Fredericksburg: past, present and future

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Fredericksburg :

PAST

PRESENT AND
FUTURE

NEW EDITION

WITH SUPPLEMENT

Class,
Book

Z3'

FREDERICKSBURG :

PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

^

3^etD SHdttioit tuitft Supplcntcitt

ROBERT REID HOWISON, LL. D.,

Author of a " History of Virginia,"' " Ri'port on Treatment of Prisoners

of War,'' adopted !){/ Confederate Congress, "Students' History

of the United States," and other works.

%^

.1. WILLARD ADAMS,
publisher: fredekicksburg, va.

1898

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1897,

By J. WiLLARD Adams,

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
Gift

Author
(Person)

FREDERICKSBURG:

Past, Present and Future.

In seeking to comply with the invitation of the Lecture
Committee of our Library and Lyceum Association, and
to lecture on the theme thus presented, I feel bound, as is
tlie manner of all veracious historians, to begin at the be-
ginning. But where the beginning is or ought to be may
be a serious question. To quiet your alarm, however,
ladies and gentlemen, let me say at once that I do not pro-
pose to follow the example of the profound and erudite
Mr. Diederick Knickerbocker, wdio, when he undertook to
write the history of New York, under the Dutch rule, gave
to his readers three complete and rich preliraiuai-y chapters,
in which he discussed the all-important question, how this
world came to be created — discussed, in fact, every theory,
sage or wild, that has been announced concerning creation,
from the days of INIoses to the present time. In these high
questions I do not feel bound to involve either you or myself
in looking into the beginning of Fredericksburg. It will
suffice to say that, after the lapse of some four hundred and
fifty millions of years from the epoch when our Earth was
first gathered, by Creative Power, into a sphere (which
period the great Canadian geologist. Principal Dawson, of
Montreal, considers a very moderate allowance of time),
the crust of the earth became a genial soil, adorned with
grass, and flowers, and fruits, and trees, and fit for the
habitation of man; and that the surface of the earth con-
tained not only the continents of Asia, Africa and Europe,
and the great seas, but also the continent of North and
South America; and that North America contained what
was, in due time, the territory of the United States, and
the United States contained Virginia, and Virginia con-
tained the county of Spotsylvania, and Spotsylvania, the
town of Fredericksburg. Thus you perceive that w^e reach

4 FREDERICKSBUR<;: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

the l)eginning of our beloved old city by a niiich shorter and
safer course than that run by Diederick Knickerbocker —
much shorter and safer than that of the man who, having
undertaken to leap over a chasm fifty feet dee}) and four-
teen feet wide, went back a mile and a-half that he might
gain a sufficient momentum, and who having run at full
speed one mile and 875 yards, fell down exhausted just five
yards from the chasm, over which he never got at all.

But when we reach the beginning of Fredericksburg we
cannot, with perfect accuracy, say that we have reached
the land. For, the very earliest accounts we have concern-
ing the site of the present town confirm the impression made
by the formation of the hills and flats on both sides of the
Rappahannock at this point, that at least a part of the land
now occupied by the town was once covered by the water
of the river. Captain John Smith, the hero of the settle-
ment of Virginia, and a man whose career was worthy of
the In-ightest days of knight-errantry, came up the Rappa-
hannock in 1608 (one year after the settlement of James-
town) in an open boat of three tons burden, with a picked
crew of twelve men, and acconi{)anied by an Indian named
Mosco from one of the tribes on the Potomac. They found
the Rappahannocs the most courageous and formidable sav-
ages they had yet encountered. As they sailed up, a shower
of arrows would pour on them from the bushes on the shore,
in which these Indians had ingeniously concealed them-
selves, and nothing but the willow targets obtained from
the Massawomacs saved them from destruction.

When thev reached the falls, which were higher up the
river than they now are, they landed and set up crosses and
carved their names on the bark of trees in token of posses-
sion and subjugation. As they were rambling carelessly
through the woods they were suddenly attacked by about
one hundred Indians, who shot their arrows with great pre-
cision, and ran rapidly from tree to tree to protect their
bodies from the fatal fire of musketry. A running fight of
half an hour was kept up, wdien the Indians jnysteriously
disappeared, leaving, however, one of their number so se-
verely wounded in the knee by a musket-ball that he could
not get off". Smith, with difficulty and not without threats,

FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND EUTURE. O

saved the life of this wounded savage from Mosco, who earn-
estly asked the privilege of dashing out his brains.

The expanse of water just below the falls was then so
wide that the boat of Captain Smith, when near the middle
of the river, was beyond effective range either of the Indian
arrows or of the English muskets. Something like a lake
must in fact then have covered the Stafford flats and a part
of those of the Spotsylvania side. Yet we need not be sur-
prised at the change which has occurred in the 272 years
that have passed. Even the grandparents of the present
generation lived in a time when large barques and schooners
heavily laden were able to ascend the river to Falmouth;
and there to discharge their cargoes and receive return car-
goes of wheat and tobacco. And some of us are able, by
our personal memories, to ascend to the times when the
river was much wider and deeper than now. Therefore
the feat attributed to George AVashington, Ijy a tradition
much more reliable than that of the cherry-tree and the
hatchet, that he threw a stone across the river at a point
on the bank which skirted the Washington farm, was a
greater triumj)h of muscular strength and dexterity than
such a performance would now be.

When Smith had his fight with the Rappahannocs, a few
Indian wigwams and lodges near the crest of the open hills,
or on the wooded ridges, M'ere the only evidences of a town
that the vicinity of Fredericksburg presented. But, as the
Anglo-Saxon race gradually advanced m their settlements,
and especially after the complete overthrow of the aged
chief Opecancanough and his savage foes, in 1644, by Sir
William Berkeley, the Indians began to retire from the
rivers, and civilized settlers began to take their phace.
From this time, we have only dim and unreliable traditions
concerning the rise of the town until the year 1727, one
hundred and fifty-three years ago. x\.t this point we gain
clear and definite light, proving that the town was not only
in existence, but had risen to a respectable point in popula-
tion and trade. In this year (1727) old George the First
died. He was, as you know, a native of Germany, and
was Elector of Hanover, when he was elevated to the Brit-
ish throne in right of his mother, the Princess Sophia, of

(i FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

Mecklenburg Strelitz, who was then the only Protestant
lineal descendant of James the First. George the First
was not fond of England ; sjient as little time there as pos-
sible; spent most of his time near his native town of Osna-
burg, in Hanover, where he at last died. He never could,
to the day of his death, utter twelve consecutive, intelligible
English words. He hated his son George, Prince of Wales,
and hated the noble and charming woman, Wilhehnina
Dorathea Caroline, of Brandenl)urg, Princess of Wales, for
no better reason than that evei'ybody else loved her. He
even went so far as to try to separate Geoi'ge, Prince of
Wales, from his family, and especially from his oldest son,
Frederic, from whom our old city of Fredericksburg has
her name. This Frederic was born long before the death
of his grandfather, old George the First, and as he grew to
maturity, developed qualities wliich caused affection, if not
esteem. He never became King himself, having died in
tlie lifetime of his fatlier, but his son became George the
Third, to whose mingled obstinacy and insanity we are in-
debted for American independence.

In the same year in which George the First died and
George the Second became King — that is in 1727 — Fred-
ericksburg became a town by law and received its name by
a solenm act of christening, performed by the Lieutenant-
Governor, Council and Burgesses of the then existing Gen-
eral Assembly. It was not, however, then incorporated as
a town. It w'as not entitled to a corporate council or a
hustings court. Having been previously a village or col-
lection of dwelling houses, inhabited by a variety of people,
it was made a town, according to a policy of the government
of Virginia, which we now look backtow^ith some surprise.
You know well that the tendency of the social system in
Virginia, at least up to the time of the late war, was to
country life, and not to tlie growth of towns. On their
great landed estates, with their abundant means, their slaves
and dependents, the gentlemen of the Colony, and after-
wards of the Commonwealth, looked upcm town life with
something like aversion, and never sought the towns except
for temporary business or pleasure. The General Assem-
bly sought to antagonize this tendency. They sought to do

feedericksburg: past, present and future. 7

a thing impossible — that is to make towns by statute-law.
Towns cannot be made by statute-law any more than money
can be made by statute-law. Towns and cities arise and
swell and grow to greatness under laws which are not made
by legislatures, but by the social and business wants of men.
Hence we now read with amazement the numerous acts of
assembly of the Colonial period by which nominal towns
were established in nearly every county, and on nearly every
river or considerable run. William Waller Hening, who
has collected those acts, ridicules their policy and calls the
designated spots by the appropriate name of ' ' paper towns. ' ^
They existed on paper and generally had no other existence.
Thus one of them was declared in the statute to exist in the
county of Stafford, on what w^as called Potomac neck, a spot
where no town has ever existed in fact, and where the only
dwellings have been the holes of muskrats and the lurking
places ot catfish, and the only inhabitants fish-hawks, snakes
and mosquitoes.

But Fredericksburg was already a substantial town be-
fore the act of assembly gave it a name. It is interesting
to note, however, that at that time, and for many years
afterwards, rights of dedication of private property to pub-
lic purposes were claimed and exercised by the Colony gov-
ernment, which would not be now held to be legitimate.
The act in question vested in trustees for the town fifty acres
of land lying along the south side of the river (Rappahan-
nock), in the county of Spotsylvania, which land was part
of a tract belonging to John Royston and Robert Buckner,
of the county of Gloucester, and the act directs that these
fifty acres shall be surve}ed and laid out in lots and streets,
and shall be sold; and that out of the proceeds the trustees
shall pay John Royston and Robert Buckner for their land
at the rate of forty shillings per acre. It does not appear
that any process of valuation-, or of condemnation had taken
l^lace, or that the consent of the owners had been obtained.
And when we remember that the price to be paid was only
about eight dollars per acre, and that land outside of Fred-
ericksburg has been sold, since the war, at more than eight
times this rate per acre, this proceeding of the Gentlemen
Burgesses seems to be tolerably aibitrary, and to be a dim

b ^FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FTTURE.

foreshadowing of what is now known as forcible readjust-
tnent. And it is worthy of remark that fifteen years after-
wards this arbitrary proceeding is repeated. It appears
that George Home, the surveyor of Spotsylvania county,
did, as required, survey the fifty acres and laid it out in
streets and lots, and returned a plan thereof to the trustees,
who made sales according to the previous act; but the
original bounds not being accurately observed and the pur-
chasers building very irregularly, the trustees found it
necessary to Iiave another survey and plat in Marcli, 1 739,
which was made by William AValler, surveyor of Spotsyl-
vania county; and by this new survey it ap})earod that the
lots and buildings of the town had not only occupied the
original fifty acres, but had also occupied two hundred
and forty-three square poles of land in the lower end of
the town belonging to Henry Willis, Gentleman, of the
county of Spotsylvania, and two hundred and twenty square
poles in the upper end of the town belonging to John
Lewis, Gentleman, and formerly l)eloiiging to JNIr. Francis
Thornton. And as law suits and many controversies Avere
threatened, the Lieutenant Governor, Council and Bur-
gesses of the General Assembly passed an act in May, 1742,
which was declared to be " for removing all doubts and
controversies" and which declared that these lands be-
longing to the estate of Henry Willis and to John Lewis,
should be held and taken to be part of Fredericksburg,
and vested in the trustees and purchasers, claiming under
them, provided that the trustees should pay to the execu-
tors of Henry Willis five pounds and to John Lewis fifteen
pounds before the 25th of December. This act of the
Colonial Government does not appear to have been made
with the consent of the Willis family or of John Lewis,
and it made a distinction between the supposed value of
land in the upper and the lower end of the town which is
to us, at this time, inexplicable. But its validity seems to
have been tacitly admitted, as we find no protests or com-
plaints, and it is to be presumed that these gentlemen,
Royston, Buckner, Willis and Lewis, whose lands were
thus unceremoniously dedicated to public uses, were willing
(being owners of large tracts) to help forward the town

KREDKRrCKSBI'RG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. !>

and to sell the lands on which it stood at a price which, al-
tliough apparently low, may have been a fair representative
of values at that time. Thus, the old town went forward in
her course. Ilcr area, as ascertained in IToO, was not
quite fifty-three acres; and when it is borne in mind that
her present area, within her legal bounds, is about eight
hundred acres, .*ome proximate idea of her expansion within
130 years maybe obtained.

In November, 1738, two fairs were provided for, to be
held annually in Fredericksburg, on the first Tuesdays in
June and October, which times were changed in May,
1740, to the Wednesdays next after the court days of the
county, in June and October. These fairs continued, by
law, two days each, and were for the sale of all manner
of cattle, victuals, provisions, goods, wares, and merchan-
dise; and on the fair days, and for two days before and
two days afterwards, all persons coming to, attending or
going from the fair with their cattle, goods, wares and
merchandise were exempted from all arrests or ex-ecutions,
except for capital offences, breaclies of the peace, or for
controversies, suits and quarrels arising during the progress
of the fairs. And so beneficial both to town and county
w'ere these fairs found to be that the term of two years
originally provided, was continued by successive laws for
a long period.

The style of building frequently adopted in the town
could not have been cither safe or elegant. For, we find
that in May, 1742, it was represented to the Assembly
that the peo[)le were often in great and imminent danger
of having their houses and effects burned by reason of
the many wooden chimneys in the town, and, therefore,
from that time it was made unlawful to build any w^ooden
chimneys thereafter, and unlawful, after the expiration of
three }ears, to use any wooden chimney already built; and
in case the owners did not, within the three years, i)ull
down and destroy these wooden chimneys, the sheriff was
autliorized to do so. And by w'ay of killing two hurtful
bii'ds with one stone, the same act made it unlawful for
owners of swine to permit them to run or go at large in
the town, and if any such animals were found running or

10 FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

goiug at large, any person was authorized to kill them;
but the slayer was not to convert the body of the animal
to his own use, but to leave it where killed, and inform
the owner; and if no owner was known, then the nearest
justice of the peace was authorized to order the body to
the use of the poor, or persons he might select. Thus,
early in Fredericksburg began tlie war on roving creatures,
and I need not tell you through what "sad varieties of
woe " to hogs, dogs and geese it has at sundry times passed.

Under these fostering influences the town grew in popu-
lation, in prosperity and in the intelligence and public
spirit of its iidiabitants. Its leading peojile were among
the very hrst in Virginia to adopt the principle that the
American Colonies ought not only to be exempt from
taxation Iiy the mother country, but to be free and inde-
pendent States. At a time when many of the ablest
statesmen in Virginia, including such men as Richard
Bland, Robert Carter Nicholas, Edmoud Pendleton,
George IMason, Thomas Ludwell Lee, Carter Braxton,
and Benjamin Harrison were shrinking back from the
very thought of attempting to achieve our independence,
the people of Fredericksburg were far in advance of such
statesmen in forecasting the future. The evidence on this
subject is conclusive, and is such as may well inspire every
son and daughter of Fredericksburg with emotions of
honest pride.

On the 20th day of April, 1775, one day after the battle
of Lexington, in Massachusetts, Lord Dunmore removed
twenty barrels of gunpowder from the public magazine in
Williamsbui'g, and soon afterwards fled with his wife and
some of his domestics and took refuge in tlie Englisli
frigate "Fowey," then lying at Yorktown. When the
news of that battle and of the removal of the powder
reached Fredericksburg, great excitement ])revailed.
Measures were speedily devised for collecting and arming
the people. Six hundred men, well armed and in flue
discipline, assembled in Fredericksburg at the call of their
officers. Many of them were from the counties of Spotsyl-
vania and Caroline. After assembling, they dispatched
delesrates to ascertain the condition of things at Williams-

FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PHESENTAND FUTURE. 11

burg. Those remaining in Fredericksburg held a public
meeting, consisting of one hundred and two persons —
citizens, soldiers and delegates to the Assembly; and on
the 29th of April, 1775, that meeting adopted resolutions
which were in form and substance tantamount to a declar-
ation of American independence. Though they deprecate
civil war, yet, considering the liberties of America to be
in danger, they pledged themselves to reassemble at a
moment's warning, and, by force of arms, to defend the
rights of "this or any sister Colony; " and they concluded
with the sentence: "God save the liberties of America! "_
These resolutions were passed twenty-one days before the
celebrated Mecklenburg declaration in North Carolina,
and one year and sixty-hve days before the declaration of
inde])endence of the American Congress. That they indi-
cated the presence of strange intellectual activity and
foresight in the people of this town, revealed at a com-
paratively early period, I think it unreasonable to deny.
And in the subsequent struggle of the revolution many
of her citizens bore a heroic part, and one of her physi-
cians, General Hugh Mercer, sealed with his blood, at
the battle of Princeton, his devotion to Amei-ican inde-
pendence.

In 1782, one year before the close of the revolutionary
war, Fredericksburg received a regular act of incorpor-
ation and was endowed with a common council and a
hustings court. The MS. record of the latter, of date
15th of April, 1782, gives the first action of the court,
which is not without interest. The justices who held the
first court were Charles JNIortimer, William JM. Williams,
James Somerville, Charles Dick, Samuel Roddy and John
Julian. They were all regularly qualified and sworn in.
John Legg was appointed sergeant of the corporation,
John Richards and James Jarvis, constables; John Hardy,
clerk of the market and inspector of flour. Five persons
were authorized to keep taverns in the town, and it is
worthy of note that these gentlemen were all men of re-
spectability and excellent standing, some of them bearing
names which are still known among us, and are representa-
tives of our most reputable families. The name " hotel "

12 FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

was not known then in Fredericksburg. They were all
taverns.

