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Rkcords
Columbia Historical Society
WASHINGTON, D. C.
Volume 21
WASHINGTON
Published by the Society
1918
Copyright
BY THE
Columbia Historical Society
191s
PRESS OF
THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY
LANCASTER. PA
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
•f
Page.
The Earliest Proprietors of Capitol Hill. Margaret Brent
Downing 1
Beginnings of Street Railways in the District of Colum-
bia. Dr. William Tindall 24
A Critical Moment for Washington. Rev. George Wil-
liamson Smith 87
An Old Washington Mansion, 2017 I Street, N. W.
Maud Burr Morris 114
The District of Columbia in the American Revolution
and Patriots of the Revolutionary Period who are
Interred in the District or in Arlington. Selden
Marvin Ely 129
Annals of Silver Spring. Major Gist Blair 155
The National Defense. Rear Admiral Colby M. Chester 186
Richard Wallach and the Times of his Mayoralty. Al-
len C. Clark 195
A Celebrated Case of an Early District Day; United
States vs. Henry Pittman. Henry E. Davis 246
Lewis Clephane ; A Pioneer Washington Republican.
Walter C. Clephane 263
Clara Barton; Humanitarian. Mrs. Corra Bacon-Faster 278
Appendix.
Officers for 1918 358
Committees for 1918 359
List of Members, May 8, 1918 360
Communications made to the Society during 1917 366
Proceedings of the Society for 1917 367
In Memoriam— Mary Stevens Beall, 1854-1917. By
Miss Cordelia Jackson 372
Twenty-fourth Annual Report of Treasurer 379
ill
iv Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Page.
Twenty-fourth Annual Report of Recording Secretary . 381
Twenty-fourth Annual Report of Curator 383
Report of Chronicler for 1917 386
Necrology, 1917 389
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Plate No. Facing Page.
1. An Old Washington Mansion, No. 2017 I St., N. W. 114
2. Marked Grave of James McCubbin Lingan, Arlington 134
3. Marked Grave of Jacob Gideon, Congressional 136
4. Neglected Grave of Gen. Uriah Forrest, Congressional. 148
^ 5. Ruins M. Blair's House, Silver Spring 156
- 6. Francis P. Blair 's House, Silver Spring 162
- 7. Mrs. Jefferson Davis 172
- 8. Mr. Francis P. Blair and Wife Violet Gist 180
- 9. Montgomery Blair while Postmaster General 182
10. Mrs. Montgomery Blair, 1867 184
11. Richard Wallach 196
12. Residence Richard Wallach, 456 Louisiana Avenue . 242
13. Lewis Clephane 264
14. Clara Barton, at Time of the Organization of the
American Red Cross 278
15. One of Clara Barton's Passes 290
16. Order of Transportation to Port Royal, S. C, of
Clara Barton 294
17. Some Original Members of the American Red Cross,
facsimile 306
18. Mrs. Mary Stevens Beall, about 1895 372
19. Mrs. Mary Stevens Beall, about 1902 378
PRESIDENTS OF THE SOCIETY.
*Dr. J. M. Toner 1894-1896
fJohu A. Kasson 1897-1906
:i:Alexander B. Hagner 1906-1909
James Dudley Morgan 1909-1916
Allen C. Clark 1916-
* Died July 29, 1896.
t Died May 18, 1910.
t Died June 30, 1915.
NOTE.
The Columbia Historical Society was organized at a meet-
ing held in the President's office of the Columbian Univer-
sity on March 9, 1894, and was incorporated under the laws
of the District of Columbia on the third day of May, 1894.
There were twenty-nine incorporators, only four of whom,
Worthington C. Ford, James F. Hood, Theodore W. Noyes,
and Rev. J. Havens Richards, survive. Dr. J. M. Toner was
the first president and Mr. James F. Hood, who was the first
curator, has held that office without interruption to this time.
Of the founders of the Society, thirty-six in number, but
seven are living at this time: William E. Edmonston, Worth-
ington C. Ford, James F. Hood, Henry Cabot Lodge, Ran-
dolph H. McKim, Theodore W. Noyes, and Rev. J. Havens
Richards.
Volume 1 of the Records comprises seven brochures and an
index bound as one volume, covering the period from March
9, 1894, the date of the organization of the Society, to Feb-
ruary 1, 1897. After that date the volumes have been pub-
lished regularly each year. There have been published in
these volumes 177 original articles, 11 reprints, other histor-
ical material, and the current proceedings of the Society.
Beginning with Vol. IV. the material has been edited bj^ John
B. Larner, chairman of the Committee on Publication, as-
sisted by Mary Stevens Beall, the former secretary, now
deceased, who has been succeeded hy Maud Burr Morris.
It has been said that the Society publishes more original
historical matter than any similar organization in the United
States. This may or may not be so, but it can with truth be
stated that the Columbia Historical Society has done a work
for the City of Washington that is invaluable. It has col-
lected and stored away for future reference local history of
immense value which cannot easily be found elsewhere than
in these volumes.
The index of this volume has been prepared by the editor
in a form somewhat different from previous indices, and is
substantially an index of names and places only. This form,
it is believed, will prove useful for reference purposes.
THE EARLIEST PROPRIETORS OF CAPITOL
HILL.
By MARGARET BRENT DOWNING.
(Read before the Society, January 16, 1917.)
In the strict historical sense, the earliest proprietors
of Capitol Hill were the American Indians. But in
the restricted meaning as deriving title from the Pro-
prietary-government of Maryland, the names of George
Thompson and Thomas Grerrard appear on the records
as the first owners of that portion of the National City
which is colloquially known as ''Capitol Hill." Under
the ''Conditions of Plantations" imposed by the Baron
of Baltimore under his charter as absolute lord of the
domain, Thompson and Gerrard in 1662-3 acquired
title to an extensive acreage which now includes all of
Capitol Hill, parts of Anacostia and the outlying coun-
try and a generous slice of the city proper from about
Ninth and K streets northwest to the Potomac where
the Bureau of Engraving and Printing has been
erected. Among the several names under which these
tracts were patented were Duddington Manor and Pas-
ture, New Troy, Blue Plains, Giesborough and St.
Elizabeth ; the first three on Capitol Hill and the others
embracing Anacostia and its environs.
The names of Thompson and Gerrard are linked in
many early ventures in real estate along the Potomac
as well as in the older portions of Charles County, for
in that remote day, the District of Columbia formed
part of the Province of Maryland which had been
named to honor the King who had granted Lord Balti-
more his charter. Gerrard, however, previous to his
2 1
2 Records of the Columbia Historical Society,
Potomac purchase liad become involved in the conspi-
racy of Governor Josias Fendall to proclaim the ''Lit-
tle Eepublic of Maryland ' ' and it seemed prudent to dis-
pose of all remote land holdings. Thompson took over
his associate's interests and was apparently sole pro-
prietor, when in November, 1670, he sold the Capitol
Hill property, Duddington Manor and Pasture, and
New Troy to Thomas Notley, then attorney and gen-
eral land agent for Charles Calvert, and afterwards
Deputy-Governor of Maryland, 1676-79. Notley filed
the deeds of transfer on November 20, 1670, and he
relates their names as given by Thompson and Ger-
rard, namely, the Duddingtons and New Troy. This
is a strong piece of evidence that the estate of Dud-
dington, an integral portion of the National Capital, did
not originate in the Carroll family, as the impression
universally prevails. It was familiarly known under
the name of Duddington from 1662-70, and Charles
Carroll, the immigrant and afterwards Attorney-
General of the Province, did not land on the shores of
Maryland until 1688, or twenty-six years later.
Thomas Notley paid forty thousand pounds of to-
bacco for the Duddington estate. A few months after
the purchase, on March 1, 1671, he petitioned the pro-
vincial court to unite his three tracts into one manorial
holding, to be known as '' Cerne Abbey Manor." The
deeds for this grant as well as all subsequent ones may
be found in chronological order among the Land War-
rants issued from Saint Mary's City, Maryland's first
capital, which are now reposing in the State House at
Annapolis. Thompson, Gerrard and Notley may,
therefore, be accorded the honor of being the first pro-
prietors of Capitol Hill under the provincial govern-
ment of Maryland. The first patent was issued in
1662, but little more than a quarter of a century after
Douming: Earliest Pioprietors of Capitol Hill. 3
the landing of the Ark and the Dove. To study the
chronicles relating to Capitol Hill is therefore to turn
back the leaves of history to the opening chapters of
Lord Baltimore's Palatinate.
Few cities of the larger and more cultured class
have displayed a greater indifference towards the orig-
inal owners of the land on which it has been built than
the National Capital. It is within the memory of the
present generation, when nothing of practical moment
was known of the proprietors of the Ten Miles Scjuare,
when the federal government made its memorable pur-
chase. It is a matter of congratulation to the members
of the Columbia Historical Society that it is mainly
due to their efforts that details and incidents of the
affair, and especially from the personal standpoint,
have been collected and permanently preserved. But
the men who owned the land prior to the governmental
purchase have been, heretofore, mere names on a legal
document. Their personalities have become merged
in the uncertainty which shadows their day and the
general idea is that their acts were too remote to be
known accurately, and if they could be known, it would
not prove very valuable information. Yet Thompson,
Grerrard and Notley wrote their names in large letters
in the annals of Maryland during the first half cen-
tury after its settlement. To follow the outline of
their activities is to sketch a fascinating and histor-
ically worthy picture of the roj^al Palatinate during
the closing years of the seventeenth century.
Thompson, Gerrard and Notley were members of
families mentioned in "Burke's Landed Gentry," with
estates situated in Somerset and Dorset at points where
the two shires merge and form one of the loveliest por-
tions of England's Midlands. In addition to vast es-
tates, their families possessed ancient lineage and tre-
4 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
mendous political importance and all three may be
accepted as types of the aristocratic and refined gentle-
men of their era who, finding conditions intolerable in
England, preferred at any sacrifice of their titles and
possessions, to seek freedom of conscience in the New
World. Many of the adventurers took this course of
a necessity, since they had become completely impover-
ished by religions persecution or the devastating civil
wars. The ''Conditions of Plantations" offered by
Lord Baltimore made a wide appeal to those of adven-
turous trend, as well as to those who sought freedom in
every sense and with the added hope of retrieving their
fortunes. It is assumed that the history of Maryland
is accepted as that of a royal Palatinate, boasting a
landed gentry, with all the privileges of the class and
that it was never at any time a penal settlement or the
resort of felons. Nor was it peopled through any phi-
lanthropic project of the Crown. Hester Dorsey Eich-
ardson in her admirable work, '' Side-Lights on Mary-
land History," cites an example of the indigestible in-
tellectual food which the St. Nicholas Magazine can
serve on occasion to its juvenile readers. According to
Mrs. Richardson, Hezekiah Butterworth wrote a sketch
of Maryland of which the subjoined is the opening
paragraph :
''King Charles I, you remember, founded a colony in this
country in very early times in honor of his young and beau-
tiful Queen Henrietta Maria. He called it Terra Mariea or
Maryland. Pie gathered fifteen hundred orphan children
from the streets of London and sent them to Maryland, and
there those early settlers loved to hear and recount the leg-
ends of the court of Charles."
As Mrs. Richardson remarks, the veriest tyro at his-
tory knows that Charles I did not settle Maryland, but
Downing: Earliest Proprietors of Capitol Hill. 5
that honor belongs to Cecilius Calvert, who at his own
expense sent a goodly company to the Province in 1633.
George Thompson, the first of the original proprie-
tors of Capitol Hill, was undoubtedly the son of that
pioneer, John Thompson, who came over in the Arh
and who took out land in the same company with the
Reverend Andrew White, the Jesuit missionary, and
others whose names have become historical. The
elder Thompson made his will in 1648 and left the
landed portion of his property to his son, George.
For forty years after this pious will was probated the
name of George Thompson is familiar to those who
peruse the court records or the Acts of the Provincial
Assembly. Thompson was an eloquent pleader before
the Provincial Court and apparently he represented
the legal interests of Thomas Gerrard who was a sur-
geon, and Thomas Notley, who was an attorney and
land-agent. Thompson makes hundreds of appear-
ances in the court records during the tedious legal bat-
tles which his brother-in-law, Raymond Stapleford,
waged against Lord Baltimore's authority. He was
the executor of this pioneer litigant's will and a bene-
ficiary under it. In addition to what must have been
a lucrative legal practice, Thompson was engaged in
commercial pursuits, such as exchanging land for sta-
ples which he could ship to England, as for instance his
little flyer in tobacco with Thomas Notley. He had
heavy interests in ships bearing commerce from Vir-
ginia, Maryland and the West Indies to English and
European ports. He presents two interesting aspects
in the personal sense. He must be given priority over
all other speculators in real estate' on the Maryland
side of the Potomac, and since he charged Notley forty
thousand pounds of tobacco for the grant and as much
of this had still to be raised, he leads the list of specu-
6 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
lators in nicotine futures. He conferred the name
St. Elizabeth on the lovely wooded hills above the Ana-
costia River, and it is worthy of note that of all the
colonial names given to the estates which are now the
National City, this alone survives in its original situa-
tion and gives title to the Government Hospital of the
Insane.
Dr. Thomas Gerrard is a name which fairly bristles
on Provincial pages. He plays a variety of roles. He
was one of the earliest and most successful "chirur-
geons " in Maryland and when he was banished for par-
ticipating in Fendall's rebellion, he established himself
in Virginia and made a large fortune attending the
gentry of Jamestown and thereabout. Dr. Gerrard
was the lord of St. Clement's Manor and there he pre-
sided over the Court Baron and his steward held the
Court Leet after the prevailing custom in England.
The records of these courts at St. Clement's Manor
are the only ones which are in existence, though the
authorities hold that all the great manorial lords en-
joyed similar privileges. Bromly, the splendid manor
house of St. Clement's, was built of brick made on the
estate by retainers of Dr, Gerrard after he had brought
out from England some skilled artisans with their
moulds and other appliances. He was one of the ear-
liest brickmakers in Maryland and did a thriving busi-
ness, selling to less provident lords who wished to erect
handsome homes without the trouble of maintaining
kilns. Bromly was a renowned social center and fig-
ures in the annals perhaps more frequently than any
contemporary house except those occujDied by the Pro-
prietor or his family. Gerrard was a rigid Catholic
and he is the figure always produced to bear e^ddence
of the broad religious toleration of Maryland's charter.
He was fined five hundred pounds of tobacco for lock-
Downing: Earliest Proprietors of Capitol Hill. 7
ing the chapel at St. Mary's, and refusing to open it
in time for Protestant service. It was at Bromly that
the first Declaration of Independence was voiced in the
western world, when Josias Fendall threw off allegi-
ance to Lord Baltimore and proclaimed Maryland free
and independent. Gerrard adhered to the faith of his
fathers most tenaciously, but his daughters married
men who were equally zealous on the Protestant side.
The elder was the wife of that Nehemiah Blackiston
for whom was named that beautiful island in the Poto-
mac, long a resort of Washingtonians. The other mar-
ried John Coode, leader of the Protestant army which
besieged Saint Mary's City and caused its capitulation.
Thomas Notley appears on the records of 1660, about
the time that Charles Calvert arrived in the Province
to act as Governor in behalf of his father, Cecilius,
second Baron of Baltimore. It is a logical supposition
that Charles Calvert and Notley had been on terms of
friendship in London and that the departure of the
former furnished the reason of the latter 's venture into
the wilds of Maryland. Notley belonged to that illus-
trious family of Dorset, the Sydenhams of Coombe,his
being the cadet branch of that ancient barony. His
arms were:
Argent — Three bezants on a bend cotised.
Or — First and fourth quarterly.
Crest — A lion 's head from a mural.
Motto — Noli Mentire.
The Sydenhams were nobles in 1275. The chroni-
cles of Dorset contain many a thrilling tale of their
prowess in the holy wars, and their achievements and
possessions make entire chapters in the annals of that
shire. They counted heroes galore in the Crusades
and the wars of the Roses and with France and in the
8 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
succeeding civil strife. Nor was their fame wholly
martial, for Doctor Sir Thomas Sydenham was among
the colleagues of William Harvey, discoverer of the
theory of the circulation of the blood, and was his im-
mediate successor as head of the London College of
Surgery. Another Thomas Sydenham, a near kins-
man of Thomas Notley, was an eloquent archdeacon
of the Church of England and quite a court favorite.
Among the records of Sydenham estates in the opening
seventeenth century, is one which throws a clear light
on the name which Notley chose for his Potomac
manor. It is to be found in Hutchins' ''History of
Dorset" under the subhead of the domain of the Syden-
hams of Combe, and says :
"The Manor of Cerne Abbey.
"When or by whom it was given does not appear. 19 Ed-
ward, the Abbot had a grant of one shilling in land here.
In 1293, the temporalities of the Abbot of Cerne in Winifred
Eagle were valued at sixty-four shillings and four pence. 36
Henry VIII., this manor had farms belonging to the Abbot
of Cerne, which were granted to Richard Buckland and
Robert Homer, who 37 Henry VIII. had license to alienate
to Thomas Sydenham Esquire, gentleman and his heirs ; value
four pounds and three shillings. "^
The Sydenhams had obtained control of the Abbey
lands of Cerne many years previous to the time of
Notley, and as a boy, he may have played on the
old Abbey lands and a touch of homesickness have sug-
gested the name. It may be, as some have deemed
probable, he was an admirer of the renowned Aelfric,
the grammarian, once Abbot of Cerne and sought to
perpetuate his memory in the New World. The origin
of the name Duddington can be clearly traced by fol-
1 Hutchins' "History of Dorset/' Vol. 2, p. 706. Westminster, 1868.
Dozening: Earliest Proprietors of Capitol Hill. 9
lowing tlie lineage of Thompson and Gerrard through
the labyrinths of "Burke's Peerage and Landed Gen-
try." There was on the earliest records of Somerset
and Dorset, a noble family of Doddington with a cele-
brated country seat, Doddington Manor. As Gerrards
and Thompsons, Sydenhams and Notleys had inter-
married with the Doddingtons for nearly two hundred
recorded years, it is evident that the first proprietors,
Thompson and Gerrard, had this famous seat of their
family in mind, when they took out patents for the land
on the Potomac, on which subsequently was erected
the noble national Hall of Legislation, the stately Li-
brary of Congress and several other imposing Federal
buildings. That the Manor in Somerset is spelled
Doddington does not confuse the issue, since this dis-
crepancy may be easily explained as the error of the
registering clerk, as the " o " in London and in Monroe
is pronounced as though it were ''u" and there is the
familiar illustration, typically British, saying "His
Lu'dship" for His Lordship, as Americans and the
remainder of the world would do. It must be borne in
mind that in the early part of the seventeenth century
the families of Thompson and Gerrard held estates
contiguous to Doddington.
Notley had no special reason to perpetuate the name
of Doddington, so very naturally he fixed on some re-
nowned holding in his own immediate line and changed
the Doddington estate to Cerne Abbey Manor. It is
under this appellation that the grant figures in that
well-known legal document which is the key to clear
titles to all properties situated on and about Capitol
Hill. This was the will of Thomas Notley, dated April
3, 1679. As the sole landed bequest mentioned in a
great mass of personal legacies, he leaves Cerne Abbey
Manor to his godson, Notley Rozier, son of Colonel
10 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Benjamin Eozier and his wife. This lady was Anne
Sewall, daughter of Jane, second wife of Charles Cal-
vert, third Baron of Baltimore. Notley was Deputy-
Governor of the Province from 1676 until his death
three years later. During this period he had disposed
of nearly all his landed estates. Lord Baltimore being
in almost every instance the purchaser. The Proprie-
tary became owner of the celebrated country seat on
the Wicomico Eiver, Notley Hall, a splendid home
mentioned in the social annals of the Province from
1668 until late in the eighteenth century, when it was
probably destroyed by fire. In the earliest chronicles
of Georgetown College there are recurring permissions
granted young seminarians from Whitemarsh to stop
at Notley Hall and partake of its hospitality while en
route to the college on the Potomac.
Notley Eozier, heir of Cerne Abbey Manor under the
will of Governor Notley, was apparently reared by his
grandmother. Lady Baltimore, at Notley Hall, the fa-
vorite estate of his godfather and benefactor. Colonel
Benjamin Eozier died soon after his friend and asso-
ciate at the council table of the Lord Proprietor, and
his widow married Colonel Edward Pye and went to
preside over another stately home. When Notley
Eozier 's only surviving daughter and heiress, Ann,
married Daniel Carroll, second son of Charles Carroll,
the immigrant and Attorney-General of the Province,
the bride is described in social annals of the day as of
Notley Hall. Notley Eozier, reared in the mimic court
of the third Lord Baltimore, was no doubt a local ce-
lebrity in his era, but mere fragments have floated
down to this age as to his importance in the political
sense in his step-grandfather's councils. He had mar-
ried young, as nearly all colonial lords did, and his first
cousin, another custom of the Maryland aristocracy.
Downing: Earliest Proprietors of Capitol Hill. H
His wife was Jane, one of the several daughters of
William Digges, of Warburton Manor, and Elizabeth
Sewall Wharton. This lady was the sister of Jane
Sewall, who became the wife of Colonel Benjamin
Rozier and of Nicholas Sewall, all children of the
second Lady Baltimore. Previous to her alliance with
William Digges she had married Dr. Jesse Wharton,
of Virginia, and in 1675 Deputy-Governor of Mary-
land, a well-known medico at the residence of Sir Ed-
ward Digges, governor of the royal colony.
William Digges and Elizabeth Sewall Wharton had
ten children and their descendants may be found in
many states. The Lord of Warburton was the eldest
son of Sir Edward Digges, an appointee and loyal ad-
herent of the Stuarts, who had acquired a splendid
estate at Bellefield, Virginia. A handsome tomb, still
in excellent preservation, tells that he was the son of
Sir Dudley Digges,Knight and Baronet of Kent, Master
of Rolls under Charles I. This Dud!l,ey Digges, for the
name is multiplied in the colonial records of Maryland
and in the English chronicles of the line, was the author
of the celebrated book, "The Compleat Ambassador,"
which in its day enjoyed great prestige and popularity
as containing an epitome of the polite accomplishments
necessary in court circles and comparable only to that
earlier work, "The Courtier or the Golden Book," by
Baldassare Castigloione, and considered a classic of
the sixteenth century. Jane Digges brought to her
husband, Notley Rozier, as dower one thousand acres,
which lay across the Anacostia River and known as
Elizabeth's Delight. It was adjacent to Giesborough
and Blue Plains, which later became part of the patri-
mony of Notley Young. Rozier was, April 19, 1714,
by the will of Edward Digges, eldest son and chief heir
of William, affectionatelv called brother and made the
12 Records of the Columbm Hhtorical Society.
executor of that instrument in whicli full title to Eliza-
beth's Delight is made over to him and his wife Jane.
Ann Rozier, for the name is so spelled in connection
with her marriage to Daniel Carroll, and which should
have always been so written, since it was French, fur-
nishes another of those familiar examples of colonial
widows who captivate a second lord after less than a
year of mourning. No more fascinating phases of that
early day in Maryland's chronicles exist than those
caught in snatches of letters which are preserved in
many a horsehair trunk in the older counties, wherein
it is related that cousin this and that had sent to Lon-
don for a widow's complete garb and that she looked
so bewitching in the weeds that she cast them aside,
after a few wearings, for a new bridal trousseau. This
may explain why mourning suits, mourning jewelry
and other emblems of bereavement figure as assets in
so many colonial wills. Ann Eozier Carroll, after less
than a year of sorrow for her young husband, who was
not twenty-eight when he died, married Colonel Ben-
jamin Young, a Commissioner of Crown Lands, who
had come to the Province about 1735. Though she
is described in the narration of her first marriage
as the heiress of Notley Hall, she was also sole heiress
of Cerne Abbey Manor. From court records, it is
known that she had built a commodious mansion on the
Potomac estate prior to 1758, for in a petition made
in that year she asks permission to retain title to it,
though by the same instrument she is dividing her
legacy from Governor Thomas Notley equally between
her two sons, Charles Carroll and Notley Young. By
this division, Cerne Abbey Manor was divided into the
original tracts which Notley had purchased from
George Thompson, nearly a century before. Charles
Carroll, the older son, received the Duddington tracts,
Dozening: Earliest Proprietors of Capitol Hill, 13
Manor and Pasture, and other parcels on Capitol Hill.
Xotley Yo.ung's inheritance included the land and ad-
joining acres on which his mother's home was built,
parts of Xew Troy and a vast area across the Ana-
costia Eiver, including Giesborough and Blue Plains.
Giesborough in later years was made over as a legacy
to the Fathers at Georgetown and proved so heavy a
burden on their slender resources that they permitted
it to be sold for taxes. It is obvious that Duddington,
whether meant for Doddington in Somerset or some
other obscure holding of Thompson and Gerrard which
has become untraceable after this lapse of time, had
no connection whatever with the Carroll family until
Daniel married Xotley Eozer's heiress. It is mislead-
ing and imtrue to describe that Daniel Carroll who
was the husband of Ann Eozier, as the first of the Dud-
dington branch. Charles Carroll, who is called as of
Carrollsburgh to distinguish him from his eminent
cousin, the Signer, might be so called, and so also his
son, Daniel Carroll, who later built a mansion which
he called Duddington Manor. This Charles Carroll
and Daniel Carroll inherited directly from the daughter
of Xotley Eozer, who inherited by will the estate which
Governor Xotley had purchased from Thompson in
1670.
Daniel Carroll, of Duddington, great grandson of
Xotley Eozer, and Xotley Young, his grandson, were
the last owners of Capitol Hill in the manorial sense.
They disposed of their rights to the Commissioners
who represented President Washington, and for the
worthy purpose of securing a site for the permanent
seat of government. The negotiations which led to
this transfer of ownership began in 1790, but were not
brought to a successful issue until a year later. It may
be timelv to remark that the numerous Daniel Carrolls
14 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
who figure in the annals at this particular time have
led to some amazing blunders. An historian with
every facility to reach authentic sources is the former
-pastor of St. Patrick's church in Washington City and
now the Bishop of Charleston, South Carolina. Yet in
his work, ^'The Land of Sanctuary," Bishop Russell
subjoins a Carroll family tree which could not have
been founded on recognized genealogical charts, for
among other easily detected errors it is shown that
Daniel Carroll of Duddington was the brother of the
Archbishop and identical with the Commissioner who
acted with Thomas Johnson and David Stuart. As
Daniel Carroll of Duddington sold one of the largest
and most valuable i3ortions of the Capital City, it is
plain he did not sell to himself. This same mistake
is several times repeated in the Catholic Encyclopedia,
a publication where the reader would logically expect
historical accuracy in this vital point of Catholic asso-
ciation with the founding of the National Capital.
Under the caption of Daniel Carroll, Thomas F.
Meehan writes that Daniel Carroll, brother of the
Archbishop, was born in Upper Marlborough in 1733
and died in Washington in 1829, whereas he was, as
many Carroll family papers show and all of which are
accessible to historical students, born in 1737 and died
at his home near Eock Creek on May 6, 1796, less than
sixty years of age, instead of nearing the century
mark, as Mr. Meehan makes him.
Members of the Columbia Historical Society will
be further astounded by perusing Mr. Median's biog-
raphy of Daniel Carroll, the Commissioner.
"The choice of the present site of Washington was advo-
cated by him and he owned one of the four farms taken for
it, Notley Young, David Burns and Samuel Davidson being
the others interested. The Capitol was built on the land
Downing: Earliest Proprietors of Capitol Hill. 15
transferred to the government by Carroll and there is ad-
ditional interest to Catholics in the fact that in 1663, this
whole section of country belonged to a man named Pope who
called it Rome/'
It is to be hoped that should the Encyclopedia issue a
second edition, this remarkable collection of errors will
be eliminated in favor of the facts. But since the au-
thorized history of the American branch of the 'Car-
rolls of Ely, published under the auspices of the late
Governor Carroll, of Maryland, contains the state-
ment that Daniel Carroll the Commissioner was the
Daniel Carroll of Duddington who built the mansion
in the new Federal City, lesser fish in the historical
line may be pardoned for following what seemed the
last clue through the bewildering labjTinths of ge-
nealogy.^ Daniel Carroll, who figures as grantor
in the deeds which gave the Federal government
title to the estate inherited from the will of Grovernor
Notley, may be traced back to the immigrant of his
line, Charles Carroll, the Attorney-General, his great
grandfather. His grandfather was that Daniel Car-
roll who married Ann Rozier and his father was the
older son of that lady, Charles Carroll, of Carrolls-
burg. He is, therefore, of the younger branch of the
Carrolls of Doughreagan Manor and was the second
cousin of the Signer. Through his mother he was the
great-grandson of Notley Eozer and was therefore
closely akin to the most illustrious families in the
Province, the Sewalls of Mattapony, the Digges of
Warburton, the Lowes, Darnalls and Hills. Daniel
Carroll, the Commissioner, was the son of Daniel Car-
roll of Upper Marlborough, the immigrant in his line
2 Rowland, * ' Life and Correspondence of Charles CarroU of Carrolton, ' '
Vol. 11, p. 441.
16 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
of Carrolls. There is no convincing evidence that this
Daniel Carroll came of the line of Carrolls of Ely, rep-
resented by Charles Carroll, who was later Attorney-
General. But it is clear that the two men were
friendly. Shortly after Daniel Carroll had established
a successful business enterprise in Marlborough about
1720, he married an heiress and well-known provincial
belle, Eleanor Darnall of Woodyard, Maryland. The
gentry drew sharp class divisions against the business
and agricultural class and it is safe to assume that the
young merchant of Upper Marlborough would never
have penetrated into the circle which his lady graced
had he not been presented by a powerful sponsor.
That Charles Carroll had married Mary Darnall, aunt
of Eleanor, points unerringly to the clever matchmaker.
Daniel of Marlborough left two sons who survived
to manhood, Daniel of Rock Creek, who was Associate
Commissioner of the District of Columbia with Judge
Thomas Johnson and Doctor David Stuart, and John,
who became first Archbishop of Baltimore. There
were four daughters, two of whom, Anne and Eleanor,
married into the Brent family of Woodstock, Acquia
Creek, descendants of George Brent, the immigrant
who settled in Virginia in 1672, Mary, who became the
second wife of Notley Young, and Elizabeth, a spinster.
Elizabeth Carroll was the last survivor of her family
and on March 16, 1810, she made a deposition before
her nephew, Robert Brent, first mayor of Washington,
which is now part of the Catholic archives of the Uni-
versity of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana. To this
paper and to others written by various members of the
Carroll family of Marlborough or of Rock Creek and
to the older branch more intimately connected with the
ownership of the Ten Miles Square I am inde])ted for
Downing: Earliest Proprietors of Capitol Hill. 17
sucli original data as is here presented for the first
time in concrete form.^
3 Carroll Papers, Catholic Archives of Notre Dame. ' ' Deposition of
Elizabeth Carroll, spinster, taken in the City of Washington, D. C, March
16, 1810."
"Said Elizabeth Carroll, aged sixty-five, in the city of Washington on
the sixteenth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and ten, before
Eobert Brent, Esquire, Mayor of the city of Washington aforesaid; and
said Elizabeth Carroll being first duly cautioned and sworn upon the Holy
Evangelists of Almighty God, by said Mayor did then and there upon her
oath aforesaid testify and depose as follows, viz:
' ' That she is the daughter of Daniel Carroll of Upper Marlboro in the
State of Maryland and Eleanor, his wife; that she recollects her said
father who died as she believes and always has understood in the year of
our Lord seventeen hundred and fifty; that the said Daniel Carroll, as
she has likewise always understood and believed, was the son of Keane
Carroll of Ireland, and that as she has also understood and believed, he
emigrated to this country from Ireland some time before he married her
mother, whose maiden name was Darnall ; that the said Daniel Carroll and
Eleanor had several children all of whom are dead, except the deponent
and her brother, the Eight Eev. Dr. John Carroll, Bishop of Baltimore and
Mrs. Mary Young, her sister ; that Henry, the oldest son, as she has heard,
was drowned some time before her birth, when he was a boy at school
and many years before the death of his father; that Daniel, the second
son departed this life on the sixth day of May in the year of our Lord,
one thousand seven hundred and ninety six in the sixtieth year, as she
believes, of his age; that the said Daniel Carroll intermarried with
Eleanor Carroll, the sister of the present Mrs. Mary Digges, and had
from this marriage two children whose names were Daniel and Mary, and
none others than those two; that both these two died before their said
father several years; but this deponent doth not recollect the precise
period of the death of either of them; that Daniel the son of the brother
just mentioned intermarried with Elizabeth Digges of Warburton in the
year of our Lord, seventeen hundred and seventy six, this deponent being
present at the marriage, and that he had issue from this marriage several
children of whom William Carroll is the oldest surviving son; that the
surviving children are all single and unmarried and that no one of them,
either of those who are dead, or of those who survive has ever been mar-
ried; that the said William was born as she perfectly recollects, in the
year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty two; and that
as she has always heard and believes neither of the three Daniels men-
tioned and particularly referred to by this deponent was ever married a
second time."
Ibid., Carroll Papers. Extract of a letter from Daniel Carroll of Eock
3
18 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
A point of interest which always recurs when the
earliest proprietors of Capitol Hill are under consid-
Oreek to James Carroll of Ireland, dated Upper Marlborough, Maryland,
December 20, 1762, and presented by Miss J, Carroll.
"As you express a particular desire of having a particular account of
your relations in this part of the world, the following may be agreeable
to you. My father died in the year 1751 and left six children, — myself,
Ann, John, E. W., Mary and Betsy. He left me land amounting in value
between 4 & 5000 pounds. Some time after I was married to a lady of our
name, E. W. Carroll to whom I was contracted before my father 's death.
