in the standards of the time, or were in +very comfortable circumstances, while the citizenry, generally, was +prosperous and free from want. The town was compactly built, many of its +structures now being of brick, and was regularly laid out. The public +buildings consisted of a courthouse, market house, clerks office, the +Episcopal Orphan Asylum, the Episcopal, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist +and Reform Baptist Church. It had two banks, one female and one male +academy of the higher class; a water system supplied through pipes from +Poplar Spring. And the upper river canal was being built, a public +enterprise from which great results were expected and which was to extend +about forty miles up the Rappahannock. Gold was being mined in +considerable quantities in upper Spotsylvania and lower Culpeper counties +and brought to Fredericksburg in exchange for goods, and a generally +thriving trade was being done, chiefly in grain, bacon, tobacco and other +farm products for export. One writer has computed the city's annual +exports at that time as averaging four million dollars, and Government +statistics show that there were in the town in 1840, seventy-three stores, +two tanneries, one grist mill, two printing plants, four semi-weekly +newspapers, five academies with 256 students, and seven schools with 165 +scholars. The population in that year was 3,974. Ten years previous it had +been 3,308, divided as follows: whites, 1,797; slaves, 1,124; free blacks, +387. + +[Sidenote: _The City Limits Are Set_] + +From 1840 until the middle fifties, prosperity was continued. The canal +was completed and had brought about an increased business at a lower cost. +A railroad was in operation from Richmond through Fredericksburg to Aquia +Creek, and steamboats had to some extent taken the place of sailing +vessels as a means of water transportation, meaning quicker trips with +greater burdens. In 1851 the legislature passed an act empowering the town +to extend its limits, which was done according to a survey made by William +Slaughter, and though that was more than seventy years ago, and though the +population has since more than doubled, overflowing the limits and +encroaching on the adjoining county, the limits have not again been +enlarged. + +In 1855 Fredericksburg's trade had ceased to grow at a rate equal to its +average yearly increase for the previous twenty years, a condition for +which the business men of that day were not altogether responsible, but +which rather was brought about by the new commercial era the country and +world was just entering--the era of railroad transportation, which quickly +and cheaply, in comparison to past charges, carried the staples of the +farm to the ports of the sea where waiting vessels stood ready to spread +their sable sails on voyages to foreign markets. This era created the +importance of the seaport and spelled the doom, as important shipping +points, of the tidewater cities--those which had been located at the point +where mountain torrent and still water meet in order to get both the +advantage of power production and trade routes. + +It is true that the business men of the city made the serious mistake +about this period of building a plank road into one portion of the upper +country from which they derived much trade, instead of building a +railroad, for just a little later transportation by wagon train for export +purposes had nearly entirely given away to transportation by rail, and +Fredericksburg was utterly without such connection with its greatest field +of trade, which soon was largely converted into other channels by the +railroads now beginning to practically surround the town at a distance of +approximately forty miles to the west. The single railroad passing through +Fredericksburg had no coast terminal. Throughout its short length it +paralleled the coast, offering no means of shipping for export, which +comprised most of the business of the day. The plantation owners of the +upper country who had dealt nearly entirely in Fredericksburg, now found +it cheaper to haul to the railroad passing through their country and soon +Fredericksburg was belted by little towns to the west. When later the P. +F. & P. R. R. was built to Orange, it did not save the situation and +except for lumber and ties, a trade it still largely enjoys, it has never +hauled much to Fredericksburg for export, though it did help the city +considerably in the matter of retail business. + +Trade, however, had not ceased entirely to grow, nor the town to increase. +In 1860 its population was nearly 5,000 persons, its business men still +were active and prosperous and, but for the Civil war which was to come, +they doubtless would have found a way out of the commercial difficulty +confronting them and a different history of the town from that time +forward might have been written. + +[Sidenote: _The War Ends Prosperity_] + +But over the course of a few years preceding this date, the community was +troubled and torn by political strife and moral dissention. Black and +ominous on the horizon of men's thoughts loomed the slave question, +perplexing the country's leaders and giving threats of the red carnage +that was to follow. A carnage that cost millions in men and money, caused +unreckoned anguish and suffering, and retarded the growth of the South to +such an extent that at the end of the following fifty years it had only +just begun to emerge from the black shadow cast over it by the war. + +By the end of the fifty's, trade had almost ceased, a spirit of patriotism +for the Southland superseded that of commercial enterprise, the quietness +of the soft old Colonial town was broken by wild public meetings; soon the +call of a bugle floated softly across the still air and the heavy +monotonous tread of feet sounded against the ground in unison to the +beating of drums, and though the citizens had been loyal to the Union, +sending by nearly a two-thirds majority a Union man to the State +convention, they made ready for the inevitable conflict, and when the +flame of war burst on the country like a flaring torch, they threw in +their lots with the land of their nativity and bravely shouldering their +arms, marched away from their homes to a fate that would bring them death +or sorrow, and reduce their land to a shambles. The story of the Civil war +as it effected this town is told in other chapters which follow this. + +[Sidenote: _A Town in "No Man's Land"_] + +For many years after the Civil war, Fredericksburg's connection with the +great tragedy was told in the lines of patient suffering that webbed the +faces of the older generation. It was a town of sombre, black figures--the +widows and daughters of soldiers--gentle creatures who moved about in +quiet dignity, bravely concealing the anguish hidden in their hearts, and +smilingly making the best of such disordered conditions and distressing +circumstances as before they had never known. It was a town filled with +broken, crushed men, ill fitted for the harsher demands of their new +lives; men once rich but now suddenly tossed from the foundations that +always had sustained them, who found themselves aliens in an unknown and +unfriendly world. + +Blackened, scarred ruins of what once had been magnificent homes remained +mute, grim evidences of the ghastly horror and the quaint old town was +stunned and still, a tragic wreck of its one time beauty. But as best it +could it gathered up the tangled threads of its existence and for the next +decade struggled dumbly and blindly against the terrible disadvantages +imposed upon it by the ruthlessness of war. + +When the war came with Spain, it showed that the hurt of the Civil strife +was gone, when its young men marched proudly through the streets to take +their parts in the crisis; sent on their missions of patriotism with the +feeble but sincere cheers of aged Confederate veterans ringing in their +ears. + +With the beginnings of the 20th century, Fredericksburg gave visable +evidence of its recovery from the wounds of war. Its business men had +accumulated sufficient capital to revive trade, at least partially, on its +past scale; additional industries were started, new homes and buildings +sprang up and there was the beginning of a general and steady improvement. + + +[Sidenote: _A Change in Government_] + +In 1909 a group of progressive citizens, among whom one of the most +earnest was the late Henry Warden, a man of immense usefulness, realized +their ambition and the consummation of an aim for which they had fought +for years, when the old form, of councilmanic government was abolished in +favor of the City Manager form, Fredericksburg being one of the first +small cities in the country to adopt it. Since its inauguration, the city +has prospered and improved. Well laid granolithic sidewalks are placed +throughout its business and residential sections, splendid hard gravel +streets, topped with smooth asphalt binding, have replaced the old mud +roadways, the water system has been enlarged and improved, fire protection +increased and other municipal improvements made that have taken the town +out of the class of sleepy provincial hamlets and made of it a modern +little city. New hotels of the finest type, business enterprises and +industrial concerns have come to give it new life and color, but with all +this it still retains much that is sweet and old and is filled with the +charm and elegance of the past. + +Though it has just celebrated its two hundred and fiftieth birthday, the +anniversary of a time when America was only beginning to give promise of +its brilliant future, a time when the country was young and weak, but when +manhood was strong and courage held high the torch of hope, Fredericksburg +looks forward to the future with eager longing, confident that in the +mirror of its past is the story of the time to come. + + + + +_War's Worst Horrors_ + + _Shelled by 181 guns for hours, the town becomes a crumbled ruin_ + + +Fredericksburg is the point through which the railway and the roads to +Richmond pass, and is half way between Washington and the Southern city. +During the Civil war the possession of the town was an advantage not to be +despised, and so from the beginning the two great armies of the North and +South were contenders for the town. + +The first attempt toward Fredericksburg was made June 1, 1861, when +Federal gunboats and a small cavalry force were defeated, in an attempt to +land troops at Aquia Creek, by General Daniel Ruggles, C. S. A., in +command of the Department of Fredericksburg. This was the first skirmish +of the war, in Virginia, and occurred nine days before "Big Bethel" and +seven weeks after Virginia seceded. + +On the nineteenth of April, 1862, the Stafford hills were taken by the +Federals, and on April 27th General Marsena R. Patrick marched troops into +the town and placed it under military rule. General Patrick treated the +citizens with consideration and under his rule there was but little +complaint of oppression. He was, in fact, generally admired for his fair +treatment of the populace. + +But with the coming of the conceited and inhuman General Pope, who +followed McClellan in command of the Federal army, all that was changed. +From that time forward this quiet old city between the hills, with its +splendid homes, its old silver and china and tapistry and paintings, its +great trees and broad streets, was to know every cruelty, horror, and +depredation of war. + +[Sidenote: _In the Enemy's Hands_] + +General Pope, driven back by the Confederates, moved through Fauquier and +Culpeper counties to Fredericksburg, and immediately upon securing the +town, his subordinates scoured the city and arrested nineteen of the most +prominent men, alleging no crime but stating frankly that it was done in +reprisal for the arrest by the Confederates of Major Charles Williams of +Fredericksburg, who was held in Richmond to prevent him from aiding the +enemy. These men were sent to the old Capital Prison at Washington, where +they were held from early in August to late September in 1862, and were +then released in exchange for Major Williams and others. There were Rev. +W. F. Broaddus, D. D., James McGuire, Charles Welford, Thomas F. Knox, +Beverly T. Gill, James H. Bradley, Thomas B. Barton, Benjamin Temple, +Lewis Wrenn, Michael Ames, John Coakley, John H. Roberts, John J. Berrey, +Dr. James Cooke, John F. Scott, Montgomery Slaughter, (Mayor), George H. +C. Rowe, Wm. H. Norton, Abraham Cox. + +Fredericksburg was evacuated in August, 1862, when the Northern soldiers +were drawn up in line and marched out of town. A great burden was lifted +from the community. Heavy explosions marked the blowing up of the two +bridges. On September 4th, an advance guard of Confederate cavalry rode +into the town amid shouts of welcome. + +The relief was but for a short period. On November 10th, Captain Dalgren's +(Federal) dragoons crossed the river above Falmouth and clattered down +Main street and met a small force of Confederates under Col. Critcher, who +drove them back. But General Burnside's whole army was following and in a +few days held the Stafford hills. + +Fredericksburg and the country immediately about it was fought over, +marched over, shelled and ravaged and desolated. The town became a dreary +military outpost of battered, falling walls and charred timbers, of +soldiers, now in gray, now in blue. Under its streets and in yards +hundreds of dead were buried to be now and again, in after years, +unearthed. No other American city ever suffered as did this formerly +prosperous town. + +The situation, from a military standpoint, was this: Southeastward of the +city the Rappahannock broadens, so that it is not easily bridged, and +if an army crossed, it still would have to get to Richmond. Northwest (and +much nearer west than north) of the city, the Rappahannock is fordable, +but its course is _away_ from Richmond, and the roads to Richmond _again +lead back toward the rear of Fredericksburg_. + + +[Illustration: THE SLAVE BLOCK + +_Commerce Street, Where Slaves were Sold. The "Step" is Deeply Worn By The +Feet of those Who Mounted It_] + + +There were, therefore, but two feasible plans for the North to accomplish +its "on to Richmond" purpose. One was to take Fredericksburg and with it +the roads and railway to Richmond; Burnside tried this. The other, to +cross the river just above, and get in the rear of Fredericksburg, thus +getting the roads and railways to Richmond; Hooker and Grant tried this. + +[Sidenote: _Threats of Bombardment_] + +On November 20th, General Sumner peremptorily demanded the surrender of +the town, under threat of immediate bombardment, but on receiving a +request from Mayor Slaughter, he consented to extend the time twenty-four +hours and sent General Patrick across the river with a message, as +follows: + + "Gentlemen: Under cover of the houses of your town, shots have been + fired upon the troops of my command. Your mills and factories are + furnishing provisions and materials for clothing for armed bodies in + rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United + States. Your railroads and other means of transportation are removing + supplies to the depot of such troops. This condition of things must + terminate; and by direction of Major-General Burnside, commanding this + army, I accordingly demand the surrender of this city into my hands, + as a representative of the Government of the United States, at or + before five o'clock this afternoon (five o'clock P. M. to-day). + Failing an affirmative reply to this demand by the time indicated, + sixteen hours will be permitted to elapse for the removal from the + city of women and children, the sick, wounded, and aged; which period + having elapsed, I shall proceed to shell the town. + + "Upon obtaining possession of the town, every necessary means will be + taken to preserve order and to secure the protective operation of the + laws and policy of the United States Government." + +While General Patrick waited from 10:00 A. M. until 7:00 P. M. (November +21) in a log house at French John's Wharf, the note was passed through the +hands of a civic committee who had previously met General Lee at +"Snowden," (now the beautiful home of Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Baldwin) on which +were: Mayor Slaughter, William A. Little and Douglas H. Gordon. A note +from General Lee was then transmitted to the town officials by General J. +E. B. Stuart. This Mayor Slaughter, Dr. Wm. S. Scott and Samuel Harrison +delivered late in the afternoon to General Patrick. General Lee simply +said the town was non-combatant; that he would not occupy it, nor would he +allow any one else to occupy it. + +[Sidenote: _The Citizens Driven Out_] + +Advised by General Lee, the inhabitants of the town now began to refugee +to the rear. They went in the dark, in a snow storm, afoot, in vehicles +and some in a railway train, upon which the Northern guns opened heavy +fire. They slept in barns, cabins and the homes of country people, and +left behind their silverware and fine old china, their paintings and +portraits and every kind of property, all of which was doomed to +destruction. + +But the town was not shelled and a few at a time many of the old men and +the women, the boys and girls, crept back from impossible shelters in the +country to their homes in the town. + +Then, twenty-two days later, at dawn of December 11th, at a signal from +the "Long Tom" on Scott's Hill, at Falmouth, Burnside opened on the town, +now half full of residents, with one hundred and eighty-one guns. The guns +were placed along Stafford Heights from the Washington Farm to Falmouth, +and the whole fire was concentrated on the town, where walls toppled, +fires sprang up and chaos reigned. + +Frequently the Union gunners fired a hundred guns a minute, round shot, +case shot and shell. The quick puffs of smoke, touched in the center with +flame, ran incessantly along the hills and a vast thunder echoed thirty +miles away. Soon the town was under a pall of smoke, through which lifted +the white spires of the churches. + +"The scenes following the bombardment," says John Esten Cooke, in +"Jackson," "were cruel. Men, women and children were driven from town. +Hundreds of ladies and children were seen wandering homeless over the +frozen highways, with bare feet and thin clothing. Delicately nurtured +girls walked hurriedly over the various roads, seeking some friendly roof +to cover them." + +The following article by one who, as a little girl, was in Fredericksburg +on the day of the bombardment, catches a glimpse of it in a personal way +that is more convincing than pages of description. + + +THE SHELLING OF FREDERICKSBURG + +Recollections of Mrs. Frances Bernard Goolrick (Mrs. John T. Goolrick) who +was a little girl at that time. + +During the stormy winter of 1862, my mother, a widow with three little +children, was still in her native place, Fredericksburg, Virginia. Many of +the inhabitants had long since left for Richmond and other points farther +south, for the town lying just between the hostile armies was the constant +scene of raids and skirmishes, and no one knew at what instant everything +might be swept away from them. My mother, separated from her relatives by +the fortunes of war, decided that it would be best for her to remain where +she was and thus probably save the household effects she had gathered +around her. The strongest arguments had been used by friends in town and +relatives at a distance to induce her to leave for a place of more safety, +but so far without avail, and though we were often alarmed by raids into +town, as yet we had sustained no injuries of any description. In the fall +the Federal army, under General Burnside, was on the Stafford hills just +across the river, and it was constantly rumored that the town would be +bombarded; but lulled to an insecure rest by many false alarms, the people +had but little faith in these rumors. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Guns Open On The Town_] + +On the 11th of December, one of the most cruel and heartless acts of the +war was to be perpetrated, the town of Fredericksburg was bombarded, the +roar of guns beginning at daybreak, with no one in it but old or invalid +men and helpless women and children. As quick as thought, we were up and +dressed, and my aunt being very rapid in her movements, was the first to +reach the cellar. My mother had long since had some chairs and other +pieces of furniture placed there in case of an emergency. I being the +first child dressed, ran out into the yard, and as I turned towards the +cellar steps I beheld, it seemed to me, the most brilliant light that I +had ever seen; as I looked, my aunt reached out her arms and pulled me, +quivering with terror, into the cellar. A shell had exploded at the back +of the garden, in reality at some distance, but to me it was as if it had +been at my very feet. The family soon assembled, including the servants; +we had also additions in the way of two gentlemen from Stafford, Mr. B. +and Mr. G., who had been detained in town, and a Lieutenant Eustace, of +Braxton's battery, who was returning from a visit to his home. Also a +colored family, Uncle Charles and Aunt Judy, with a small boy named +Douglas and two or three other children. The couple had been left in +charge of their mistress' home (she being out of town), and with no cellar +to their house they were fain to come into ours. + +[Sidenote: _Hiding From The Shells_] + +And now the work of destruction began, and for long hours the only sounds +that greeted our ears were the whizzing and moaning of the shells and the +crash of falling bricks and timber. My mother and we three children were +seated on a low bed with Ca'line, a very small darkey, huddled as close +to us children as she could get, trying to keep warm. Mr. B. and Mr. G. +occupied positions of honor on each side of the large old-fashioned +fire-place, while my aunt was cowering inside, and every time a ball would +roll through the house or a shell explode, she would draw herself up and +moan and shiver. Lieutenant Eustace was a great comfort to my mother, and +having some one to rely on enabled her to keep her courage up during the +terrible ordeal of the cannonading. Although my brother, sister and myself +were all frightened, we could not help laughing at the little darkey +children who were positively stricken dumb with terror, old Aunt Judy +keeping them close to her side and giving them severe cuffs and bangs if +they moved so much as a finger. + +My aunt, as well as the rest of us, now began to feel the pangs of hunger, +and Aunt B. ordered the cook in the most positive manner to go up to the +kitchen and make some coffee, telling her that she knew she was afraid and +we would all be satisfied with only a cup of coffee for the present. I +believe Aunt Sally would have gone without a word if my mother had told +her, but this, from an outsider, she could not bear. (Aunt B. was my +uncle's wife and the family servants had seen very little of her.) She, +therefore, demurred, and Aunt B. calling her a coward, she arose in a +perfect fury, and with insubordination written upon her from her rigid +backbone to her flashing eyes, informed Aunt B. "dat she warn no mo' a +coward dan de res' of 'em, but she didn't b'lieve Mars Gen'l Lee hisself +cud stan' up making coffee under dat tornady." Just about this time Uncle +Charles sprawled himself out upon the floor in ungovernable terror, and +called upon the Lord to save him and his family. "Pray for us all, Uncle +Charles," screamed my aunt, her voice just heard above the roar of +artillery. The cannonading was now something fearful. Our house had been +struck twice and the shrieking balls and bursting bombs were enough to +appall the stoutest heart. My aunt being brave in speech, but in reality +very timorous, and Uncle Charles "a bright and shining light" among the +colored persuasion, she again requested him to pray. Aunt Judy by this +time began to bewail that she had "lef' old Miss cow in the cowshed," and +mistaking the moaning of the shells for the dying groans of the cow, she +and Douglas lamented it in true darkey fashion. Uncle Charles meanwhile +was very willing to pray, but Aunt Judy objected strenuously, saying, "dis +ain't no time to be spendin' in pra'ar, Char's Pryor, wid dem bumb shells +flying over you and a fizzlin' around you, and ole Miss cow dyin' right +dar in your sight." But when the house was struck for the third time, Aunt +B., in despairing accents, begged Uncle Charles to pray, so he fell upon +his knees by an old barrel, in the middle of the cellar floor, upon which +sat a solitary candle, whose flickering light lit up his hushed and solemn +countenance, and in tremulous tones with many interjections, offered up a +prayer. + + * * * * * + +My mother thought of my father's portrait, and afraid of its being injured +she determined to get it herself, and bring it into the cellar. Without +telling anyone of her intentions, she left the cellar and went up into the +parlor; the portrait was hanging just over a sofa, on which she stood to +take it down. She had just reached the door opposite the sofa when a shell +came crashing through the wall, demolishing the sofa on which she had so +recently stood, as well as many other articles of furniture. She reached +the cellar, white and trembling, but with the portrait unhurt in her arms. + +[Sidenote: _Cannons Stop For Dinner_] + +At one o'clock the cannonading suddenly ceased and for one hour we were at +liberty to go above and see the damage that had been done. My mother's +first efforts were directed towards getting a lunch, of which we were all +sorely in need. With the aid of one of the frightened servants she +succeeded in getting a fire and having some coffee made and with this, +together with some cold bread and ham, we had a plentiful repast. + +What a scene met our eyes; our pretty garden was strewn with cannon balls +and pieces of broken shells, limbs knocked off the trees and the grape +arbor a perfect wreck. The house had been damaged considerably, several +large holes torn through it, both in front and back. While we were +deploring the damage that had been done, Lieutenant Eustace returned in +breathless haste to say that he had just heard an order from General Lee +read on Commerce Street, saying that the women and children must leave +town, as he would destroy it with hot shell that night, sooner than let it +fall into the hands of the enemy, who were rapidly crossing the river on +pontoon bridges. They urged my mother to take her children and fly at once +from the town. After resisting until the gentlemen in despair were almost +ready to drag her from her dangerous situation, she finally consented to +leave. The wildest confusion now reigned, the servants wringing their +hands and declaring they could not go without their "Chists," which they +all managed to get somehow, and put upon their heads, but the gentlemen +insisted so that we had only time to save our lives. They would not even +let my mother go back into the house to get her purse or a single +valuable. So we started just as we were; my wrapping, I remember, was an +old ironing blanket, with a large hole burnt in the middle. I never did +find out whether Aunt B. ever got her clothes on, for she stalked ahead of +us, wrapped in a pure white counterpane, a tall, ghostly looking figure, +who seemed to glide with incredible rapidity over the frozen ground. * * * + +[Sidenote: _"Refugeeing" in Winter_] + +We plodded along under a heavy cross fire, balls falling right and left of +us. We left the town by way of the old "plank road," batteries of +Confederates on both sides. The ground was rough and broken up by the +tramping of soldiers and the heavy wagons and artillery that had passed +over it, so that it was difficult and tiresome to walk, and the sun got +warm by this time and the snow was melting rapidly; the mud was +indescribable. + +We had now reached the "Reservoir," a wooden building over "Poplar +Spring," and about a mile from town. I had already lost one of my shoes +several times, because of having no string in it, and my little brother +insisted on giving me one of his, so we sat down by the "Reservoir" +feeling very secure, but were terribly alarmed in a few moments by a ball +coming through the building and whizzing very close to our ears. No, this +would not do, so on we went, footsore and weary; sometimes we would meet a +soldier who would carry one of us a short distance. All of our servants, +except Ca'line, who was only seven years old, had taken some other +direction. When we got about two miles from town we overtook many other +refugees; some were camping by the way, and others pressing on, some to +country houses which were hospitably thrown open to wanderers from home, +and others to "Salem Church," about three miles from Fredericksburg, where +there was a large encampment. Our destination was a house not far from +"Salem Church," which we now call the "Refuge House." Exhausted, we +reached the house by twilight, found there some friends who had been there +some weeks, and who kindly took us into their room and gave us every +attention. And so great was our relief to feel that we had escaped from +the horror of that day, that such small matters as having to sleep in the +room with a dozen people, having no milk and no coffee, our principal diet +consisting of corn bread, bacon and sorghum, seemed only slight troubles. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Pillage and Plunder_] + +From the end of the bombardment, and at the first invasion of the town by +Union forces, until they were driven across the river again, +Fredericksburg was mercilessly sacked. All day, from the houses, and +particularly from the grand old homes that distinguished the town, came +the noise of splintering furniture, the crash of chinaware, and--now and +then--a scream. On the walls hung headless portraits, the face gashed by +bayonets. Bayonets ripped open mattresses and the feathers heaped in piles +or blew about the streets, littered with women's and men's clothing and +letters and papers thrown out of desks. Mahogany furniture warmed the +despoilers, and ten thousand were drunk on pilfered liquors. Windows and +doors were smashed, the streets full of debris, through which drunken +men grotesquely garbed in women's shawls and bonnets, staggered; flames +rose in smoke pillars here and there, and the provost guard was helpless +to control the strange orgy of stragglers and camp followers who were wild +with plunder lust, amid the dead and wounded strewn about. A fearful +picture of war was Fredericksburg in those December days from the eleventh +to the thirteenth. + + +[Illustration: THE CONFEDERATE CEMETERY + +_In The Lower Left Corner the Plank Road and Marye's Heights_] + + +[Sidenote: _A Carnival of Horrors_] + +To the citizens of Fredericksburg, those days meant bankruptcy, for their +slaves walked away, their stores and churches were battered, their +silverware stolen, their homes despoiled and their clothing worn or thrown +away. Wealthy men were to walk back a few days later to their home town as +paupers; women and children were to come back to hunger and discomfort in +bleak winter weather; and all this was the result of what General Lee said +was an entirely "unnecessary" bombardment and of days of pillage, which no +earnest attempt to stop was made. Fredericksburg was the blackest spot on +Burnside's none too effulgent reputation. + +From the army, from Southern cities and from individuals money for relief +came liberally, and in all nearly $170,000. was contributed to aid in +feeding, clothing and making habitable homes for the unfortunate town's +people. A good many carloads of food came, too, but the whole barely +relieved the worst misery, for the $170,000. was Confederate money, with +its purchasing power at low mark. + + + + +_The First Battle_ + + _When, at Mayre's Heights and Hamilton's Crossing, war claimed her + sacrifice_ + + +Following the shelling of Fredericksburg, on December 11th, the Union army +began to cross on pontoons. On the 12th of December, under cover of the +guns and of fog, almost the whole Union army crossed on three pontoons, +one near the foot of Hawk street, another just above the car bridge, and +one at Deep Run. On the morning of December 13th, General Burnside's army +was drawn up in a line of battle from opposite Falmouth to Deep Run. It +was, say they who saw the vast army with artillery and cavalry advanced, +banners flying and the bayonets of their infantry hosts gleaming as the +fog lifted, one of the most imposing sights of the war. + +General Burnside actually had in line and fought during the day, according +to his report, 100,000 effective men. + +General Lee had 57,000 effectives, ranged along the hills from Taylor, +past Snowden, past Marye's Heights, past Hazel Run and on to Hamilton's +Crossing. + +There were preliminary skirminishes of cavalry, light artillery and +infantry. The enemy tried to "feel" General Lee's lines. + +Then, about 10 o'clock, they advanced against the hills near Hamilton's +Crossing, where Jackson's Corps was posted, in a terrific charge across a +broad plateau between the river and the hills to within a quarter of a +mile of the Confederate position, where they broke under terrific +artillery and musketry fire. At one o'clock 55,000 men, the whole of +Franklin's and Hooker's Grand Divisions advanced again in the mightiest +single charge of the Civil War. Stuart and Pelham (he earned that day from +Lee the title of "The Gallant Pelham") raked them with light artillery, +but nevertheless they forced a wedge through Jackson's lines and had won +the day, until Jackson's reserves, thrown into the breach, drove them out +and threw back the whole line. As dusk came on, Stuart and Pelham counter +charged, advancing their guns almost to the Bowling Green road, and +Jackson prepared to charge and "drive them into the river," but was +stopped by the heavy Union guns on Stafford hills. + +[Sidenote: _At Hamilton's Crossing_] + +During the fiercest part of the battle, "Stonewall" Jackson was on the +hill just on the Fredericksburg side of Hamilton's Crossing where Walker's +artillery was posted, but toward evening, fired with his hope of driving +the Union forces across the river, he rode rapidly from place to place, +sending out frequent orders. One of these he gave to an aide. + +"Captain, go through there and if you and your horse come out alive, tell +Stuart I am going to advance my whole line at sunset." It was this charge, +mentioned above, which failed. + +Late that night, rising from the blankets which he shared with a Chaplain, +Jackson wrote some orders. While he was doing this, an orderly came and +standing at the tent flap, said, "General Gregg is dying, General, and +sent me to say to you that he wrote you a letter recently in which he used +expressions he is sorry for. He says he meant no disrespect by that letter +and was only doing what he thought was his duty. He hopes you will forgive +him." + +Without hesitation, Jackson, who was deeply stirred, answered, "Tell +General Gregg I will be with him directly." + +He rode through the woods back to where the brave Georgian was dying, and +day was about to break when he came back to his troops. + +General Maxey Gregg, of Georgia, was killed in action here, as were a +number of other gallant officers. + +Jackson held the right of the Confederate lines all day with 26,000 men +against 55,000. His losses were about 3,415, while Hooker and Franklin +lost 4,447. Meanwhile, against Marye's Heights, the left center of the +line, almost two miles away, General Burnside sent again and again +terrific infantry charges. + +[Sidenote: _The Charge at Marye's Heights_] + +The hills just back of Fredericksburg are fronted by an upward sloping +plane, and at the foot of that part of the hills called Marye's Heights is +a stone wall and the "Sunken Road"--as fatal here for Burnside as was the +Sunken Road at Waterloo for Napoleon. On Marye's Heights was the +Washington Artillery, and a number of guns--a veritable fortress, ready, +as General Pegram said, "to sweep the plans in front as close as a +fine-tooth comb." At the foot of the heights behind the stone wall were +Cobb's Georgians, Kershaw's South Carolinians, and Ransom's and Cobb's +North Carolinas--nine thousand riflemen, six deep, firing over the front +lines' shoulders, so that, so one officer wrote "they literally sent +bullets in sheets." + +Against this impregnable place, Burnside launched charge after charge, and +never did men go more bravely and certainly to death. This was +simultaneous with the fighting at Hamilton's Crossing. + +Meagher's Irish Brigade went first across the plain. Detouring from +Hanover street and George street, they formed line of battle on the lowest +ground, and with cedar branches waving in their hats, bravely green in +memory of "the ould sod" they swept forward until the rifles behind the +wall and the cannon on the hill decimated their ranks; and yet again they +formed and charged, until over the whole plain lay the dead, with green +cedar boughs waving idly in their hats. The Irish Brigade was practically +exterminated, and three more charges by larger bodies failed, although one +Northern officer fell within twenty-five yards of the wall. The day ended +in the utter defeat of the Union Army, which withdrew into Fredericksburg +at night. + +In front of the wall 8,217 Union soldiers were killed or wounded, and in +the "Sunken Road" the Confederates lost 1,962. + +The total Union loss in the whole battle of Fredericksburg was 12,664 and +the Confederates' loss 5,377. + +General J. R. Cook, of the Confederate Army, was killed almost at the spot +where Cobb fell. General C. F. Jackson and General Bayard, of the Union +Army, were killed, the latter dying in the Bernard House, "Mansfield," +where Franklin had his headquarters. + +[Sidenote: _The Death of General Cobb_] + +General T. R. R. Cobb, the gallant commander of the Georgians, fell +mortally wounded at the stone wall, and tradition has said that he was +killed by a shell fired from the lawn of his mother's home, a dramatic +story that is refuted by evidence that he was killed by a sharpshooter in +a house at the left and in front of the "Sunken Road." + +But the brilliant Georgian, who aided in formulating the Confederate +Constitution, was killed within sight of the house, where, more than forty +years before, the elder Cobb met, and in which he married, she who was to +be the General's mother. Journeying late in 1819 North to attend Congress, +Senator John Forsythe, who was born in Fredericksburg, and Senator Cobb, +Sr., were guests of Thomas R. Rootes, Esq., at Federal Hill, a great house +that sits at the edge of the town, overlooking the little valley and +Marye's Heights, and there began a romance that led to marriage of Miss +Rootes and Senator Cobb, in the mansion, in 1820. From the spot where he +stood when he died, had not the smoke of a terrific battle screened it, +their son, the Georgian General, could have clearly seen the windows of +the room in which his parents were married. + +General Cobb died in the yard of a small house, just at the edge of the +"Sunken Road," ministered to in his last moments, as was many another man +who drank the last bitter cup that day, by an angel of mercy and a woman +of dauntless courage, Mrs. Martha Stevens. + +Her house was in the center of the fire, yet she refused to leave it, and +there between the lines, with the charges rolling up to her yard fence and +tons of lead shrieking about her, Mrs. Stevens stayed all day, giving the +wounded drink, and bandaging their wounds until every sheet and piece of +clothing in the house had been used to bind a soldier's hurts. At times +the fire of Northern troops was concentrated on her house so that General +Lee, frowning, turned to those about him and said: "I wish those people +would let Mrs. Stevens alone." + +Nothing in the war was finer than the spirit of this woman, who stayed +between the lines in and about her house, through the planks of which now +and then a bullet splintered its way, miraculously living in a hail of +missiles where, it seemed, nothing else could live. + +[Sidenote: _Lee Spares Old "Chatham"_] + +During the battle at Fredericksburg, General Lee stood on "Lee's Hill," an +eminence near Hazel Run, and between Marye's Heights and Hamilton's +crossing. Looking across the Rappahannock he could see "Chatham," the +great winged brick house where General Burnside had headquarters, and +where, under the wide spreading oaks, General Lee had won his bride, the +pretty Mary Custis. The fine old place was now the property of Major Lacy, +who rode up to Lee and said: "General there are a group of Yankee officers +on my porch. I do not want my house spared. I ask permission to give +orders to shell it." General Lee, smiling, said: "Major, I do not want to +shell your fine old house. Besides, it has tender memories for me. I +courted my bride under its trees." + +In all this saturnalia of blood, it is a relief to find something in +lighter vein, and in this case it is furnished by two Irishmen, Meagher +and Mitchell. This little incident takes us back some years to "Ould +Ireland." Here three young Irishmen, Charles Francis Meagher, John Boyle +O'Reily and John Mitchell, known respectively, as the Irish Orater, Poet +and Patriot, fired by love for Free Ireland and Home Rule, earned exile +for themselves and left Ireland hurriedly. O'Reily settled in Boston and +became a well-known poet and a champion of the North. Meagher settled in +New York, and at the outbreak of the War organized the Irish Brigade, of +which he was made Brigadier-General. Mitchell settled in Richmond, where +he became the editor of the Richmond Enquirer, and, as a spectator, stood +on Marye's Heights during the battle and witnessed the desperate charges +and bloody repulses of his old friend, Meagher; and as he watched he +unburdened his soul. His refrain varied between exultation at the sight of +a fine fight and execration, in picturesque and satisfying language, of +the "renegade Irishman," his one-time friend, who would fight against the +very principle, the advocacy of which had brought them exile from Ireland. + + +[Illustration: MARYE'S HEIGHTS; THE STONE WALL + +_It was Here that the Terrible and Spectacular Charges Spent Themselves. +The Sunken Road is in the Foreground_] + + +Mitchell's grandson was John Purroy Mitchell, mayor of New York City, who +died in the Aviation service during the late war. + +[Sidenote: _The Good Samaritan_] + +There was another soul at the Battle of Fredericksburg whose spirit of +mercy to the suffering was stronger than the dread of death, and in the +Chapel of the Prince of Peace at Gettysburg, is a tablet to him, Dick +Kirkland--the "Angel of Marye's Heights"--a gracious memorial placed by +the Federal survivors of that fight. + +Dick Kirkland, a Southern soldier, who all day long had fought behind the +Stone Wall, laid aside all animosity when night fell and the bitter cries +arose in the chill air from the wounded and dying on the plain. The +pitiful calls for "water, water" so moved the young South Carolinian that +he asked his commanding officer to be allowed to relieve the sufferers. +His request was at first refused, but when he begged, permission was +given, and taking as many full canteens as he could carry, he went out +among the pitiful forms dotting the field, while the shells and rifle fire +still made it most dangerous, administering to the enemy. He was a good +Samaritan and unafraid, who is affectionately remembered by a grateful +foe. Kirkland was more merciful to the wounded Federals than was their +commander, for it was forty-eight hours before General Burnside could +swallow his pride and acknowledge defeat by applying for a truce. In the +interval, during forty-eight hours of winter weather while the wounded lay +unsheltered, chill winds sweeping over them, the wailing and the agonized +crying slowly died out. Every wounded man who could not crawl or walk +died, and when the truce came more than four thousand bodies were piled in +front of the "Sunken Road." + +At night of December 13th, Burnside was utterly defeated and after quietly +facing the Southern forces all day on the 14th, he was practically forced +to abandon his battle plans by the protests of his Generals, who +practically refused to charge again, and moved his army across the river +at night. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _A Critique of the Armies_] + +In the whole action at Fredericksburg, General Lee used but 57,000 men, +while official reports state that the Northern forces "in the fight" +numbered 100,000. As bearing on this (and most assuredly with no intention +to belittle the gallant men of the Federal Army, who fought so bravely) +the condition of Burnside's Army, due to the policy of his government and +to Major-General Hooker's insubordination, is to be considered. An +estimate of this army by the New York Times shows to what pass vacillation +had brought it. The Times said after Fredericksburg: + +"Sad, sad it is to look at this superb Army of the Potomac--the match of +which no conqueror ever led--this incomparable army, fit to perform the +mission the country has imposed upon it--paralyzed, petrified, put under a +blight and a spell. You see men who tell you that they have been in a +dozen battles and have been licked and chased every time--they would like +to chase once to see how it "feels." This begins to tell on them. Their +splendid qualities, their patience, faith, hope and courage, are gradually +oozing out. Certainly never were a graver, gloomier, more sober, sombre, +serious and unmusical body of men than the Army of the Potomac at the +present time." + +On the other hand, thus spoke the correspondent of the London Times of the +"tatterdermalion regiments of the South": + +"It is a strange thing to look at these men, so ragged, slovenly, +sleeveless, without a superfluous ounce of flesh on their bones, with +wild, matted hair, in mendicants rags, and to think, when the battle flags +go to the front, how they can and do fight. 'There is only one attitude in +which I should never be ashamed of you seeing my men, and that is when +they are fighting.' These were General Lee's words to me the first time I +ever saw him." + + + + +_At Chancellorsville_ + + _The Struggle in the Pine Woods when death struck at Southern hearts_ + + +From the close of the battle at Fredericksburg in December 1862, until the +spring of 1863, General Burnside's Army of the Potomac and General Lee's +Army of Northern Virginia lay in camp; the first on the north and the +second on the south bank of the Rappahannock. The little town, now fairly +well repopulated by returned refugees, lay between the hosts. The Northern +lines practically began at Falmouth, where General Daniel Butterfield had +headquarters, and at which spot young Count Zeppelin and his assistants +were busily arranging to send up a great Observation Balloon with a +signalling outfit. Southward, Lee's army stretched over thirty-three +miles, from the fords of the Rappahannock, where the hard riding +cavalrymen of Stuart and W. H. F. Lee watched, to Port Royal, Jackson's +right. + +Burnside's headquarters were the Phillips house and Chatham, (recently +owned by the famous journalist, Mark Sullivan and where he and Mrs. +Sullivan made their home for some years). Hooker, part of the time, was at +the Phillips house, Lee in a tent, near Fredericksburg, while General +Jackson had headquarters first in an outbuilding at Moss Neck, now the +home of Count d'Adhemar and later in a tent. It was here that he became +fond of little Farley Carbin, who came every day to perch on his knee and +receive little presents from him. One day he had nothing to give her, and +so, ere she left, he tore the gold braid from the new hat that was part of +a handsome uniform just given him by General "Jeb" Stuart, and placed it +like a garland on her pretty curly head. During the winter the General, +who from the beginning of the war never slept at night outside his army's +camp, nor had an hour's leave of absence, saw for the first time since he +left Lexington, and for next to the last time on earth, his wife and +little daughter, whom he so fervently loved. They spent some weeks near +him at Moss Neck. + +[Sidenote: _Christmas at the Front_] + +Christmas Eve came. In the Southern camp back of the hills down the river +road, up towards Banks Ford, out at Salem Church, and even in the town, +hunger and cold were the lot of all. General Lee, wincing at the +sufferings of his "tatterdermalion" forces, wrote and asked that the +rations of his men be increased, but a doctor-inspector sent out by the +often futile Confederate Government reported that the bacon ration of +Lee's army--one-half a pound a day, might be cut down, as "the men can be +_kept alive_ on this." General Lee himself wrote that his soldiers were +eating berries, leaves, roots and the bark of trees to "supplement the +ration," and although at this time the Confederate Government had a store +of bacon and corn meal that would have fed _all_ its armies a half year, +Lee's ragged soldiers starved throughout the winter. It is worthy of note +here that when Lee's starving army moved, foodless, toward that last day +at Appomattox, they marched past 50,000 pounds of bacon alone, which the +Confederate commissary, at Mr. Jefferson Davis' orders, burned next day. + +We spoke of Christmas Eve, when in the long lines of the two camps' great +fires beamed, voices rose in songs and hymns, and bands played. Late in +the evening, when dusk had settled, a band near Brompton broke out +defiantly into "Dixie," and from the Washington Farm a big band roared out +"The Battle Hymn." There was a pause and then, almost simultaneously, they +began "Home, Sweet Home," and catching the time played it through +together. When it was done, up from the camps of these boys who were to +kill and be killed, who were to die in misery on many a sodden field, rose +a wild cheer. + +Hardly could two great armies ever before have lain for months' within +sight of each other as these two did in almost amicable relations. There +was no firing; the cannon-crowned hills were silent. Drills and great +reviews took place on either bank of the river and in the Confederate +ranks there went on a great religious "revival" that swept through the +organization. Along the banks of the river where pickets; patrolled by +day, and their little fires flamed in the night, trading was active. From +the Union bank would come the call softly: + + "Johnny." + + "Yea, Yank." + + "Got any tobacco?" + + "Yes, want 't trade?" + + "Half pound of coffee for two plugs of tobacco, Reb." + + "'right, send 'er over." + +They traded coffee, tobacco, newspapers and provisions, sometimes wading +out and meeting in mid-river, but as the industry grew, miniature ferry +lines, operated by strings, began to ply. + +Soldiers and Generals passed and repassed in the streets of +Fredericksburg, where wreckage still lay about in confusion, houses +presented dilapidated fronts, and only a few of the citizens attempted to +occupy their homes. + +Once, in midwinter, the armies became active when Burnside attempted to +move his army and cross the river above Fredericksburg; but only for a few +days, for that unfortunate General's plans were ruined by a deluge and his +army "stuck in the mud." General Hooker took his place. + +[Sidenote: _The Coming of Spring_] + +About April 26 Hooker's great army, "The finest army on the planet," he +bombastically called it, moved up the river and began crossing. It was his +purpose to get behind Lee's lines, surprise him and defeat him from the +rear. On April twenty-ninth and thirtieth, Hooker got in position around +Chancellorsville, in strong entrenchments, a part of his army amounting to +85,000 men, but the Confederate skirmishers were already in front of him. + +It was the Northern Commander's plan for Sedgwick, left at Fredericksburg +with 40,000, to drive past Fredericksburg and on to Chancellorsville, and +thus to place the Southern forces between the two big Federal armies and +crush it. + +[Sidenote: _The First Aerial Scout_] + +Before the great battle of Chancellorsville began, this message came down +from the first balloon ever successfully used in war, tugging at its cable +two thousand feet above the Scott house, on Falmouth Heights: + + Balloon in the Air, April 29, 1863. + + Major-General Butterfield, + Chief of Staff, Army of the Potomac. + + General: The enemy's line of battle is formed in the edge of the + woods, at the foot of the heights, from opposite Fredericksburg to + some distance to the left of our lower crossing. Their line appears + quite thin, compared with our forces. Their tents all remain as + heretofore, as far as I can see. + + T. C. S. LOWE, + Chief of Aeronauts. + +But the force did not "remain as heretofore" long, though the tents were +left to confuse the enemy, for on April 29 General Anderson moved to +Chancellorsville, followed on April 30 by General McLaws; and under cover +of darkness "Stonewall Jackson" moved to the same place that night, with +26,000 men. On May 1, then, Hooker's 91,000 at Chancellorsville were being +pressed by Lee's army of 46,000. + +General Early's command of 9,000 and Barksdale's brigade of 1,000 and some +detached troops were left to defend Fredericksburg against Sedgwick's +corps, which was now crossing the Rappahannock, 30,000 strong. At 11 A. +M., May 1, General Lee's army, with Jackson's corps on his left, began the +attack at Chancellorsville, of which this dispatch speaks: + + Balloon in the Air, May 1, 1863. + + Major-General Sedgwick, + Commanding Left Wing, Army of the Potomac. + + General: In a northwest direction, about twelve miles, an engagement + is going on. + + T. C. S. LOWE, + Chief of Aeronauts. + +[Sidenote: _Fight at Chancellorsville_] + +Before evening of May 1 Hooker's advance guard was driven back, and the +Confederate forces swept on until within one mile of Chancellorsville, and +there, stopped by a "position of great natural strength" (General Lee) and +by deep entrenchments, log breastworks and felled trees, they ceased to +progress. It was evident at nightfall that with his inferior force the +Southern commander could not drive Hooker, and that if he failed to do so, +Sedgwick would drive back the small force in Fredericksburg and would come +on from Fredericksburg and crush him. + +Jackson and Lee bivouaced that night near where the Old Plank Road and the +Furnace Road intersect, and here formulated their plans for the morrow. +From Captain Murray Taylor, of General A. P. Hill's staff, they learned +that a road existed, by advancing down which (the Furnace Road) then +turning sharply and marching in a "V" Jackson's plan to turn Hooker's +right might be carried out, and at Captain Taylor's suggestion they sent +for "Jack" Hayden, who could not be gotten at once, and who, being an old +man, was "hiding out" to avoid "Yankee" marauders. + +Lee and Jackson slept on the ground. Jackson, over whom an officer had +thrown his overcoat, despite his protests, waited until the officer dozed, +gently laid the coat over him and slept uncovered, as he had not brought +his own overcoat. Later, arising chilled, he sat by the fire until near +dawn, when his army got in motion. + +When Jackson moved away in the early hours of May 2 there were left to +face Hooker's 91,000 men on the Federal left, Lee's 14,000 men, attacking +and feinting, and nowhere else a man. Jackson was moving through tangled +forests, over unused roads, and before 5 o'clock of that memorable +afternoon of May 2 he had performed the never-equalled feat of moving an +army, infantry and artillery of 26,000 men sixteen miles, entirely around +the enemy, and reversing his own army's front. He was now across the Plank +Road and the Turnpike, about four miles from Chancellorsville, facing +toward Lee's line, six miles away. And Hooker was between them! + +[Sidenote: _Jackson's Stroke of Genius_] + +It was 5:30 when Jackson's command (Colston's and Rhodes' Divisions, with +A. P. Hill in reserve) gave forth the rebel yell and sweeping along +through the woods parallel to the roads, fell on Hooker's right while the +unsuspecting army was at supper. The Federals fled in utter disorder. + +Before his victorious command, Jackson drove Hooker's army through the +dark pine thickets until the Federal left had fallen on Chancellorsville +and the right wing was piled up and the wagon trains fleeing, throwing the +whole retreating army into confusion. At 9 o'clock he held some of the +roads in Hooker's rear, and the Northern army was in his grasp. + +Hill was to go forward now. He rode to the front with his staff, a short +distance behind Jackson, who went a hundred yards ahead of the Confederate +lines on the turnpike to investigate. Bullets suddenly came singing from +the Northern lines and Jackson turned and rode back to his own lines. +Suddenly a Confederate picket shouted "Yankee cavalry," as he rode through +the trees along the edge of the Plank Road. Then a volley from somewhere +in Lane's North Carolina ranks poured out, and three bullets struck +Jackson in the hand and arms. His horse bolted, but was stopped and +turned, and Jackson was aided by General Hill to dismount. Almost all of +Hill's staff were killed or wounded. + +There was trouble getting a litter, and the wounded man tried to walk, +leaning on Major Leigh and Lieutenant James Power Smith. The road was +filled with men, wounded, retreating, lost from their commands. Hill's +lines were forming for a charge and from these Jackson hid his face--they +must not know he was wounded. A litter was brought and they bore the +sufferer through the thickets until a fusilade passed about them and +struck down a litter-bearer, so that the General was thrown from the +litter his crushed shoulder striking a pine stump, and now for the first +time, and last time, he groaned. Again they bore him along the Plank +Road until a gun loaded with canister swept that road clear, and the +litter-bearers fled, leaving General Jackson lying in the road. And here, +with infinite heroism, Lieutenant Smith (see sketch of life) and Major +Leigh lay with their bodies over him to shield him from missiles. + + +[Illustration: WHERE "STONEWALL JACKSON" DIED + +_In the Room on the Lower Floor, the Window of Which Looks Out on the +Little Bush, The South's Hero Passed Away_] + + +[Sidenote: _The Death of "Stonewall"_] + +Later the wounded officer was gotten to a field headquarters near +Wilderness Run, and Dr. Hunter McGuire and assistants amputated one arm +and bound the other arm and hand. Two days later he was removed to Mr. +Chandler's home, near Guineas, where, refusing to enter the mansion +because he feared his presence might bring trouble on the occupants should +the Federals come, and because the house was crowded with other wounded, +he was placed in a small outbuilding, which stands today. The record of +his battle against death in this little cabin, his marvelous trust in God +and his uncomplaining days of suffering until he opened his lips to feebly +say: "Let us pass over the river and rest under the shade of the trees" is +a beautiful story in itself. He died from pneumonia, which developed when +his wounds were beginning to heal. The wounds only would not have killed +him and the pneumonia probably resulted from sleeping uncovered on the +night before referred to. Mrs. Jackson and their little child, Dr. Hunter +McGuire, Lieutenant James Power Smith, his aide-de-camp; Mrs. Beasley and +a negro servant were those closest to him in his dying hours. + +Hill succeeded Jackson, and in twenty minutes was wounded and Stuart +succeeded him, and fighting ceased for the night. + +On May 3, General Lee attacked again, uniting his left wing with Stuart's +right, and a terrific battle took place that lasted all day, and at its +end Hooker's great army was defeated and dispirited, barely holding on in +their third line trenches, close to the river; that worse did not befall +him was due to events about Fredericksburg. (We may note here that Hooker +lost at Chancellorsville 16,751 men while Lee lost about 11,000.) + +[Sidenote: _Battle at Salem Church_] + +For Sedgwick, with 30,000 men, took Marye's Heights at 1 o'clock of this +day, losing about 1,000 men, and immediately General Brooks' division +(10,000) marched out the Plank Road, where on each successive crest, +Wilcox's Alabamians, with a Virginia battery of two guns (4,000 in all) +disputed the way. At Salem Church, General Wilcox planted his troops for a +final stand. + +Here at Salem Church the battle began when Sedgwick's advance guard, +beating its way all day against a handful of Confederates, finally formed +late in the afternoon of May 3, prepared to throw their column in a grand +assault against the few Confederates standing sullenly on the pine ridge +which crosses the Plank Road at right angles about where Salem Church +stands. Less than 4,000 Alabama troops, under General Wilcox, held the +line, and against these General Brooks, of Sedgwick's corps, threw his +10,000 men. They rushed across the slopes, met in the thicket, and here +they fought desperately for an hour. Reinforcements reached the +Confederates at sundown, and next morning General Lee had come with +Anderson's and McLaw's commands, and met nearly the whole of Sedgwick's +command, charging them late in the afternoon of May 4, and driving them so +that, before daybreak, they had retreated across the river. Then, turning +back to attack Hooker, he found the latter also crossing the river. + +Unique in the history of battles are the two monuments which stand near +Salem Church, erected by the State of New Jersey and gallantly uttering +praise of friend and foe. + +They mark the farthest advance of the New Jersey troops. The first, on the +right of the Plank Road as one goes from Fredericksburg to +Chancellorsville, is a monument to the Fifteenth New Jersey troops, and on +one side is inscribed: + + "The survivors of the Fifteenth New Jersey Infantry honor their + comrades who bore themselves bravely in this contest, and bear witness + to the valor of the men who opposed them on this field." + +[Sidenote: _Monument at Salem Church_] + +The other monument stands on the ridge at Salem Church, close to the road, +and about where the charge of the Twenty-third New Jersey shattered itself +against the thin lines of Wilcox's Alabamians. It stands just where these +two bodies of troops fought hand to hand amidst a rolling fire of +musketry, bathing the ground in blood. In the end the Confederates +prevailed, but when the State of New Jersey erected the monument they did +not forget their foe. It is the only monument on a battlefield that pays +homage alike to friend and enemy. + +The monument was unveiled in 1907, Governor E. Bird Gubb, who led the +Twenty-third New Jersey, being the principal speaker. Thousands were +present at the ceremonies. + +On one side of the splendid granite shaft is a tablet, on which is +engraved: + + "To the memory of our heroic comrades who gave their lives for their + country's unity on this battlefield, this tablet is dedicated." + +And on the other side another tablet is inscribed: + + "To the brave Alabama boys, our opponents on this battlefield, whose + memory we honor, this tablet is dedicated." + + + + +_Two Great Battles_ + + _The fearful fire swept Wilderness, and the Bloody Angle at + Spottsylvania_ + + +After Chancellorsville, the Confederate Army invaded the North, and Hooker +left the Stafford Hills to follow Lee into Pennsylvania. When Gettysburg +was over, both armies came back to face each other along the Rappahannock, +twenty to thirty miles above Fredericksburg. + +Now, Chancellorsville is in a quiet tract of scrub pine woods, twelve +miles west of Fredericksburg. The Plank Road and the Turnpike run toward +it and meet there, only to diverge three miles or so west, and six miles +still further west (from Chancellorsville) the two roads cross Wilderness +Run--the Turnpike crosses near Wilderness Tavern, the Plank Road about +five miles southward. + +Two miles from Wilderness Tavern on the Turnpike is Mine Run. Here General +Meade, now commanding the Northern Army, moved his forces, and on December +1, 1863, the two armies were entrenched. But after skirmishes, Meade, who +had started toward Richmond, decided not to fight and retreated with the +loss of 1,000 men. + +In the spring General Grant, now commander-in-chief, began to move from +the vicinity of Warrenton, and on May 4, 1864, his vast army was treading +the shadowed roads through the Wilderness. It was one of the greatest +armies that has ever been engaged in mobile warfare; for, by official +records, Grant had 141,000 men. + +Lee's army--he had now 64,000 men--was moving in three columns from the +general direction of Culpeper. + +Grant intended to get between Lee and Richmond, but he failed, for the +Confederate commander met him in the tangled Wilderness, and one of the +most costly battles of the war began--a battle than can barely be touched +on here, for, fought as it was in the woods, the lines wavering and +shifting and the attack now from one side, now from the other, it became +so involved that a volume is needed to tell the story. + +It is sufficient to say that the first heavy fighting began along the +Turnpike near Wilderness Run, on May 4 and 5, and that shortly afterwards +the lines were heavily engaged on each side of, and parallel to, the Plank +Road. Northward, on the Germanna road, charges and countercharges were +made, and on May 6, Sedgwick's line finally broke and gave ground before a +spirited charge by part of Ewell's corps--the brigades of Gordon, Johnston +and Pegram doubling up that flank. + +The Northern left (on the Plank Road), which had been driven back once, +rallied on the morning of May 6, and in a counter-attack threatened +disaster to the Confederates under Heth and Wilcox who (this was in the +forenoon) were driven back by a terrific charge from the Federal lines +near Brock Road. Expected for hours, Longstreet's march-worn men came up +at this critical moment along Plank Road. Heading this column that had +been moving since midnight was a brigade of Texans and toward these +General Lee rode, calling: + + "What troops are these?" + +The first answer was simply: + + "Texans, General." + +[Sidenote: _"General Lee to the Rear"_] + +"My brave Texas boys, you must charge. You _must_ drive those people +back," the Confederate commander said, so earnestly that the Texas troops +began to form while Lee personally rallied the men who by now were pouring +back from the front. Then as Longstreet's men began to go forward Lee rode +with them until the line paused while the cry arose from all directions +"General Lee, go to the rear. Lee to the rear." Officers seized his +bridle. "If you will go to the rear, General," said an officer waving his +hand toward the lines "these men will drive 'those people' back." His +promise was made good, for as Lee drew back, Longstreet's men--General +Longstreet himself had now reached the head of the column--rushed through +the woods, driving the advancing Federals back, and piercing their lines +in two places. Before a second and heavier assault the whole line fell +back to entrenchments in front of Brock Road, and soon the junction of +that road and Plank Road was within Longstreet's reach, and the Northern +line threatened with irretrievable disaster. + +And now, for the second time, just as a great victory was at hand, the +Southern troops shot their leader. General Longstreet was advancing along +the Plank Road with General Jenkins, at the head of the latter's troops, +when--mistaken for a body of the enemy--they were fired into. General +Longstreet was seriously wounded, General Jenkins killed, and the forward +movement was checked for several hours, during which the Federals +reinforced the defenses at the junction. + +[Sidenote: _Grant's Advance Defeated_] + +At night of May 6 Grant had been defeated of his purpose, his army driven +back over a mile along a front of four miles, and terrific losses +inflicted--for he lost in the Wilderness 17,666 men, while the Confederate +losses were 10,641. General Hays (Federal) was killed near the junction of +Plank and Brock Roads. + +Fire now raged through the tangled pines and out of the smoke through the +long night came the screams of the wounded, who helplessly waited the +coming of the agonizing flames. Thousands of mutilated men lay there for +hours and hours feeling the heated breath of that which was coming to +devour them, helpless to move, while the fire swept on through the +underbrush and dead leaves. + +The battle had no result. Grant was badly defeated, but, unlike Burnside, +Hooker and Meade, he did not retreat across the Rappahannock. Instead, +pursuing his policy and figuring that 140,000 men against 60,000 men could +fight until they killed the 60,000, themselves loosing two to one, and +still have 20,000 left, he moved "by the flank." + +By the morning of May 8 Grant's army, moving by the rear, was reaching +Spotsylvania Court House by the Brock Road and the Chancellorsville Road. +General Lee has no road to move on. But on the night of May 7 his +engineers cut one through the Wilderness to Shady Grove Church and his +advance guard moving over this intercepted Warren's corps two miles from +the Court House and halted the advance. By the night of May 8, Lee's whole +army was in a semi-circle, five or six miles in length, about the Court +House. The center faced northward and crossed the Fredericksburg Road. + +Grant attacked feebly on May 10, and again on May 11, and because of the +lightness of these attacks Lee believed Grant would again move "by the +flank" toward Richmond. But before dawn on May 12 Hancock's corps struck +the apex of a salient just beyond the Court House, breaking the lines and +capturing General Edward Johnson and staff and 1,200 men. + +[Sidenote: _The Day of "Bloody Angle"_] + +In this salient, now known as the "Bloody Angle," occurred one of the most +terrible hand-to-hand conflicts of modern warfare. From dawn to dawn, in +the area of some 500 acres which the deep and well-fortified trenches of +the angle enclosed, more than 60,000 men fought that day. Artillery could +hardly be used, because of the mixture of the lines, but nowhere in the +war was such rifle fire known. The Northern forces broke the left of the +salient, took part of the right, and, already having the apex, pushed +their troops through. The lines swayed, advancing and retreating all day. + +Toward evening the gallant Gordan advancing from base line of the Angle, +with his whole command pouring in rifle fire, but mostly using the +bayonet, drove back the Federals slowly, and at night the Confederates +held all except the apex. But General Lee abandoned the salient after +dark, and put his whole force in the base line. Here General Grant +hesitated to attack him. + +All along the lines about Spotsylvania desperate fighting occurred that +day, but the battle was distinctly a draw. Both armies lay in their +trenches, now and then skirmishing, until May 18, when Grant withdrew, +again moving "by the flank," this time toward Milford, on the R., F. & P. +Railroad. + +Near the Bloody Angle, on the Brock Road, where it is intersected by a +cross road, General Sedgwick was killed by a sharpshooter concealed in a +tree. He fell from his horse, and although his aides summoned medical help +he died almost immediately. The tree from which it is said the +sharpshooter killed him is still standing. + +General Lee had at Spotsylvania about 55,000 men and General Grant about +124,000. + +The Federal loss was 15,577. The Confederate loss was 11,578. A large part +of these, probably 15,000, fell in the Bloody Angle.[1] + + [1] Figures, see official reports. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Our Part in Other Wars_] + +In the War of 1812 only one company was formed here, commanded by Colonel +Hamilton. This company did really very little service. The fear that the +enemy would come up the Rappahannock River to attack this place was never +realized. + + * * * * * + +In the war with Mexico it is not recorded that any distinctive company was +enrolled here, although a number of its young men enlisted, and one of the +Masons of Gunston was the first man killed, in the ambush of the First +Dragoons on the Mexican border. General Daniel Ruggles won honor in this +war. + + * * * * * + +In the Civil War, every man, "from the cradle to the grave," went to the +front voluntarily and cheerfully for the cause. They could be found in +such commands as the Thirtieth Virginia Regiment of Infantry, commanded by +Colonel Robert S. Chew, in which, among the many officers were: Hugh S. +Doggett, Robert T. Know, James S. Knox, Edgar Crutchfield, John K. +Anderson, Edward Hunter, Thomas F. Proctor and many others. Of these it is +sufficient to say that at all times they loyally did their duty, and this +may also be said of the Fredericksburg Artillery, sometimes called +Braxton's Battery, among the officers of which were Carter Braxton, Edward +Marye, John Pollock, John Eustace and others. Some of "our boys" united +themselves with the "Bloody Ninth" Virginia Cavalry, commanded by that +prince of calvarimen, Colonel Thomas W. Waller, of Stafford. Others of the +town, voluntarily enlisted in many other branches. + +Charles T. Goolrick commanded a company of infantry which was organized +and equipped by his father, Peter Goolrick. Later his health gave way and +his brother, Robert Emmett Goolrick, a lieutenant in the company, took +command. + + * * * * * + +When the War with Spain was declared, the old Washington Guards, which has +done its duty at all times in the life of the town, came to the front. +Captain Maurice B. Rowe was its commander at that time; Revere, first +lieutenant, and Robert S. Knox, now of the U. S. Army, second lieutenant. +It is pertinent to state that in the War with Spain there was no draft, +and there were more volunteers than there was work to do. The company +marched away with great hopes, but spent almost the whole period of the +war at Camp Alger, near Washington. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _In the Great World War_] + +When the Great World War came on, Fredericksburg sent two organized +companies to the front. The first, the Washington Guards, under Captain +Gunyon Harrison, and the second, the Coast Artillery Company, under +Captain Johnson. No names can be recorded, for after the companies left, +the draft men went in large bodies, and many won promotion and +distinguished service medals. + +On July 4, 1918, the town gave to the World War soldiers a sincere and +royal "welcome home," in which the people testified to their gratitude to +them. In the war, our boys had added luster to the name of the town, and +splendid credit to themselves. The joy of the occasion and the pleasure of +it were marred by the fact that so many had died in France. + + + + +_Heroes of Early Days_ + + _The Old Town gives the first Commander, first Admiral, and Great + Citizens_ + + +[Sidenote: _Washington's Boyhood Home_] + +Fredericksburg claims George Washington, who although born in Westmoreland +County, Virginia, February 22, 1732, spent most of his boyhood on the +"Ferry Farm," the home of his father, Augustine Washington, situated on a +hill directly opposite the wharf which juts out from the Fredericksburg +side of the river. Here it is that Parson Weems alleged he threw a stone +across the river. + +He was educated in Fredericksburg and Falmouth, a village of gray mists +and traditions, which lords it over Fredericksburg in the matter of +quaintness and antiquity, but obligingly joins its fortunes to those of +the town by a long and picturesque bridge. + +His tutor in Falmouth was a "Master Hobbie," and while this domine was +"strapping the unthinking end of boys," George was evading punishment by +being studious and obedient. He also attended the school of Mr. Marye, at +St. George's Church. It was in this church that the Washingtons +worshipped. + +Shy in boyhood and eclectic in the matter of associates, he had the genius +for real friendships. + +The cherry tree which proclaimed him a disciple of truth has still a few +flourishing descendants on the old farm, and often one sees a tourist +cherishing a twig as a precious souvenir of the ground hallowed by the +tread of America's most famous son. It was on this farm that George was +badly hurt while riding (without permission) his father's chestnut colt. + +We take Washington's career almost for granted, as we watch the stars +without marveling at the forces that drive them on, but when we do stop +to think, we are sure to wonder at the substantial greatness, the +harnessed strength of will, the sagacity and perception, which made him +the man he was. + +He left school at sixteen, after having mastered geometry and +trigonometry, and having learned to use logarithms. + +He became a surveyor. His brother, Lawrence, who at that time owned Mt. +Vernon, recognized this; in fact, got him, in 1740, to survey those wild +lands in the valley of the Alleghany belonging to Lord Fairfax. + +He was given a commission as public surveyor after this. It is hard to +realize that he was only sixteen! We will not attempt to dwell upon his +life in detail. We know that at nineteen he was given a military district, +with the rank of major, in order to meet the dangers of Indian +depredations and French encroachments. His salary was only 150 pounds a +year. + +On November 4, 1752, he was made a Mason in Fredericksburg Lodge, No. 4. +The Bible used in these interesting ceremonies, is still in possession of +the lodge, and is in a fine state of preservation. Washington continued a +member of this lodge until he died, and Lafayette was an honorary member. + +At twenty-one, as a man of "discretion, accustomed to travel, and familiar +with the manners of the Indians," he was sent by Governor Dinwiddie on a +delicate mission which involved encroachments by the French on property +claimed by the English. During all these years he came at close intervals +to visit his mother, now living in her own house in Fredericksburg, which +was still his home. + +After his distinguished campaign against the French army under M. De +Jumonville in the region of Ohio, where he exposed himself with the most +reckless bravery, he came to Mt. Vernon which he inherited from his +brother, Augustus, married Martha Custis, a young widow with two children +and large landed estates, and became a member of the House of Burgesses, +punctually attending all the sessions. + +Indeed, one finds oneself eagerly looking for an occasional lapse in this +epic of punctuality. It would humanize him. Anyway, one is glad to see +that he was a patron of the arts and the theatre, and his industry in +keeping day-books, letter-books, contracts and deeds is somewhat offset by +the fact that he played the flute. + +He seldom spoke in the House of Burgesses, but his opinion was eagerly +sought and followed. We will pass over the time when Dunmore prorogued the +"House," and of the events which ended in Washington's being made +Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. + +We are, perhaps, more interested in another visit to Fredericksburg to see +his mother, after he had resigned his commission. From town and country, +his friends gathered to give him welcome and do him honor. The military +turned out, civic societies paraded, and cannon boomed. + +[Sidenote: _When "George" got Arrested_] + +In between his career as statesmen and as soldier, we strain our eyes for +a thread of color, and we discover that he was once brought before a +justice of the peace and fined for trading horses on Sunday. And again, +that he was summoned before the grand jury and "George William Fairfax, +George Washington, George Mason," and half dozen others were indicted for +"not reporting their wheeled vehicles, according to law." + +It is worth noting, too, that while her son, George, was leading the +American army, Mary, his mother, was a partisan of the King; a tory most +openly. "I am sure I shall hear some day," She told some one, calmly, in +her garden, "that they have hung George." + +Nevertheless, his first two messages, after he crossed the Delaware and +won signal victories, were to Congress and his mother. And after the +hard-riding courier had handed her the note, and the gathering people had +waited until she laid down her trowel, and wiped the garden earth from her +hands, she turned to them and said: "Well, George has crossed the Delaware +and defeated the King's troops at Trenton." + +[Sidenote: _Washington Advises Lovers_] + +The stern fact of the Revolution, which cast upon George Washington +immortal fame and which was followed by his election to the Presidency of +the United States, is softened somewhat by a letter on love written to his +daughter, Nellie Custis. A few excerpts are as follows: + +"When the fire is beginning to kindle, and the heart growing warm, +propound these questions to it. Who is this invader? Is he a man of +character; a man of sense? For be assured, a sensible woman can never be +happy with a fool. Is his fortune sufficient to maintain me in the manner +I have been accustomed to live? And is he one to whom my friends can have +no reasonable objection?" + +And again, "It would be no great departure from the truth to say that it +rarely happens otherwise than that a thorough paced coquette dies in +celibacy, as a punishment for her attempts to mislead others by +encouraging looks, words and actions, given for no other purpose than to +draw men on to make overtures that they may be rejected." + +The letter ends with a blessing bestowed on the young lady to whom is +given such sensible advice. That this letter is characterized by an +admirable poise, cannot be denied. + +George Washington died at Mt. Vernon, December 4, 1799. He upheld the +organization of the American state during the first eight years of its +existence, amid the storms of interstate controversy, and gave