The next action of the court is significant as bearing
testimony to the convival habits already in full life in the
town, and to which I shall have occasion farther to allude.
A regular tariff of prices was established for alcoholic,
fermented and vinous beverages. To save my hearers
trouble, and to make values more intelligible, I shall not
in this lecture, in general, use the original quotations in
pounds, shillings and pence, but shall at once translate
them into their equivalents in dollars and cents. The
tariff confined the tavern-keepers to certain prices, which
they were not to exceed, and it is noteworthy that the
limits are not given for a wine-glass full or even for a
tumbler full, but for a gallon! These prices are as fol-
lows: For good West India rum per gallon, $3.34; for
brandy, $1.67 (this, I think, could not have been Cognac
or even peach, and was probably apple brandy) ; for
whiskey, ll.OO; for strong beer, 67 cents; for rum toddy,
$1.67; for brandy toddy, $1.25; for rum punch, $2.50;
for brandy punch, $2.00; for rum grog, $1.00; for brandy
grog, 84 cents; for Madeira wine per bottle, $1.25; for
port wine per bottle, (J7 cents. This port could hardly have
been the genuine article of Oporto, which was probably
then becoming scarce, and which is now almost unknown,
although it has been happily substituted by the now far-
famed port wine of Califoruia. Having thus limited
the prices on drinking, the court next proceeds to limit the
price for eating, and they fix the price of a single diet, as
they call it, at 25 cents — certainly a very moderate price
according to our modern standards. This taritt' of bever-
ages was somewhat altered by a new order entered on the
27th of June, 1782, but it remained substantially the
same, and the law of the taverns for a number of years.

Nearly at the same time we find in the MS. records of
the will books in the Hustings Court distinct evidence that
the estates of men, whether living or dead, Avere held to a
subjection for their just debts, which, in these enlightened
days, would be considered out of the question. In the
record of the inventory and appraisement of the personalty

FREDERICK8BURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 13

of Jonathan AVilson, deceased, I find that the oath of the
appraisers was taken August 31, and the appraisement was
returned to the court September 16, 1782. This was while
the war was not yet ended. In this appraisement I find
recorded one silver watch, -S26.67; one cow and yearling,
$16.67; one suit broadcloth clothes, $13.34; one other suit
broadcloth, $6.67; three blue coats, $10; seven pair of white
breeches, $11.67; five white vests, $11.67; one shirt, 67
cents; six pair of stockings, $1.67 ; two pair of shoes, $3.00;
three hats, $3.00; one stock buckle, 50 cents; three brushes,
50 cents. And what is more important, it appears by the
record that these articles were all sold and the net proceeds
applied to the payment of Jonathan Wilson's debts. So
that this gentlemen, who left behind him only one shirt,
but who left seven pairs of white breeches and five white
vests, for all of which he probably owed his dry goods mer-
chant and his tailor, had the satisfaction (in the invisible
world) of knowing that all he left was applied to the pay-
ment of his just debts. Those were the good old days —
days of high living and of hard drinking it may be — but
days of honesty, Avhen repudiation of just debts was a thing
unknown.

Thus Fredericksburg jogged on her way through many
years, always merrily and often prosperously, during the
period which intervened between the close of the revolu-
tionary war and the establishment of the early railroad lines
in Virginia. Although one of these roads made our town
its northern terminus for a series of years, and was never
intended to injure her, yet it is undoubtedly true that this
road, with the extension of the Louisa road and its union
with the Orange & Alexandria road, and the gradual ad-
vance of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad along the upper
lines of the Shenandoah Valley, did injure the trade of
Fredericksburg by diverting from her a large amount of
produce — wheat, flour, tobacco, corn, bacon, and butter —
which formerly found their way in wagons into the streets
of the town.

In accordance with the expressed wishes of a number of
gentlemen, it is deemed proper here to insert the historical
narrative of

14 fredeiucksburg: past, present and future.

Fredericksburg in the War.

No one Avho knew anything of the habits and character
of the people of our town had any doubt as to the part they
would take in the late civil >var. They were, with few and
abnormal exceptions, thoroughly Avith the South. In the
early movements in 18(31, looking to a defence of the line
of approach by the Potomac and Aquia creek, volunteers
from the town were soon organized, and with other forces
under Brigadier-General Daniel Ruggles and Commanders
Lynch, Minor and Thorburn, prepared batteries and made
brave defence against the gunboats which occasionally as-
saulted them. All the young men of suitable age and
health soon left the town as volunteers in the Thirtieth Vir-
«;inia reu'iment, nnder Colonel Robert S. Chew, and the bat-
tery known through the war as the Fredericksburg Artil-
lery, long commanded by Colonel Carter Braxton. Only
the older men, the women and the colored people were left
in the town by the spring of 1862.

For many of the subsequent scenes of the war we have
the rare advantage of being able to refer, not merely to
casual hearsay accounts, or even official reports which rarely
give anything more than a cold skeleton, but, also, to the
narratives of eye-witnesses, endowed with intelligence and
feeling, who actually looked on and bore their part in these
scenes. To the MS. journal of a Fredericksburg lady I
am under special obligations, and shall use it freely in con-
tinuing this historical sketch.

On the 27th of April, 1862, the town first fell into the
hands of the Federal military forces. The MS. account
thus describes the event:

" Fredericksburg is a captured town ! The enemy took possession
of the Stafford hills, which command the town, on Friday, the 18th,
and their guns have frowned down upon us ever since. Fortunately
for us, our troops were enabled to burn the bridges connecting our
town with tlie StaHbrd shore, and thus saved us the presence of the
Northern soldiers in our midst ; but our relief from this annoyance
will not be long, as tliey have brought boats to the wharf, and will of
course be enabled to cross at their pleasure. It is painfully humiliat-
ing to feel oneself a captive, but all sorrow for self is now lost in the
deeper feeling of anxiety for oin- army, for our cause! We have lost

FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 15

everything ; regained nothing ; our army lias fallen back before the
superior forces of the enemy, until but a small strip of our dear Old
Dominion is left to us. Our sons are all in the field, and we, who
are now in the hands of the enemy, cannot even hear from them.
Must their precious young lives be sacrificed, their homes made deso-
late, our cause be lost, and all our rigiits be trampled under the foot
of a vindictive foe? Gracious God, avert from us these terrible ca-
lamities I Rise in Thy Majesty and Strength and rebuke our ene-
mies.

"We heard this morning, from Rev. Mr. Tucker Lacy, a sermon
from the text, ' The Lord God omnipotent reigneth ; ' and right gladly
our hearts welcome the truth in its grandeur and strength, wlien we
are sinking into despondency, and feeling the weakness of all human
dependence."

It is due to the cause of truth to state that tlie United
States military rule in Fredericksburg during the war was,
with some noted exceptions, considerately and even kindly
exercised. The provost command soon fell into the hands
of General Patrick, who proved himself to be a man of
genial benevolence and discrimination, although he was
firm and decided in his policy. Under his government
the people of Fredericksburg Avere not oppressed, and
many of her citizens conceived sincere respect for his
character. Even the colored people were not encouraged
to acts of insolence or insubordination. It is true that
when they chose to use their newly acquired freedom and
leave their former service they could do so, but to their
honor be it said, that many of them endured, with families
they loved, all the subsequent trying hardships of the war.

But after McClellan's great disaster in the seven days
battles around Richmond, and after the Federal powers
had placed at the head of their armies the empty, boasting
and unscrupulous General Pope, who advanced through
Fauquier and Culpeper with his "headquarters in the
saddle," and his announced purpose to subsist his army
by enforced supplies from his enemies, a great change for
the worse took place, which was speedily felt in Freder-
icksburg and its neighborhood. The MS. journal notes
this change thus:

*' July 23. — The first news we heard this morning was that four
of our citizens, Mr. Thomas B. Barton, Mr. Thomas F. Knox, Mr.
Charles C. Wellford and Mr. Beverly T. Gill, had been arrested and
sent North. We have no information why. The recent orders of

1() fkederickskurg: past, present and future.

Secretary Stanton and General Pope make it api)ear that we are not
to be treated with the least leniency hereafter. ( )nr provost marshal
has been changed becan<e he was ' loo kind to the rebels,' and they
are now doing everything they can to persecnte and annoy ns. All
the stores in town are closed to-day to prevent us from getting any
supplies, and tliey have been sending their wagons around to every-
bod^^'s farm in the neighborhood taking tiieir hay and other pro-
ducts. I am afraid my poor brother will have nothing left for his
winter supply."

But these annoyances did not long endure. Tlie de-
cisive overthrow given to the Federal army under General
Pope, by General Lee, in the second battle of ^lanassas,
was speedily followed by the advance of the Confederate
armies into Maryland, the capture of Harper's Ferry with
eleven thousand prisoners and immense military supplies
by General Stonewall Jackson, and the bloody but unde-
cided struggle between Lee and McClellan on the borders
of the Antietam. So far from l)eing able to hold the line
of the Rappahannock, the Federal authorities found that
they needed every available soldier to prevent the loss of
their own territory. Fredericksburg was evacuated by
them on the 31st of August, 1862. The scenes are thus
described by the MS. journal :

"September 1. — After writing the last entry in my journal yester-
day, several exciting events occurred. The rain poured down all the
morning, but ceased about noon, and after dinner we went to church
to iiear Mr. Lacy. We found crowds at the corners of the streets,
and some unusual excitement prevailing ; and we saw clouds of smoke
rising from tlie encampments on the opposite side of the river. We
went on to the Baptist church, where we found a small audience; we
had a short sermon, and when we came out we walked down several
squares towards the bridges. Everything indicated an immediate
departure ; the guards were drawn up in line ; the liorses and wagons
packed at headquarters; cavalry officers rode up and down giving
orders; company after company of pickets were led into town from
the different roads and joined the regiment at the City Hall ; am-
bulances with the sick moved slowly through the streets ; and, as we
stood watching, we saw the officer who acted as provost raai>hal of
the town ride by witli his adjutant, and, in a few moments, as we
stood watching, the command was given to march, and away went in-
fantry down one street and cavalry down another to the bridge. It
was very quietly done ; there was no music — no drum ; not a voice
broke upon the air except the officers' 'Forward march!' It was
certainly rather difficult to repress the exultation ofthe ladies as they
stood in groups along the streets ; but strong feeling was at work.

FREDERICK!?BURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 17

and perhaps it was easier to repress any outward manifestations of it
than if it had been slighter. I felt glad to be relieved of the presence
of the enemy, and to be freed from the restraints of their power;
glad to be once more within Sonthern lines, and to lie broughi into
commiuiication witii onr own dear peojile. But the great gladness
was that the evacuation of Fredericksburg showed that they had been
defeated up the country and could no longer hold the line of the
Rappahannock. And this gave us strong hope that Virginia might
yet be free from the armies of the intruder. We had scarcely reached
home when a thundering sound shook the house, and we knew it was
the blowing up of the bridges. Several explosions followed, and soon
the bright iiames leaped along the sides and Hoorsof the bridges and
illuminated the whole scene within the bounds of the horizon; the
burning continued all night, and our sluml>ers were disturbed by fre-
quent explosions of gunpowder placed mider the two bridges. K

went out with his gun and joined the guard which it was deemed
proper to organize for the protection of the town against any strag-
glers or unruly persons who might chance to be prowling about. The
first thing I heard this morning was that my two servants, Martha
and Susan, had returned, and requested permission to engage in their
usual work."

"Sept. 2. — About two hundred people came into town to-day from
the surrounding country, and general cmigratalations ensued. Some
of our cavalry rode into town this evening and were received with
shouts of joy; the ladies lined the streets, waving their handkerchiefs
and loudly uttering their welcome."

"Sept.4. — Sent my poi'tion of the soldiers' breakfast to Hazel run

by J and S , who came back with a great ac<ount of the way

the soldiers were feasted on hot rolls, beefsteak and coflee, and their
enjoyment of the good things after so long an abstinence.

" We attended yesterday evening the funeral of our old and be-
loved citizen, Doctor John B. Hall. While standing around thegrave,
the sound of the bugle and the tramp of cavalry horses fell upon our
ears, and very soon a troop of seven hundred horsemen appeared;
they were our own 'greys.' We could have told it by their gallant
bearing if it had not been revealed by their dress. The air was rent
with shouts. As we came home the streetc were filled with excited
people, and everybody's face was lighted up with a glad smile."

From the presence and dominion of Feder.al troops,
Fredericksburg was thus for a time relieved. But the sea-
son of comparative quiet thus enjoyed did not long con-
tinue. Again the horrors of war closed over her in their
most appalling form.

In November, 18G2, the army under General Lee was
confronting the "Army of the Potomac" under General
Ambrose Burnside, who had taken command upon the
removal of McClellan. Knowing that a movement upon

18 FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

Richmond was intended, the Confederate commander
keenly watched his adversary, to determine what line of
approach he would adopt. It was soon apparent. On the
10th of November a small body of Federal cavalry, under
Captain Ulrich Dahlgren (a son of the admiral command-
ing the fleet of South Carolina), dashed into the streets of
Fredericksburg. A few Southern horsemen were there,
V'ho, although at first dispersed, quickly rallied, and aided
by some adventurous citizens, attacked the raiders. Their
object being merely a reconnoissance, they soon withdrew,
with the loss of a few men and horses. Immediately after-
wards the Federal army began to move down from Fau-
quier and Prince Willian), through Stafford county, to
occupy Fredericksburg. r4eneral Lee gave prompt warn-
ing to Colonel Wm. A. Ball, who with a small cavalry
force held the town, directing him, if possible, to retard
the enemy, and informing him that he would soon be
reinfin'ced. The divisions of McLaws and Ransom, with
W. H. F. Lee's brigade of cavalry and Lane's battery,
were put in rapid motion for the threatened point, and the
whole Confederate army prepared to follow.

Colonel Ball had already proved his courage and skill
upon the field of Leesburg and in other encounters; he
now gave a signal exanijole of what may be done with a
small force by a resolute front. On Sunday, the 16th, his
scouts announced the approach of the enemy on three
roads — the Warrenton, Stafford Courthouse and Poplar.
He telegraphed to General Gustavus W. Smith in Rich-
mond, that if he would send him two companies of infantry
he would engage the enemy if they sought to cross the
fords of the Rappahannock near Fredericksburg. General
Smith promptly sent him a battalion of four companies,
under Major Finney, from the Forty-second Mississippi.
Colonel Ball placed these in the mill-race aud mill opposite
Falmouth, stationed his cavalry in the upper part of Fred-
ericksburg, and planted CVxptain Lewis' battery of four
guns and eighty men on the plateau around the residence
of Mrs. Fitzgerald, half a mile above the town. His
whole force did not exceed five hundred and twenty men.

At 10 o'clock on Monday, the 17th, the Southern scouts

FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 19

were driven across the river by the enemy's cavalry, and
in four hours thereafter the whole Federal corps under
General Sumner, twelve thousand strong, appeared on the
Stafford Heights ojiposite Fredericksburg, and ])lanted
their field-batteries, consisting of more tlian twenty guns.
In the face of their rapid and accurate firing, Lewis' men
stoutly maintained their ground and replied. The distance
did not exceed eight hundred yards. Finding the exposure
too great. Colonel Ball withdrew the pieces and artillerists
under the shelter of Mrs. Fitzgerald's house, which was
pierced through and through by the enemy's shot; yet the
Southern fire w'as maintained, and the Federals, uncertain
as to the force before them, made no attempt to cross the
river.

It seemed rash to remain, and all of Colonel Ball's
oflRcers, except Adjutant Dickinson, earnestly advised him
to withdraw. But he refused, and telegraphed to General
Smith that he would hold his position while a man was
left to him. General Smith replied: " Give them the best
fight you have in you;" and General Lee telegraphed:
" Hold your position if you can ; reinforcements are hurry-
ing to you." Thus encouraged. Colonel Ball maintained
his front Avith five hundred men in the face of the twelve
thousand.

On Tuesday the enemy's force was largely increased;
Burnside's whole army was pouring down to the Stafford
hills. Colonel Ball received a reinforcement of the Nor-
folk Light Artillery and the Sixty-first Virginia regiment,
amounting together to about five hundred men. He re-
lieved the wearied infantry at the mill and the artillerists
at Mrs. Fitzgerald's, and still faced the enemy. They
were waiting for pontoon bridges and did not cross.

Meanwhile General Lee's army was rushing down the
roads from Culpeper and Orange to occupy the crest of
hills around Fredericksburg. Wednesday, at daybreak,
Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry arrived; the next morning General
McLaws, with his own division and that of General Ran-
som, were in position, and on the 20th the Commander-in-
Chief was at hand to direct the movements of the corps of
Longstreet and Jackson, which rapidly followed him.

20 FREDERICKSBURa: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

On Thursday, the 20th of November, by request of
General Lee, Montgomery Shiughter, mayor of Fredericks-
burg, accompanied by the recorder, Wm. A. Little, and
by Douglas H. Gordon, a member of her council, held an
interview with the Confederate Commander-in-Chief. It
was held during a driving rain at Snowden, the residence
of John L. 8tansbury, about a mile from town. The
mayor and his companions asked the aid and advice of
General Lee in the terrible crisis now at hand. He was
grave and serious, but, as always, kind and considerate.
He did not conceal the dangers threatening the town from
the collision of two great armies. At the close of the
interview Mayor Slaughter said: "Then, General Lee, I
understand the people of the town must fear the worst."
He replied: "Yes, they must fear the worst." With
these final words, the town authorities were turning sadly
away, when General Longstreet, who had been sitting in
the conference wrapped in his military great coat streaming
with rain, rose from his seat and in a deep tone said, " But
let them hope for the best." A single gleam of sunshine
fell on the delegates, and they returned to the town.