Her fortune was 3000 pounds in money. I had been returned two years
from Flanders where my father had sent me for my education, and had
been there for six years. I have a son named Daniel about ten years old
and a daughter named Mary about eight years old. The lady I married
is a daughter of Daniel Carroll, son of Charles Carroll, Esq. of Littertone
who came from Ireland and settled in this country. His abilities and
prudent conduct procured him some of the best offices under this govern-
ment, for then Eoman Catholics were entitled to hold place in this prov-
ince. By this means, his knowledge of the law and by taking up large
tracts of land which have since increased in value some hundred per cent
he made a very large fortune — two of his sons only survived out of a
great many children — Charles and Daniel — the latter my wife's father,
who died in the year 1734 and left three children, Charles, E. W. (my
wife), and Mary. Charles inherits about 600 pounds per annum — will
not probably marry and Mary is married to one Mr. Ignatius Digges.
Charles Carroll, Esq., eldest brother to my wife's father is living and is
worth about 100,000 pounds and second richest man in our province. He
has one son named Charles who has a very liberal education and now
finishing his studies in London. In case of his death that estate is left
to my son, Daniel by Charles Carroll, Esq. My eldest sister, Ann is well
married to one Mr. Eobert Brent in Virginia, a province to the Northward
of this, divided by the river Potomac. He lives about 60 miles from us.
They have one child named George. My brother John was sent abroad for
his education on my return and is now a Jesuit at Liege, teaching Phi-
losophy and emminent in his profession. E. W., my second sister is mar-
ried, likewise very well to one Mr. William Brent in Virginia, near my
eldest sister. She lias three boys and one girl. My sisters, Mary and
Betsey are unmarried and live chiefly with my mother who is very well.
This account of your friends I hope will be satisfactory to you. [But,
as frequently happens, Charles, brother of E. W., wife of Daniel Carroll of
Eock Creek, did not realize the hopes which his relatives placed in him.
He is identical with that Charles Carroll, known as of Carrollsburgh, who
married the daughter of Henry Hill, Esquire, of Baltimore, and became
the father of Daniel Carroll of Duddington, Charles Carroll of Bellevue
and Henry Hill Carroll of Litterluna, near the city of Baltimore."]
Downing: Earliest Proprietors of Capitol Hill. 19
eration is the identity of the mysterious Jenkins of
Jenkins' Hill, who figures in every description of the
tract during the transaction which finally converted it
into Federal property. Jenkins' Heights probably is
mentioned for the first time in a chatty letter which
Eight Reverend John Carroll wrote in 1784 to his
English Superior, in which he tells that his young
kinsman, Daniel Carroll of Duddington had proposed
this eminence as a suitable position for the College
which is now an ornament of the older of the two
cities in the District of Columbia, Georgetown. Bishop
Carroll's letter is recalled in a charming retrospect
of the College in a paper read before the Society
by Rev. Edward I. Devitt, S.J., in 1909 ; and he relates
that the future Primate of the American Catholic
Church did not realize the possibilities which L 'Enfant
saw in this hill. He declined Daniel of Duddington 's
gift because the spot was too far away in the woods to
make a thriving boarding school for boys. President
Washington alludes to Jenkins' Hill in a stately de-
scription sent to Major L 'Enfant in 1791 in a detailed
description of the boundaries of the Federal territory.
This occurs in the letter sent from Mount Vernon by
the President to his representative on the ground,
L 'Enfant, and he designates the spot beyond all reason
of misapprehension. The seat of government is to be
built on "lands lying between Rock Creek, to the Po-
tomac River and the Eastern Branch and as far up the
latter as the turn of the channel above Evans' Point,
thence including the flat, back of Jenkins' Hill."^ I
am indebted to Mr. Allen C. Clark for the only obtain-
able data extant about the Jenkins who resided on the
domain of Cerne Abbey Manor at the time it passed
under governmental control. In a letter recently re-
4 Eecords op Columbia Historical Society, Writings of Washington
Eelating to the National Capital, Vol. 17, p. 23.
20 Records of the Columbia Historical Society,
ceived from Mr. Clark lie states no title of ownership
was at any time vested in Jenkins. Christian Hines
one of Washington's earliest historians, is the author-
ity that a Thomas Jenkins leased a farm from the
Carroll estate of Duddington and that the confines of
this rural plot could be described as commencing some-
where about H Street North and Seventh Street West.
Hines' description of this plantation indicates that it
is the estate known as Fort Royal, acquired in 1794 by
Dominic LjTich and Comfort Sands. It was consid-
ered a valuable property even in those remote days,
and Lynch and Sands paid more than $40,000 for the
title. Apparently it was one of the most flourishing
and productive tobacco and general produce planta-
tions hereabout and had been in continual cultivation
for several years before the Revolutionary War. Jen-
kins possessed a mansion which figures at the time of
the Federal purchase and this was located in the same
block as the Union Labor Building now stands or ad-
jacent to New York Avenue near Ninth Street. There
was a record of small houses standing in 1791, but
there was none on the hill where the United States
Capitol overlooks the city and the exact reason that
the name Jenkins is continually associated with this
hallowed spot remains to be explained.
The connecting link between the old and new pro-
prietors of Capitol Hill is the brilliant, dashing but
irascible French engineer, Charles Pierre L 'Enfant.
It was his genius which transformed the woodland of
Thompson and Gerrard and Notley and the tobacco
farms of the CarroUs and the Youngs into the splendid
panorama of boulevards and parks and provided a
fitting site for the buildings which adorn the Capital
of the great North American Republic. The Columbia
Historical Society played a stellar role in the long-
Downing: Earliest Proprietors of Capitol Hill. 21
drawn-out drama which preceded the act of justice
paid to the French patriot, when his ashes were re-
moved from Green Hill and laid under a granite block
on the western hills of Arlington. From every view-
point, members of this Society have laid bare the truth
about L 'Enfant and the monstrous injustice from
which he suffered living and dead. A finer tribute was
never paid than that in Mr. Glenn Brown's paper read
in 1909 on ''The Plan of L 'Enfant for the City of
Washington and its Effect upon the Future Develop-
ment of the city. " In this, among scores of other popu-
lar fallacies, this eminent architect who has accom-
plished a fair share in beautifuing the National Capi-
tal, showed how erroneous was the statement that
L 'Enfant had taken the boulevards of Paris as the
model of his plan. L 'Enfant submitted his map in
1791 and all the world knows that Napoleon com-
manded the work of remodelling the French capital
along its modem magnificent lines. But in 1791 the
figure of the great Corsican has not yet darkened the
pages of history. Mr. Brown showed how largely
L 'Enfant 's plan was original, but if it were reminis-
cent of anything he had known, Versailles, the court
city, presented some points of resemblance. The
French ambassador has recently placed the American
nation under a lasting obligation for his exertions to
draw aside the veil which surrounded the antecedents
of the brilliant engineer. In that delightful book,
"With Great Americans Past and Present," he de-
votes two lengthy chapters to Washington's founder,
giving, in the first, the personal side of the man who
played such a complex role in Revolutionary history
with his military career amplified more satisfactorily
than hitherto, and in the second, an adequate and tact-
ful narration of L 'Enfant 's part in the upbuilding of
22 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
one of the world's most beautiful cities. Dr. James
Dudley Morgan on May 11, 1911, read before the Co-
lumbia Historical Society a paper descriptive of the
reinterment of the brilliant French patriot from the
passing of the Sundry Civil Bill authorizing the re-
moval of the hallowed ashes from the lonely spot in
Green Hill to the last taps at Arlington, where he had
been laid among the nation's heroes to await the
Resurrection. But it may not be amiss to trace briefly
the principal reasons which led to the national recogni-
tion after almost a century of neglect. The past quar-
ter of a century has witnessed the renaissance of
American history, of which the visible tokens are the
many patriotic societies, Sons and Daughters of the
American Revolution, par excellence, and at least a
dozen others of varying degrees of influence. Histori-
cal novels multiplied themselves, and that splendid
crusade for good roads has led to the marking of
sacred places on the highways of the national progress
and to the erection of monuments to the path blazers
of the early day. To this general trend towards his-
torical truth must be assigned the final success of an
effort which had gone forward for nearly fifty years
looking to the full reparation to L'Enf ant's memory
and his restoration to his proper place as a patriot, an
artist and an engineer. The last decade has seen
another equally important historical recognition of
eminent services rendered the Republic in its infant
days, the belated honors paid to John Paul Jones and
his imposing interment at Annapolis, traceable di-
rectly to the impetus given such measures by patriotic
societies and the steady stream of historical romances
pouring out to the public after "Richard Carvel."
Members of this society have regarded the reparation
to L 'Enfant as a solemn obligation, and paper after
Downing: Earliest Proprietors of Capitol Hill. 23
paper recording liis claims to national honors have
been read at its meetings. But the impetus given the
cause by the letter which Right Reverend D. J. O'Con-
nell, then rector of the Catholic University of America,
now Bishop of Richmond, Virginia, wrote the Commis-
sioners of the District of Columbia cannot be dis-
counted. Bishop O'Connell asked that since the grave
of L 'Enfant was neglected and inaccessible to the
public, he might be accorded the privilege of removing
them to a worthy mausoleum which he would erect on
the campus of his university. This request focused
all the scattered forces in the Institute of American
Architects, in the patriotic societies, in the Columbia
Historical Society and among men and women gener-
ally of broad patriotic impulses, and the result happily
met the desires of all interested. The orator of that
solemn occasion when L 'Enfant was placed to rest on
the brow of the hill directly overlooking the Capital
City was M. Jusserand, who was six years later to
become his biographer. Though a marble sarcopha-
gus marks the spot, the stone was useless, since, as M.
Jusserand said, ''His monument is your beautiful
city."
BEGINNINGS OF STEEET RAILWAYS IN THE
NATIONAL CAPITAL.
By DE. WILLIAM TINDALL.
(Read before the Society, February 20, 1917.)
To those who remember the omnibus as it thumped
and creaked and surged over the rough cobble-covered
roadways in the days before the establishment of
street railroad transportation, the allusion of the poet
Byron to ''the car rattling o'er the stony street" as a
fitting similitude for the distant boom of the cannon
of Waterloo, does not seem an unwarrantable stretch
of the imagination.
According to the researches of Mr. Wilhelmus B.
Bryan, as set forth in his ideal chronicles of happen-
ings of general interest at the National Capital, the
first public passenger vehicle service here was com-
menced and operated in May, 1800, by means of two-
horse stage-coaches from M Street and Wisconsin
Avenue in Georgetown to William Tunnicliff 's Tavern,
which was located on the south side of A Street north,
immediately east of 1st Street east. This line ran two
round trips each day.
In these days of street railroad efficiency, when a
car is accessible on a number of streets every few min-
utes, two daily trips on a single street does not seem a
very enterprising service; but it is less amenable to
derision in the light of a statement in the Intelligencer
that Pennsylvania avenue at that time resembled more
"a corn field than the great thoroughfare and princi-
pal Avenue of a Metropolis." This pioneer effort at
urban passenger traffic soon failed for want of profita-
24
Tindall: Beginnmgs of Street Railways. 25
ble patronage, and passenger service on the streets for
hire was confined for nearly thirty years thereafter to
swarms of hacks whose operators charged extortionate
fares that rendered the municipality a subject of re-
proach.
The need for a street passenger vehicular service
at reasonable rates finally became so pressing that in
the spring of 1830 an Omnibus line, so called because
it was for all, with a 12^ cent fare was installed be-
tween Georgetown and the Navy Yard, and later was
extended down 11th Street to the wharf and up 7th
Street to L Street north. The operation of these vehi-
cles was embarrassed by the miry state of the streets
in wet weather and the distressing clouds of dust they
raised when the weather was fair.
Many of those earlier omnibuses were driven by
their owners, who in the competition for trade oper-
ated them at a dangerous rate of speed and willfully
obstructed the streets with them while waiting for pas-
sengers. The proclivity of the omnibus drivers to dis-
regard the safety and convenience of the public in their
pursuit of trade led to the adoption of an ordinance on
October 16, 1850, by the City of Washington, which
subjected them to penal restraint by imposing a fine
of five dollars for ''passing ahead of or in front of,
or in any other ivay to annoy the passengers or drivers
of any other omnibus." It also restricted the maxi-
mum number of passengers to be carried by each om-
nibus to twelve, and might well be reproduced in prin-
ciple for the benefit of the street car patrons of today.
The omnibus service was gradually acquired about
1854 by two organizations designated the "Union
Line," which was operated by John E. Reeside and
Gilbert Vanderwerken, and the other the "Citizen's
Line." These lines were soon combined and con-
26 Records of the Coliimhia Historical Society.
trolled under the influence of Vanderwerken, who had
come to the District from New York. Another line,
owned by D. T. Moore, operated stages from 7th and
L Streets, N. W., to the Navy Yard gate, via Pennsyl-
vania Avenue, until the installation of the 7th Street
street-car line, and was the latest omnibus line in the
District.
During 1858 an effort was made by a number of New
York capitalists to obtain from Congress a charter for
a street railroad company to operate its cars along the
main route then followed by the omnibus line. A Citi-
zen's Street Railroad Company for which $200,000 of
stock in small amounts was subscribed, and two other
conflicting schemes, one of which was advocated by
the leading moneyed citizens of Washington, were also
projected, but failed to receive the approval of Con-
gress.
Street Railroads.
It was not until May 17, 1862, when Congress by its
act of that date incorporated "The Washington and
Georgetown Railroad Company," that the city of
Washington fell into line with other leading commu-
nities in the matter of public passenger traffic.
The street railroad service of the District of Colum-
bia is rendered by six corporations :
The Capital Traction Company,
The Washington Railway and Electric Company,
The East Washington Heights Traction Railroad
Company,
The Washington and Maryland Railway Company,
The Washington and Old Dominion Railway Company,
The Washington- Virginia Railway Company.
Tindall: Beginnings of Street Railways. 27
The Capital Tkaction Company.
The Capital Traction Company controls the street
railroad service formerly rendered by the Washington
and Georgetown Eailroad Company and the Rock
Creek Railway Company.
The Washington and Georgetown Railroad
Company.
This company was incorporated by an Act of Con-
gress, approved May 17, 1862. Its east and west line
began at Wisconsin Avenue and M Street and followed
that street to Pennsylvania Avenue ; thence by way of
that avenue and 15th Street west, to 1st Street west;
thence it ran along the outside of the northerly section
of the semi-circular iron picket fence which then en-
closed the west Capitol grounds from 1st Street west
and Pennsylvania Avenue to the intersection of B
Street north with Delaware Avenue, whence it crossed
the Capitol grounds straight south to A Street south,
upon which it ran eastwardly to Pennsylvania Avenue
and thence via that avenue and 8th Street east to
the Navy Yard gate. Its tracks also originally crossed
the Washington Aqueduct Bridge over Rock Creek at
Pennsylvania Avenue, from which they were removed
to the bridge across that stream at M Street as re-
quired by an Act of Congress of March 3, 1875.
Under a clause in the District of Columbia appro-
priation act, approved March 4, 1913 (37 St., pt. 1,
949), this bridge was reconstructed, at a cost of
$120,718.73, and the Capital Traction required to re-
move its tracks from the M Street bridge to the Penn-
sylvania Avenue bridge as so reconstructed, and pay
one third of the cost of such reconstruction, and ac-
cordingly paid into the treasury of the United States,
28 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
to the credit of tlie United States and the District of
Columbia in equal parts, $40,239.58. Its tracks were
accordingly so transferred, and its cars began crossing
the Pennsylvania Avenue bridge again on July 7, 1916,
by using the east-bound track. The west-bound track
was put in use on the 15th of the same month. By an
Act approved March 3, 1875, it was authorized to ex-
tend its tracks along Water Street from 7th Street
west to P Street south; thence along P Street to the
Arsenal gate, using tracks of the Anacostia and Po-
tomac River railroad in those streets, where the routes
of the two companies coincide. The charter provided
also for a line of tracks from Boundary Street (now
Florida Avenue) and 7th Street west, down 7th Street
to the Potomac River; and for another line from
Boundary Street and 14th Street west via 14th Street
and New York Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue. The
first street car operated in Washington was run on the
line of this company from the Navy Yard on October
2, 1862.
Absorption by Rock Creek Railway Company.
On the twenty-first of September, 1895, acting under
authority of an Act of Congress approved March 1,
1895, the Rock Creek Railway Company, which had
been incorporated by an Act of Congress, approved
May 28, 1890, as amended by acts of March 3, 1891,
and April 30, 1892, acquired the Washington and
Georgetown Railroad Company and changed the name
of both to "The Capital Traction Company."
The route of the Rock Creek Railway Company em-
braced substantially the present route of the Capital
Traction Company from North Capitol Street and
Florida Avenue via that avenue, U Street, 18th Street
west, Calvert Street and Connecticut Avenue extended,
Tindall: Begmnvngs of Street Railways. 29
to Chevy Chase, and from Chevy Chase to Chevy Chase
Lake. It was empowered by an Act of Congress of
March 3, 1891 (26, 835), to acquire the ownership or
control between Chevy Chase and Chevy Chase Lake
on that part of the line from the Chevy Chase Land
Company of Montgomery County, Maryland. As re-
quired by its charter it constructed an iron truss bridge
over Eock Creek at Calvert Street and a smaller bridge
of the same kind over Klingle Ford Road, on Connec-
ticut Avenue, and on July 20, 1891, transferred both of
them to the District of Columbia as public thorough-
fares.
The Capital Traction Company under authority of
an Act of Congress approved June 4, 1900, extended
its line westward from 17th Street west and Pennsyl-
vania Avenue and 17th and G Streets, to 26th and
Pennsylvania Avenue and back to that avenue and 17th
Street by way of 26th Street, F Street north, and 17th
Street.
Under an Act of May 23, 1908, it extended a branch
line from 7th Street and Florida Avenue northwest,
eastwardly along that avenue and along 8th Street
east, to Pennsylvania Avenue, where it joined the main
line. By the same act, it was authorized to construct
its lines from Florida Avenue and New Jersey Avenue
via the latter avenue and Massachusetts Avenue to the
Plaza on the south front of the Union Station, and to
extend its lines from 2d and F Streets northeast, along
the latter street to connect with its line on 8tli Street
east. That Act also provided for a small section from
7th and T Streets to Florida Avenue ; for the adapta-
tion of its lines to the street-car system at the Union
Station ; for connections therefrom via Delaware Ave-
nue with its lines at that avenue and C Street; for a
loop around Square 686, upon which the Senate Office
30 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Building stands, by which it extended from that junc-
tion southeasterly along Delaware Avenue to B Street
north; thence to 1st Street east and by way of the
tracks of other railroad companies on that street to a
connection with its main tracks on A Street south.
The Washington Railway and Electeic Company.
In 1897 a combination of northern financial interests
endeavored to consolidate the electric power and rail-
way systems of the District of Columbia. They ac-
quired the Potomac Light and Power Company and
the United States Electric Lighting Company and
changed the name of the former to Potomac Electric
Power Company, but were deterred for the time from
attempting to acquire any street railway lines by the
policy which Congress at about that time indicated, of
refusing to permit overhead trolleys in the city. In
1899 the movement was revived by the organization
of an association styled 'Hhe Washington Traction
and Electric Company," the purpose of which was to
acquire a controlling interest in the stocks of the vari-
ous lines of the District and which shortly after suc-
ceeded in obtaining control of the following lines so
far as they operate in the District :
The Anacostia and Potomac River Railroad Com-
pany, which had previously absorbed the Belt Railway
Company (formerly the Capital, North Street and
South Washington Railway Company), and the Capi-
tal Railway Company; the Brightwood Railway Com-
pany ; the City and Suburban Railway of Washington,
which was a consolidation of the Eckington and Sol-
diers' Home Railway Company, the Maryland and
Washington Railway Company, and the Columbia and
Maryland Railway Company of Marjdand; the Colum-
bia Railway Company; the Georgetown and Tennally-
Tindall: Begirmings of Street Railways. 31
town Railway Company; the Metropolitan Railroad
Company, embracing the Connecticut Avenue and
Park Railway Company, Union Railroad Company
and the Boundary and Silver Springs Railway Com-
pany; the Washington and Glen Echo Railroad Com-
pany; the Washington and Great Falls Electric Rail-
way Company, which had previously acquired the
West Washington and Great Falls Electric Railway
Company of Montgomery County, Marjdand; and the
Washington, Woodside, and Forest Glen Railway and
Power Company. The Washington Traction and
Electric Company issued $11,200,000 capital stock and
$13,442,000 4| per cent, bonds.
The Washington Traction and Electric Company
was a holding, rather than an operating company, but
it was hoped that the resulting cooperation among the
companies under its control would so reduce the oper-
ating expenses and increase traffic as to quickly put
the concern on a profitable basis. These expectations
were not realized. The dividends on the stock of the
profitable companies were insufficient to pay the in-
terest on the bonds covering the entire system, some
of the lines of which were in a very poor financial con-
dition. At the end of two years the Washington Trac-
tion and Electric Company defaulted the interest on
its bonds and went into the hands of a receiver.
Notwithstanding the failure of this effort at consoli-
dation, the benefits to the public which had resulted
from the standardization of the various lines, the in-
terchanging of transfers and the improved facilities
for bringing suburban patrons directly into the city,
prevailed upon Congress to consent to a second effort
to bring about the desired consolidation, with the re-
sult that by an Act approved June 5, 1900, the Wash-
ington and Great Falls Electric Railway Company was
32 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
authorized to acquire the stock of the various roads
which had been under the control of the Washington
Traction and Electric Company. This stock was ac-
quired on February 4, 1902, by the Washington and
Great Falls Electric Railway Company, which under
authority of the above Act of June 5, 1900, changed
its name to the Washington Railway and Electric Com-
pany. An important feature of the Act authorizing
this consolidation was a clause giving the various
street railroad companies in the District the right to
make contracts for the use of each other's tracks,
under which the bringing of suburban and interurban
traffic into the heart of the city has been greatly
facilitated.
The companies which are controlled and operated by
the Washington Railway and Electric Company are:
The Washington and Great Falls Electric Railway
Company, which had absorbed the West Washington
and Great Falls Electric Railway Company of Mary-
land; the Metropolitan Railway Company, including
the Connecticut Avenue and Park Railway Company;
the Union Railway Company; and the Brightwood and
Silver Springs Railway Company (charter forfeited) ;
the Columbia Railway Company; the Anacostia and
Potomac River Railroad Company, including the Belt
Railway Company; and the Capital Railway Com-
pany; the Brightwood Railway Company; the Mary-
land and Washington Railway Company; and the
Georgetown and Tennallytown Railway Company of
the District of Columbia; the City and Suburban Rail-
way of Washington, embracing the Eckingion and
Soldiers' Home Railway Company; the Maryland and
Washington Railway Company; the Columbia and
Maryland Railway Company of Maryland; and the
Washington, Berwyn and Laurel Electric Railway
Company.
Tindall: Beginnings of Street Railways. 33
Anti-Meeger Legislation.
An attempt during the year 1912 to bring about a
still more extensive consolidation of power and street
railway companies in the District by an organization
known as the Washington Utilities Company, involv-
ing an issue of $30,000,000 stock and of $100,000,000
50-year, 5 per cent, gold bonds secured on the real and
personal property, and the franchises to be acquired,
provoked a recommendation by the District Commis-
sioners on December 5 of that year for restrictive leg-
islation, in response to which, Congress, in section
eleven of the District Appropriation Act of March 4,
1913 (37 Sta., pt. 1, 1006), included a provision known
as the " Anti-merger Law," which prohibits any pub-
lic utility corporation doing business in the District
from transferring its stock to another company with-
out specific authority from Congress to do so.
Public Utilities Commission.
Paragraph 97 of section 8 of the same Act (ib., 995)
created the Public Utilities Commission, consisting of
the three Commissioners of the District of Columbia,
with power to supervise and regTilate every street rail-
road or other common carrier, gas company, electrical
company, water power company, telegraph or tele-
phone company, and pipe line company operating in
the District.
Peoposed Municipal Ownership.
Representative Robert Crosser, of Ohio, introduced
three bills into the House of Representatives, each en-
titled ''A Bill to provide for the acquisition, owner-
ship, and operation by the Commissioners of the Dis-
trict of Columbia of all street railroads located in the
34 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
District of Columbia." One of them, H. R. 7896, was
introduced September 2, 1913; another, H. E. 15191,
on March 30, 1914, and another, H. R. 9219, on January
17, 1916. These bills proposed to direct the District
Commissioners to acquire the street railroads for the
District, the first-named bill by negotiation or condem-
nation, and the latter two by condemnation, and pay
for them out of the proceeds of the sale of thirty-year
bonds, which the Commissioners of the District of Co-
lumbia were to issue and sell, bearing interest at the
rate of 3.65% per annum; the principal of and interest
on which were to be paid out of a sinking fund derived
from the receipts from the operation of the railroads.
None of these was enacted.
The Washington and Gkeat Falls Electric
Company.
The Washington and Great Falls Electric Company
was incorporated by an Act of Congress approved
July 29, 1892, with authority to establish a double and
single track from near the north end of the Aqueduct
Bridge, west to Cabin John Creek (27 Stat., 326).
This Act was amended as to route by Acts of August
23,1894(28 Stat., 492), and June 3,1896(29 Stat., 246).
It completed its road in August, 1895.
On June 5, 1900 (31 Stat., 270), it was authorized to
acquire and hold stock in any of the hereinafter-named
street railway corporations and to enter into contracts
for the use of the road or route of such roads and to
pay therefor by assigning its obligations secured by
mortgage or deed of trust upon its right of way, prop-
erty and franchises or other obligations, or by issuing
both such stock, bonds or obligations to an amount not
exceeding the actual consideration paid. Also to issue
stock, bonds or obligations for the extension or equip-
Tindall: Beginnings of Street Railways. 35
ment of such road or for electric power therefor.
Each of the railway corporations concerned was au-
thorized by that Act to enter into such contract of pur-
chase and sale through its board of trustees "with the
consent in writing of the owners of three fourths of
its capital stock," to enter into contracts with the
Washington and Great Falls Electric Company and
with each other or with any of the others, for the use
of its road or route or any part thereof with the writ-
ten consent of the owners of at least three fourths of
the capital stock or a vote of such owners at a specially
called meeting.
The Washington and Great Falls Electric Company;
the Washington, Woodside and Forest Glen Railway
and Power Company; the Washington-Rockville Rail-
way Company, and the Washington and Glen Echo
Railroad Company, the latter three being Maryland
companies, were also by that Act empowered mutually
to contract for its use of each other's roads, and each
to change its corporate name to any name or corpora-
tion name not then in use by a similar corporation in
the District of Columbia.
The Meteopolitan Railroad Company.
The Metropolitan Railroad Company was the sec-
ond street railroad company, in point of time, incor-
porated in the District of Columbia, and was chartered
by the Act of Congress approved July 1, 1864.
Its original route was from the junction of A Street
north and New Jersey Avenue ; via that avenue to D
Street, via D and C Streets north, and Indiana Avenue
to 5th west, via said 5th to F ; via F to 14th ; along 14th
to I, and thence westward over a route not necessary
to recite, as it was not used. On the contrary the com-
pany availed itself of the authority granted in its char-
36 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
ter to lay a single or double track from Massachusetts
Avenue and H Street northwest, and along said H
Street to 17th Street west, to locate its tracks on H
Street from 14th to 17th Streets northwest.
The company acquired the Connecticut Avenue and
Park Eailway Company of the District of Columbia in
June, 1874, and accordingly laid tracks which that com-
pany was authorized to locate on 17th Street west from
H to K north, thence on Connecticut Avenue to Bound-
ary or Florida Avenue. The tracks laid on Connec-
ticut Avenue north of P Street north remained unused
for several years and were covered with a bituminous
roadway by the Board of Public Works. About 1883
the residents of the section on Columbia Road between
Florida Avenue and 19th Street bethought them that
these tracks might be used and called the attention of
the Metropolitan Company to their need of street rail-
road facilities there. The company readily saw that
its interest lay in the same direction; resurrected the
tracks from under the asphalt pavement and ran a
regular shuttle service from that Avenue to P Street
at Dupont Circle until the road was extended on Co-
lumbia Road to Mt. Pleasant under Acts of Congress
approved February 27, 1897, and June 6, 1900, when
it ran its cars through to Park Road.
In 1892 the Rock Creek Railway Company con-
structed and operated by horse cars, a track on Florida
Avenue from Connecticut Avenue to 18tli Street west,
connecting with the track extending out that street
from Florida Avenue to Chevy Chase. This track
was removed in 1899.
For a number of years after this company began
operations it ran a service down 17th Street west from
H to New York Avenue, and had its office and stables
on the land at the southwest corner of that intersection
upon which the Corcoran Art Gallery is situated.
Tindall: Beginnings of Street Railways. 37
This company assumed to derive its authority to ex-
tend its line into Georgetown via P Street north, from
the charter of the "Union Railroad Company" which
was incorporated by the Legislative Assembly of the
District of Columbia on January 19, 1872, with which
it was authorized by that Act to connect at 17th and
H Streets northwest, and which it absorbed in Novem-
ber, 1872, as the president of the Metropolitan Com-
pany testified on page 875 of the Eecord of the Joint
Select Committee of Congress appointed in 1871 to
inquire into the affairs of the government of the Dis-
trict of Columbia. It had no color of authority other-
wise. It derived its authority to build the loop at the
west end of its route from the fifth section of the Act
of February 26, 1895 (28 Stat., 683), as follows:
"That the said Metropolitan Railroad Company is hereby
authorized and required to lay down and continue its under-
ground electric construction of single track from the inter-
section of P and Thirty-fifth Streets northwest, thence run-
ning west along P Street to Thirty-sixth Street, thence south
on Thirty-sixth Street to Prospect Avenue, thence east on
Prospect Avenue to Thirty-fifth Street, thence north on
Thirty-fifth Street to Street, thence east continuing its
route as now located."
It also absorbed the Boundary and Silver Springs
Railway Company, which was incorporated January
19, 1872, by the Legislative Assembly of the District
of Columbia. The president of the Metropolitan Rail-
road Company also naively stated in response to an
inquiry whether his company had laid or changed its
rails from one street to another at its own volition or
discretion, that it did so "from Third Street west,
which was hilly, to Four and a half Street"; and that
it laid rails on B Street, 6tli Street and Missouri Ave-
nue (to get from 9tli and B to Missouri Avenue and
44 Street) without any authority.
38 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
An explanation of its independence in respect to
constructing its B Street line, as well as in absorbing
without legislative authority the Union Railroad Com-
pany and the Connecticut Avenue and Park Railway
Company, may not be remote from the fact that the
president of the company, who was the most aggres-
sive and influential member of the Council of the
House of Delegates ; the Vice-President of the then
omnipotent Board of Public Works, and Samuel P.
Brown, another member of that Board, were on its
board of directors and the latter its first president.
The vice-president of the Board of Public Works es-
caped from the embarrassment of that position by a
timely resignation dated August 1, 1872, while the
arbitrar}^ absorption of the Union Company with all
the route west of Connecticut Avenue and P Street,
according to the testimony of the president of the com-
pany, occurred "about" the 31st of that month.
The 9th Street branch of this railroad from M Street
north to B Street north was authorized by its charter
of July 1, 1864, with the privilege of laying tracks on
other streets which it did not elect to accept. Its
authority for laying tracks on 4| Street from Missouri
Avenue to P Street south is given in the amendatory
Act of March 3, 1865, which also authorized the exten-
sion from its terminus at A Street near the Capitol via
A, 1st and East Capitol Streets to 9th Street east.
It was empowered by an Act of Congress, approved
February 26, 1895, to contract with the Rock Creek
Railway Company ''for the purchase, sale, lease, or
joint operation of the line of the latter companj^ on
Florida Avenue and U Street, or any part thereof"
(28 Stat., 683), but did not do so.
On February 4, 1902, by a deed of that date, the
Metropolitan Railroad Company was acquired by the
Tindall: Begmnings of Street Railways. 39
Washington and Great Falls Electric Railway Com-
pany and became part of the Washington Railway and
Electric Company system.
The Columbia Railway Company.
The Columbia Railway Company was incorporated
by an Act of Congress approved May 24, 1870 (16,
133).
Its route was from 15th Street and New York Ave-
nue northwest via that avenue to K Street northwest,
thence east on that street to Massachusetts Avenue to
H Street north, thence on that street to 15th Street
east, and return by same route with a single or double
tracks.
This company was absorbed in the Washington Rail-
way and Electric Company system February 4, 1902,
as hereinbefore stated under the heading of that com-
pany.
The Boundary and Silvee Springs Railroad Company,
This company was chartered by the Legislative As-
sembly of the District of Columbia on January 19, 1872,
but the charter was forfeited by its failure to construct
its roadway.
The Anacostia and Potomac River Railroad
Company.
This company was incorporated on May 19, 1872,
under the general incorporation law of the District,
approved May 5, 1870, but its construction, operation
and maintenance was sanctioned by an Act of Con-
gress approved February 18, 1875 (18, 328).
Its route originally was from the northern end of
the Eastern Branch Bridge at 11th Street S. E., via
40 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
11th Street to M Street south; via M to 3d east; via
3d to N south, along N to Water ; along Water to 12th
west; along 12th to Ohio Avenue; along Ohio Avenue
to 14th west ; along 14th to Pennsylvania Avenue ; also
in M Street south from 3d to Water, and on 11th west
from Water to 12th and B Streets southwest, but this
route was materially changed by Acts of Congress.