it time to +consolidate. + +No other American but himself could have done this--for of all the +American leaders he was the only one whom men felt differed from +themselves. The rest were soldiers, civilians, Federalists or Democrats, +but he--was Washington. + +[Sidenote: _Evidence of Citizenship_] + +Almost immediately after appearing before the public session of Congress, +at which he resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the +Continental armies, an act of which Thackeray speaks as sheathing his +sword after "a life of spotless honor, a purity unreproached, a courage +indomitable and a consummate victory," Washington came to Fredericksburg +to visit his mother. He was the great hero of the age, the uncrowned King +of America and from all over the section crowds flocked to do him honor. +The occasion was of such importance that the city did not trust the words +of welcome to a single individual, but called a meeting of the City +Council at which a short address was adopted and presented to Washington +upon his arrival by William McWilliams, then mayor. + +While beautifully worded to show the appreciation of his services and +respect for his character and courage, the address of welcome contains +nothing of historical significance except the line "And it affords us +great joy to see you once more at a place which claims the honor of your +growing infancy, the seat of your amiable parent and worthy relatives," +which establishes Washington's connection with Fredericksburg. + +In reply, General Washington said: + + Gentlemen: + + With the greatest pleasure I receive in the character of a private + citizen the honor of your address. To a benevolent providence and the + fortitude of a brave and virtuous army, supported by the general + exertion of our common country, I stand indebted for the plaudits you + now bestow. The reflection, however, of having met the congratulating + smiles and approbation of my fellow citizens for the part I have acted + in the cause of Liberty and Independence cannot fail of adding + pleasure to the other sweets of domestic life; and my sense of them is + heightened by their coming from the respectable inhabitants of the + place of my growing infancy and the honorable mention which is made of + my revered mother, by whose maternal hand, (early deprived of a + father) I was led to manhood. For the expression of personal affection + and attachment, and for your kind wishes for my future welfare, I + offer grateful thanks and my sincere prayers for the happiness and + prosperity of the corporate town of Fredericksburg. + + Signed: GEORGE WASHINGTON. + +This address is recorded in the books of the town council and is signed in +a handwriting that looks like that of Washington. + +As it is known that Washington lived at Fredericksburg from the time he +was about six years of age until early manhood, the expression "growing +infancy" is unfortunate, but later, when Mayor Robert Lewis, a nephew of +Washington, delivered the welcome address to General Lafayette when he +visited Fredericksburg in 1824 the real case was made more plain when he +said: + + "The presence of the friend of Washington excites the tenderest + emotions and associations among a people whose town enjoys the + distinguished honor of having been the residence of the Father of his + Country during the days of his childhood and youth," and in reply + General Lafayette said: + + "At this place, Sir, which calls to our recollections several among + the most honored names of the Revolutionary War, I did, many years + ago, salute the first residence of our paternal chief, receiving the + blessings of his venerated mother and of his dear sister, your own + respected mother." Later the same day, at a banquet in the evening, + given in his honor, Lafayette offered the following sentiment, "The + City of Fredericksburg--first residence of Washington--may she more + and more attain all the prosperity which independence, republicanism + and industry cannot fail to secure." + + +JOHN PAUL JONES. + +Of all the men whose homes were in Fredericksburg, none went forth to +greater honor nor greater ignominy than John Paul Jones, who raised the +first American flag on the masthead of his ship, died in Paris and was +buried and slept for 113 years beneath a filthy stable yard, forgotten by +the country he valiantly served. + +He came to Fredericksburg early in 1760 on "The Friendship," as a boy of +thirteen years. Born in a lowly home, he was a mere apprentice seaman, and +without doubt he deserted his ship in those days, when sea life was a +horror, to come to Fredericksburg and join his brother, William Paul, +whose home was here, and who is buried here. There is some record of his +having been befriended by a man in Carolina, and traditions that he left +his ship in a port on the Rappahannock after killing a sailor, and walked +through the wilderness to Fredericksburg. Neither tradition is of +importance; the fact is that he came here and remained four years during +the developing period of his life. + +[Sidenote: _Jones' American Home Here_] + +William Paul had immigrated to Fredericksburg from the Parish of Kirkbeam, +Scotland, (where he and his brother, John, were born), about 1760, had +come to Fredericksburg and conducted a grocery store and tailor shop on +the corner of Caroline and Prussia streets. William died here in 1773, and +is buried in St. George's Church Yard. In his will he left his property to +sisters in the Parish of Kirkbeam, Scotland. + +Alexander McKenzie, in his life of John Paul Jones, says, after referring +to the fact that William Paul is buried in Fredericksburg: "In 1773 he +went back to Fredericksburg to arrange the affairs of his brother, William +Paul," and John Paul Jones himself wrote of Fredericksburg: "It was the +home of my fond election since first I saw it." The Legislature of +Virginia decided in settling William Paul's estate that John Paul Jones +was a legal resident of Fredericksburg. + +Obviously, then, Fredericksburg was the great Admiral's home, for, though +not born here, he chose it when he came to America. + +When he first reached the little town on the Rappahannock he went to work +for his brother, William Paul and one can surmise that he clerked and +carried groceries and messages to the gentry regarding their smart clothes +for his brother. + +The Rising Sun Tavern was then a gathering place for the gentry and +without doubt he saw them there. He may well have learned good manners +from their ways, good language from hearing their conversation and +"sedition" from the great who gathered there. We may picture the lowly +boy, lingering in the background while the gentlemen talked and drank +punch around Mine Host Weedon's great fire, or listening eagerly at the +counter where the tavern-keeper, who was to be a Major-General, delivered +the mail. + +Certainly John Paul Jones was a lowly and uneducated boy at 13. He left +Fredericksburg after four years to go to sea again, and in 1773 came back +to settle his brother's estate, and remained here until December 22, 1775, +when he received at Fredericksburg his commission in the Navy. + +[Sidenote: _From Cabin Boy to Courtier_] + +John Paul Jones' story is more like romance than history. Beginning an +uncouth lad, he became a sea fighter whose temerity outranks all. We see +him aboard the Bonhomme Richard, a poor thing for seafaring, fighting the +Serapis just off British shores, half of his motley crew of French and +Americans dying or dead about him, the scruppers running blood, mad +carnage raging, and when he is asked if he is ready to surrender he says: +"I've just begun to fight," and by his will forcing victory out of defeat. +He was the only American who fought the English on English soil. He never +walked a decent quarter deck, but with the feeble instruments he had, he +captured sixty superior vessels. His ideal of manliness was courage. + +What of this Fredericksburg gave him no one may say, but it is sure that +the chivalry, grace and courtliness which admitted him in later years to +almost every court in Europe was absorbed from the gentry in Virginia. He +did not learn it on merchantmen or in his humble Scotch home, and so he +learned it here. Of him the Duchess de Chartres wrote: + + "Not Bayard, nor Charles le Temeaire could have laid his helmet at a + lady's feet with such knightly grace." + +He won his country's high acclaim, but it gave him no substantial +evidence. He was an Admiral in the Russian Navy, and after a time he went +to Paris to live a few years in poverty, neglect, and bitterness. He died +and was buried in Paris in 1792, at 45 years of age. + +He was a dandy, this John Paul Jones, who walked the streets of +Fredericksburg in rich dress. Lafayette, Jefferson, and, closest of all, +the Scotch physician, Hugh Mercer, were his friends. Slender and not tall, +black-eyed and swarthy, with sensitive eyes, and perfect mouth and chin, +he won the love or friendship of women quicker than that of men. + +He was buried in an old graveyard in Paris and forgotten until the author +of this book wrote for newspapers a series of letters about him. Interest +awoke and Ambassador Porter was directed to search for his body. How +utterly into oblivion had slipped the youth who ventured far, and +conquered always, is plain when it is known that it took the Ambassador +six years to find the body of Commodore John Paul Jones. He found it in an +old cemetery where bodies were heaped three deep under the courtyard of a +stable and a laundry. + + +[Sidenote: _Admiral Jones' Surgeon_] + +SURGEON LAURENS BROOKE + +Surgeon Laurens Brooke, was born in Fredericksburg, in 1720, and was one +of those who accompanied Governor Spottswood as a Knight of the Golden +Horseshoe. He afterwards lived in Fredericksburg, entered the U. S. Navy +as a surgeon and sailed with John Paul Jones on the "Ranger" and on the +"Bon Homme Richard." At the famous battle of Scarborough, between the +latter vessel and the "Serapis," Surgeon Brooke alone had the care of one +hundred and twenty wounded sailors; and later with Surgeon Edgerly, of the +English navy, from the Tempis, performed valiant work and saved many +lives. The surgeons were honored by Captain Paul Jones with a place at his +mess, and the literature of the period refers to Surgeon Brooke as the +"good old Doctor Laurens Brooke." He was with Jones until the end of the +war and spent some time at his home here when a very old man, some years +after the Revolution. His family had a distinguished part in the War +Between the States, being represented in the army and in the C. S. +Congress during that period. + + +GENERAL HUGH MERCER + +We wonder if any one ever declined to take the advice of George +Washington. + +Certain it is that General Hugh Mercer did not, for, at the suggestion of +Washington, Mercer came to Fredericksburg. Many Scotchmen have found the +town to their liking. It makes them feel a sort of kinship with the +country of hill-shadows, and strange romance. + +Mercer was born in Aberdeen in the year 1725. His father was a clergyman; +his mother, a daughter of Sir Robert Munro, who, after distinguishing +himself at Fontenoy and elsewhere, was killed at the battle of Falkirk, +while opposing the young "Pretender." Hugh Mercer did not follow in the +footsteps of his father, but linked his fortunes with Charles Edward's +army, as assistant surgeon, fought with him at Culloden and shared the +gloom of his defeat--a defeat which was not less bitter because his ears +were ringing with the victorious shouts of the army of the Duke of +Cumberland. + +To change a scene that brought sad memories, Dr. Hugh Mercer, in the fall +of 1746, embarked for America. There, on the frontiers of civilization, in +Western Pennsylvania, he spent arduous, unselfish years. He was welcomed +and loved in this unsettled region of scattered homes. + +A rough school it was in which the doctor learned the lessons of life. + +In the year 1755, Mercer made his appearance in the ill-fated army of +Braddock, which met humiliating disaster at Fort Duquesne. Washington's +splendid career began here and here Mercer was wounded. Of this memorable +day of July 9, 1755, it has been said that "The Continentals gave the only +glory to that humiliating disaster." + +In 1756, while an officer in a military association, which was founded to +resist the aggression of the French and Indians, he was wounded and forced +to undergo terrible privations. While pursued by savage foes he sought +refuge in the trunk of a tree, around which the Indians gathered and +discussed the prospect of scalping him in the near future. When they left +he escaped in the opposite direction and completely outwitted them. Then +began a lonely march through an unbroken forest, where he was compelled to +live on roots and herbs, and where the carcass of a rattlesnake proved his +most nourishing meal. He finally succeeded in rejoining his command at +Fort Cumberland. In recognition of his sacrifices and services in these +Indian wars, the Corporation of Philadelphia presented him with a note of +thanks and a splendid memorial medal. In the year 1758 he met George +Washington and then it was that Pennsylvania lost a citizen. In +Fredericksburg, at the time that Mercer came, lived John Paul Jones, and +we do not doubt that they often met and talked of their beloved Scotland. + +During his first years in Fredericksburg, Mercer occupied a small +two-story house on the southwest corner of Princess Anne and Amelia +Streets. There he had his office and apothecary shop. The building is +still standing. + +An Englishman, writing at this time of a visit to Fredericksburg, calls +Mercer "a man of great eminence and possessed of almost every virtue and +accomplishment," truly a sweeping appreciation. + +[Sidenote: _Mercer Joins Masonic Lodge_] + +He belonged to Lodge No. 4, of which George Washington was also a member, +and he occasionally paid a visit to Mount Vernon. + +In September, 1774, the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia. The war +cloud was lowering, it broke, and when the Revolution swept the country, +Mercer was elected Colonel of the Third Virginia Regiment. + +An approbation of the choice of Mercer was prepared by the county +committee, which set forth the importance of the appointment and was an +acknowledgment of his public spirit and willingness to sacrifice his life. + +Colonel Mercer with his men and fifes and drums marched away from his +home, bidding good-bye to his wife (Isabella Gordon), whom he never saw +again. + +There is an interesting story of Mercer at Williamsburg. Among the troops +which were sent there at that time, was a Company of riflemen from beyond +the mountains, commanded by a Captain Gibson. A reckless and violent +opposition to military restraint had gained for this corps the name of +"Gibson's Lambs." After a short time in camp, a mutiny arose among them, +causing much excitement in the army, and alarming the inhabitants of the +city. Free from all restraint, they roamed through the camp, threatening +with instant death any officer who would presume to exercise any authority +over them. + +[Sidenote: _Mercer Quells a Mutiny_] + +At the height of the mutiny an officer was dispatched with the alarming +tidings to the quarters of Colonel Mercer. The citizens of the town vainly +implored him not to risk his life in this infuriated mob. + +Reckless of personal safety, he instantly repaired to the barracks of the +mutinous band and directing a general parade of the troops, he ordered +Gibson's company to be drawn up as offenders and violators of the law, and +to be disarmed in his presence. + +The ringleaders were placed under a strong guard and in the presence of +the whole army he addressed the offenders in an eloquent manner, +impressing on them their duties as citizens and soldiers, and the +certainty of death if they continued to remain in that mutinous spirit +equally disgraceful to them and hazardous to the sacred interests they had +marched to defend. Disorder was instantly checked and the whole company +was ever afterward as efficient in deportment as any troop in the army. + +On June 5, 1776, Mercer was made Brigadier-General in the Continental +Army. It was Mercer who suggested to Washington the crossing of the +Delaware. Major Armstrong, Mercer's Aide-de-Camp, who was present at a +council of officers, and who was with Mercer on that fateful night, is +authority for this statement. + +We, somehow, see the army of the colonists poorly clad, many of them +barefoot, without tents, with few blankets, and badly fed. In front of +them is Cornwallis, with his glittering hosts, and we can almost hear the +boast of General Howe, that Philadelphia would fall when the Delaware +froze. He did not know Washington; and Mercer's daring was not reckoned +with. We wonder if ever a Christmas night was so filled with history as +that on which Washington, with the intrepid Mercer at his side, pushing +through that blinding storm of snow and fighting his way through the +floating ice, crossed the Deleware with the rallying cry of "victory or +death," and executed the brilliant move which won for him the Battle of +Trenton. + +Near Princeton, Washington's army was hemmed in by Cornwallis in front and +the Delaware in the rear. After a consultation at Mercer's headquarters it +was determined to withdraw the Continental forces from the front of the +enemy near Trenton, and attack the detachment then at Princeton. The +pickets of the two armies were within two hundred yards of each other. In +order to deceive the enemy, campfires were left burning on Washington's +front line and thus deceived, the enemy slept. + +[Sidenote: _Death on The Battlefield_] + +A woman guided the Continental army on that night march. A detachment of +two hundred men, under Mercer, was sent to seize a bridge at Worth's Mill. +The night had been dreary; the morning was severely cold. Mercer's +presence was revealed at daybreak. General Mahood counter-marched his +regiment and crossed the bridge at Worth's Mill before Mercer could reach +it. The British troops charged. The Colonials were driven back. General +Mercer dismounted and tried vainly to rally his men. While he was doing +this, he was attacked by a group of British troops, who, with the butts of +muskets, beat him down and demanded that he surrender. He refused. He was +then bayoneted and left for dead on the battlefield. Stabbed in seven +different places, he did not expire until January 12, 1777. + +Washington finally won the Battle of Princeton, but Mercer was a part of +the price he paid. The battles of Trenton and Princeton were the most +brilliant victories in the War of the Revolution. + +At Fredericksburg a monument perpetuates Mercer's fame. At the funeral in +Philadelphia 30,000 people were present, and there his remains rest in +Laurel Hill Cemetery. + +The St. Andrew's Society, which he joined in 1757, erected a monument to +his memory and in the historical painting of the Battle of Princeton, by +Peale Mercer is given a prominent place. The states of Pennsylvania, +Kentucky, Virginia and New Jersey have, by an act of Legislature, named a +county "Mercer," and on October 1, 1897, a bronze tablet to his memory was +unveiled at Princeton, N. J. We have not the space to relate all of his +illustrious life, but somewhere there is a poem, the last lines of which +voice the sentiment of his countrymen. + + "But he, himself, is canonized, + If saintly deeds such fame can give; + As long as liberty is prized, + Hugh Mercer's name shall surely live." + + +SIR LEWIS LITTLEPAGE + +In the possession of a well-known man of Richmond, Va., is a large gold +key. + +It is vastly different from the keys one sees these days, and inquiry +develops that it was once the property of one of the most picturesque +characters in America--a man who began his life in the cornfields of +Hanover County, Va., in 1753, and was swept by the wave of circumstance +into the palace of a King. + +The atmosphere of old William and Mary College, where Lewis Littlepage was +graduated, after the death of his father, gave a mysteriously romantic +note to the beckoning song of adventure, which finally became a definite +urge, when the youth, after residing in Fredericksburg, listened to the +advice of his guardian, Benjamin Lewis, of Spotsylvania County, who placed +him with John Jay, the American Minister at Madrid. + +Six months later, Jay, in a letter to Benjamin Lewis, said of the +seventeen-year-old lad: + +"I am much pleased with your nephew, Lewis Littlepage, whom I regard as a +man of undoubted genius, and a person of unusual culture." + +And a few months after this we discover that the well-known traveler, Mr. +Elekiah Watson, has an entry in his diary which reads: + +"At Nantes I became acquainted with Lewis Littlepage, and although he is +but eighteen years of age, I believe him to be the most remarkable +character of the age. I esteem him a prodigy of genius." + +[Sidenote: _The Poet Takes The Sword_] + +In Madrid, Littlepage got into financial straits, owing to the fact that +his allowance did not reach him, and the next glimpse we get of him is +through the smoke of battle at Fort Mahon, where in 1781, as a member of +the force under the Duke de Crillion, he was painfully wounded while +charging the Turks. + +In 1872, en route to Madrid to join Mr. Jay, he heard that de Crillion was +preparing to storm Gibraltar, and, believing himself in honor bound to +follow the fortunes of his chief, he wrote Mr. Jay that he must turn again +to arms. + +From that day forward he was a soldier, a diplomat, a courtier--the +elected friend of Kings and Princes. + +He aided in storming Gibraltar and left his ship only when it had burned +to the water's edge. He was highly recommended to the King for his +gallantry, and went back to Paris with de Crillion to become a brilliant +figure at court and in the salons. + +Europe knew him, but America refused him even a small commission, though +Kings wrote to our Congress in his behalf. + +He met Lafayette at Gibraltar; in fact, accompanied him to Spain. Then, +after considerable travel in European countries, he again encountered +Prince Nassau, who was his brother at arms in de Crillion's forces, became +his aide-de-camp and, together they found happiness in travel. They +sought the bright lights of gay capitals and followed mysterious moon +tracks on the Danube river. + +[Sidenote: _When Poland's Star Flamed_] + +At the Diet of Grodno, in 1784, where he went with Nassau, he met +Stanislaus Augustus, King of Poland. He captivated the King; and in a +brilliant ball room, Stanislaus offered him a permanent service at his +court. + +Within a year he was chamberlain and secretary to the cabinet of His +Majesty, and for years he was practically the ruler of the empire. + +In 1787, at Kiva, he made a treaty with Catherine, Empress of Russia, and +became her intimate friend. + +He was a special and secret envoy from Poland to the sessions of the grand +quadruple alliance in France. Later we see him leading a division of the +army of Prince Potempkin across the snow-clad steppes of Russia, and a few +months after, he was marching at the head of the Prince's army through the +wild reaches of Tartary. Again, under Prince Nassau, we find him +commanding a fleet against the Turks at Oczacon. + +Shortly after, he was a special high commissioner to Madrid. His mission +completed, he was ordered to return to Russia for the revolution of 1791, +and now he served as aide-de-camp and Major-General. + +In 1794, when the Polish patriot, Kosciusco, headed a revolution, +Littlepage answered his summons and fought through to the storming of +Prague. + +Stanislaus held him the greatest of his generals and his aides and when +the King was captured by the Russians, Littlepage, tired of the broils of +European politics, came home to America. + +[Sidenote: _Ah, But he Had His Memories_] + +When Littlepage was first in Poland, the place was gay and +laughter-loving. An atmosphere of high culture and literary achievements +made a satisfactory entourage for the ill-fated people. He lived happily +there and loved a princess of North Poland. There were starlight meetings +and woodland strolls, vows of faith and the pain of renunciation, when +for diplomatic reasons she was forced to endure another alliance. +Littlepage's reputation and splendid appearance; her beauty and the love +they bore each other and, finally, her death, made a background of red +romance, against which he is silhouetted in one's memory. + +That Lewis Littlepage was a poet of no mean ability was a fact too well +known to be disputed. The last verse of a poem written by him and inspired +by the death of the woman he loved reads: + + "Over there, where you bide--past the sunset's gold glory, + With eyes that are shining, and red lips apart, + Are you waiting to tell me the wonderful story, + That death cannot part us--White Rose of my Heart." + +It is said that Littlepage had more honors and decorations showered upon +him than any other American in history. + +Go to the old Masonic cemetery in Fredericksburg, and in a far corner, +where the wild vines and the hardy grass struggle for mastery, you may see +a legend inscribed upon a large flat stone: This is the tomb of Lewis +Littlepage. For the multitude, it is simply an unpleasant finale to the +life of a well known man. + +To the imaginative, it starts a train of thought--a play of fancy. One +sees the rise of the star of Poland. Gay youths and maids pass and repass +to the sound of music and laughter. The clank of a sword sounds above the +measured foot fall on a polished floor. A soldier passes in all the +bravery of uniform. It is General Littlepage silently going to an audience +with the King. The massive doors open without a challenge, for as a +passport to the palace, on the uniform of this soldier glitters a large +gold key--the gift of Stanislaus. + +Suddenly the scene changes. Amid the surging hosts and in the thick of the +bloody clash at Prague, when the anguish of uncertainty was crumbling the +courage of a kingdom, a man is seen, riding with reckless abandon. Tearing +through the lines and holding aloft the tattered standard of Poland, +comes Littlepage of Virginia. With the rallying cry of his adopted land, +he gathers up his troops and gloriously defends the flag he loves. Our +eyes again stray to the legend on the tomb: Disillusionment! + +His return to his old home! His death! We see this also, but with this is +the knowledge that he lived greatly, and in his ears, while dying, sounded +again, the shout of victory, while his heart held the dream of the old +romance. + + +GEN. GEORGE WEEDON + +Among the first men in America to "fan the flames of sedition," as an +English traveler said of him long before the war, was Mine Host George +Weedon, keeper of the Rising Sun Tavern, Postmaster, and an Irish +immigrant. At his place gathered all the great of his day, spending hours +dicing and drinking punch. + +Over and over among these men--Washington, Mason, Henry, the Lees, +Jefferson and every Virginia gentleman of that section, George Weedon +heard discussion of the Colonies' problems, and he forcibly gave vent to +his opinions. + +Time and again he expressed the idea of freedom before others had thought +of more than protest. His wild Irish talk in the old Rising Sun Tavern +helped to light the torch of liberty in America. + +When war came, Weedon was elected Lieutenant-Colonel of the First +Virginia, of which Hugh Mercer was chosen Colonel. August 17, 1776, he +became its Colonel, and on February 24, 1777, he was made a +Brigadier-General. + +In the Battle of Brandywine, General Weedon's division rendered +conspicuous service, when they checked the pursuit of the British and +saved our army from rout. He commanded brilliantly at Germantown. Wherever +he fought, his great figure and stentorian voice were prominent in the +conflict. + +He admired Washington and his fellow-generals. It was not because of +these, but because he thought Congress to have treated him unfairly about +rank, that he left the Army at Valley Forge. He re-entered in 1780, and in +1781 was given command of the Virginia troops, which he held until the +surrender of Yorktown, where he played an important part. + +George Weedon was the first President of the Virginia Society of the +Cincinnati, a fraternity of Revolutionary officers which General +Washington helped to organize, and this was, indeed, a singular honor. He +was a member of the Fredericksburg Masonic Lodge, of which Washington was +also a member. After the war, he lived at "The Sentry Box," the former +home of his gallant brother-in-law, General Mercer. + +[Sidenote: _A Song For the Yuletide_] + +General Weedon was a man of exuberant spirits, loud of voice and full of +Irish humor. He wrote a song called "Christmas Day in '76," and on each +Yuletide he assembled at his board his old comrades and friends, and, +while two negro boys stood sentinel at the door, drank punch and roared +out the verses: + + "On Christmas Day in '76 + Our ragged troops with bayonets fixed, + For Trenton marched away. + The Delaware ice, the boats below + The lights obscured by hail and snow, + But no signs of dismay." + +Beginning thus, the brave Irishman who verbally and fought among the +foremost for America for over physically thirty years, told the story of +Washington's crossing the Delaware, vividly enough, and every Christmas +his guests stood with him and sang the ballad.[2] + + [2] See Goolrick's "Life of Mercer." + + +MASON OF GUNSTON + +Of George Mason, whom Garland Hunt says is "more than any other man +entitled to be called the Father of the Declaration of Independence," whom +Judge Garland says, "Is the greatest political philosopher the Western +Hemisphere ever produced," of whose Bill of Rights, Gladstone said, "It is +the greatest document that ever emanated from the brain of man," little +can be said here. His home was at Gunston Hall, on the Potomac, but the +Rising Sun knew him well, and his feet often trod Mary Washington's garden +walks, or the floors of Kenmore, Chatham and the other residences of Old +Fredericksburg. + +Mason was intimate here, and here much of his trading and shipping was +done. When he left Gunston, it was usually to come to Fredericksburg and +meet his younger conferees, who were looking up to him as the greatest +leader in America. He died and is buried at Gunston Hall. It was in +Fredericksburg that he first met young Washington, who ever afterward +looked upon "The Sage of Gunston" as his adviser and friend, and as +America's greatest man. + + +GENERAL WILLIAM WOODFORD + +Although he came from Caroline, General William Woodford was a frequenter +of and often resident in Fredericksburg, and it was from this city he went +to Caroline upon the assembling of troops when Lord Dunmore became +hostile. In subsequent military operations he was made Colonel of the +Second Regiment and distinguished himself in the campaign that followed, +and he was honorably mentioned for his valiant conduct at the battle of +Gread Bridge, December 9, 1775, upon which occasion he had the chief +command and gained a brilliant victory. He was later made General of the +First Virginia Brigade. His command was in various actions throughout the +war, in one of which, the Battle of Brandywine, he was severely wounded. +He was made prisoner by the British in 1778 at Charleston, and taken to +New York, where he died. + + +[Sidenote: _The Owner of "Kenmore"_] + +COL. FIELDING LEWIS + +The mansion stands in a park, which in autumn is an explosion of color. An +old wall, covered with Virginia creeper, adds a touch of glamour to the +Colonial house, and a willow tree commanding a conspicuous corner of the +grounds lends a melancholy aspect which makes up the interesting +atmosphere of Kenmore, part of the estate of Colonel Fielding Lewis, who +brought to this home his bride, "Betty," a sister of George Washington, +and where they lived as befitted people of wealth and learning, his wife +giving an added meaning to the social life of the old town, and Colonel +Lewis himself taking an active and prominent part in the civic affairs, as +most people of wealth and culture deemed it their duty to do in the days +gone by. + +Colonel Lewis was an officer in the Patriot Army and commanded a division +at the siege of Yorktown. He was an ardent patriot and when the Revolution +started his activities ran to the manufacture of firearms, which were made +at "The Gunnery" from iron wrought at the foundry, traces of which may +still be seen on the Rappahannock river, just above the village of +Falmouth. + +Colonel Lewis was a magistrate in the town after the war, a member of the +City Council and represented the county in the Legislature. + +His son, Captain Robert Lewis, was one of President Washington's private +secretaries and mayor of Fredericksburg from 1821 to the day of his death. +When LaFayette visited the town in 1824, Colonel Lewis was selected to +deliver the address of welcome. + +However, we are apt to forget the elegancies and excellencies of the +courtly man whose life was dedicated to useful service in a note that is +struck by the home in which he lived. Kenmore, in the light of its past, +sounds an overtone of romance. We cannot escape it, and it persistently +reverberates above the people it sheltered. + + +[Sidenote: _The Greatest Officeholder_] + +JAMES MONROE + +James Monroe was among the most important citizens that ever lived in +Fredericksburg. + +Monroe was born in Westmoreland County, not far from what is now Colonial +Beach. When a young man he was attracted by the larger opportunities +afforded by the town and moved to Fredericksburg, where he began the +practice of law, having an office in the row of old brick buildings on the +west side of Charles Street, just south of Commerce. Records still in the +courthouse show that he bought property on lower Princess Anne Street, +which still is preserved and known as "The Home of James Monroe." Monroe +occupied the house when it was located at Bradley's corner, and it was +afterwards moved to its present site, though some contend that he lived in +the house on its present site. + +Shortly after his arrival he became affiliated with St. George's Church, +soon being elected a vestryman, and when he had been here the proper +length of time he got into politics, and was chosen as one of the Town +Councilmen. From this humble political preferment at the hands of the +Fredericksburg people, he began a career that seemed ever afterward to +have included nothing but officeholding. Later he became Continental +Congressman from the district including Fredericksburg, and was, in turn, +from that time on, Representative in the Virginia convention, Governor of +Virginia, United States Congressman, Envoy Extraordinary to France, again +Governor, Minister to England, Secretary of War, once more Minister to +England, Minister to Madrid, Secretary of State and twice President--if +not a world's record at least one that is not often overmatched. Previous +to his political career, Monroe had served in the Revolutionary Army as a +Captain, having been commissioned while a resident of Fredericksburg. + +Monroe gave to America one of its greatest documents--known to history as +the Monroe Doctrine. It was directed essentially against the purposes of +the Holy Alliance, formed in 1815 by the principal European powers with +the fundamental object of putting down democratic movements on the part of +the people, whether they arose abroad or on this side of the world. After +consultation with English statesmen and with Jefferson, Adams, John Quincy +Adams and Calhoun, Monroe announced his new principle which declared that +the United States of America would resent any attempt of the Alliance to +"extend their system to this part of the Hemisphere." + + +[Sidenote: _"Old Doctor Mortimer"_] + +DR. CHARLES MORTIMER + +In a beautiful old home on lower Main Street, surrounded by a wall, +mellowed by time, and ivy-crowned, lived Washington's dear friend and +physician, Dr. Charles Mortimer. He could often be seen, in the days gone +by, seated on his comfortable "verandah," smoking a long pipe, covered +with curious devices, and discussing the affairs of the moment with those +rare intellects who were drawn there by the interesting atmosphere of +blended beauty and mentality. There was, as a background, a garden, +sloping to the river, and sturdy trees checquered the sunlight. +Old-fashioned flowers nodded in the breeze which blew up from the +Rappahannock, and the Doctor's own tobacco ships, with their returned +English cargoes, swung on their anchors at the foot of the terraces. + +If one entered the house at the dinner hour, every delicacy of land and +water would conspire against a refusal to dine with the host of this +hospitable mansion. Highly polished and massive pewter dishes, disputed +possession of the long mahogany table, with a mammoth bowl of +roses--arrogantly secure of an advantageous position in the center. + +There was often the sound of revelry by night, and the rafters echoed gay +laughter and the music of violins--high, and sweet and clear. + +An historic dinner, following the famous Peace Ball at the old Market +House in November, 1784, was given here, and the hostess, little Maria +Mortimer, sixteen years old, the Doctor's only daughter, with her hair +"cruped high" for the first time, presided, and her bon mots won the +applause of the company, which was quite a social triumph for a +sixteen-year-old girl, trying to hold her own with Lafayette, Count +d'Estang and the famous Rochambeau. They clicked glasses and drank to her +health standing, and little Maria danced with "Betty Lewis' Uncle George +himself," for Washington did not disdain the stately measures of the +minuet. + +But there is an obverse here. The old Doctor did not fail in his duty. On +horseback, with his saddlebag loaded with medicines, he rode down dark +forest paths to the homes of pioneers, traveled the streets of +Fredericksburg and came silently along lone trails in the country in the +dead of night, when hail or snow or driving rains cut at him bitterly +through the trees. He refused no call, and claimed small fees. He was Mary +Washington's physician for years, called on her almost daily, and stood by +her bedside mute, when, the struggle over, she quietly passed on to the +God in whom she had put her deepest faith. + +Of the many people who walk in Hurkamp Park, in the center of the old +town, there are few who know that they are passing daily over the grave of +the genial and popular Doctor, who was Fredericksburg's first mayor, and +Washington's dearest friend. + + +[Sidenote: _Maury--a Master Genius_] + +MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY + +Of all the famous men who went from Fredericksburg to take large parts in +the rapidly moving history of America, or in the work of the world, +Commodore Maury added most to the progress of science. Not only did he +create knowledge, but he created wealth by the immense saving he effected +to shipping by charting shorter ocean routes. He is buried in Hollywood +Cemetery, in Richmond, under a simple shaft which bears the name, "Matthew +Fontaine Maury." The great "pathfinder of the seas" was born in +Spotsylvania County, January, 1806, and died at Lexington in 1873. + +[Sidenote: _A World Famed Scientist_] + +He wore the most prized decorations the monarchs of Europe could give him; +he founded the most valuable natural science known, and was reckoned a +transcendent genius. Of him, Mellin Chamberlain, Librarian of Congress, +said, with calm consideration "I do not suppose there is the least doubt +that Maury was the greatest man America ever produced." + +Alexander Humbolt said that Maury created a new science. + +He plunged into the unknown; he charted the seas and mapped its currents +and winds. He was the first to tell the world that winds and currents were +not of chance, but of fixed and immutable laws, and that even cyclones +were well governed. He knew why a certain coast was dry and another rainy, +and he could, on being informed of the latitude and longitude of a place, +tell what was the prevailing weather and winds. + +Maury went to sea as a midshipman in the American navy in 1825, and in +1831, at twenty-four years of age, he became master of the sloop Falmouth, +with orders to go to the Pacific waters, but, though he sought diligently, +he found no chart of a track for his vessel, no record of currents or of +winds to guide him. The sea was a trackless wilderness, and the winds were +things of vagrant caprice. And he began then to grapple with those +problems which were to immortalize him. + +He came back from ocean wanderings in a few years and married an old +sweetheart, Miss Ann Herndon, of Fredericksburg, and he lived for a time +on Charlotte Street, between Princess Anne and Prince Edward, and wrote +his first book, "A Treatise on Navigation;" while from his pen came a +series of newspaper and magazine articles that startled the world of +scientific thought. For the man had discovered new and unsuspected natural +laws! + +Misfortune--that vastly helped him--came in 1839, when his leg was injured +through the overturning of a stage coach. The government put him in charge +of a new "Bureau of Charts and Instruments," at Washington, and out of +his work here grew the Naval Observatory, the Signal Service and the first +Weather Bureau ever established on earth! Every other science was old. His +science was utterly new, a field untouched. + +[Sidenote: _Charting Seas and Winds_] + +He found a mass of log books of American warships. Over these he pondered. +He sent hundreds of bottles and buoys to be dropped into the seven seas by +fighting craft and merchantmen. + +These were picked up now and again and came back to him, and from the +information sent to him with them, and soundings in thousands of places, +added to what he had gleaned in earlier years, he prepared his greatest +work. It took ultimate form in a series of six "charts" and eight large +volumes of "sailing directions," that comprehended all the waters and +winds in all climes, and on every sea where white sails bend and steamer +smoke drifts. + +The charts exhibit, with wonderful accuracy, the winds and currents, their +force and direction at different seasons, the calm belts, the trade winds, +the rains and storms--the gulf stream, the Japan current--all the great +ocean movements; and the sailing directions are treasure chests for +seamen. Paths were marked out on the ocean, and a practical result was, +that one of the most difficult sea voyages--from New York to San +Francisco, around the Horn--was shortened by forty days. It has been +estimated that by shortening the time of many sea voyages, Commander Maury +has effected a saving of not less than $40,000,000 each year. + +Of his own work, Maury wrote: + +"So to shape the course on voyages at sea as to make the most of winds and +currents, is the perfection of the navigator's art. How the winds blow or +the currents flow along this route or that is no longer a matter of +speculation or opinion. The wind and weather, daily encountered by +hundreds who sailed before him, have been tabulated for the mariner; nay, +the path has been blazed for him on the sea; mile posts have been set +upon the waves and time tables furnished for the trackless waste." + +It was this work that, reaching over Europe and Asia, brought on the +Brussels conference in 1853, to which Maury, founder of the science of +hydrography and meteorology, went as America's representative, and here he +covered himself with honors. He came back to write his "Physical Geography +of the Sea and Its Meteorology." + +This, the essence of his life work, the poetry and the romance of his +science, passed through twenty editions and was known in every school, but +the book's greatest interest was killed by the removal of the poetic +strain that made it beautiful. It has been translated into almost every +language. In it is the story of the sea, its tides and winds, its shore +lines and its myriads of life; its deep and barren bottoms. For Maury also +charted the ocean floors, and it was his work in this line that caused +Cyrus Field to say of the laying of the Atlantic cable: + +"Maury furnished the brains, England furnished the money, and I did the +work." + +[Sidenote: _Honored by All Europe_] + +No other American ever was honored by Emperors and Kings as was Matthew +Fontaine Maury. He was given orders of Knighthood by the Czar of Russia, +the King of Denmark, King of Spain, King of Portugal, King of Belgium and +Emperor of France, while Russia, Austria, Sweden, Holland, Sardenia, +Bremen, Turkey and France struck gold medals in his honor. The pope of +Rome sent him a full set of all the medals struck during his pontificate. +Maximilian decorated him with "The Cross of the Order of Guadaloupe" while +Germany bestowed on him the "Cosmos Medal," struck in honor of Von +Humboldt, and the only duplicate of that medal in existence. + +The current of the Civil War swept Maury away from Washington, and he +declined offers from France, Germany and Russia, joining his native state +in the Confederacy. He introduced the submarine torpedo, and rendered the +South other service before the final wreck, which left him stranded and +penniless. He went to Mexico now, to join his fortunes with those of the +unhappy Maximilian, and when the Emperor met his tragic end he found +himself again resourceless--and crippled. In 1868 when general amnesty was +given, he came back to become the first professor of meteorology at the +Virginia Military Institute. In October, 1872, he became ill and died in +February of the next year. + +And this man, who had from Kings and Emperors more decorations than any +American has ever received, and for whom Europe had ever ready the highest +honors and greatest praise, was ignored by his own government, to which he +gave his life's work. No word of thanks, no tribute of esteem, no reward, +was ever given him. A bill to erect a monument to him lies now rotting in +some pigeonhole in Congress. But an effort to renew this is underway. + + +ARCHIBALD MCPHERSON + +Curiously enough, no more memory is left to Fredericksburg of Archibald +McPherson than the tombstone under the mock orange tree in St. George's +Church, the tablets to his memory in the old charity school on Hanover +Street (now the Christian Science Church) and a few shadowy legends and +unmeaning dates. + +He was born in Scotland and died in Fredericksburg in 1854. He was a +member of St. George's Church and vestry. + +But what manner of man he was, the few recorded acts we know will convey +to every one. He established a Male Charity School with his own funds +principally, and took a deep interest in it, and, dying, he left the small +fortune he had accumulated by Scotch thrift "to the poor of the town," and +provided means of dispensing the interest on this sum for charity +throughout the years to come. Most of this fund was wiped out by +depreciation of money, etc., during the Civil War. + + + + +_Men of Modern Times_ + + _Soldiers, Adventurers and Sailors, Heroes and Artists, mingle here._ + + +A prophet without honor in his own country was Moncure Daniel Conway +because, a Fredericksburger and a Southerner, he opposed slavery. But his +genius won him world praise, and later, honer in his own country. + +Born in 1832, near Falmouth, to which village his people moved later, the +child of Walker Peyton Conway and Marguerite Daniel Conway he inherited +from a long line of ancestry, a brilliant intellect and fearlessness to +tread the paths of freedom. + +The difficult studious child was too much for his teacher, Miss Gaskins, +of Falmouth, so he was sent, at the age of ten, to Fredericksburg +Classical and Mathematical Academy, originally John Marye's famous school, +and made rapid progress. + +His hero was his great uncle, Judge R. C. L. Moncure, of Glencairne, and +his early memoirs are full of loving gratitude for the great man's +toleration and help. The Methodism of his parents did not hold him, for he +several times attended the services at St. George's Church. + +The wrongs of slavery he saw, and after he entered Dickinson College, at +Carlisle, in his fifteenth year, he found an anti-slavery professor, +McClintock, who influenced him and encouraged his dawning agnosticism. His +cousin, John M. Daniel, editor of the Richmond Examiner, became, in 1848, +a leading factor in Conway's life, encouraging his literary efforts and +publishing many of his contributions. + +All beauty, all art appealed to him. Music was always a passion, and we +also find constant and quaint references to beautiful women and girls. It +seemed the superlative compliment, though he valued feminine brains and +ability. + +His great spiritual awakening came with his finding an article by Emerson +and at the age of twenty, to the delight of his family, he became a +Methodist minister. + +His career as such was not a success. After one of his sermons, in which +he ignored Heaven and Hell, his father said: "One thing is certain, Monk, +should the Devil aim at a Methodist preacher, you'd be safe." + +He moved to Cambridge. The prominence of his Southern family, and his own +social and intellectual charms gave him entre to the best homes and +chiefest among them, that of his adored Emerson, where he met and knew all +the great lights of the day. His slavery opinions, valuable as a Southern +slave owner's son, made him an asset in the anti-slavery propaganda of the +time. + +[Sidenote: _Conway's Famous Friends_] + +Among his friends were the Thoreaus, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Oliver Wendell +Holmes and Agassiz. + +I must hurry over the charm of those college days to Moncure Conway's +first Unitarian Church, in Washington. So pronounced were his sermons on +anti-slavery that his father advised him not to come home on a visit. He +did come and had the humiliation of being ordered from Falmouth under pain +of tar and feathers, an indignity which cut him to his soul. His success +in Washington was brilliant, but he found trouble, owing to his +abolitionist opinions, and had to resign. In 1856 he accepted a call to a +Cincinnati church, whose literary and artistic circles made much of the +new preacher. The wealth of that larger population enabled Conway to +establish several charitable homes. He married there Ellen Davis Dana, and +there published his first book, "Tracts For Today." He edited a paper, The +Dial, to which Emerson contributed. + +He went to England to the South Place Chapel, London, an ethical society, +and the round peg seemed to have found its proper hole at last. Here he +labored for twenty years, and became known through all Europe. His +personal recollections of Alfred Tennyson, the Brownings their courtship; +of Carlyle, are classics. A very interesting light is thrown on Freud. He +was intimate with the whole pre-Raphaelite school and gives account among +others of Rossetti and his lovely wife, all friendships he formed in Madam +Brown's charming home. + +Burne Jones, Morris, Whistler, Swinburne, Arthur Hughs, DeMaurier (was +there ever such a collection of genius in one country) are all described +in Conway's vivid pen pictures. Artemus Warde was his friend, and Conway +conducted the funeral services over that world's joy giver, and in his +same South End Chapel, preached memorial addresses on Cobblen, Dickens, +Maurice, Mazzanni, Mill, Straus, Livingstone, George Eliot, Stanley, +Darwin, Longfellow, Carlyle, the beloved Emerson, Tennyson, Huxley and Abe +Lincoln, whom he never admired, though he recognized his brain and +personality. He accused him of precipitating the horrible war for the sake +of a flag and thus murdering a million men. + +Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and his wife visited England in 1872 and +Moncure Conway and his wife knew them intimately and afterwards visited +them in this country. Joseph Jefferson, John Motley, George Eliot, Mrs. +Humphrey Ward (whose book, Robert Elsmere, he flays) and W. S. Gilbert, +all were his friends. The man was a genius, a social Voltaire; a master of +thought and phrase. Where before did an exile from his own country ever +achieve a friendship circle where the names now scintillate over all the +world? + +[Sidenote: _He Travels Through Russia_] + +He visited Paris in 1867 and the story of his travels in Russia later are +full of charm, of folk lore and religious mysticism. But before long we +find him back in his South Place Chapel. His accounts of several woman +preachers there are interesting, as is that of Annie Besant--the wondrous +before-her-time--whom Mrs. Conway befriended in her bitter persecution by +her parson husband for agnosticism. In 1875 Conway returned to America, +and Falmouth town, grieving over the war ravages and his lost boyhood +friends. He toured through the West, lecturing on Demonology, and the +great Englishmen he knew. The death of his son, Dana, and of his wife in +1897, were blows, and his remaining years were spent in Europe with +several visits between to his brother, Peter V. D. Conway, of +Fredericksburg, and friends in America. His life ended in 1907 in Paris. A +great man, a brilliant and a brave one. He fought for his beliefs as +bravely as ever did any warrior or explorer in unknown lands. + + +[Illustration: BEAUTIFUL "BELMONT" + +_On Falmouth Heights, Now the Home of Mr. and Mrs. Gari Melchers_] + + +[Sidenote: _A Great American Artist_] + +GARI MELCHERS + +Crowning a hill, which is the triumphant result of a series of terraces +rising from the town of Falmouth, opposite Fredericksburg, is Belmont, the +home of Gari Melchers, an American artist, who has been more honored +abroad than any of our living painters, with the exception, perhaps, of +John Singer Sargent. + +Born in Detroit, Gari Melchers left America when he was seventeen, to +pursue his studies in Europe. + +His apprentice days were spent in Dusseldorf and Paris, where his +professional debut in 1889 gained for him the coveted Grand Prix--Sargent +and Whistler being the only other American painters similarly honored. + +Italy had to resign to Holland the prestige of lending her country to the +genius of Mr. Melchers, for he intended to reside in Italy, but owing to +the outbreak of the cholera there he settled at Engmond instead. His +studio borrowed the interest of the sea on one side and the charm of a +lazy canal on the other, and over its door were inscribed the words: "Wahr +und Klar" (Truth and Clarity). Here he worked at those objective and +realistic pictures of Dutch life and scenes; and free from all scholastic +pretense, he painted the serene, yet colorful panorama of Holland. + +Christian Brinton says of the art of Gari Melchers that it is explicit and +veracious. Prim interiors are permeated with a light that envelopes all +things with a note of sadness. Exterior scenes reflect the shifting of +seasons or the precise hour of day. He paints air as well as light and +color. Without exaggeration, he manages to suggest the intervening aerial +medium between the seer and the thing seen. + +Mr. Melchers has no set formula. + +In 1918 there was a wonderful "one man" display of his art at the Corcoran +Art Gallery, and in 1919, the Loan Exhibition, held by the Copley Society +at the Boston Art Club, was the second of the two important recent events +in the artist's career since his returning to America. Here his work has +undergone some perceptible change, gaining lightness and freshness of +vision, which shows his reaction to a certain essential Americanism. Mr. +Melchers attacks whatever suits his particular mood, and his art is not +suggestive of a subjective temperament. + +"The Sermon"--"The Communion"--"The Pilots"--"The Shipbuilders"--"The +Sailor and His Sweetheart"--"The Open Door" are some of his well-known +canvases. His reputation as a portrait painter rests upon a secure +foundation. + +His awards include medals from Berlin, Antwerp, Vienna, Paris and Munich, +Ansterdam, Dresden, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and many other +medals for art exhibitions. + +He is an officer of the Legion of Honor, France; officer of the Order of +the "Red Eagle," Prussia; officer of the Order of "St. Michael" Bavaria; +officer of the Order of the "White Falcon," Saxe-Weimar. + +Mr. Melchers himself is frank and not chained by minor conventions. He has +a powerful personality and a charming wife, who dispenses a pleasant +hospitality, in a home that leaves nothing to be desired. + + +[Sidenote: _John Elder's Great Work_] + +JOHN A. ELDER + +Fredericksburg gave John A. Elder, the gifted painter to the world, for he +saw the light of day in this town in February, 1833; and here he first +felt that call to art which had its beginnings when Elder would, as a mere +boy, make chalk drawings on the sides of the buildings, and took the +time, while doing errands for his father, to give rein to his imagination +through some interesting sketch, which would finally drift into the +possession of his friends. His father's opposition to an artistic career +for his son did not long retard his progress, as so great was the urge +within him that he borrowed from a fellow townsman, Mr. John Minor, the +money to study abroad, and before long Dusseldorf, Germany, claimed him as +a student, and there the love of line and color which he had inherited +from his mother's family gained definition. Details of his life in +Dusseldorf are too vague to chronicle but he returned to this country at +the beginning of the Civil War, with a knowledge of his art which gained +him instant recognition, and success followed in his footsteps. + +Elder was a man whose sympathetic personality drew the love of his +fellow-men, and his studio was the rendezvous of such men as +Attorney-General R. T. Daniel, Lord Grant, Peterkin, Fred Daniel, who +represented the United States as consul to Rome for fourteen years, and +many others. + +His experiences in war gave to him a sureness and truth in detail, which, +when added to his technique, produced results which challenged the +admiration of all who saw his work. + +[Sidenote: _Some of Elder's Paintings_] + +His "Battle of the Crater" and "Scout's Prize" were inspired by scenes in +which he had figured. The former hangs on the walls of the Westmoreland +Club, in Richmond, Va., and his canvas "After Appomattox" adorns the State +Library in the same city, along with many portraits which trace their +origin to him. + +His "Lee" and "Jackson" are in the Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington, and +there is a portrait of Mr. Corcoran himself which owes its existence to +his gifted brush. + +He visited Jefferson Davis at "Beauvoir" and painted him there. + +Of ordinary height and rather thick set, Mr. Elder's appearance was +characterized by distinction and force. His eyes were dark and very +expressive; he wore a moustache and "imperial" and in all his photographs +we notice the "artistic flowing tie." On the left of his forehead was a +scar, the result of some encounter in Germany, and as the artist never +married, one is apt to read a romance into his life. However, this is pure +speculation, as there is nothing to substantiate such an assumption. + +"Jack" Elder was a master of the foils, and on one occasion when a noted +Frenchman engaged him in a "bout" Elder disarmed him with ease, and the +Frenchman's foil was thrown against the ceiling. + +The artist returned to Fredericksburg, where he lived six years prior to +his death, which occurred on February 25, 1895, and in these last years he +was ministered to by his nieces and nephews, who showed him much devotion. + + +REV. JAMES POWER SMITH + +Rev. James Power Smith was not born in Fredericksburg, but he preached +here for thirty years, at the Presbyterian Church, aiding the poor and +sick, and always smiling. He was highly successful in his church +achievements and in his years of editorship of the Central Presbyterian. + +One night in his life proved him to be minted of fine metal, and that +night inscribed his name forever in history. It was the fearful night when +Stonewall Jackson received his death blow. + +Captain Smith (now Reverend) was a theological student when war broke out, +and was immediately made a military lieutenant (not a chaplain). +Throughout the war he followed close to Jackson, on his staff. Religion +brought them together and their friendship was deep. + +[Sidenote: _When Jackson Was Wounded_] + +When in the darkness of the trees that overhang the Chancellorsville road, +"Stonewall" Jackson was mortally wounded and others about him killed by +their own troops there were a few men, among them General A. P. Hill, at +hand to help him. He had hardly been taken from his horse when two aides, +Lieutenant Morrison and Lieutenant Smith, arrived. With General Hill +directing, they arrested the bleeding. General Hill had to hurry back to +form his men for an attack. Lieutenant Morrison had just seen a field +piece, not 200 yards away, pointing down the Plank Road. There was no +litter, and General Jackson offered to walk to the rear. Leaning on Major +Leigh and Lieutenant Morrison, he began struggling toward his lines. They +had just placed Jackson on a litter that had been sent up, when the +Federal cannon began to rake the road with canister. Every figure, horse +or gun toward the Confederate lines disappeared. They tried to take him +back, but a litter-bearer was struck down and the Great Leader was dropped +and bruised. + +In a moment, on the dark road swept by awful fire, there were but three +men, and, as the subject of this sketch, Lieutenant Smith, was one of +them, it is apropos to quote what Prof. R. S. Dabney says in his Life of +Jackson: + +"The bearers and all the attendants, excepting Major Leigh and the +general's two aides, had left and fled into the woods. While the sufferer +lay in the road with his feet turned toward the enemy, exposed to the fire +of the guns, his attendants displayed a heroic fidelity which deserved to +go down in history with the immortal name of Jackson. Disdaining to leave +their chief, they lay down beside him, leaning above him and trying as far +as possible to protect him with their bodies. On one side was Major Leigh, +on the other Lieutenant Smith. Again and again was the earth torn by +volleys of canister, and minnie balls hissed over them, the iron striking +flashes from the stones about him." + +Finally when the firing ceased, General Jackson was removed from the +battlefield to a hospital, and then to Mr. Chandler's house at Guinea +Station, where he died, May 10, 1863. + +Lieutenant Smith became The Reverend when war ceased, and married Miss +Agnes Lucy Lacy, a daughter of Major J. Horace Lacy. + +He was well known in Fredericksburg. For thirty years he was pastor here; +for fifty years Secretary of the Presbyterian Synod, and for years editor +of the Central Presbyterian. Many know his works. All men know the deep, +immovable courage it took that night to lie as a barrier, to take whatever +death might be hurled down the shell-swept road toward "Stonewall" +Jackson. + +He still lives, in 1921, in Richmond. His voice is low, his smile soft, +and his religion his life. He is the last surviving member of "Stonewall" +Jackson's staff. + + +MAJOR J. HORACE LACY + +There are many living now who remember him. The strong, stolid figure, the +fine old face traced with the lineage of gentility, the cane that pounded +down the sidewalks as he went where he willed. There are some left who +knew the power and poetry and kindliness of the man. + +Major Lacy was a graduate of Washington and Lee and an attorney at law, +though he seldom practiced. He was married in 1848 at Chatham, when he was +twenty-four years of age, to Miss Betty Churchill Jones, and later became +the owner of "Chatham" and of the "Lacy House," about each of which clings +grim traditions of war; both the Wilderness place and Chatham became known +in those two battles as "The Lacy House." + +Washington Irving was his guest while spending some time in Virginia; +General Robert E. Lee was his guest, and many other widely known men. + +His service in war was well done. He was made a lieutenant at the +beginning and promoted to major on the field of battle at Seven Pines. He +served under General Joseph E. Johnston until the latter surrendered, some +time after Appomattox. + +When the war was ended he went North to do a brave thing. He spoke through +Pennsylvania and Maryland, pleading for funds to bury and put grave +stones over the Confederate dead. He had experiences there. But his +splendid oratory and the courage of his presence usually kept order. + +[Sidenote: _Winning a Hostile Audience_] + +He spoke once at Baltimore, and among his audience was an Irish Federal +regiment, clad half in uniform, half in civilians, as forgotten +ex-privates usually are. Major Lacy was told that most of the audience was +hostile and threatening. + +He walked on the platform and spoke a few words about the unknown men he +came to get funds to decently bury, of the women away where the starlight +was twinkling over cabin and home, of those who waited, listening for a +step; of those who were never again to see the men they loved. + +Shuffling feet and laughter dulled the simple pathos of his words. Then +turning half away from his audience he recited a poem called "The Irish +Immigrant's Lament": + + "I am sitting on the stile, Mary, + Where we sat, side by side, + On that bright May morning long ago, + When first you were my bride." + +He began it thus, and into his voice, filled with the sorrows of the +"Mary's" who wept down in his Southland, he put the full strength of his +expression. The hostile audience was silent as he finished. + + "And often in the far-off world, + I'll sit and close my eyes, + And my heart will travel back again + To where my Mary lies. + And I'll think I see the little stile + Where we sat, side by side, + Mid the young corn on that bright May morn + When you were first my bride." + +The Irishmen who had fought against the cause which Lacy loved were quiet +now, and when he said, "Wouldn't you want a bit of a stone for 'Mary' to +remember you," they yelled and rushed to grasp his hand. From his +"hostile" audience he collected $14,000.00 that night. In the whole tour +he gathered a great sum for Confederate cemeteries. + +During his later years, with his wife, who represented the ladies of +another era, as he did its men, he lived on Washington Avenue, in +Fredericksburg. To few did he ever show the deeper side of his character, +but those who knew him until he died in 1906, knew how much kindly +manliness dwelt therein. + + +MAJOR GENERAL DANIEL RUGGLES + +Although Major General Daniel Ruggles was born in Massachusetts, he +married Miss Richardetta Mason Hooe, a great granddaughter of George +Mason, and the greater part of his life was spent in Fredericksburg, of +which he became a citizen and in which he died. + +During his life in Fredericksburg he concerned himself with the business +of the town, and was known to almost all of its residents. + +He was graduated into the army from West Point in 1883 and lead a small +band into the west and explored the Fox river the same year. + +[Sidenote: _General Ruggles' Career_] + +When the Seminole Indian war broke out Lieutenant Ruggles with fifty men +penetrated the everglades and was commended for his services. In the +Mexican war he stopped the Mexican advance at Palo Alto and was promoted +to Captain on the field. + +Captain Ruggles and his men reached Chapaultepec, drove into the city, +made a determined stand and were the first of the advancing American Army +to raise the American flag over the fort. He was breveted Major by +President Polk "for gallant and meritorious conduct at Chereubusco" and a +little later was made Lieutenant Colonel "for gallant and conspicuous +bravery at Chapaultepec." In 1861 he joined the Confederate Army. + +[Sidenote: _The Real "First Battle"_] + +Placed in command of the most important of the Southern departments at +Fredericksburg, the "gateway to the South," he organized and equipped a +small army. When the Confederacy found that they had no gun caps, +necessary on the old "muzzle loaders," and no copper from which to make +caps, General Ruggles invented a cap made from raw hide and dried in the +sun (specimens are in the National Museum), which were used by the whole +Southern Army during the first three months of the war. + + +[Illustration: OLD "CHATHAM" + +_One of the Most Characteristic of All Virginia Colonial Mansions_] + + +General Ruggles planted artillery and, using these caps with match heads +to explode them, drove off the Union gunboats and a lading force at Aquia +Creek May 31, 1861, nine days before "Big Bethel", and weeks after +Virginia seceded. He thus fought and won the first battle of the Civil +war. + +His career during the war won him wide recognition. His movements won the +battle of Shiloh through finding a weak point in the enemy's line. He was +made Major General March 25, 1865, and surrendered at Augusta, Ga., after +Appomattox. Although he fought in five Indian wars, the Mexican war and +the Civil war, from the start to finish, and was recognized as a man who +would lead his men anywhere, he never received a wound of any kind in his +life. + +Many people in Fredericksburg remember him now, with his fine face, his +erect figure and his long gray whiskers. In his latter days some people +laughed at him, not understanding that there was genius in the man, +because of his first experience with "rainmaking." He invented the method +which is used now by the United States Government, under his patent. He +earned the name of "raincrow" which sometimes reached his ears. He +patented the first propeller which was ever used on a steam boat (model in +the National Museum). He also invented the first principles of the +telephone. He invented in 1858 a system whereby an electric bell on a ship +would ring on the approach of the ship to any rock or point on the shore +equipped with the same apparatus. This was tested by the navy and +proclaimed impractical, but it contained the principles of wireless +telegraphy. It is used by the American navy today. + + +JOHN ROGER CLARK, EXPLORER + +Though a monument has just been erected in another city which claims him +as a citizen, there is excellent evidence of the fact that John Roger +Clarke, reclaimer of the great Northwest, and also his brother, William +Clarke, who with Merriweather Lewis, explored the Mississippi, were born +in Spotsylvania County and lived near Fredericksburg. According to Quinn's +History of Fredericksburg, Maury's History of Virginia and letters from +descendents, the two famous Clarke brothers were sons of Jonathan Clarke, +who lived at Newmarket, Spotsylvania County, where John Roger Clarke was +born. Jonathan Clarke was clerk of the County Court of Spotsylvania and +afterwards moved to Fredericksburg, where it may be probable, the younger +son was born. Later they moved to Albemarle County, near Charlottesville, +where the two sons grew to manhood. + +The history of the two Clarkes' is so well known, even by school children, +that it is needless to go into it here, the purpose of this reference +being to establish their connection with the town. + + +MAJOR ELLIOTT MUSE BRAXTON + +Major Elliott Muse Braxton is widely known, as he was once Congressman +from this district. He was born in the County of Middlesex, October 2, +1823, was a grandson of Carter Braxton, one of Virginia's signers of the +Declaration of Independence. His father was also Carter Braxton, a +successful lawyer in Richmond. + +In 1851 he was elected to the Senate of Virginia. So ably and efficiently +did Major Braxton represent his constituents that he won another election +without any opposition. + +In 1854 he married Anna Marie Marshall, a granddaughter of the great +expounder of the Constitution, Chief Justice Marshall. In 1859 he adopted +Fredericksburg as his home, where he was when "war's dread alarm," came. +He organized a company of infantry, of which he was unanimously elected +captain, from which position he was soon promoted to that of major, and +assigned to the staff of General John R. Cooke. On the conclusion of +hostilities he again engaged in the practice of law, forming a +co-partnership with the late C. Wistar Wallace, Esq. In 1870 he was +nominated at Alexandria by the Democrats for Congress, the City of +Fredericksburg being then a constituent of the Eighth District. + +He continued to practice his profession of law until failing health +admonished him to lay its burdens down. + +On October 2, 1891, he died in his home at Fredericksburg, and Virginia +mourned a son who was always true, loyal and faithful. Elliott Muse +Braxton was a Virginia gentleman and in saying that a good deal is +comprehended. Courteous in manner, considerate in tone and temper, clean +in character, loyal to State and to Church, cherishing with ardor as the +years went by, the obligations and the responsibilities of old Virginia, +he fell asleep. + + +DR. FRANCIS P. WELLFORD + +"But a certain Samaritan as he journeyed came where he was and when he saw +him, he had compassion on him--and went to him and bound up his wounds." +In this way we are told the tender story of the Good Samaritan. + +In 1877 Dr. Francis Preston Wellford, of Fredericksburg, was living in +Jacksonville, Florida, when a scourge of yellow fever invaded Fernandina. +Almost all of its physicians were victims of the disease, or worn out with +work. Dr. Wellford volunteered for service, which was almost certain +death, fell a victim, and died, on the same day and in the next cot to his +fellow-townsman, Dr. Herndon. + + "For whether on the scaffold high, + Or in the battle's van, + The noblest death that man can die; + Is when he dies for man." + +Over his grave in the cemetery at Fredericksburg, there is an imposing +monument, with this simple inscription: + + "Francis Preston Wellford, + Born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, + September 12, 1839." + +On the beautiful memorial window in St. Peter's Church, Fernandina, +Florida, erected by Dr. J. H. Upham, of Boston, who felt that their memory +should not be neglected, one reads: + + "Francis Preston Wellford, M. D. + Born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, + Sept. 12, 1839, + + James Carmicheal Herndon, M. D. + Born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, + Sept. 22, 1821, + Died in the faithful discharge of their duties at + Fernandina, Florida, + Oct. 18, 1877." + + +DR. JAMES C. HERNDON + +When surgeons were needed for the Confederate Army, the Dr. Herndon above +mentioned left his practice and went, although exempted by law. He served +through four years of war, and when peace was declared, made his home in +Florida. + +He was state physician there, when Fernandina was stricken by the dread +yellow fever, and the population was almost helpless. + +Deeming it his duty, Herndon voluntarily went into the city of the dying. +He had worked but a few days when he was stricken, and death followed. + +He died as bravely as a man may die, and few have died for so good a +cause. He sleeps in the silent cemetery in Fredericksburg, his home. + + +HON. A. WELLINGTON WALLACE + +Among the men whose writings have added to Fredericksburg's fame is Hon. +A. Wellington Wallace, at one time Judge of the Corporation Court of +Fredericksburg and, later chosen President of the Virginia Bar +Association. Judge Wallace never sought political office and his abilities +therefore never were fully publicly known in that line, but some of his +literary compositions have been widely read and favorably criticised. The +most important of his work, perhaps, is his epitome on the intents, +purposes and meaning of the constitution. Though brief it clearly and +sharply defines and analyses the important document under which we are +governed, and gives to the reader an intelligent conception of what its +framers aimed at and hoped to do, such as could not be gained in pages of +lengthier reading. + + +HON. A. P. ROWE + +(1817-1900) + +One of the best known and most beloved characters of the after-the-war +period was Absalom P. Rowe, affectionately known as "Marse Ab." He served +as Quartermaster, Confederate States Army, throughout the Civil War, and +after its close, played a leading part in restoring order and system out +of the terrible desolation with which this section was inflicted. He was +prominent in all matters pertaining to the civic and State governments and +was a powerful influence in all the stirring events of that period. + +"Marse Ab" represented the district comprising Fredericksburg and +Spotsylvania county in the State Legislature for the session 1879-1880, +and served as Mayor of Fredericksburg continuously from 1888 to 1900, with +the exception of one term, and had just been re-elected for another term +at the time of his death. + +Fredericksburg was then under its old charter and the police court was +presided over by the Mayor. "Marse Ab's" court was known far and wide, +and his characteristic method of dealing out justice was the cause of fear +to offenders and a source of amusement to large numbers of onlookers who +always attended the sessions of court. "Marse Ab's" decisions were quickly +reached and swiftly delivered, and the penalties inflicted were tempered +with the wisdom and discretion of his long experience and his rare +qualities as a judge of human nature. + +Mayor Rowe was the father of Captain M. B. Rowe, ex-Mayor J. P. Rowe, +Messrs. A. P. Rowe and Alvin T. Rowe, all prominent business men of the +city today. + + +[Sidenote: _A Famous "Tramp Comedian"_] + +NAT C. WILLS + +Not only has Fredericksburg contributed men who took high rank in the +political, economic and scientific up-building of the country, but it has +furnished at least one of those who ranked highest as an amuser of the +Nation. This was Nat Wills, nationally known to the American theater going +public as the foremost exemplifier of the tramp. Wills' real name was +Matthew McGrath Wills. When still a young man he went from Fredericksburg +and made his home in Washington. There he humbly began a stage career as a +tramp comedian that ended, when he was at the pinnacle of success, with +his sudden death in New York some eight years ago. + +Merely to have been a successful "Tramp Comedian" does not imply fame. But +Wills was more than merely a tramp comedian. He was creator of a new art +on the American stage and those who now caricature the lowly denizen of +the cross ties, are followers of the lead he took. In mannerism, type and +action they copy Wills' conception of what a true tramp should be, but +none yet has succeeded in portraying the character with the humor that +Wills put into his work. + +Technically speaking Wills was a low comedian, but his wit and humor and +art are not suggested by that term. Dressed in clothes that were +themselves a burlesque of the world's kindness, he represented with +dramatic humor a character that went through life unconscious of his +rags, careless of the present and unafraid of the future, but with a +kindness of heart and a philosophy that is true only to those who have +viewed life from close to its rougher aspects. After he had achieved +success his plays were especially written for him and he had a large part +in their making. His lines were witty and clever and as curtain encores he +sang parodies he had written on whatever were the popular songs of the +day, and these were brilliant satires on the original themes. + + +[Illustration: JOHN PAUL JONES HOME + +_Above: A Grocery Since 1760. Below, Stevens House_] + + +Wills never forgot the city of his nativity. Whenever close enough to be +appreciated, he always told a joke that permitted him to bring in his +connection with the town. His sudden death was a shock to theater goers, +and no one has since supplanted in their affections the particular +character he essayed. Though dead he remains master of the art he created. + + +[Sidenote: _The Gallant Herndon's Death_] + +COMMANDER WM. LEWIS HERNDON + +It is not so much because of his life as of his death, that every +Fredericksburger cherishes the memory of Commander William Lewis Herndon. +He was born here in 1813, and fifteen years afterwards was made a +midshipman and in 1855 reached the rank of Admiral. Commander Herndon made +the first exploration of the Amazon, amidst great dangers, and his book on +this subject became a standard. + +With 478 souls aboard, Commander Herndon started from New York for South +America in 1857 on the big passenger ship "Central America." She sailed +proudly out, the flying fish fleeing her prow down the Gulf Stream through +sunny days, until suddenly in the Gulf of Mexico the ship shattered +against a rock. + +Standing with his sword in his hand, Commander Herndon saw the boats +lowered one by one until each woman and child was safely on the sea in +life boats. Ordering his men to continue disembarking passengers he went +below to put on his dress uniform, and coming back directed the making of +rafts. Hundreds of men jumped and nearly 150 were lost. Commander Herndon +stood last on the ship upon the Bridge that is a Captain's castle, the +gold of his uniform losing its glow as the sun fell behind the far off +shore lines. Still hovering near, the sailors in a half dozen boats in +which were women and children, cried out to him to come over. He bent his +head a moment in prayer then doffed his cocked hat, and smiling, went down +as his ship plunged bow forward into the Gulf waters. There is no +tradition of our Navy more glowing than this one, which Commander Herndon, +of Fredericksburg, added to its legends. + + +[Sidenote: _Men of the Old Navy_] + +CAPTAIN RUDD, U. S. NAVY + +Captain John Rudd was a resident of our City after his retirement from the +U. S. Navy. He was too old to serve in the Confederacy and lived in a +house next to the old Citizens Hall, near where the Catholic Church now +stands. + +He sailed many years in the old Navy, and had many tales to tell to the +young people of his neighborhood concerning his adventures. + + +COMMODORE THEO. R. ROOTES + +Commodore Theo. R. Rootes resigned from the U. S. Navy in 1861, and was +immediately named as commander in the Confederate Navy. He was stationed +in Richmond in the early part of the war and in 1864 was given the command +of the ironclad "Fredericksburg" of the James river fleet. He took part in +the expedition against the U. S. fleet on the James river and was a member +of the Naval Brigade which after the evacuation of Richmond was surrounded +at Sailors Creek, April 6, 1865. He lived in the old Scott house, now +owned by Charles Cole, Esq., on the corner of Prince Edward and Amelia +Streets. + + +[Sidenote: _Two Great Naval Officers_] + +REAR ADMIRAL GRIFFIN + +Of the men whom Fredericksburg has sent forth in its more modern era, Rear +Admiral Robert S. Griffin, who was born in 1857, entered as a cadet +engineer at Annapolis and was graduated in 1878, is among the most +notable. Admiral Griffin has spent no fewer than fourteen years of a busy +career on sea duty, and has been for a decade a recognized authority on +naval engineering. In his position as Chief of the Bureau of Naval +Engineering he is responsible for the innovations and improvements in our +capital ships, the electric drive for cruisers, the turbine reduction gear +for destroyers. + +The high state of efficiency in the Engineering Department is due to +Admiral Griffin's constant efforts and his tact in overcoming Naval and +Congressional opposition is a personal accomplishment. + +Admiral Griffin resigned from the Bureau on September 21, 1921, and was +retired September 27, 1921. + +He lives in Washington, but is a valued visitor to his former City from +time to time. Admiral Griffin's record is almost unexcelled. He rose by +hard work and brains and has for years been a source of pride to +Fredericksburg. He is one of the few men still living whom we may class as +"great." + + +CAPTAIN BARNEY, U. S. NAVY + +Captain Joseph N. Barney was born in Baltimore in 1818. He graduated from +Annapolis first in his class in 1834 and spent many years at sea until +1861, when he resigned to offer his services to the Confederacy. + +He commanded the "Jamestown" at the Battle of Hampton Roads, March 8th and +9th, 1862, and, on April 11th, was sent in to capture vessels under the +guns of the Monitor, hoping to provoke the latter to come out and fight. + +He commanded a battery at the fight at Drury's Bluff, and later in the war +took part in the operations at the Sabine pass and was sent to command +the C. S. Cruiser Florida, but was prevented by ill health. He was +purchasing agent for the Confederacy at the cessation of the hostilities, +and after the war made one voyage in the command of a commercial steamer. +Captain Barney made his home in Fredericksburg from 1874 to 1899, when his +death occurred. His career was a distinguished one and he had in his later +years, spent here, a host of friends in Fredericksburg. + + +CAPTAIN LYNCH, U. S. NAVY + +Captain M. F. Lynch was born near Fredericksburg, in 1801 was appointed a +midshipman in the U. S. Navy in 1819, promoted to Lieutenant in 1828, and +shortly afterwards made an important scientific investigation of the +topography of the Dead Sea Valley in Palestine. He made the first correct +maps and soundings of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, and his report was +published by the United States Government and much valued by the +scientific world. He was made a Captain in 1856 and held this rank when he +resigned to enter the Confederate Navy. His work with the Virginia Navy in +the defenses of Aquia Creek and the Potomac was complimented by his +opponents, and later he took part in the defense of the coast of North +Carolina, winning much credit by his zealous action at the battles of +Hatteras Inlet and Roanoke Island. + +In 1864 Captain Lynch was transferred to duty on the Mississippi River, +where he aided in the preparation of the famous ram, the Arkansas, for her +brilliant career. He died in Baltimore, October 17, 1865. + + +COMMANDER GEORGE MINOR, C. S. N. + +Commander George Minor resigned from the United States Navy in April, +1861, and was immediately put in command of the newly created Bureau of +Ordinance and Hydrography at Richmond. This Bureau was of invaluable +service to the young Confederacy, sending out 220 guns in the first year. +Commander Minor was instrumental in establishing the arsenals at Atlanta +and New Orleans and other points. He spent his last years in our City, +well remembered by many of the present generation. He died in 1878. While +residing in Fredericksburg he lived in what was the late College Building. + + +COMMANDER ROBERT D. THURMAN + +Commander Robert D. Thorburn was a member of the old Naval Service, coming +to Virginia in 1861, and being at once named to take part in the defenses +of the Potomac under Captain Lynch. He later was detailed to duty on the +Gulf Coast, and after the war came to Fredericksburg where he died in +1883. He resided in the house on lower Princess Anne Street, now occupied +by W. D. Scott, Esq. + + +MAJOR EDWARD RUGGLES + +Major Edward Ruggles was graduated from Annapolis in 1859, came South in +1861 and offered his services to the State of Virginia, before that State +joined the Confederacy. He was later transferred to the Confederate Army, +and served on the staff of General Daniel S. Ruggles in the engagements at +Aquia Creek, being present at the first engagement of the Civil War, June +1, 1861. Later he served with the Army of Tennessee and after the war +lived in King George and Fredericksburg, where he died in 1919, at his +residence on lower Main Street. He was one of three men who aided John +Wilkes Booth to cross the Rappahannock at Fort Royal, and directed him to +the Garrett barn, where Booth met his death. + + +COLONEL RICHARD L. MAURY + +Colonel Richard L. Maury, a son of Commodore Matthew Fontaine Maury, was +born in Fredericksburg in 1840. Upon the outbreak of the War between the +States he at once offered his services to his native State, and his Naval +Career, though short, is notable. Detached from Company F, Richmond, 1st +Va. Regiment, by order of the Secretary of the Navy, he took part in the +capture of the St. Nicholas and other vessels on the Potomac and +Chesapeake. He was afterwards returned to the Army and served with the +24th Va. Infantry until Appomattox. After the War he resided in Lexington +and Richmond, in which latter city he died a few years ago. + + +COMMODORE DOMIN + +Commodore Thomas Domin, U. S. N., like many other officers of the old +Navy, often left his family in Fredericksburg while absent on the long +tours of sea duty, sometimes two and even three years in length. Thus, +while a native of Ireland, where he was born in 1801, Commodore Domin +called our town "home" for many years. + +Entering the U. S. Navy in 1818, after many voyages to all parts of the +world he was with Admiral Perry when the latter forced his way into the +Japanese harbors. When the war between the States was imminent, he +retained his place in the old Navy, with the promise that he would not be +ordered to action against his adopted State. + +He served on the Light House Board at Baltimore for the duration of the +war, and upon his retirement in 1870 lived in Fredericksburg, for a time. +He died in Savannah, Ga., in 1873. + +He resided, when in Fredericksburg, in the house now owned by Dr. C. Mason +Smith on Prince Edward Street. + + +WILLIAM HENRY BECK + +Surgeon William Henry Beck, U. S. Navy, came to Virginia from England as a +lad of twelve in 1800. Some years later he entered the Navy as an +Assistant Surgeon, and made several voyages in the old sailing ships to +various ports of the world. + +He married Miss England, of Stafford, and made his home in Fredericksburg. + +He lived in what was then a northwestern suburb, near the present basin, +and this section was known as "Becksville." He was at one time a police +officer in our town, and as the result of an injury in arresting a +prisoner, lost an arm. + +He died in the fifties, and was buried in St. George's Churchyard. A son +bought and lived for years on what is known by our old citizens as "Beck's +Island," now owned and occupied by Mr. J. A. Emery. + + +JOHN RANDOLPH BRYAN + +Lieutenant John Randolph Bryan, U. S. Navy, born in 1806, in Georgia, was +educated in Virginia, and married at Chatham in 1830, Elizabeth Coalter, +daughter of Judge John Coalter, of the Virginia Supreme Court. Leaving +Yale in 1823, Lieutenant Bryan was appointed to the Navy, became +midshipman in 1824, and was ordered to the Peacock. + +He resigned in 1831 and took charge of his estate at Wilmington Island, +and later an estate in Gloucester County, Virginia. + +In 1862, he offered his services to the Confederate Navy, but was judged +too old. He was the ward of John Randolph, who made a deep impression upon +his mentality. + +Lieutenant Bryan was noted for his courtesy and charm of manner. He spent +his latter years in the house of his daughter in Fredericksburg, Mrs. +Spotswood W. Carmichael. He died at the University of Virginia, while on a +visit, on September 13, 1887. + +The name of Mrs. Spotswood W. Carmichael will recall to many Dr. +Carmichael, that splendid physician and gentleman of "the old school" who +ministered to the sick of a previous generation and had a host of loyal +friends. + + +CAPTAIN THOM, U. S. M. C. + +Captain Reuben Thom, of the Confederate Marine Corps, was the son of +"Postmaster Thom" and was born in Fredericksburg. He entered the war at +Norfolk in 1861, and in 1862 was in command of the Marines on the famous +Merrimac in the battle of Hampton Roads. Captain Thom took part in the +engagement at Drury's Bluff. After the war Captain Thom moved to Baltimore +where he died. + + +[Illustration: BETTY WASHINGTON'S HOME + +_"Kenmore" Where George Washington's Sister Lived After Her Marriage. Her +Mother's Home Is Close By_] + + + + +_Unforgotten Women_ + + _Some of Many Who Left a Record of Brilliancy, Service or Sacrifice._ + + +The stars that shine in the galaxy of the heavens do not all glow with the +same lustre. One is gifted with a steady and dependable splendor, another +scintillates and fades to shine afresh. So, it is, that the women of +Fredericksburg have in their individual ways added to the glories of the +town and well sustained its deserved reputation, as being the home of +capable, brilliant, and beautiful women. A distinguished French officer +once said, after meeting one of the women of Fredericksburg, "If such are +the matrons of America, well may she boast of illustrious sons." This was +at the great Peace Ball, given in the town in 1783, to which, of course, +the mother of Washington was especially invited. The simple manner and +appearance of the great woman, surprised the gallant officers present, and +provoked from one of them the remark. + +Clad in a plain but becoming garb, that characterized Virginia women of +her type, she received the many attentions paid to the Mother of the +idolized Commander-in-Chief with the most unaffected dignity and courtesy. +Being accustomed to the pomp and splendor which is attached to Old World +royalty, it was a revelation to them to behold such a woman. How could she +live in the blaze of glory which irradiated her illustrious offspring, and +still preserve her simple dignity of manner, so barren of self pride and +hauteur! + +[Sidenote: _The "Rose of Epping Forest"_] + +But this daughter of Colonel Joseph Ball, of Lancaster County, this "Rose +of Epping Forest" which budded into existence on March 6, 1708, this +unassuming woman, who on the anniversary of her natal day in 1730, gave +her heart and hand to the master of Wakefield, this thrifty and systematic +young housewife and widowed mother at Pine Grove, in Stafford County, this +matron of Fredericksburg, possessed qualities individual to her who +became the author of the being of the greatest and best loved character +figuring on the pages of American history. Her last home selected for her +by General Washington, stands today, on the corner of Charles and Lewis +Streets, the same home with the characteristic simplicity of years ago. +The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, to which +Society it now belongs, has restored in part the interior with its +wainscoting and paneling and its period furniture. The interesting old +brick floored kitchen, with its huge fireplace, and its crane, iron pots, +skillets and equipment of former days, all seem today in perfect accord +with her reception of her cherished offspring in 1783. After an enforced +cessation of visits to his aging mother for a long period of seven years, +she at length was told by an orderly that "His Excellency" had arrived, +and was at her very door. Turning quietly to her faithful, ebony maid, she +said with her habitual self control, "Patsy, George has come, I shall need +a white apron." But beneath this calm exterior, her embrace of her first +born son was overflowing with fervent mother-love, and hidden away in the +deep recesses of her heart was the swelling pride in his glory. Senator +Daniel truthfully said, "The principles which he applied to a nation were +those simple and elementary truths which she first imprinted upon his mind +in the discipline of home." + +The splendid granite monument, erected to her, with its simple +inscription, "Mary, the Mother of Washington," and on the reverse side: +"Erected by her Countrywomen," rises from a massive foundation to a +distance of 59 feet. Her ashes lie beneath, in a spot of her own +selection, (which in her lifetime was a part of the Kenmore estate) and +her favorite resting place. Nearby are the two rocks upon which she used +to sit and read her Bible. These are known as "Meditation Rocks." + + +[Sidenote: _Susan Savage and Anne Maury_] + +The name of Susan Metcalf Savage will always be held in the highest +veneration by those of Fredericksburg who realize and appreciate the many +sacrifices, heart-aches, self-denials and home-longings experienced by +those who give their lives in heathen lands. Brought up in an atmosphere +of love and unselfishness, and herself devoted to every call of duty, it +was no surprise to her many friends to learn that soon after her marriage +to Reverend Dr. Savage in 1838 she would sail with him for tropical +Africa, one of the first woman missionaries from our land. Though her life +in this then unusual field of usefulness was less than two short years, +her labors were not in vain, and her works and her example will live for +years to come. + +Ann Herndon, who became the wife of the great scientist, Matthew Fontaine +Maury, was born in the house on the corner of Princess Anne and George +Streets, erected by her father, Dabney M. Herndon. Her loveliness of face +and character was equalled by her charming manner, and attractive +personality, and whether in Fredericksburg, or Lexington, Va., whether in +Washington or London, her home was the spot where the savant, the +scientist, the literati and men and women representing every phase of +culture and social distinction, were wont to assemble. The beautiful +jewels presented to her by the crowned heads of Europe, (her illustrious +husband, being an officer in the United States Navy, was restricted from +accepting gifts, else his admirers would have showered them upon him), +were deservedly famous. After the death of Commodore Maury a plan was +conceived by a member of one of the royal courts of Europe, and initiatory +steps had already been taken, to raise a munificent sum of mony with which +to honor the widow of the man to whom all educated nations were to pay +homage. But when their project reached her ear, she refused to accept it, +though recognizing and appreciating fully the compliment to her devoted +husband. + + +[Sidenote: _President Arthur's Wife_] + +One of the captivating belles of the town was Ellen Lewis Herndon, +daughter of the Naval Commander, Captain William Lewis Herndon, who in +1857 met his death in the Gulf Stream. Being possessed of a rich +contralto voice, Miss Herndon made frequent visits to the National +Capitol, and delighted the congregations at old St. John's Church with her +sweet, rich tones. It was here that the young attorney, Chester A. Arthur, +afterwards President, became infatuated with the pretty young singer. +Those old days were the parents of these days, and many were the whispers +of conjecture and surmise as to the outcome of those frequent visits of +the handsome Mr. Arthur to the home of Ellen Herndon, (that still +strikingly pretty residence on Main and Charlotte Streets), and shortly +before the War between the States, a pretty wedding was solemnized in New +York City, and Ellen Herndon became the bride of Chester A. Arthur. + + +In the heart-rending times of 1861-'65, the women of Fredericksburg with +untiring energy and courage, in the midst of the agony of war, assumed the +laborious task of ministering alike to soldiers in blue and gray, and many +burdens of sorrow were in some way lightened and many a physical pain +lessened or a soul cheered. Perhaps the women of Fredericksburg were +inspired to great deeds by the example of that splendid specimen of +womanhood, Clara Barton, who for sometime was stationed near Chatham, +carrying on her splendid ministration to the sick and suffering Federal +soldiers. + + +OF WOMAN'S WORK + +It was on May 10, 1866, that the women of Fredericksburg, urged by Mrs. +Frances Seymour White, (widow of an officer in the U. S. Army, who died as +the war began), assembled in the lecture room of St. George's Church to +form an association to care for the memory of the noble Southern heroes, +whose graves were then scattered over battlefield and farm. This was the +first step towards the formation of the Ladies Memorial Association the +work of which organization, begun so earnestly and lovingly, has so +successfully been fulfilled. Mrs. John H. Wallace, was elected President +and Mrs. Frances Seymour White, Vice-President. On Mrs. Wallace's death, +Mrs. White was chosen President, and continued until 1882, when she was +succeeded by her daughter, Mrs. Francis B. Goolrick, who continued to act +as President for eleven years. Mrs. Maria K. Daniel followed next for +seventeen years, and Mrs. Frances B. Goolrick, who was elected in 1912 is +still President. + +With the financial assistance of about all the Southern States and a good +deal from the North the bodies of the Confederate soldiers have been +re-interred in the Confederate cemetery, and each is marked with a solid +granite headstone. Later with some financial assistance the splendid +monument "To the Confederate Dead," was erected in the center of the +cemetery. The base is of gray granite, quarried in Spotsylvania County, +and the life-like statue of the Confederate soldier on dress parade, which +surmounts the apex, is of bronze. + +[Sidenote: _The Memorial Association_] + +The beautiful custom of Memorial Day sprang from Mrs. Frances Seymour +White's idea and spread from this city all over the nation. The name of +"The Ladies Memorial Association" was adopted and in the Spring season +each year, this impressive service is continued. Following those true +hearted women who conceived the task of rescuing from oblivion the memory +of those brave and fallen heroes, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, +and the women of Fredericksburg branch of the American Red Cross, have +each in their respective spheres, earnestly and lovingly performed their +tasks. + + +The recent passing from our midst of the material presence of a worthy +representative of the women of Fredericksburg, inspired the glowing +tribute to the women of Virginia, appearing as an editorial in a local +paper. The writer says in part, "We shall ever cherish the recollection +that old Virginia had a womanhood of whom the people of the nation must be +proud. Lest we be misunderstood we would have it known that we boast today +of our womanhood and are honored by those now among us; yet no one can +successfully deny that the type of women of the Old Dominion of the bygone +years was of an exceptional character. They were the result of the very +environment in which they were born and reared. For purity of purpose, for +modesty of demeanor and conversation, for unselfish devotion to home where +there was real happiness, for gentleness, for refinement, for self +abnegation, for love of God and the Church, for unostentatious charity, +and for high motherhood, she has never had superiors. For all the +essential attributes and elements which go to form a splendid woman +without guile and without reproach, we hazard nothing in declaring that +Virginia--in the World's Hall of Fame--gives to her womanhood of olden +days her laurel of immortal glory." + + +[Sidenote: _Mary Washington Hospital_] + +Another work which will always be a tribute to woman's indefatigable and +preserving efforts, is the Mary Washington Hospital, beautifully situated +on the river's bank immediately facing the lawns and Terraces of Chatham, +and when the trees are bare in winter, affording a view of the imposing +mansion. Here, since 1897, thousands of sick have been cared for and +nursed back to health and strength with more scientific care and almost as +much loving attention as they could receive in their own homes. In 1897 +the corner-stone was laid and from that time the Hospital has steadily +grown and progressed, gaining in strength and usefulness, and now is +recognized as essential to the city and surrounding counties. The idea of +establishing the Hospital was originated by two or three ladies and the +work put actively in motion by Mrs. W. Seymour White and Mrs. M. F. +Tankard, who constituted themselves a committee to form an auxiliary +society, which supported by Mr. W. Seymour White, who was at that time +Mayor of the City, obtained a sufficient sum to purchase a lot and build a +small house of a few rooms. A Hospital Association was formed, and the +women did almost phenomenal work in struggling through many +discouragements, never losing faith, but pressing forward and overcoming +every obstacle until their efforts were crowned with success and the +Hospital established on a firm foundation. Now the few rooms have grown +into a commodious building accommodating thirty or forty patients, a +Nurses Home and corps of young women in training. Mrs. W. Seymour White +became the first president--elected because of her interest in +establishing it, and in recognition of the strong support given it by her +husband as Mayor, who in that capacity was able to weild an influence that +helped materially towards its success. + + +[Sidenote: _Mary Washington Monument_] + +The Mary Washington Monument has a history too long to be embraced in this +volume and only a brief sketch of it will be appropriate. "The Building of +a Monument" was written by Miss Susan Riviere Hetzel, and published in +1903. She was at the time Secretary of the National Mary Washington +Memorial Association, following her mother Mrs. Margaret Hetzel, its first +Secretary. + +The idea of erecting a new monument to Mary Washington seemed to spring up +simultaneously in Fredericksburg and in Boston, and spread like wild-fire +over the country. Miss Hetzel claims priority for her mother, while the +actual first published movement took place in Fredericksburg. Two letters +were written and published on the same date in the Washington Post. Both +letters were written in the spring just at the time of the Johnstown +flood, and held in the newspaper office, probably overlooked, until +October. On October 13th the movement crystalized into a large meeting in +Fredericksburg. The writers of the two letters became acquainted through a +mutual interest. Mrs. Goolrick's letter proposed a National Organization +with a President and one Vice-President for each State. Mrs. Hetzel's +letter suggested that "every woman as far as able give one dollar to the +proposed monument with the Washington Post as Treasurer for the fund, and +to acknowledge daily the donations received." On the appearance of the +letters in the Washington Post Mrs. Hetzel wrote to Mrs. Goolrick, +congratulating her on the plan she proposed, stating that such a plan was +then practically in operation, and had been worked up during the summer, +Mrs. Waite, wife of Chief Justice Waite, was made president, but they +wished no publication or mention made of it until they obtained their +Charter. On November 8th, 1889, the Fredericksburg Association received +its Charter. The National Association was chartered February 22nd, 1890. +On the 10th of May, 1894, the Mary Washington Monument was dedicated, with +great form and ceremony and with the largest crowd ever gathered in +Fredericksburg. Visitors flocked from all over the country. The streets +were in gala attire. American, and Virginia State flags fluttered +everywhere with the buff, blue and gold insignia of the Ball family, which +floated before the homes of Mary Ball's decendants. A special train from +Washington arrived at ten o'clock bringing the President of the United +States, Grover Cleveland, the Chief Justice, members of the Cabinet and +other invited guests with the ladies of the National Mary Washington +Memorial Association, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the +Marine Band. Military Companies from Richmond, Alexandria and other cities +were present, and with the various orders of the city made an imposing +spectacle. The Grand Lodge of Masons from this and other places closed the +procession, with the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Virginia, and the +Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia following +in its wake. On the immense rostrum near the Monument were seated all the +officials, and Societies, with seats reserved for the descendants of Mary +Ball who were specially invited by the National Association. They had been +summoned from the East and from the West, one invitation going to Japan to +Paymaster Mason Ball, U. S. N. + +[Sidenote: _Dedication of Monument_] + +[Sidenote: _Lawrence Washington's Talk_] + +The ceremonies opened with a prayer by Rev. James Power Smith. Mayor Rowe +next welcomed on the part of the city the President, Governor and other +distinguished guests. He gave a brief account of the first monument and +laying of the corner stone by President Andrew Jackson, with an eloquent +tribute to the Mary Washington Association and "the noble women in +various sections, some of whom grace this occasion by their presence +today." The President of the United States was welcomed by Governor +Charles T. O'Ferrall on behalf of the Commonwealth of Virginia. An +impressive address was then delivered by the President. The Monument was +then dedicated by the Grand Master of Masons of Virginia--Mann Page and +the Grand Lodge of Virginia, assisted by Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4 where +Washington was made a Mason, and the Grand Lodge of Alexandria, of which +he was the first Master. Mr. Lawrence Washington was introduced by the +President as a lineal descendant of Mary, the Mother of Washington. He +gave an interesting sketch of her life, home, parentage, widowhood and the +character of her children. The President next introduced the orator of the +day, Hon. John W. Daniel. He is said to have pronounced on this occasion +the ablest oratorical effort of his life. + + +[Illustration: MARY WASHINGTON MONUMENT + +_Standing at the Spot that She Selected for Her Grave. The Only Monument +Built By Women to a Woman_] + + +Governor O'Ferrall at the request of the Fredericksburg Mary Washington +Monument Association read a set of engrossed resolutions which were +presented to Mrs. Waite as President of the National Society. This +concluded the ceremonies. President Cleveland after holding a general +reception on the monument grounds was entertained at the home of Hon. W. +Seymour White, editor of the Free Lance, and afterwards Mayor of the city. +It was a brilliant gathering, Cabinet Officers and their wives, the +Governor of Virginia and Staff, and distinguished citizens of the town and +elsewhere to greet them. The ladies of the National Board were entertained +at the home of Mrs. V. M. Fleming, president of the local association. +President Cleveland repaired to the Mary Washington House where he +requested he should receive all the descendants of the Balls and +Washingtons. "There he had the satisfaction of grasping the hands and +enjoying the conversation of the nearest living relatives of his first and +greatest predecessor, in the home of his honored mother." + +A banquet was given by the citizens in the Opera House, and a large Ball +that night in the same place. Thus closed a memorable day in the annals of +Fredericksburg. + +The land on which the monument is built, on the same site as that occupied +by the first monument, was given by Mr. George Shepherd, a prominent and +wealthy merchant, to the Fredericksburg Mary Washington Monument +Association, and was transferred at the dedication of the monument by a +conditional deed to the National Association. + +[Sidenote: _Story of Older Monument_] + +The first monument to the memory of Mary Washington was partly erected by +Silas Burrows of New York, who as rumor has it, fell in love with one of +the Gregory girls--great nieces of George Washington. It was of handsome +design, but never finished, and the marble shaft lay prostrate for many +years, cracked and discolored, while the base, with its beautiful four +carved columns was a target for both armies during the Civil war. + +The corner stone of this first monument was laid in 1833, with much pomp, +the President of the United States--Gen. Andrew Jackson--taking part with +Cabinet Officers and escorts. The people of Fredericksburg previous to Mr. +Burrows' offer, had made efforts to raise money for a memorial to Mary +Washington. Hearing of this he wrote to the Mayor, offering to give and +erect the monument himself. The monument had reached completion with the +exception of placing the shaft, when Mr. Burrows went abroad and never +reappeared, the same Madam Rumor attributing it to the disappointment he +experienced at the failure to win the hand of Miss Gregory, the daughter +of Mildred Washington, the niece of the immortal George. + +The present monument is splendidly cared for by the National Association +with the Secretary of the Association, a Fredericksburg lady in charge and +living on the grounds in a beautiful cottage built by the National Mary +Washington Monument Association. + + + + +_At the Rising Sun_ + + _Where Famous Men Met; and Mine Host Brewed Punch and Sedition._ + + +Standing back a few feet from the Main Street of Fredericksburg, the +Rising Sun Tavern looks out on the automobiles and trucks that hurry by +over the concrete streets. Silk and woolen mills and "pants" factories +spin and weave and rumble, while the old tavern, with the dignity of its +century and a half calmly flaunts the sign of the rising sun with its +radii of red light. The knocker that felt the hand of almost every famous +American of early days still hangs kindly out. + +Built in 1750 or 1760, the Rising Sun Tavern is at least 160 years old. In +the days when American men were slowly being forced from their English +allegiance it stood in an open space, surrounded by green trees. The road +on which it was built ran out from Fredericksburg toward Falmouth and the +"upper county," and the tavern was outside the city limits. + +If one could stand and see the tavern as in a movie "fade out," the modern +houses about it would dim, and, fresh in making and painting, the old +tavern would stand alone beside a rutted road alongside which a footpath +runs through the grass. Oak trees line the road, and reach down to the +river. On the porch, or passing up and down the steps are gentlemen of the +Northern Neck, the Potomac plantations, and the Rappahannock Valley, in +splendid broadcloth, laced ruffles, black silk stockings, with buckles at +the knees and the instep, powdered hair and the short wigs then the +fashion, and ladies in the fashionable red cloaks and long, full dresses +with the "Gypsy bonnets" tied under their chins, and hair "crimped" and +rolled at each side. + +At the back yard of the tavern in the old garden grew a profusion of +tulips, pink violets, purple iris, hyacinths and the flowering almond and +passion fruit, with here and there rose bushes. Inside in the front room +flamed the log fire and at the rear of this was the dining-room, where for +men and women and boys, the old negro slave who served the gentle folk had +mint juleps, or claret that had thrice crossed the ocean, or brandy and +soda. + +[Sidenote: _When Weedon Was the Host_] + +Virginia in the days between 1760 and 1776 reached the "golden age," and +it was during these times that George Weedon, host of the Rising Sun, made +that hostelry famous for its hospitality, and made himself famous for his +constant advocacy of American liberty. Of Weedon, who was later to become +a general and win commendation at the Battle of Brandywine, the English +traveler, Dr. Smith, wrote: "I put up at the tavern of one Weedon, who was +ever active and zealous in blowing the flames of sedition." + +Weedon, one of the pioneers of the movement for freedom, made his Tavern +the gathering place for all the gentlemen of the "neighborhood" of which +Dr. Smith says: "The neighborhood included all of Westmoreland County, the +Northern Neck and all other counties as far as Mount Vernon." + +John Davis, a Welshman who came to America to teach, has left us a sketch +of the tavern of that day and of the people who frequented it, and a part +of what Mr. Davis wrote is well worth quoting: "On the porch of the +tavern," he says, "I found a party of gentlemen of the neighboring +plantations sitting over a bowl of toddy and smoking cigars. On ascending +the steps to the piazza, every countenance seemed to say, 'This man has a +double claim to our attention, for he is a stranger in the place.' In a +moment room was made for me to sit down, and a new bowl of punch called +for, and every one addressed me with a smile of conciliation. The higher +Virginians seem to venerate themselves. I am persuaded that not one of +that company would have felt embarrassed at being admitted to the presence +and conversation of the greatest monarch on earth." + +[Sidenote: _Where Famous Men Often Met_] + +Attracted by its hospitality and by the constant meeting before the +wood-fire of men whose influence was great, gentlemen from all Virginia +came to the Rising Sun. George Mason, who Gillard Hunt of the Library of +Congress says was "more than any other man entitled to be called the +Father of the Declaration of Independence," was frequently there. The +young man from Monticello, Thomas Jefferson, who was Mason's pupil in +politics, spent much time at Gunston and was often at the tavern. + +George Washington, whose home was in Fredericksburg, knew the tavern well, +and Hugh Mercer, a young physician, and brother-in-law of mine host Weedon +(they having married the two Misses Gordon), spent a great deal of time +there. Other guests who heard the news and who read of events when the +weekly stage brought the belated mail from Williamsburg, to the Tavern +Postoffice, where "Light Horse" Harry Lee and Charles Lee, from their +near-by home at Wakefield, Charles Carter, son of the mighty "King" +Carter, who came from "Cleve"; John Marshall, Dr. Mortimer, the Tayloes, +of "Mt. Airy"; John Minor, (afterwards general,) of Hazel Hill; young +James Monroe, practicing as an attorney in Fredericksburg and acting as a +member of the town council and vestryman of St. George's Church; Samuel, +Charles and John Augustine Washington, brothers of George, as well as +Fielding Lewis, who married George's sister Betty, and was afterwards a +general in the revolutionary army. Many of the frequenters of the tavern +held high commissions during the war. + +It is a matter of undoubted record that these, and half a hundred other +young men, whose names were to become synonymous with freedom, discussed +at the Rising Sun Tavern the topics of the day, chief among which was the +rights of the colonist. The fiery Irishman, George Weedon, arranged and +organized conferences and wrote numerous letters, and long before men had +ceased to respect the English king, he was bold enough to propose for the +first time the toast, "May the Rose grow and the Thistle flourish, and may +the Harp be attuned to the cause of American liberty," thus expressing his +desire that his native land, and Scotland, should aid America. And he was +not disappointed, for afterwards he would say that he was "ever proud that +besides himself, America had for generals such Irishmen as 'Mad Anthony' +Wayne, Sullivan, Moylan and Irvine." + +In these talks at the Rising Sun, where sometimes the great men of the +time met night after night, those principles that went in the Bill of +Rights of Virginia--were fully discussed before freedom from England was +demanded; and here, where gathered lawyers and planters and men of +profession, many of them members of the House of Burgesses, there must +have been conceived a great many principles that afterwards went to make +the Constitution. This was the true "cradle" of American liberty. + +John Paul Jones when only thirteen years old, heard the first discussion +of such things, probably, when he called at the tavern post-office for +mail for his brother, William Paul, who kept a tailor shop and grocery. + +[Sidenote: _First "Rebellions" Troops_] + +When Lord Dunmore seized the powder at Williamsburg in 1775, the first +troops organized in Virginia to fight against the authority of the king, +started from Fredericksburg. It seems certain that the plans were made at +the Rising Sun Tavern, and George Weedon was the leading spirit. Hugh +Mercer was elected colonel, Mordecai Buckner, lieutenant-colonel, and +Robert Johnson, major. + +But the apex of the tavern's glory was reached when the great peace ball +was held officially to celebrate the end of the war, and Washington led +the minuet in the Fredericksburg town hall. Of those who came, tradition +says, none failed to visit General Weedon's tavern, though the genial +Irishman was now about to leave it and move into the home left without a +head when General Mercer fell. + + +[Illustration: RISING SUN TAVERN + +_Where the Great Men of Pre-Revolution Days Gathered, and Freedom Was +Discussed_] + + +Among those who came to Fredericksburg and were at some time guests at the +famous old inn, besides those named were Brigadier General Stephen Moylan, +another Irishman who served as Washington's aide, as commissary general +and as commander of troops at Yorktown; Brigadier-General Irvine, Irish +too, and here at Weedon's insistence; Count Beaumarchais, author of the +"Barber of Seville" and general in the American army; the Marquis de +Lafayette, the Viscounts d'Nouvalles, Count d'Estang, Baron Viominel, and +many others. + +[Sidenote: _Beautiful Colonial Belles_] + +But who were the ladies then? History does not say, but the dancing +master, Mr. Christian, who taught the "gentle young ladies" through the +"neighborhood," and has left sketches of their personal manner and dress, +has described for us a host of them, many of them misses of 15 and 16, who +now would be called girls but were quite young ladies then. + +Miss Lucy Lightfoot Lee was "tall and stately" (at 16), Mr. Christian +says, "wearing a bright chintz gown with a blue stamp, elegantly made, a +blue silk quilt, and stays, now said to be the fashion in London but to my +mind a great nuisance." While Miss Hale danced in "a white Holland gown, +quilt very fine, a lawn apron, her hair crimped up in two rolls at each +side and a tuft of ribbon for a cap." + +It is easy to surmise that the charming Gregory girls, now married, were +there, and that little Maria Mortimer, who on the night following the +Peace Ball, at 15 years of age, was hostess for all the great gentlemen, +was also a guest, as well as Miss Betsy Lee, Martha Custis, and Posey +Custis, Molly Posey, Anne Mason, Alice Lee, and Mary Ambler (later to +become the wife of Chief Justice Marshall), Sally Patton, "lately come +from England to teach," the two Turberville girls, Priscilla Carter, Jenny +Washington and the Lewis girls, the Taylor girls, and the Fitzhughs, of +Boscobel and Chatham. + +[Sidenote: _Names of Great Virginians_] + +The old tavern is well-preserved and is taken care of by the Association +for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. Not much change has been +made in it since the days of its glory, when at its hospitable hearth +young James Monroe argued for the emancipation of slaves, George Mason +spoke his views on the rights of man, Weedon talked forever "sedition" +with Mercer, who hated England since he had felt defeat at the disaster +of Colloden and crept from Scotland a hunted man, Jefferson discussed his +broad principles, and the Randolphs, Blands, Byrds, Harrisons, Moncures, +Taliaferros, Fitzhughs, Lewises of Marmion, Carters of Cleve, Raleigh +Travers (of Sir Walter's family) of Stafford, Peter Daniel of "Crows +Nest," Thomas Fitzhugh, Selden of Salvington, Brent of Bellevue, Ludwell +Lee of "Berry Hill," Richard Henry Lee of "Wakefield," and other famous +men gathered, in those crowded days before the Revolution. + + + + +_Lafayette Comes Back_ + + _After Forty Years of Failure, He Hears the Echo of His Youthful + Triumph._ + + +Forty years after his return to France at the end of the American +Revolution, General Lafayette came back to visit the nation he had helped +to create. Cities of the United States heaped honor and hospitality upon +him. The people greeted him in villages and taverns as he traveled, and it +is not strange that he returned to France "astonished" at the vigor of the +young republic. + +He himself had seen France taste freedom, turn to the Terror, accept +Bonaparte's dictatorship and fight the world--and he had taken his part in +it all, even to five years spent in a prison cell. Now he beheld on the +throne again the scions of the same monarch who had tried in vain to +prevent his aiding America in her fight for freedom, and, his title and +estates gone, he must have felt France's failure to realize such ideals of +government as he and Washington knew, as keenly as he appreciated the +"astonishing" march of democracy on this continent. + +Entertained first in the North, Lafayette hurried South to see Jefferson +at Monticello for a day. From the Charlottesville estate he traveled to +Orange Courthouse, and thence, over the road his army had cut through "The +Wilderness" and which even to this day is known as "The Marquis Road," he +came to Wilderness Tavern, where he was met by an escort from +Fredericksburg. + +Fredericksburg was awaiting him, and Lafayette was glad of the opportunity +to spend the greater part of a week in the "home town" of George +Washington, to visit Washington's relatives, and to meet those of the +Revolutionary general still living in the place. He had been to +Fredericksburg before in 1774, an honored guest at "The Peace Ball." He +had said that he felt more at home in Fredericksburg than anywhere in +America. + +General Washington, Mrs. Washington, General Mercer, General Weedon--a +dozen of his closer friends whom he had left behind forty years ago--were +dead, but among the Fredericksburg people there were still numbers who +knew him, some who had entertained him, and many who had fought with him. + +[Sidenote: _Peculiar Items of Expense_] + +That Fredericksburg did her best and that good cheer was not lacking when +the general arrived, is recorded in the old courthouse of that city in the +official bill of expenses for the entertainment of the distinguished +guest. On these yellow papers written in the careful hand of that day, are +bills for ribbons and laces and cocked hats, sperm candles and cakes, +oranges (at $1.20 a dozen), cockades, cloaks and "everything" that might +assist in making the November days of the Marquis' stay glide right +merrily. + +Before the general arrived there was preliminary work, and this is +recorded in a number of bills, among them that of Sally Stokes who had one +for "cleaning and schowering the town hall, and whitening the steps and +cleaning the walls, etc.