On Friday, the 21st, General Sumner of the Federal
army sent over a flag of truce with a written message to
the mayor and common council of Fredericksburg. Gen-
eral Patrick bore the missive, and landed near the rock
below the deep part of the river known as "French
John's." Here he was met by Colonel Ball, the Confed-
erate officer before mentioned, and they entei'ed a log
house which had been built on the spot, by order of Gen-
eral Patrick, when formerly in command of the town.
General Sumner's letter (the original of which I have
examined) was as follows:

"Headquarters Right Grand Division^
Army of the Potomac, l

Camp near Falmouth, Va., Nov. 21, 1862. j
To llu: Matjor and Common Council of Fredericksburg, Va.:

Gentlemen — Under cover of the houses of yoiu- city, shots have
been fired npon the troops of my command. Your mills and manu-
factories are fnrnisiiinfi; provisions and the maierial for clothing for
armed bodies in rebellion against the (ioverinnent of tlie United
States. Your railroads and other means of transportation are re-

FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 21

moving supplies to tlie depots of such troops. Tliis condition of
tilings must terminate; and by direction of Maj. -General Burnside,
commanding this army, I accordingly demand the surrender of the
city into my hands, as ihe representative of the Government of the
United States, at or before five o'clock this afternoon (") o'clock
P. M. to-day). Failing an affirmative reitly to this demand by the
time indicated, sixteen (16 hours) hours will be permitted to elapse
for the removal from the city of women and ciiildren, 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 ortler, and secure the protective operation of
the laws and policy of the United States Government.

I am, very resp'y, your ob't servant,

E. V. Sumner,

Bvt. Major-General U. S. Army, Coram'g."

Colonel Ball simply stated that before delivering the
letter to the civil authorities it must be referred to his
commandiug military officer. But neither he nor the
mayor gave any intimation of the actual presence of Gen-
eral Lee, with a large part of his army, on the ridge in
rear of the town. The printed statements heretofore pub-
lished on that point are all erroneous. General Patrick
was obliged to remain in the log house from 10 A. M. to
7 P. M. on the 21st. Meanwhile Colonel Ball, through
the pro])er channels, forwarded the letter to General Lee.
At twenty minutes before 5 P. M. the letter was received
at his office by Mayor Slaughter, through General J. E. B.
Stuart, who communicated, in full, General Lee's decision.
With the aid of his iidvisers, the mayor prejiared a written
reply bearing date, "Mayor's office, Fredericksburg, Nov.
21, 1862." This reply was to the effect that the com-
munication of General Sumner had not reached the mayor
in time to furnish a reply by 5 o'clock P. M., as re(|uested;
that it had been sent to him after passing (by General
Patrick's consent) through the hands of the commanding
officer of the Confederate States forces near the town; that
as to the shots complained of in the northern suburbs, they
were the acts of the Confederate military force holding the
town; that the mayor was authorized to say that the several
subjects of complaint would not j-ecur; but that the Con-
federate troops would not occuj)y the town, neither would
they permit the Federal troops to do so. Mayor Slaughter,

22 FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

attended by Doctor William S. Scott and Samuel S. Hovvi-
son, went to the log house and, at about 7 P. M. , delivered
this reply to General Patrick, who had been long expecting
it with some impatience, and who indulged in some good
humored remonstrances at the delay. His military attend-
ants under the flag of truce having all returned to the
Federal lines, he was rowed back in a canoe across the
river by Doctor Scott and Mr. Howison, under a pledge
for his safety by the mayor.

In view of the bombardment menaced, and of the cer-
tainty that their homes would soon be under the fire of
both armies, General Lee advised the inhabitants to remove
as rapidly as possible.

The threatened bombardment was not opened the next
morning, but it became apparent that the enemy would
cross, and the town would be exposed not only to their
fire, but to the most terrible desolations of war. The hu-
mane and considerate chief of the Confederate army urged
the women and children to remove, and furnished wagons,
ambulances, every facility in his power for their aid. Then
followed a scene illustrating both the horrors of war and
the virtues to which it sometimes gives birth. The people
of Fredericksburg almost en masse left their homes rather
than yield them to the enemy. Trains of cars departed
full of refugees. Ujjon the last train the enemy opened a
fire of shells; they afterwards explained that it was a mis-
take. Wagons and vehicles of every kind left the town
filled with women and little children, with the few articles
of apparel and necessity that could be removed. Many
were seen on foot along the roads leading into the country.
Winter had commenced; snow had fallen. Many were
compelled to take refuge in cabins, barns and tents scat-
tered through the woods and fields. They were dependent
for food on the exertions of their friends and the humane
efforts of the Southern army.

Fredericksburg was an old Virginia town, long distin-
guished for the refinement and intelligence of its people
and the beauty of its women. The sight of such a popula-
tion driven out from their homes in the winter excited the
sympathy, and admiration of the South. General Lee's

FREDERICKSBURG : PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 23

testimony was: "History presents no instance of a people
exhibiting a purer or more unselfish patriotism, or a higher
spirit of fortitude and courage, than was evinced by the
people of Fredericksburg. They cheerfully incurred great
hardships and privations, and surrendered their homes and
property to destruction, rather than yield them into the
hands of the enemies of their country." A movement to
aid them was commenced in Richmond. A committee of
relief and treasurer were appointed. Funds were liberally
contributed throughout the whole South. The array vied
with the people in furnishing money for the distressed
refugees. From the Commander-in-Chief down to the
humblest private in the ranks, the brave men who had
fought the battles now devoted their hard-earned money to
the cause of humanity. The division of General Hood
gave more than .$9,000; the cavalry under General Stuart
gave nearly $8,000, of which $5,400 were contributed by
the brigade of Fitzhugh Lee; the Thirteenth Mississippi
regiment gave $1,600; the small naval force at Drury's
Blufl' gave nearly $800, and other bodies contributed in
like proportion. The contributions of the people and army
continued until more than ninety thousand dollars had
been received and disbursed by the committee in Richmond,
and nearly an equal sum by the mayor of Fredericksburg.
The relief given by the purchase and supply of food and
clothing was most seasonable. Yet it could not compensate
for broken hearts and desolated homes.

A few families remained in Fredericksburg, determined
to brave the terrors of war as long as possible. The hills
of Stafi^brd are higher than the corresponding crest on the
south side of the river. The enemy had planted six bat-
teries of heavy guns, consisting of 20-pound Parrots, and
siege pieces throwing 85-pound shells, on the hills from
Falmouth to Deep Run, in distance from Fredericksburg
varying from six hundred to two thousand yards, and
these, with their numerous field batteries, commanded not
only the town, but the river for four miles up and down
the line of hills. Perceiving that he could not prevent
them from crossing under the fire of their guns. General
Lee determined to meet them as they advanced over the

24 FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

plateau between the river and the ridge of hills south and
west of Fredericksburg. For this purpose he occupied
the crest with his army, and erected heavy batteries at the
most eligible positions. His line ran from the river, a mile
and a half above the town, to the railroad crossing at
Hamilton's, four miles below. Longstreet's corps rested
its left wing on the river; next was A. P. Hill's division;
and Jackson's corps was at Hamilton's, with D. H. Hill,
observing the enemy at Port Royal. General Hampton's
cavalry guarding the upper Rappahannock, crossed, and
on the 28th of November made a sudden descent upon the
Federal horse at Dumfries, capturing two squadrons and a
number of wagons with stores. At the same time some of
Colonel's Beale's cavalry crossed in boats below Port
Royal and captured several prisoners. Excited by these
bold movements the enemy's gunboats moved up and threw
shells into Port Royal, but were driven oft with damage on
tlie 5th of December by the accurate tire of Major Pel-
ham's artillery.

These skirmishes were soon followed by the grand move-
ment of the enemy. Having at length received his pontoon
bridges, General Burnside prepared to throw his army
across the river. At two o'clock in the morning of Thurs-
day, the 11th of December, his troops were in motion,
and three signal guns in General Lee's works sounded a
note of warning to the people and the army. The enemy
commenced throwing thi-ce j)ontoon bridges across the
river, two at Fredericksburg and one at Deep Run, a mile
and a quaiter below.

The brigade of General l>arksdale held the town. The
Seventeenth Mississippi, aided by the Eighth Florida,
guarded the upper crossing; tiie Eighteenth was near Deep
Run. As the enemy appeared on their unfinished bridge
opposite the town, Genei-al Rarksdale's men opened a se-
vei'e nuisk(!try fire, picking them oft' with great rapidity.
Hardly had this tire commenced before the enemy's heavy
batteries opened the long threatened bombardment of
Fredericksburg. Their fteld batteries soon followed, and
for twelve hours a horrible deluge of shells and shot was
poured upon the streets and houses. The few i-emaining

fredekicksburg: past, present and future. 25

inhabitants fled to their cellar.^, and sought to save their
lives from the storm which was beating their homes to
pieces. Many houses were burned; among them was the
residence of the postmaster, Reuben T. Thom. He was
old and enfeebled by illness, yet he retained his courage,
and when his house was burning he took his seat in a chair
in his yard, seeming to defy the torrents of deadly missiles.
His friends with difficulty removed him from his ruined
home.

The scenes of terror and danger passing in the town were
pictured in a letter from a lady to her son in the army.
She had remained until the bombardment. She wrote:

"Our lives are all spared, and you must help us to adore the
goodness which has intervened between us and the great perils to
which we have been exposed. We had no warning of the intention
of the enemy, and were awakened on the morning of the 11th, at
five o'clock, by the booming of the cannon, and lieard instantly that
the enemy were crossing the river. We hurried on our clothes and
rushed into the cellar as the second sliot struck the house. The
servants made up a tire, and we had just gatliered around it when
the crashing of ghiss and splintering of wood caused us to run
towards the door leading to the wood cellar. As we reached it, poor

little S exclaimed, '1 am struck, Ma!' and fell into my arms.

We bore him into a closet in the cellar and tore his clothes oH' and
found only a large black bruise on his right arm near the shoulder;
the ball which struck him was so nearly spent that it had only force
left to inllict this hurt. We afterwards found the ball near where
he stood — a twelve-pounder. After this we did not venture even
into that room again, but sat crouched together in the dark hole for
thirteen hours, while the cannonading was tearing everything to
pieces above our heads. There are holes In the up-talrs rooms large

enough to put a barrel through. About one o'clock Brother J

came in from his farm, at th risk of his life, to see if we could be
moved. A hasty council was held, but the tiring was so tremendous
and the destruction in the streets so great that it was thought best for
us to remain where we were. So there we sat upon the Hoor in the
closet, 'looking upward in the strife.' Susan and Mart iia got us a
furnace of live coals, and even cooked us a little food at the fireplace
in one of the rooms; they got us all the counterpanes and blankets

they could hastily snatch, and made poor J a bed, as he has

never recovered from his late attack.

"Just at dark we heard your uncle's voice again calling, 'Come
out. I have an ambulance at the back door, and you must not stay
to get a single thing. They are In town, only a scpiare off, and you
must be gone at once!' We needed no second call, but wra[)ping
the blankets around us, we rushed through the yard over the

26 FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

brandies of trees. The pailings were all down and tiie yard was
ploughed up, and we step[)ed over many a ball and fragment of shell

in onr husty progress to the ambulance. Erotiier J i)ut us all

in and remained a few moments to lock up the house, when our
driver put the whip to his horses, and we tore tiirough the town at a
rate that at any other time would have frightened me for the safety
of our lives, but now seemed all too slow for our anxiety to be
beyond the reach of thoie fearful shot and shell which were still
crashing through the streets and tearing the houses to pieces. I
never ventured to look back until we readied the top of the high
hill beyond the mill, and then the scene was so awfully gi'and and
terrible that I cannot venture upon its description. The railroad
bridge across Hazel Run was burning, and large fires at several
points in the town. There were hundreds of camp-fires, around
which bands of men under arms were gathered, and the road was
lined with soldiers, wagons, and ambulances. Every object could be
distinguished, even the fierce swarthy, countenances of our soldiers,
every one of whom looked defiance towards the foe who had caused
the destruction of our homes.

"We came on at rather a lessened pace, and when Mrs. Temple
met us in the yard with lier warm, cordial welcome, and led us into
the bright, cheerful looking room, where a good lire was lilazing, and
kind, sympathizing friends were all around, my wrought-up agony
gave way in fioods of tears which could not be controlled. We
thanked God for our deliverance; and when we lay down in com-
fortable beds, far away from the sound, the sight and the smell of
battle (for the atmosphere which we had breathed all day was so
impregnated with gunpowder that it was oppressive), we felt indeed
that after all we were dealt with by a kind Father."

General Barksdale's troops resisted the passage of the
enemy with stubboi'n courage. Nine times they attempted
to complete their pontoons opposite to the town, and as
often were driven back by the fatal fire from the rifle pits
and houses on the bank. But at the bridge near Deep
Run th(> Confederates wen; exposed to a sweeping fire of
artillery, and at one o'clock they were compelled to with-,
draw. This enabled the enemy to cross below and advance
on the town. Under orders General Barksdale's men
slowly retired, figliting all the way through the streets and
inflicting loss on the foe.

On gaining possession of Fredericksburg, the P^'ederal
troops abandoned themselves to ])illage and destruction.
They entered the stores and dwellings, rifled them of all
that could be removed, and wantonly shattered to pieces
furniture, mirrors and glassware, lijiped open beds and

FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 27

beat out their contents into the yards and streets. All the
liquor and wine found was speedily seized. Four hundred
bottles of old wine were taken from the store of William
Allen by Meagher's Irish brigade. Its effects were seen in
the battle now hastening on.

On Friday, the 12th, the Federal array was drawn up
in battle-line, preparing to advance. Not less than sixty
thousand men were on the south bank of the river, em-
bracing the four corps of Sumner, Crouch, Franklin and
Wilcox, with more than a hundred pieces of artillery.
The Confederate army sternly confronted them in a line
extending nearly six miles. Longstreet occupied the
wooded ridge running from the river above to a point a
mile below the town. A. P. Hill's troops were on his
right, and Jackson held the lower line from above Hamil-
ton's crossing to the Massaponax river. The Southern
batteries occupied fine positions to sweep the semi-circular
plateau across which the enemy must advance. Stuart's
horse artillery were in the plain on the extreme right, and
the Fredericksburg Battery under Braxton, and Letcher
Artillery under Greenlee Davidson, were in Bernard's
field, very near the centi-e of the Federal line. At one
o'clock the heavy batteries on each side opened, and for
an hour kept up a brilliant duel of shells and round shot.
Then all was silent again.

On the morning ot' Saturday, the 13th of December, a
dense fog hung over the river and the adjoining fields.
Under its cover the Federals advanced, their heaviest
attack was against the position held by A. P. Hill.
Through the thick vapor their dark masses were dimly
seen, and immediately the batteries of Braxton and David-
son opened on them with severe effect. At the same time
Major Pelham on the right began an enfilading fire, which
ploughed through their ranks, sweeping down numbers at
every discharge. His fire was so eftective that six of the
enemy's batteries concentrated on him; yet under this
sharp ordeal he maintained his position, and continued his
rounds witli such daring as to excite the admiration of the
Southern commander.

The divisions of the Federal Generals Meade, Gibbons

28 FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

and Doubleda}' of Franklin's corps, made strenuous efforts
to penetrate General Hill's lines. As their left advanced
towards the ridge occupied by Colonel Lindsay Walker's
artillery, he waited until they were within eight hundred
yards. Then the guns under Pegram, EUett and Mcintosh
launched on them a storm of missiles, which first stopped
their advance and then drove them back in rout and con-
fusion. Meanwhile, farther up the line the attack was
more successful; the brigades of Generals Archer and Lane
became engaged with a heavy force of the enemy. A
bloody struggle ensued. Barber's Thirty-seventh and
Avery's Thirty-third North Carolina kept up a destructive
fire. The Confederates repulsed all in their front, but the
numbers of the enemy enabled them to press in upon their
flanks; and finding that they were in danger of being sur-
rounded, two regiments of Archer and Lane's men gave
way and fell back, leaving about two hundred and forty
prisoners in the hands of the enemy.

General Archer, with two regiments and two battalions
from Tennessee, Alabama and Virgijiia, held his ground
with tenacity, while reinforcements from right and left
were hurrying to him. Two of Hood's regiments, under
General Law, Godwin's Fifty-seventh and McDowell's
Fifty-fourth North Carolina, were detatched from the left,
and made a charge wiiich drove back the Federals in their
front beyond the Bowling Green road. But a massed
cohnnn of the enemy poured through the breach in the
Southern lines, and penetrated to A. P. Hill's second line,
where they encountered General Maxcy Gregg's brigade.
Orr's Rifles mistaking the advancing P^ederals for friends,
were thrown into momentary confusion. In his eflbrts to
rally them. General Gregg fell mortally wounded on the
field. A braver soldier and a truer heart was never lost
to the South. Cohmel Hamilton, who succeeded to the
command, I'allied his men, and with promptness re-formed
his lines and poured a killing volley into tlie enemy's flank.
At the same time General Thomas' brigade came up to
the assistance of Archer, and Lawton's and Hoke's bri-
gades from Early's division hastened into the melee, with
the veils which diflered so much from the huzzas of the

FREDERICKSBURG : PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 29

Federals that the onset of a Southern regiment was always
known by the sound. After a short and sanguinary con-
test the Federals under Ferrero, Negley and Sturgis, gave
way, and were driven across the railroad with heavy loss.
Latimer's battery and the brigade under Colonel Brocken-
brough completed the rout. Doubleday's advance with
the extreme left of the Federals was successfully met by
Jackson's infantry under D. H. Hill, aided by the batteries
of Brockenbrough, Raine, Poage and Dance. The Penn-
sylvania Reserves under General Jackson weie received
with a fire so fotal that they broke in confusion and could
not be rallied. Jackson fell dead on the field, and his
body, with that of his adjutant, Sweringer, fell into the
hands of the Confederates. General Gibbons was wounded.
The attack on the Southern right had failed. After eight
hours of fierce contest they had driven back the enemy at
every point, leaving the intervening ground covered with
his slain.