It was acquired by the Washington Eailway and
Electric Company on August 31, 1912, pursuant to the
Act of June 5, 1900 (31 Stat., 270), by purchase of con-
trolling stock. ^
It acquired the Belt Eailway Company, pursuant to
an Act of Congress, approved June 24, 1898 (30, 480),
and the Capital Railway Company in 1899.
The Belt Railway Compaisty.
The Belt Railway Company was incorporated as
^^The Capitol, North Street and South Washington
Railway Company," by an Act of Congress, approved
March 3, 1875 (18 Stat., 498). Its name was changed
to ''The Belt Railway Company" by an Act of Con-
gress, approved February 18, 1893. It was so named
from the fact that its route described a complete cir-
cuit of the part of the city of Washington between 1st
Street and 14th Street west, and Maryland and Vir-
ginia Avenues and P Street north. Its route was ma-
terially changed by Acts of Congress before its pur-
chase by the Anacostia and Potomac River Railway
Company under the provisions in the Act of June 24,
1898.
The Capital Railway Company.
The Capital Railway Company was incorporated by
an Act of Congress approved- March 2, 1895 (28 Stat.,
721). Its route began at Shepherd's Ferry on the Po-
Tindall: Begiwnings of Street Railways. 41
tomac Eiver opposite Alexandria, so named in honor
of Governor Alexander E. Shepherd by Mr. Kaiser,
who was one of the principal officials of the Baltimore
and Ohio Eailroad when the ''Ferry" was established.
The route thence extended via Congress Heights over
snch- route as the Commissioners of the District of Co-
lumbia approved, to and across the 11th Street east
bridge over the Eastern Branch and connecting with
the lines of the Capital Traction Company on M Street
and going north on 11th to East Capitol Street. It
was acquired by the Anacostia and Potomac Eiver
Eailroad Company in 1899.
The Beightwood Eailway Company.
The Brightwood Eailway Company of the District
of Columbia was incorporated October 18, 1888, by an
Act of Congress of that date, with a route on Bright-
wood Avenue (now Georgia Avenue), from Florida
Avenue to the boundary of the District. Its franchise
was acquired by the Metropolitan Eailroad Company
on December 31, 1912.
The Washington, Woodside and Forest Glen Eail-
way AND Power Company of Montgomery
County, Maryland.
This company was authorized by an Act of Congress
approved June 29, 1898, to run its vehicles over the
tracks of the Brightwood Eailway Company and to
use that company's power or furnish power for that
purpose. To the extent that it operates in the District
of Columbia it is under the management of the Wash-
ington Eailway and Electric Company.
42 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
The Union Railroad Company.
"The Union Railroad Company" was incorporated
by an Act of the Legislative Assembly of the District
of Columbia approved January 19, 1872, with author-
ity to lay a single or double track railway from 15th
Street and New York Avenue northwest along 15th
to I; along I to Connecticut Avenue; along that
avenue to P; along P to West Street, Georgetown;
along West to High; along High to 2d, 3d, or 4th;
along 2d, 3d or 4th to Fayette or Warren, with the
privilege of passing through West Street to Mont-
gomery Street; through Montgomery Street to Stod-
dard Street; through Stoddard Street to High; along
High to 2d, 3d or 4th ; along 2d, 3d or 4th to Fayette ;
along Fayette to High and along High to the northern
boundary line of Georgetown, with the privilege of
connecting with the Metropolitan Railroad, b}" consent
of that company, at the corner of 17th and H Streets,
and running up Connecticut Avenue, It also was au-
thorized to construct a branch road from 19th and P
northwest along P to North Capitol Street; along
North Capitol Street and the road leading to Green-
wood Cemetery. In case the Company should connect
its road with the Metropolitan Railroad at 17th and H
Streets, it was not required to construct the part of its
road between the intersection of Connecticut Avenue
and 17th Street, and New York Avenue and 15th
Street.
This company obviously chose to connect with the
Metropolitan Railroad Company's track at 17th and
H, as no tracks were laid on the 15th Street and I
Street route to New York Avenue, while the line from
17th and H northward has been in operation since the
earlv seventies.
Tindall: Beginnings of Street Railways. 43
The Eckington and Soldiees' Home Railway Com-
pany (The City and Subukban Railway of
Washington).
The Eckington and Soldiers ' Home Railway was in-
corporated by an Act of Congress approved June 19,
1888. The original route was on New York Avenue
from 7th Street west to 3d Street east, thence via 3d
to T, east to 4th east, and along said 4th to Bunker Hill
Road ( now Michigan Avenue ) . The route was changed
and extended by several Acts of Congress.
Under authority of Act of June 27, 1898, it acquired
"The Maryland and Washington Railway Company"
and changed its own name to ' ' The City and Suburban
Railway of Washington." It was also authorized by
the Act of June 27, 1898, to acquire the property and
franchise of the Columbia and Maryland Railway
Company lying between the town of Laurel, Mary-
land, and the District of Columbia.
The Makyland and Washington Railway Company.
The Maryland and Washington Railway Company
was incorporated by an Act of Congress approved Au-
gust 1, 1892 (27 Stat., 341). Its route is from 4th
Street and Rhode Island Avenue and along said avenue
northeastwardly to the District line. The cars of this
company operate between 4th Street east and Rhode
Island Avenue, and over the tracks of the Eckington
and Soldiers' Home Railroad Company, by which the
company was purchased, and which changed its name
to ''City and Suburban Railway of Washington"
under section 9 of the Act of June 27, 1898 (30, 81, 490).
44 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
The Geokgetown and Tennallytowist Railway
Company.
The Georgetown and Tennallytown Eailway Com-
pany of the District of Columbia was incorporated in
1888 by an Act of Congress which was received by the
President August 10 of that year but was not returned
by him to Congress and became a law without his ap-
proval. Its route is from the Potomac River near
High Street, along that street to Tennallytown Road
(Wisconsin Avenue), and along that road to the Dis-
trict line.
• Authority was granted by an Act of Congress ap-
proved August 10, 1876, for the incorporation of ''The
Georgetown and Tennallytown Railroad Company'^
over the route above mentioned and other streets in
Georgetown, but lapsed because of failure to comply
with the time requirements of the charter.
The East Washington Heights Traction Raileoad
Company.
The ''East Washington Heights Traction Railroad
Company" was incorporated by an Act of Congress
approved June 18, 1898 (30 Stat., 478). Its route, as
authorized by that Act, is an elaborate project to ac-
commodate the section near the Eastern Branch at
the eastern end of the Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge
over that stream, and the hilly country beyond. The
requirement of the law of July 1, 1902, that this com-
pany should bear one half the cost of maintenance and
repair of that bridge under the same conditions as
those governing the use by street railroads of the
bridges over Rock Creek under the Act of Congress
of August 7, 1894, was an fespecial hardship to this
road, as its share of such cost during 1909-10-11 was
Tindall: Beginnings of Street Railways. 45
$8,530.97. $2,500 of that amount it paid in cash, but
the balance was remitted by the clause in the general
deficiency Act of March 4, 1915, and the company re-
quired to pay $400 annually for the use of the bridge
(38 Stat., 1141). It is the shortest line with the long-
est name of any street railroad in the District. Its
institution was due to the public spirit of Mr. A. E.
Eandle, whose enterprise has done much for the com-
munal development of the southeast section of the
District.
The Washington and Maryland Eah^way Company.
The Washington and Maryland Eailway Company
is the successor of the Baltimore and Washington
Transit Company, which was incorporated under the
laws of Maryland, and was authorized to extend its
road into the District of Columbia. Its name was
changed to its present name by an Act of the General
Assembly of Maryland, March 4, 1914. Its route in
the District of Columbia is Colorado Avenue to Ta-
koma Park via Kennedy Street and 3d Street north-
west.
The Washington and Old Dominion Eailway
Company.
The Washington and Old Dominion Eailway Com-
pany was chartered by an Act of the General Assem-
bly of Virginia approved January 24, 1900, as the
"Great Falls and Old Dominion Eailroad Company."
It was authorized to enter the District of Columbia by
an Act of Congress approved January 29, 1903 (32
Stat., 781). Its route in the District is across the
Aqueduct Bridge by a single track at M Street north,
and on 36th Street west, south of Prospect Street.
46 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
The Washington Inteeueban Railway Company.
The Washington Interurban Railway Company, suc-
cessor of "The Washington, Spa Spring and Gretta
Railroad Company," was chartered by an Act of the
General Assembly of the State of Maryland approved
February 13, 1905, and was permitted to extend its
tracks into the District of Columbia by Acts of Con-
gress approved February 18, 1907 (34 Stat., 894), and
March 3, 1909 (35 Stat., 779). Its route in the District
of Columbia was from the District line along Bladens-
burg Road to 15th and H Streets and Maryland Ave-
nue northeast. Its name was changed to ''Washing-
ton Interurban Railway Company" October 21, 1912,
and recorded in the Tax Commissioner's office in
Maryland.
Washington- ViEGiNiA Railway Company.
This corporation was originally the Washington,
Alexandria and Mount Vernon Railway Company,
which was authorized to extend its tracks into the Dis-
trict of Columbia by an Act of Congress approved Au-
gust 23, 1894 (28 Stat., 494), and the Washington, Ar-
lington and Falls Church Railway Company, which
was merged into it October 17, 1910.
Its route originally extended from B and 14th
Streets, along B Street to 13^ Street; north on 13|
Street to E Street; west on e' Street to 14th Street,
and south on 14th Street to the Potomac River on the
tracks of the Belt Line Street Railway Company.
These tracks were completed in 1896, with a waiting-
station and ticket office at the southeast corner of 13^
and E Streets northwest. But as the upper part of
that route involved a circuit of the block on which the
District Building is situated, the Commissioners of the
Tindall: Beginnings of Street Railways. 47
District of Columbia were vested with authority to
determine another route in that locality by the Public
Building Law of June 6, 1902 (32 Stat., 321), and ap-
proved a plan of the present route beginning at 12th
and D; thence south on 12th to C north; thence west
on C to 14th west, and thence south as above.
There is no record of the authority for this company
to transport its passengers across the Potomac River
on the Long Bridge, instead of by means of boats or
barges, as required by its charter; but it used that
bridge from the time it began operations until the
Highway Bridge was opened for public use on Feb-
ruary 12, 1906. Its tracks were then transferred to
that bridge as contemplated by the Act of Congress
approved February 12, 1901 (31 Stat., 773), and ob-
viously under a concession from the Baltimore and Po-
tomac Railroad Company which was directed by the
Act of Congress approved June 21, 1870 (16 Stat.,
161), to give other railroads the right to pass over
the bridge upon terms to be agreed upon. But I find
no statutory authority for the abandonment of the
ferry service, whose very conception was such an ab-
surdity, in view of the distance the ferry boat need
travel, that it illustrated how adroitly Congress, under
due provocation, can temper legislative dignity with
humor.
This company and all other street railroad com-
panies using this bridge are required by the last-named
act to pay to the District one half of a cent for each
passenger they carry over it.
Several local railway companies have been incor-
porated to operate in the District of Columbia, but
have forfeited their charters by their failure to com-
plete their lines and begin operations within the period
their charters prescribed.
48 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
The Washington and Gettysburg Railway Company,
incorporated in the State of Maryland, was authorized
by an Act approved March 3, 1899, to construct a city-
suburban branch within the District of Columbia for
carrying passengers, milk, garden produce and other
small freight, but did not construct its line as required
by law.
The Washington and Glen Echo Eailroad Company,
another Maryland company, was authorized by an Act
of May 7, 1898, to construct and operate a line of
double track 600 feet long from the boundary of the
District to the west end of Connecticut Avenue ex-
tended, but failed to complete its line within the statu-
tory period.
The Washington and University Railroad Company
of the District of Columbia was incorporated by an
Act of Congress approved July 8, 1898. Its route was
in the northwestern section of the District near Reno.
It wandered around without any well-defined object,
but failed to materialize within the time prescribed for
its completion.
The Washington and Marlboro Electric Railway Com-
pany of Mar5dand was incorporated by an Act approved
March 2, 1895, to construct and operate a street rail-
way via the Suitland Road, Bowen Road or other
route approved by the Commissioners, to Pennsylvania
Avenue, in the southeastern section of the District.
One of the ambitious features of this project was a
bridge across the Eastern Branch, but the requirement
was apparently more than the resources of the incor-
porators could meet. This company, too, failed to
make good.
The Boundary and Silver Springs Railroad Com-
pany, which was chartered by the Legislative Assem-
bly of the District of Columbia on January 19, 1872,
Tindall: Beginnings of Street Railways. 49
also forfeited its charter by failure to construct its
roadway within the statutory limit of time.
Motive Power.
Improvement in the motive power for the street rail-
road cars has kept pace with the progress of motor
invention, and at present represents the latest devel-
opment in that respect.
The first street railroad cars were moved by horses.
Frequently the companies employed horses in that
service worthy of a more distinguished employment,
which they seldom failed to get, as the car drivers gen-
erally had a good eye for equine excellence and were
eager to give their knowledge to passengers who took
advantage of the information to get a valuable animal
at a minimum price, for which the driver was often
liberally rewarded by the purchaser.
It was one of my diversions to ride on the front plat-
form with the driver in all kinds of weather except
during thunderstorms. One of my occasional com-
panions in that enjoyment on the cars of the Washing-
ton and Georgetown Eailroad Company was the poet
Walt Whitman, who preferred to ride on the front
platform of a car on which a young man with light
curly hair, whose name I think was Doyle, and whose
appearance indicated Irish descent, was conductor.
Wliitman's custom was to get on the car of this con-
ductor at the Treasury Department, where he was em-
ployed, after office hours, and ride toward the 'Navj
Yard. During the rides with them in which I partici-
pated, their conversation, so far as I can remember,
consisted of less than fifty words. It was the most
taciturn mutual admiration society I ever attended;
perhaps because the young Apollo was generally as
uninformed as he was handsome, and Whitman's intel-
50 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
lectual altitude was too far beyond his understanding
to be reached by his apprehension or expressed by his
vocabulary. The fellowship was a typical manifesta-
tion of the unconscious deference which mediocrity
pays to genius, and of the restfulness which genius
sometimes finds in the companionship of an opposite
type of mentality.
The youthful grace of the conductor and the mature
personality of the poet with iron-gray beard, slouch
hat and rolling shirt collar that exposed a sturdy
throat and enough of a broad chest to move with envy
the modest young women of this day who affect the
low-necked exposure, completed an ideal study in indi-
vidual physical contrast.
The street car horses were at first equipped with a
set of small bells attached to the harness at the top of
their heads, presumably to give warning of their ap-
proach to pedestrians or drivers of vehicles about to
cross or near the tracks. The use of these bells was
discontinued pursuant to a police regulation which was
made July 14, 1887, on the mere whim of one of the
Commissioners. It evolved no public manifestation
of disapproval or regret, although I for a long while
thereafter felt that the sacrifice of the pleasant jingle
of those bells to a mere administrative caprice was a
personal loss without the slightest communal gain.
My riding on the front platform with the driver de-
veloped many pleasant friendships with drivers and
passengers who, like me, preferred the fresh air of the
open to the often oppressive atmosphere inside.
One of the drivers on the old horse cars was the
brother of an admiral of our Navy and had the force
of character to fill a like position with credit, if des-
tiny had selected him for the role. Another was the
brother-in-law of an admiral.
Tindall: Beginnings of Street Railways. 51
One of the conductors of the old horse cars is now
one of our richest citizens. One who recently died was
one of the largest stockholders in one of the companies
and was for several years the president of the road.
One of the drivers on the 7th Street line had a re-
markable faculty for making rhjTnes. He addressed
his horses.and expressed his most ordinary remarks in
a measure that would have done credit to a poet lau-
reate.
In the horse car days, the drivers did not have the
protection of vestibules, but were required to face all
kinds of storms and blasts. They had rubber over-
coats for rain storms and suitable cloth overcoats for
cold dry weather. Man's proverbial inhumanity to
man impeded for several years the effort of the travel-
ing public to require steet car companies to furnish the
street cars with suitable equipment to shield the
drivers from inclement weather. It was claimed by
the railroad companies that the glass would become
covered with mist and rain and conduce to accidents ;
that the comfortable condition of the drivers would
make them less alert and more susceptible to other cir-
cumstances inimical to the safety of the passengers.
But none of those forebodings were realized and it is
not probable that the car companies would willingly
dispense with the protection those vestibules afford.
It is also due to the companies to state that the hard-
ship on car drivers when operated at the relatively
slow speed as compared with those moved by electric-
ity was correspondingly less than it would now be if
the drivers were exposed as they were then.
The exclusive use of horses for motive power con-
tinued until the operation of the Eckington and Sol-
diers' Home line in the fall of 1888, although the Wash-
ington and Georgetown Eailroad Company had experi-
52 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
mented between 1870 and 1880 with a steam motor car,
which was run on Pennsylvania Avenue near the Capi-
tol several times, but was not adopted for ^Dermanent
use. The permanent change from horse power to me-
chanical propulsion on all lines was adopted pursuant
to a requirement to that effect in the District of Colum-
bia Appropriation Act of March 2, 1889.
In 1854 Dr. Charles Gr. Page, who then resided in the
neighborhood of Whitney Avenue and 7th Street north-
west, constructed there an electrically operated car of
his own invention, and patented it as No. 10,480, which
he ran successfully on the tracks of the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad from the station of that road at 2d Street
and Pennsylvania Avenue northwest to Hyattsville or
Blaclensburg, Maryland, where it failed to function
effectively, and was brought back by horse power. Its
engine essentially consisted of a cross head which re-
ciprocated between two opposing sets of two electro-
magnets each, which were energized by a galvanic cur-
rent generated on the car and turned the wheels by
means of a connecting rod and a crank on the axle.
The first practicable application of mechanical power
for the propulsion of street cars in the District of Co-
lumbia was the electric system on the cars of the
Eckington and Soldiers' Home Eailway Company,
which was installed during 1888 on New York Avenue
from the east side of 7th Street east to Eckington, and
on 4th Street east to Michigan Avenue, and via that
avenue to within a short distance of the tracks of the
Baltimore and Ohio Eailroad during 1889 and 1890.
The power was developed by a steam power plant and
delivered to the cars by an overhead trolley system.
The overhead wires were removed in 1895, in accord-
ance with the charter, which only authorized their use
until July 1 of that year. The company also used
Tindall: Beginnings of Street Railways. 53
storage batteries on the part of its system on 5tli
Street west from New York Avenue to Louisiana Ave-
nue, thence to 6th Street west and via that street to the
steam railroad station at 6th and B Streets northwest,
but their weight and expense were prohibitive and they
were soon replaced by horses on those portions of its
route where overhead wires were forbidden, and oper-
ated by horse power until the standard electric system
by which its cars are now moved was installed.
This company also experimented in 1898 with an
electro-magnetic system of propulsion on North Capi-
tol Street between New York Avenue and T Street
northwest, known as the Willis system, which was
essentially similar to the Brown system with which an
experiment was made by the Capital Railway Com-
pany, as mentioned later.
The Eckington Railway Company and the Belt Rail-
way Company were required by the Act of June 10,
1896 (29 Stat., 318), to equip their lines ^^with com-
pressed-air motors"; and if after three months' trial
the Commissioners of the District of Columbia should
deem that system not satisfactory, the company should
install the underground electric device within eighteen
months from the date of said Act.
Both companies experimented with compressed-air
motors but soon passed into the hands of receivers
whom the court refused to authorize to provide motor
equipment. In 1899 both lines were equipped with the
standard underground elctric motive power.
The Metropolitan Railroad Company at first oper-
ated its cars by horse power. While its first president,
Samuel P. Brown, was in charge two horses were
hitched to each car, but in 1865, when John W. Thomp-
son was placed in that position, the two-horse cars
were supplanted by a small box car drawn by one
54 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
horse and managed by a driver who also attended to
the receipt of the fares deposited by the passengers.
While the Capital Traction Company was installing
a cable system of traction, the Metropolitan Eailroad
Company experimented during 1890 upon its F Street
line with a storage battery device, but the result was
unsatisfactory, and Congress, impatient at the delay,
passed the Act of August 2, 1894 (28 Stat., 217), di-
recting it to equij) its lines with an underground elec-
tric system within two years. The company accord-
ingly installed the present underground sliding-shoe
system, which was completed on its east and west line
on July 7, 1896, and on its north and south line in Jan-
uary, 1895.
The second kind of motive power applied to street
cars in the District was the underground cable which
the Washington and Georgetown Eailroad Company
began to install immediately after the approval of the
District Appropriation Act of March 2, 1889, which
required the street railroad companies in the District
to adopt mechanical appliances and to use only flat,
grooved rails. The 7th Street line of that company
was equipped and operated with cable by April 12,
1890, and the rest of its route by August 18, 1892.
The power houses from which this cable system de-
rived its energy were at 14th and E Streets northwest,
where the District Building now stands, and at 7th and
P Streets southwest. A large wheel pit connected
with this cable system was constructed in the middle
of the intersec1?ion of Pennsylvania Avenue and 14th
Street northwest. After the power house at 14th
Street was destroyed by fire on the night of September
29, 1897, its purchase by the government gave the Dis-
trict an ideal site for its Municipal Building.
The Capital Traction Company and the Columbia
Tindall: Beginnings of Street Railways. 55
Eailway Company were the only ones which used cable
propulsion. The company then decided to substitute
the underground electric system for the cable traction.
While that substitution was in progress, horses were
used to operate the cars on Pennsylvania Avenue and
on 14th Street. The old cable conduits were used for
the electrical installation. The 14th Street branch be-
gan operation under the electrical system on February
27, 1898; the Pennsylvania Avenue division on April
20, 1898, and the 7th Street section on May 26 of that
year.
The Columbia Railway Company installed a cable
system and began its operation on March 9, 1895, but
the superiority of the standard underground electric
system led to its substitution for cable traction on
July 22, 1899.
The next modern device was that which was em-
ployed by the Rock Creek Railway Company on its line
on U Street north from 9th to 18th Streets west, and
was known as the Love system. That system trans-
mitted the electric energy through a set of trolley
wheels which ran along underground conductor rails,
instead of through the sliding shoe which fulfills that
purpose in the present underground standard electric
appliance. The Love device was practicable, but more
expensive than that now used. Its use was limited to
that line.
In the spring of 1899 this system was abandoned and
the underground sliding-shoe contact system substi-
tuted for it and for the overhead electric system as far
as the Calvert Street Bridge over Rock Creek. The
portion of the route west of Rock Creek is operated by
an overhead trolley electrical system.
Several other interesting experiments were made
about this time with the object of discovering an ideal
56 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
motive power for street cars. One of them, which was
tried on a short stretch of track on 7th Street north of
Florida Avenue about 1890, consisted of two parallel
tubes six or eight inches in diameter which were in-
stalled in an underground conduit, and revolved
against a set of staggered friction wheels attached to
and depending from the car, and impelled the car on
the principle of a screw. The rotary motion was im-
parted to the tubes by small engines about five hundred
feet apart, along the tubes. As the air escaped from
the exhaust, it absorbed so much heat from the mois-
ture in the surrounding atmosphere that the ice so
generated clogged the gearing of the engines by which
the pipes were turned, and was an insuperable obstacle
to the efficient operation of the device.
During 1897 the Capital Railway Company tried on
M Street southeast, between 8th and 11th Streets, the
"Brown" system, consisting of magnets set in boxes
at regular distances along the track, which were ener-
gized by a current carried by a wire and were designed
to impart energy to the driving appliances on the car.
These magnets were brought in contact with a shoe
running the length of the car and depending from it,
some part of which constantly touched one of these
magnets. This system continued in a sort of experi-
mental stage until 1899, but in that year it also in-
stalled a double trolley system over the Navy Yard
Bridge, which proved a failure. When the company
fell under the management of the Washington Traction
and Electric Company, it was equipped with the stand-
ard underground electric plant, in common with the
other roads in that system.
Tindall: Beginnings of Street Railways. 57
Caks.
The cars first used by the Washington and George-
town Eailroad Company had side seats. They were
very small, but the company gradually used larger cars
to correspond with the increase in traffic. The weight
of these cars in 1872 may be inferred from the fact
that in that year one of them, practically empty, ran
over the ankles of a young man without permanently
injuring them.
They were unheated and cruelly cold in very cold
weather. In order to furnish sofne warmth for the
feet the aisle was bedded with straw a few inches deep,
into which the passengers carried mud and moisture,
and frequently used it as a cuspidor. I have seen
many passengers, including; members of Congress and
Senators, expose themselves to the censure of the fas-
tidious by such a breach of decency. The seats ran
lengthwise of the car, with an aisle between.
The original cars of the Metropolitan Railroad Com-
pany 'were two-horse cars, but in 1865 they were re-
placed by vehicles termed ''one-horse "box cars, which,
if the designation implies a general deprecation, jus-
tified their name. A box was attached next to the left-
hand side of the front door, into which the passenger
was expected to drop his fare.
In 1877 and 1879 and 1883 the Washington and
Georgetown Railroad Company placed one-horse cars
on parts of its lines to meet the competition of the
"Chariot Line" and the "Herdic Phaeton Company,"
the particulars of which are set out under those heads.
The two-horse cars were gradually reinstated on all
lines between 1886 and 1893, and the use of one-horse
cars within the limits of the city of Washington pro-
hibited after January 1, 1893, by Act of Congress ap-
proved July 29, 1892.
58 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
The cars of the Washington and Georgetown Com-
pany were at first equipped with a tongue or pole be-
tween the horses, but about 1872 these were discon-
tinued, as they were i3ractically useless. Their adop-
tion was an instance of unthinking adherence to prece-
dent, as poles were at that time an adjunct to all other
heavy vehicles, and conduced to their ready steering
and backing, but were superfluous on cars which were
steered by the tracks, and when there was occasion for
reversal could be readily backed by hitching the team
to the other end of |he cars. The Eckington and Sol-
diers ' Home Railway commenced in 1888 with the ordi-
nary electrically driven street cars, but in 1889 put in
use on its tracks a number of double-decked cars, which
had no motor equipment of their own but were towed
by the ordinary tractor cars of that line.
With the introduction of mechanical traction, the
character of the cars was correspondingly improved,
and their internal tidiness assured by appropriate po-
lice regulations, until there is little room for improve-
ment in them, except to better the ventilation of some
types of them, and to lessen the noise attending their
operation, which is a disgrace to the inventive spirit
of the age.
Contemporaneously with cable propulsion the Capi-
tal Traction Company operated two cars together ; the
rear car was called a ''trailer,"
Teacks.
The rails first used on street railroads here were so
shaped that the upper surface of the outer half of them
was enough higher than the upper surface of the inner
half to prevent the flange of the wheel from touching
the lower half. This design was succeeded by one
which provided a side groove on the inner edge and
Tindall: Beginnings of Street Railways. 59
lower than the crown of the rail for the flange to run
in. These rails were nailed to wooden stringers, which
rested on timber cross ties.
The first tracks of the Columbia Railway consisted
of a simple flat iron band nailed on top of wooden
stringers so as to allow the flange to move freely along
the inner edge of the latter. They were succeeded by
a flat rail, and in July, 1899, by the standard flat
grooved rail.
On the 9th Street line of the Metropolitan Railroad
Company the tracks at first consisted merely of wood
strips, which rapidly became worn, nailed on top of the
sleepers. This was done to meet the peremptory re-
quirement of the Board of Public Works that the Com-
pany lay its tracks on that street as the paving of the
roadway progressed. Standard iron rails could not
be promptly obtained. Soon after strap iron was
nailed to the top of the stringers, and sometimes the
rails were laid immediately on the concrete pavement.
The clause in the District of Columbia Appropria-
tion Act of March 2, 1889, which required the street
railroad companies to install mechanical motive power,
also compelled them to lay a flat-grooved rail. That
class of rail had been used in England for a number of
years. It was contended by the railroad companies,
as a reason why they should not be put to the expense
of changing the rails, that the groove would fill with
ice in winter and interfere with railroad traffic; but
that has only happened seriously once, when in the
winter of February, 1899, the temperature was for
three succeeding days below zero, and on one of those
days sixteen degrees below; and on the 13th of that
month, and several days thereafter, the snow was
thirty inches deep on the level and several feet high
in drifts.
60 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
The normal operation of the street railroads in the
District during the years 1871 to 1874 was often ob-
structed by the disturbed condition of the streets, due
to the improvident manner which occasionally charac-
terized the prosecution of the work on them by the
Board of Public Works. At times grading the entire
length of a street or avenue would be in progress, and
the railroad tracks were supported on stilts to permit
the work. The tracks were consequently so unstable
that the cars were constantly running off of them.
The loss in fares as a result of that chaotic condition
was enormous ; but by a sort of legal irony, the com-
panies were fully assessed for the expense of the
''benefit so conferred" as a "special" improvement.
Much of the loss to the companies and discomfort and
delay to the traveling public might have been avoided
by restricting the street upheaval to shorter stretches
at one time. During the street work by the Board of
Public Works on F Street north, it became necessary
for the Metropolitan Eailroad Company to cover com-
pletely the space between its rails with boards on that
street between 9th and 14th Streets to prevent the
miring of its horses in the soft earth.
It was quite common in those days for the drivers to
drive a car off the track at any point of the route, turn
it around on the street, and proceed in the opposite
direction; sometimes to go entirely around a block.
The box cars were light enough in weight to permit
such handling with ease.
When street railroads were first constructed in the
District of Columbia, the spaces between the rails and
tracks and for two feet outside the latter were paved
with cobble stones. . This was demonstrated by expe-
rience to be the best for the horses by which the cars
were drawn, both for foothold and for the health of the
horses' feet and limbs.
Tindall: Beginnings of Street Railways. Gl
The organic act of June 11, 1878, provided that
street car companies might continue to use such pave-
ments between their rails and tracks, but required them
to conform to the kind of pavement of any street
which crossed their tracks ; but by an order of April
19, 1889, the Commissioners prohibited the paving of
any street railroad tracks on any paved street with
that material. Since then track spaces have been
paved with wooden block, asphalt, vitrified brick and
other material producing an even surface. It is cus-
tomary to lay two rows of scoria bricks lengthwise
along the outer rail of each track to minimize the
deteriorating effect of vibration of the rail on the con-
tiguous bituminous concrete pavement. This practice
has been in vogue almost ever since, with the difference
that originally a row of bricks was laid lengthwise
next the track and one laid endwise to that.
The tardiness of the Columbia Eailway Company in
replacing its tracks with the flat-grooved girder rails
and changing its motive power as required by the Act
of March 2, 1889, was the cause of the introduction in
the Senate on April 8, 1892, of a resolution portentous
of trouble for the Commissioners in requiring them to
report to the Senate what companies had not complied
with the law, and why. It required all the ingenuity
the Commissioners could muster to explain as they did
in their letter of May 6, 1892 (L.S. 60, 302i C), why
they had not been more importunate toward the com-
panies, but a slight ambiguity in the statute furnished
a plausible excuse, which baffled the author of the reso-
lution if it did not satisfy him.
Eemoval of Disused Teacks.
The Act to compel street railway companies in the
District of Columbia to remove abandoned tracks, and
62
Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
for other purposes, approved June 25, 1898 (30 Stat.,
489), requires that
"thereafter whenever the track or tracks or any part thereof
of any street railway company in the District of Columbia
shall not have been regularly operated for railway purposes
upon a sehedule approved by the Commissioners for a period
of three months, the Commissioners of said District, in their
discretion, may thereupon notify such company to remove
said unused tracks and to place the street in good condition;
and if such company shall neglect or refuse to remove Siaid
tracks and place the street in good condition within sixty
days after such notice, the directors of said company shall be
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be liable to a fine
of ten dollars for each and every day during which said tracks
are permitted to remain upon the street or streets or said
roadway shall remain out of repair, which fine shall be re-
covered in the police court of said District, in the name of said
District as other fines and penalties are now recovered in said
court." (Sec 710 of Code, also.)
Recipkocal Use of Tracks.
' ' On and after one year from June 25, 1898, it shall be un-
lawful for any street railway company operating its system
or parts of its system over any portion oi^ the underground
electric lines owned and operated by another street railway
company in the eity of Washington to continue such operation
or to enter into reciprocal trackage relations with any other
company, as provided for under existing law, unless its motive
power for the propulsion of its cars shall be the same as that
of the company whose tracks are used or to be used. For
every violation of this Act the company violating it shall be
subject to a fine of ten dollars for every car operated in
violation of the provisions of this Act, said fine to be collected
and applied in the same manner as is provided by existing
laws in respect of other fines in the District of Columbia."
Approved June 25, 1898 (30 Stat., 489). (Also sec. 711 of
Code.)
Tindall: Beginnings of Street Railways. 63
Steeet Paving Adjacent to Tracks.
The organic Act of June 11, 1878, prescribes that
"when any street or avenue through which a street rail-
way runs shall be paved, such railway company shall bear all
of the expense for that portion of the work lying between the
exterior rails of the tracks of such roads, and for a distance
of two feet from and exterior to such track or tracks on each
side thereof, and of keeping the same in repair, but that if
any street railway company shall neglect or refuse to perform
the work required by this Act, said pavement shall be laid
between the tracks and exterior thereto of such railway by
the District of Columbia ; and if such company shall fail or re-
fuse to pay the sum due from them in respect of the work done
by or under the orders of the proper officials of said District
in such case of the neglect or refusal of such railway company
to perform the work required as aforesaid, the Commissioners
of the District of Columbia shall issue certificates of indebted-
ness against the property, real or personal, of such railway
company, which certificates shall bear interest at the rate of
ten per centum per annum until paid, and which, until they
are paid, shall remain and be a lien upon the property on or
against which they are issued together with the franchise of
said company ; and if the said certificates are not paid within
one year, the said Commissioners of the District of Columbia
may proceed to sell the property against which they are issued,
or so much thereof as may be necessary to pay the amount due,
such sale to be first duly advertised daily for one week in some
newspaper published in the city of Washington, and to be at
public auction to the highest bidder. Also that when street
railways cross any street or avenue, the pavement between
the tracts of such railway shall conform to the pavement used
upon such street or avenue, and the companies owning these
intersecting railroads shall pay for such pavements in the
same manner and proportion as required of other railway
companies under the provisions of this section."