--I charge for myself and 2 other women--$2.25." +Her charge was probably a little high as the work was for the city. "Benj. +Day" got the draying contract and profiteered in the following rate: + +"Dr. me for myself and team and dray for 4 days hauling for the +Entertainment Commit. $6.00." Also among the bills for labor is one: + +"To John Scott, Dr. to hire of my man Billy, the painter, for 6 days to +paint the market house, $4.50," while "Mary Lucas," a "freewoman," got +$1.25 for "sawing 2 1-2 cords of wood." + +[Sidenote: _George Cary's Great Thirst_] + +General Lafayette was met at Orange by a committee and under its escort he +journeyed south, (along that forest road which his army cut when with "Mad +Anthony Wayne" he followed Tarleton into the unsettled parts of Virginia +and the Carolinas,) to the Wilderness and to Fredericksburg. It is +possible that some message had to be sent from or to his escort, in fact +it is evident, for George Cary has left record of it, and in presenting +his bill he has left as well his individuality and his photograph behind +him. If one remembers that brandy was $1.00 a gallon, he needs little more +of George Cary's history than this. + +"To George Cary for services rendered as messenger, to the Wilderness, +including self and horse, $7.00." + +"and drink, $1.75" + +"Deduct 50c. advanced him by the Mayor, $8.25." + +Near Fredericksburg, and almost at the spot where during the Revolution +the camp of Hessian prisoners was kept, General Lafayette was met by a +military escort commanded by Colonel John Stannard. When the cavalcade +reached the city it passed through rows of grown-ups and children and +(surely previously rehearsed for many days!), the latter sang in French, +"The Marseillaise," and, stepping from his coach, Lafayette marched +between the rows of children, singing the anthem of the French revolution. + +Only one break was made during the stay of the Marquis in Fredericksburg, +if deductions from these old accounts are correct. The town cannon must +have "busted." And why it did, and the legitimate enthusiasm which led to +such a contretemps, due probably to the exuberance of one who had followed +the general in the great war for liberation forty years before, is +gathered from these bills: + +"To John Phillips, for tending to the gun, $2. Old junk, 37c. Old junk, +27c. Old junk, 23c. 4 kegs of powder, $24., two quarts whisky, 50c." + +"To John Phillips, fireing the cannon, $4." + +"To Thomas Wright, for 21 panes glass broken by the cannon last Saturday +night and on the 19th of November, 10c. a pane and 8x10 each--$2.10." + +When General Lafayette left Fredericksburg he went by stage to Potomac +Creek, by boat to Washington, by stage to Baltimore, and thence he sailed +back to France. With him went Messrs. Mercer and Lewis, both sons of men +who had been Generals in the war for Liberty. + + + + +_Old Court Records_ + + _Staid Documents, Writ by Hands That Are Still, Are History For Us._ + + +For simple beauty of line there is probably no Court House in Virginia +that equals that at Fredericksburg. While to the casual eye its grace is +obvious, to artists' and architects' it makes the stronger appeal, and it +is from those familiar with the lines of new and old world buildings that +the Court House receive highest praise. Inside, in a modern vault, are +many interesting records of the past. The Court House was completed in +1852, at a cost of about $14,000, William M. Boggeth of Baltimore being +the contractor, and J. B. Benwick, Jr., of Baltimore, the architect, and +its completion marked the end of a thirty years factional fight in the +City, which was divided over the issue of building or not building a court +house. The decision to build was made by the Council in spite of a +petition against such action, signed by one hundred and seventy-two +voters. + +[Sidenote: _Building a New Courthouse_] + +The second Court House, a small brick building, stood back from the +street, on a part of the ground the present structure occupies, and had +taken the place of the first plank Court House. But, as early as 1820, the +second structure was complained of by the Court, which went so far as to +"order" the Council to provide funds for a new structure, to which the +Council paid no attention. On June 14, 1849, the Court, composed of Mayor +Semple and Justices William H. White and Peter Goolrick, issued an order +and appointed a committee, as follows: "Thomas B. Barton, John L. Marye, +Robert B. Semple, Wm. C. Beale and John J. Chew, to examine and report to +this Court some plan for the enlargement and repairs or rebuilding of the +Court House of this Corporation." + +But in spite of some excitement following this unusual step of the Court, +the Council continued its way undisturbed. The Court, however, called +before it "the Justices for this Corporation" and at the next session +eight Justices--R. B. Semple, Robert Dickey, Beverly R. Welford, William +C. Beale, William H. White, Peter Goolrick, William Warren and William +Slaughter answered the summons. The report of the committee appointed at +the previous session of the Court was made and the Court finally took this +action: + +"That, in obedience to the act of the General Assembly, which requires +that Courts for the Corporations' within this Commonwealth should cause to +be erected one good, convenient court house, and it being necessary to +build a court house for this corporation," etc., the Court "appoints a +commission, consisting of Mayor Semple, Beverly R. Welford, William H. +White, Thomas B. Barton and John L. Marye to contract for a court house." + +But, despite this, and because of the divided sentiment of the people and +the inaction of the Council, the Court did not build a court house, and at +a later meeting voted four to four on a motion to rescind their previous +order. After various moves and counter moves, the issue was carried into a +regular election held in March, 1851, and a Council in favor of a new +Court House was chosen. The erection of the present structure in 1852 +ended a thirty years disagreement, which built up bitter factions in the +town and left animosities, which did not subside until the Civil War came +on. For many years, until the new Fire House was built, the old hand-drawn +fire apparatus was housed in the south wing of the building. + +The bell which is now in the tower of the Court House, formerly hung in +the second court house, and sounded the call to public meetings, as it +does today, and the alarms of fire and war. It was presented to the town +by Silas Wood in 1828, and has his name and that date on it, as well as +the name of the maker, "Revere, Boston." + +[Sidenote: _How Debtors Were Treated_] + +From the earliest times, debtors who could not pay their bills were +imprisoned in the jail in Court House square or, more properly, slept in +the jail and were imprisoned in the square; for they were allowed the +freedom of the whole square and the adjacent streets, but were not allowed +to enter any store or building on the opposite sides of the streets. Many +men of prominence, it is said, spent short periods in this "Debtors' +Prison," awaiting the time when their release could be secured under the +"Poor Debtors' Law," which gave them freedom when by a schedule of their +property they proved they had no means to meet their obligations. In 1840, +the Court extended the bounds of the "Debtors' Prison" to include four +blocks in the center of the city, and the "footways adjoining them"; but +to go beyond these bounds was contempt of Court. + +No existing records establish what Courts held session in Fredericksburg +prior to the Revolution, and it is probable that successors of Mayor +Lawrence Smith were empowered as Governors and Judges until 1727, after +which time the Trustees of the town may have chosen magistrates, or the +colonial Governors may have done this. + +[Sidenote: _History of the Courts_] + +It is established that the first Court in Fredericksburg was created by +the General Assembly in 1781, when Fredericksburg was incorporated and +given a Common Council and a Hustings Court. The first session of this +Hustings Court was held April 15, 1782, with the following Justices +present: Charles Mortimer, William McWilliams, James Somerville, Charles +Dick, Samuel Ruddy, and John Julien, "the same being Mayor, Recorder and +Aldermen of the town." This continued the only Court until 1788, when +nineteen District Courts were established in the State by the General +Assembly, and one of them was located at Fredericksburg. These courts were +presided over by two of the ten Judges of the General Court at Richmond. +Among the many men of prominence who appeared before this District Court +were James Monroe, Edmund Randolph, and Francis Brooke. This District +Court was abolished in 1809 and a Circuit Court took its place. This new +court was now presided over by one of the Judges of the General Court at +Richmond. With some changes these courts continue to the present, but are +presided over by specially chosen Circuit Judges. But the Circuit Court +is not held at Fredericksburg. + +The Hustings Court, meanwhile, was the local court for Fredericksburg +until 1870, when it became the "Corporation Court" over which, instead of +three Justices of the Peace, the Assembly now provided there be a Judge +"who shall be learned in law." Judge John M. Herndon was the first Judge +of this Court, in 1870, and was succeeded by Judge John T. Goolrick, 1877, +Judge Montgomery Slaughter followed him, Judge A. Wellington Wallace +presided for some years, and Judge Embry served until Judge John T. +Goolrick was again chosen Judge and has continued on the bench for the +last 16 years. + +A more remarkable record is that of the men of the Chew family, who for +ninety-nine years and eleven days were the Clerks of this Court, +succeeding each other by appointment and election in direct lineal line. +Henry Armistead, first Clerk of the Court, died August 1, 1787, and on +August 6, 1787, John Chew, Jr., was appointed to the vacancy. In 1806 his +son, Robert S. Chew, succeeded; In 1826 the latter's son John J. Chew +succeeded; In 1867, the latter's son, Robert S. Chew succeeded and held +office until his death in 1886. Mr. J. Willard Adams is now Clerk of the +Corporation Court. + +There are many interesting documents in the vaults of the Court House, +many of them mere scraps, as that which tells of an inquest in 1813 over +the "Body of a sailor from the Frigate 'Constitution,'" who was drowned +here in the river, and which indicates that the famed old boat was once at +Fredericksburg Wharf. + +Among the oldest and most interesting documents in the archives of the +Court House, is a "List of Males Capable of Militia Duty--1785," and of +the two hundred and sixty-five then listed, (which would indicate a +population of about 1,300 in the city at that time). There are few names +now known in Fredericksburg, nevertheless, there are some, and of these +familiar names the following are examples: + +"Dr. Mortimer, Dr. Brooke, Dr. French, Dr. Hall, Dr. Gillis, Dr. Hand" and +"Bradford, Taylor, Yates, Walker, Maury, Minor, Herndon, White, Brent, +Johnson, Wheeler, Gray, Jenkins, Allen, Crutchfield, Ferneyhough, Brown, +Chew, Weedon, Colbert, Washington, Brooks, Ingram, Middleton, Spooner, +Payne, Gordon, Young, Thompson, Berry, Slaughter, Lewis, Clarke," and many +others whose descendants are well known in this city and vicinity. + +[Sidenote: _Mary Washington's Will_] + +The will of Mary Washington, written by James Mercer, an attorney who was +also Chief Justice of the General Court, (the highest court of Virginia) +and signed by Mary Washington, is preserved in the Court House and has +been seen by hundred of callers. The will was made May 20, 1788, and was +filed after the death of Mrs. Washington. + +"In the name of God, Amen. I, Mary Washington, of Fredericksburg, in the +County of Spottsylvania, being in good health, but calling to mind the +uncertainty of this life and willing to dispose of what remains of my +earthly estate, do make and publish this, my last will, recommending my +soul into the hands of my Creator, hoping for a remission of all my sins +through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of Mankind. +I dispose of all my worldly estate as follows: + +Imprimis: I give to my son, General George Washington, all my lands on +Accokeek Run, in the County of Stafford, and also my negro boy, George, to +him and his Heirs forever; also my best bed, bedstead and Virginia cloth +curtains, (the same that stands in my best room), my quilted Blue and +White quilt and my best dressing glass. + +Item: I give and devise to my son, Charles Washington, my negro man Tom, +to him and his assigns forever. + +Item: I give and devise to my daughter, Betty Lewis, my phaeton and my bay +horse. + +Item: I give and devise to my daughter-in-law, Hannah Washington, my +purple cloth cloak lined with shay. + + +[Illustration: MARY WASHINGTON'S HOME + +_In the Garden Mrs. Washington Greeted Young Lafayette. She Lived And Died +Here_] + + +Item: I give and bequeath to my grandson, Corbin Washington, my negro +wench, Old Bet, my riding chair and two black horses, to him and his +assigns forever. + +Item: I give and bequeath to my grandson, Fielding Lewis, my negro man, +Frederick, to him and his assigns forever; also, eight silver table +spoons, half of my crockery ware, and the blue and white Tea China, with +book case, oval table, one bedstead, two table cloths, six red leather +chairs, half my pewter, and one-half my iron kitchen furniture. + +Item: I give and bequeath to my granddaughter, Betty Carter, my negro +woman, Little Bet, and her future increase, to her and her assigns +forever; also my largest looking glass, my walnut writing desk with +drawers, a square dining table, one bed, bedstead, bolster, one pillow, +one blanket and pair of sheets, white Virginia cloth counterpane, and +purple curtains, my red and white china, teaspoons and other half of my +pewter, crockery ware, and the remainder of my iron kitchen furniture. + +Item: I give to my grandson, George Washington, my next best dressing +glass, one bed, bedstead, bolster, one pillow, one pair of sheets, one +blanket and counterpane. + +Item: I devise all my wearing apparel to be equally divided between my +granddaughters, Betty Carter, Fanny Ball and Milly Washington; but should +my daughter, Betty Lewis, fancy any one, two or three articles, she is to +have them before a division thereof. + +Lastly: I nominate and appoint my said son, General George Washington, +executor of this, my Will, and as I owe few or no debts, I desire my +Executor to give no security nor to appraise my estate, but desire the +same may be allotted to my devisees with as little trouble and delay as +may be, desiring their acceptance thereof as all the token I now have to +give them of my love for them. + +In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 20th day of +May, 1788. + + Mary Washington. + +Witness: John Ferneyhough. + +Signed, sealed and published in our presence, and signed by us in the +presence of the said Mary Washington, and at her desire. + + J. Mercer + Joseph Walker." + +Among the orders of the Court, found on the Order Books, are some which +are of interest as bearing on old customs of the town. One of the first of +these was entered March 1, 1784, when the Court "proceeded to settle the +allowances to the officers of the Corporation" as follows: "Mr. John +Minor, Jr., Attorney for the Commonwealth, two thousand pounds tobacco; +Mr. Henry Armistead, Clerk, twelve hundred pounds tobacco; John Legg, +Sergeant, twelve hundred pounds tobacco; Henry Armistead, for attending +all Courts of inquiry, four hundred pounds; sergeant for same, five +hundred and seventy pounds; Wm. Jenkins, goaler, three hundred and +sixty-four pounds." + +February 7, 1785, "Robert Brooke" (afterwards Governor of Virginia in +1794-96, and still later Attorney General) and Bushrod Washington, (Uncle +of George Washington and later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court) were +admitted to practice law. + +April 25, 1801, the first "watchman" (policeman) was appointed for the +town. + +[Sidenote: _Burial in Streets Stopped_] + +In a peculiar report, made March 27, 1802, the Grand Jury took steps to +put a stop to "a nuisance, the numerous obstructions in the streets, +particularly in St. George Street lot; burying the dead in George and +Princess Anne Streets; also the irregular burying in the ground west of +and adjoining Prince Edward." These graves, the report shows, were on +George, Princess Anne, and in Hanover Street, west of Princess Anne, and +on George Street between Main and the river. + +After twenty-two years, the Court issued its first authorization for a +Minister of the Gospel (none but the Church of England ceremony was +before recognized) to perform the marriage ceremony, December 24, 1804, to +"Benj. Essex," Methodist. Others followed in this order: Samuel Wilson, +Presbyterian, September 22, 1806; William James, Baptist, June 13, 1811. + +The undisputed fact that John Forsythe, who was in his generation one of +America's most famous men, and a sketch of whose life is given elsewhere, +was born in Fredericksburg, is contained in this entry, dated January 12, +1832. + +"The Court orders it to be certified that it was proved to their +satisfaction, by the evidence of Francis S. Scott, a witness sworn in +Court, that Major Robert Forsythe of the Revolutionary army, had two +children, one of whom, Robert, died under age and unmarried, and the +other, John, is now alive, being a Senator in Congress from Georgia." + +[Sidenote: _Court Set Liquor Price_] + +Among the Court's first acts after establishment, the Hustings Court, on +May 20, 1782, thus fixed the prices of certain commodities in the +"Taverns": "Good West India Rum, one pound per gallon; bread, ten +shillings; whiskey, six; strong beer, four; good West India rum toddy, ten +shillings; brandy toddy, seven shillings six pence; rum punch, fifteen +shillings; brandy punch, twelve; rum grog, six; brandy grog, five. Diet: +one meal, one shilling six pence; lodging, one shilling and three pence; +'stablidge' and hay, two shillings; oats and corn, nine pence per gallon." + +The prices of intoxicants is hard to explain. Rum is at the rate of $5.00 +per gallon, but apparently whiskey is only $1.25. A later ordinance of +prices, made May 10, makes various changes. + +"Breakfast, fifty cents; dinner, fifty; supper, fifty; lodging, +twenty-five; grain, per gallon, twelve and one-half; stablidge and hay per +night, twenty-five; Madera Wine, per quart, one dollar; Champagne, per +quart, one dollar and fifty cents; other wine, per quart, fifty cents; +French brandy, twelve and one-half cents per gill; Rum, twelve and +one-half cents per gill; Gin, twelve and one-half cents per gill." + +[Sidenote: _Some of the Judges_] + +A pure judiciary is one of the best assurances of good government, and +Virginia is proud of her Judges, who on the average, have been and are men +of learning, and acknowledged ability. + +In this book, we can only chronicle briefly the names of some who have +presided in the Circuit Courts of this circuit. + +First is the name of John Tayloe Lomax, who had occupied a chair in the +law school at the University of Virginia, and who had written several +books treating on law, before he came to preside as judge here. + +Richard Coleman, of the distinguished family of that name from Caroline +County; + +Eustace Conway, one of the very youngest men elected by the people, and +who died in a few months after he had assumed the duties; + +John Critcher, who soon resigned the judicial office to become an officer +in the Confederate Army; + +William Stone Barton, who was a splendid Judge, a fearless soldier and a +Christian; + +John E. Mason, who executed all the duties of his high office +intelligently and conscientiously. + + + + +_Echoes of the Past_ + + _"Ghosts of Dead Hours, and Days That Once Were Fair"_ + + +Fredericksburg was, in anti-bellum days, the center of a large number of +slave holding land proprietors who lived within its gates, yet cultivated +their farms in the adjacent territory, hence the colored population of the +town was large; and very much to the credit of these colored people as +well as a testimonial to the manner of their treatment, and to the methods +of their humane and kind discipline, the colored population was law +abiding and polite. They were religious in their tendencies, and church +going in their practices. For several years they worshipped in a church of +their own situated on the banks of the Rappahannock known as Shiloh +Baptist Church--for in this section they were Baptist in their creed. +After the war, in consequence of some feuds and factions, they divided up +into several churches, all of the Baptist denomination. Clinging to the +name, there is now "Shiloh Old Site"--and "Shiloh New Site" and some mild +rivalry. + +[Sidenote: _About the Colored People_] + +Among the old time colored brethren were some unique characters. We note a +few only: Scipio, or as he called himself, Scipio Africanus from Ethiopia, +was very popular; kindly and charitable in disposition he was probably the +only infidel among that race. One afternoon, at a Baptizing which always +took place in the River, a very fat sister came near being drowned. After +she was immersed by the preacher, gasping and struggling, she came up and +Scip becoming excited yelled to the colored divine--"Stop there Brother! +Stop I tell you! If you douse that gal again some white man goin' to lose +a valuable nigger by this here foolishness!" Needless to say the indignant +divine released the sister and turned his wrath on Scipio. + +Another colored character was Edmund Walker, who kept a coffee house. He +openly proclaimed he wanted no "poor white trash." Over his emporium in +big letters flourished this sign--"walk in gentlemen, sit at your ease, +Pay for what you call for, and call for what you please." + +Jim Williams was known as a good cook, as well as huntsman. His Master, +Col. Taliaferro told Jim one day that he expected great men for dinner +some time soon, and "Jim, I want a turkey, a fat turkey fattened in a +coop, not shot Jim!" When the day came and dinner was served, Col. +Taliaferro's knife in carving, struck a shot or two. Infuriated, the old +Colonel yelled at Jim--"Didn't I tell you not to bring me any turkey with +a shot in it?" Jim who had obtained the turkey after dark replied, "Dem +shots was 'tended for me not for the turkey. The white folks shot at me, +but the turkey got the shot." + +The loyalty of the colered men and women for their old Masters and +Mistresses during the war cannot be commended too highly. Told time and +again that a victory for the Federal soldiers meant their freedom, many of +them refused to leave their old homes, and remained steadfast to the end. +While we cannot enumerate many of these, the opportunity to chronicle the +name of one, still living cannot be overlooked. The Rev. Cornelius Lucas, +who in the dark and dreadful days of war, followed his old owners, the +Pollocks, is with us yet. He was with them on the march and in camp, +waited on them, and ministered to them. One of the Chapters of the +Daughters of the Confederacy in this town, recently decorated him with its +testimonial, its cross of honor. + +We know of no locality situated so near the Mason and Dixon line as is +Fredericksburg where the Union Armies came with their propaganda of +freedom for the slaves, which presents more of the love of the former +slaves for their former Masters, and more obedience to law and order than +is the case with the colored people of the town of Fredericksburg, for +with rare exceptions, there has been no flagrant violation of the laws. We +are of the opinion that this book would not indeed respond to the +requirements of endeavoring to sketch the town and its life, without +embodying within its pages what it includes of the colored men and women +whose lives have been spent within its limits. + + +[Sidenote: _When Andrew Jackson Came_] + +Early in the nineteenth century, on May 7th, 1833, Fredericksburg was +visited by President Andrew Jackson and escort, the occasion, one of the +most important of that period, being the laying of the corner stone of the +old Mary Washington Monument. People from all over this general section +gathered to greet the hero of New Orleans, and in addition to the +detachment of Marines, which was the President's honor guard, military +organizations from Washington, Alexandria, Fauquier County and +Fredericksburg, led by Col. John Bankhead, chief marshal, took part in the +large parade that preceded the ceremonies. + +History has recorded for us correctly what took place on the occasion. The +President spoke as did also other distinguished men and, as in those +remote days orators were not sparing with the time they took, undoubtedly +the long suffering people stood a verbal fusilage that lasted hours. But +in the end they were repaid, for the program was followed by feasting and +drinking and a general merry time, at which wines, liquors and barbacued +beef were served to 5,000 people, under a big tent. + +The main reception was held in the old Wallace house, which formerly stood +on the site now occupied by the Baker and Wallace wholesale drygoods +house, and it was the scene of an incident that convulsed the dignified +gathering, which was hard put to control its laughter. It came about as +follows. + +While traveling by road from Quantico (which was reached by boat from +Washington,) to Fredericksburg, the presidential party encountered a Major +Randolph, of the army, who lately had been court martialed and reprimanded +on a charge that now is unknown. Major Randolph had appealed the decision +of the court to the President, who much to the indignation of the Major, +approved the findings. When Major Randolph met the President, he stopped, +saluted and then questioned him regarding his decision. The President's +replies were not satisfactory to the indignant major and he pulled the +nose of the Hero of New Orleans. News of the occurrence quickly got about +the town. + +That night a certain old gentleman of the most generous hospitality and +the kindest of hearts but with very poor social instincts, was introduced +to the President. His mental processes are not known, naturally, but +probably in a desire to be especially gracious and to show that +Fredericksburg and its people were deeply considerate of the welfare of +their President, and concerned in all that happened to him, the old +gentleman grasped the hand of the chief dignitary of the land, bowed very +low and said, "Mr. President, I am indeed very glad to meet you and I +sincerely hope, Sir, that Major Randolph did not hurt you when he pulled +your nose to-day." + +The President flared up momentarily but seeing the innocence written in +the countenance of the old gentleman, and the convulsions of those around +him, he joined heartily in the laughter and assured his questioner that he +was quite unharmed. + + +[Sidenote: _General Lee's Week's Visit_] + +In 1869 the Episcopal Council of the State gathered in St. George's Church +and to this Council as a delegate from Grace Church, Lexington, of which +he was a vestryman, came General Robert E. Lee the beloved hero of the +South. Just across the street from St. George's Church was the home of +Judge William S. Barton and there he was the honored guest. Coming so +shortly after the close of the war when the people were in almost a frenzy +of sympathy for him and sorrow for their "Lost Cause" he produced an +impression that will never be forgotten by those who saw him. + +The Barton house was besieged by young and old, anxious to shake hands +with him. The Bartons gave a large reception, and the writer recalls that +scene as if it were yesterday. + + +[Illustration: MONUMENT TO MERCER + +_Erected by Congress to the Brilliant General Who Fell at Princeton. The +Street is Washington Avenue_] + + +General Lee stood with Judge Barton and his stately wife; General Barton +and his wife, and the peerless beauty, Mary Triplett, who was the niece of +the Bartons. To describe General Lee would be superfluous. The majesty of +his presence has been referred to. He inspired no awe or fear, but a +feeling of admiration as if for a superior being. People who spoke to him +turned away with a look of happiness, as if some long felt wish had been +gratified. Toward the conclusion of the reception, when only a few +intimate friends remained, some of the young girls ventured to ask for a +kiss, which was given in fatherly fashion. The Council lasted a week, from +Sunday to Sunday and for that time General Lee remained at the Bartons. + +The home life of this truly representative Virginia family brings back +elusive dreams of the charmed days of old when a gentle elegance, a +dignity, a grace of welcome that was unsurpassed in any land, made them +ideal as homes and supreme in hospitality, and nowhere was this more +clearly evidenced than in the family of Judge Barton. General Lee was +serenaded here by Prof. A. B. Bowering's Band, the same Band which +accompanied the gallant 30th Virginia Regiment on its marches, and cheered +them in Camp with patriotic airs. + +It was Bowering's Band that, when the body of Stonewall Jackson was +removed from the Capitol in Richmond to the railway station, played the +Funeral Dirge. Prof. Bowering has led other bands since then, and is at +present the conductor of an excellent one. + +It was at about this time that Father Ryan wrote one of his most beautiful +poems, of which this is the last verse: + + "Forth from its scabbard, all in vain, + Bright flashed the sword of Lee; + 'Tis shrouded now in its sheath again, + It sleeps the sleep of our noble slain + Defeated, yet without a stain, + Proudly and peacefully." + +[Sidenote: _Mayors of Fredericksburg_] + +The following is a chronological list of mayors of Fredericksburg with the +number of years served by each: Dr. Charles Mortimer, 3; William +McWilliams, 1; James Somerville, 3; George Weedon, 1; George French, 8; +Benjamin Day, 2; William Harvey, 2 and less than a month of the third +year, when he died in office; Fontaine Maury, 3; William Taylor, 1; David +C. Ker, 2; William S. Stone, 1; Charles L. Carter, 1 year and six months, +resigning when half his first term was out; William Smock, six months, +serving the unexpired half of Charles L. Carter's first term; Richard +Johnston, 1; Joseph Walker, 1; John Scott, 1; Garret Minor, 2; Robert +Mackay, 2; David Briggs, 1. + +Briggs' term ended in March, 1821. Up to this time no mayor had served +more than 1 year consecutively, but after this date several served for +many years following each other. Following Briggs was Robert Lewis, who +died in office after nearly nine years; Thomas Goodwin, died in office +after nearly seven years; John H. Wallace, 2; Benjamin Clarke 6; Robert +Baylor Semple, died in office after nearly nine years; John L. Marye, Jr., +1; Peter Goolrick, 3 years and one month, resigning just after the +beginning of his fourth term and almost immediately before the Civil War; +John S. Cardwell, 2; William S. Scott, 1; Montgomery Slaughter, the War +Mayor, who succeeded Peter Goolrick, (when the latter resigned because the +council had refused to endorse some of his appointments), and served until +removed by the military authorities after a few days more than eight +years. He was succeeded by Charles E. Mallam, appointed by the military +authorities in April, 1868, and removed by them in just a little more than +a year. William E. Nye, who followed, was appointed by the military but +resigned in less than a year. He was succeeded by Lawrence B. Rose, +elected by the council and twice later by the people, serving altogether 5 +years, two months and twenty days, dying during his last term; William Roy +Mason, resigning after serving twenty-seven days of his first term, to +which he was elected by the people. Robert Banks Berrey, 2; Hugh S. +Doggett, 3; Joseph W. Sener, 4; Josiah Hazard, 4; Absalom Rowe, 9 years +and eleven months, dying in office during his last term; W. Seymore White, +1 year and not quite five months, dying in office; Henry R. Gouldman, +seven months; Marion G. Willis, 6 years; Thomas P. Wallace, 4; H. Lewis +Wallace, 4; Josiah P. Rowe, a son of Absalom Rowe, 8; J. Garnett King is +at present serving. + +So far as can be gathered ex-Mayor J. P. Rowe is the only son of a mayor +who ever held the same office which his father had filled before him. + + +[Sidenote: _Building of the Railroad_] + +The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad, the great Trunk Line +between the North and the South, in 1837 completed its line to +Fredericksburg by rail, a stage line thence to Potomac Creek, and steamer +connection was made from here to Washington. In 1842, on the 18th of +November, the line was completed to Aquia Creek, making it a total of 75 +miles in length. In 1860 Peter V. Daniel was elected president, and during +his administration the road was fearfully damaged by the Civil War. In +1865, the company, after much rebuilding, again opened service to Aquia +Creek. In 1872 the line was extended to Quantico, and connecting there +with the Washington-Quantico road, filled in the missing link of railway +from the North to the South. + +The railroad has always been financially successful and has provided a +service of exceptional convenience. It has the remarkable record of never +having killed a passenger within its cars, and but two from any cause +whatever. Under the Hon. Eppa Hunton it operates now with great efficiency +and over its tracks pass a string of trains during all of the twenty-four +hours. On all of its trains an employee calls attention just before +passing the house where Stonewall Jackson died. The house has been +purchased and preserved to posterity by the railroad--an act for which it +deserves the highest commendation, as it does for the monument it +generously built at Hamilton's Crossing, where heavy fighting occurred +during the battle of Fredericksburg. + + +[Sidenote: _Jefferson Davis' Speech_] + +Jefferson Davis, when a member of the Senate, was loath to leave that body +and opposed breaking up of the Union. But, when his own State of +Mississippi called, he answered. He had been educated at West Point and +had fought in Mexico. When the representatives met at Montgomery, Alabama, +and elected him President of the Confederacy, he accepted. When the seat +of government was moved to Richmond, he, of course, came with it. + +Soon after this he paid Fredericksburg a visit and while in the town was a +guest of Temple Doswell, Esq., at his home on the corner of Princess Anne +and Lewis Streets. As soon as it was known that he was here a band, +accompanied by a multitude of citizens and Confederate soldiers, gave him +a complimentary reception, to which he replied, in a brief address, from +the porch. The writer remembers very clearly how he appeared. He was tall, +thin, beardless, slightly bald, dressed in black broad cloth that was +slightly worn looking. + +Mr. Davis came to review the troops stationed on the Potomac at Acquia, as +well as some encamped at Fredericksburg. He expressed himself as very much +pleased, not only with the hospitable reception accorded him, but also, +with the conditions of the troops and the general management of the +situation then under General Daniel Ruggles. + +It is an unusual coincidence that during the war between the States, +Fredericksburg should have had within its gates, President Lincoln of the +United States and President Jefferson Davis of the Confederate States, and +that each made a public address from places three blocks apart. + + +[Sidenote: _The National Cemetery_] + +This National Cemetery is located on one of the most prominent and +imposing hills overlooking the City of Fredericksburg, formerly called +Willis Hill. On July 15, 1865, this location was selected and the cemetery +begun. It has since been made beautiful with shrubbery and flowers and +terraced, and now it is known for its attractive appearance. It is, in +fact, counted as one of the most beautiful cemeteries in this Country. It +comprises about twelve acres. Of the soldiers gathered from the adjacent +battlefields there are of the known dead 2,496 and of the unknown 12,798. + +Very many handsome monuments are erected on these grounds, among them one +by General Butterfield in memory of the 5th Corps; another to General +Humphreys by the State of Pennsylvania; and by the same State a monument +in memory of the 127th Pennsylvania Volunteers. Head stones mark the +resting place of very many others. + +On each recurring Decoration Day, May 30th, from a beautifully constructed +forum, services are held in tribute to the memory of the brave men who +sleep there. At these services many who wore the grey and fought on the +other side unite with the boys who wore the blue, in paying this tribute. + + +Near Fredericksburg Governor Spottswood instituted the first iron work in +America, and an old plate cast in his furnace is now in the possession of +Mr. Val Dannehl of this city. It is probably the oldest piece of cast iron +in America. + +Governor Spottswood built the village of Germanna on the upper river for +German workmen brought over here, and it was from that place, the first +Courthouse of Spotsylvania County, that the Knights of the Golden +Horseshoe began their journey. The mansion of this famous Virginian stood +close beside the Germanna road. + +Today, almost on that spot, stands a small white cottage, and within it +are various relics of the Old Governor and his family and of the battle of +the Wilderness. + +But the strangest thing about the small cottage is that within it lives, +with his wife, Alexander Spottswood, the lineal descendant of the +Governor. Mr. Spottswood stands over six feet, erect and with the bearing +that inevitably proclaims