Meanwhile on the left a bloody scene had been enacted.
The Washington Artillery were in position on Marye's
Hill. General Ransom's division was in support. Brig.-
General Thomas R. R. Cobb's brigade was posted on the
road below the hill, behind a stone-wall which attJjrded an
admirable breastwork. Brig. -General Cooke's men occu-
pied the crest of the hill. At half- past eleven o'clock the
serried ranks of the divisiQus of Generals Hancock, Couch
and Wilcox poured out from Fredericksburg, and advanced
over the narrow fields. When they came within eftective
range, Walton's guns opened on them, tearing their ranks
with spherical case and canister. Still they came steadily
on, while the heavy batteries from the opposite hills and a
cloud of sharpshooters on their flanks sought to create a
diversion in their favor. But when they reached a dis-
tance of a hundred yards from the road, the infantiy under
Cobb and Cooke opened their fire and sent a rain of bullets
upon their already bleeding ranks. Their dead fell like
withered leaves. Unable to bear the storm, they recoiled
and fled. Again they were rallied and came on, seeking
shelter of ravines and fences; again they met the hail of
lead and retreated in rout, leaving hundreds of dead and

30 FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

wounded. Five times their (idvance was renewed, and as
often repelled with fearful loss.

As the evening approached the Federal officers organized
a column of assault heavier than any they had yet em-
ployed. The troops under Couch, Wilcox and Burnside
Avere massed for a final and desperate effort. Meagher's
Irish brigade led the van ; their native courage had been
stimulated to the highest degree by the liquor and wine
they had seized in Fredericksburg. Seeing the formidable
movement, General Ransom ordered Cooke's brigade to
support Cobb's on the road. Kershaw ordered up his
division, and Kemper hastened into line with his troops,
At four o'clock the enormous columns of the enemy were
hurled upon the position, firing such torrents of bullets
that a dark belt stained with lead ran along the whole
line of the stone-wall. The Confederates suffered severe
loss. General Cobb, a most gallant and accomplished
officer, was killed by a fragment of shell. General Cooke
was dangerously wounded. Yet the men stood firm, and
when the foe came within short musket-range, they met
them with a ceaseless fire of minie-balls, while the artillery
above under Colonel Alexander was shattering their ranks
with grape and canister. In the words of a Northern
winter, "human nature was unable to hold out against the
terrible fire." The Irish Brigade melted away; the ground
was so covered with the dead that the men behind were
compelled to pass over or push them aside. The Federals
broke and retreated in horror from the field of blood.
Their sharpshooters kept up a scattering fire, but as the
shades of evening gathered over the field, the remnants of
the immen.se host that had moved out in the morning re-
treated into town or behind the banks of the river. The
Southern victory was complete.

The loss of the Confederates in this battle was four
thousand two hundred men, of whom only four hundred
and fifty-eight were killed. A. P. Hill's division, which
sustained the heaviest pressure, lost two hundred and eleven
killed, and fourteen hundred and eighty wounded. Besides
Generals Gregg and Cobb, the Southern army lost other
valuable officers, anions whom were Captain H. D. King
and Lieutenant James Ellett.

FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 31

The repulse of the enemy had been complete, and
accomplished with so little comparative loss, that the Con-
federate generals expected the battle to be renewed on
Monday. But the result proved that they did not know
the extent of the bloody chastisement they had inflicted.
The Federal loss in killed, wounded and prisoners was not
less than fifteen thousand men. They lost nine thousand
small arms. Their spirits were broken by the fearful
slaughter they had sustained. Their dead lay in ghastly
heaps on the field; nearly every house in the town was
filled with their wounded.

During the whole battle General Burnside never crossed
to the south side of the Rappahannock. He remained in
the house of A. K. Phillips, on a high hill north of the
river. A Northern observer said: "His position most of
the time was on the upper balcony, where ivith a powerful
glass he was watching the movements." After the san-
guinary defeat of his army he crossed and attempted to
organize another attack in columns of regiments; but his
troops demurred, his division generals advised against it.
In truth, the men could not have been brought to the
attempt, and he quickly abandoned it.

On the night of Monday, December 15th, in the midst
of a storm of wind and rain, he withdrew his beaten army
w'ith all possible silence and celerity across the river and
then removed the pontoons. The next morning, when the
Southern officers and their men looked through the haze
and storm to see what their enemy was doing, he was gone.

During the bloody battles fought in 1864 between the
immense Federal forces under General Ulysses Grant and
the comparatively small, but indomitable Confederate army
under General Robert E. Lee, and which have made the
names of Mine Run, the Wilderness and Spotsylvania
Courthouse forever memorable in history, the many thou-
sands of wounded of the Federal army were sent in ambu-
lances and w'agons to Fredericksburg, where a host of
United States surgeons and assistants attended them. The
native population then remaining was small, and consisted
entirely of women, children and elderly men; even the
colored population had become very much reduced.

32 FREDERICKSBURC4: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

On Sunday, the 8tli of May, while a small congregation
was attendhig upon religious services in the basement of
the Southern Methodist church, a boy came hastily in and
whispered to Mr. -Joseph W. Sener, who announced that a
body of armed Federal troops were marching down the
Poplar Spring road. The people quickly dispersed to their
houses. These troops did not exceed sixty in number, and
were all slightly wounded; but as they were armed, the
men of the town deemed it safest to require their surrender
as prisoners of war, which was promptly made. Soon,
other wounded stragglers followed, until the number of
prisoners amounted to about two hundred. They were sent
to Richmond under a small escort

Within the next twenty-four hours, the fifteen thousand
of the wounded of General Grant's army were brought into
the town in ambulances, wagons and all available convey-
ances. They were attended by a large body of surgeons
and assistants of every kind. Private houses and yards
were occuiiied, and ghastly sights everywhere met the eye.
The sudden increase of the population from three or four
thousand to twenty thousand was enough in itself to cause
suffering and distress, and these were greatly aggravated
by the scanty supply of water. This was caused by the
fact that the Federal wounded in passing by the reservoir
on Poplar Spring Hill drank it almost dry, and threw into
it the dead body of a colored soldier. This so tainted the
water that the town authorities were compelled to shut off
the supply to the street pipes. Some arrests were made to
furnish hostages for the wounded prisoners previously
captured.

Many thousands of the wounded in Fredericksburg died,
and the National Cemetery on Willis' Hill, above the
town, now holds their remains, together witli those of the
great numbers gathered from previous battlefields. The
whole number of separate soldiers whose remains, in whole
or in part, are there buried is estimated to amount to not
not less than forty thousand.

Daring this occuf)ation for the wounded, the people of
Fredericksburg endured suffering, disease and sorrow
greater than any that had previously visited them. Yet it

FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 33

is an admitted truth that no considerate aid or courtesy
was wanting on the part of the Federal officers which could
mitigate the horrors of these scenes. In fact a sentiment
of humanity was there developed on both sides which pro-
jected itself into the future. Had the so/diers and the
good people of both sections been left to themselves after
the war, without the stimulants furnished by the selfish
rancor of politicians and place-hunters, complete good
feeling would long ago have been re-established.

With the period that has elapsed since the war and
during the dismal stage of reconstiaiction, you are all
familiar, and to tell you of it would be only to repeat a
thrice told tale and unnecessarily "■ infandam renovare
dolorem,'' to open again old wounds, and perhaps to cause
hearts to bleed or eyes to weep that Time has been merci-
fully dealing with.

And, now, we have reviewed the history of Fredericks-
burg, as history is often written, but not as it ought to be
written. For we are now to turn to a more interesting
phase of the subject, and to speak and learn of the people
themselves, their ways and manners, their habits, and the
individualisms which stood out from among them like
bciKSO relievos from a plain surface. A town does not con-
sist in the buildings and houses that stand on its soil; and
the history of the town therefore is not the history of its
houses, however venerable some of them may be. This is
a truth which has been already settled by the highest
American authority, that is Yankee Doodle himself, for
do we not know that —

" Yankee Doridle came to town
Dressed in leather trou-ers;
He said he could not see the town,
There were so many houses!"

There is a profound truth involved in this old song, for
if a stranger had come to Fredericksburg in the olden
time, and had seen only the houses, and never met with,
and conversed with, and become acquainted with her peo-
ple, and then gone away, it might truly be said of him
that he had never seen the town. And this same truth is

34 FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

expressed in yet more lofty and sublime thought by the
great Euglish lawyer, Hir William Jones, who with all his
mastery of twenty-eight languages, and his power as a
scholar, a jurist and a legislator, never uttered nobler
truth than in those immortal words:

" What constitutes a State?

Not liigh raised battlement or labored inound,
Thick wall or moated gate;

Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned ;
Not bays and broad-armed ports

Where, laughing at the storm, i-ich navies ride;
Not starred and spangled courts.

Where low browed baseness wafts perfume to pride.
No! Men, high-minded men,

With powers as far above dumb brutes endued
In forest brake or den.

As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude ;
Men who their duties know,

And know their rights, and, knowing, dare maintain,
Prevent the long aimed blow,

And crush the tyrant wiiile they rend the chain :
These constitute a State."

And so we say that the men and the women of the past
of Fredericksburg are her true history, wdiether for glory
or for shame.

This town was once nominally called by a witty states-
man a "finished town," and her people have often been
accused of being so entirely self-satisfied that they will not
believe that any merit elsewhere can exceed her merit.
But, irony aside, it is a fact generally admitted — and
admitted by none more readily than by people at a dis-
tance— that the men and women whom Fredericksburg
has, from time to time, sent out from her bosom into all
parts of our country and of the world, and the men and .
women whom she has retained or adopted, have contributed
to establish for her a marked and consistent reputation for
intellectual activity and genial qualities. It is not impos-
sible that a philosophical reason or series of reasons for
this fact maybe found, in the conditions that have sur-
rounded Fredericksburg; her moderate and pleasant cli-
mate, her excellent water, her environment of picturesque
hills and flowing river; the beauty and fascinating qualties

FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 85

of her women; her cheapness in the necessaries of life;
and, above all, in that happy medium between the size of
a small and stagnant village, and a large and bustling
city, which she has for nearly a century maintained, and
which is eminently adapted to develop active individualism
of character, alike removed from the sluggish life of a
village, and the forced dead-level of a huge city.

But whatever may have been the causes, the fact is
certain. Fredericksburg has, from revolutionary times
downward, always had within her, or about her, mental
activity. She has never been blessed or cursed with Rip
Van Winkleism. It is true that her people, in order to
develop pabulum for thought, have been occasionally
obliged, for want of more profitable occupation, to resort to
seats on dry goods boxes on the business avenues, or to
convenient corners for the debates of social juntos; or, on
graver occasions, to the town hall or courthouse for public
discussion; but they have always kept their minds alert
and polished by friction, and ready for business when busi-
ness should call; and if they have sometimes expended
their immense reserve and superfluity of thought in con-
triving practical jokes and questionable am<isements, yet
very seldom have these excesses ever assumed forms of
deliberate and malignant mischief.

Individualisms.

With this brief introduction, I propose to speak of some of
the marked characters that have appeared either in Fred-
ericksburg or in the country in contact with her, and con-
nected with her destinies. One of the earliest of those of
Avhom we have any authentic account was Francis Thorn-
ton, the great-great-grandfather of our beloved female
citizens, Mrs. Fitzgerald and Mrs. Forbes. And when I
state that Mrs. Fitzgerald, having nearly attained her
eighty-eighth year, is probably now our oldest inhabitant,
I carry you back to a very respectable antiquity in bring-
ing to your notice her great-great-grandfather.

He was from Yorkshire, in England; came to Virginia
after he attained to manhood, and acquired title to a very

36 FREDERICKSBURG: TAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

large tract of land in tliis region. He was a tall and
powerfully built man, active and athletic. His residence
was long in the neighborhood of the Falls Plantation; bi;t
I suppose his actual dwelling house is not now in existence.
He was fond of out-door occuj^atioiis and sports — hunting,
fishing and swimming. There is a tradition that he had
occasional encountei's with the Rnppahannock Indians, and
that in one of them, in which he had the aid of a few
hardy spirits like himself, nothing but his great courage
and strength saved the white party from destruction. But
these incidents are not sutHciently authenticated to justify
me in giving them as history. It is certain, however, that
he sought adventure amon<r the lower animals — fish, flesh
and fowl — with which this region then abounded; and
within the memory of the living, an old citizen of Fal-
mouth has seriously declared that he had found in or
around the falls terrapins and fresh water turtles, which
had on their shells the initials " F. T." distinctly cut with
the ])oint of a knife. And on one occasion he had an
encounter Avith a sturgeon which is worthy of note because
it was characteristic of the man: The sturgeon had made
his way up the river during a light freshet, above ordinary
deep water. Francis Thoi-nton, Hnding this large fisii in
some of the shallow waters of the falls, undertook to secure
him, and for this purpo.se })lunged into the water and seized
his head; but his hands becoming entangled in the gills
the fish struggled so violently that he made his way with
his captor into the dee[)er water. Any ordinary man
would have gladly released him, but this Yorkshire gen-
tleman resolved otherwise, and by a rcmaikable exertion
of his great strength and skill in wading and swimming,
actually succeeded in Ibrcing the sturgeon back to the
shallow water and secured him. It was by such men that
the wilderness was subdued, and Virginia secured for the
Anglo-Saxon race.

The great-grandson of this gentleman was Francis
Thornton, whom many now living remember as the owner
and occupier of the Fall Hill estate above Fredericksburg.
And though the Indian fights, just mentioned, may be
apocryphal, yet it is certain that the life of an Indian was

FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 37

closely connected with his life. During the administration
of Alexander Spotswood as Governor of Virginia, a young
Indian girl became domesticated in his family. Whether
she was actually a captive in some of the irregular wars
with the savages, or whether she was one of the numerous
hostages whom Governor Spotswood required the Indian
sachems to deliver up as security for their peaceable de-
meanor is not certainly known. Her name was Katina,
and after some time spent in the Spotswood family she was,
with her own consent, transferred to the Thorntons, and
became the nurse of Francis Thornton, the younger. She
formed for her young charge the strongest attachment.
She carried him with her into the woods and fields and
taugiit him many of the Indians' devices which she had
not forgotten. On one occasion when they had been missed
for some time, the father of the child sought them in the
thick undergrowth on a part of the farm now known as
Snowden, above Fredericksburg, the present residence of
John L. Stansbury. Here Katina was found seated on
the ground with the little boy near her, in a state of high
delight at her success in trapping a number of live part-
ridges which she had enticed into a wicker basket or cage,
and was now exhibiting to her happy young charge. Wlien
Francis Thornton was about seventeen years old, this In-
dian woman died, and her death caused him so much of
grief and depression that he could never hear it mentioned
or speak of it in subsequent life without the most unatiected
distress.

The art of practical pleasantry is one in which a very
great number of proficients have appeared in this town
whose deeds have been confined to no special epoch of her
career. They have often exhibited strange mental ti-aits,
and the point of the joke has often been attained by elabo-
rate thought and preparation which, applied to any other
subject, would have gone far towards useful and beneficial
success.

Early in this century there lived in Fredericksburg an
old Frenchman named Campion. He lived in the upper
part of the town. He was very poor, and such work as
he could find was precarious and often unremunerative.

38 fkedericksburg: past, present and future.

He was often in want, and thongh not a recognized pauper,
was assisted, with much good humor and kind-heartedness,
by the ])eople in his neighborhood. And in return for
their benefactions many of them felt at liberty to amuse
themselves by innumerable pleasantries in word and deed
at his expense. On one dark night, at precisely nine
o'clock, when the old Frenchman was getting somewhat
sleepy, a knock was heard at his door. He oj)ened it; a
man stood there who asked in an earnest voice: " Is Mons.
Tonson here?" He politely re})lied: " Non ; Mons. Ton-
son does not live here. Mons. Campion lives here. " Then
the enquirer withdrew. Half an hour afterwards, as the
old man was preparing to go to bed, another loud knock
was heard at the door. Half asleep he opened it, and
again a stranger presented himself with the question: "Is
Mons. Tonson here ? ' ' The Frenchman began to wax
angry, and answering loudly, " No! " he shut the door in
the face of his visitor, and went to bed. But hardly had
he fallen into the fii-st sweet sleep, before another half-hour
had passed, and again a tremendous knocking aroused him,
to which, in his confused state, he answered by again pre-
senting himself at the door. The same question drew forth
an exi:>losion of wrath, and again he went to bed. But the
inveterate jokers were not to be foiled. At the end of
every half-hour from nine to four in the morning, a fresh
man, detailed for the purpose, knocked at the door, and
when Campion refused to rise from his bed, but howled
therefrom like a goaded tiger, still the same question was
shouted out: " Is Mons. Tonson here?" and still the an-
swer came, mingled with .sacre.s threats and objurgations
which roused the whole neighborhood. The next day
Campion went to the mayor's ofhce to get out a warrant,
but on giving his account of the matter, the mayor was
almost convulsed by his efforts to restrain his laughter and
to look officially grave; and, moreover, it was found that
Mons. Campion, though he had his suspicions, could not
identify one single offender, and could not swear to any
state of facts which involved an actual violation of law.
Therefore the matter was dropped, and he was quickly
paciffed by the practical kindness of the very men who had
perpetrated this jDractical joke.

FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 39

In the interval between the years 1830 and 1845, this
spirit was all alive in Fredericksburg. There existed then
a secret club or association known among themselves as
"The Jaw Bone Club." They had no declared objects;
no constitution; no by-laws; no rules or regulations of any
kind — at least none that were ever revealed. I am not
able to say who were members of this club, or who were
its officers. I only know that John Terry, Charles A.
Pearson, Wm. H. Murphy, James Cunningham, James
Harrison and Turner Ramsay were leading spirits in its
operations. How many others were united with them, and
who they were, has not been disclosed. Their object
seemed to be, by union of effort, under certain impulses of
fun, which were under thorough discipline, to extract as
much enjoyment as possible from any suitable subjects for
practical jokes. On one occasion a Stafford man came
into Fredericksburg, and meeting casually with James
Cunningham, entered into conversation. Being asked
what was new in Stafford, he answered that in his neigh-
borhood the people were very much troubled about mad
dogs. "Mad dogs?" said Cunningham; "why don't you
get the corporation gun ? " " What is that ? " asked the
Staftbrd man. "Why," said Mr. Cunningham, " it is a
gun which is infsillible death to eveiy mad dog it conies
near." The Staftbrd man was greatly excited and asked
eagerly how it could be obtained. "Nothing easier," said
Cunningham. "1 had it not hmg ago to kill a mad dog,
but I have passed it to another gentleman. It is going
the rounds all the time. I will give you an order for it
by which you can get it." He accordingly wrote an order,
directing it to Charles A. Pearson, and requesting him to
deliver to bearer the corporation gun. On presentation to
Mr. Pearson he remarked gravely that he had parted with
it only the day before; but he would endorse on the back
of the order a written request to the party who had it,
which would answer every purpose. This new order was
directed to Mr. John Terry. By this time night had
arrived. The Stafford citizen could not find Mr. Terry
until the next morning after breakfast. On reading the
paper he expressed regret that he had not the gun, but

40 FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

comforted the gentleman by telling him he knew where it
was and could put him in the way to obtain it. He said
to him: " The gun is now hanging up in the front part of
the store of Mr. AVilliam Redd, on Commerce street. It
is public property, and is intended for the use of all who
wish to kill mad dogs. Mr. Redd is somewhat strange in
his ways and may not be disposed to deliver it to you.
You need not ask him for it. You have seen all the
necessary parties, and I will write on this paper a full
authority, under which you can go and take down the gun
and carry it home with you." And so the writing was
given; the gentleman proceeded to the store, and seeing a
gun hanging up near the front door, forthwith mounted on
a keg of nails and had actually cut one of the suspenduig
cords, when William Redd catching sight of the proceed-
ing through the glass sash of his counting-room rushed out
upon him. His hostile look so alarmed the man that he
left the gun hanging by one cord, and took to his heels,
pursued by Mr. Redd, who raised hue and cry upon him
as a thief; but the man was fleet of foot and succeeded in
crossing Chatham bridge and escaping into Stafford.
Justice requires me to add that when William Redd, who
relished a joke, learned about the order he laughed as
heartily as other people, and sent the Stafford gentleman a
message that he might come safely to Fredericksburg when
he chose.

These details as to the "Jaw Bone Club" and its pro-
ceedings have been given to me by my friend and former
schoolmate, Charles A. Shepherd, who has also furnished
many authentic particulars as to Wm. H. Murphy (com-
monly called Billy Murphy), who kept a store, and Isaac
Jones (commonly known as Jew Jones), who was then the
only citizen of Hebrew descent in Fredericksburg, though
since the war some of her most enterprising residents have
been of that ancient and interesting race.

I can only speak, in passing on, of the peculiar relations
between Billy Murphy and Jew Jones, and tell how Mur-
2>hy, by most adroit and elaborate maneuvres, continued
through five years, succeeded, on two several occasions, in
inducing Jew Jones to receive from him cigars, in each

FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 41

case loaded in their folds with gunpowder, and which,
when the Jew lighted them while applied to his mouth,
instantly exploded, marking his face, in one instance, with
black spots which he long bore; and how in another case,
in a dark night Murphy crouched down in a deep gutter
which was then alongside of the curb-stone, near the
present postoffice, by which route he knew that Jew Jones
was about to pass; and when the Jew stepped on him he
rose up, whereby the Jew was overthrown and covered with
mud, and how Murphy succeeded in moving back into the
sitting-room of the Farmers Hotel (which was then the
great place of rendezvous for jokers) in time to take his
seat, with a grave lace, before the Jew arrived; and how
Mr. Jones came in and declared that he had stepped on a
big black hog, applying, also, to the supposed hog an
epithet which reverence forbids me to repeat, and how he
had fallen and beniired himself, and how outrageous it
was in the common council to permit hogs to run in the
streets, and Murphy sympathized with him, and proposed
to get up a petition on the subject to the council. But
with all his repeated and sometimes severe pleasantries at
his expense. Murphy was always a true friend to the Jew,
and often helped him when he was in want or in trouble.
This good-humored habit of exercising the mind in
ingenious contrivances for merriment and fun had its effect
even on the colored people of Fredericksburg, many of
Avhom emerged from the common level and became char-
acters almost as well known as some of the white humorists.
I can only mention three by name, all of whom may per-
haps be remembered by some present. One was John
Campbell, commonly called "Old John Campbell." His
specialty was attending funerals. He was never known to
be absent from the funeral of a colored person; and at-
tended all the funerals of the white people that he could
possibly reach. On these occasions, he always wore the
same hat, adorned with a black band and crape weepers
behind ; so that whenever he was seen wearing this hat and
wending his way in any direction, it was equivalent to a
notice that a funeral procession would come from that
point. The next colored character to be noted was Jenny

42 FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

Ham. She was so eccentric that she was sometimes
thought to be insane; but there Avas so much of shrewdness
and method in her madness that the better medical opinion
was against this theory. She would never permit any
person to cross her track without taking instant measures
to resent it or to avert the evil omen; and many a tub or
bucket of water has descended on the head of the unlucky
urchin who attempted this perilous feat. She had a
daughter, who bore a name of her own dictation, and
which she would repeat to any serious questioner with
intense volubility. It was a fair rival to some of the
nanies of German |)rincesses. It was as follows: Mary,
Margaret, Molly, Folly, Todd, Yankee Doodle, Yahoo,
Rooliper, Trooliper, Woolfolk Ham.

But, beyond doubt, the most eminent colored character
was Buddy Taylor, who died only a few years ago. He
was a man of large size and stature, and, in his prime, of
gigantic strength. His complexion was black, but having
an acjuiline nose, he always denied that he was an Ethiopian,
and insisted that he Avas a Carthagenian, and thus claimed
connection with the blood of Hannibal and Hanno. His
peculiarities were many; but that which most distinguished
him was the ability to coin and use words of sesquipedalian
length and thundering soud, of which the word " mahani-
ostanating " must serve as a single specimen. His language
was marvelous in this, that though every sentence con-
tained a large proportion of words which iDelonged neither
to the English language nor to any other known language,
ancient or modern, yet, when the sentence was finished, it
seldom failed to impress on the hearer's mind a distinct,
incisive stanqi of the idea which Buddy Taylor wished to
express. Therefore he was seldom misunderstood; and I
have always thought that the phenomena exhibited by his
mind and language Avere worthy of the deepest study of
the professed psychologist. On one occasion, about the
year 1832, there was an exhibition in the town hall of
Fredericksburg of the nitrous-oxyd or exhilarating gas,
the properties of which were first discovered by Sir Hum-
phrey Davy. The effect of this gas is known to be to
develop into high activity the prevalent and prominent

FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 43

traits of real character in the person who breathes it.
And the fact that by far the larger number fight furiously
with fists, feet and teeth, is considered a sad proof that
since the fall, man has been born a fighting animal.
When Buddy Taylor was brought in for the purpose and
breathed this gas, much interest was felt, and the crowd
gathered in a silent circle around him. And, true to his
pi-evalent habit, the moment the tube was removed from
his lips, he stepped forth into the circle and delivered a
speech which, I can truly say, was unparalleled and inimit-
able, for nothing bearing the slightest resemblance to it is
found in all the literature of the world.

I am not willing to leave this subject of individual
character without at least a ])assing notice of certain choice
spirits, who were accustomed to resort to Fredericksburg
from the county of King George; and as I have already
mentioned the Farniers Hotel, it is jjroper now to speak of
the old Indian Queen Tavern, or hotel, which stood on
Main street, nearly on the spot where Mr. Stonebraker has
a wareroom for agricultural machinery. This Indian
Queen Hotel was burned to the ground at mid-day, about
the year 1831. It had been tlie place where the choice
spirits aforesaid mostly did congregate. In King George
there is a region, formerly, and perhaps now, known as
Chotank, which has been mentioned in connection with its
favorite beverage by St. Leger Lundon Carter in his genial
essay, "The Mechanician and Uncle Simon." From this
region chiefly came the spirits of whom I am to speak.
Mr. Carter was, beyond question, a poet. His longest
poem, "The Land of Powhatan," though it has some
beauties, was as a whole, a failure, and is not now in print.
But had he never written anything save the two short
poems, "The Sleet" and "The Mocking Bird," his pos-
session of the divine afflatus would be beyond serious
doubt. The first of these poems has lately been republished
by the good taste of our lady editor of the Fredericksburg
News; but as the latter is not generally accessible, and is
connected with my present theme, and as it is not only
true to the poetic soul, but true to the observed habits of the
bird, I am sure you will forgive me for quoting a part of it:

44 FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

" I saw him to-day, on his favorite tree
AVhere lie constantly comes in his glory and glee,
Perclied iiigh on a litnb, which whs standing out far
Abiive all the rest, like a tall taper spar:
Tiie wind was then wafting tiint limb to and fro,
And he rode np and down, like a ekitf in a blow.
When it sinks witii the billow, and moinits with its swell;
He knew I was watching — he knew it fnll well.

"He folded his pinions, and swelled out his throat,
And mimicked each bird in his own native note —
Tiie thrush and the robin, the red bird and all —
And the partridge would whittle and answer his call;
Then slopjnng his carol, he seemed to prepare.
By the Hirt of his wings, for a Hight in the air,
Wlien rising sheer upward, he wheeled down again
And took up his song where he left oft' the strain.

" What a gift he possesses of throat and of lungs.
The gift apostolic — the gift <>f all tongues!
Ah! could he but utter the lessons of love
To wean us from earth and to waft ns above,
What siren could tempt us to wander again?
We'd seek but the siren outpouring that strain —
Would listen to nought but his soft dying fall.
As he sat all alone on some old ruined wall."

Such was the mocking bird of King George, which in-
spired the poet's heart. But we have some accounts which
attribute to this delightful bird sounds of another kind.
For the facts now to be mentioned I am indebted to my
good friend, Mr. John Randolph Bryan, who has recently
become resident with us, and is a member of our library
committee. He obtained his narrative from the hate
Doctor David Tucker, who made his ob.servations on the
spot in Chotank, in King George. On rising in the morn-
ing he was greeted by the joyous voices of the mocking
birds. To his astonishment he discovered that they uttered
articulate sounds almost perfect imitations of the sounds
from human organs. On listening more attentively he
heard the words, " Get up, get up," repeated with anima-
tion. But soon other words from these bird-throats came
with even more distinctness and life. They were, "Julep,
julep, julep." And then came many voices uniting in a
mezzo-soj)rano, "Taste it, taste it, taste it," and finally
came a deep-toned contralto chorus, " So good, so good.

FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 45

80 good," and thus was ushered in with music, after the
manner of the ancient Greeks, the morning libation in
Chotank.

But whatever sceptical doubts may arise as to this mock-
ing bird chorus, the facts now to be mentioned are well
authenticated. I had them first from my faithful friend,
the late Howson H. Wallace, who was often in King
George and had many relations there. On one occasion a
special carouse was proposed to be observed at the Indian
Queen, and a select baud, embracing the names of Talia-
ferro, and Lewis, and Turner, and Hooe, and many others,
assembled. To do full honor to this august occasion, a
wash-tub of considerable dimensions was obtained from the
laundry of the hotel. This was filled nearly to the brim
with the choicest liquors and materials, compounded with
an artistic skill that had no rival elsewhere, even in Vir-
ginia. Loud was the tumultous joy — long and deep were
the potations. As they went on, some of the stronger
heads thought they perceived, from time to time, a distinct
savor of leather in the liquid; but they learnedly accounted
for it by reminding each other that several bottles of sherry
had gone into the tub. You know that this favorite wine,
when genuine, is from Xeres, in the province of Andalusia
in Spain, and that being brought down from the sunny
vintage in bags made from the skins of animals it acquires
a j)eculiar flavor, which the initiated claim to be a special
virtue. But when they reached nearly to the bottom of
the tub, some ingredients were found which had not been
put in by the artistic compounders. Being pulled out they
were found to be a pair of leather boots — old, well worn,
with originally high heels, thick soles and double tops.
Afterwards one of the youngest of the party confessed that
he had slyly thrown them in before the carouse opened.
But as he" had taken his full share of the beverage i'rom
the beginning, and had got very drunk and fallen under
the table, for these good deeds he was forgiven, and his
name has not transpired.

And now it is time that we turn from these delineations
of character and manners in our town to graver themes.

4(j FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

Among the many influences Avliich have continued to
dev^elop the individualisms of the people of Fredericksburg,
three seem to demand special notice. These are: First,
the schools; second, the ne\vspa])ers; third, the churches.
Each of these sources of influence would require a separate
lecture for its exposition. We can therefore only glance at
them, but we may glance intelligently.

Schools.

The material that has reached me would enable me to
treat quite fully of the schools iu and about Fredericksl)urg
from the year 1800 to the present time. But I propose
only to speak specially of three. One of these was that which
succeeded the female school taught by the late Rev. Samuel
B. AVilson, in which many of the most agreeable women in
Fredericksburg received their early education. One of his
pupils, and afterwards his assistant, was Miss Mary Ralls.
She was the nearest approach to one who exercised disin-
terested benevolence that has appeared iu our midst. She
continued the female school, and after awhile took in
charge boys also. She called to her assistance a number
of teachers iu succession, and, at last, called to her assist-
ance a husband — an act constituting probably her most
signal display of unselfish benevolence. He was Mons.
Jean Baptiste Herard, a French gentleman, whose revo-
lutionary principles and service with Napoleon the First
made it necessary for him to leave France wdien the Bour-
bons were restored to the throne. He was never able to
speak English. He was poor and friendless. Miss Mary
Ralls had compassion on him and married him. They
were united in marriage in the old Presbyterian church,
which then stood on the lot now known as the Fredericks-
burg Female Orphan Asylum. Rev. Mr. Wilson performed
the marriage ceremony, and a young lawyer, skilled in the
French language, translated its parts to Mons. Herard and
received his assent. It was then the usage of Doctor Wil-
son to close the ceremony with the words, "Salute your
bride," addressed to the groom, who was expected to obey
by decorously raising the veil of the bride and kissing her

FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 47

lips. It seems probable that this part of the ceremony had
not been sufficiently explained to Mons. Herard, and that
his ideas on the subject had become confused by some
usages in the provinces of France with which he was
familiar. Be this as it may, it is certain that as soon as
the words had been uttered in English by the clergyman,
and rendered into French by the interpreter, Mons. Herard
seized the bride under her arms, and, to the unspeakable
consternation of herself and her female friends, danced her
tunniltuously up and down the whole length of the front
aisle of the church — her little feet twinkling and flashing
with the rapidity of the movement, and her face presenting
a lively image of mingled womanly triumph and despair.
Reverence for the sacred building forbade merriment in-
side; but some persons casually passing by were amazed to
see the doors thrown open and a number of gentlemen rush
out and roll themselves over and over on the grass of the
churchyard in convulsions of laughter. Among them was
the late Dr. Beverly R. Wellford, who afterwards often
narrated the scene.

This marriage union, thus cheerfully inaugurated, was
on the whole a happy one. Mons. Herard, though he
could not speak English, taught writing and French in the
school. Here commenced the education of a large num-
ber of girls and boys, who were afterwards well known in
the social circles and business pursuits of Fredericksburg,
and of many other parts of the United States. Among
the boys I may be permitted to mention as my schoolfellows,
George Scott, William Barton, now your circuit judge, his
brother Howard, now a physician, and who attended Gen-
eral Robert E. Lee in his last illness, John Beverly Stan-
ard, Robert Wellford, who married Fannie Littlepage
Stevenson, became a physician and died comparatively
young; another Robert Wellford, from Tallahasse, Florida;
Peter Gray, a son of William F. (jray, and brother of
Mrs. Doswell, of Fredericksburg, and who became a cir-
cuit judge in Texas, and was a member of the Confederate
House of Representatives during the war; Robert and
John L. Marye, who need no introduction to you; Edward
Carter, a relative of the Wellford family, a boy of great

48 FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

courage and promise, but who perished in his early youth,
by shipwreck, in going round by sea from Norfolk to New
York; and Byrd Stevenson, the youngest son of Carter L.
Stevenson, who was long Commonwealth's attorney in our
town.

In the school of Madame Herard, the studies of history,
geography, grammar, rhetoric and the French language
were, I think, carefully and successfully taught. But
arithmetic was not well taught until her brother, Mr.
Nathaniel Ralls, became an assistant in the school. He
was a fine arithmetician, and a vast improvement immedi-
ately took place. Prior to his coming, it is my impression
that arithmetic could not have been recognized, in this
school, as a branch of the exact sciences. This impression
is founded not only on general recollections, but one special
incident, which must be related as a sign of those times.
The most advanced class in arithmetic was at work one
whole morning on a sum in what was then called "The
Single Rule of Three," the answer to which was in land
measure. After many vain efforts the boys gloomily as-
sured the assistant teacher that they could not get the
answer. This teacher's efforts were then applied, but were
equally in vain. Finally a question came to the class from
the teacher's lips in these exact words: " How much do it
lack of the answer?" Immediately a voice replied, "It
wants one acre, two rods and twenty-seven perches of the
answer." " That's near enough," said the teacher; and,
the knot being thus happily cut, the boys went on their
way rejoicing.