64 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Faees and Tickets.
In no feature of our street car service has there been
a greater variety than in the rate of fare.
The Washington and Georgetown Railroad Com-
pany never charged more than five cents cash for a
continuous ride on its tracks in Washington and
Georgetown, but was authorized by the Act of June 30,
1864, to charge five cents for each three miles outside
of these municipalities. No provision was then made
for the issue of tickets by that company.
In order to meet the competition of a so-called
''Chariot" line and that of the "Herdic Phaeton
Line," from 1879 to 1883 fhis company placed in serv-
ice a number of one-horse cars, the fare on which was
three cents a passenger.
The Act of May 24, 1870, incorporating the Columbia
Railway ComjDany, authorized it to receive a maximum
fare of six cents, but did not require tickets.
The original charter of the Metropolitan Railroad
Company, enacted July 1, 1864, fixed the rate of fare
at five cents per passenger by its first section. Section
23 required the Company "to have prepared tickets
for jDassage on their cars, and to keep them at their
office for sale by the package of twenty-five or over, at
the rate of twenty-five for a dollar." But this was
changed by section one of'' an Act of March 3, 1865^ to
not exceeding eight cents for a single fare, and by sec-
tion four, ''for tickets at the rate of sixteen for one
dollar." The company thereupon arbitrarily split the
difference by exacting a fare of seven cents. It was
customary on the one-horse cars, at first, for the pas-
sengers to hand a ten-cent piece or ten-cent fractional
currency in paper, which w£^s the common currency
during the Civil War period, through the hole in the
Tindall: Beginnings of Street Railways. 65
door and receive from the driver an envelope contain-
ing a three-cent piece and a ticket which he deposited in
the ticket box. The driver also had envelopes contain-
ing change for one dollar, fifty cents and twenty-five
cents.
The one-horse cars were the scene of amusing inci-
dents in connection with that system of paying fares
after the companies began to sell six tickets for twenty-
five cents. Some thrifty travelers habitually seated
themselves near the cash box, and as a cash fare was
passed along from a passenger in the rear, would
pocket the money and put a ticket in the box, and thus
earn a part or the whole of their own fare for the trip.
It is reputed of a celebrated divine of Georgetown who
■was often the recipient of charitable contributions
from strangers as well as parishioners, that once while
he was sitting next the box, a quarter was passed up
to purchase a package of tickets and was transferred
by him to his pocket with a gracious ''I thank you!
Small favors thankfully received ! ' '
The Connecticut Avenue and Park Railway Com-
pany was authorized to charge six cents per passenger,
or issue twenty tickets for one dollar.
The Boundary and Silver Springs Railway Com-
pany was limited to five cents to Rock Creek Church
Road, ten cents to Brightwood and fifteen cents to the
Boundary of the District.
The Brightwood Railway Company, the Rock Creek
Railway Company and the Georgetown and Tennally-
town Railway Company were required by an Act of
February 26, 1895, to issue four coupon tickets for
twenty-five cents, and to redeem tickets collected by the
Metropolitan Railroad Company at a rate of two and
one half cents each.
The Washington and Great Falls Electric Company
G
66
Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
was originally authorized to charge ten cents, but this
was changed to five cents by an Act of June 5, 1900, by
which this company became the Washington Eailway
and Electric Company.
The clause on the subject of fares in the charter of
the Anacostia and Potomac Eiver Eailway Company
provides for a sliding scale. Whenever the net re-
ceipts shall exceed ten per cent, of the actual cost of
the road, it shall reduce its fare from five cents per
passenger, so that such receipts shall not exceed ten
per cent, of the actual cost of the construction, equip-
ment and maintenance of the road.
The Belt Eailway Company was authorized by an
act amending its charter, approved March 3, 1881 (21
Stat., 404), to charge two cents fare between the Bu-
reau of Printing and Engraving and the nearest junc-
tion with any intersecting road, but that act was re-
pealed on August 9, 1888.
An Act of Congress approved May 25, 1894 (28 Stat.,
78), requires each street railway and street herdic
transportation company to issue its own tickets and
sell no tickets isued by any other company. That said
tickets shall be printed and sold in sheets of six tickets
each, and after having been once used shall be cancelled
by the company which issued the same: That all street
railway companies and herdic transportation com-
panies doing business in the District of Columbia shall
receive and exchange tickets with each other and re-
deem in money any tickets in excess of the number
exchanged.
This legislation was in a large measure due to the
Herdic Phaeton Company. Previous to that law the
herdic company sold car tickets received by it in lots
of one hundred for $3.90, and later issued its own books
of tickets at the same rate. Many of its passengers
Tindall: Begmnings of Street Railways. 67
then adopted the custom of sitting close by the ticket
receptacles, there being then no conductor on the
herdic line, and taking all fares, whether cash or
tickets of the car lines, and depositing herdic company
tickets in the receptacles. This interception of cash
fares threatened to prove disastrous to the herdic
company, which then obtained the passage of the law
above mentioned in order to compel the railway com-
panies to accept its tickets. Before the passage of
this statute the tickets were repeatedly used, and often
until they were disgustingly soiled.
The present fare receivable by every street railroad
corporation in the District of Columbia, or companies
hereafter organized, is fixed by section eleven of the
Act of Congress approved June 10, 1896 (29 Stat.,
320), extending the route of the Eckington and Sol-
diers' Home Eailway Company and the Belt Railway
Company, at not exceeding five cents per passenger, or
six tickets for twenty-five cents interchangeable with
all existing railway companies in the District.
Transfers.
The first reference to transfers of passengers on
street cars operating in the District of Columbia was
in section one of ''An Act to Incorporate the Washing-
ton and Georgetown Eailroad Company," approved
May 17, 1862 (12 Stat., 388), as follows: "Receiving
therefor a rate of fare not exceeding five cents a pas-
senger, for any distance between the termini of either
of said railways, or between the termini of either
of said branch railways, or between either terminus
of said main railway and the terminus of either of said
branch railivays."
The transfer of passengers was effected by the sta-
tioning of an employee of the railroad company at the
68 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
intersection of the main line at 7tli Street and Pennsyl-
vania Avenue, and 14th Street and that avenue north-
west, with the intersecting branch line, who issued to
each i^assenger thence to the terminus of the main line
or branch as the case might be.
A large class of unprincipled passengers took ad-
vantage of the manner in which these transfers were
issued at 7th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue to rol)
the company of a material part of its revenues by an
exchange of transfers with passengers who came from
an opposite direction and got off at that point. They
used the transfer so obtained for the return trip, and
this completed a round trip for one fare. The greater
number of these offenders were women who visited
Center Market to purchase marketing, and illustrated
by their venality how weak is the influence of civiliza-
tion to restrain the predatory instinct of the human
brute.
The street railroad management eventually discov-
ered the practice and established, substantially, the sys-
tem of transfers now in vogue, by which the conductor "
issues transfer to passengers at the time he takes their
fares.
The subject of reciprocal transfers and use of track-
age between the several street railroads operating in
the District of Columbia was subsequently embodied in
the following legislation :
"Sec. 5. That the Metropolitan Railroad Company is
hereby authorized and required immediately to make recip-
rocal transfer arrangements with street railroad companies
whose lines now connect w^ith its lines, and to furnish such
facilities therefor as the public convenience may require . . .
and to enter into reciprocal trackage arrangements with con-
necting roads. . . . Provided, That every street railway com-
pany in the District of Columiba whose lines connect, or whose
' Tindall: Beginnings of Street Railways. 69
lines may hereafter connect, with the lines of any other street
railway company, is hereby subject to the same requirements
as to transfers and trackage arrangements, and upon similar
conditions, as in this section provided in the case of the Metro-
politan Railroad Company and the lines connecting there-
with. ' ' Approved August 2, 1894 (28 Stat., 217) .
''Provided, That the fifth section of the Act of Congress
approved August second, eighteen hundred and ninety-four,
relating to reciprocal trackage arrangements by the iNIetro-
politan and other railroad companies, be, and the same is
hereby amended by adding the following thereto : Provided,
That any suburban street railroad company in the District
of Columbia intersecting or connecting with any urban street
railroad may have such reasonable number of its trail cars
drawn by such urban railroad company, over the route of such
urban railroad for the transportation of through passengers,
as shall not, in the judgment of the supreme court of the Dis-
trict of Columbia, be to the undue detriment of such urban
railroad company. The schedule, kind, and number of cars
to be drawn, compensation therefor, and all other matters
relating thereto in the event of said railroad companies being
unable to agree between themselves shall, from time to time,
on petition of either railroad company, be decided bj' said
supreme court: Provided further, That in no event shall any
railroad company be entitled under said law providing for
trackage arrangements or under the provisions of this Act
to collect fares except from such passengers as board the cars
upon their own line: Provided further. That this provision
shall not be construed to affect rights heretofore acquired
either by contract or under any order of court made under
authority of law." Approved June 11, 1896 (29 Stat., 399).
"Sec. 3, That the Capital Railway Company, the Metro-
politan Railroad Company, and the Capital Traction Com-
pany are hereby required to issue free transfers at the point
of intersection of their respective lines, so that for the pay-
70 Records of the Columbia Historical Society. \
ment of one fare a passenger on, either road shall have the
privilege of riding- over the lines of both." Approved May
28, 1896 (29 Stat, 188).
"The Brightwood Railway Company, the Rock Creek Rail-
way Company, and the Georgetown and Tennallytown Rail-
road Company be, and they are hereby, respectively, author-
ized and required to sell four coupon tickets for twenty-five
cents, good for one continuous ride in the District of Columbia
over the lines of said companies, respectively, and the lines
of the Metropolitan Railroad Company, and the said suburban
roads shall redeem the tickets collected by the Metropolitan
Railroad Company, at the rate of two ^nd one half cents for
each coupon ticket presented hj the said Metropolitan Rail-
road Company. Any of the aforesaid railroad companies
which shall refuse to make sale of tickets or to accept tickets
so sold as herein provided for, shall be liable to a fine of fifty
dollars for each such violation, to be recovered in the police
court of the District of Columbia as other fines are recovered."
Approved February 26, 1895 (28 Stat., 683).
The corporation counsel, Mr. Conrad H. Syme, ren-
dered an opinion on November 11, 1913, that the fore-
going law of May 28, 1896, contemplated only mutually
interchangeable transfers and not free transfers, and
was inoperative from the fact that no penalty was at-
tached by that law to a failure or neglect to make such
transfer arrangements, as follows :
"The act of May 28, 1896, apphed only to free transfers
between the Capital Railway Co. and the Metropolitan and
Capital Traction lines at points where the Capital Railway
Co.'s lines intersected their lines. It did not contemplate free
transfers between the latter companies at points where their
lines intersected. The Capital Railway Co. was at that time
a recently incorporated, inconsiderable, semisuburban road in
the extreme southeastern section of the said District. The
act was evidently for the purpose of aiding this company, as
the service it was thus required to extend to the passengers
Tindall: Begvrmings of Street Railways. 71
of the other two companies was negligible when compared
with that which they were thus compelled to permit its pas-
sengers. . . . Neither section 5 of the act of Congress of
August 2, 1894, nor section 3 of the act of May 28, 1896, can
be construed as requiring reciprocal free transfers among the
several street railway lines in the District of Columbia.
"Reciprocal free transfers are transfers issued to the pas-
senger without extra cost to him. This term does not mean
that the passenger is getting something for nothing. It means
that he is getting more transportation for his money than he
has heretofore had the legal right to demand.
"Section 5 of the act of August 2, 1894, contemplated
mutual interchangeable transfers, not free transfers. No
penalty was attached to a failure to make these transfer
arrangements."
Feee Teansfees Required where Change of Cars is
Eendered Necessary by Lack of Reciprocal
Trackage Facilities.
"All street railway companies within the District of Co-
lumbia operating their systems or parts of their systems in
the city of Washington by use of the tracks of one or more of
such companies, under a reciprocal trackage agreement, as
provided for under existing law, which shall be compelled by
reason of the passage of the act of June 25, 1898, (30 Stat.,
489), to discontinue the use of the tracks of another company,
shall issue free transfers to their patrons from one system to
the other at such junctions of their respective lines as may
be provided for by the Commissioners of the District of Co-
lumbia. ' '
This relates to cases where the continuity of a street-
car line is broken by the intervention of the tracks of
another company which has been mutually used and
where such used shall have been discontinued.
72 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Chariots.
The development and improvement of the horse-car
lines of the city until they were superseded by the cable
and electric methods of propulsion were in large meas-
ure the result of the competition of the chariot and
herdic lines.
The so-called chariots were put in service on Penn-
sylvania Avenue by Mr. John B. Daish on March 5,
1877, the day of President Hayes's inauguration. Fif-
teen of these vehicles, operated by horse power, ran
from 22d Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, via G
Street and the avenue, to the foot of the Capitol. Sub-
sequently twenty more were put on a route from 32d
and M Streets in Georgetown to 4th Street and Penn-
sjdvania Avenue southeast. To meet this competition
the Washington and Georgetown Eailroad Company
placed on Pennsylvania Avenue from 17th Street to
the Peace Monument a line of so-called bob-tail one-
horse cars, with a three-cent fare. The chariot line,
which had a fare of five cents or six tickets for a quar-
ter, accepted the tickets of the street railway com-
panies and resold them at a discount in large quantities
to the government, and to the department stores and
other purchasers, a course which was necessitated by
the refusal of the street railway companies to redeem
them. The chariots were continued for two and a half
or three years, when, the adventure not proving profit-
able, the equipment was sold to the Washington and
Georgetown Eailroad Company.
Herdic Lines.
The Herdic Phaeton Compam^ in December, 1879,
commenced carrying passengers in vehicles which took
their names from their designer, Peter H. Herdic. of
Tindall: Beginnings of Street Railways. 73
Wilmington Delaware. This company commenced
operations with a line of one-horse vehicles from 22d
and Gr Streets northwest by way of Gr Street and Penn-
sylvania Avenue north of the Capitol to the Navy Yard
gate. To meet this competition the Washington and
Georgetown Railroad Company reestablished the line
of one-horse cars with a three-cent fare from 17th
Street and Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol, with
which it had fought the chariot line, but so large a
proportion of the traffic took advantage of these cars
that the railroad company was compelled to discon-
tinue them and meet the competition of the herdics
with a more frequent two-horse service.
In 1883 the herdic company established a line operated
by horse power, from 11th and East Capitol Streets to
15th and F Streets northwest, by way of East Cai^itol
Street, Pennsylvania Avenue and 15th Street. This line
passed through the Capitol grounds and around the
Capitol to the north, the vehicles passing under the
steps of the Senate wing to discharge passengers, and
in inclement weather doing the same at the House
wing. To meet the competition resulting from the
15th street portion of this line, the Washington and
Georgetown Railroad Company in 1884 replaced its
old one-horse cars on the 14th Street line with two-
horse cars, and instead of stopping them at 15th Street
and New York Avenue, continued them on Pennsyl-
vanue Avenue, part going up to the east front of the
Capitol from the south and part replacing the branch
line which had been maintained from the Peace Monu-
ment to the Old Baltimore and Ohio depot at New Jer-
sey Avenue and C Street. Soon after this the herdic
company moved its route from 15th Street to 16tli
Street. About this time it installed an entire new
equipment of two-horse coaches.
74 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
In 1886 it established a line on I and K Streets to
13th and north on 13th to T Street northwest; and
another line west on I Street to 17th Street, on 17th to
N, and on N to 21st Street northwest, using on the
latter some of its old one-horse coaches.
In 1887 the herdic company discontinued that part
of its service from the Capitol to the Navy Yard gate,
as well as its ends at 13th and T Streets and 21st and
N Streets, and placed a two-horse line from 22d and
G Streets northwest to the Toll Gate at 15th and H
Streets northeast, by way of Gr, 15th, F, 5th and H
streets, running in competition with the Columbia Rail-
way Company's one-horse car line. To meet this com-
petition the Columbia Eailway Company replaced its
one-horse with two-horse cars, and later inaugurated
a system of reciprocal transfers with the Metropolitan
Railroad Company at 14th Street and New York Ave-
nue and at 9th Street and New York Avenue.
The herdic company continued to run its vehicles
until the death of Commodore Potts of Philadelphia,
the principal stockholder, in 1896, when it ceased
operations.
The Metkopolitan Coach Company.
When the Herdic Phaeton Company failed, it was
succeeded by the Metropolitan Coach Company, with
Mr. S. Dana Lincoln as its president, which, on May 1,
1897, commenced operating a line from 16th and T
Streets to 22d and G- Streets northwest, under a recip-
rocal transfer arrangement with the Metropolitan
Railroad Company at 15th and H Streets northwest.
On July 30, 1904, this company was incorporated
under the general incorporation laws of the District
of Columbia by Herbert F. Pillsbury and others for
the term of 100 years. Its capital stock consisted of
Tindall: Beginnings of Street Railways. 75
250 shares at a par value of $100 per share. Its car
barn and principal place of business was 1914 E Street
northwest and its offices at No. 54 H Street northwest,
Washington, D. C.
In 1909 it replaced its horse-drawn coaches with
gasoline motor vehicles, experimenting with four dif-
ferent types, and reequipping its entire line in Feb-
ruary, 1913. In May, 1914, it extended its line, which
then operated from 16th and U Streets to 15th Street
and New York Avenue, on Pennsylvania Avenue to
9th Street west.
The passenger service rendered by the company was
the subject of frequent complaint, and ultimately of
legislation by Congress, which passed an Act approved
August 24, 1912 (37 Stat., 490), providing for the kind
of vehicles and other equipment it might use, and that
it should issue to and receive from the Capitol Trac-
tion Company and the Washington Railway and Elec-
tric Company transfer tickets without additional fare.
The rate of fare on this line was never specifically
prescribed by law and the companies were advised by
the corporation counsel that the general law that pas-
senger transportation lines should charge five cents
a single fare, or six tickets for twenty-five cents, did
not apply.
The Commissioners on February 21, 1913, passed an
order establishing a time table for the operation of its
vehicles.
The route of the company at the time it ceased opera-
tion was from 16th and U Streets northwest south to
Massachusetts Avenue; thence east on said avenue to
15th Street ; south on 15th Street, via east side of Mc-
Pherson Square, to Pennsylvania Avenue; west on
said avenue to Madison Place, north on said Place to
H Street; east on H Street to 15th Street and return
76 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
over same route, with the option, under the Act of
August 24, 1912, of sending its vehicles south on 15th
Street and east on Pennsylvania Avenue to 8th Street
west, and then reverse to 16th and U Streets.
At the date of its discontinuance the company oper-
ated six vehicles of a type devised by a committee des-
ignated by the Commissioners of the District of Co-
lumbia October 9, 1912, in accordance with the Act of
Congress, August 24, 1912, which cost $3,749 each.
This enterprise had a troubled existence and went
out of business on August 13, 1915. Its last car ceased
to run at 4 o'clock P.M. on that date, when the com-
pany was adjudged a bankrupt.
Fendees and Wheel Gtuakds.
The District of Columbia appropriation law ap-
proved August 7, 1894, directed the Commissioners to
make and enforce regulations requiring that the street
cars operated by other means than horse power should
be provided with fenders for the protection of lives and
limbs of all people in the District. The Commission-
ers, on September 25 of that year, accordingly made
regulations prescribing the type of fenders and wheel
guards and other details connected therewith, and
have made a number of changes in the regulations to
meet new conditions.
Soon after the first regulations were adopted, one of
the Board of Commissioners, which had made it, was
knocked down on Pennsylvania Avenue by a street car,
and his life was saved by the fender and wheelguard
he had been instrumental in prescribing.
The Colok Line.
For two years after the Washington and George-
town Kailroad Company began operations it ran a
Tindall: Beginnings of Street Railways. 77
number of cars which bore swinging signs along the
sides of the top, in plain black letters ''This car exclu-
sively for colored people." But these signs did not
have the desired effect, as the white traveling public
did not hesitate to disregard it. Colored people were
also allowed on the other cars, but were restricted to
the front and rear platforms.
When the Metropolitan Railroad Company was char-
tered, the objectionable practice was precluded by a
clause which ''Provided that there shall be no regula-
tion excluding any jjerson from any car on account" of
color." This prohibition was made general eight
months later by section five of the amendatorj^ act of
March 3, 1865, "That the provision prohibiting any
exclusion from any car on account of color, already
applicable to the Metropolitan Eailroad Company, is
hereby extended to every other railroad in the District
of Columbia."
One of the frequent passengers on the street cars
about 1866 to 1871 was an old colored woman of na-
tional distinction named Sojourner Truth. One day
while she was riding on a car someone said in her hear-
ing: "Niggers oughtn't be allowed to ride in street
cars." To which Sojourner meekly remarked: "Street
cars is for niggers. White ladies and gentlemen rides
in they own carriages." Which brought that by-play
to an abrupt ending, to the obvious amusement of the
other passengers.
Jitney Busses.
The jitney bus business was introduced in the Dis-
trict of Columbia in the spring of 1915. It derives
its name from the colloquial designation given to the
five-cent piece by the negro hack drivers in southern
California. Jitney busses in the District of Columbia
are classed with public transportation agencies subject
78 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
to the approval and surveillance of the Public Utilities
Commission, as following a definite route, and being-
sub ject to financial liability, to be shown by approved
exhibits or by certificate of insurance, for injury to
passengers. The law under which they were licensed
was the District of Columbia Appropriation Law, ap-
proved July 1, 1902, which required
"That persons operating vehicles for hire or for the trans-
portation of passengers in the D. C. with sufficient regularity
to enable the public to take passage therein at any point in-
termediate to the stable or istancl of such a vehicle, or operate
such vehicle over a route sufficiently definite to enable the
public to ascertain where such vehicle can be found en route,
shall pay a license tax for each such vehicle according to its
seating capacity from $6.00 to $10.00 per annum subject to
the approval of the Commissioners."
MoTOK Vehicles.
The law respecting licensing these vehicles, as well
as all other ''motor vehicles," was amended by a clause
in the District Appropriation Act approved March 3,
1917, as follows :
' ' On and after December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and
seventeen, all licenses, including identification tags and regis-
trations, for motor vehicles heretofore granted shall expire
and become null and void, and on and after January first,
nineteen hundred and eighteen, there shall be charged an-
nually for the licensing and registration of motor vehicles the
following fees, which shall be paid annually to the collector
of taxes of the District of Columbia and which shall include
registration and the furnishing of an identification number
tag — $5 for each vehicle of more than twenty-four horsepower
and not exceeding thirty horsepower, $10 for each vehicle of
more than thirty horsepower, $3 for each vehicle of twenty-
four horsepower or less, and $2 for each motor cycle or similar
motor vehicle: Provided, That the term "motor vehicle" used
Tindall: Beginnings of Street Railways. 79
herein shall include all vehicles propelled by internal-com-
bustion engines, electricity, or steam, except traction engines,
road rollers, and vehicles propelled only upon rails and tracks :
Provided further, That motor vehicles owned and maintained
in the District of Columbia by the United States or the gov-
ernment of the District of Columbia shall be registered and
furnished identification tags without cost: And provided fur-
ther, That the Commissioners of the District of Columbia are
authorized to establish such rules and regulations and to affix
thereto such fines and penalties as in their judgment are nec-
essary for the enforcement of this Act and the regulations
authorized hereunder : Provided further, That motor vehicles,
owned or operated by persons not legal residents of the Dis-
trict of Columbia but who shall have complied with the laws
of the State of their legal residence requiring the registration
of motor vehicles or licensing of operators thereof and the
display of identification or registration numbers on such ve-
hicles and which identification numbers shall be displayed on
such motor vehicles as pro\4ded by the laws and regulations
of the District of Columbia while used or operated within the
District, shall not be required to be licensed or registered or
bear other identification numbers under the laws and regula-
tions of the District if the State in which the owner or op-
erator of such motor vehicle has his legal residence extends
the same privilege to the motor vehicles owned or operated
by legal residents of the District of Columbia."
SiGHT-SEEIXG VEHICLES.
The license for these is the same as for jitneys, ex-
cept that it is granted upon the approval of the Com-
missioners, not sitting as a Pnblic Utilities Commis-
sion. The sight-seeing traffic of the city originated in
the latter part of 1902 when the American Sight-seeing
Car and Coach Company commenced operating street
cars on the tracks of the Washington Eailway and
Electric Company from 9th Street and Pennsylvania
Avenue. In 1904 large sight-seeing automobiles were
80 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
introduced to enable visitors to view the points of gen-
eral interest with convenience and expedition.
Taxicabs.
The passenger vehicles called taxicabs are named
from the instrument designated a taximeter with which
they are equipped for the purpose of indicating the
amount of tax or fare, according to the distance trav-
eled or time elapsed. They were first introduced here
in 1908. For license charges for these vehicles, see
extract from law of March 3, 1917, under head of ''Jit-
ney Busses."
Livery Stables.
Livery stables are licensed at $25 per annum for ten
stalls, or less, and $2 for each additional stall, but their
vehicles cannot occupy public stands without the addi-
tional license required for that purpose.
Miscellaneous Passengee Vehicles for Hire.
Hacks, coaches and vehicles drawn by one horse pay
$6.00 license; if drawn by more than one horse, pay
$9.00 license. All auto vehicles carrying passengers
pay the latter rate.
Drivers.
In the District of Columbia no person, not an em-
ployee of a street railway company, shall engage in
driving or operating any passenger vehicle for hire
without first procuring a license which shall not be
issued except upon evidence that the applicant is a
person of ' ' good moral character. ' '
"Each license shall be numbered, and there shall he kept
in the ]\Ietropolitan police department a record of each person
so licensed and of all matters affecting his qualifications."
Tindall: Beginnings of Street Railways. 81
The license fee is one dollar per annum. The cost
of a badge is fifty cents in addition to license fee.
"A driver's license may be revoked by the Commissioners
of the District of Columbia upon conviction of the licensee
of a violation of any law or regulation governing the main-
tenance or disposition upon the public streets of public ve-
hicles for hire, or upon conviction of,' a crime involving moral
turpitude ; and any licensee shall become disqualified for any
cause or reason which might endanger the safety of pas-
sengers. ' '
Wheel Tax.
The Act of Congress approved July 1, 1902, making
appropriations to provide for the exiDenses of the gov-
ernment of the District of Columbia for the fiscal year
ending June 30, 1903, was amended by adding to sec-
tion seven of the said Act the requirement
' ' That there shall be assessed and collected an annual wheel
tax on all automobiles, or other motor vehicles, owned or
operated in the District of Columbia, having seats for only
two persons, the sum of three dollars ; and on all such vehicles
having seats for more than two persons, an additional tax
of two dollars for each additional seat. ' '
No effort has been made to collect this tax.
Steeet-Ckossing Policemen,
In the act to define the rights of purchasers of the
Belt Railway, and for other purposes, approved June
24, 1898, Congress tucked away a section three, requir-
ing the Commissioners of the District of Columbia to
station special policemen at such street railway cross-
ings and intersections in the City of Washington as
they may deem necessary, and required that the ex-
pense be paid monthly pro rata by the companies,
and that cars be brought to a full stop before making
such crossings.
7
82 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Until recently these officers were paid $75 a month,
until the Act of February 10, 1912, gave them from
that date the same salary as regular members of the
police force, with 30 days' sick leave and 20 days' an-
nual leave.
By section 12 of the District Appropriation Act of
September 1, 1916, these officers were placed upon the
same footing in all respects, except that their pay
should continue to be derived from the electric street
railroads; and the Superintendent of Police empow-
ered to assign any policeman to street-crossing duty,
and vice versa. They also, under the manual, become
entitled to unlimited sick leave as determined by the
Board of Surgeons.
In their annual reports to Congress for the calendar
year 1916, the several street car companies in the Dis-
trict of Columbia state that their roads and equipment
cost approximately $51,000,000 and that they carried
over 140,000,000 passengers during that period.
The total length of their tracks is 95.74 miles. One
more mile via 18th and 19th Streets, from Pennsyl-
vania Avenue to Virginia Avenue, is projected.
Underground
Electric.
Overhead
Electric.
Name of Company.
Double
Track.
Single
Track.
Double
Track.
Single
Track.
Total.
3files.
23.09
20.19
dliles.
6.34
3.60
.46
3files.
26.77
3.57
Miles.
3.99
60.19
Capital Traction Co
Washington & Virginia Co
27.36
.46
East Washington Traction Co
.50
2.65
2.33
.50
Washington Interurban Co.
. . .
2.65
Washington & Maryland Co.
2.33
Total
Tracks used in common by Capital Traction Co.
43.28
1.55
.70
10.40
30.34
9.47
93.49
1.55
Tracks used in common by Washington Railway
.70
Total
45.53
10.40
30.34
9.47
95.74
Tindall: Begmnvngs of Street Railways. 83
The street railroads are subject to strict and com-
prehensive supervision by the Commissioners of the
District of Columbia, in their capacity as members of
the Public Utilities Commission, created and empow-
ered by Section 82 A, the Act of Congress, approved
March 4, 1913, who are now investigating the affairs
of those companies, with the view of securing for the
public the advantages to which it is entitled from such
common carriers, with due regard to the just claims
of the latter.
Speed of Street Caes, and Other Vehicles, and
Animals.
Under authority of the clause in the Act of Congress
approved January 26, 1887, which first authorized the
Commissioners of the District of Columbia to make
police regulations, and specifically vested them with
power ''to regulate the movements of vehicles on the
public streets and avenues for the preservation of
order and protection of life and limb, ' ' and under the
reiteration of that authorization in the Joint Resolu-
tion ' ' To regulate licenses of proprietors of theaters in
the city of Washington, District of Columbia, and for
other purposes," approved February 26, 1892, the
Commissioners made police regulations prescribing
the rate of speed of street cars and other vehicles and
animals on the public highways.
The authority to make regulations governing the
operation of street cars was transferred to the Inter-
state Commerce Commission by Public Act No. 134,
approved May 23, 1908, as follows :
''Sec. 16. That every street railroad company or corporation
owning, controlling, leasing or operating one or more street
railroads within the District of Columbia shall on each and all
of its railroads supply and operate a sufficient number of
84 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
ears, clean, sanitary, in good repair, with proper and safe
power, equipment, appliances and service, comfortable and
convenient, and so operate the same as to give expeditious
passage, not to exceed fifteen miles per hour within the city-
limits or twenty miles per hour in the suburbs, to all persons
desirous of the use of said cars, without crowding said cars.
The Interstate Commerce Commission is hereby given power
to require and compel obedience to all of the provisions of
this section, and to make, alter, amend and enforce all needful
rules and regulations to secure said obedience ; and said Com-
mission is given power to make all such orders and regulations
necessary to the exercise of the powers herein granted to it
as may be reasonable and proper; and such railroad com-
panies or corporations, their officers and employees, are
hereby required to obey all the provisions of this section, and
such regulations and orders as may be made by said Com-
mission, Any such company or corporation, or its officers or
employees, violating any provision of this section, or any of
the said orders or regulations made by said Commission, or
permitting such violation, shall be punished by a fine of not
more than one thousand dollars. And each day of failure or
neglect on the part of such company or corporation, its officers
or employees, to obey each and all of the provisions and re-
quirements of this section, or the orders and regulations of
the Commission made thereunder, shall be regarded as a
separate otfense.
"Sec. 17. That prosecutions for violations of any of the
provisions of this Act shall be on information of the Interstate
Commerce Comission filed in the police court by or on be-
half of the Commission." Approved May 23, 1908 (25 Stat..
250).
This authority remained in and was exercised by
that Commission until the Interstate Commerce Com-
mission was superseded by the Public Utilities Com-
mission, created by the Act of Congress, approved
March 4, 1913 (37 Stat., 977), which exercised juris-
diction in that respect by its order of July 9, 1913,
Tindall: Begmnings of Street Railways. 85
regulating the operation, equipment, sanitation and
other conditions of the street railroad service, as
follows :
''Section 1. No car shall move at a greater rate of speed
than 15 miles per hour on city lines nor at a greater rate of
speed than 20 miles per hour on suburban lines. When pass-
ing standing cars the gong must be rung and the speed of
cars must be reduced so that a quick stop can be made. Cars
shall approach street or road crossings at a reduced speed
and under such control as to insure safety to passing vehicles
and pedestrians."
Congress by its Act of June 29, 1906 (34 Stat., 621),
prescribed a maximum rate of speed at which auto-
vehicles might be lawfully operated in the District of
Columbia, by a clause in the Act making appropria-
tions for the District, approved March 3, 1917, and
vested exclusive authority in that respect in the Com-
missioners of the District of Columbia as follows :
"Provided further, That on and after July first, nineteen
hundred and seventeen, the Commissioners of the District of
Columbia be, and they are hereby, authorized and empowered
to make and enforce all regulations governing the speed of
motor vehicles in the District of Columbia, subject to the pen-
alties prescribed in the Act approved June twenty-ninth,
nineteen hundred and six."
Taxation of Steeet Raileoad Companies.