the descendants of great men. His daughter +recently married Mr. E. H. Willis. + +Thus a Spottswood lives today on the tract where the great Virginia +Governor built his mansion and where he founded the famous Spottswood +mines and furnace almost two hundred years ago. + + +[Sidenote: _Patti Once Lived Here_] + +An incident brought the great singer Patti to Fredericksburg, to remain +for some time. When she was a girl of sixteen, just beginning to train for +her great career in Grand Opera, her brother Carlo Patti expected to +institute a school of music and was here for that purpose when he was +taken suddenly ill. She came with her sister Madam Strackosh to see her +brother. He remained ill for months and his sisters were with him during +the entire time. They boarded at the Old Exchange Hotel on Main Street, +now the Hotel Maury, and gave more than one concert at what was known then +as "The Citizens Hall." If there are few here now who remember her, there +is still among us one woman, a little child at the time, whom the singer +often held in her arms and caressed. The parents of the child were +boarding at the Hotel temporarily and the mother and Adelina became great +friends and remained so for many years. Madam Strackosh and her famous +sister said they enjoyed "real life" in our little Southern town. Carlo +after regaining his health went farther South, joined a Confederate +Company, and again as one of the boys in gray under the stars and bars, +was in Fredericksburg and was well known to the writer. He entertained the +weary boys in camp when the hard days were over, with his beautiful songs. + +John Forsythe referred to in the above order was born in 1781 in a frame +house, now standing at the corner of Prince Edward and Fauquier Streets. +He graduated from the Princeton Academy early in life, moving later with +his family to Georgia where he studied law, practiced and in 1808 he was +elected Attorney General, and in 1812 was chosen Congressman and served +until 1818. + +In 1819 he was appointed Minister to Spain and while acting as Minister, +he was instrumental in the ratification of the treaty with the Country +for the cession of Florida to the United States. + +In 1827 he was elected Governor of Georgia and in 1829 became a member of +the Senate and was in that body when he accepted the office of Secretary +of State, which position he occupied to the end of Van Buren's +administration. He died in the City of Washington, October 21, 1841, and +is buried in the Congressional Cemetery. + + +[Illustration: NATIONAL CEMETERY + +_And Monument to the Fifth Corps. Here Sleep Thousands Who Died in the +Battles About Fredericksburg_] + + +[Sidenote: _Joe Hooker Comes Again_] + +Fighting "Joe" Hooker, as his troops called him and as he was, came here +shortly after the war to gather evidence to refute the charges his enemies +at the North were disseminating against him in a campaign of scandal. He +attempted while here, and he was here for a long period, to show that his +failure was not entirely his own fault, and the evidence which he +procured, together with his own statements proved sufficiently that Gen. +Hooker's plan for the campaign at Chancellorsville far surpassed any +conception of any other Northern general. They left the inference also +(Lincoln had warned him in a letter that his insubordination to Burnside +and other superior officers would one day result in his inferiors failing +to co-operate with him), that Sedgwick had not put his full heart into the +battle, for, important factor in the movement that he was, he started one +day late and allowed 4,000 men at Salem Church to hold back the advance of +his 30,000 men. Had he won this fight, he could have been at +Chancellorsville and turned the tide of battle long before Jackson's +genius had ruined Hooker's army. + + +The subject of this sketch was the son of Captain and Mrs. Joseph W. +Sener. His father was several times Mayor of this city. Judge Sener +graduated when quite a young man, with the degree of Bachelor of Law, from +the University of Virginia, and was a very successful practitioner for +many years in the courts of this State. He was elected to represent the +first Virginia district in the Congress of the United States several +years after the civil war. After his retirement from Congress he was +appointed by President Hayes Chief Justice of the then Territory of +Wyoming. After performing the duties of this office very acceptably for +several years he returned to Virginia, and again took up the practice of +his profession. Much of his time was spent in Washington where he died. He +was buried in Fredericksburg with Masonic honors, being a very active +member of Lodge No. 4, A. F. and A. M. of this city. + + +[Sidenote: _Abraham Lincoln's Address_] + +When the Federal army first held Fredericksburg, during the winter of +1861, President Lincoln came to stay at Chatham and hold a grand review of +the army of the Potomac. He was accompanied by Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of +State, and Edward Staunton, Secretary of War. On the plateau behind +Chatham there was held a great artillery review. On the following day the +President, accompanied by some of his cabinet officers and the staff +officers of the army, crossed the river on the lower pontoon bridge. They +rode immediately to the provost marshal's headquarters in the building on +the corner of Princess Anne and George Streets, which the National Bank +now occupies. After taking lunch with General Patrick and in response to +the calls of some troops present, President Lincoln from the front steps +made a short but splendid address. The writer of this, sat on the steps of +the St. George's Church, on the opposite side of the street and heard +President Lincoln's speech. + + +On the Bowling Green road, a mile from town, a stone marked +"Stuart-Pelham" shows about where those two brilliant young men met when +they advanced their guns against the Northern host. In the woods, back of +Fredericksburg, a stone marks General Lee's winter headquarters--where +stood his tents. The spot where Cobb fell is marked, and there is a marker +where the pontoon landed near the foot of Hawk street. The New Jersey +monuments are near Salem Church, General Hays monument (where he was +killed) near Plank road on the Brock road. "Lee to the Rear" one mile west +of Brock on Plank road, Sedgwick's monument near Spotsylvania Court House. +Where Jackson fell, monument two miles west of Chancellorsville on Plank +road. + + +[Sidenote: _Other Distinguished Visitors_] + +In the midst of the war England sent Lord Wolesley, who became the +Commander-in-Chief of the English Army, to serve a short time as Military +Observer with the army of General Lee. He was with General Lee about +Fredericksburg and in his commentaries on him said, "There was about +General Lee an air of fine nobility, which I have never encountered in any +other man I have met." General Wolesley attended a dance here in the house +then called the Alsop house, on Princess Anne Street, now occupied by the +Shepherds. + +The Prince of Wales, who afterwards became King Edward the Seventh, +visited Fredericksburg in 1859. The Prince was accompanied by the Duke of +New Castle, Lord Lyons and others of the Royal family. They were welcomed +here in an address by the late Maj. Elliott M. Braxton. The local band +played "God save the Queen" and flowers and bouquets were presented to the +Prince. + +Among those who came in time of peace we record the name of one whose fame +is known to all English readers. Thackeray, the great English novelist, +was here, and on taking leave said, "To come to Virginia and mingle with +its people, to learn how they live and see their home life, is to have +England pictured to you again." + +Again the father left, and we next hear of the little girl as Madam +Romero, wife of the once Secretary of State of Mexico and then Ambassador +to the United States from Mexico. During the stay of Ambassador Romero at +Washington, this girl of Virginia lineage became the leader of the social +life of the Capitol of our Nation, and one of the most popular women ever +known there. + +It was perfectly natural that Chester A. Arthur should be often a visitor +to Fredericksburg for he married Miss Ellen Lewis Herndon, of this city, a +daughter of Captain W. L. Herndon, whose distinguished life has been +touched upon. The home in which President Arthur stopped on his visit is +on Main Street, now occupied by Mrs. R. B. Buffington. + +Certainly the greatest orator who ever visited Fredericksburg was Edward +Everett, of Massachusetts, distinguished among literary men of his day. He +came to this city to speak and was entertained in several homes here. He +afterwards spoke all over the Nation in an effort to aid the Mount Vernon +Association to purchase Washington's home. + +An English officer Colonel Henderson, whose life of "Stonewall Jackson" is +from a literary and military standpoint the best work of its nature in the +world, came here and stayed for a long period securing data for his book. +He lived during his time here at the Old Eagle Hotel, now the Hotel Maury. + +Among our old time merchants was Mr. William Allen. His son married and +lived in many foreign lands. The son's wife died and he returned to visit +his father bringing his beautiful little daughter, a child of ten or +eleven years. The writer recalls her at that time, with her lovely golden +curls. + +Another nobleman who came here drawn by the quaintness of the old American +town and his desire to see the home of Washington, was the Count De Paris, +of the French Royal Family. + +The Irish poet, Thomas Moore, was here once and declared he would not +leave America until he had been a guest in an old Virginia home. + + + + +_Where Beauty Blends_ + + _Old Gardens, at Old Mansions, Where Bloom Flowers from Long Ago_ + + +Buds and blossoms everywhere! and honey-bees, butterflies and birds! It is +Spring now in the lush meadows and sweeping hills about Fredericksburg. +Flowers, leaves, shrubs and vines have burst forth once more with joy and +life. The wild tangle of beauty and fragrance is everywhere perceptible; +hedges of honeysuckle, whose hidden foundation is the crumbling old stone +wall, trellises heavy with old-time roses, arbors redolent with sweet +grapevine, sturdy oaks and maples, whose branches shelter the clinging +tendrils and the purple wistaria blossoms, borders, gay with old-time +favorites, heliotrope, portulaca, petunias, verbenas and hollyhocks, and +the loved English ivy, with a welcome right of way wherever its fancy +leads. + +The characteristic which is conceded to be the chief charm of +Fredericksburg is its historic association and its picturesque past. This +feature alone does not appeal to all who agree that the old town is +charming, but when this is combined with romantic and interesting tales of +the gentry of years agone who have won immortality not only in this +locality, but in this world, the charm is undeniably irresistible to all. +Fredericksburg has many beauty spots which combine these conditions--spots +which are of increasing pride to residents and visitors. + +Some of the gardens here are old, very old, antedating by many years the +celebrated formal gardens at Mt. Vernon, but few preserve so well their +pristine form. Though the box-bordered parterres have largely disappeared, +the old-time favorites are here still, the same loved shrubbery "just +grown tall," descended from those set out originally by those of +generations gone. Mazie V. Caruthers has, in a few words, unknowingly +delineated some of the garden spots here: + + "Long, brick-paved paths, beside which row on row, + Madonna lilies in their sweetness grow-- + Planted by hands to dust turned long ago; + + Odors of fern and moss and pine are there-- + Wild loveliness of roses everywhere + With pinks and mignonette their fragrance share; + + Around the dial, stained by sun and showers + (Whose slender finger marks the passing hours), + Stand purple iris, proudest of the flowers;" + +[Sidenote: _Mary Washington's Home_] + +At the corner of Charles and Lewis Streets stands the pretty little garden +spot, which, since the year 1775 has been associated with Mary Washington. +The tall and vigorous, pungent and aromatic box-wood trees, planted by her +own hand, seem typical today of the splendid old lady. A small section of +the pathway bordered by the same old shrub, which led to "Betty's" home at +Kenmore, is still here. And here is also the sweet-scented lavender, and +the roses, and near the high board fence on the north, is the sun dial, +that still and silent informant of the passing hours. Washington, Mason, +Jefferson, Marshall, the Lees--a score of the great have trod these shaded +walks. + +Not far away are two frame structures. The style of each bears the +unmistakable mark of age, though the date of construction is undetermined. +Both are still private residences, with attractive grounds. From the +continuity of the terraces, it is supposed that in other days only one +spacious and beautiful terraced lawn was here. It is still beautiful with +its carefully kept grassy sward, from which at irregular intervals, spring +the majestic Norway maples, the black walnuts, the apple trees, and +lilacs, the flowering almond, and other climbing and flowering shrubs, +thick with picturesque bird homes, tenanted year after year by possibly +the same line of robin, wren and oriole. In this magnetic atmosphere was +born in 1781, the future governor of Georgia, John Forsythe. + + +[Illustration: IN KENMORE HALL + +_The Remarkable Work About the Mantle and Ceilings Was Done by Hessian +Prisoners, at Washington's Request_] + + +Can it be that some subtle and indefinable influence lurked in these magic +surroundings, and left an ineffaceable impress for good upon the boy? + +[Sidenote: _Old Main Street Homes_] + +A delightful old colonial home is the brick structure on the east side of +lower Main Street. It was built in 1764, and its present attractive +appearance attests the quality of material in its construction, and also +the discerning care with which the old home has ever been maintained. In +Revolutionary times it was the residence of Dr. Charles Mortimer, the +loved physician of Mary Washington. From the east window can be seen the +graceful curves of the river, and the Stafford hills and dales still form +a pretty picture in their verdant beauty and symmetry. Within the solid +ivy covered brick wall encircling the premises two of the most magnificent +trees of this section are noted, a Norway fir and a southern magnolia +which, with other ornamental trees and shrubbery, and a charming rose +garden, are such splendidly beautiful color schemes that one is +constrained to linger in the presence of their beauty and age. + +Across the street stands another solid brick residence, which, though of a +later period in history, is equally beautiful. It is the one-time home of +Matthew Fontaine Maury, one of America's greatest men. Its architecture, +its interior decoration, its moss-covered, serpentine, brick walk leading +to the old kitchen, and the fascinating flower garden, still radiant with +old-time favorites, attest the age of this old home. Nowhere does the +trumpet vine attain such luxuriant and graceful growth, and many other +varieties of flowering shrubs and vines linger in the sun or throw their +fragrance out on silent nights. + +Two other landmarks in the list of charming homes built in bygone +days--the latter part of the 18th century--each with enchanting grounds, +are located one on Hanover, and one on upper Main Street. These are the +old homes of Dr. James Carmichael, and Dr. Robert Welford. Lineal +descendants occupy both of these premises today, and with the same loving +care the bewildering tangles of beauty in leaf, bud, and blossom, which +characterize these alluring old garden spots, with their accompanying +moss-grown brick walks, is continued. The Rappahannock river laves the +east slope of the Welford garden. The picturesque windings of this river, +and its wooded shores, together with glimpses of the ancient and +interesting little village of Falmouth with "the decent Church that tops +the neighboring hill," form a pleasing panorama. At the old Carmichael +home, oak, walnut, apple, and mimosa trees, with a pretty arrangement of +japonica, crepe myrtle, dogwood, lilac, English ivy, and other climbing +and flowering shrubs, combine to make a setting of alluring beauty. + +[Sidenote: _Federal, and Hazel, Hill_] + +Nearby, and still on Hanover Street, is the old colonial residence known +now as Federal Hill, the one time home of the distinguished attorney, +Thomas Reade Rootes. Its white enamelled wainscoting, panelling, and other +interior decorations; its colonial doorways, dormer windows, and spacious +grounds where old-time favorites, both radiant and redolent are enclosed +within its boxwood hedges and honeysuckle glen, all bear witness to a +carefully preserved and graceful old age. Here too is the sun dial, its +pedestal half concealed by luxuriant tangles. + +Beautiful Hazel Hill, with its spreading grounds, the old-time residence +of General John Minor; and the unusually attractive home on Princess Anne +Street, the pre-revolution home of Charles Dick, supposed with every proof +of accuracy to be the oldest house in town; Kenmore, with its storied +frescoes, always associated with Betty Washington, sister of George, where +graceful wood carving was done by Hessian prisoners, is magnificently +beautiful; "the Sentry Box," on lower Main Street, the old home of General +Hugh Mercer, though altered and modernized, has still the same attractive +grounds, and because it was here that the country doctor, who was to be +"General" Hugh Mercer and the tavern keeper who was to be "General" George +Weedon gained the hearts and hands of pretty Isabella and Catherine +Gordon, one infers that this was once the trysting place for many a +gallant cavalier. All these historic spots deserve front rank in the realm +of beautiful and interesting old age. + +[Sidenote: _Beautiful Old "Chatham"_] + +Among the pleasant places worthy of consideration, from an historic, and +artistic viewpoint, none is more interesting than old Chatham, on Stafford +Heights, directly across the Rappahannock from Fredericksburg. Situated on +an eminence commanding an extended view up and down the picturesque river, +and with glimpses of the church spires, and quaint roof tops of the old +town, gleaming through the splendid shade trees dotting the grounds, it +has stood for almost 200 years, a typical colonial Manor house, with +characteristically beautiful proportions, an example of English material +and English workmanship. + +It was built in the year 1728 by that sterling patriot, William Fitzhugh. +"Fitzhugh of Chatham," as he was known, was the descendant of the old +Norman of the same name, progenitor of all of the race of Fitzhugh in +Virginia. He was the intimate friend and classmate of William Pitt, Earl +of Chatham, and the plans for the mansion on his large Virginia estate, +which he named for the earl, are said, with every proof of accuracy, to +have been drawn by Sir Christopher Wrenn. + +Writers of long ago tell of the beautiful box-bordered garden at Chatham, +and of the wonderful terraces, built by numberless slaves, "stepping down +to the river like a giant's stairway." These latter still exist in their +beauty, and form one of the chief attractions of the place, which has ever +been famous, and whose most recent owner was the brilliant journalist, +Mark Sullivan, and Mrs. Sullivan, who made their home there until +recently. + +William Fitzhugh, Esq., married Ann Bolling Randolph, and their daughter +Mary, who married George Washington Parke Custis, of Arlington, was the +mother of Mary Custis, the wife of General Robert E. Lee. A conversation +between General Lee and Major J. Horace Lacy, (who with his family owned +and occupied Chatham until the War Between the States) is illustrative of +the devotion of both of these men for the old colonial homestead. + +[Sidenote: _General Lee Spares Chatham_] + +On the day before the battle of Fredericksburg, Major Lacy was at the +headquarters battery of General Lee. By the aid of field glasses he saw +across the river the white porches of his home filled with Federal +officers, and simultaneously there was wafted on the breeze the strains of +"Yankee Doodle" and "Hail Columbia." He requested General Lee to authorize +the fire of the heavy guns, which would have laid Chatham in the dust. +With a sad smile, General Lee refused to do so, and taking his seat on the +trunk of an old tree, he said, "Major, I never permit the unnecessary +effusion of blood. War is terrible enough at best to a Christian man; I +hope yet to see you and your dear family happy in your old home. Do you +know I love Chatham better than any place in the world except Arlington! I +courted and won my dear wife under the shade of those trees." + +Space does not permit a recital of the accomplishments of those who +followed Mr. Fitzhugh, of Major Churchill Jones, of William Jones, his +brother, or of Judge John Coalter. + +The Lacys returned to Chatham after the war and occupied it until 1872. + +The attractive interior with its hand-carved panels and corners is well +worthy of detailed description, particularly the west bedchamber, with its +alluring old fireplace and its high mantel, and is said to have been the +room occupied by George and Martha Washington, who spent a day or two here +during their honeymoon. Not alone have distinguished men of the Revolution +reposed in this room, but John Randolph of Roanoke was also here, and +later General Lee, and still later President Lincoln when he came to +review the Union Army. Clara Barton, to whom suffering humanity owes such +a debt of gratitude, was also here, a day or so previous to the battle of +Fredericksburg, and Washington Irving and other notable men visited Major +Lacy at the old mansion after the war. + +[Sidenote: _The Fall Hill Estate_] + +The interesting and historic old estate, Fall Hill, which is now the +attractive home of Mr. and Mrs. Fred H. Robinson, commands a view +surpassing almost any near Fredericksburg. The house, built in 1738, is of +the Georgian type of architecture, and its white panelling, its mantel +pieces, and other decorations bear the impress of the care and taste with +which the solid old brick structure was planned. In close proximity to the +Falls Plantation, and the Falls of the Rappahannock river, this homestead +well sustains its reputation as having had an artistic and romantic past, +which is inseparably intertwined with the present. + +Situated on a high eminence in Spotsylvania County, about two miles from +Fredericksburg, it commands an entrancing view, for miles, of the +glistening waters of the river, and the hills and dales of the +Rappahannock Valley, with its smiling cornfields, and its cheerful apple +orchards, and of the white pillared porches of Snowden, the charming seat +adjacent. + +It is a wonderful panorama. At the Falls are numberless moss-covered, +age-old rocks, over which the waters flash and sparkle in the sunlight, +fresh, soft, green, masses of grassy sward are here, dotted with the +stately poplar, sycamore, and cedar trees; over there the gnarled old oak +spreads its hoary branches, and honey locusts and elms are near, and +climbing honeysuckle everywhere. Under the cedar tree, hollowed out of the +flinty bosom of the big boulder, is Francis Thornton's punch-bowl, with +"1720" and "F. T." engraved on the circle. All of this is close to the +great house at Snowden. + +Though not so old, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Frank C. Baldwin at "Snowden," +has long passed the century mark, and the substantial brick structure, +with its massive white pillared portico, its wealth of English ivy, +wistaria, and other shrubs, its magnificent shade trees, planted +irregularly on the extensive lawn, its flower garden on the west, in which +peonies, hollyhocks, crepe myrtle, and other gay perennials vie with each +other in glowing color and beauty, all unite to form a lovely spot. Nor +can one forget that here General Lee and his staff, and citizens of +Fredericksburg, sat in the old parlor twice before they decided that +though the Federals carried out their threat to devastate Fredericksburg, +they would not submit to an unjust demand, and for the only time in the +war save at Appomatox and where Jackson died, tears gleamed in General +Lee's eyes as he stepped in boots and gauntlets from "Snowden's" front +porch to mount Traveler on the driveway. + +[Sidenote: _"Brompton" and "Mannsfield Hall"_] + +The old Marye home, Brompton, on far-famed Marye's Heights, is today a +handsome and imposing brick structure, with its white columned portico, +and its impressive and enticing doorway, so suggestive of good cheer and +hospitality. Each of these spots will appeal to all who see them, and each +will bring back from the rich past a memory of its own. + +Mannsfield Hall, a beautiful home below Fredericksburg, owned by Capt. R. +Conroy Vance is part of the original grant by the Virginia Company to +Major Thomas Lawrence Smith in 1671, his duty under the grant being to +keep at the mouth of the Massaponax a troop of 150 sharpshooters and to +erect a fort as protection against Indians. For this he was granted land +two miles north and two miles south of the Massaponax. + +The estate was known as Smithfield and the original house was of stone and +two dwellings still standing are now being used. The present house built +in 1805 was added to in 1906, and Smithfield was joined to Mannsfield, one +of the Page family estates. Mann Page in 1749 built the beautiful old +mansion of stone as a replica of the home of his second wife Judith +Tayloe, of Mount Airy, in Richmond County. This house was burned at the +close of the Civil War by accident, by the North Carolina soldiers +returning home. + +The Mannsfield Hall estate of today practically marks the right and left +of the contending armies during the battle of Fredericksburg, being +bounded on the south by the old Mine Road to Hamilton's Crossing which is +on the property. It was at Mannsfield that the great Virginia jurist, +Judge Brooke was born, the property being owned by that family until sold +in 1805 to the Pratts. + + +[Illustration: THE SENTRY BOX + +_Below, Where Gen. Mercer Lived. Above, Mansfield Hall, a Splendid Old +Home_] + + + + +_Church and School_ + + _How They Grew in the New World; Pathways to the Light._ + + +In the spring of 1877, during the rectorate of Reverend E. C. Murdaugh at +St. George's Church, questions arose as to certain forms of the Episcopal +ritual. Some of the members of the congregation approving Dr. Murdaugh's +views, believed them to be in perfect accord with the doctrines of the +church, but others felt that the introduction of these debated minor forms +was an innovation and tended towards a High Church ritual. These +discussions were followed by the resignation of Dr. Murdaugh, and his +followers assembled in old Citizen's Hall on the 7th day of August, 1877, +and steps were there taken to organize Trinity Church. + +Reverend Dr. Murdaugh was promptly called to the rectorship of the new +church, and Reverend Robert J. McBryde was called from the chaplaincy of +the University of Virginia, to fill the vacancy at St. George's. With the +kindly good fellowship, the tact, and the piety characteristic of his +Scotch ancestry, "he lived in accord with men of all persuasions" both in +the Mother Church and the youthful Trinity. + +This congregation first worshiped in the unoccupied Methodist Church on +Hanover Street, but on Christmas Day, 1881, they assembled in their own +attractive edifice, which had just been completed on the corner of Hanover +and Prince Edward Streets. Through the efforts of the Reverend J. Green +Shackelford, (who succeeded Dr. Murdaugh,) and the congregation, the debt +was finally paid, and on February 12, 1890, the church was consecrated by +Rt. Reverend Francis M. Whittle. + +One of the prominent characteristics of this congregation has ever been +the energy and perseverance with which they grapple discouraging problems, +and the unfailing and stubborn optimism of its women, out of which is +born that success which almost invariably crowns their oftentimes +unpromising efforts. Reverend John F. W. Feild, the present rector, is a +young man of unusual attainments, and under his able leadership the church +is a vigorous organization. A handsome parish house has been built. + + +THE BAPTIST CHURCH + +Very little credence has been put in the old superstition that an +inauspicious beginning implies the promise of a good ending, but the +Baptist Church here is a conspicuous example of the truth of the old +saying. + +In 1768 three Baptist zealots were imprisoned here on two charges: "for +preaching the gospel contrary to law," and, to use the words of the +attorney bringing the second charge, "May it please your worships, these +men cannot meet a man upon the road, but they must ram a text of scripture +down his throat." But this intrepid trio continued to preach their +doctrine, and to sing their hymns from the grated doors and windows of +their prison cells, and each day drew crowds of awed and interested +listeners. + +To the Rev. Andrew Broaddus, who organized the Church here in 1804, to +Reverend Thomas S. Dunaway, whose pastorate covered a period of thirty-two +years, to Reverend Emerson L. Swift, the present efficient pastor, and +many other able and faithful men, is the church indebted for the largest +membership in church and Sunday School in the city, the communion roll +numbering twelve hundred and eighty-nine members, and eight hundred and +twenty-eight officers, teachers, and pupils of the Sunday School. + +The present large and splendidly equipped building on the corner of +Princess Anne and Amelia Streets was erected in 1854, under the pastorate +of Reverend William F. Broaddus, and has had frequent additions as the +increasing activities and congregations demanded. Dr. Broaddus conducted a +successful school for young women in the basement of his church for +several years preceding the War between the States. + + +THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH + +To the Presbyterians belongs the distinction of having the oldest house of +worship in the town. The present brick edifice on George Street was +erected in 1833, the ground having been donated by Mrs. Robert Patton, the +daughter of General Hugh Mercer. At the time of the coming of Reverend +Samuel B. Wilson, as a domestic missionary in 1806, there were two +Presbyterians in the town--surely an unpromising outlook. + +This was about the time of the critical period in the life of the +Episcopal Church in Virginia. For various reasons many of St. George's +congregation had become dissatisfied. This fact strengthened by the +forceful intellectuality, and the magnetic sympathy of Dr. Wilson, brought +about the subsequent rapid growth of Presbyterianism, and proved that the +psychological moment had arrived for its development here. In 1810 their +first house of worship was built on the corner of Amelia and Charles +Streets. + +Adjacent to the present church on Princess Ann Street is the beautiful +chapel, built of Spotsylvania granite, through the donation of the late +Mr. Seth B. French of New York, in memory of a much loved daughter. + +Dr. Wilson resigned his pastorate in 1841, and among the names of his +efficient successors are Rev. A. A. Hodge, D. D., Rev. Thomas Walker +Gilmer, Rev. James Power Smith, and the present much loved pastor, Rev. +Robert C. Gilmore. + +Dr. Wilson organized the female school which was taught for years by him +at his residence on Charles and Lewis Streets, the former home of Mary +Ball Washington. One of his teachers, Miss Mary Ralls, continued this +school with great success, and admitted boys. How interesting would be the +register of this old school, if it were available today! The older +residents of the town remember well, and with pleasure, some of the men +who were educated there, and won distinction in their chosen fields. Among +others are Judge William S. Barton, John A. Elder, Judge Peter Gray, of +Texas, Dr. Howard Barton, of Lexington, Dr. Robert Welford, +Lieutenant-Governor John L. Marye, Byrd Stevenson, attorney, and the +Virginian historian, Robert R. Howison, LL. D. + +Dr. Francis A. March, the renowned philologist, and for years' president +of Lafayette College, taught school here for several years, assisting +Reverend George W. McPhail, the Presbyterian minister who succeeded Dr. +Wilson. Dr. March married Miss Mildred Conway, one of his pupils, and +General Peyton Conway March, so well known in military circles, is a son +of his, and is claimed by Fredericksburg, though he was not born here. + + +THE METHODIST CHURCH + +Shortly after the Revolution, the Methodists began to hold services here. +It is thought that for some years they had their meetings at private +residences, as there is no record of a house of worship until 1822, when a +church was erected on George Street, in the rear of where Hurkamp Park now +is. Reverend "Father" Kobler began his ministry here in 1789, and +continued for more than half a century. He died in 1843, and his ashes, +with those of his wife, repose today beneath the pulpit of the present +church. As a result of his godliness and assiduity, combined with the +fervor and zeal characteristic of that communion, the Methodists, under +the leadership of faithful men, have enjoyed a successive series of +prosperous years, materially and spiritually, culminating today in a +handsome, modern brick edifice on Hanover Street, well equipped for its +many activities, and a large membership both in Church and Sunday School. +Reverend H. L. Hout, the present pastor, is a conscientious, capable, and +intelligent leader. + + +ROMAN CATHOLIC + +Until a sermon of unusual ability and power was delivered here in 1856, by +Bishop McGill, of the Roman Catholic faith, that denomination had no +organization of any kind. This event, together with the energy and +enthusiasm of the small band of disciples of that faith, was the impetus +which forwarded the establishment of the church here in 1859. The visits +of Bishop Gibbons--the late Cardinal--and Bishop Keene greatly +strengthened the prospects of the church, and though its membership roll +is not a long one, it embraces today some of our solid and successful +citizens. They have erected a neat brick church, and comfortable parsonage +adjacent on Princess Anne Street. The priests who have officiated have +been men deserving the high esteem of the community, and well able to +carry on; the genial Father Thomas B. Martin is the present priest in +charge. + + +THE CAMPBELLITE CHURCH + +An inconspicuous red brick building on Main Street which has the +undeniable stamp of age, though decorated with a new and modern front, is +the Christian, or Campbellite Church, built in 1834. This was only two +years after Alexander Campbell, the eloquent founder of the sect, came +here to expound his creed, and to organize his church. Its little band of +workers has passed through many stages of discouragement, but with +fortitude and energy they have again and again revivified the spark of +life, which at times seemed to burn so low. The building was used, during +the War between the States, as a hospital. Under the leadership of +Reverend Landon Cutler, Reverend Cephas Shelburne, Reverend Samuel H. +Forrer, and others, with the labors of the present pastor, Reverend Daniel +E. Motley, the membership has of late been greatly increased. The Bible +used by Alexander Campbell on some of his visits here, is a highly +esteemed relic. + + +SOME SCHOOLS OF FREDERICKSBURG + +The Public School system was established here as early as 1870. At first +the schools were not well patronized, owing in part to the unusual and +well-merited success of the private schools, and old-time prejudice +against new methods, then termed "socialistic." Their popularity increased +with their efficiency, prejudice was entirely eliminated, and to-day we +have a splendid brick building on Main and Lewis Streets, which houses the +elementary grades, well-equipped and with a commodious auditorium. + +The handsome high school building on Liberty street has been completed +within the past year. It cost 125,000 and is a credit to the town. The +chief problem here is the lack of room to accommodate the unexpectedly +increasing number of lads and lasses who present themselves on the opening +September morn. More than several times have the efficient and painstaking +principal and teachers congratulated themselves on acquiring adequate +conditions for placing the pupils, when in an incredibly short time, +"congestion," and "half-day sessions," are again topics in school circles. + + +THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL + +The crowning glory of Fredericksburg in the educational line and probably +the most far-reaching in its benefits and results is the State Normal +School, established here by Act of the Virginia legislature in 1908, State +Senator C. O'Conner Goolrick being most active in securing its location +here. The massive buildings crown the apex of one of the most picturesque +slopes on the left of the far-famed Marye's Heights. An institution of +this caliber, in order to radiate the best in every line of its many +activities, must be apart from the business, social, and commercial life +of the community, and yet near enough to benefit from the many obvious +advantages its proximity to such a center affords. The Normal School fully +meets this condition. The drive of about a mile from the center of the +town is an interesting one, and, when the summit of the hill is reached, +the driveway circles around the imposing brick structures; the +Administration Building, Frances Willard Hall, Virginia Hall, Monroe Hall, +and others. To the east, in all its historic pride lies the ancient city. +To the west, beyond the carefully kept, and attractive campus, and over +the Athletic Field, nothing is visible but fields and forests and rolling +hills,--nature's handiwork,--and, as the eye sweeps the horizon, it is +arrested by more hills and dales of that region of our state named in +honor of that daring and picturesque character, "The Knight of the Golden +Horseshoe." + + +[Illustration: NEAR BLOODY ANGLE + +_Monument at the Spot Where General Sedgwick, of Connecticut, Was Killed +by a Confederate Sharpshooter_] + + +Under President A. B. Chandler, Jr., and a faculty of teachers chosen to +provide that type of instruction calculated to prepare young women for +successful vocations, the school is a success. + + +SCHOOLS OF OLD TIMES + +If justice were done to each of the excellent schools of varying +characteristics, in the old days of Fredericksburg, many times the space +allotted to this subject would be infringed upon. But at the risk of this +infringement, the names of some of the local educators of other days must +be included. Mr. Thomas H. Hanson was sometime Master of the +Fredericksburg Academy, that old school which is said to have begun its +existence on Gunnery Green, which in its early days disseminated the seeds +of learning to many youths, who afterwards became distinguished statesman. +Messrs. Powell and Morrison were principals of a girl's school in old +Citizens Hall; Mr. John Goolrick and son George educated some of our most +influential citizens of the past generation; Judge Richard H. Coleman +taught a school for boys at Kenmore, and also at Hazel Hill; Mrs. John +Peyton Little conducted a popular school for girls at her residence, the +old Union House on Main Street; Colonel W. Winston Fontaine had a large +school for girls, and at a later period Miss Frank Chinn, Miss Tillie +Slaughter, and others, and still later Miss Willie Schooler (Mrs. Frank +Page) conducted elementary schools, which by reason of their efficiency +gained great popularity. The school of the late Charles Wisner was largely +attended by both sexes. + + +FREDERICKSBURG COLLEGE + +The interesting building (now the home of Mr. W. E. Lang, Smithsonia) has +almost since its construction been closely associated with the religious +or educational life of the community. In it for years was conducted +successfully, under various teachers, a school for young ladies, always +under Presbyterian management. For years it housed some of the departments +of the Presbyterian Home and School, of which that popular and efficient +institution, familiarly known as The Fredericksburg College was a part. + +Founded in 1893 by Reverend A. P. Saunders, D. D., the beneficial +activities of this institution continued until 1915. Not only were the +widows and orphans of Presbyterian ministers the beneficiaries in many +ways, but it afforded unusually fine opportunities to the youth of the +town, and surrounding country, not only in the usual college courses, but +in its school of music and art as well. In many instances its graduates +have distinguished themselves