It has been supposed by some that Mons. Herard was
actually one of the regicide deputies who voted for the
execution of Louis Sixeeenth; but the careful volumes of
Thiers furnish no evidence that his name was in that list —
that fearful list — to some execrable — to others immortal —
to all profoundly impressive. But, that his whole heart
and soul were fired with the revolutionary spirit was clear
to all who knew him. On one occasion two accomplished
ladies, who had visited France and spoke the language,
spent an evening at his residence, which was then the small
wooden building opposite to the house of Mr. Edgar

FREDERICKSBURG : PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 49

Crutchfield, our superintendent of schools. As the even-
ing passed on, one of these ladies, who was a fine vocalist,
by request, commenced singing the grand hymn of the
' ' Marseillaise. ' ' Hardly had she commenced before Mons.
Herard sprang from his seat in uncontrollable emotion, and
when she reached the line, ' 'Marchons, Marclwns, et Serrez
■vos battaillons / " he leaped into the air, waved his hand
around his head and, taking up the strain, sang verse after
verse with gesticulations almost frantic in their energy.
And even in his retired life, he proved that he had not
forgotten some of the sharpest remedies of his country's
revolutionary times. He was fond of gardening, and of
raising pigeons. A cat in the neighborhood had made
some bloody incursions upon his squabs. He watched his
movements, saw that' he came in through a hole in the
close fence round his garden, set a bag arouud the hole,
caught the cat, and conducted him in triumph to a scaffold
erected for tlie purpose. Here the glittering axe descended,
and the cat's head rolled in the dust, followed by a torrent
of blood. Of these tragic events we were apprised in the
school by a shriek from one of the female teachers. Miss
Antonia Brent, who was looking out of the window and
saw the act of decapitation. But though the female teachers
and some of the female scholars were shocked, the boys
were delighted with the whole proceeding. And they were
probably right; for this cat was a malignant and confirmed
avicide and deserved liis fate.

When the revolution of 1830 took place, which drove
Charles the Tenth from the throne of France, the people
of Fredericksburg fired one hundred guns. Mons. Herard
walked up and down Main street from breakfast time until
nearly sunset, with a tri-colored ribbon on his coatbreast,
and a look of rapt revolutionary fervor on his countenance.
He was deeply disappointed at the continuation of the
monarchy under Louis Phillipe of Orleans. He died a
few years afterwards. How would that old heart, now cold
in death, have bounded with joy could he have lived to
see the present republican government of that great and
chivalrous people!

The next school to be noted was that of Mr. John Gool-

50 FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

rick, iu the building now occupied l)y the Misses Vass.
His residence was the wooden building next above. He
was an Irishman by birth, and was related to the family of
which Judge John T. Goolrick, present judge of the cor-
poration court of Fredericksburg, is a descendant. He
was assisted in his school by his son George, who was de-
crepit in body, but highly cultured in mind. Mr. John
Goolrick was long the surveyor of Fredericksburg, and was
assuredly one of its eminent characters. He was deeply
skilled in mathematics, and was always pleased when his
scholars made such previous progress as would justify their
transfer to the classes in geometry. He believed in Euclid,
and did not believe in the modern follies which attempt to
teach that an angle may be formed by one straight line,
and that possibly somewhere in thfe universe of thought,
two added to two may make five. This last heresy is the
idea of John Stuart Mill, and is akin to the ideas of the
skeptical and materialistic school of the present day, who
call their system agriodicmii. This system teaches that
man in his present state knows nothing and cannot possibly
know anything of God or of ultimate Truth; and hence it
follows that for aught we know or can know in this world,
good may be evil, (iod may be Hatan, and heaven may be
hell. Mr. Goolrick, being a devout and catholic Christian,
utterly repudiated any such philosophy. He believed in
geometry, and such was the thoroughness of his methods,
that several pupils in his school were able to stand up
before him, and upon his calling by book and number for
any proposition in Euclid, to repeat the theme and instantly
give the demonstration. Jt is at least doubtful whether
this could now l)e done in any college in our land. The
blackboard in his day was unknown, Init the geometrical
figures wei-e projected by rule, scale and compasses, and
were therefore far more symmetrical than any that now
appear on the blackboard. He not only delighted to teach
geometry, but trigonometry, both plane and spherical —
surveying and navigation — algebra even to the diftereutial
calculus, and conic sections to the hyperbola and the
asymptotes. His modes of discipline were only two —
keeping in after school hours, and the rod. He believed

FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 51

in the rod, and had two forms thereof; one, the common
form, consisting of tolerably stout and long twigs cut from
the althea bushes in his garden; the other a more solemn
form, kept for high occasions, being a seasoned cane of
bamboo, with an ivory head, and which by frequent use,
had become split into two parts, though united at the
handle and ferule. In this school I first met my friend
Charles A. Shepherd, and his brother Bandy Shepherd, who
was the hero of a most ludicrous scene, which want of time
forbids me to narrate.

The last school we can note is that of Thomas H.
Ha,nson. He was originally from Georgetown, and was
educated for the bar; but his modesty was so great that he
found it seriously to interfere with his success in the prac-
tice of law. He was a fine classical scholar, and his school
always deserved ' ' par excellence ' ' the name of a classical
school. The Greek and Latin languages, and history, and
antiquities of Greece and Rome were sedulously taught in
it, and few who have ever passed studiously through this
school have failed, in some form, to make their mark upon
their day and generation. In this school I first met my
friend, Mr. A. P. Rowe, our delegate in the General
Assembly.

Mr. Hanson, though modest and unassuming, was per-
fectly firm in temper, and, when roused, was formidable.
He was a man of true piety — read prayers in his school,
and sometimes read or delivered a short moral or religious
lecture. Some of the boys under his care long remembered
the impression left by his reading the pathetic narrative of
the death of young Altamount, by Doctor Edward Young,
the author of the "Night Thoughts." Mr. Hanson was
a member of the Episcopal church; but though he loved
his own church, and was what is sometimes called a good
churchman, he was never illiberal or exclussve in creed or
practice; and was ever ready to recognize and Avork with
his brethren of other communions.

These schools are but specimen presentations of the
schools of Fredericksburg, which have always been good.
I must now leave them to say a few words on the news-
papers of the town.

52 FREI>ERICKKBURG : PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

Ne-wspapers.

The first paper established was the Virginia Herald and
Falmouth Advertiser, by Timothy Green, in 1786. It was,
after some years, conducted by Green, Lacy & Harrow,
and for a year or two by Wm. F. Gray. Finally all other
interests were bought out by James I). Harrow, who was
a practical printer, and who conducted it for a number oi
years under the style of the Virginia Herald. In 1851,
after Mr. Harrow's death, it was purchased by Major
Kelly, who conducted it successfully until a few years ago,
when, finding his t}'pe much worn, his subscriptions much
in arrear and hard to collect, and probably his own health,
circumstances and suiTouudings inclining him to an easier
life than that of a political editor, he wound up and dis-
continued this venerable semi-weekly. In 1800 another
semi-weekly was started under the name of The Courier,
by James Walker as editor and proprietor. It was issued
Tuesdays and Fridays, at 20 shillings (^3.34) per annum.
A file of this paper running from ^November, 1800, to
November, 1801, in bound form, has survived the lapse of
time and the desolations of the war, and has been kindly
submitted to my examination by the owner, Mr. James L.
Green, of Fredericksburg. It was started to promote tlie
interests of the Jefferson party, then called the Republican
party, and its first number states that it is the successor
and continuation of the paper entitled The Genius of
Liberty, which had been conducted in Fredericksburg by
Mr. Robert Mercer. This file of The Courier is interesting
because of its age and associations; but it is strangely
deficient in all local information, and but for the adver-
tisements and an occasional notice of a horse race, a public
dinner, a ball or a theatrical performance, it might as well
have been published in Boston as in Fredericksburg. It
does not even give quotations of the Fredericksburg market
until near its close. The first quotation is October 27,
1801, when a brief list is given, quoting tobacco at $4.00;
flour, superfine, at $7.75 per barrel; fine, $7.25 per barrel;
wheat, $1.25 per bushel; Indian corn, $4.00 per barrel;
and meal, $3.34 per barrel. Even the poetry is generally

FREBERIGKSBURG : PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. SS

second-hand, being for the most part selected from the
English humorist who wrote under the name of Peter
Pindar. But, one brief poem, undoubtedly of home manu-
facture, appears in the number for February 13, 1801,
and this I shall quote for the benefit of my brethren of the
bar, that they may comfort their hearts by the reflection
that these present times are not the only times in which
they have been heartily abused. It is headed "Epitaph
on a Lawyer," and runs thus:

"Here lies the vile dust of the sinfullest wretch
That ever tlie Devil delayed to fetch ;
And the reader will grant it was needless he should,
When he saw he was coming as fast as he could."

The Fredericksburg News was established by Robert
Baylor Semple and, after his death, was purchased by
Archibald Alexander Little, who conducted it to the time
of his death. It is still in successful progress. The Politi-
cal Arena was edited from about the year 1830 to 1845 by
Wm. M. Blackford, who afterwards removed to Lynch-
burg. The Democratic Recorder was conducted at first by
Robert Alexander and James B. Sener, and afterwards by
S. Greenhow Daniel. The names of The Virginia Star,
Fredericksburg Ledger, the TVew Era, The Independent,
and the Recorder are too familiar to those now living to
need detailed narrative.

Churches.

Leaving the newspapers, we must now briefly notice the
churches of Fredericksburg. . The Baptist first comes into
view in June, 17H8, and in a manner strongly forecasting
the struggle which religious freedom was about to inaugu-
rate with the vicious but venerable principle of church
establishment. At that time, three zealous Baptists, John
Waller, Lewis Craig and James Childs, were seized by the
sheriff of Spotsylvania and carried before three magistrates
in the yard of the church building. The nominal charge
against them was for ' ' preaching the Gospel contrary to
law," but their real offence has been disclosed to us by old
Doctor Semple, who says that a certain lawyer vehemently

54 FREDERICKSBURG: PABT, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

accused tliem, and said, "May it please your Worships,
these men are great disturbers of the peace; they cannot
meet a man upon the road but they must ram a text of
/Scripture doivn his throat." They were ordered to jail in
Fredericksburg, and as they passed through the streets they
sang in solemn concert the hymn beginning, " Broad is the
road that leads to death." While in jail, they preached
through the iron gratings of the windows and door. The
people listened in awe, and already a spirit was awakened
which grew in might until it grappled with and overthrew
not only the Established C'liurch, but the principles on
which it was founded.

It is not iny purpose to trace minutely the history of each
church in Fredericksbui'g, and therefore it will suffice here
to say of the Baptist church that she has accomplished a
good work, and that few of her deeds have been better or
wiser than that which placed over her most important
church here as its spiritual guide, its present pastor; and
which has enabled our Library Association to gain as her
second })resident the Kev. Dr. Thomas S. Dunaway. Two
colored Baptist churches are also hei'e, and well organized.

Previous to the revolution, the Methodist church had no
distinct existence in Fredericksburg, and, indeed, none in
America. But, after the ordination of Dr. Coke and his
assistants, the Church planted itself here, and, with its
accustomed zeal and fervor, grew rapidly in numbers. It&
oldest church building stood on the lot near Liberty town,
back of the lot now known as the town park. It has
entirely disappeared. But two compai'atively modern
buildings succeeded it, the last of which was erected in
consequence of the division in sentiment between the
Northern and Southern Methodists. Among the numerous
able Methodist divines who have been in Fredericksburg,
I will only mention the venerable father in God, Mr.
Kobler, who was long a resident among us. His holy life
gave him much influence. His quaint and uncompromising
honesty was exhibited in a prayer offered by him soon after
the first election of General Andrew Jackson as President.
After praying for his health and happiness and success in
his administration as President, he added solemnly the

FREDERICKSBURG : PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 55

words, "Though Thou, O Lord, knowest well that we did
not want him. ' '

The history of the Episcopal church in Fredericksburg
furnishes ample food for philosophic and profitable thought.
It was at first, of course, a part of the church system
established by law. In 1732 Colonel William Byrd visited
the town and thus, in brief terms, describes it: "Besides
Colonel Willis, who is the top-man of the place, thei'e are
only one merchant, a tailor, a smith, an ordinary keeper,
and a lady who acts both as a doctress and coffee- woman."
In that year, 1732, the first church was erected in Fred-
ericksburg. It was in the parish of St. George, which
then embraced the whole county of Spotsylvania; and this
county, as established in 1720, extended westward " to the
river beyond the high mountains " — i.e. the Shenandoah —
and included not only its present territory, but all of the
present territories of Orange, Culpeper, Madison, Greene
and Rappahannock. During the period from the building
of the first church in Fredericksburg, until 1734, Rev.
Patrick Henry was the minister. He was uncle of the
great orator. From that time to the end of the revolu-
tionary war, only two clergymen need special notice. They
were father and son, and both bore the name of James
Marye. The father was a native of France and belonged
to that oppressed but noble people known as the Huguenots,
They were uncompromising protestants, and Calviuists in
faith and church forms. The edict of Nantz, by which
they were secured religious freedom and protected from
persecution in France, was granted by the chivalrous
Henry of Navarre — Henri Quatre — and was revoked in
1685 by that concentrated essence of all the worst vices of
the Bourbons — Louis Fourteenth. In the persecutions
preceding and attending this revocation, it is estimated
that two hundred thousand Huguenots suffered martyrdom,
and seven hundred thousand, embracing the most industri-
ous and God-fearing people of France, were driven from
the kingdom. A considerable number of them came to
Virginia and settled at Manakintown on the James river,
about twenty miles above Richmond. Rev. James Marye
became their minister, and so excellent was his reputation

56 FREDERrCKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

that the good people of Fredericksburg petitioned Governor
Gooch to let them have him. He found nothing in the
Articles or Service of the Episcopal church which violated
his conscience, therefore he was willing to come. He was
inducted in October, 1735, and ministered here for thirty-
two years. He was succeeded by his son bearing the same
name, who ministered to the church until 1780. The
widow of the Rev. James Marye, Jr., long survived him,
and was well known to many now living, as were his
daughters, Mrs. Dunn, Mrs. Smith, of Snowden, above
Fredericksburg, to which allusion has been made, and
Mrs. Adams, who long lived in the house now occupied by
Mr. Robert T. Knox.

It can give us no pleasure to dwell on that dismal period
between the revolutionary measures which overturned the
Established Church and the renaissance of this century, a
period especially dismal to the true friends of Episcopacy
in this region, l)ecause neither in the character of the
ministers nor in the continuous decline of piety, could they
find any elements of hope. That some of the rectors in
Fredericksburg, even during that period, were good men,
cannot be doubted. But they were not of high-toned
Christianity, and they labored under disadvantages not to
be surmounted. And, by far, the greatest number were
men of the world, who indulged themselves in drinking,
horse-racing and gaming. Rev. Mr. Slaughter does not,
I believe, in his history of St. George's parish, give the
name of old Parson Mackouochie, who was so renowned
for his convivial and card-playing habits that a naval officer
born in our town, u])on whom, in infancy, this old clergy-
man had sprinkled the water of baptism, was accustomed,
in after life, to account for his own occasional aberrations
by the fact that he had been christened by old Parson
Mackonochie. And an incident, narrated by the pious and
authentic Bishop Meade, undoubtedly l^elongs to this period.
I would not venture to relate it but for his high authority,
and but for the fact that lie states he obtained it from two
old meu of unimpeached veracity, one or ])oth of whom
were present at the closing scene of the drama. And
though he does not state either the name of the clergyman

FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 57

or the place of the event, yet as he was often here at the
close of this sad period, as the incident corresponds with
habits then known to have prevailed here, and is in accord
with other similar incidents known to have existed here, I
think it no rash presumption to attribute it to Fredericks-
burg.

He relates that a clergyman, who was of great stature
and strength and of highly strung passions, was accustomed
to rule his vestry with a rod of iron. Wishing to have
something done which only the vestry could do, he con-
vened them. But a majority of them were unwilling to
vote as he wished. A quarrel ensued; high words were
speedily followed by blows, and in this pugilistic encounter,
the clergyjnau, by his gigantic strength and skill as a
bruiser, got the better of the recusant vestrymen, mauled
them unmercifully, and drove them from his presence.
The affair naturally created great excitement, and in order
to explain it and to justify himself, the clergyman on the
succeeding Sabbath day preached a sermon on a text from
the book of Nehemiah, which read thus: "And I con-
tended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of
them, and plucked off their hair." These were sad times
for the cause of religion.

But in the year 1818 a great change commenced. Rev.
Edward Charles McGuire in that year came to the church
first as a lay reader, and after his ordination, as rector.
His own diary has given an account of his reception,
which must be here repeated. He says:

" I was received by the people witli very little cordiality, in con-
sequence, I suppose, of the shameful conduct of several ministers
who had preceded me in this place. The church was in a state of
complete prostration. Many persons had been driven away, and
those who remained were much discouraged. Under these disastrous
circumstances I commenced a career most unpromising in the esti-
mation of men."

The result was a signal proof of the blessing always
attending true piety and Christian zeal. He continued
with the church to the time of his death in 1858, a period
of forty-five years from the beginning of his ministry.
During this time, a series of sound religious revivals,

58 FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

amounting almost to a continuous revival, visited his
church, greatly adding to her numbers, and culminating
in the year 1858, just six months before his death, in the
coming forward of eighty-eight persons at once to receive
the rite of confirmation. The eflTect of this scene was
almost overpowering to Doctor McGuire, and was a fitting
preparation for the enjoyment of the upper Sanctuary to
which he was so soon called.

Since his death changes have occurred, under the influ-
ence of which the Episcopalians of Fredericksburg worship
in two churches, St. George's, under the Rev. Mr. McBryde,
and Trinity church, under Rev. Dr. Murdaugh, to both of
which gentlemen I am indebted for valuable material for
this lecture.