Besides the special assessments for paving road-
ways adjacent to their tracks, imposed in pursuance
of the Act of June 11, 1878 (20 Stat., 106), and re-
ferred to above under the head of "Tracks," street
railroad companies operating in the District of Colum-
bia are subject to the same rate of taxation on their
real estate as that imposed upon other real estate in
the District, and under the Act of July 1, 1902 (32
86 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Stat., 619), and the Act of April 28, 1904 (33 Stat.,
564), to a personal tax of four per centum per annum
on their gross receipts within the District of Columbia.
The charters of most of the street railroads in the
District of Columbia contain a clause exempting their
tracks from taxation as real estate, but some provide
that the "roads" shall be deemed "real estate"; for
instance, "The Washington and Georgetown," "The
Metropolitan," and "The Columbia" railroad com-
panies. The Act of April 28, 1904 (33 Stat., pt. 1,
564), is construed by the assessor's office to exempt
tracks of all street railroads from assessment.
The street-car service in the District of Columbia
compares well with public passenger conveyance else-
where, and has kept well toward the van in the im-
provement of the character of its vehicles, tracks and
other features of its equipment, and in consideration
for the comfort of its patrons.
I
A CRITICAL MOMENT FOR WASHIXaTON.
By EEV. GEOEGE WILLIAMSON SMITH.
(Read before the Society, February 20, 1917.)
The Inauguration of President Lincoln was impres-
sive, not because of the crowds or the enthusiasm of the
peopte, but because from the spectacular point of view
it lacked such usual features of a Presidential Inaugu-
ration. There was no air of festivity on the occasion.
On the contrary, there was an air of foreboding — a
half-expressed fear of danger or tragedy. A large
proportion of our former distinguished residents and
their families had left Washington for their homes in
the South, and others had gone away from apprehen-
sion of tumult or danger. Comparatively few of the
old residents who remained took a prominent part in
the proceedings and the strangers were too earnestly
occupied with the serious state of public affairs to
overflow with enthusiasm.
The procession down Pennsylvania Avenue from
the White House to the Capitol was rather meager and
straggling. The military force was disproportion-
ately large compared with the civil element, yet the
troops of the Regular Army were in reality not impos-
ing for their number, and the District militia was said
to be smaller than usual on such occasions. Fears of
an attack from some quarter had caused unusual pre-
cautions for the safety of the incoming and outgoing
Presidents, who, in accordance with custom, rode side
by side in the same carriage. It was reported that
soldiers were stationed on the roofs of the buildings
lining the avenue as a precautionary measure.
The platform for the ceremony of taking the oath,
87
88 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
and the tribune for tlie inaugural address, had been
erected in front of the Senate wing of the Capitol.
After the oath had been administered, Mr. Lincoln
proceeded to the tribune. He carried his hat in his
right hand and a roll of papers in his left. As he
looked about for some place to put his hat, he turned
this way and that, when Senator Stephen A. Douglas,
of Illinois, who had been one of his competitors for the
Presidency and had polled a very large popular vote,
although he had received only the electoral vote of
Missouri, courteously reached out his hand — as he was
on Mr. Lincoln's right and a little behind him — took
the embarrassing hat and held it during the address.
Mr. Lincoln unrolled the paper, which seemed to be
in the form of galley proof, placed it upon the desk or
lectern and put a cane across the top to prevent its
rolling up, and to keep it in place. Although the por-
tico and the projecting steps were well filled, they
were not crowded. There was no great number of
people on the open ground immediately in front of the
President and it was easy to move up close to him.
All who were anxious to hear could get within earshot.
Whether it was due to fear, or to some other cause,
the majority of those in front of the President were
evidently disposed to keep at a respectful distance.
Captain Reynolds and I stood directly in front of Mr.
Lincoln, not over twelve or fifteen feet off, and had
plenty of room to move around. We saw above us an
honest, kindly but careworn face, shadowed into almost
preternatural seriousness. It was an impressive mo-
ment for us, but someway we could not size up the
occasion, or realize its importance. Its significance
came to us in fuller measure afterwards. And yet we
dimly knew, as men looking through a liaze, that we
were listening to words which might have a prominent
Smith: Critical Moment for Washington. 89
place in history and affect the lives and fortunes of
unborn generations. Probably the reason that we
could not adequately sense the greatness of the occa-
sion was, first, a pressing anxiety in regard to the im-
mediate future ; and, secondly, the uncertainty felt as
to Mr. Lincoln's fitness to deal in a masterly way with
the great issues before him. We knew that our per-
sonal interests were of little moment compared with
the world-wide questions involved, yet the state of
affairs in Washington was not reassuring. As Mr.
Seward had said, ''The speaker held the destinies of
freedom in his hands," but our lives and fortunes
were our immediate interest. We listened attentively
with much curiosity. We heard the emphatic declara-
tions that the speaker wished peace and would wage war
on no part of the country; that he would not interfere
directly or indirectly with slaverj^ where it existed;
that "no Government, probably, had a provision in
its organic law for its own termination," that "he
would exercise his power to hold, occupy and possess
the property and places belonging to the Government
and to collect the duties and imports. ' ' Here, we felt,
was the crucial test and no conciliatory language would
meet the demand of the secessionists. He closed the
address with the well-known appeal to the people of
the South:
"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not
in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. We are not
enemies, but friends ! We must not be enemies ! Though
passion may have strained, it must not break the bonds of
affection. The mystic cords of memory, stretching from every
patriot home and grave and fireside, will yet swell the cords
of the Union when touched, as they shall be touched, by the
better angels of our nature."
This was a noble appeal, most earnestly and sol-
90 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
emnly made ; and I wished that all who were wavering
could have heard it. But just as I was most deeply
impressed, the speaker said, with reference to one of
his declarations, ''I reiterate it," placing the emphasis
on the long ' 4. " A nudge from my companion called
attention to the — for us — unusual pronunciation. There
were one or more words of the same sort and the
spell was broken. I mention this incident in order
to recall the prevalent view in the old Washington
community, that Mr. Lincoln, owing to his lack of
political experience in national affairs, would be a
misfit in the Presidency. It was useless to recall
President Jackson and his treatment of the nullifica-
tion measures. His were ruder days, we were told.
He would not at all have fitted the present exigency.
To understand the psychology of the situation, one
must remove from the mind the esteem and veneration
now felt for the great historic figure whose monument
is rising in stately proportions near to that of Wash-
ington, and recall that at that time many regarded Mr.
Lincoln only as a local political leader who had risen
from obscurity because he fairly represented a frontier
community and who, in the turmoil of political life, had
been deemed available to acquire votes and defeat the
ambitions of discarded leaders in a sectional, if not, in-
deed, a fanatical party. It is also to be remembered
that in his case the violent preelection villifications
instead of subsiding after the election, as they do ordi-
narily, grew in virulence as passions swelled hot, until
in the popular conception he was hardly human. He
had been heralded as "Honest Old Abe" — a title
which later events have shown to be inadequate to de-
scribe him. He is now recognized as one of those rare
men in whom the intellectual and moral powers are
indissolubly united — a wise man, who saw clearly.
Smith: Critical Moment for Washington. 91
purposed purely and acted boldly to confer lasting
benefits upon mankind. Our failure to recognize at
once the greatness of the man before us may be par-
doned when we recall that so experienced a statesman
as Mr. Seward is reported to have made the amazing
suggestion that practically the government be turned
over to his guidance. Mr. Lincoln's supreme tact in
meeting the suggestion in a manner which secured Mr.
Seward's fidelity in upholding and serving him affords
striking evidence of his wisdom and self-control.
But Washington, accustomed to the courtly graces
of men who had ruled the country for more than half a
century, could not at once place in the ranks of great
men the tall, plain, gaunt and ungainly figure of which
its people had caught a few glimpses. So he was
heavily handicapped in that inaugural address. The
people returned slowly to their homes, talking very
soberly, unrelieved of their fears and anxieties, be-
cause they felt that no definite proposition had been
made, no acceptable terms suggested, to avert the
threatened strife.
The inauguration left things much as they were be-
fore. There was an air of unreality in life. The old
life was gone and no new order had yet emerged.
Nothing seemed substantial. Might not the fog in which
we had been living for some months finally lift and
disclose the old familiar landscape 1 In previous elec-
tions we had heard so much about a dissolution of the
Union that like the cry of ''"Wolf" in the fable, it had
lost some of its terrors ; and on our return, my com-
panion and I talked about the difficulty of removing
the obstacle now presented by the formal secession of
certain states rather than the danger of an actual con-
flict. And yet we felt that we were living under a dark
cloud that threatened a fearful storm.
92 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
The weeks following the inauguration prolonged the
uncertainty. We were not at first harrassed with the
fear that Washington might be claimed as the Capital
of the Confederate States, although some Southerners
yet in the city, who had fixed upon the ' ' Susquehanna
River" as 'Hhe northern boundary of the new nation,"
whispered it somewhat loudly in conversation at cer-
tain times. As yet Maryland had not seceded. Gov-
ernor Hicks was a staunch Union man and had refused
to call the Legislature together to provide for a Con-
stitutional Convention. In fact, although Maryland
was a slave state, it was a Union state. The slaves
were found mostly in the eastern and southern coun-
ties and there the secession element was very strong.
The Union sentiment prevailed in the northern and
western counties among the white farming people. In
Baltimore, in spite of its sinister political reputation,
at that time, there was a large Union population of
quiet residents. Still there was the danger of a sud-
den uprising and outbreak of the turbulent elements
of society. In some of the Southern States, acts of
hostility to the government had been committed before
any ordinance of secession had been passed. In Ala-
bama the arsenal at Mount Vernon, near Mobile, and
in Georgia Forts Pulaski and Jackson were seized by
the governors of those states at the demand of dis-
unionists with no shadow of state law. It was pub-
lished that some aggressive Baltimoreans had even un-
dertaken to erect a battery to attack Fort McHenry,
but were dissuaded by a shot or two from the fort.
Threats were made that the Legislature of Maryland
would meet in spite of the Governor. So insistent
were the Maryland secessionists that finally Coleman
Yellott, President of the Maryland Senate, if I remem-
ber correctly, called the Legislature to meet at Fred-
Smith: Critical Moment for Washington. 93
erick and not at Annapolis, the capital, where the Gov-
ernor resided. But when this occurred it was too late
and the Legislature did not convene. But such an
effort shows the determination of the secession party
in Maryland.
The Governor withstood all pressure, and was
warmly commended, or bitterly cursed, according to
the wishes or principles of the. speaker. It was gen-
erally felt that it would be suicidal for Maryland to
secede while Virginia remained in the Union. Many
of the hot-headed saw this and hesitated; but it was
their expressed hope that at the proper time Maryland
might reclaim the District of Columbia and make as a
present to the Southern Confederacy the splendid gift
of the National Capital, and at once endow the new
nation with the traditions and associations of the old.
Virginia's hesitation was our security. If she had
seceded before Mr. Lincoln's inauguration, Maryland
would have been aflame from end to end and Washing-
ton would probably have been in ashes, or in Southern
hands, before help could have reached us from the
North, even if help had been called for.
There was one local cause of disquiet which is now
forgotten, but which bred apprehensions in the minds
of many citizens. There was an association in the city
whose meetings were widely and yet not fully reported,
which went by the name of the '^Democratic Jackson
Association." This name Editor "Wallach, of the
Evening Star, abbreviated in all its terms and its pro-
ceedings were somewhat burlesquely reported under
the name of the ''Dem. Jack. Ass." It was under-
stood to be a body of 800 or more men who were to
cooperate with Southern forces when the opportune
moment should arrive for their occupation of the city.
It was represented to be a military or semi-military
94 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
organization. It did not figure very largely in sub-
sequent military events, but its activities in making
its presence known gave it an air of importance. It
seemed to be an information bureau for the Confed-
erates by signals, calls, whistles, sidewalk inscriptions,
etc. At night, in particular, every movement of Mr.
Lincoln after his arrival in the city, of the members of
the incoming cabinet when the names were announced,
of the commanding general or members of his staff
and of prominent Eepublicans was noted and sig-
nalled. All movements of these men were apparently
watched and reported to distant parties. Until the
new administration came in there was no agency to
repress such espionage had it been desired.
In the nervous and excited state of the public mind
there was something sinister and portentous in the
presence of such a mischievous body in the heart of the
city. ^'Tliey ought to be suppressed!" ''They ought
to be sent to South Carolina!" "They ought to be
hanged!" "But who would dare touch them?" No
doubt the Dem. Jack. Ass. enjoyed its notoriety. It
does not seem to have done more than to add to the un-
rest of the people. Mr. Montgomery Blair may have
been right when he said, "Oh, let them alone. They
are only a cheap lot of loafers." Yet it was a time
when loafers "had their innings," and I repeat it, they
formed a disquieting element.
Over a month passed while the new administration
was organizing its working force. The names of the
members of the cabinet were carefully scrutinized,
when announced, and the appointment of two from the
border states showed a desire to avoid recognizing a
sectional division of the country as far as was prac-
ticable. General Scott had remained in the city after
the inauguration, and a small number of the Regular
Smith: Critical Moment for Washington. 95
Army was retained. Some Southern sympathizers
murmured at their retention, which they said had never
been done before, because it openly declared that the
new administration "distrusted the Honor of the
South" which had shown its regard for State Rights.
"So long as Virginia did not secede, nor Maryland,
Washington was as safe as Charleston. No attack
would be thought of unless the District was reclaimed
by Maryland, which had originally ceded it to the Gen-
eral Grovernment. " "But suppose Maryland reclaims
it, will it be attacked then?" "If Maryland reclaims
it, your Government must get out."
Virginia had called a Constitutional Convention.
Would she secede? was the vital question for us. The
election returns disclosed a majority of Union mem-
bers, and an outspoken Union man was elected presi-
dent of the Convention. We all hoped that Virginia
would mediate and bring about an understanding, or
at least a modus vivendi. Many, it is true, believed
that the only kind of union to which she would consent
would require the surrender of equality among the
states. If a compromise was proposed like those sug-
gested by the Peace Conference at Washington which
had been called in February, at the request of the Vir-
ginia Legislature, the Southern States would continue
to "do the driving." Still, there was hope that a con-
ciliatory spirit might be awakened which would tide us
over the present discord, enable passions to subside,
until, as Mr. Lincoln had said, the "strained bonds of
affection" should have a chance to grow strong again.
This was not the view taken at the White House.
Calling upon John Hay in his office one day, he said to
me : " The Tycoon thinks the slavery question of infe-
rior importance. The main question, he says, is
whether a minority has a right to break up the govern-
96 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
ment if it is defeated. If it has, then popular govern-
ment is impossible." Sufficient delay, Hay thought,
might enable the government to localize the war when
it came, as come it must, in South Carolina, which was
the originator of the destructive heresy. She would
never be reconciled to the Union again. "Let us,"
said he, "confine our attacks to her, and her allies will
come to her assistance and we will fight it out there.
If they are beaten the Union will be maintained with-
out devastating the whole country and sowing the seeds
of hatred that will last for generations." The delay,
and delay only, might be brought about by Virginia.
But if Virginia seceded war would be at our doors.
The drifting policy of the administration caused
many of the more ardent Republicans to ask whether
we had "a government"! They demanded decisive
action at once. But Mr. Lincoln's shrewdness and
caution were not at fault. He would throw upon the
South the responsibility of beginning hostilities. The
North was by no means of one mind regarding war.
Many in the seceded States, and many more in the
border States, even when in favor of secession, were
reluctant to hasten it.
Maryland, whose attitude was so important to Wash-
ington, gave us much uneasiness. Certain officers of
the Army and Navy, and men in the departments, who
lived outside of the District, began to move into town,
because they feared to remain in the state. They said
that the secessionists evidently expected an outbreak
of some kind and the military companies were very
busy.
These military companies had been formed two years
before, at the time of John Brown's outbreak at Har-
per's Ferry, in 1859, for the suppression of negro in-
surrections, which were feared. Living men recalled
Smith: Critical Moment for Washington. 97
the horrors of Nat Turner's uprising in Virginia thirty
years before and John Brown had awakened the peo-
ple to the possibilities of a servile insurrection. The
young men sprang to arms. The cavalry companies
were composed of men who had ridden horses from
childhood, because travelling was done mostly on
horseback, owing to bad roads, and fox-hunting had
been their favorite sport. When they first appeared
in martial array in the villages and on the country
roads, they presented a brave appearance and gave
the white people a sense of security and the negroes
trembled with fear. They formed a cavalry militia of
great potentialities as subsequent events abundantly
proved. The fear of what they might do if passions
were inflamed made it prudent for loyal government
officers to come into the city. The disclosure of this
danger did not make us sleep any better, especially if
one of the fugitives had taken refuge in our house.
Conversation with these men gave rise to a question
discussed from the White House to the alleys. If
these companies on the very borders of the District
should be joined by attacking forces from Virginia in
case she seceded, how could Washington be saved?
They might even take things in their own hand and try
to strike a grand blow irrespective of the action of
Virginia.
Rumors of conspiracies to seize the President, cabi-
net, army officers and especially General Scott — who,
some affected to believe, would be a willing captive
since he was a Virginian — with the cooperation of se-
cession organizations within the city grew and multi-
plied. No one knew whom to trust. This one and
that one who had at first withstood the claims of their
states kept filtering out of the service. It would be
unwholesome for a Southern officer who had refused
98 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
to resign to be captured when Washington should be
taken. So we were kept uneasy all the time.
General Scott, the commanding general of the Arm}^,
on whom rested the responsibility for the defence of
the city, had been living on 6th Street, far away from
the White House. The officers of his staff became
very anxious for his safety. The espionage to which
they were subjected, the signals sounded at every move
day or night, annoyed and vexed them, and they urged
him to move to a less exposed neighborhood. His re-
fusal to concede that there was any danger had given
assurance to many, so that when he did transfer his
quarters to a house on Pennsylvania Avenue between
17th and 18th Streets, in the vicinity of the important
officers of the government, it was questioned whether
convenience of access to the War Department and the
President was the sole motive. Two members of his
staff told me outright that safety was the object
sought.
His new quarters were established in a house near
the War Department. There was a pretty large front
yard, a detached building for his guard and a gate
through the rear fence into a vacant lot on G Street,
the advantage of which in case of need is obvious.
The President and most of the cabinet officers lived
almost within stone's throw. The Treasury, State,
War and Navy Departments and the White House
were in the next block. The attentions of the "Dem.
Jack. Ass." were at once centered on this house and
every person who entered or left it was signalled from
some point of observation — a window, an alley-way, a
wood-yard, the roof of some house, or store. And as
important people were coming at all hours except when
the -General was at his office, on 17th Street, opposite
the War Department, the signalling was almost in-
cessant.
Smith: Critical Moment for Washington. 99
Now General Scott was a soldier of great experience
and of renown won in many a battle, and in no battle
bad be suffered defeat. He was a magnificent speci-
men of manbood, six feet six, it was said, large in pro-
portion and ''every incb a soldier." His loyalty bad
been doubted by some, but none wbo knew bim well
doubted tbat bis judgment would meet all exigencies.
His military genius was unrivalled. One of bis staff
said tbat wben tbe United States forces bad landed in
Mexico and Vera Cruz was to be assaulted, be called a*
council of war and asked tbe officers for plans for
taking tbe city. Eacb one gave bis counsel and was
tben asked tbe probable cost in lives. Tbe variations
were considerable, but tbe loss in all cases caused tbe
officers to look grave. Tben General Scott stated bis
views and at once all saw tbat be was rigbt. His plan
was followed and Vera Cruz was captured witb tbe
loss of fourteen men! On tbe close of bis brilliant
campaig-n wbicb ended in tbe capture of tbe City of
Mexico, and peace bad been arranged, prominent Mexi-
cans offered bim twelve millions of dollars if be would
establisb a stable government in tbe country. It is
needless to say be refused tbe bribe.
Tbis man of beroic mould and disposition bad some
weaknesses wbicb brougbt bim witbin tbe circle of
buman sympatby. He was a pompous man, proud of
bis magnificent stature and proportions, and knew
wbat was due bim and exacted it to tbe full. Wben be
was made Lieutenant-General bis increased salary
enabled bim to bave wbat be bad long wanted, a small
carriage or coupe, witb a big borse and proper coacli-
man. As part of bis new uniform of Lieutenant-
General of tbe U. S. Army, be prescribed for bimself
a bigb bat or cbapeau, more tban a foot bigb, it is said,
witb a great plume of colored featbers. Tbis be was
100 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
obliged to carry on liis knees when he rode in his car-
riage. From this article of his uniform he was deri-
sively called "Old Fuss and Feathers." To add to
his height he had boots made with very high heels.
This vanity cost him much, for descending the stairs,
the heels caught and he fell and injured his spine and
could never mount a horse afterwards.
His removal from the region where he had lived so
long, and where his presence seemed to be a warrant
of security, into the neighborhood where danger was
feared, shook the confidence of even the most assured.
Major Anderson's skillful transfer of the garrison
of Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor
had been denounced by South Carolina as a violation
of an understanding and it would furnish a justifica-
tion for a hostile attack if exigencies called for it. The
vacillation of Virginia in regard to secession furnished
an opportune occasion for "retaliation."
When the- Southern leaders saw that Virginia was
indisposed to secede and join the Southern Confed-
eracy unless something was done to "fire the Southern
heart," word was sent South that unless the Washing-
ton government was compelled to take hostile action,
the course of Virginia was uncertain.
The importance of Virginia was immeasurable to
the South, even more than it was to the North. As the
"Mother of Great Statesmen" her prestige was un-
equalled. Her population, wealth and resources ex-
ceeded those of any other Southern State and the char-
acter of her people was a tower of strength. Her cen-
tral situation seemed to give her decisive power. Nor
was it a small thing that the war would be transferred
from the fields of the South to the borders of the North.
She could strike at once at the Capital and Washing-
ton might become the capital of the Confederacy. I
Smith: Critical Moment for Washington. 101
am giving you the views of a Virginia gentleman, a
Colonel Eandolph, who claimed to be in a position to
know what important Southern men were thinking of,
and it is not improbable that in view of the apathy of
the North, even a cautious man might deem the cap-
ture of Washington possible before help would arrive
from the Northern States.
But to turn from speculation to the course of events.
On the 11th of April Governor Pickens of South Caro-
lina, acting under instructions from President Davis,
demanded the surrender of Fort Sumter. Major An-
derson refused and the bombardment began the next
morning. Then events moved rapidly. On the 14th
Fort Sumter was surrendered and evacuated. On the
15th President Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 men to
serve for three months to repossess the customhouses
and other property of the general government which
had been seized by the seceded states. This was the
answer of the general government to the challenge of
South Carolina's attack on Sumter. The instanta-
neous uprising of the Northern people, previously
divided in sentiment, in a fury of indignation, was the
answer of the citizens of a country whose ''govern-
ment" was "of, for and by the people," to an attack
upon its integrity, and each loyal citizen treated it as
a personal insult. In a speech made in February, Mr.
Seward had said "that if the Union was attacked, an
irresistible wave of loyalty to the Flag would sweep
away all opposition." Few of the Southern men be-
lieved it, and many at the North doubted it. Yet it
proved to be a true prophecy, and Mr. Lincoln's cau-
tion and shrewdness had been justified by the event.
Virginia had delayed action on secession and the at-
tack on Fort Sumter was meant to hurry her action.
President Lincoln's call for troops on April 15 was
102 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
followed by the secession of Virginia, on the night of
the 17th. Harper's Ferry was seized at once, showing
that some preparations for immediate action had
already been made, and communication between the
west and Washington were cut. Governor Letcher
had sent officers on the 18th to seize the Norfolk Navy
Yard and obstructions were placed in the channel.
Washington's fears for her safety became acute. I
asked one of General Scott's staff if he thought the
city in danger. ''Oh, no," he said, "the city is safe
enough," and then he added with a short laugh, "at
the same time I am glad that my family is in New
York."
From what has been said of the vacillation of Vir-
ginia, it is evident that she was not as prepared to
strike at once as the cotton states were, or she might
have swooped down upon us and captured the city with
little resistance. But while her troops were not ready
that day, there was pressing danger from another
quarter.
The gunboat Pawnee, I was told by a navy officer,
had been lying off the 17th Street wharf for some time
as a refuge, it was understood, for the officials of the
government in case of a successful attack upon the
city. In a few minutes all of them could have gone
aboard and steamed down the Potomac, leaving the
city to its fate.
At Norfolk was the Ordnance Navy Yard of the
United States. The steam frigate Merrimac was there.
Also the Congress and Cumberland, sailing frigates,
and perhaps other vessels. If Virginia could seize
these at once and put them into the competent hands
of some of the Navy officers who had resigned, a few
hours would bring a powerful naval force before
Washington, and close the water route from the North
to the Capital.
Smith: Critical Moment for Washington. 103
On the morning of the 18th the Pawnee was put
under the command of Commodore Paulding. Addi-
tional officers accompanied him and he steamed down
the river. The Pensacola, which was fitting out at the
Na\T Yard, took her place.
Commodore Paulding proceeded to Norfolk and
learning from Captain Macaulay that General Tallia-
ferro had arrived the night before to take command of
the Virginia troops assembling at Portsmouth, said to
number 2,000 or 3,000, and Captain Pegram of the
Navy with him to take command of the Naval Station,
at 2 o'clock in the morning fired the buildings in
the Navy Yard, spiked the 300 great guns there and
towed out the two sailing frigates. Unhappily the
steam frigate Merrimac had been ordered sunk by her
commander to prevent her falling into hostile hands,
so she was left in Virginia waters to be raised later
by the Confederates, converted into an ironclad float-
ing battery and spread disaster among the shipping at
Hampton Eoads. But the great prize of an incipient
navy flushed with the victory of the capture of Wash-
ington was snatched from the hands of the South.
It was reported that armed forces were swarming
into Alexandria, sentinels appeared on Arlington
Heights, where it was reported a mortar battery was
being planted. As we were practically defenseless a
few days would determine our lot. It was roundly as-
serted by men known to be in communication with the
South that the city would be assaulted within ten days.
Would the President's call bring troops to our aid in
time? It seemed unlikely. More people began to
leave the city, not leisurely, but in haste; not singly,
but in groups ; not by scores, but in crowds. Most of
them, when they said "Good-by," added, ''we shall
be back in ten days." Some officers of the Army,
104 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Navy and Marine Corps, who had hesitated, now has-
tily resigned and fled. Many who would willingly
have remained in the service, left it under domestic
pressure. They went with broken hearts and in de-
spair. Some, torn by conflicting interests, took a more
summary way of deciding the perplexing question.
One distinguished officer, a valued friend, met me,
chatted gaily for a few minutes, shook me warmly by
the hand, went home and shot himself. Wliile one was
telling me of this shocking tragedy, ten minutes after-
wards, another friend, just around the corner, had
done the same thing. All was in confusion and dis-
tress and none could be sure that a like tragedy might
not be enacted in his own house. There were instan-
taneous changes in the attitude of people. Rumors of
the most alarming character were succeeding each
other from moment to moment. The expression on
the faces of high officers in the government indicated
a serious state of affairs. They haunted General
Scott's quarters in groups till late in the night.
An army officer called on Mr. George Waters, who
owned the flour mills in Georgetown, and informed him
that the government had seized all the flour in his mills
and all on the unusual number of schooners in the
river for the use of troops who were coming to Wash-
ington. The flour was said to have been purchased by
Virginia and was to have been sent to Alexandria.
News of this incident spread and secessionists sig-
nificantly remarked: ''Your troops are not here yet."
The next day gave significance to their words. The
Sixth Eegiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, hasten-
ing to the defence of the Capital, had been attacked in
the streets in Baltimore when marching from Presi-
dent Street depot to Camden, Station. That city was
in revolution. Some of the soldiers had been killed
and others wounded. Two entire companies had been
Smith: Critical Moment for Washington. 105
cut off from the rest and no one knew what had become
of them. The bridges over the Gunpowder Rivers
had been burnt. Baltimore had cut off all communi-
cations with the North and Washing*ton was isolated.
On the North was Maryland, aflame from end to end.
Her military companies held every road. Just out-
side the District the Vansville Rangers and other com-
panies held the railroad and Baltimore pike, and it
was said that they would permit neither people nor
provisions to come in or go out. Across the river, we
were told, batteries had been planted on Arlington
Heights.
We realized that we were besieged. At 9 o'clock
flour could be bought at five dollars or less a barrel,
and at quarter past 9 it was twelve dollars a barrel,
and advancing.
Panic seized the people and the previous emigration
was child's play to the present hegira. Every kind of
vehicle was pressed into the service of flight. Even
baby wagons were employed to carry groceries, clothes
and things portable. Wheelbarrows carried trunks and
boxes for people, who started for Rockville on foot.
A long procession hastened up 17th Street in disorder.
In carriages, wagons, drays, trucks and pushcarts
loaded with babies and kitchen utensils, and on foot,
they fled, carrying what they could on their persons.
Property could be had ' ' for a song, ' ' even badly sung.
A small brick house opposite General Scott's head-
quarters which the owner had been about to sell for
$7,000 to a customer who no longer wanted it, was
offered for $2,000, but there was no purchaser. No
one wanted to buy a house in a city that might be on
the eve of destruction. The flight was more confused
than that from Paris when the Germans approached it
in 1870. Yet here and there a breathless fugitive
would cry out in passing, ''We shall be back in ten
106 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
days!" The prevailing thought. And then the city
was dead. Many houses had been left with open win-
dow blinds and some with open windows. In a day
or two the dust from our unpaved streets gathered on
door steps and long stretches of sidewalks. Day after
day I went to the foot of the Treasury Building and
saw not so much as a dog on the long stretch of Penn-
sylvania Avenue to the foot of the Capitol.
Yet an exception is to be noted. At almost any hour
a couple of cavalrymen, each with a bundle of hay on
the back of his saddle, could be seen going to some out-
post. The few known to be in the city seemed to be
multiplied many-fold. A section of artillery would
appear here and there going along leisurely towards
the Long Bridge, or the Chain Bridge, or the Aque-
duct. There seemed to be a great many guns for three
sections of artillery. The few remaining people who
moved about on the necessary business of life, and
there was no other business attempted, disappeared
within doors as soon as possible and were seen no
more. But in a day or two these appearances of life
dwindled to few.
Most of the clerks had abandoned the Departments,
leaving hastily scribbled resignations. It was said
that there were not enough left to keep up the routine
work, even though there were no mails. People who
were idle at home were, in some cases, asked by the
chief clerks who were in the office, to come in ' ' till com-
munications could be opened" and "help out." Only
two, is was said, dared to accept, for their positions
would be very critical "when the Virginians took pos-
session." One who responded favorably went into a
Department building and proceeded towards the Sec-
retary's office. He went through the long lower hall
to the stairway. The doors of all the rooms were open
and there was but one man at work in one of the rooms :
Smith: Critical Moment for Washington. 107
otherwise all were empty. The same was true of the
second story. Only one man in all the rooms till the
Secretary's office was reached! In one corner of this
office was a large packing case and it was full of un-
opened letters of resignation — overful, for the letters
were piled up in the middle and had spilled over on
every side. The Secretary, the chief clerk and one
gentleman whom the Secretary had brought with him
from the North was the entire force in that office at
that time.
Governor Hicks of Maryland, terrified at the mad-
ness of his people who were clamoring for "Seces-
sion!" "Secession!" and demanding a Constitutional
Convention, swearing that "no abolitionists should
cross Maryland to attack our brothers in the South,"
hastened to Washington to get a pledge from the Presi-
dent that "no more troops should be brought through
Baltimore," in the hope of allaying the excitement
and saving the state from utter ruin. The President
took him to General Scott, as the demand was one of a
military character. Governor Hicks had been loyal and
his stubborn resistance to the prevailing sentiment of
the moment entitled his request to serious and, if pos-
sible, favorable consideration. The cabinet, or as
many of its members as could be hastily convened, met
at General Scott's headquarters. The matter was
stated and opinions asked and then the President said
that the commanding general was the proper person to
decide the matter, as the needs of the military situa-
tion was the paramount interest. Then General Scott,
pausing for a moment and looking around until he had
the undivided attention of all present, said: "Gover-
nor Hicks, I shall bring troops through Baltimore if
I have to make a road two miles wide through the
city!" and his fist came down upon the table with all
the force which belonged to his rank and his wrath.
108 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
A dead city paralyzed with fear ! Maryland aflame
on the east and north and Union fugitives from those
sections stealing in for safety from their neighbors.
Virginia frowning upon us across the river; ''twelve
thousand men already gathered at Alexandria only
waiting for a battery of artillery from Richmond to
seize the Capitol and secure the recognition of For-
eign Powers." What had we for defense? "The
District militia of uncertain value, three hundred and
fifty regulars, three sections of artillery, seventy cav-
alrymen and the Sixth Massachusetts Volunteers,"
which had been so roughly handled at Baltimore. The
two companies which had been left in that city had
marched down the pike the next day and rejoined their
regiment in Washington.
"Were you molested on your way down by any of
the Maryland companies'?" one was asked.
"I wish to God we had been. No, if our officers had
not restrained us in Baltimore we would have taken
that bloody city and exterminated that mob of ruffians
and rowdies."
It was evidently a good body of defenders, but there
were not enough of them.^
1 The above is given as popularly represented at the time. Officially,
the Adjutant General's office of the War Departments shows that the
troops in Washington during the siege were
Kegulars.
Cavalry 125
Infantry 75
Artillery, 3 batteries 276
Officers and men 476
State Troops.
6th Massachusetts regiment 586
Pennsylvania men 837
Dist. volunteers , 502
District militia 2,135 4,060
Grand total 4,536
Smith: Critical Moment for Washington. 109
There was a regiment, or part of a regiment of
Pennsylvania volunteers included in the official count,
which had come unmolested through Baltimore before
the Sixth Massachusetts, but they were untrained and
unarmed — mere raw material for soldiers^ — and
counted valueless.