at the University of Virginia, Johns +Hopkins, and elsewhere. + + +COLORED INSTITUTIONS + +The colored citizens of the town--and the phrase is synonymous with +law-abiding, respectful and intelligent citizens--have shown commendable +energy and interest in their churches and schools, as is manifested in the +substantial buildings housing their religious and educational activities. +Three churches, all of the Baptist denomination, each with its own pastor, +hold services regularly. Each has a large congregation and a flourishing +Sunday School. Though the equipment of both high and graded schools is +only fair, the corps of teachers, all of their own race, is as efficient +as anywhere in the State. + +"Shiloh Old Site" and "Shiloh New Site" are the leading colored churches, +and each of these has been steadily growing for years. + + + + +_The Church of England_ + + _First in Virginia, the Church of England Has the Longest History._ + + +It has been said, and by reliable searchers after historical truths, that +the first Christian shrine in America was built by Spanish missionaries, +and on the site where now stands the City of Fredericksburg. But as no +proof has been found, we relinquish this claim, and find our first +authentic beginnings of Christianity in an old entry found in the records +of Spotsylvania County, 1724: "Information brought by Thomas Chew, Church +warden, against John Diggs for absenting himself from the place of divine +worship; he is fined ten shillings, or one hundred pounds of tobacco, or +must receive corporal punishment in lieu thereof, as the law directs." +These were days in the infant colony when religious freedom had no place. +Legislation was paramount and, though never since those times has the need +of the gospel been so obvious, the people had to accept the Minister that +"His Honorable, the Governor," sent them. + +St. George's parish and the early history of Fredericksburg are +inseparably linked. Affairs of Church and affairs of State were embodied +in one system. + +In the main the character and manner of living of the early ministers of +the Church of England here were not in accord with the dignity of their +mission. Incidents so indicating were not at all unusual: on one occasion +a clergyman of gigantic size and strength had a rough and tumble fight +with members of his vestry, in which the laymen were knocked out. The +burly Englishman took as his text the following Sunday, "And I contended +with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off +their hair." Bishop Meade says, "Surely God must have greatly loved this +branch of his Holy Catholic Church, or he would not have borne so long +with her unfaithfulness, and so readily forgiven her sins." But happily, +all those who in the olden days ministered in the Parish of St. George +were not of this type. + +[Sidenote: _Some of the Early Rectors_] + +St. George's Parish and the County of Spotsylvania were contemporaneously +established in 1720. The first official record of the parish extant is the +notice of the vestry meeting on January 16, 1726, at Mattaponi, one of the +three churches then in the parish, Reverend Theodosius Staige, minister. +Reverend Rodman Kennor succeeded Mr. Staige. It was not until the 10th of +April, 1732, that Colonel Henry Willis contracted to build a church on the +site of the present St. George's, seventy-five thousand pounds of tobacco +being the consideration. After much discussion accompanied by usual +excitement, the State urging its claims and the vestry not indifferent as +to who "His Honorable, the Governor," would send them, the Reverend +Patrick Henry, uncle of the famous Patrick Henry, became minister. Colonel +Henry Willis and Colonel John Waller, "or he that first goes to +Williamsburgh" is desired to return thanks to His Honor. + +Reverend Patrick Henry resigned his charge in 1734, and Sir William Gooch, +Governor, sent a Mr. Smith, who, on account of his "faithfulness or the +contrary," was very generally disliked, and after two sermons, left. The +names of two ministers, father and son, appear successively on the +interesting old yellow rolls at this time, Reverend James Marye, Sr., and +Reverend James Marye, Jr. who officiated at St. George's for almost half a +century, and who were faithful and zealous. The salary of these men was +fixed by law at sixteen thousand pounds of tobacco. It is impossible to +compute with accuracy this equivalent in English money, "minister's +tobacco" representing many varieties, and its value seeming to fluctuate. +In general four pounds of tobacco equaled one shilling. The elder Marye +married Letitia Mary Ann Staige, the sister of the first rector; and +Yeamans Smith, who built the attractive country seat "Snowden" in 1806, +married Ann Osborne, a daughter of James Marye, Jr. From these families +are lineally descended many of the worshipers at old St. George's today. + +[Sidenote: _The Oldest Cemetery Here_] + +In 1751 the first bell, the gift of John Spotswood, was used. In 1755 the +legislature passed an act directing that each parish should provide for +the maintenance of the poor, thus the first "poor-house" was established. +In 1722 an act was passed by the General Assembly relating to the +churchyard, and authorizing the vestry to reduce the dimensions thereof. +This small and interesting spot, so carefully maintained today, was used +as "God's Acre," before the legal establishment of Fredericksburg in 1727. +Contiguous to the church on the north, this little "City of the dead," is +a grassy hillside, sloping gently to the east; and amid the sturdy elms +and maples, the graceful fronds and purple blossoms of the wistaria and +lilac, the old fashioned roses, the clinging ivy and periwinkle, rest the +ashes of those who helped to make the Fredericksburg of long, long ago. We +love to think of those noted personages sleeping there, that + + "It is not hard to be a part of the garden's pageantry + When the heart climbs too, set free." + +Colonel Fielding Lewis, of Kenmore, and his three infant grandchildren, +sleep beneath the old stone steps of the church. William Paul, the brother +of John Paul Jones, is under the linden tree. Archibald McPherson, the +generous Scotchman and friend of the poor, sleeps under a tangle of ivy +and roses. Reverend E. C. McGuire and his relict, Judith Lewis, great +niece of General Washington lie close to the loved old church beneath the +weeping willow. Under the shade of the same beautiful tree, sleeps the +father of Martha Washington, Colonel John Dandridge of New Kent County. +Others, well known, are not far away. + +Reverend James Marye, Jr., a faithful scion of the Huguenot faith, taught +a parochial school here, which George Washington as a youth attended. It +is thought to have been at this school that he wrote, under Mr. Marye's +dictation, his celebrated "Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior," the +original of which is preserved among the country's archives. The faithful +service of Reverend James Marye, Jr., ended with his death on October 1, +1780, and during seven years following the parish was without a minister. + +In 1785 agreeably to the law passed in the legislature giving all +Christian denominations the privilege of incorporation, the people of St. +George's Church met, and elected the following vestrymen: John Chew, John +Steward, Mann Page, Thomas Colson, Thomas Crutcher, Daniel Branham, Thomas +Sharp and James Lewis. + +In 1787 Reverend Thomas Thornton was unanimously elected rector of the +church. Steady faith, unaffected piety, ability to associate the dignity +of the minister with the familiarity of the man, are some of the +characteristics which his biographers have attributed to him, and which +made him acceptable to all classes. It was during his ministrations that +the Fredericksburg Academy was held in such high estimation. Many eminent +men have attended this old school. + +[Sidenote: _Washington's Last Attendance_] + +Four pews in the gallery of St. George's were reserved for the use of the +professors and students. An interesting incident which occurred at this +time is told by Judge John T. Lomax, then a small boy. An addition to the +galleries had just been completed, when George Washington, with freshly +won honors, came on what proved to be his last visit to his mother, and as +usual attended service at St George's Church. Because of the presence of +the hero, a great crowd gathered. Suddenly, during the service, there was +heard from the galleries the sound of creaking timbers; this proved to be +only the settling of the new rafters, which had not been well adjusted, +but which caused great fear and excitement in the congregation. + +After the resignation of Mr. Thornton in 1792, the following names appear +on the church rolls, and follow each other in quick succession: Reverend +John Woodville, James Stevenson, Abner Waugh, Samuel Low and George +Strebeck. During the ministry of Reverend James Stevenson two institutions +of learning were established, and the benefit and advantages derived +therefrom are felt to this day. The male Charity School had its beginnings +in 1795, with these gentlemen as subscribers: Benjamin Day, Charles Yates, +Elisha Hall, William Lovell, Fontaine Maury, George French and Daniel +Henderson. + +Though this school ceased to exist years ago, there are still three stone +tablets inset in the wall of the old building on Hanover Street, where the +sessions of this school were held. (This building has been rejuvenated +lately, and is now the home of the Christian Science Society.) These +tablets are in memory of three of Fredericksburg's philanthropists, +Archibald McPherson, who died in 1754, bequeathing his property to the +poor of the town, Benjamin Day and Thomas Colson, whose services to the +school were many and valuable and whose charity was broad. + +[Sidenote: _The Female Charity School_] + +The Female Charity School was established in 1802, by the women of St. +George's parish, generously assisted financially by Miss Sophia Carter, of +Prince William County, and is still maintained to this day; their present +substantial brick building on upper Main Street has been occupied since +1836 and houses at the present time eight happy little maidens who, with +their predecessors numbering into many hundreds, would probably, without +its gracious influence have grown into womanhood without a spark of that +light attained by education and religious influence. + +But notwithstanding these blessings times grew sad for the Church of +England in Virginia. The Revolution in which each was involved was +destructive to the upbuilding of the Church and the growth of Virginia. +The results of that war were many and far reaching. The church had been +closely associated with that tyrannical government which the people had +now thrown off. Its liturgy, its constitution, its ministry and members +were naturally subjects of criticism, prejudice and abuse. Having had the +strong right arm of a strong government for protection, it was now forced +to stand alone, and it seemed for a while to totter, and almost to fall. + +Such were the conditions under which Reverend Edward C. McGuire took +charge of St. George's Church in 1813. In writing of his reception here he +says, "I was received with very little cordiality, in consequence I +suppose of the shameful conduct of several ministers who preceded me in +this place.... Under these disastrous circumstances, I commenced a career +most unpromising in the estimation of men." + +Nevertheless, this inexperienced young man of thirty years proved that by +living himself the gospel of truth and love and preaching "simplicity and +godly sincerity," he could overcome those difficulties implied in the +hopeless condition which prevailed at the outset of his ministry, when, we +are told, there were only eight or ten communicants of the church. But his +long ministry of forty-five years was one of prosperity and blessing. + +[Sidenote: _New Edifice Consecrated_] + +In 1816 the second church on the same site and this time a brick edifice, +was consecrated and Bishop Moore confirmed a class of sixty persons. +Reverend Philip Slaughter says in his history of St. George's Parish, +published in 1847, "There is apparently but one thing wanting to the +outward prosperity of this congregation and that is, room for its +growth.... I trust that the parishioners will build such a house for God +... as will be a fit monument for their thankfulness ... a suitable reward +to their venerable pastor for his life-long devotion to their service." +His hope materialized, for in the fall of 1849 the present beautiful +edifice was completed. A few years after the completion of this building, +July 9, 1854, a fire occurred, and the church was damaged. The loss was +covered by insurance, and the building quickly restored to its former +beauty. There is an authenticated story told in connection with this fire; +the day succeeding the fire there was found, on the Chatham bridge, the +charred and blackened remnant of a leaf from an old Bible and almost the +only words legible was the significant verse from Isaiah, _Our holy and +our beautiful house, where our fathers praised Thee, is burned up with +fire and all our pleasant things are laid waste_. + +[Sidenote: _Some Notable Vestrymen_] + +Shortly before the death of Dr. McGuire, in 1858, the climax of his +ministry was realized in the class of eighty-eight souls, which he +presented to Bishop Meade for confirmation. Reverend Alfred M. Randolph, +afterwards beloved Bishop of the diocese, succeeded Dr. McGuire, and in +chronological order came Rev. Magruder Maury, Rev. Edmund C. Murdaugh, D. +D., Rev. Robert J. McBryde, Rev. J. K. Mason, Rev. William M. Clarke, Rev. +William D. Smith, Rev. Robert J. McBryde, D. D., the second time, and Rev. +John J. Lanier, scholar and author, who is the present rector. + +These men were all more or less gifted with a high degree of mentality and +spirituality. Of a later and another day they were potent agents in +diffusing the blessed light which must emanate from the church. + +For nearly two centuries St. George's Church, its three edifices each more +costly and imposing than its predecessor, has commanded the summit of the +hill at Princess Anne and George Streets. Its interesting tablets and +beautiful windows tell in part, the story of its engaging past. + +In glancing over that precious manuscript, the old parish vestry book, +which numbers its birthdays by hundreds of years, names familiar to every +student of American history are noted. Colonel Fielding Lewis is there and +General Hugh Mercer, General George Weedon, and Colonel Charles +Washington, also Dr. Charles Mortimer, the physician of Mary Washington. +Others dear to the hearts of old Fredericksburgers are Reuben T. Thom, who +held the unusual record of serving the vestry for a successive period of +fifty-two years; Zachary Lewis, attorney to his majesty, the King of +England; Lewis Willis, grandfather of Catherine, Princess Murat; Captain +John Herndon, Francis Thornton, Ambrose Grayson, Francis Talliaferro, +Robert Beverly; but for the fact that there is such a vast assemblage of +names, interesting to the generation of today, an entertaining recital of +them in this brief sketch, would be possible. + + + + +_The 250th Birthday_ + + _Fredericksburg Celebrates an Anniversary_ + + +Many months were given to preparation for this greatest event in the +modern history of Fredericksburg, the celebration of her 250th birthday as +a chartered community. Much thought was spent on how best to portray the +Town's history from the granting of the "Lease Lands" by Governor Berkley, +in May, 1671, to be settled by the Colonists. + +The entire city officially and individually had given itself up, +practically, to staging a Celebration befitting the unique occasion. All +the hard working committees declared things ready for the Morning of the +25th of May, when the ceremonies of the day would begin at nine o'clock +with an official reception to delegates with credentials, and special +guests of the city, at the Court House. Doubtful ones had not lacked +prediction of failure, and they were confirmed in their fears when the +early morning began with a thunder storm and down pour. The stout hearted +and faithful who had carried on the work were, however, at their posts of +duty, and gladly saw the sun break through just in time for the opening +festivities. The entire city was elaborately decorated, flags flying and +"the colors" displayed in bunting on every home and building. A program, +replete with events, half solemn, gay or merry, was arranged for the day, +of which every moment was taken up. Never before in its varied history did +such an air of gayety envelop the city. Visitors flocked to Fredericksburg +and long before the beginning thousands had gathered, sidewalks, steps and +porches were crowded with merry throngs in carnival mood. While the +thousands of visitors were pouring into the town by railroad and by +highway the celebration was formally inaugurated when the official guests +appeared at the courthouse and presented Chairman W. L. Brannan of the +Celebration Committee, and Mayor J. Garnett King their credentials, +which will become a part of the archives of the town. This formality took +but a few minutes. + + +[Illustration: FEDERAL HILL + +_Built by Judge Brooke, Brother of Surgeon Brooke, of the Bon Homme +Richard_] + + +At nine thirty A. M., exercises were held on Lewis Street to mark the +boundaries of the Lease Lands, which was done under the auspices of the A. +P. V. A., one of whose members, Mrs. V. M. Fleming, had in searching old +records, come across the forgotten document of the Lease Lands and worked +hard for the celebration. A granite marker was unveiled with the following +ceremonies: + + Opening prayer--Rev. R. C Gilmore. + + Address--Dr. J. P. Smith, introduced by Dr. Barney. + + Unveiling--by Jacquelin Smith, a descendant of Lawrence Smith, first + Commander of the town. + + Acceptance--Mayor J. Garnett King. + + Benediction--Rev. J. J. Lanier. + +These exercises were very impressive and largely attended. + +Receptions, addresses by distinguished guests, parades of soldiers and +marines, veterans of three wars and descendants of Indians were all on the +program which followed and fascinated the crowds at various points. In +front of the Princess Anne Hotel was presented a lively scene, with one of +the bands of marines from Quantico playing on the balcony while throngs of +gaily dressed women, citizens, officials and marine officers made up a +remarkably brilliant ensemble. + +[Sidenote: _Real Indians In War Dance_] + +One of the most interesting numbers of the morning program was an Indian +War Dance, in costume, by members of the Rappahannock tribe of Indians, +actual descendants of the men who concluded the first treaty with Capt. +John Smith. This was in the City Park at 11:30 A. M. The tribal dances +were most picturesque and were in keeping with the birthday celebration. A +concert by the Marine Band followed the exhibition by the Indians. The +other principal point of interest at the same time was Washington Avenue +where the Fort Myer Cavalry Troop gave an exhibition of wonderful skill. +These manoeuvers were magnificently executed and received with +enthusiastic applause by the crowd. The Troops fell in line at the +whistle. The two platoons then broke from the center and executed column +right and left respectively. The first platoon executed troopers by the +left flank and the second platoon serpentined in and out. The whole troop +spiraled and unwound at a gallop, then executed by fours by the left flank +center and rode to the opposite end of the field. + +[Sidenote: _The Distinguished Guests_] + +A large platform at the north end of Washington Avenue held the speakers, +and the specially invited guests. Among the distinguished guests and +delegates present were His Excellency, Westmoreland Davis, his staff of 15 +members, Mrs. Davis, Hon. Herbert L. Bridgman, member of the New York +State Board of Regents and author, journalist and scientist, Hon. Chas. +Beatty Alexander, vice-president general of the Society of the Cincinnati, +and millionaire philanthropist, of New York, Gen. Smedley D. Butler, U. S. +M. C., Quantico, Gen. John A. Lejeune, U. S. M. C., Senator Claude A. +Swanson, Washington, Col. F. Nash Bilisoly, State Commissioner of +Fisheries; Chief George Nelson, Rappahannock Indians; Chief G. N. Cooke, +Pamunkies; Chief C. Costello, Mattaponi, Chief O. W. Adkins, Chickahominy, +John Halsey, representing the Sons of Revolution of New Jersey; Mrs. +Archibald R. Harmon, representative of the city of Philadelphia; Capt. M. +W. Davis, commander of cavalry from Fort Myer; Major Walter Guest Kellog, +Regent of the State of New York; Newbold Noyes, associate editor and part +owner of the Washington Star; Major General Adelbert Cronkite, commander, +80th division U. S. Army and others. As a native of Fredericksburg a warm +welcome was accorded to Admiral Robert S. Griffin, who has won fame and +distinction in the U. S. Navy and he was accompanied by his son, Commander +Griffin. Dr. Kate Waller Barrett, born in Stafford County, and a woman +widely known for her activities in philanthropic and social work, was +another who received marked attention. + +Mayor J. Garnett King was the official host of the city, and so well were +his arduous duties performed that no one felt neglected. The Chairman, +President W. L. Brannan, of the Chamber of Commerce, presided, and under +his skillful direction these ceremonies were conducted harmoniously and +impressively. Mr. Brannan did the hardest work in organizing the +Anniversary Celebration and its success was largely due to his energies +and efforts and efficiency. + +[Sidenote: _Mr. C. B. Alexander's Address_] + +Following the cavalry drill about 11:15 A. M., Hon. Chas. Beatty +Alexander, LL. D., LITT. D., vice-president general of the Society of the +Cincinnati and a Regent of the State of New York, was introduced by Judge +John T. Goolrick and made the following address of which we quote a few +words: + +"When I was about ten years of age I was sent with my Aunt, Janett +Alexander, the daughter of Archibald Alexander, of Rockbridge County, +Virginia, to visit at Chatham, I can vividly recall the generous yet +well-ordered life which prevailed at that time under the benign auspices +of the beautiful Mrs. J. Horace Lacy, with her noble husband, and I +remember the huge wood fires in every room and the delicious Virginia +food. Each of us in the house, I remember, was furnished with a body +servant who was charged with the duty of seeing that we were made +thoroughly comfortable. I was shown the interesting tree under which it +was said that General Washington and General Lee both proposed to their +future wives and I am interested to learn that the Rev. James Power Smith, +A. D. C. to Stonewall Jackson, also under that very tree proposed to the +lovely Agnes Lacy, the daughter of the house. + +Every night the family and guests would gather around the huge log fire +and discuss the issues of the day. On the way South I had been taken to +the Senate to hear Senator Crittenton present his famous compromise. I +also had the pleasure of spending the Christmas day of 1859 at the Seddons +house, at Snowden, about eight miles from here. Their home was destroyed +later by order of General Benj. F. Butler, Mr. Seddon's brother, James A. +Seddon, being Secretary of War of the Confederacy. I can readily recall +the appearance of the streets of Fredericksburg." + +Before Dr. Alexander completed his address, over in the City Park a few +blocks away, real Rappahannock Indians, descendants of those redskins who +inhabited this area, launched into a series of yells, with accompanying +dances and waving of tomahawks over their heads, and gave to the people an +exhibition of the tribal dance of their ancestors, a preliminary to an +informal severance of diplomatic relations with pale faces or some other +tribe of Indians that had incurred their enmity. This spectacular ceremony +was accompanied by music from a band representing a modern fighting +element, the marines. + +[Sidenote: _Banquets and Luncheons_] + +Again the crowd scattered over the city. People kept open house that day. +Besides the private entertaining, large dinners were served in Hurkamp +Park, and other selected places to thousands of marines from Quantico, as +well as to all those who came unprovided with their own luncheons. A +banquet was given by the city at Princess Anne Hotel to two hundred +invited guests. Prior to the luncheon a reception was held there by +Governor Davis, who shook hands with hundreds of people. Practically a +reception was in progress at this hotel during the whole morning. Many +ladies had been appointed by the Chairman and the Mayor on the official +Reception Committee. They met there at nine o'clock in the morning to +greet the guests. The luncheon was beautifully appointed and served at +round tables, holding eight. A long table extended across the end of the +large dining hall, where sat Governor Davis and Mrs. Davis, the speakers +and other distinguished guests, Mayor and Mrs. King, Chairman Brannan, +Judge John T. Goolrick and other city officials and their wives. Music was +furnished during the luncheon by the Franklin Orchestra of the city. + +After the luncheon, the biggest event of the Celebration, the Parade +started to move. It is not the part of this historian to describe the work +or the executive ability of those in charge, that led up to the final +accomplishment of this pageant of exquisite beauty, or the forty-five +floats exhibited in this parade. The scenes were perfect and carried out +the idea of the town's history. Mrs. L. L. Coghill, Chairman of this, the +principal feature of the Anniversary Celebration, worked out the entire +scheme giving her personal attention to each float, in the outline of its +general plan, details and coloring. The beauty and reality of the parade +surprised even the most optimistic. The closest attention was paid to the +genuine historical aspects of each period visualized, and the characters +and costumes were wisely chosen. The parade was nearly two miles long, and +took one hour to pass in review. A fleet of airplanes circled over the +city and gave a modern touch to the picturesque setting. + +To Mrs. Coghill and her committee the multitude paid tribute in applause. + +[Sidenote: _The Order of Parade_] + +Led by a platoon of police, the parade passed as follows: Chief Marshall +Edgar M. Young and his two chief aides, W. S. Embrey and J. Conway +Chichester. Three color-bearers, one each for the American flag, the +Colonial flag and the Virginia State flag followed. The music for this, +the first division, was furnished by the United States Cavalry Band from +Fort Myer and behind it came Troop K, 3rd United States Cavalry, Fort +Myer. The glistening brown horses and the snappy appearance of the +troopers brought forth the plaudits of the crowds. The United States +Marine Post Band, from Quantico, followed, heading the second division, +which was composed entirely of floats giving Fredericksburg's 250 years in +picture. This display arranged under the direction of Mrs. L. L. Coghill, +brought forth most favorable comment. No important point in +Fredericksburg's long series of historic events was overlooked. + +[Sidenote: _Some of the Beautiful Floats_] + +It began with floats of the four tribes of Indians in this section which +recognized the great king Powhatan as their ruler, the Mattaponi, +Chickahominy, Pamunkey and the Rappahannock tribes. The war paint of the +redskins stood out in deep contrast to the pure white of the floats. On +down through the days of Capt. John Smith and the men who established a +colony here came the floats, depicting and demonstrating in brilliant +succession the history of the town in every aspect of its political and +social life. There was Washington and his cherry tree, Washington as the +student, John Paul Jones who once worked in a store here; Revolutionary +generals; ducking stools, pillories and stocks; the peace ball attended by +Washington and his officers; "To live and Die in Dixie," showing typical +darkies before the war; "The Blue and Gray", Dr. James P. Smith, last of +"Stonewall" Jackson's staff, who participated in other festivities during +the day, and Maj. T. B. Robinson, of the Union Army, riding side by side +in an old shay drawn by the principal motive power of that day, oxen. One +of the purposes of the celebration of the city's 250th birthday was to +acquaint the public with Fredericksburg's past, and certainly that past +was visibly before the eyes of the onlookers. Each float in passing +received its meed of praise and applause. It would be a pleasure to +describe them all, but the scope of the present volume will permit only a +brief sketch of this beautiful feature. + +The Knights of the Golden Horseshoe, personified by the gallant boys of +Spotsylvania, represented this splendid band of former Virginians whose +ride across the mountains brought them everlasting fame. + +"Virginia" was truly regal in its setting. Between four white eagle topped +columns a beautiful and stately young woman clad in white and gold +draperies stood over the prostrate form of the tyrant imperiously +proclaiming in her pose "Sic Semper Tyrannis", the proud motto of the +State. + +The shades of morning were used to make this one of the most attractive of +the floats, it being our Dawn of Day. Pink draperies with morning glories +twining over them--pink, blue, white and purple, presented a beautiful +background for the figures of the typical group of men and women +presenting and receiving the "Leased Land" commission from Governor +Berkeley. + +The float of the period of 1608, which well represented the story +intended, was the Captain John Smith float. That distinguished man with +his two companions, was shown mooring his boat, on the shore of the +Rappahannock. An old Indian and his young son (real Indians of the +Pamunkey tribe) were stepping into the boat, intensely interested in the +beads and other baubles which Captain Smith temptingly holds out as +barter. + +An unique and most interesting feature was the coach containing "Col. +Henry Willis"--the top man of the town--and Col. William Byrd and his +fifteen year old wife going to visit at Willis Hill. The coach was mounted +high and the body glass encased, with steps that let down; there were old +time tallow candles in holders for light. Sitting in state with her lordly +spouse and the top man of the town, was the quaint and pretty little +fifteen year old bride, doubtless enjoying the mimic occasion as much as +her predecessor did the real one. + +[Sidenote: _Floats Depict Town's Story_] + +The float "Revolutionary Generals of Fredericksburg" was one that brought +much cheering. A group of popular young men in Colonial uniforms with +swords and side arms, representing Washington, Mercer, Weedon and others, +were the principals in this. + +Following this came one representing our first postoffice. General Weedon, +Postmaster; scene taken from the small room in the Rising Sun Tavern, and +the characters all descendants of General Weedon. + +The "Peace Ball" float was copied from the celebrated painting, a colored +engraving of which (given by Mr. Gordon) hangs over the mantel in the Mary +Washington House. This was gorgeous in decorations of black and gold, +which threw into high relief the picturesque costumes and coloring of +Colonial days. Mary Washington, her son George, and the young French lord +Lafayette were the outstanding figures. + +The Ducking Stool, showing also a Pillory, Stocks, and a refractory wife +perched upon the stool about to receive a ducking, caused much hilarity. + +The Battles of "Fredericksburg" and "Appomattox" were realistic in effect, +the latter shown by an old Confederate soldier leaning on his musket with +the beloved flag he followed for four years furled amidst the stacked +guns. + +"To live and die in Dixie" may well be described as a scene typical of the +"Old South." A negro cabin ornamented with pine saplings and an old darkey +sitting at ease with his pipe, in the doorway, and just outside a +contented "old Mammy," in characteristic pose. The really excellent +pageant came down to the present day with "Woman's Work." "The American +Legion"--"Armistice" and "The Hope of the Future"--the latter an immense +float filled with happy children. Even after the passing of the last float +there was little diminution of the masses of people on Washington +Avenue--apparently their favorite stage setting. + +A Marine Band concert filled in an hour or more, delighting the audience +with a wide range of selections. + +[Sidenote: _Chorus Songs Are Thrilling_] + +Grouped on the immense platform a chorus of one hundred voices followed. +The program was attractively arranged with a series of period songs, +several of which were illustrated with tableaux. The solemn strains of +"America" were thrillingly rendered amid patriotic scenes, the people +standing between the monument to Mary the Mother of Washington, and that +of the gallant Revolutionary General Hugh Mercer, and on ground +consecrated by the blood of the armies of the North and the South in the +Civil War where each army had planted, at different times, its guns, and +on ground that belonged to Washington's family. The hills of the +Rappahannock, once crowned so threateningly with battlements of artillery, +echoed the volume of sound, until it rung across the valley. + +"The Land of Sky Blue Water" a period song, rendered by Mr. Taylor Scott +in his magnificent baritone, was illustrated with an Indian tableau posed +by State Normal School students in costume. "Hail Columbia" by an entire +chorus and "Drink to me only with Thine Eyes" a song of Colonial period, +by male voices. "The Star Spangled Banner" period of 1812 was sung with +tableau by American Soldiers. + + +[Illustration: "THE 250TH BIRTHDAY" + +_Three of the Floats in the Parade, May 21, 1921_] + + +Civil War Period: "Old Folks at Home," "The Roses Nowhere Bloom So Fair As +In Virginia," tune of "Maryland, My Maryland," "Carry Me Back to Ole +Virginia," by a bevy of young girls attired in frocks of "the sixties." + +The Battle Hymn of the Republic and Dixie with its ever inspiring melody +were sung, and then the Spanish American War period exemplified by "A Hot +Time in the Old Town To-Night." + +The songs and tableaux of the World War period struck a more tender note, +and revived in many hearts the anxieties and sorrows of that epoch in the +World's History, when days of apprehension and sleepless nights were the +"common fate of all." The Tableau shown with it, represented a Red Cross +Nurse, a Soldier and a Sailor of the United States. + +"Auld Lang Syne," sung by the Chorus, ended the Concert and the great +crowd scattered like leaves before the wind, many hastening to attend +private receptions, others to get ready for the public ball at the +Princess Anne Hotel at which would gather all the notables who had helped +to make the day successful. The Mayor of the City, Dr. King and Mrs. King, +gave an official reception at their home on Prince Edward Street tendered +to Governor and Mrs. Davis and other guests of the Anniversary occasion. +Among the special guests present, in addition to Gov. and Mrs. Davis and +staff, were Gen. and Mrs. John A. LeJeune and staff, Gen. Smedley D. +Butler, Hon. Herbert L. Bridgman and Hon. Chas. B. Alexander. Several +hundred citizens of the city called and met Fredericksburg's distinguished +guests. The reception was a brilliant and most enjoyable affair. + +Later Mr. and Mrs. C. O'Connor Goolrick entertained at a smaller reception +a number of their friends and some invited guests of the city, including +many of those at the reception given by the Mayor. + +[Sidenote: _Mr. Whitbeck Entertains_] + +The reception at "Kenmore" to all visiting men, and men citizens was one +of the biggest affairs of the evening, and the hospitality of the host, +Mr. H. A. Whitbeck, made the occasion especially pleasant. An hour or +more was spent in good fellowship, the mingling of old friends and hearty +greetings to new ones. "Kenmore," grand old mansion that it is, was +resplendent under the lights and beautiful decorations and Mr. Whitbeck's +party for the men was one of the most attractive of all the social events. + +[Sidenote: _Ball at the Princess Anne_] + +As a fitting climax to the unique celebration which will go down the +annals of Fredericksburg as one of the greatest in its history, was a +Colonial ball at Hotel Princess Anne. In the early part of the evening the +hotel was crowded with a merry throng of guests which almost prohibited +dancing for the lack of space. The lobby, ladies' parlor and ball room +were filled to overflowing with handsomely gowned women and men in evening +clothes. With an unusually good orchestra from the Marine Post at Quantico +supplying the music, the ball was opened by a grand march, led by Governor +Westmoreland Davis and Mrs. Judge John T. Goolrick, who wore a handsome +evening dress of sapphire blue. + +As the evening advanced the crowd of spectators which occupied much of the +floor space, thinned out and more room was available for the dancing +couples. About midnight a supply of horns, confetti and streamers were +distributed to all present and the dance assumed a merry cabaret aspect. +The orchestra was full of pep, as were the dancers, and the scene was one +of much gaiety and fun. Dancing continued until two o'clock Thursday +morning, when lights were out and the gayest day in the long annals of the +Picture City between the hills of the Rappahannock, "historic +Fredericksburg," became one of her treasured memories; not to be +forgotten, but to be kept alive with her traditions by the descendants of +the splendid men and women who have made and preserved her history, and +caused her to become known to the world. + + + + +_Appendix_ + + +Thomas Jefferson in the Virginia Convention of 1776 was the successful +patron and aggressive advocate of the resolution for the appointment of a +Committee to revise certain laws in order that they might be in accordance +with and conform to the changed status and conditions of the State, from a +Colony of Great Britain to an independent sovereignty. + +This Committee, consisting of Thomas Jefferson, George Mason of Gunston +Hall, George Wythe, Edmund Pendleton and Thomas L. Lee, met in the Rising +Sun Tavern in Fredericksburg on January 13, 1777, where they inaugurated +and formulated bills of great and far reaching import, which were +subsequently enacted into laws by the Legislature of Virginia and followed +by the other thirteen States of the Confederation. + +These four bills were then considered as forming a system by which every +fibre of ancient or future aristocracy would be eradicated and a +foundation laid for a government truly republican. + +To only four of these we make reference--namely-- + +THE REPEAL OF THE OLD ENGLISH LAWS OF PRIMOGENITURE then the law of the +State, by which the eldest son as a matter of law and right became by +descent entitled to property rights and privileges above and beyond all +other heirs:-- + +THE REPEAL OF ALL ENTAIL which would prevent the accumulation and +perpetuation of wealth in select families and preserve the soil of the +country for its people, thus promoting an equality of opportunity for the +average citizen:-- + +THE ESTABLISHMENT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION AND OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS FOR ALL +CHILDREN--OF COLLEGES TEACHING THE HIGHEST GRADE OF SCIENCE--From this has +evolved the present public school system, and Jefferson being saturated +with this idea commenced by the establishment of the University of +Virginia. A great service performed by this Committee fostered and largely +encouraged by Jefferson and Mason was its BILL FOR RELIGIOUS +FREEDOM--which met with more active opposition than did the other three, +for it did not become a law until 1785. By it the State received its +charter of divorcement from the Church--religion and politics were +separated. It provided "that henceforth no man could be compelled to +frequent or support any religious worship place or ministry, but all men +should be free to profess and by argument maintain their opinions in +matters of religion and the same should in no wise diminish, enlarge or +effect their civil capacity." + +No elaborate or extended thesis or dissertation on the too apparent +merits, virtue, value and importance of these measures, in this brief +sketch, is attempted. The purpose really being, with emphasis, to declare +without successful contradiction or any possible doubt or dispute _that in +the Rising Sun Tavern at Fredericksburg on January 13, 1777_, these all +pervading, all important laws of the greatest import were formulated and +inaugurated by the Committee referred to. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Historic Fredericksburg, by John T. 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