The Presbyterian church in Fredericksburg commenced
its life under the labors of Rev. Samuel B. Wilson, who
came to the town as a domestic missionary, in 1805. At
that time only two Presbyterians existed in the town. One
was a merchant from the province of Ulster, in Ireland,
Mr. John ]\Iark, Avho was one of the first ruling elders;
the other was Mrs. Caldwell (nee Kirkpatrick), grand-
mother of the late John S. Caldwell. The real and life-
giving themes of the (jrospel were then a novelty in Fred-
ericksburg, and under their presentation, attended by
divine efficacy, the numbers gathered constantly increased
until they were strong enough to build their first house of
worship on the lot now occupied by the Asylum building.
We have, of this period in the church's history, a very
vivid and interesting account presenting the male wor-
shipers, Mark, Grinnan, Mundle, Seddou, Vass, Morson,
Patton, Henderson, Wellford, Brook, Fitzgerald, and the
even more devout female worshipers, Mrs. Mary Alex-
ander, Mrs. Morson, of Hollywood, and her daughters
Marion and Eliza; Mrs. Patton, the donor of the ground,
the daughter of General Mercer; Miss Stevenson, Mrs.
French, the Misses Lomax, Mrs. Allison and Miss Marion
Briggs from Harwood, given by a writer in Dr. Foote's
"Sketches of Virginia," which I have felt strongly inclined
to insert in this lecture; but as it is in print and in form
accessible to those whom it would most interest, I forbear.

FREDERICKSBURG : PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 59

Dr. Wilson coutinued to be the pastor until 1840, and has
been followed in succession by Messrs. McPhail, Hodge,
Lacy, Gilmer and Smith — to the last of whom we are in
large measure indebted for the success of the Fredericks-
burg library.

Under the impulse given by a sermon from Bishop
McGill in 1856, a Roman Catholic church was established
in Fredericksburg in 1859. And under occasional visits
from Bishops Gibbons and Keane, and the continued
ministrations of the Rev. Fathers Hagan, Donnelan,
O'Farrell, Sears, Brady, Becker and Tiernan, this church
has not been permitted to languish. Although its congre-
gation is not large, it embraces some of our successful
citizens, and some who have proved themselves to be sin-
cere and active friends of our library enterprise.

Passing now from the spiritual and mental influences
coming from schools, newspapers and chui'ches, I propose
to say a few words about the more material elements, viz. :
the old buildings in and around Fredericksburg.

Old Houses.

As accurately as I have been able to ascertain, the oldest
house now in the city is the residence owned and occupied
by our townsman, Wm. A. Little, although some others
press it hard in the race of anti(piity, and especially the
old wooden building formerly the residence of Mary, the
mother of Washington. It is somewhat remarkable that
Mr. Little is also the owner of the oldest house in Stafford
county, viz. : the dwelling at Boscobel, which has a chim-
ney slab bearing the date, 1752, and is, with good reason,
supposed to have been built about half a century prior to
that date, viz. : about 1702 — the very year that Queen
Anne conmienced her reign, and when Joseph Addison was
yet a young man, and Alexander Pope was a small lad.
But Mr. Little has so renewed, extended and adorned both
his old mansions that it would be hard to And the pure
originals. That fine old building, Chatham, opposite Fred-
ericksburg, was built by William Fitzhugh, a son of the
original William Fitz Hugh, who is the progenitor of the

60 FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

Fitzhughs of Virginia, and who was of Norman extract, and
came to Virginia as a lawyer to attend to some important
interests of the King. Wm. Fitzhugh, of Chatham, did
not continue there to reside, because he found that the
abounding hospitality expected of him would bring him to
poverty. His words were: "lean stand the expenses of
my table but not the expenses of ray stable,'" and when
we bear in mind that often during the Mulberry races it
was common for six carriages, each drawn by four horses
and each filled with male and female guests, and each
attended by a black driver and footman, to drive up to his
door before breakfast, we may feel the force of his words.
The handsome building below Fredericksburg, known aa
Mansfield, long occupied by the Bernard family, and which
was burned during the war, was erected by Mann Page,
of the family of John Page, Governor of Virginia, in
1802, whose lineal ancestor, Mann Page, the first, began
to build Rosewell, a magnificent and costly mansion near
Williamsburg, which he did not live to complete, but
which his widow and oldest son completed after his death.
The total cost was so enormous as to embarrass the whole
family and cause the sale of nearly all their lands,, and to
call forth from the pious and prudent Bishop Meade some
well-timed refiections in his "Old Churches and Families
of Virginia. ' ' The venerable old mansion near the western
line of our town, known as Kenmore, was built by Mr.
Fielding Lewis, who married Betty, the sister of General
George Washington, and who was the grandfather of Mrs.
McGuire, wife of Rev. Edward C. McGuire. The fine
stuccoing of this house could not have been executed by
any native workman, and is believed to have been the
work of an English soldier captured during the revolution
and sent for safe-keeping to Fredericksburg. The tra-
dition in the Lewis family was that immediately after
finishing his work lie accidentally fell from the scattbld and
was killed. Mr. Fielding Lewis had first selected as his
place of residence the lot now occupied by Mr. George
Shepherd, and had there erected a handsome residence,
which, before it was ever occupied, was destroyed by fire.
He then built the Kenmore house. The dwelling now

FREDERICKSBURG : PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE, 61

occupied by Mr, George Shepherd was erected by Robert
Mackay, a merchant of Fredericksburg.

Mary, the mother of Washington, selected for the place
of her burial a spot on the Kenmore land, close by a rocky
crag, which she preferred because, as she declared, it could
never be cultivated. Here her remains rest, and here the
exact spot was pointed out by Mr. Bazil Gordon, the
wealthy merchant of Falmouth, when preparations were
being made about the year 1832 to lay the corner-stone of
the present unfinished monument, under the eye of Presi-
dent Andrew Jackson, with an imposing military and civic
display.

The lawyers of the past days of Fredericksburg are
represented by the well-known names of Rootes, Minor,
Williams, Green, Stanard, Patton, Stevenson, Barton,
Botts, Moncure, Herndon, Conway, Daniel, Marye and
Bernard; the physicians by the names of Mercer, French,
Carter, Wellford, Wallace, Hall, Herndon, Carmichael,
father, son and grandson; the merchants by the names of
Grinnan, Muudle, Ross, Scott, Henderson, Patton, MofFett,
Spence, Dunbar, Johnston, the Knoxes, Phillips, Mackay
and the Gordons — Samuel and Bazil. These last named
were born in Scotland — the sous of a well-to-do landed
proprietor near Kirkaldbright, a little village which has
sent forth many successful merchants to America, among
whom were Lenox, Maitlaud and Johnston, of New York.
Bazil Gordon was the younger brother, and was at school
with a son of the celebrated Paul Jones, of naval memory,
who was himself a neighbor of the Gordon family, and
whose exploits have been immortalized in history and in
Cooper's fine sea novel, "The Pilot." Samuel and Bazil
Gordon, after some hesitation between Falmouth and
Dumfries, settled at Falmouth, about the year 1786, and
became eminently successful merchants. After accumu-
lating a fine fortune, Samuel bought the Kenmore estate
and abandoned merchandise; but Bazil continued in busi-
ness, accumulating wealth, which at his death was measured
by millions. His adventures were nearly always successful ;

62 FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

but he owed much of his success to his native Scotch good'
sense, his perfectly temperate and reguLar habits, his self-
reliance, which enabled him patiently to wait for results
when he had formed his plans, and his serene temper,
which secured for him friends in nearly all with whom he
came in contact. He died in 1847.

Secret Societies.

I would be giving an incomplete view of Fredericksburg
without some notice of the Masonic organizations and other
analogous fraternities that have existed within her bounds.
But this notice must necessarily be brief and imperfect, as
it is such only as one of the humble uninitiated may obtain.
Free Masonry was introduced into Virginia certainly as
early as the year 1725. The first lodge organized was in
Norfolk; the second in Port Royal; the third in Petersburg;
the fourth in Fredericksburg. This last has the designation
No. 4, and is supposed to have been organized as early as
17-35, though its records of that date have perished. It
Avas at first independent in its organization. But in 1758
its Master, Daniel Campbell, according to a vote of the
lodge, while he was visiting Scotland, procured from the
Grand Lodge of that country a charter for No. 4, which
bore date 21st July, 1758. In 1787 a charter from the
Grand Lodge of Virginia was also accepted for No. 4, but
with the express reservation of all her rights under her
Scottish charter. About 1800, for some reasons political
or social, or both, a number of members withdrew from
No. 4 and formed American Lodge, No. 63, which at one
time was very flourishing, and embraced in its membership
many of our best citizens. But, during the Avar, it became
extinct and has never been revived. In the bombardment
and subsequent sack of Fredericksburg, all of the records
of No. 4 were destroyed or lost except a few imperfect
fragments from 1752 to 1771. The lodge meetings seem
at first to have been held in the private houses of promi-
nent members, and I have from an intelligent Mason a
note to the effect that "the house of Brother George
Weedon Avas a favorite place, no doubt partly from the

FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 03

fact of his beiug liberal iu providing refreshments, which
was a great consideration with Masons of ye olden time. ' '
The house of General Weedon here spoken of was the
w-ell-known ' ' Sentry Box ' ' in the lower end of Fredericks-
burg, afterwards occupied by Colonel Hugh Mercer, and
now occupied by W. Roy Mason. Afterwards a room for
No. 4 was fitted up over the market-house (then standing
on Main street), and the meetings were held there from
June, 1762 till 1813, when the building was torn down
preparatory to the erection of the present town hall and
market-house. Then No. 4 held its meetings at the Rising
Sun Hotel, the old wooden building still standing on Main
street, between Fauquier and Hawk streets. Finally, in
1815, the present lodge building was completed, which
stands on the corner of Princess Anne and Hanover streets.
This venerable lodge, No. 4, has at various times embraced
in its membership eminent men — soldiers, statesmen and
private citizens. Among the first was the Father of his
Country, George Washington, who, in this lodge, received
the first degree November 4, 1752, the second degree
March 3, 1753, and the third degree August 4, 1753.
The Bible used in these ceremonies is still held by the
lodge in good preservation. It was printed at Cambridge,
by John Field, in 1668. Generals Hugh Mercer and
George Weedon were also members. By order of No. 4,
and by moneys to the amount of $5,000, raised by its
exertions, a very beautiful and faithful statue of Wash-
ington, in Avhite marble, was wrought by the great artist,
Hiram Power. It was safely transported to Fredericks-
burg, but ere it could be erected the war came on. For
safe-keeping it was sent to Richmond, and there perished
in the terrible conflagration of April 3, 1865. Lodge No. 4
furnished five Grand Masters to the Grand Lodge of
Virginia, viz.: James Mercer, in 1784; General Robert
Brooke, in 1795; Major Benjamin Day, from 1797 to
1800; Oscar M. Crutchfield, in 1841; and Beverly R.
Wellford, Jr. (now circuit judge of Richmond), in 1877;
and No. 63 furnished one, viz. : John S. Caldwell, in 1856.
In 1873 Fredericksburg Royal Arch Chapter was or-
ganized, and in 1875 Fredericksburg Commandry No. 1,

64 FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

of the order of Knights Templar was instituted, of which
Colonel Robert S. Chew is Worthy Commander. Thus
three Masonic bodies exist in Fredericksburg, each in
flourishing condition, and the three are able to confer all
the degrees in ancient York Masonry.

There are also in Fredericksburg a number of secret
fraternities under the various names of Odd Fellows,
Knights of Honor, Knights of Pythias, Royal Arcanum,
Good Templars, Sous of Sobriety and Good Samaritans, to
all of which, so far as their objects are Christian, chari-
table and moral, we Avish God-speed.

Present of Fredericksburg.

Thus I have sought to present to you the past of Fred-
ericksburg. Her present you know as much of as I do.
She has still her moderate and pleasant climate, her de-
lightful water, her charming society, her female beauty,
which, I think, no one who has had the opportunity of
looking over this audience would consider to have deterio-
rated since the olden time; her picturesque surroundings,
her cheapness in all the necessaries of life. In all these,
she is not changed; and in addition to all these, she now
has her great water power, secured by a dam erected by
very skillful engineers. This water power is already in
extensive use; but is capable of farther utilization to an
indefinite extent. It presents the vast advantage of being
offered to manufacturers on cheap and easy terms.

Her Future.

And as to the future of Fredericksburg in a business
point of view, I can only express the humble opinion that
her best hope— perhaps I may say her only hope— is in
manufactures. She has long ago reached and passed the
point wherein merchandising proper — that is the mere
exchange of goods and Avares for money or in barter, can
support more people within her bounds than are now sup-
ported thereby. But in manufacturing — that is the appli-
cation of skilled labor to raw material— there is indefinite

FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE, H5

and wide room for expansion. Her water power is all suf-
ficient. And when we recall the names, of the past and
present times, who have engaged in this brave struggle,
Joseph Burwell Ficklen and his sons, one of whom bearing
his name exceeds his father in far-seeing energy; William
C Beale, Myer & Brulle, Pettit and his partners; John G.
Hurkamp, Charles E. Hunter, and others whom I might
name, and see what they have already accomplished, I see
no reason why the future of manufactures in Fredericks-
burg should not be brighter than the past.

But let us not deceive ourselves with the hope that any
success in this life will make this life a perfect satisfaction
to the soul. If perfect material success should come, it
will he attended with drawbacks and losses of which we
have heretofore known nothing. If Fredericksburg should
ever become a great manufacturing district like Manchester
or Birmingham, in England, or like Providence, in Rhode
Island, or Lowell, in Massachusetts, then the Fredericks-
burg of our fathers will be gone. The spiritual and intel-
lectual stimulus will have been diverted into the material
and the earthly. The individualism once so self-assertive
and so attractive here will be forced down by the dead
level of a rushing current of wordly success and worldly
cares.

Whether this change be in all respects desirable even in
Fredericksburg, I will not undertake to decide. But this
I will say, that it is not impossible, by the exercise of virtue
and industi'v, to make in our much loved old town the
happiest medium of mental activity, emotional enjoyment
and material progress that this world can furnish.

SUPPLEMENT.

SUPPLEMENT.

The substance of this historical pamphlet, entitled

FREDERICKSRURCi : PaST, PrESENT AND FuTURE, WaS

delivered by the author as a lecture requested by and for
the benefit of the Fredericksburg Library and Lyceum
Association. It Avas so favorably received that measures
were immediately taken for its publication, and the first
edition appeared in 1880.

This issue has been entirely exhausted by sales, so that
the frequent demand for copies cannot be met. The pres-
ent publishers have made preparations for a new edition,
with a supplemental narrative and statement as to Fred-
ericksburg to the present time.

The accuracy, general and special, of the original work
has received encouraging confirmation from official sources.
In 1881 the connnon council of Fredericksburg provided
for a new publication of her laws and ordinances, and
directed that the code should "contain an introductory
i:)reface of the histor}' and progress of the city from its
foundation to the present, to be collected from the best and
most reliable historical sources. ' '

This historical preface was prepared accordingly, and
after approval and adoption by the mayor and council,
appears in the "General Ordinances of the Corporation of
Fredericksburg," ])ublishecl in 1883. This small volume
has become rare. Except the copies held by officials, few
can be found. I had not seen a copy, until, within a few
days just past, one was put into my hands through the
kindly offices of the late venerable mayor, Hon. A. P. Rowe.

A careful examination of the historical preface discloses
the fact that a very large part of it is taken, in substance,
from the pamphlet of 1880, entitled "Fredericksburg:
Past, Present and Future."

Acknowledgments to that effect are very frankly made
in this preface. The writer thereof does not, of course,
attempt to enter the field of individual characters and
events, but contents himself with a clear and well written

70 FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

statement of facts suited to the purposes contemplated by
the action of the council.

A few errors in history appear in this preface, for which
the pamphlet is not responsible. But as these errors are
generally immaterial in reference to the object sought by
the council, no special statement of them is needed herein,
A single example will suffice.

On the opening page of this preface, it is stated that
" Fredericksburg was founded by law in 1727, and named
for Frederick, Prince of Wales, father of George Second."
This is a mistake. (Toorge Second was Prince of Wales,
being the oldest son of George First, that rough and
immoral old German elector of Hanover who became
King of England in right of his mother, the Princess
Sophia of Mecklenburg Strelitz.

Frederick, from whom Fredericksburg takes her name,
was son of George Second and was Prince of Wales after
his father became King in 1727. He never became King
himself, having died in the lifetime of his father. But
Frederick's son became King, and was that same George
Third ' ' to whose mingled obstinacy and insanity Ave are
indebted for American independence."

To this " historical preface" we are indebted for some
facts in the life of our old town which do not fully appear
in the pamphlet. Two conflagrations — one in 1807, and
the other in 1822, for a time, desolated the town. The
first commenced in a house on the lot and premises formerly
occupied by ^Ir. dreorge W. Shepherd. It was then occu-
pied by the family of Wm. Stanard, who had just died,
and whose body, prepared for the grave, was lying in the
house when the fire broke out. It swept down Main street,
destroying houses on both sides, but leaving the house on
" Henderson's corner" undestroyed. It burned the Bank
of Virginia, which then stood on the present site of Shiloh
Baptist church, on Water street.

The fire of 1822 originated in a building at the corner
of Main and George streets, now known as " Wellford's
corner," and destroyed the entire commercial block in
that region. But by enterprise and exertion, a complete
restoration in better style has taken place. It is remark-

FREDERICKSBURC4 : PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 71

able, however, that one square of the houses destroyed in
1807 has not been rebuilded.

The conditions of lively trade in the town, prior to the
advent of the railroad era, are indicated by the fact stated
in this preface, that sometimes on Commerce street and in
the western parts adjacent, as many as fifty wagons could
be counted in the morning. They were from Orange,
Culpeper, Rappahannock and the Shenandoah regions
beyond the Blue Ridge. They were drawn by four horses
generally, but sometimes by six splendid Conestogas, with
new harness and tinkling bells on crimson arches over the
shoulders of the horses. They brought down wheat, flour,
butter, bacon, pork, venison, every article good for human
food. Some worthy people think, even now, that those
were the "halcyon days" of Fredericksburg. But the
better days were to come.