It became known in a day or two that when General
Butler reached Perryville and found the railroad to
Baltimore torn up he had seized the steamer M(zr^/mi(^,
which was used to ferry trains over the Susquehanna
from Perryville to Havre de Grace, and loading it
with troops had proceeded to Annapolis and landed
them at the U. S. Naval Academy. As this was United
States property, no offense could be taken by Mary-
land. But the Annapolis Railroad, like the Baltimore
& Ohio, had been destroyed, and Washington, forty
miles away by rail, could be reached only through a
hostile country. While General Butler might fight his
way to Washington and increase the defensive force
there for the moment, unless he opened communica-
tions by which other troops and supplies could be^
brought the relief would not be permanent. To us,
citizens, the progress of events was notwell known and
much that we heard from secessionists was not reas-
suring. A campaign in Maryland seemed necessary
for our relief, and time was short.
Our forces were not altogether idle. One day a
small body of cavalry went over into Virginia to re-
connoiter. They found a garrison at Fairfax Court
House, and making the sentinels prisoners, and putting
them under a guard, charged through the town and
Of these troops the men from Pennsylvania were neither uniformed,
armed nor drilled.
The District volunteers were newly formed companies. Their uniforms
consisted, so far as I saw it, of the blue army overcoat.
The District militia would no doubt have given a fair account of them-
selves as a trained militia.
110 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
were fired at from the houses. Our secessionists glee-
fully reported that they left many of their men behind
them. ■ They brought in some prisoners, but the result
so far as known was not encouraging. It seemed to
indicate the presence of forces near Washington
greater than we had known.
There was evident apprehension at headquarters.
Colonel Schuyler Hamilton, the secretary of the Gen-
eral-in-chief, lay with sword and pistol beside him on
the porch in front of the door of the General's house
every night. The rest of his official family slept with
their arms in reach. ''There was a plot to seize the
President and cabinet and General Scott through the
cooperation of the 'Dem. Jack Ass.,' and Southern
men who were concealed in the city, and the Virginia
forces." Such was the statement of one of the Gen-
eral's staff to a young friend living in the same house.
The latter told two of his acquaintances and they sent
to the War Department that night asking for three
rifles and forty rounds of ammunition and the guns
were there before the messenger returned.
We were indeed biesieged and what had been a
cause of chief apprehension had come to pass. Mary-
land forces, disregarding the orders of Governor
Hicks, who was helpless, were out in full strength and
holding all the roads north and east, prevented the
approach of relief. A regiment of Pennsylvania
troops had been stopped at Cockeysville, north of Bal-
timore. Virginia troops were assembling at Alex-
andria only seven miles away. Twelve thousand, it
was reported, were already there. The "Dem. Jack.
Ass." had 800 already in the city and we had less than
1,500 efficient defenders, so we were told, Xot a fort
or even a rifle pit where forty-two strong forts were
subsequently found necessary for adequate protection.
The country north, east, west and south in the hands
Smith: Critical Moment for Washington. Ill
of the foe. Though our artillery held the bridges
across the Potomac, the Virginia forces could cross
the river above the bridges, join the Maryland militia
and make good the promise of the fugitives to be in
the city again in ten days.
We did not doubt that headquarters were aware of
the perilous state of the city, but except for the evi-
dent excitement from the speedy coming and going of
usually deliberate and dignified and leisurely men,
who were now always in a hurry, but little could be
gathered. They were as close-mouthed as the pro-
verbial clam — except to some few favored individuals,
who heard and then became clams in turn. The city
was accessible only by the Potomac.
Mr. Seward had sent his man George into Virginia
to go farther South and see what was doing. He re-
turned one night in haste, made his way into Mr.
Seward's room to the great alarm of the family, and
reported that the Southern railroads were congested
with troop trains hastening north.
Mr. Lincoln, when he came to see General Scott,
alwaj^s appeared imperturbable and seemed quite un-
aware of danger, although he was grave and sad.
Some said he was indifferent and did not realize the
situation. The "Life of John Hay," not long ago
published, gives us a glimpse of his internal torture.
Hay writes that going once into the President's pri-
vate office, Mr. Lincoln, after peering long down the
Potomac for ships which were to bring troops, believ-
ing himself alone, exclaimed with irrepressible an-
guish, ''Why don't they come!" ""Wliy don't they
come!" The next day he said with intensity to some
Sixth Massachusetts officers who called upon him, "I
begin to believe that there is no Xorth. The Seventh
Regiment is a myth. Rhode Island is another. You
are the onlv real thing."
112 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
It was whispered around that "in case the defenses
were forced at any time, a gnn (or so many guns)
would give the alarm." About two o'clock one day
the guns were heard and we concluded that ''the hour
had come." Presently a messenger hastened to head-
quarters, went in, and in a few minutes some officers
came out smiling. "Well, what's up?" "Ohj that
alarm was merely a test of . It didn't mean any-
thing. Don't worry." That evening after dinner
there was a larger gathering than usual at General
Scott's headquarters, but all went away early. Ru-
mor had it that the expected artillery had reached
Alexandria that evening, and things looked dark. The
"Dem. Jack. Ass." signals were unusually frequent.
Between nine and ten o'clock the General's coupe came
silently to the gate, every light in his apartment was
extinguished and all who lived there disappeared in
the darkness. There was a rapid exchange of signals
and all was silent as the grave. It was portentous.
At ten o'clock, owing to some alarm, the ladies and
the servants in the house ran out in the yard and gath-
ered in a group "wondering what it meant," when
the General's coachman, a large and generally quiet
man, burst out of his room flourishing a loaded re-
volver and shouted, "Don't be afraid, ladies, I'll look
out for you and kill every devil of a rebel that would
harm you." After strutting up and down a few times
he disappeared in the house and was seen no more.
The three young men concluded that they would stand
watch that night, as the usual guard had disappeared.
One was to watch till two o'clock, a second from two
to four, the third from four to six and then call the
first. At two o'clock the first turned over the watch
to the second, went in and laid down with his loaded
gun beside him. He was asleep in a moment. When
he awoke, the sun was shining in his room and it was
Smith: Critical MoTnent for Washington. 11 3
eight o'clock! Everybody who had left the house the
night before was back again and things were going on
as usual. The question asked in the house, where
alone the incident seemed known, was, what was the
cause of last night's silent flitting? Why did the
coachman expect to kill rebels? Where did the Gen-
eral and his staff go? I asked Colonel Hamilton. He
laughed and said: ''Greneral Scott went around to his
office last night and of course his personal staff went
with him." The questioner asked nothing more, but
he had a notion that a certain gunboat at the foot of
17th Street was more likely to be found available from
some nearer point than the well-known quarters on
Pennsylvania Avenue, if urgent business should call
for its occupation. I doubt if this incident is a matter
of record, but under the circumstances it seemed sig-
nificant of threatening and pressing danger.
One or two afternoons later, as I stood again at the
foot of the Treasury Building and looked down Penn-
sylvania Avenue, I thought I saw people gathering at
the foot of the Capitol. Here and there, too, some
persons seemed to run out into the street and stand
and look. I hastened down the avenue at a fast walk
and soon heard the sound of distant martial music.
Is it possible that troops are coming in? Soon all
doubt was dispelled. The gray uniform of the Seventh
New York gladdened the ej^es. In the van they dragged
two howitzers which looked formidable and then came
the massive regiment, stepjDing as one man. Commu-
nications with the North were opened and Washington
was relieved. Virginia had lost her prize. I thought
then, and I think now, that it had been held through
those trying da^^s by pure bluff.
Washington narrowly escaped capture several times
during the war but never so narrowly as at its very
outbreak.
AN OLD WASHINGTON MANSION.
(2017 I Street Noethwest.)
By maud burr MORRIS.
(Read before the Society, March 20, 1917.)
If any lover of the quaint in architecture has, in the
past hundred and ten or fifteen 3^ears, had occasion to
stroll along I Street in the twenty-hundred block, he
can not fail to have been attracted by, and (on the first
occasion at least) have paused involuntarily before,
the spacious colonial mansion now known as No, 2017
I Street northwest. In a neighborhood of old houses,
it stands forth preeminent, and attracts attention by
its unusual width and simple lines, its beautiful lunette-
topped doorway with its tiny shuttered side-lights, and
its generally hospitable air. It seems to invite the
passer-by to ask, ''When was it built, and by whom?
What important events and what romances are con-
nected with its history?" And these questions will be
answered in this paper, as far as possible, from record
and tradition.
Long before the District of Columbia was laid out,
the land included within the lines of Square 78, on
which this house stands (bounded by I, K, 20th and
21st Streets, and fronting on a triangular parking on
the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue), was origi-
nally part of a large farm or tract in Montgomery
County, Maryland, known as "The Widow's Mite,"
which had been patented to Anthony Holmead, an
Englishman.
Before the cession to the United States by the State
of Maryland of land for the site of the capital city, the
114
Col. Hist. Soc, Vol. XXI , Pl. I.
By Maud Burr Morris, lOUJ.
An Old Washington Mansion, Xo. 2017 I Street, Northwest.
Morris: An Old Washington Mansion. 115
farm of Holmead had been divided up and the part
included in the present Square 78 was owned by James
Maccubbin Lingan, who was ''an oflficer in the Mary-
land Line during the war of the American Revolution,
a captive on the prison ship Jersey, an original mem-
ber of the Society of the Cincinnati" (according to the
inscription on his tombstone in Arlington National
Cemetery), a friend of George Washington, and col-
lector of the port of Georgetown, and who was killed
in a riot in Baltimore at the outbreak of the War of
1812.
On division between Lingan and the United States
Commissioners (appointed by President George Wash-
ington for the purpose of laying out this city after
conveyance to them by the "original proprietors")
this property was allotted on October 17, 1791, to said
Jjingan, and to Uriah Forrest (a distinguished Revo-
lutionary general, aide to General Washington, mem-
ber of the Continental Congress, and afterwards a
Georgetown merchant), and Benjamin Stoddert, of
Maryland, first Secretary of the United States Navy-
all three of whom were prominent investors in land in
the Territory of Columbia, as the District was then
called.
Between the years 1791 and 1800 (at which latter
date the seat of the national government was removed
to the Federal City, or, as one newspaper of the day
called it, ''The Grand Columbian Federal City"),
ground embracing the site of No. 2017 I Street passed
through the hands of such noted land speculators as
James Greenleaf, Robert Morris, John Nicholson,
Wm. Mayne Duncanson and William Deakins — names
well known to students of the history of this city during
its early struggle for existence.
On September 27, 1802, James M. Lingan and wife,
116 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Janet (Henderson), sold the west 25-feet front of the
site of No. 2017 I Street for the sum of $492.18, to
Timothy Caldwell, of Philadelphia, Pa., who, in all
probability, began at once the erection of a dwelling
thereon, placed well back from the street line, which
indeed is today the back building of the present struc-
ture, and corresponds to No. 2019 I Street, adjoining
on the west.
On June 13, 1805, Caldwell added to his real estate
holdings by purchasing from Lingan, for the sum of
$432.50, a small tract adjoining the above 25 feet on
the east, and greatly enlarged the house he had recently
built, by adding the front portion of No. 2017 I Street
as it exists today of the full width of 32 feet 4.7 inches.
On April 14, 1808, Caldwell and his wife Ann sold
this enlarged building for the sum of $10,000 to Gideon
Granger, of Connecticut, Postmaster-General of the
United States from 1801 to 1814.
The prices paid in these three conveyances indicate
approximately the age of the house, the older or rear
portion being begun in 1802, the front about 1805,
being completed before 1808, possibly in 1805 or 1806.
Gideon Granger held the equitable title to this prop-
erty for five years, and with his wife, Mindwell P.
Granger, re-conveyed it on February 10, 1813 (for
the same consideration at which it had been pur-
chased), to Caldwell, who retained the ownership
until February 7, 1840, when it was conveyed by Clem-
ent Cox, trustee under a chancery cause filed in 1838,
to Francis Markoe, Jr.,^ of Pennsylvania, a clerk in
the State Department as early as 1837, and president
of the Columbian Institute. Markoe and his heirs
1 Listed as "clerk" in William Elliot/s "Washington Guide for 1837."
Clerk at $1,500 in 1843, "principal clerk" at $2,000 in 1851, and clerk at
$1,800 in 1855. (Information furnished by the State Department.)
Morris: An Old Washmgton Mansion. 117
owned this property and lived there^ off and on until
the latter disposed of it June 20, 1877, to Professor
Cleveland Abbe (practically the founder of the United
States Weather Bureau), who was still the owner of
this house at the time of his death on October 28, 1916.
It is interesting to note that this house has been the
property of but three families in its life of 115 years
(with the exception of the five years during which
Gideon Granger held the equitable title). This is un-
usual in this city of unsettled population. But Cald-
well's long tenure does not seem to have been entirely
from choice, as there were numerous mortgages and
assignments and a sale for default, at which Caldwell
bought in the property himself, and finally recitals in
the deed to Markoe given by Cox as trustee under the
above-mentioned chancery cause instituted in 1838
suggest financial difficulties.
The above is merely the outline, the steel skeleton,
as it were, of actual record ownership, upon which to
rear and embellish with historical data and tradition
the story of a mansion which probably ranks with the
Octagon and Decatur houses in importance, interest
and size ; the former was begun in 1798 and finished in
the year 1800 and is therefore a little older, while the
Decatur house at the corner of Jackson Place and H
Street was not built until 1819, but is another of the
few remaining old-time homes of interest, whose his-
tory should be found in the Columbia Historical So-
ciety's Eecords.
The house which is the subject of this sketch is no-
ticeable even today in this city of large houses, and
must in its earlier days have been considered palatial.
There is a tradition in the Caldwell family that Timo-
thy Caldwell intended to erect ''the handsomest house
- Markoe was a Southern sympathizer in the Civil war, and moved to
Baltimore.
1 1 <S Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
in the capital city," to be located "near Washington
Circle." There seems no other house in that section
that would so well answer to this boast, and "near
Washington Circle" is sufficiently close when the
scarcity of houses at that time is taken into considera-
tion. It contains twenty rooms, some of unusual size
and well proportioned; on the first or ground floor
a very large square reception room containing three
recessed, square-paned windows, is separated from the
dining room by a wide doorway supported by round
wooden columns. Back of these is a small square
room which was probably the parlor of the older house,
as it contains a beautiful white wooden mantel elabo-
rately decorated with urns and festoons of flowers, in
stucco, the handsomest mantel in the house. The wide
hall with fluted arch is one of the architectural beauties
of the house, as is also the broad, low, mahogany-railed
staircase with unique newel-post composed of slender
rods, and dainty stucco ornamentations up the side of
the staircase. The second floor front room is a large
drawing or assembly room, about 32 by 15 feet, and
contains four recessed windows across the front of
the house. With a little play of imagination, one can
picture a drawing room of a century ago, brilliantly
lighted with dozens of wax candles in candelabra on
the mantel, and in brass or silver sconces on the walls,
and can almost hear the orchestra, to whose strains
groups of ladies in the voluminous brocade gowns,
high-heeled slippers and elaborate turbans of the day,
are stepping the stately minuet with satin- and velvet-
garbed gentlemen.
Nearly all the rooms have open fireplaces and heavy
brass locks and oval door knobs.
The side door in the back building, opening into a
wide cemented court, was the front door of the house
Morris: An Old Washington Mansion. 119
first erected by Caldwell, and has the original quaint
built-in door seats or settles. There is also the jagged-
edge remains of an old-time brick chimney attached to
the adjoining house, and a very old brick wall with the
remnants of plaster coating, which show that part of
the older portion of the house has been demolished.
At the front door is a foot scraper, relic of the days
when Washington was derisively designated as ''The
Mud Hole" by certain Congressmen interested in
having the seat of government moved elsewhere after
the British invasion.
As large as the house is, it does not occupy all the
lot, but has an extensive garden in the rear, which is
enclosed in part by the original high brick wall, with
several brick pillars at the end — a little more orna-
mental than the present-day back-yard walls.
It has been said that this house was built for a Con-
gressman, and it is also a tradition in the Caldwell
family that Timothy Caldwell was a Congressman, but
this has not been verified, and, so far, the only infor-
mation I have about him is that he was the second son
of Joseph Caldwell, of Lancaster County, Pa., who was
born in 1732, married Johanna Sipple, of Delaware,
and died in 1797, and that Timothy was a resident of
Northern Liberties Township, Philadelphia County,
P.a., in 1790, appearing in the first U. S. Census report
as the head of a family with one female in the house-
hold. In William Elliot's "Washington Guide for
1837" is a list of "those who by their wealth, talents
and industry, have contributed to the formation of our
infant Metropolis, ' ' and among them appears the name
of Timothy Caldwell, which would indicate that he
made more of an impression on local affairs than I
have been able to discover. The Philadelphia direc-
tory for the year 1840 mentions Mrs. Ann Caldwell,
120 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Wood Street near School Street, from whicli I infer
that Timothy Caldwell was dead by that year, and in
the chaflcery cause before mentioned a decree pro con-
fesso also indicates or suggests the same, no answer
being returned by him.
The mortgages of this property during Caldwell's
ownership were all executed in Philadelphia, so there
is no direct evidence that he ever actually resided here.
But the house has been occupied by many persons of
prominence, and has been the scene of numerous bril-
liant social functions, as well as the subject of some
interesting traditions.
Here Gideon Granger undoubtedly lived and enter-
tained while Postmaster-General.
James Monroe occupied this house while Secretary
of State and later as Secretary of War during Presi-
dent Madison's term; and it was even the Executive
Mansion for a few months after Monroe's inaugura-
tion as fifth President of the United States on March
4, 1817, just one hundred years ago, and although
Monroe returned here and held an informal reception
after the inauguration ceremonies at the ''old brick
capitol," the inaugural ball of that date was not held
in his residence as is so frequently stated, but took
place at Davis' HoteP on Pennsylvania Avenue be-
tween 6th and 7th Streets, afterwards the ''Indian
Queen" and later the Metropolitan Hotel.
It is said that an important conference was being
held in this house between President Madison, Secre-
3 ' ' Tour of James Monroe " by S. Putnam Waldo, p. 39 ; " The Presi-
dent and his Lady, after his return, received at their dwelling the visits
of their friends, of the Heads of Departments, most of the Senators and
Representatives, of all the Foreign Ministers at the seat of government,
of strangers and citizens. . . . The evening concluded with a splendid
Ball at Davis' Hotel at which were present the President and Ex-Presi-
dent, and their Ladies, Heads of Departments, Foreign Ministers, and an
immense throng of strangers and citizens."
Morris: An Old Washington Mansion. 121
tary of State Monroe and Secretary of War Arm-
strong, while the battle of Bladensburg was being
fought on that fateful 24th of August, 1814; that the
unexpectedly rapid approach of the British broke up
the conference, and that Madison, being forced to flee,
galloped through the halls of this house on horseback
in his effort to escape capture by the enemy. Still
another tradition has it that a British officer rode on
horseback through these historic halls, so perhaps the
President's undignified haste on that occasion was jus-
tifiable — if there is any foundation for either tradition.
In support of the statement that this house was the
one occupied by Mr. Monroe, I quote from W. B.
Bryan's "History of the National Capital" (Vol. I,
p. 632) :
''On the North side of Pennsylvania Avenue between 20th
and 21st Streets, in a house adjoining the one occupied as a
residence by James Monroe, Secretary of State, was the office
of the Register of the Treasury, Joseph Nourse, and next to
it was the Franklin House, where the Treasury Department
was located."
The north side of the avenue is identical with I Street
at this point. Joseph Nourse owned the property be-
tween No. 2017 and the Franklin House, and in the
absence of suitable buildings to house the government
offices after the destruction of the public buildings by
the British in August, 1814, more than likely offered
his own property to the government for use by his
office force and records.
On Saturday, May 31, 1817, President Monroe
started on his first grand tour of the then United
States. Upon his return to the capital city on Sep-
tember 17, 1817, he took up his residence in the White
122 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
House,^ which had been repaired and painted a daz-
zling white after its partial destruction by the British.
It is frequently repeated that this famous coat of
paint gave rise to the name ''White House" by which
the Executive Mansion is generally known today, and
that before that circumstance it was known as the
Great House or the President's Palace. But this is
incorrect, as the term White House was used in the
correspondence of M. Serurier, the French Minister
at that time, in a manner to indicate that the term was
usual. Seeing the soldiers about to burn the Presi-
dent's house, the Minister sent to the commanding
officer, asking protection for the legation. "My mes-
senger," wrote Serurier to Talleyrand, "found Gen.
Boss in the White House, where he was collecting in
the dining room all the furniture to be found and pre-
paring to set it on fire." (W. B. Bryan's "History of
National Capital," Vol. I, p. 636.)
Another mis-statement constantly appears in the
newspapers of today to the effect that the corner house
of the Seven Buildings, at 19th Street and Pennsyl-
vania Avenue, was the home of President Monroe,
while the finishing touches were being put on the
White House, and even an inquiry made to the State
Department as to Monroe's residence brought the
same answer (quoting from Mr. Gaillard Hunt's "His-
tory of the Department of State"). But it is a well-
known fact that Mr. Madison had moved there from
* National Intelligencer, September 18, 1817. "It was with great
pleasure we once more beheld the President of the United States entering
the dwelling appropriated by the Nation to his use. By the indefatigable
exertions of the Architect, Mr. Hoban, under the direction of the worthy
Superintendent, Col. Lane, the President's house is already re-built, with
many improvements in the interior arrangement of the building, and
several rooms are completed for the comfortable accommodation of the
President. So that it will no longer be necessary for the chief officer of
the government to be chaffering for lodgings. ' '
Morris: An Old Washington Mansion. 123
the Octagon House during his presidency, and that he
remained there for some time after his successor's
inauguration. It is a foregone conclusion that the
Madisons and Monroes could not occupy the house at
the same time, and it is hardly likely that Mr. Monroe
should have moved from his more spacious mansion
on I Street for the short period intervening between
his inauguration and the date set for his tour of the
country. Furthermore, Mr. Bryan states ("History
of the National Capital," Vol. II, p. 46) that Monroe,
after his inauguration, lived in the house he had occu-
pied while Secretary of State.
On consulting the National Intelligencer of March 4,
1817, I find the following:
"It is recommended to the eitizeas of Washington and
Georgetown to convene on the open space in front of the
Franklin Hotel [formerly O'Neale's] on horseback on Tues-
day, the 4th inst. at 11 o'clock A.M. From thence to ac-
company as an escort, James Monroe to the Capitol where
the oath of office as President of the United States will be
administered to him. As system will be indispensably nec-
essary. Gen. Van Ness, Gen. Mason, Adj. Gen. Cox and Maj.
Walter Jones are appointed Marshals for this purpose, and it
is hoped will be respected accordingly." (Signed) "James
H. Blake, Mayor of Washington" and "John Peter, Mayor
of Georgetown."
Also, the Georgetown Messenger under date of
March 2, 1817, by the way, gives the following infor-
mation :
"Yesterday being the 4th of INlarch, Mr. i\Ionroe was in-
stalled into the Presidency of the United States. At an
early hour everything appeared to be in motion. Crowds
were seen flocking towards the Capitol from every direction.
Soon after 11 o'clock a great number of gentlemen assembled
on horseback in the open space in front of Mr. Monroe's house,
124 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
where they were formed under the direction of two of their
fellow citizens who had been chosen Marshals."
Another newspaper account sent me says that
"A large cavalcade of citizens, mounted, assembled at
O'Neale's Hotel, Pennsylvania Avenue and 21st Street, at 11
o'clock, and . . . proceeded to the residence of Monroe, a few
doors West of 20th Street."
These detached statements, written at the time of the
occurrence, prove conclusively Monroe's residence in
the house under discussion.
In 1822 the British legation was located in this
house, with the Eight Hon, Stratford Canning as En-
voy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary.^ A
clipping from the Star in 1903, writing of Madam
Bonfil's celebrated French school and the many beau-
tiful and talented young ladies who were her jDupils,
states that among them was Miss Marcia Van Ness,
niece and adopted daughter of General and Mrs. Van
Ness, and continuing, says :
'']\liss Van Ness figured prominently in Washington when
she became the wife of William Gore Ouseley, attache of the
British legation (afterwards Sir Gore Ouseley). Her wed-
ding was long talked of with its double ceremony, the religious
service being performed by Kev. Dr. Hawley, rector of St.
John's Church, and the bridal party, consisting of the bride
and groom. Miss Virginia Jones and Baron von Stackelberg,^
and Miss Nancy Kerr and Prince Lisben, were then driven
to the British legation, then occupying the large house at one
time owned and occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Markoe, where the
civil service under the English flag took place."
Other occupants of note of this house were Baron
5 From October 16, 1820 to June 24, 1823.
6 Swedish Minist-er.
Morris: An Old Washington Mansion. 125
de Maresclial,' Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary from Austria ; Charles Francis Adams,
son of John Quincy Adams and a senator from Massa-
chusetts ; General Silas Casey ; Virgil Maxey, Solicitor
of the Treasury in 1830, charge d'affaires at Brussels
in 1837, and later Consul-General at London, who was
killed in the explosion on the Princeton, during Presi-
dent Tyler's term.
It is remarkable how tradition sometimes rwies rough-
shod, or perhaps it would be more correct to say
''pussy-foots," over historical facts that can, with rea-
sonable investigation, be established; an instance of
this is another tradition in regard to this house, to the
effect that Thomas Jefferson resided there in 1789
while Secretary of State in Washington's first cabinet.
It is hardly necessary to state that the seat of national
government was located in New York City and that
Washington City was not in existence at that date, nor
was this house begun until more than a decade later.
It is said that an addition was built on the east side
of Secretary Monroe's residence, to be used as office
rooms and for the accommodation of visitors to the
department, after the destruction of the State Depart-
ment by the British, and that this addition was after-
wards separated from the residential portion of the
house by interior brick walls and became St. John's
Orphanage, still later being remodelled or replaced by
the present dwellings Nos. 2011-13-15 I Street. It
seems a matter of record that the State Department
was located on the south side of G Street between 17tli
and 18th (the site of the present Y, M. C. A. build-
7 Chancery 525, Eiiles 3, D. C. Courts, ' ' the Westernmost of said mes-
sauges, being all that one now in the occupancy of the Baron Mareschal. "
This cause was brought in 1838 against Caldwell and others, by Markoe,
to perfect title to land occupied by this house and land on the east thereof.
126 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
ing) after the British invasion,^ but it is possible that
those quarters were only used by the clerks, and that a
more commodious office was required for the Secre-
tary's personal use and convenience in receiving his
visitors. In Vol. I, p. 631, of ''History of the Na-
tional Capital," it states that
"Mr. Monroe who was also Secretary of War as well as
Secretary of State, had his office in his home on the North
side of Pennsylvania Avenue between 20th and 21st."
It is a fact that in Januarj^, 1815, four months after
the British visit, Timothy Caldwell purchased the
property to the east of his former house, and built
thereon, and that subsequent conveyances included
both parcels. An advertisement for sale of the prop-
erty now 2017 I Street, December 8, 1837, recited "the
Westernmost half of the entire building at present in
the occupation of Mrs. Latimer, on North I Street in
the immediate neighborhood of the Western Market" —
which gives some authority for the tradition that one
house or building had recently covered both parcels of
land. Mrs. Latimer appears to have kept a boarding
house in this building, as Elliott's Guide for the year
1837 gives the information that M. Alphonse Pageot,
Secretary of the French Legation, lived at Mrs.
Latimer's.
In more recent times 2017 I Street was a fashionable
girl's school, known as St. John's School, kept by Mrs.
Wotherspoon, and in which her daughters (now Mrs.
Richard Wainwright and Mrs. Washington Matthews)
were teachers. Afterwards Mr. and Mrs. Faust kept
the school.
8 In the National Intelligencer of September 9, 1814, it is stated that
the government departments are locating themselves in those houses most
commodious for the purpose, and among others, that the State Depart-
ment is established in the house "recently occupied by Judge Duvall. "
Morris: An Old Washington Mansion. 127
I have spoken of the front portion of this mansion
as being built as it at present appears, about the year
1805 or 1806, but this is not strictly correct, as in 1881
Professor Abbe changed the former top or third floor,
with its dormer windows, into a full story and added
the present attic or fourth floor with the same kind of
windows, to preserve' the original style of architecture.
He also built additional rooms in the rear on the upper
floors and removed a stable a'nd other outbuildings in
the backyard.
This house is in a neighborhood rich in historic in-
terest, as many prominent citizens and statesmen have
lived in adjoining houses. Nearby was ^^O'Neale's,"
where occurred in April, 1812, the death of Mr. Clin-
ton, Vice-President of the United States, This build-
ing was enlarged in 1813 and became the Franklin
House, where Lafayette stopped when on a visit to
this country in 1824, and where Andrew Jackson lived
while a Senator from Tennessee ; also the home of the
beautiful but notorious Peggy O'Neale,^ who, as the
wife of General Eaton (also a Senator from Tennessee,
and later Secretary of War and Minister to Spain),
disrupted President Jackson's cabinet and indirectly
influenced the next presidential election, consequently
the affairs of the nation. Here the Treasury Depart-
ment was located after the British invasion and until
1816.^^ This building was afterward remodelled into
a row of dwellings, and the site is now occupied by the
Penn Gardens, a moving-picture theater, retaining
however, the original outer walls. In the corner house
of Franklin Row the Markoes lived when first married,
° Peggy O 'Neale married first Purser Timberlake of the U. S. N., then
Gen. Eaton, and later became Madam Buchanini.
^0 National Intelligencer, Mar. 7, 1816, advertises O'Neal's tavern for
sale or rent — ' ' the Treasury Department being now moved. ' '
128 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
later moving into 2017 I Street ; the McBlairs occupied
the second house in the row.
Other residents on this square included Commodore
Alexander Dallas, brother of the Secretary of the
Treasury and of Vice-President Dallas, in No. 2021;
John Eandolph, grandson of Mrs. Eaton; Princess
Salm-Salm, in No. 2003, a former circus rider who
delighted the children of the neighborhood by habit-
ually dashing up to her home on a white horse and
leaping from its back to her doorstep; Samuel V.
Niles, who is said to have purchased No. 2005 at mid-
night for $1,200 from Mrs. Eaton, such was her anxiety
to leave town; Colonel Bender in No. 2009; General
Townsend; General Charles Thomas; General Alex-
ander James Perrj^, nephew of the hero of the battle
of Lake Erie ; the Gadsbys, and many others.
There is no definite name by which this house seems
to be known in Washington. It cannot be called the
Caldwell Mansion, as Caldwell does not seem to have
been sufficiently identified with public affairs. Mon-
roe's name does not seem to have attached to it; and
it is called by some "the Markoe house" and by others
' ' the Abbe house, ' ' according to the age of the speaker.
However, it bids fair to be known in future by the
name of ''The Arts Club" house, as it is now the per-
manent home of ''The Arts Club of Washington," an
organization which in the short sjDace of eight or nine
months' existence has grown from a nucleus of about
twenty-five members to over four hundred and twenty-
five members, and which is already a factor in the ar-
tistic and social life of the national capital.
THE DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA IN THE AMERI-
CAN REVOLUTION AND PATRIOTS OF
THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD WHO
ARE INTERRED IN THE DISTRICT
OR IN ARLINGTON.
By SELDEN MARVIN ELY.
(Read before the Society, March 20, 1917.)
All of the thirteen original states are making efforts
to form complete rolls of the soldiers and sailors, and
to some extent, the civil patriots, of the American
Revolutionary period. Several of the states have
fairly complete records ; others are even now advertis-
ing for reliable papers and data.
The merest tyro in history knows that there was,
during the Revolutionary period, no District of Co-
lumbia as a political entity. The Constitution of the
United States, Section 8, Article 1, reads as follows:
"The Congress shall have power to exercise exclusive Legis-
lation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not ex-
ceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular
States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat
of the Government of the United States. ' '
Acting under the provision of this clause Congress
passed an act, July 16, 1790, and amended said act
March 3, 1791. Proceedings taken to make provision
for a federal district under authority of these acts re-
sulted in the establishment of the present area, ulti-
mately, as the seat of government of the United States.
For the purposes of this paper, there is no concern
about the retrocession to Virginia under the act of
Congress of July 9, 1846, of the jDart south of the Po-
lo 129
] 30 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
tomac except in the fact tliat Arlington National Ceme-
tery lies within said limits. The lines of the District
of Columbia were finally settled by proclamation of
President George Washington, March 30, 1791, and
are now familiar. From the outbreak of the Revolu-
tionary War to this date there was a span of sixteen
years. The population from 1775 to 1783 would be a
matter of interest, but the figures would be largely a
guess, as the earliest census includes the Virginia
area as well.
It is hoped that this narrative, and to some extent
argument, will serve two purposes: first, to put the
District of Columbia in line with the several states, as
heretofore recorded ; and second, which is perhaps the
more important from the present and utilitarian view-
point, if it can be shown that this District was once
inhabited by its due proportion of patriots who helped
establish this great triumphant democracy, and that if
their descendants may be found in like proportion
among its citizens, may it not be inferred that this area
is entitled to the rights, privileges, and immunities of
other areas in the United States of America? The
registers of the Sons of the Revolution, the Sons of
the American Revolution, but more especially the
Daughters of the American Revolution, show that such
population has persisted in the District of Columbia
to a greater extent than in any other equal territory in
the United States. It is an axiom that "blood will
tell." Then why deprive these citizens, especially the
ladies, of the rights of citizens elsewhere! It will be
shown that Congress has no right to make or to refer
to such people as ''tax dodgers" and "neutralized."