The names of the "mayors of Fredericksburg" from
1782, given in the ordinance on pages 40 and 41, suggest
some memories with which we would not part. James
Somerville appears among them three times, viz. : in 1784,
1787 and 1792. Pie was that social Scottish gentleman
who inherited a large estate from an uncle, and resided in
Fredericksburg long enough to marry Mary Atwell, and
become attached to a wide circle of connections and friends.
He then purchased a beautiful estate, known as Somervilla,
on the Rapidan river, and resided there during the rest of
his life, leaving sons and daughters from whom many
descendants are in parts of our Southland.

One of his grandsons, Prof Samuel W. Somerville, is iu
the faculty of the College of Fredericksburg, and has
builded for himself and his household a very handsome
residence near to the Mary Washington monujneut.

Others of those mayors bear the well known names of
Charles Mortimer, George Weedon, George French, Benja-
min Day, Fontaine Maury, Garret Minor, Robert Mackay,
David Briggs, Robert Lewis, a descendant from Fielding
Lewis, who married Betty, the sister of George Washing-
ton, and who died in office February 10, 1829; Thomas
Goodwin, John H. Wallace, Benjamin Clarke, Robert
Baylor Semple, John L. Marye, Jr., Peter Goolrick,

72 FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

William S. Scott, Montgomery Slaughter, Joseph W.
Sener, and others wliose names and memories are among us.

The last name entitled to a place in this worthy line is
that of Wm. Seymour White, who died at his home in
Fredericksburg, November 26, 1897, after having held
the office and successfully discharged the duties of mayor
for more than a year. He was in his forty-fourth year in
age. He had surmounted many obstacles arising from
feeble constitution and health, and had gained a name of
distinction as citizen, editor, lawyer and public officer.

Thus we are led to review some of the yet extant monu-
ments and buildings of the past of Fredericksburg. The
house owned by Mary, the mother of Washington, and in
which La Fayette visited her in 1784, and in which the
Father of his Country paid, to his then feel)le and dying
mother, his last visit in March, 1789, is still standing in
primitive simplicity and dignity at the corner of Charles
and Lewis streets. It is now owned by the "Society for
the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities," which has,
since its organization, so highly honored its own members
and honored our State-mother by caring for the homes and
memories dear to her. Robert C. Beale, of a family well-
known in Fredericksburg, and his wife, who was a daughter
of Commodore Thomas A. Dornin, of the United States
Navy, and their children have occupied this Washington
house for years, and seek to carry out the plans and pur-
poses of the society wlio own it.

The tomb of Mary Washington near the rocky crag and
chasm formerly a part of the Ken more estate is now marked
by a monument worthy, by its massive foundation of gran-
ite, and its simjilicity, stateliness and beauty, to preserve
the memory of her who gave birth to the man of all ages
the greatest and most symmetrically developed in soul and
body, and who by her own virtues and discipline con-
tributed so powerfully to make him what he was.

The changes which culminated in the erection, comple-
tion and unveiling of this monument are worthy of notice.
They are not without their lessons.

Prior to the year 1833, one single person, Silas E.
Burroughs, a wealthy merchant of New York, was the

only person who came forward for a work which ought to
have enlisted, from the beginning, the hearts and substance
of the women and men of the United States of America.
He volunteered to furnish all the needed money and means
for erecting a suitable monument over the grave of Mary
Washington. A plan and drawing of a very ornate and
beautiful monument were selected, a competent architect
was engaged, and the foundation was laid.

In 1833, Andrew Jackson, President of the United
States, attended by members of his cabinet and by a large
number of citizens, volunteer soldiers, and military and
civic bands of music, came on from Washington and the
District of Columbia to Fredericksburg. Here he was
met and welcomed by enthusiastic people, officers, soldiers,
citizens and societies, and the corner-stone of the monument
was laid with imposing solemnities.

The work went on until the square body of the monument
was completed with its polished marble pillars, and its
carved flutings and traceries. Then came the mutterings
of the financial storm which innnediately followed the
second term of President Jackson. Silas E. Burroughs
sank under the very earliest billows of that storm. He
failed disastrously. The work on the monument stopped.
Burroughs went to South America and to other parts of
the world. He kept up his spirits, and wrote that he was
on the road to such a fortune as would enable him to com-
plete the work. But money did not come.

The enormous rough marble plinth for the- spire did
come to the wharf in Fredericksburg. By contract it was
moved from the wharf to the site of the monument, with
oxen, mules, wagon frames, wheels, chains, shoutings of
boys, and pulling of ropes altogether indescribable. It
was deposited amid the weeds, shrubs and rubbish near the
unfinished structure. And there it remained for more than
a half-century. No stroke of sculptor's mallet or chisel
ever fell on it.

The unfinished monument was often visited, but seldom
with pleasure — seldom without a sense of something like
humiliation. After the " war between the States," appeals
were made to Congress to appropriate money to complete it
or build another in its place, but Congress would not move.

/4 FRKDERICKSBURG: PAKf, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

Then tlie souls of the women of the country began to
stir within tliem ou this pathetic subject. An association
was formed in October, 1889, by the women of Freder-
icksburg, under Mrs. James P. Smith, and some months
afterwards, as an outcome of this movement, a national
association was formed, headed by the widow of Chief
Justice Waite. Appeals went out. All the women in the
country bearing the name of "Mary" and all the men
interested in these women were urged to give. Money
poured into their treasury. A plan for a monument,
solid, stately, yet graceful and beautiful, was selected.
Artists worked on it. The monument was approved and
erected on the site of the unfinished monument, which was
removed, although its most graceful parts have been pre-
served.

On Thursday, the 10th day of May, 1894, the ceremony
of unveiling took place. The day was serene and cheering
to soul and body. The President of the United States,
Grover Cleveland, and nearly all of his cabinet, with a
very large number of citizens, male and female, from the
District of Columbia and other parts of the country at-
tended. Charles O'Ferrall, Governor of Virginia, on
horseback, attracted favorable notice by his knightly ap-
pearance and bearing. Military regiments and companies
from Washington, Alexandria, Richmond, Fredericksburg;
bands of music. Masons, Knights Templar, fire companies,
large companies of ladies in gay attire and mounted on
horses splendidly caparisoned, and immense outpourings of
citizens, male and female, made the occasion one never to
be forgotten. Mrs. Waite and her co-laborers and officers
were in attendance full of the sweet joy of success. John
W. Daniel, Senator, and probably first in reputation as an
orator, delivered the address. A ban(juet at night closed
the ceremonies. Xever before had the people of the town
had their souls so full of the joy of processions.

The old framed building on the south side of Main street,
between Fauquier and Hawk streets, formerly known as
the Rising Sun Tavern, is attracting attention now because
its owners are so repairing it that it may lose something of
its antique appearance and interest. It is certainly true

FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 75

that in the olden time in colonial days, revolutionary days
and afterwards, it was frequented by many eminent men.
Old Lord Thomas P\iirfax was there with George Wash-
ington just before he engaged the young Virginian as the
surveyor of his vast landed possessions between the head
streams of the Potomac and Rappahannock. John Mar-
shall and James Monroe were frequently there. A great
ball was given in the largest rooms of the house not many
years after the fall of Yorktown.

It was once the property of Colonel Gustavus B. Wal-
lace, a revolutionary officer of excellent reputation. It
passed to members of his family, and was the life property
of Mrs. Elizabeth Wallace of Stafford, and was for years
tenanted by her son, H. H. Wallace, a merchant of Fred-
ericksburg loved and trusted by all who knew him. After
her death, her son, Dr. J. H. Wallace, bought out the
shares of the other owners, and the property is now owned
by his children and descendants, who are repairing it for
preservation.

The seats known as Chatham, Snowden and Fall Hill
near Fredericksburg have changed owners frequently since
ISBo. They have been kept up and improved by the
abundant money resources of their owners, who have been,
generally, from States other than Virginia. Fall Hill,
with part of the original tract of land, is the residence of
Colonel Frank W. Smith, a civil engineer of reputation,
who has lately written and published an article under the
head of " Is it another Klondyke ? ' ' that has filled the
souls of many people in Stafford and Spotsylvania counties
with hopes of veins of gold in the multitudinous rocks on
their lands.

Brompton, on Marye's Heights, has passed into the
ownership of Morris B. Rowe, Esq. , who has proved him-
self to be a man of strong business intelligence and enter-
prise. On the same range of hills is the graceful residence
of brick erected and occupied by Colonel Charles Richard-
son. The National Cemetery, with its superintendent's
residence, its terraces, green grass, trees and monuments,
will always draw visitors and tourists.

The United States have very properly caused to be

76 FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

engineered, graded and macadamized, a broad road from
tlie centre of Fredericksburg to this cemetery. Parts of
this road were formerly a " slough of despond " to all who
were compelled to pass through it. Now it is a private
drive, ride and walk.

The fearful "stonewall" which was the scene of the
most sanguinary defeat of the Federal troops under Gen-
eral Burnside on the evening of December 13, 1862, was
nsed, as far as suitable, in building the cemetery residence.
The remnant was sold, at auction or by private bid, some
twelve years after that battle. It was purchased by the
late Doctor Wm. 8. Scott, and made the buttress of his
fertile grass lot on the slope just below Federal Hill in
Fredericksburg. There it may be viewed by all who desire
the sight, and the accompanying memories.

The Confederate Cemetery, adjoining that of the city,
and in which lie the remains of many brave men of the
Southern armies, has continued to receive all the attentions
that patriotism, love and gratitude could prompt. The
former wooden headboards having decayed, their places
have been taken by small granite monuments, each bearing
the name or initials of the soldier lying beneath, in all
cases where the name could be ascertained. The funds
for this purpose were contributed all through our land,
under the enthusiastic ajipeals and exertions chiefly led
by Mrs. Captain J. Nicholson Barney of Fredericksburg.
In every month of May decoration services are observed.

The spot where the resolute and high-minded Confederate
General Cobl) fell, on the road below Marye's Heights, is
marked by a solid slab of polished granite bearing a brief
inscription. In the Wilderness region the spot where
General Stonewall Jackson was shot from his horse, by the
dismal mistake of his own men, is marked by a permanent
and appropriate monument. A similar monument, in
permanence and purpose, marks the spot where the Federal
General Sedgwick fell mortally wounded. The exasperat-
ing memories of the war are indeed passing away. The
monuments of honor to the worthy martyrs, on both sides
of the lines, serve now rather to bind the people of South
and North togrether than to alienate them.

FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 77

The " 8eutry Box " in the lower end of Fredericksburg,
once occupied by Generals Weedon and Mercer and after-
wards by the Mercer family, is still there and is kept in
perfect order by the owner, Mr. O. I). Foster, once post-
master of Fredericksburg. Hazel Hill is owned and
occupied by Mr. J. S. Potter and his family. Mr. Potter
has had rare opportunities, by travel and observation, to
collect literary and artistic information and articles of
curious value, and is earnest in his labors for the prosperity
of Fredericksburg.

No observer at all familiar with the town for a half-
century past, can doubt that improvement of the most
decided and encouraging character is in progress. More
manufactories, business houses, educational buildings and
private residences have been erected in Fredericksburg
within the twenty years just passed than within any other
similar period of her life. In the upper part of the city,
in the neighborhood of the Mary Washington monument,
around the square adjoining to Kenmore, on the streets
running through the lots of the Development, and on the
wide boulevard leading to the National Cemetery, these
new residences have risen up. kSouic of the houses are
large and convenient, builded for the families who were to
occupy them. Others are smaller, being intended for
investment and for occupation by tenants. But all have
been fresh, modern and reasonably comfortable.

AVith the advance of business and population, a desire
for beauty and the indulgence of the aesthetic tastes has
increased. Paint has been freely used on the houses of
business and the dwellings, and the town has lost all dingi-
ness and has broken out into smiles everywhere. Gas
lights and electric Imrners and search lights have chased
away that darkness which is inseparable from hopelessness
and gloom.

In the close of the original pamphlet the opinion Avas
ventured that the best hope, perhaps the only hope of
Fredericksburg, was in manufactures. Every stage of her
subsequent progress tends to prove that this opinion was
sound. Her manufactures have l)een increasing all the
time. New forms of manufacture are springing up.

78 FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND PT^TURE.

The niaiiufacturiiig estal)lishiiients now operating in and
near Fredericksburg are:

The Bridgewater Flour and Corn Meal Mills, operated
under the superintendence of Joseph Burwell Ficklen and
William F. Ficklen, his brother. Business depressions,
caused by uncontrollable irregularities of the relations of
the market price of wheat and corn to manufactured flour
and meal, have borne sorely on them, Init they have perse-
vered, and the flour of their mills has taken medals in expo-
sitions in nearlv all the civilized countries of the world.

The Excelsior Flour and Corn Meal Mills of C. H. Pettit.

The Germania Flour and Corn Mills of Myer & Brulle.

The Farmers Friend Plow Works of Charles E. Hunter.

The Eagle Shoe Factory.

The Ken mo re Shoe Factory.

The Washington Woolen Mills.

The Silk Factory.

The Southern Foundry and Machine Works, Chas. Tyler.

The Southern Plow Mill W.orks, Charles Tyler.

The Steam Ice Factory (limited).

The Sunuxc INIill Company, John G. Hurkamp & Co.

The Bark Mill Company," Hurkamp & Co.

The Extract Works, John G. Hurkamp.

Hurkamp Foundry Company.

R. T. Knox & Brother's Sumac Mill.

R. T. Knox & Brother's Bone Mill.

R. T. Knox & Brother's Extract Works.

John T. Knight's Brick Yard and Kilns.

Brick Yard and Factory, 'M. B. Rowe.

Cigar Factor}'.

Pickle Factory by Colonel Charles Richardson.

Alert tt McGuire's Pickle Factory.

Mr. Wm. Peden's Pickle Factory.

Fredericksburg Wagon Works, S. W. Landram.

Spoke Factory, George Morrison.

Fredericksburg Rim and Felloe Works.

Buggy and Wagon Manufactory, Geo. Gravatt.

Fredericksburg Wood Working Plant.

Flancock & Stearns' Wood Working Plant.

Battlefield Granite Company, Yorcke & Swift.

FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. ~9

Stafford Granite Works, W. F. Ficklen.

Falls Plantation Granite Woi-ks, Innis Taylor.

Free Lance Publishing and Job Printing Works.

P'rederickshnrg Star Publishing and Job Printing Works.

AVlien })o\ver, stronger than manual, is used, most of
these factories use steam power. But the larger mills and
manufactories are run by water power, and most of them
by the Water Power Company of Fredericksburg.

I feel at liberty to make a cautious statement that
negotiations concerning this great water pow'er have been
in progress whicli, in the opinio)i of competent and pru-
dent men, will probably result in its transfer to an associ-
ation or company having abundant money resources, and
who will establish, in connection with the water power, one
or more i)lants for industrial operations on a large scale in
or near I-'redericksburg.

In the close of the pamphlet, apprehensions were sug-
gested that if our town grew rich and prosperous, she
would grow dull and uninteresting. But this fear may now
be banished. She retains her excellent water, her abundant
and cheaj) means of living, her beautiful and fascinating
women, and her men of wit and culture. And she has now
even a higher power to preserve her from sluggishness.

Her |)ublic schools, established since 18(58, have always
been of high grade and have done much to elevate the
young people. But the want of means for thorough col-
lege education in the town was felt.

This want has been efficiently supplied. Chiefly by the
exertions of Rev. Dr. A. P. Saunders and of many in our
midst anfl at a distance, who had the good sense to sympa-
thize with him in his purposes and plans, a College of
Fredericksburg has been established, and has been in suc-
cessful operation since 1898. Under the charter granted
by the General Assembly of Virginia in December, 1893
(in attaining which Senator Wm. A. Little, Jr., was
specially active and successful), the corporation has all the
powers essential to a college.

One of its most attractive features was its provision for
home and education for the young and dependent children
of missionaries, and the orphan children of ministers of

80 FREDERICKSBURG: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

Christ, and tlie foundation for a training school for mis-
sionaries, generally ladies, who needed special education
for their foreign fields.

Questions have arisen by reason of the fixed principles
of our constitutional law, separating State and Church,
which have operated to draw a distinct line between the
college proper and the religious elements involved in the
home and training school.

But as high education is needed by all the beneficiaries,
it is happily supplied by the dual elements at work. In
the college, history, ancient and modern, scriptural and
secular, Oriental and Western, European and American;
the ancient and modern languages, the exact sciences,
grammar and geography in their highest sphere, political
science and economy, physical science, embracing natural
history, chemistry and biology; music, vocal and instru-
mental; art in drawing and painting, and })hysical culture,
all these are taught with a thoroughness tliat has yielded
happy results. The co-educational principle is used and
has been found to furnish a safe and healthful stimulus to
successful exertion, by both male and female students.

The number of students has sometimes exceeded two
hundred. It has, in each session, reached an average of
a hundred and fifty.

The planting and growth of this college in Fredericks-
burg have marked an era in her history most important
and encouraging. The grounds, buildings, dwelling houses
and elements of society coming as its outgrowth have aided
in imparting life and courage to all of her best hopes.

A National Battle Park is now contemplated, and many
reasons exist why it should be in the region of which this
noted Virginia to\vn is the basis. Within a hemisphere
bordering on the south side of the Rappahannock river,
centering on Fredericksburg, and thence running east,
west and south for a distance of twenty-five miles, more
men have fallen on fields of battle, dead, dying, bleeding,
wounded mortally, or seriously, or slightly, than in any
similar i..ea in all the world, AVaterloo and her adjoining
fields sink into paleness and dimness when compared with
Fredericksburg and her ensanguined battle-fields.

•#^

T" v..