Had these men whose names and deeds will be herein
later recorded known that their land and descendants
were to be subjected to such huniiliations, they would
Ely: The District In the American Revolution. 131
perhaps have been justified in being Tories. And who
knows but that from their numbers, courage, and
strategic position at the head of navigation of the Po-
tomac, they might have turned the results in favor of
King George. Then again, could George Washington,
the patriot, have foreseen the present condition of the
citizens of the city which bears his name, and who
would like to honor it, would he have been as ardent to
have it located near Mt. Vernon! More naturally he
would have advised a situation on the Thames or the
archaic Nile. Dates have been previously given to
show that the citizens themselves could not have had
any intimation of such use of their soil. In so far as
leaks were at that time available, records of the Co-
lumbia Historical Society show that the site was fore-
shadowed to be on the insignificant Delaware, and the
particular spot Germantown, not Georgetown. The
citizens of Germantown may now be pictured, perhaps
properly, as permitting themselves to be " tax dodgers, ' '
but certainly they cannot be thought of as allowing
themselves to be voteless.
To return to the more serious phase of this paper,
as far as is known, no person has heretofore attempted
to list the patriots of the District of Columbia in ac-
cordance with the title used. A few characters have
been written up extensively, a number of graves lo-
cated and marked by individuals and by patriotic so-
cieties, such as the S. A. R., the S. R., and especially
the D. A. R., but no comprehensive effort has been
made to group them all. To the extent to which such
new lists and names follow or are identified elsewhere,
this record claims to be a research. A word of ex-
planation, however, is necessary as to its scope.
In 1912, Mr. William V. Coi, the president of the
District of Columbia Societv of the Sons of the Ameri-
132 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
can Eevolntion, appointed a committee "to locate
the graves of patriots of the American Eevolntion who
are interred in the District of Columbia, or Arlington
National Cemetery." The committee was composed
of the writer, chairman, and Messrs. Zebina Moses and
Fletcher White. Following the early death of Mr.
White, Caleb Clarke Magruder, Jr., was named to
take his place. The committee made a report to the
Society through its chairman on March 24, 1915.
With the permission of the Sons of the American Revo-
lution, that report has been drawn on freely for this
paper, because it is felt that the researches therein
noted are the cause of the invitation to the author to
prepare this more permanent record. In connection
with the work of the committee of the Sons of the
American Eevolution, reference should be made to a
paper submitted to the Society on March 18, 1914, by
Zebina Moses on "Obliterated Cemeteries in the Dis-
trict of Columbia." Future investigators will find the
information brought out by Mr. Moses on file with the
secretary of the Sons of the American Eevolution, and
they will find also the report of the committee to which
reference has already been made. The committee's
report goes somewhat into detail respecting the inves-
tigations made; briefly they are as follows:
A study of individual chai^cters made by Mr. Ma-
gruder for verification or rejection of their patriotic
service, and by the chairman : many visits to all burial
grounds, correspondence with the superintendents of
cemeteries in the District of Columbia to discover either
original or re-interments, correspondence with the
Quartermaster-General of the Army, with several
chief clerks, as well as with many men who might have
knowledge. The chairman personally scanned all of
the District of Columbia jDapers for the eighteenth cen-
Ely: The District in the American Revolution. 133
tury now on file in the Library of Congress, as well as
many copies of District papers from 1800 to dates
where further search seemed useless. The chairman
also examined the reports of the Columbia Historical
Society, especially the papers of Hugh T. Taggart,
Esq., who has made elaborate researches in the records
of old Georgetown. He also studied bibliographies of
the District of Columbia, and in detail the one by W.
B. Bryan for suggestive titles. Credit must be given
Dr. G. M. Brumbaugh for adding two new names from
D. A. R. reports and giving some good suggestions
when he read this manuscript in anticipation of editing
a list to appear in a forthcoming issue of The National
Genealogical Society Quarterly.
Forty positive locations may now be recorded and
information submitted on many others.
Aklington National Cemetery.
1. John Green, a re-interment from Virginia, lies in
Lot 503, Western Division, Officers' Section. His
death occurred in 1793. He was born and died in Lib-
erty Hall, Culpeper County, Virginia. This John
Green was Colonel of the Sixth and Tenth Virginia
Regiments of Volunteers in the Revolutionary War.
John Green's grave is covered with a fine monument,
the inscriptions on which show his military career.
2. JosephCarleton lies in Lot 299, Western Division,
Officers' Section. He died March 11, 1812. His re-
mains were removed from the old Presbyterian Ceme-
tery, Georgetown, to Arlington, November 13, 1907.
Joseph Carleton was a merchant of Georgetown, and
at his death was fiftj^-eight years of age. During the
Revolutionary War he was paymaster to the Board of
War. His grave is covered with a disintegrating flat
slab.
134 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
3. Thomas Meason or Mason (both spellings are
found connected with this man's name) lies in Lot
297-B, Western Division, Ofificers' Section. He passed
away March 10, 1813. His remains were removed
from the Presbyterian Cemetery, Georgetown, to Ar-
lington, on May 12, 1892. This Thomas Meason was
a Brigadier-General in the United States Army. He
is found once in the General Index as a Sergeant of
Darr's Detachment Pennsylvania Troops. Heitman's
Eegister, however, records him as Thomas Mason, re-
tired, and as captain, January 1, 1781, of a Maryland
regiment. His home was Uniontbwn, Pennsylvania,
but he died in Georgetown. His grave is covered with
a flat slab.
4. James House, Lot 297-A, Western Division, Offi-
cers' Section, who entered into rest November 17, 1834,
was removed from the Presbyterian Cemetery to Ar-
lington May 12, 1892. The Quartermaster's records
show James House as a General of the United States
Army. He is found once in the Consolidated General
Index Eevolutionary War as Mattross in the First Ar-
tillery Regiment Continental Troops. His grave is
marked with an old marble monument.
5. Caleb Swan, Lot 301-C, Western Division, Offi-
cers' Section, died November 29, 1809, and was re-
moved from the Presbyterian Cemetery to Arlington
May 12, 1892. Caleb Swan is found as an ensign of
the Third and Eighth Massachusetts Eegiments, and
Heitman's Register records him also as pajTuaster-
general, United States Army. His grave is covered
with a flat broken stone.
6. James Macciihhin Lingan, Western Division, Offi-
cers ' Section, who was killed in the riots at Baltimore,
Maryland, 1812, was interred on his private estate,
Harlem, in Georgetown, and on November 5, 1908, his
Col. Hist. Soc, Vol. XXI, Pl. II.
Approximately Marked Grave of Revolutionary Soldier, James
McCuBBIN LiNGAN, ARLINGTON.
Ely: The District in the American Revolution. 135
remains were removed to Arlington. A great deal lias
appeared in the local papers with respect to this un-
usual character. Suffice it to say here that he went
out from Georgetown in the Eevolutionarj^ War and
saw service as ensign and lieutenant in Maryland and
Virginia Eegiments in Continental Troops. Taggart
gives liim as lieutenant-colonel in the Maryland line.
His grave is covered with a monument upon which is
inscribed his military record. Beside this monument
stands a Daughters of the American Revolution marker,
which was placed there by Dolly Madison Chapter,
D. A. R.
7. The Arlington records show that the remains of
John Follin, who departed this life April 17, 1841, were
removed from a point near Falls Church, Virginia, and
re-interred in Lot 294-A on May 29, 1911. In view of
the fact that this John Follin has many descendants
in and about Washington, it will be appropriate that
a more extended notice be given. John Follin was
born either within or near the old District line in Alex-
andria County, Virginia. He enlisted in the Navy
from Alexandria, was captured and taken as a pris-
oner of war to Plymouth, England, and from there was
transported to Gibraltar. He was flogged several
times because he would not serve in the British Navy.
Tliej claimed the right to his service as a British sub-
ject. John Follin had two wives and thirty children,
twenty-one from the first marriage, and nine from the
second. One of these children died within the past few
years. His grave is marked with a large stone monu-
ment in which is inserted a bronze plate showing his
military services. Credit for the removal of the ashes
of John Follin from their obscure resting place to a
more worthy grave in Arlington is due to Mr. Gabriel
Edmonston, one of his descendants, and now an esti-
136 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
mable old gentleman of tlie District. The wife of Wil-
liam A. Miller, of the Library of Congress, is of his
lineage also. Mr. Miller made the photographs of
monuments and markers which accompanied the Sons
of the American Eevolntion report.
8. Pierre Charles L'Enfant was interred in Green
Hill, Prince George's County, Md., but on April 28,
1908, was removed to Arlington with fitting ceremonies.
His monument is most appropriately inscribed and
his brilliant military and civil career too well recorded
to need repetition here.
The 15th Keport, D. A. E., 1911-12, p. 69, lists the-
following re-interments in Arlington not included
above: William W. Burroivs, Stephen Cassin, John A.
Davis, Edward Jones, Alexander Macomh, John T.
Ritchie and John R. Wilson. All of these names have
been under search by the writer for five years. Some
of the men probably rendered Eevolutionary aid, e. g.,
Edward Jones, but for the purpose of this research
proof is lacking. Others certainly did not, for in-
stance, Stephen Cassin and Alexander Macomb, who
were not born until 1783, and Lieutenant Eitchie, who
did not see the light until 1788 according to his death
notice in the National Intelligencer.
Iisr THE Congressional Cemetery.
1. The remains of Jacob Gideon, a Eevolutionary
soldier, lie in the Congressional Cemetery. He is of
special interest also, because two of his descendants,
Philip F. and John B. Larner, are members of the Co-
lumbia Historical Society and the S. A. E. Jacob
Gideon was a trumpeter and private in the Pennsyl-
vania militia. His name also appears in the index of
''Eckenrode's Virginia Archives" as having applied
for bounty lands in Virginia. The inscription on his
monument, a marble slab, reads:
Ely: The District in the American Revolution. 137
"In memory of Jacob Gideon, a soldier of the Revolution,
died March 3, 1841, aged eighty-seven years."
In the National Intelligencer of March 5, 1841, ap-
peared the following notice :
"Died, in this City on Wednesday evening, the 3rd in-
stant, Mr. Jacob Gideon, Sr., a soldier of the Revolution,
aged eighty-seven years.
"His friends and acquaintances and those of his son, Jacob
Gideon. Jr., are requested to attend his funeral this morning,
Friday, at 11 o'clock from the residence of his son, on 7th
Street, between E and F streets."
2. Captain Hugh George Campbell. The actual
Revolutionary services of this Hugh George Campbell
are somewhat shrouded. His name does not ap-
pear in any of the indexes of the South Carolina Ar-
chives. It is, however, an indubitable fact obtained
from the current literature of his later life that the
inscription on his monument states the historical truth.
The inscription reads as follows :
"Beneath this marble rest the mortal remains of Hugh
George Campbell, late a Captain in the Na\y of the United
States. He was a native of the State of South Carolina. In
the year 1775 he entered as a volunteer on board the first
vessel of the war commissioned by the Council of his native
State. He served his country upward of 22 years as a
Comrade and died in this City on the 11th day of November,
1820, aged about 62 years."
Calahan, in ''Officers of the Navy, 1775 to 1800," has
this entry:
"Hugh George Campbell appointed Commander 27 July,
1799, Captain 16 October, 1800."
3. In the Congressional Cemetery lie the remains of
Honorable Elbridge Gerry, who was gathered unto his
138 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
fathers in Washington during his second year as Vice-
President, on November 23, 1814. The military serv-
ices of Gerry are noted by Heitman. It is proper also
to record that he was born at Marblehead, Massachu-
setts, July 17, 1744, graduated at Harvard, and became
a member of the Continental Congress of 1776. He
was also a member of the First National Congress of
1789, and was one of the envoys sent to establish rela-
tions with France in 1797. He was elected governor
of Massachusetts in 1810^ and Vice-President of the
United States in 1812. His grave is covered with a
handsome monument which was erected by an act of
Congress in 1823.
4. At this point it will be well to record that General
George Clinton was originally interred in Congres-
sional Cemetery, where he remained until a few years
ago, when his body was transferred to New York with
considerable ceremony.
5. General James Jackson, one of the most distin-
guished Georgians, reposes in Congressional Ceme-
tery. His enviable military record is to be found in
Heitman, and more extensively, together with his civil
life, in the "National Portrait Gallery." He was gov-
ernor of Georgia, and United States Senator from
1801 to March, 1806. He passed away on the 19th of
March of that year and was interred, the "Portrait
Gallery" states, "four miles from Washington, "which
was in fact Rock Creek churchyard. He was re-
interred in Congressional Cemetery under one of those
quaint cenotaphs. A Revolutionary War, D. A. R.,
marker stands on his grave, and the last phrase of the
inscription on his tomb is "a soldier of the Revo-
lution. ' '
6. Senator Uriah Tracey, of Connecticut. "Con-
necticut Men in the Revolution" lists the name of
Ely: The District in the American Revolution. 139
Uriah Tracey in a company that marched from sundry
places for the relief of Boston, etc., in the Lexington
Alarm, April, 1775, and were formed into an independ-
ent and ranging company at Roxbury. The military
services of Senator Tracey were of a clerical nature
for a short period. There is nothing on his grave to
permanently record his army connection. He was the
first congressman to be interred in Congressional
Cemetery. This occurred July 19, 1807, by exhuma-
tion from Rock Creek.
7. General Thomas Blount, a representative from
North Carolina, was born in Edgecombe County, May
10, 1759, and at the age of sixteen entered the Revolu-
tionary Army. In 1780 he became a deputy paymaster-
general, and was a major commanding a battalion of
North Carolina militia at the battle of Eutaw Springs.
The Congressional Biography ranks him a major-
general of militia. He enjoyed a long congressional
career, passing away while a member, February 7,
1812. There is no inscription on his monument of
patriot service.
8. Honorable Leti Casey, of South Carolina, served
in the Revolutionary War as a brigadier-general of
militia. He was born in South Carolina in 1749 and
died in Washington, February 1, 1807. Evidence
seems to show that his ashes were placed in Congres-
sional Cenetery by re-interment, August 1, 1832. His
gravestone contains no patriot inscription.
9. The ''Pennsylvania Muster Rolls record Henry
Black as a private, York County Militia; Corporal,
Cumberland County Militia, and Captain, Bedford
County Militia. He was a member of Congress from
Somerset, Pennsylvania. This patriot passed away
November 28, 1841, but evidently was re-interred in
Congressional Cemetery June, 1842. There is no
Revolutionarv marker.
140 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
10. Colonel James Morrison, of Lexington, Ken-
tucky, died in Washington, D. C, April 23, 1823. He
was a native of Pennsylvania, and Heitman registers
him as an ensign. Eighth Pennsylvania from 21st of
December, 1778, until he retired January 1, 1781. Col-
onel Morrison settled in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1792,
and became a man of great wealth and founder of Mor-
rison College in Lexington. He was state representa-
tive from Fayette and Quartermaster-General. The
only record on his monument of military service is the
title ''Colonel."
11. Doctor Elisha Harrison's remains also repose
in Congressional Cemetery. His name is found in the
Maryland Archives and also in Heitman 's, where he
is recorded as enlisting in the Fourth Maryland, the
15th of October, 1781, and retired 1st of January, 1783.
The Doctor entered into rest August 26, 1819, aged
fifty-nine. The site of his original interment is not
known, but he was transferred to Congressional Ceme-
tery April, 1823. Part of the chiseling on his monu-
ment reads as follows: "A native of Maryland and
surgeon in the Revolutionary War."
12. '^ Major John Kinney, of New Jersey, an officer
in the Army of the Revolution Died in this city July
17, 1832, aged seventy-five years" is cut in another
monument in Congressional Cemetery. John Kinney 's
name as an ensign. New Jersey Line, is found in U. S.
Pension Roll, p. 514. Heitman gives him a splendid
record for three years' service.
13. James Gillespie, a member of Congress from
North Carolina, passed away January 11, 1805. His
patriot record includes membership in the State Con-
vention of 1776, and the State House of Commons
1779-1783. The ashes of this distinguished man were
transferred to Congressional Cemetery from the old
Ely: The District in the American Revolution. 141
Presbyterian Cemetery, April 14, 1892, and now lie
under a marble monument just south of the superin-
tendent's residence. The only inscription is ''James
Gillespie, North Carolina, died January 11, 1805."
14. H. Brockholst Livingston was born in New York
City, November 26, 1757, and died in the District of
Columbia, March 19, 1823. He entered the Revolu-
tionary Army with the grade of captain and won the
rank of lieutenant-colonel. Colonel Livingston be-
came also an eminent diplomat and jurist, being a jus-
tice of the United States Supreme Court.
The body of the Honorahle James Jones, of Georgia,
rests in Congressional Cemetery. There was a James
Jones in Georgia who was a prominent civil patriot,
but it has not been possible to make identification.
Representative Jones may have been this Georgia state
assemblyman, but some facts of residence seem to in-
dicate that he was not.
The remains of Tobias Lear, the private secretary
to George Washington and foreign emissary, repose in
Congressional Cemetery. Some reports include Lear
as worthy of Revolutionary honors. He came of a
patriot family and a "Tobias Lear" signed a petition
to the State Committee of Safety from Portsmouth,
New Hampshire, May 5, 1777. Reliable biographies
give the date of his birth September 19, 1762, and this
would make his age such as to cast doubt on his sign-
ing the petition. The signature is probably that of his
father. Captain Tobias Lear, Sr. The career of To-
bias Lear, Jr., seems to have begun after he was grad-
uated from Harvard in 1783.
Rock Ceeek Cemetery.
1. Peter Faulkner, was originally interred in Hol-
mead, but was later transferred to Rock Creek. The
inscription on his monument reads:
142 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
"Peter Faulkner, an officer in the Army of the United
States during the Revolutionary War, who departed this life
September 27, 1823."
The inscription reads ''September 27, 1823." Heit-
man gives his death as September 20, 1823. The Sep-
tember "20," however, is an error. This discrepancy
led to much uncertainty until a recent date, when the
writer was making searches in the Congressional Li-
brary, where he found in the National Intelligencer of
September 30, 1823, a death notice which completely
cleared the matter. Heitman, in his "Officers of the
Continental Army," states:
"Peter Faulkner. Private of Regiment in Lee's Battalion
of Light Dragoons Pulaski Legion 1778-9, Ensign 2d New
Jersey, 17th June, 1780. Retained in New Jersey Battalion
1783, and served to 3rd of November, 1783. Captain 11th
United States Infantry, 8th January 1799 — honorably dis-
eh<arged 15th June, 1800 — Military Storekeeper, United States
Army 19th August 1818, dismissed 20th June, 1820— died
20th September, 1823."
There appeared in the National Intelligencer, Septem-
ber 30, 1823, the following :
"In this city, on the 27th instant after a short illness,
Captain Peter Faulkner, an officer in the Army of the United
States during the Revolutionary War; a gentleman of ex-
emplary conduct, and highly esteemed by all who knew him.
He has left a widow to mourn her bereavement in the midst
of strangers. ]\Iay consolation flow to her from higher than
an earthly source."
2. Rock Creek Cemetery also contains the remains
of Colonel William Deakins, Jr., sometimes spelled
Deakin. Mr. Moses is of the opinion that he was origi-
nally interred in the Cedars burying-ground where
now stands the Western High School, Georgetown.
The inscription on his monument reads:
Ely: The District in the American Revolution. 143
"Colonel William Deakins died March 3, 1798, aged 56.
In his death his family have lost an unshaken friend and a
bright example of philanthropy, the poor a liberal benefactor,
the distressed of every class a willing helper, Society one of
her illustrious ornaments, and George Town by the blow has
lost her most illustrious Patron.
"His affectionate eonnections have marked the place where
his remains are deposited in this Sepulchre in order to testify
their regard for his memory, to perpetuate to posterity the
record of his virtues.
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."
The Georgetown newspapers of that date contain
about the same phraseology in their reports of his
death. In the Archives of Maryland may be found the
following report with respect to William Deakins, Jr. :
«
"Enrolled by Capt. Benjamin Spyker. Reviewed and
passed by Will Deakins, Jr., Frederick County, July 29,
1776. (Then follows a list of twenty men.)
"Enlisted by Greenbury Gaither. Reviewed and passed
by Will Deakins, Jr., Frederick County, July 29, 1776."
(Then follows twenty names.)
His grave is covered with a flat stone.
3. The bones of Senator Abraham Baldivin, of
Georgia, lie in Rock Creek Cemetery under a small
marble . monument, erected jointly to the memory of
his sister, Mrs. Joel Barlow, and himself. The re-
mains of Senator Baldwin were thrice interred, first
in Rock Creek, beside his colleague. Senator James
Jackson, then transferred to Kalorama, and finally
again to Rock Creek, just down the slope from the
famous Saint Gaudens' figure. The Biographical
Congressional Directory gives a splendid patriot rec-
ord for Senator Baldwin. He was also a member of
the National Constitutional Convention. As stated
before, he was a brother of Mrs. Barlow. Joel Barloiv,
144 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
of Connecticut, one of the famous fighting chaplains of
the Eevohition, resided for several years on Kalorama
Heights. It was from there that he went on his last
great diplomatic mission to Europe, and died from ex-
posure to cold at Zarniwica, Poland, December 24,
1812. It would be a worthy effort of one like unto
Horace Porter to locate Joel Barlow's body and bring
it to Arlington.
4. Thomas Boyd, of Maryland, is another Revolu-
tionary soldier whose mortal clay undoubtedly rests
in the Queen vault in Eock Creek Cemetery. His en-
viable military record is found in Volume 18, Maryland
Archives, Saffell, Heitman, as well as the records of
the War Department and the Society of the Cincinnati.
At the final muster out he was adjutant of the famous
Fifth Maryland. Thomas Boyd was a Justice of the
Peace in his native county. Prince George's, from 1777
to the year of his death, 1797. He was laid to rest first
in the Queen burying-ground in the northeastern part
of the District of Columbia.
In this cemetery a slab beside that of Colonel Wil-
liam Deakins reads as follows :
''Col. Thofnas Deakin born Nov, 12, 1739, departed this
life the 28th of October, 1804, in the 66th year of his age."
From his name, age and title it is extremely probable
that he was a patriot, but proof has not been located.
Oak Hill Cemetery.
1. In Oak Hill Cemetery lie the remains of General
Uriah For rest, 17 56-1805. General Forrest was origi-
nally interred in the Presbyterian Cemetery, George-
town, but on June 21, 1883, his remains were trans-
ferred to Oak Hill. The officials at Oak Hill have his
military title as Colonel, but he was popularly known
Ely: The District in the American Revolution. 145
as General. Uriah Forrest was a member of the Con-
tinental Congress from Maryland for two years. He
was wounded at Germantown and lost a leg at Brandy-
wine. He was clerk of the Circuit Court of the Dis-
trict of Columbia at the time of his death, which oc-
curred in Georgetown. His remains now lie in Lot
255, Oak Hill Cemetery, and are covered by an obscure
old fiat stone.
2. The remains of Rev, Dr. Stephen Bloomer Balcli,
the most illustrious scholar, orator, patriot, and min-
ister of the Presbyterian faith in the District of Co-
lumbia, have had three interments. First they were
incased in the front wall of his church on September
24, 1833 ; then, on the demolition of the edifice in 1873,
they were transferred to the Old Presbyterian Ceme-
tery, and again through the munificence of W. W. Cor-
coran, his ashes were re-interred in the spring of 1874
in Oak Hill Cemetery near the Swiss Chapel, in which
there is a mural tablet presented by Mr. Corcoran and
appropriately inscribed with letters of gold, which are
neither so brilliant nor imperishable as his rare career.
Interested persons are referred to a biography of
Dr. Balch, which appears over the name of W. S. Jack-
son in the Evening Star of April 1, 1893, and another
by Allen C. Clark in the Columbia Historical Society
Recoeds. The present story, however, is jDarticularly
concerned with his patriot career.
Captain Balch 's name does not appear in the Mary-
land Archives, admittedly incomplete, but as a matter
of fact, he served three years, having commenced by
drilling the older boys of his academy, and actively
served by sallying forth to meet the enemy on the
shores of Chesapeake Bay at different times from Sep-
tember 1, 1775, to December 1, 1777. The enemy, how-
ever, never appeared in Maryland. Dr. Balch also
11
146 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
drilled the boys of his academy in Georgetown during
the War of 1812. A brother, the Rev. Hezekiah James
Balch, was one of the first signers of the Mecklenberg
Declaration of Independence, May 20, 1775.
Old Presbyterian Cemetery (Obliterated).
1. William Waters. Jackson's "Chronicles of George-
town" is authority for the statement that a tombstone
in the old Presbyterian Cemetery recorded the inter-
ment of ''William Waters, soldier of the Eevolution. "
This is of course a fact, but the grading for the mu-
nicipal playground in Georgetown which now occupies
the site of the old cemetery prevents for all time, prob-
ably, the re-location of the stone. William Waters
rested August 19, 1859, aged ninety-three j^ears.
2. Roberdeaii or Rouhadieu. Tradition in a George-
town family named Buchanan carries the statement that
their grandfather, a Revolutionary soldier whose name
was Roubadieu, was buried in his uniform in the same
old cemetery. Such a man and soldier resided there,
and undoubtedly his ashes repose as indicated.
3. Robert Peter, the first prominent merchant and
the first mayor of Georgetown, died November 15,
1806, aged eighty years. Taggart, by letters and com-
mittee reports, shows that he was a civil patriot. His
signature as a loyal Magistrate or Justice of Peace
in Lower Potomac Hundred, Frederick County, Md.,
August 22, 1776, is reproduced in ' ' Maryland Records :
Colonial, Revolutionary, County and Church," Brum-
baugh, Vol. 1, p. 179. His enumeration in George
Town Hundred as "50" in the Census of 1776 appears
on page 194 of the same work. The Oath of Fidelity
of Robert Peter, Sr., and Robert Peter, Jr., are pub-
lished in The National Genealogical Society Quarterly,
April, 1917, pp. 8-9. These facts disprove Scharf's
reference to Robert Peter as a possible Tory.
Ely: The District in the American Revolution. 147
4. Colonel George Beall. The Maryland Archives
have a number of references to this gallant major and
colonel. He was born in Georgetown, February 26,
1729, and passed to his reward October 15, 1807, in
the town of his nativity.
5. Daniel Heintz {Hines or Hinds). Daniel Hines,
at the time of his demise, October 16, 1807, resided in
Georgetown. His will, recorded in the District of Co-
lumbia, designates his place of burial and provides a
headstone. This is another of the obliterated graves.
The Archives of Maryland, Volume 18, p. 47, show that
he served as a private, being enrolled July 1, 1776, in
Captain Peter Mantz's company of the Flying Camp.
Daniel Hines had two brothers, Henry and John, who
were also patriot soldiers. Mr. John Clagett Proctor,
in the Hines 's Genealogy, has submitted indubitable
evidence that they passed away and were interred in
the District of Columbia, but the spot is not now known.
6. John Barnes. Miss Cordelia Jackson, in her ar-
ticle, ''John Barnes, A Forgotten Philanthropist of
Georgetown," in Volume 7, Recoeds Columbia His-
torical Society, states: "He offered his services to
the Continental Army and declared he was ready to die
for his adopted country." At that time John Barnes
resided in New York, but he went to Philadelphia with
the Congress, and also came to the District with the
removal of the government. Jefferson appointed him
Collector of the Port of Georgetown in 1806, and he
filled the office for twenty years. A marble slab in the
old cemetery noted the fact that he passed away in
his ninety-sixth year.
Mt. Olivet Cemetery.
1. Captain Benjamin Burche passed away May 5,
1832, aged seventy-one. His monument bears the in-
scription :
148 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
"He served his country with fidelity and honor through the
War of the Revolution and the War of 1812 with England.
For twenty-two years he filled the responsible and honorable
office of doorkeeper of the House of Representatives of the
United States. He was an upright, honorable, humane and
brave man, and was a professor of the religion of Christ."
2. Colonel Constant Freeman. Colonel Freeman
entered into rest February 27, 1824, aged seventy-six.
He was Fourth Auditor of the Treasury. Chiseled on
his monument is the phrase, "Patriot of '76." Col-
onel Freeman was an officer of the army during the
whole of the Eevolutionary War and also the War of
1812. He was given a civil appointment because of
the reduction in the size of the army.
In the case of Colonel James Hohan, the distin-
guished architect, whose monument is in Mt. Olivet,
there is a doubt. Some references in Washingtoniana
place him in South Carolina during the Kevolution,
but the "Biographies of Architects of the Capitol,"
which seem to be authentic, locate him in the old coun-
try during the Revolution.
The name of Daniel Carroll, whose monument also
is in Mt. Olivet, has been suggested to the writer. He
was in his higher teens at the close of the war and later
a distinguished citizen, but no record of patriot ac-
tivity has been discovered.
Family Graveyakd, Squaee 390.
1. Notley Young, one of the original land proprie-
tors of the District of Columbia, and his father-in-law,
Digges, were two members chosen from Prince
G-eorge's County in 1776 to act on the Committee on
Examination and Observation, known later as the
Committee of Safety. Notley Young's remains were
interred in the family lot. Square 390. They were sub-
Ely: The District in the American Revolution. 149
sequently disinterred and buried by Robert Brent in
Carroll Chapel Graveyard, Forest Glen, Md. The
spot is now lost, as no stone marks his grave.
Grave Spot Unknown.
Henry Hines {Heinrich Hines) was a member of the
same company with his brother, Daniel, but the Ar-
chives of Maryland, Volume 21, pp. Ill, 494, record
also that on May 29, 1778, he was commissioned by the
Council of Maryland as an ensign of Captain Abraham
Haff's company in the Frederick Town Battalion of
Militia in Frederick County, and on August 16 of the
following year he was commissioned second lieutenant,
presumably in the same company, and served until the
close of the war.
2. John Hines (Johannes Heintz). The War De-
partment has submitted the following data: The rec-
ord shows that one John Hynes, or Hines, served in
the Revolutionary War as a member of Captain Henry
Gaither's company. First Maryland Regiment, com-
manded by Colonel John H. Stone. His name first
appears on a company muster roll for August, 1778,
which shows him enlisted June 5, — — ■, for three years.
His name last appears on a company roll for Feb-
ruary, 1779, which shows that he reenlisted. He par-
ticipated in the battles of Brandywine and German-
town, and many of his personal reminiscences are on
record. When grown to manhood, he visited his na-
tive country, Germany, and returned in 1773 in charge
of a party of 273 German immigrants. With these
immigrants, he adroitly brought in forty stand of
arms wliich were later of great use in the Revolution.
John Hines was the father of Christian Hines, who
wrote "Early Recollections of Washington City," and
District historians will be interested in the fact that
150 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
upon these ''EecoUections" is based much of the sub-
sequent historical writings in the District of Columbia.
3. Major John Adlum was a typical soldier and ci-
vilian of his time, who resided for about thirty-six
years near the present site of the Bureau of Stand-
ards. He died March 1, 1836, in his seventy-seventh
year. Major Adlum was quite certainly buried on his
estate and within the District of Columbia, but the spot
is not known. John Adlum was a soldier in the Revo-
lution from Pennsylvania and was carried on the D. C.
Pension Rolls as a corporal. He was, however, a
major in the Provisional Army during the adminis-
tration of John Adams and a brigadier-general in the
Pennsylvania militia. In private life he was a farmer
and a recognized authority on grapes and American
wine-making.
4. Captain Henry Carhery, of the distinguished
Maryland and District family of that name, resided
for a long time in Washington. He was gathered unto
his fathers May 26, 1822, "at his seat near George-
town," the Intelligencer records. Captain Carbery was
carried on the District Pension Rolls and his body is
probably in the yard of Trinity Catholic Church,
Georgetown.
The National Intelligencer carried a notice that
Anthony Drane, ''a Revolutionary soldier," died near
Rock Creek Church, January 3, 1831. This man's
home was within or near the District and his remains
probably lie in Rock Creek Churchyard.
Major Henry H. Chapman died in Georgetown,
December 13, 1821, according to the Maryland Gazet-
teer Revolutionary Obituaries, D. A. R., p. 17.
The grave of Frederick Hesser, a Pennsylvania pa-
triot drummer boy at thirteen years, has been marked
by the American Chapter D. A. R., D. C. (11th Report
Ely: The District in the American Revolution. 151
D. A. K., p. 69). The author has not had an oppor-
tunity to study this interesting case.
This concludes the definite designation of forty-one
patriot graves and the facts relating to several other
possibilities, but the paper would not be complete with-
out recording the heroic services of other groups and
individuals from this District.
At a meeting of citizens held at the County Court
House at Frederick Town, November 18, 1774, a com-
mittee was appointed to carry out the "association"
agreed upon by the Continental Congress, and among
the names are the following from Georgetown or
nearby :
John Murdock, Thomas Johns, "William Deakins,
Jr., Bernard O'Neill, Brooke Beall, Joseph Thelkeld,
Walter Smith, Thomas Beall of George, Francis
Deakins, Casper Schaaf, Eichard Crabbe.
Georgetown and vicinity was represented on the
County Committee of Correspondence by the fol-
lowing :
Thomas Johns (on preceding), Walter Smith (on
preceding), William. Deakins, John Murdock (on pre-
ceding), Bernard O'Neill (on preceding), Casper
Schaaf (on preceding), Thomas Crampin.
John Murdock became the colonel; Thomas Johns
the lieutenant-colonel; William Brooke (a new name)
the first major; and William Deakins the second ma-
jor of one of the battalions of Frederick County mi-
litia raised under the resolution of the Maryland Con-
vention passed in January, 1776, to put the Province in
a "state of defence." Benjamin Spyker, captain, and
the other officers and men of the battalion came from
Georgetown and vicinity, according to Taggart.
Further verification of the record has been made by
C. C. Magruder, Jr., and the writer. Investigators
152 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
are referred for the names to pp. 42 and 43, Volume
18, Archives of Maryland, where 177 men may be
counted.
John Yoast, a Georgetown gunsmith, who entered
into a contract with the Maryland Council of Safety to
furnish a quantity of muskets may properly be spe-
cially listed.
Thomas Richardson, captain ; Alexander McFadden,
first lieutenant; John Peter, second lieutenant, led a
company out of Georgetown early in the war.
Thomas Beall, possibly the one by that name who
was a trustee of the Federal City, took a company of
riflemen from Georgetown, and attained the rank of
colonel in the Maryland troops.
Captain Leonard Deakins and Francis Deakins,
brother of Leonard, recruited companies of brave
young men and started for the seat of war in 1776.
The Colonel William Deakins, Jr., to whom refer-
ence is made in the interments in Rock Creek Ceme-
tery, was a brother of Francis and Leonard.
A brave officer in the MarylandLine, Colonel Charles
Beatty, of Frederick County, made Georgetown his
home after the war.
Thomas Richardson, a Georgetown merchant, classed
himself with the civil patriots by his disposition of a
certain consignment of tea.
Benjamin Stoddert, first Secretary of the Navy, was
born in nearby Maryland and became a resident of
Georgetown in 1783. His splendid Revolutionary
record is to be found in many sources. Major Stod-
dert 's remains repose at Addison's Chapel near the
District line at Chesapeake Junction.
The rolls of two companies which marched from
lower Frederick early in the war have been lost.
These men were also drawn from within or near the
Ely: The District in the American Revolution. 153
District, the same as were the men recorded in the
three comiDanies already identified. Many of the offi-
cers are known and are included in these notes. If
the lost companies averaged sixty, which seems prob-
able, then the grand total of men going out amounts to
two hundred and ninety-seven. The information found
makes it sure that between tivo hundred and fifty and
three hundred active patriotic men were to be found
within the territory under consideration.
It is a matter of interest that the United States Pen-
sion Roll, Volume 3, the last pages of which are de-
voted to the District of Columbia, record about ninety-
five names of Eevolutionary War Pensioners, who re-
sided in the District of Columbia. The list carries
men mentioned heretofore in this paper, e. g., Peter
Faulkner, Jacob Gideon, Dr. Balch and Captain Car-
bery.
Many more of these pensioners are probably repos-
ing in the District and will afford a fruitful source of
research.
Interments of buff and blue patriots in the east bear
no relation to the numbers that went to the seat of war
from a particular locality. Many, of course, never
returned, others who did return were later attracted
to the west by bounty lands and other inducements. It
is said on good authority that there are more soldiers
of the Eevolution buried in Ohio than in either Massa-
chusetts or Virginia. This is the secret of the diffi-
culty in pointing out more spots in the east hallowed
by the remains of these self-sacrificing heroes. This
paper lists over two hundred and fifty men, yet ac-
counts for only forty-one (41) burials. It does not
claim to be complete in either particular. The most
the writer pretends is that a beginning has been made,
on one side for names and numbers, and on the other
154 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
for interments of those related to the present District
of Columbia who helped lay the cornerstones of Ameri-
can independence and government. Indebtedness is ac-
knowledged to Jackson and Taggart, and they are com-
mended for their accuracy. Their narratives, how-
ever, contain mostly other matter, while this adheres
to the theme of the title and draws its facts from many
other sources.
In the appointment of its committee the Sons of the
American Revolution doubtless had in mind the dis-
covery of patriot sepulchers not clearly or permanently
marked. If such was the purpose, several have been
located, and it remains for a grateful public, or Con-
gress, to erect adequate memorials.
Of one spot more than jDassing notice should be
taken. The Old Presbyterian Cemetery, as it was
known, was under the legal and spiritual care of a com-
munity church that fostered and even furnished early
shelter and funds for several other denominations until
such groups could make provision of their own. The
cemetery, or graveyard, was generally used by rich and
poor of all faiths. The pastor who said the last sad
rites for more than fifty years over the bodies as they
were lowered in ''Grod's acre" was himself a loved
patriot. Seven coffins of the more prominent have
been removed; the ashes of six certainly, and doubt-
less many others, are still there, but memory and grati-
tude belong to all. Then what more fitting j^lace in
the National Capital than this hallowed land, now the
Georgetown municipal playground, upon which to
erect a monument or memorial fountain to the coura-
geous spirits of the Revolutionary period! Certainly
it would be a lesson to the youth of today, that courage
and patriotism are virtues that republics highly honor.
Then, too, it would be a tribute due old Georgetown
as a splendid center of active patriotism.
ANNALS OF SILVER SPRING.
By gist BLAIR, Maj. J.A.E.C, U. S. A.
(Read before the Society, April 17, 1917.)
Montgomery County, within which Silver Spring is
situated, was segregated from Prince George's County
in 1748, when it became a part of Frederick County.
Its historic soil even then should have felt and heard
in whispers the coming of great events. General
Braddock marched across it on his way to defeat in
the French and Indian War, where General Washing-
ton gained the first experiences of a soldier. In his
company and as a companion, my great great-grand-
father, Christopher Gist, born and raised in Baltimore,
also marched across the soil of Old Montgomery.
The few and scattered settlements which were then
in existence were not near Silver Spring. Indians,
principally Piscatawags, roamed over the country and
as late as 1797 an act of assembly was passed for Mont-
gomery County, offering rewards of $30 per head for
every wolf over six months old and $4 for every one
under that age.^ No doubt these wolves then made
their homes around Silver Spring, because the first
settlements ran along Rock Creek and the Eastern
Branch of the Potomac. Silver Spring remained as
wild as any spot on the banks of the Mississippi or
Columbia Rivers. No sounds of population thrilled
her waving pine trees and the flush of life in the bud-
ding of the springtime must have been without man's
knowledge or his care. The shades and shadows of
Silver Spring were left unnoticed by the early settlers,
1 Scharf s "History of Maryland," Vol. 1, p. 641.
155
156 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
who, stimulated by the remunerative prices for to-
bacco, reduced the land of Montgomery County to cul-
tivation.2 This staple so appealed to Marylanders
when the first settlements occurred that it was used in
the place of money as a medium of exchange. Wages
were paid in tobacco and in 1732 tobacco was made a
legal tender at the rate of one penny per pound.
Fines for criminal offenses were paid in it; Sabbath-
breaking or selling liquor on Sunday, were punished at
the rate of from 200 to 2,000 pounds of tobacco and
even the salary of the learned and witty rector of Rock
Creek parish was paid in it, he enjoying an income of
ninety hogsheads of tobacco a year.' In making ref-
erence to these early settlers of Montgomery County,
who exhausted her lands and whose life is now largely
forgotten with its come-easy, go-easy methods, we
must not forget the brilliant and gifted Philip Barton
Key, who lived in luxury at Woodley, as well as the
second one of that name, son of Francis Scott Key,
author of the ''Star Spangled Banner," the latter
shot by General Sickles two blocks from here.^ The
new Key Bridge across the Potomac River where the
old Aqueduct Bridge exists will when built carry the
name of Key down to posterity among us.
These were bright and happy days for the old
squires of Montgomery County and our District of
Columbia, who built handsome homes and lived at ease
in these neighborhoods.^ The parson's home con-
tinues standing in the county and is known as "Hayes"
and is occupied and owned by Mr. Gr. Thomas Dunlop,
one of the descendants of James Dunlop, who bought
it about 1792 from the parson's estate.
aScharf's "History of Maryland," Vol. 1, p. 666.
3 Forbes Lindsay's "History of the City of Washington," p. 23.
4 Scharf 's ' ' History of Western Maryland, ' ' Vol. 1, p. 399.
sScharf's "History of Western Maryland," Vol. 1, p. 399.
Col. Hist. Soc, Vol. XXI, Pl. V.
Ruins of Montgomery Blair'.s House at Silver Spring, Burnt by
THE Confederates Under General Early.
Blair: Annals of Silver Spring. 157
This Parson Williamson was one of the richest men
of the time and he rode straight to hounds, negotiated
his three bottles of wine at a sitting and freely backed
his or his friends' race-horses and played his whist for
double eagle points and five on the rubber as well as
the best of them. Another like him lived at "Clean
Drinking Manor" — a certain John Coates by name,
who received a grant of land from the Crown in 1680
of 1,400 acres which lay to the north. This great prop-
erty was enjoyed, lived in and worked until it finally
descended through the female line to a certain Charles
Jones, who erected a handsome Manor House upon it
in 1750. The Joneses, like the Coateses,were the same
jovial kind and the Joneses' last descendant was buried
on his ground and apparently was then not only dead,
but bankrupt, too, for he left this epitaph upon an old
stone to mark his grave :*^
To the southeast of Silver Spring lay "Warburton,"
the home of the Diggs family. A part of this manor
was known as "Green Hill," named after the ancestral
home of the Diggses in Kent County, England, where
Sir Dudley Diggs lived in the reign of James the First.
And William Dudley Diggs, who resided here, has en-
deared himself to every one of us, because he took into
his home as a guest the now famous L 'Enfant, when
poor and old and without a friend but his dogs, and
kept him and fed him without cost until he died in
1825, and he buried him in his garden — a lovely spot
he had designed and laid out near his house."^ He is
7 Forbes Lindsay, p. 21 and p. 71.
6 T. H. S. Boyd's "History of Montgomery Co.," p. 31.
' ' Here lies the body and bones
Of old Walter C. Jones
By his not thinking
He lost 'Clean Drinking,'
And by his shallow pate,
He lost his vast estate."
158 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
described as a tall, melancholy man of distinguished
appearance, dressed in threadbare surtout and high
bell-crowned hat, leaning heavily upon a staff and
followed by one half dozen hunting dogs.
This beautiful place, still called ''Green Hill,''
owned by the estate of Elisha Eiggs, is occupied each
summer by Mr. and Mrs. George Howard, a grandson.
The garden in which Major L 'Enfant was buried was
laid out by him, showing much of the same wonderful
talent which he displayed in laying out the city of
Washington. It is still carefully preserved by Mr.
and Mrs. Howard and when the remains of Major
L 'Enfant were removed to Arlington, I was invited to
be present at the disinterment as a representative of
the owners of the property, and witnessed the removal
of his remains and was given a section of the cedar
tree which grew at the head of the grave and whose
roots passed through it and which no doubt was par-
tially nourished by the remains of Major L 'Enfant.
The places of ''Riversdale," ''Arlington," "Ana-
lostan," " Duddington, " and others were within rid-
ing distance and enjoyed by similar owners.'^ These
great estates and landed proprietors surrounded Sil-
ver Spring and the District of Columbia. Their
owners and residents were wonderfully prosperous,
possessed many slaves, and in part belonged to excel-
lent families of English origin. They drank, were
addicted to duelling, racing and cock fighting, and lived
as gentlemen then lived.
But besides this they were intensely patriotic and
the Revolution found numbers of them fighting every-
where in the ranks of the colonists.^ It was among
these settlers and tobacco planters, on whose patriot-
ism I have not time to dwell, on the first day of Octo-
8 Forbes Lindsay, p. 27.
9 Scharf s "History of Western Maryland," Vol. 1, p. 643.
Blair: Annals of Silver Spring. 159
ber, 1776, that Montgomery County was separated
from Frederick County and created into a county by
itself. At this time they were seething with animosity
towards the mother country, so quite naturally Richard
Montgomery's name appealed to the mind and heart
of every man. This brilliant Irishman, who had
fought with General Wolfe at Quebec in the English
army, had married a daughter of Judge Robert R.
Livingston, of New York, where he had settled. Early
in the dispute, however, he took sides with the colonies
and in 1775, giving up the comforts and luxuries in
which he lived, victoriously led an expedition into
Canada, where he was rapidly conquering the entire
Province, when the question of a new name for our
county arose. And they selected his name—' ' Montgom-
ery." Alas, his living fame was short-lived. Perhaps
few men have ever lived whose untimely death caused
keener regrets than that of General Montgomery, who
died like the great Wolfe in the hour of his triumph at
Quebec and his remains now lie in the churchyard of
Trinity Church in New York City, surrounded by the
whirl and eddy of Wall Street. But his death inten-
sified the devotion of Americans to his memory, and
counties and cities, and children, were alike named for
him. My grandfather, Francis Preston Blair, was one
of those who sought to perpetuate his fame by naming
a child in his honor and my father was therefore named
''Montgomery Blair," so Montgomery Blair living in
Montgomery County both traced their name to this
early hero in our struggle for independence.
Silver Spring lay in peaceful slumber during these
stirring years and not until my grandfather, who had
been brought from Kentucky by Andrew Jackson,
President of the United States, soon after his election,
rode into its delightful wilds on his horse, Selim, and
160 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
discovered the beautiful sparkling spring from which
its name is derived, did it begin to live on the map.
He had purchased this saddle horse from General Wil-
liam Lingan Gaither, after whose family the prosper-
ous town of Gaither sburg, in Montgomery County,
takes its name, then a representative man, and while,
riding Selim one day outside the boundary of the Dis-
trict of Columbia, his horse became frightened and
threw his rider and ran away among the thick growth
of pines in the valley to the west of the road which is
now known as Georgia Avenue, in the District of Co-
lumbia, formerly Seventh Street Road, in the county.
He followed his horse into the woods and found him
snared by the reins by a bush which had caught the
reins dangling, and near the place was a beautiful
spring full of white sand and mica which the gush of
the water from the earth forced into a small column
which sparkled as it rose and fell like silver. He was
charmed with the spot and purchased the property.
It was not dear and I have a parchment certificate
showing that some of the land was bought direct from
the state. My earliest memory of Silver Spring in-
cludes this beauty of the spring described by him and
quite famous at the time, but alas, it is now no longer
the same. The column of shining silver, sand and mica,
ever rising, ever falling, ever sparkling in the water
and the sunlight, was presided over by a marble statue
of a beautiful water nymph placed there by my grand-
father, and it was endless joy for me, a little country
boy, to sit and watch and dream upon this exquisite
combination of white marble and living water. But
like many dreams of childhood it has gone. A freshet
10 T. H. S. Boyd 's ' ' History of Montgomery Co., ' ' p. 92.
11 Scharf s "History of Western Maryland," Vol. 1, p. 764.
1- George Alfred Townsend's "Washington Outside and Inside," pp.
718. 719.
Blair: Annals of Silver Spring. 161
caused by a heavy storm washed earth from the sur-
rounding country into the spring and destroyed the
sand and mica. No effort has since been able to renew
the simple beauty of that early Silver Spring. The
sand does not sparkle as it did, nor the mica shine in
the sunlight, and I have heard people say as they gazed
at it, why was this called Silver Spring?
Francis Preston Blair^"^ was born at Abingdon, Vir-
ginia, April 12, 1791. His father, James, was the son of
John Blair, acting president of Princeton University,
when Witherspoon, a signer of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, whose statue you can see on Connecticut
Avenue and N Street, was called there to be president
of the University. James Blair, after marrying in Vir-
ginia, removed to Kentucky, where he was Attorney-
General of the State for some thirty years. My grand^
father married Eliza Violet Gist, whose grandfather
was that same Christopher Gist who had marched
across Montgomery County with Braddock to battle
with the French about a hundred years before. After
engaging in the contest in Kentucky between the Old
Court and New Court which almost destroyed the state,
and serving as clerk of the New Court, he became in-
terested in the Kentucky Argus, a Democratic news-
paper published at Frankfort, and he wrote in this
paper a strong article denouncing nullification, which
attracted the attention of General Jackson, then Pres-
ident of the United States, who was strongly opposed
to disunion. President Jackson sent for my grand-
father and in 1830 helped him to establish a newspaper
in Washington, the special purpose of which was to de-
fend and explain the policies of the administration.
'This paper, the Globe, became a power and the history
of Jackson's and Van Buren's administrations can best
13 Manuscript Life by Montgomery Blair.
12
162 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
be understood from its columns. But after Van Buren 's
defeat, the Globe having warmly denounced the South-
ern leaders, was reorganized when President Polk suc-
ceeded to the Presidency, and he dismissed my grand-
father as editor but sought to retain his friendship and
offered him a foreign mission. Mr. Blair declined the
mission, and said, according to my father, that in re-
lieving him of his editorship President Polk had con-
ferred upon him the greatest favor, and that nothing
could induce him to give up his home at Silver Spring.^'*
My grandfather retained his opinions and later vig-
orously opposed the repeal of the Missouri Compromise
and declared its repeal a declaration of war against the
Union by the Southern leaders.
Francis Preston Blair in those days was a ''free-
soil" Democrat. He opposed the extension of slavery
and believed that it could be gradually eradicated.
These views were those of Jackson and the great fol-
lowing who looked to him for leadership. He felt that
slavery was but a wedge with which the South would
split the Union and if they could not rule it they would
try to ruin it. The Southern leaders slowly forced
the old Jackson free-soil men out of control of the
party and into retirement and tried to absorb the coun-
try as well, and their success so increased their pride
and contempt for the opinion of all opposition that
they repealed the Missouri Compromise law and ac-
tually threatened to overwhelm the entire country with
the evils and abuses of slavery.^^
At this trumpet call my grandfather withdrew from
his retirement at Silver Spring to aid the Republican
party, which had already started in a feeble way in
1854 in Wisconsin with the purpose of restricting slav^
i4Eufus Eoekwell Wilson, "Washington the Capital City," Vol. 2,
p. 41.
15 Kloeberg's "Formation of the Eeirablican Party," p. 37.
Col. Hist. Soc, Vol. XXI, Pl. VI.
1
Silver Spring, Francis Blair's House, General Breckenridge'
Headquarters.
Blair: Annals of Silver Spring. 163
eiy. A call for a National Eepublican Convention or
gathering at Pittsburgh, February 22, 1856, was issued
from Washington on January 17, 1856, in order to per-
fect its organization and provide for a National Con-
vention at some subsequent date.^*^ My grandfather
took an active part in issuing this call from Washing-
ton. He attended the conference at Pittsburgh, which
was composed of many discordant elements, "whigs,
abolitionists, free soldiers, and native Americans, and
came near breaking up," and an authority says that
through the ''efforts of Lewis Clephane, of Washing-
ton, D. C, Francis Preston Blair was made permanent
chairman or President, without objection, and his abil-
ity and tact and discretion prevented a complete
fiasco. "^'^ He certainly presided over the meeting at
Pittsburgh which organized the party. An executive
committee was selected and it issued a call for a Cour
vention to meet in Philadelphia on June 17. Fremont
was nominated for the Presidency.^^ My grandfather
was a delegate to this convention and as General Fre-
mont had married Miss Jessie Benton, the daughter of
his old friend. Senator Benton from Missouri, in whose
office my father started to practice law, it is natural to
suspect he had something to do in selecting the first
candidate for the Presidency of the Republican party.^^
He was delegate at large for Maryland to the Conven-
tion in 1860, when Mr. Lincoln was nominated, and
after his election to the Presidency he was a constant
adviser and friend of the President, and my father,
Montgomery, became his Postmaster-General.^"
The Silver Spring grounds and gardens were exten-
16 " Eepublican Conventions Since 1856," by Henry H. Smith.
17 "Political Eecollections, " by George W. Julian, p. 147.
18 Appleton 's Encyclopaedia, Vol. 2, p. 688.
1!) ' ' Eepublican Party, ' ' by Francis Curtis.
20 U. S. Magazine and Democratic Review, July, 1845, Vol. 17, p. 14,
article entitled ' ' Blair and the Glolse. ' '
164 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
sive and beautiful. The entrance, always called by the
negroes the ''Big Gate," was just across the Maryland
line from the District line. One of the boundary stones
of the District of Columbia as it was laid out under
General Washington is within sight of the gate. The
old carriage drive wound through heavy forests, until
it neared the house, when one drove through a row of
horse chestnut trees, beautiful to look at when in bloom,
then through a row of large silver pines. The drive-
way was thought to have been modelled after one of
those one sees in the "Bois" in Paris. Crossing a
rustic bridge one arrived at the house, in old days of
mouse color, and of the type of a French chateau. The
circle enabled one to turn conveniently and look at
plants or shrubs in a little valley below the drive. The
summer kitchens were close to the house, so the negroes
could run with the dishes and serve them quite hot to
guests in the dining room or large enclosed glass piazza.
A fine row of sugar maple trees lined the walk from
the house to the spring, some two city blocks away, on
both sides of which were lawns improved with shrubs
and trees, many of which were imported.
The rose garden and vegetable garden, the vault in
which my great-grandfather and mother had been
buried, the grapery, peach orchard and some great fig
bushes, which furnished quantities of fruit, were in
close proximity and all the land surrounding them
were kept under a high state of cultivation and inter-
spersed with walks and paths and hedges. Near the
house and across the path leading to the summer
kitchen was a large cane break, the plants for which
had been brought from Canewood, Kentucky, the. home
of General Nathaniel Gist, a Eevolutionary officer and
father of my grandmother. This cane grew so thick
and kept so green during the winter that game often
Blair: Annals of Silver Spring. 165
remained there during severe weather for days, find-
ing comfort and shelter. Some of this cane still grows
in the same spot.
Not far from the spring was the dairy and ' ' quarters. ' '
There the slaves lived and adjoining them were the
stables. A roadway ran due west from the spring at
the beginning of which was a large summer house
called the Acorn, named on account of its shape. This
Acorn was built of solid timber, colored like an acorn,
with its side supports of gnarled oak, its inside of
dressed lumber, and a lamp hanging in the center.
Spring stones were placed around its outside, adding
much to its beauty and seats were inside of it. Below
this was a large pond in which was an island of spring
stones covered with native honeysuckle. The pond
had garlands of plants and roses on its banks in suc-
cessive tiers, each tier of a kind to stand higher than
its neighbor which was nearer the pond, so to the eye
they rose from the water like seats in a colosseum.
The effect was startlingly beautiful, especially when
these flowers were in bloom. Below the pond was a
bath from a nearby spring, made of concrete and im-
proved by a bath-house, having large overhanging
trees and quantities of myrtle, and English ivy clus-
tered and growing profusely all over the space within
the enclosure.
Following the path or roadway further towards the
west, we passed the mill which in my childhood was no
longer used. It had an old wheel turned by water and
the inside of the mill faced an interior courtyard and
opposite it were large barns for cattle. In my child-
hood this mill was a mass of English ivy and looked
like a ruin.
Following the pathway further one passed across
Maria's Bridge, a stucco spring stone ornamental
166 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
structure, and struck into the woods. The path thence
wound through these along a stream of water which
took its origin from the springs mentioned. The first
grottoes one met on the walk, which was called by my
grandfather the "Grotto Walk," or by some others
''Lovers' Walk," was the "Bishop's Chair"; thence
by a rustic bridge, the roadway of which was one huge,
uneven stone, you came to the principal feature
of the walk, a succession of grottoes, a spring and
another bath. The largest of these grottoes was
sunk deep into a hillside, above which grew lofty trees
and underbrush, and it always had an air of mystery
about it which suggested secrecy and seclusion. This
Grotto walk wound around, turning with the windings
of this stream and at various places had seats and
bowers. "St. Andrew's Well" and "Violet Spring"
are two of the others which I recall. The walk was
about a mile in length. One place was named "Hern's
Oak," a majestic tree which recalled Falstatf ; and the
streams, and planting, gave the walk everywhere va-
riety and beauty.
My grandfather loved Silver Spring. It was there
he enjoyed his friends and as early as 1854 he gave his
Washington house to his son, Montgomery, and set-
tled down among his flowers and slaves and books.
His social life was rich. People delighted in visiting
him and readily made what was then a long journey
in a carriage or on horseback to see him. He knew no
enemies, political or otherwise, at his generous table.
There north and south were treated alike. His daugh-
ter, Mrs. S. P. Lee, and her husband. Admiral S. P. Lee,
resided with my grandfather and grandmother, and
she and her husband inherited the old home and main-
tained many of his customs during her life. Her jDor-
trait, by Sully, when nineteen, is one of the valued
Blair: Annals of Silver Spring. 167
possessions in the house and it is said of her she would
never have another taken, nor even a photograph
made, always laughing and saying ''Nobody cares to
look at the picture of an old woman, nor even at the
old woman herself."-^ She lived to be eighty-nine
3^ears of age and her love of life and people lasted until
the end. Many stories were told by Mrs. Lee, who
spent an entire winter in the White House when Gen-
eral Jackson was President, of his ready wit. He
must have liked her, since he gave Mrs. Lee, among
other gifts, the ring presented to him by Mrs. Eliza
W. Custis, February 22, 1825, which Mrs. Custis sent
to him by the hand of General Lafayette, saying ' ' the
birthday of Washington is the fit time for a tribute of
respect to him whose glorious achievements place him
next to the father of our coimtry. On this day I pre-
sent to General Jackson a ring of the hero's hair, of
the color it was when he led our soldiers to victory.
It was made in this city and of American gold. Wear
it in remembrance of him who was first in the hearts
of our country and of her who gives it to you with her
best wishes for your health and happiness. To Gen-
eral Jackson. "2^
After General Jackson 's term. President Van Buren,
his successor, was intimate with my grandfather and
gave his portrait to him on leaving. He was called
the "red fox" by his opponents and always carica-
tured as one.^^ This portrait shows this expression.
It still hangs on the walls of the old house at Silver
Spring. Eeference has already been made to the
strong feeling always displayed by my grandfather
when any reference was made to dissolving the Union.
He had long felt the South was going to attempt to dis-
21 Article in Evening Star, September 14, 1906.
2^ Article in Evening Star, September 14, 1906.
23 Evening Star, September 14, 1906.
168 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
member it and create an aristocratic empire founded
on slavery. My grandfather was thoroughly demo-
cratic. He loved the whole country and believed its
future depended upon democracy in its true, not party,
meaning. Mr. Clay's Missouri Compromise on the
slavery question had held the' country together. So,
when his young cousin, John C. Breckinridge, came to
the United States Senate as Mr. Clay's successor, my
grandfather naturally hoped he would take strong
ground against any repeal of this law, which would at
once cause the country to renew the dangerous agita-
tion of the slavery question. This question was pend-
ing when one day Mr. Breckinridge visited Silver
Spring and the interview between him and my grand-
father is described by Mrs. Lee; she details how he
pleaded with Breckinridge to stand up against any re-
peal of the law and prophesied it was certain to cause
civil war and the questions end in blood. Breckinridge
returned to Silver Spring a Confederate general with
Early on his famous raid.
Mr. Jefferson Davis was also a frequent visitor at
Silver Spring, and true to his best nature, my grand-
father never allowed politics to interfere with his
friendships. He kept them and they kept him, so
when President Davis was arrested and threatened
with death or imprisonment, Mrs. Davis quite natu-
rally appealed to Francis Preston Blair for succor and
help. I have in my possession a hitherto unpublished
letter in which she makes the appeal and as she de-
scribes the capture of Jefferson Davis by the Federal
forces and the disguise he wore, which was exhibited
in the War Department for many years, the account
of the capture as given by his wife may properly be
included in this article :
Blair: Annals of Silver Spring. 169
Savannah, Ga., June 6, 1865,
"Private and confidential.
"My dear Mr. Blair: Fearing ill treatment at the hands of
your people in the event of the fall of Richmond, I left it
with my family on the 30th of March, and went to Charlotte,
where after a residence of ten days, I was again forced to
give up the house I had secured and go by rail and wagon
route to Ashville, N. C, There I heard of the surrender of
General Lee's grand army and knowing that General John-
ston's was the only barrier left between us and your troops,
I deterined to go down to the coast of Florida and thence to
embark for Europe for I had but little hope that our dear ex-
hausted army could long resist such overwhelming odds, as
your people could bring against it. Mr. Davis had sent his
private Secretary to us the day before I came to this decision
in order that he might take care of us. Five wagons were
furnished us in which we placed our baggage and such supplies
of groceries as the exhausted state of the country enabled us to
procure. The latter we hoped to trade for milk, butter, or
shelter, on the road, because Confederate money was not cur-
rent in the country and I had no specie. When it was ru-
mored in Abbeville that we were going with only one gentle-
man over a wagon route infested by bands of demoralized
Confederate soldiers, three paroled Confederate gentlemen
offered to accompany the train, stating at the same time that
they were unarmed, could not fight the Federals if they were
not, but could resist by an appearance of strength at least, the
poor discouraged, disorganized confederate soldiers, who might
with their hopes of success have lost their nice sense of duty.
The Hon. Armistead Burt heard the offer of service, and also
the announcement of paroled disability. Thus accompanied
I went to Washington, Ga., where I heard of Gen. Johnston's
surrender not only of his army but of a whole section to the
command of which he had not been assigned on conditions of
utter submission on the part of our people. Before the official
notification of the surrender had been received, nay before the
rumor was credited, a train of seven wagons was organized
170 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
and the young men who accompanied me. Lt. Hathaway,
Mr. Messie, and Mr. Munroe, finding me still dependent upon
their protection begged me to consider them at my service.
Capt. Moody of Mississippi, and Maj. Moran, of Louisiana,
joined me announcing as did my other friends, that they could
not resist the Federals and were unarmed, but would try to
protect me from our own people. These with my young
brother, eighteen years old, a furloughed midshipman, also
unarmed and the seven wagoners who had volunteered to
drive us, because they wanted the transportation, out as far
"West as I was going, and my two colored men servants, con-
stituted the "belligerent train" to catch which a Brigade was
sent out. Two of the teamsters had, as I afterwards learned
thrown their muskets used while in service into the wagons
and one had a broken revolver. After our capture I heard
that upon meeting two negroes with some powder and a half
bucket of ammunition, and finding that it had been stolen by
them, one of the wagoners took away from them, fearful they
might make an insurrection and use of it and expressed his
intention to trade the ammunition for food on the road. Thus
protected, thus equipped, ignorant of Mr. Davis' condition,
certain of one thing only, that he would never seek personal
immunity by deserting the remnant of our people who were
still resistant and willing to die rather than be enslaved, I
started out upon the world hoped by constant travelling to
reach a port from which I might embark for England, there
to await in poverty but freedom, the loss of all I held dear.
When we were camping out the second night after we left
Washington, our camp was entered by a company of paroled
Confederates under the impression that it was a 'treasure
train,' but the Captain fortunately recognized me as having
dressed his wounds in Richmond, and after an apology left
us. Before they did so I explained to them that a friend
had furnished us with $2,500 in gold in Washington but that
this was all. Distracted about my country and my husband,
beset upon every side by foes internal and external, I travelled
two days further, at the expiration of that time we discovered
that we had been followed by a number of General Wheeler's
Blair: Annals of Silver Spring. 171
command, nearly a regiment of Alabama Cavalry, and that
they intended to 'storm' our camp that night, taking all our
mules and horses and such of our baggage as they needed.
It was very bright moonlight, and we loaded all the arms we
had, a fine little colts revolver and a fine Adam's self cocking
revolver which had been presented to Mr. Davis by the maker
and given by him to me to take care of and we retired until
the moon should set, knowing they would not attack us in all
probability until that time and then I hoped to throw myself
upon their generosity, and appeal to them as my legitimate
protection, and thus to render the use of fire arms unnec-
essary. However, before day my husband joined us. He had
been travelling nearly the same road accompanied by his staff,
the Secretary of the Treasury pro-tem, Judge Reagan, and six
armed men as his escort. One of his aids heard at a house
that we were to be attacked and robbed, and jNIr. Davis rode
fifty miles in twelve hours to join us, and to prevent it. He
came upon the rendezvous of the cavalry and frightened them
away — then joined us for a day and a night, at the expiration
of which time we bade him farewell, not expecting to meet
him again, but after travelling for a day and night in front of
us, he received information that one hundred and fifty men of
the same command were at Irvington or Irvingsville and joined
us again for purposes of protection, travelling all the day
before our capture with us. The night preceeding our capture
we camped near a little stream bordered on both sides with a
thick growth of underwood and tall trees. The road led across
it and we camped on the side nearest to Irvingsville and the
w^ood shut out the view of the road through which we trav-
elled. Mr. Davis had been suffering from billions derangement
and could not bear the weight of his Deringer pistol around
his waist, therefore handed them to one of his aids. He did
not intend to camp with us that night but to ride forward and
meet the marauders, if possible, before they reached us. He,
therefore, left his pistols in their holsters on the saddle, in the
possession of his servant. As night drew on he seemed so
exhausted that he decided to stay all night with us. Before
I left Richmond in order to pay all the outstanding debts and
172 , Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
to procure money enough to go away from there I sent my
silver, china glass, and little ornaments, not excluding the
little gifts received from dear friends, years ago, also as much
of my clothing and of Mr. Davis's as v^as not absolutely in
use, to be exposed for public sale — some at auction, some at
different stores. I also sold the debris of our magnificent
library, several hundred volumes, which had been sent us
after the Federals robbed us of all that they considered it
worth their while to steal or sell. As those things were sold
for Confederate money, I left it in Richmond to be converted
into gold and sent to me by some convenient opportunity.
Judge Reagan brought it to me in a pair of saddle bags upon
a pack mule and told me it amounted to a little over $8,000
in gold. This was left in the ambulance in which we travelled.
This money and a pair of fine carriage horses which poverty
had compelled me to sell, and which the citizens of Richmond
bought, and returned to me, constituted all my worldly wealth.
Just before day the enemy charged our camp yelling like
demons. Mr. Davis received timely warning of their ap-
proach but believing them to be our own people deliberately
made his toilette and was only disabused of the delusion, when
he nn^^ them deploying a few yards off. He started down to the
little stream hoping to meet his servant with his horse and arms,
but knowing he would be recognized, I pleaded with him to let
me throw over him a large waterproof wrap which had often
served him in sickness during the summer season for a dress-
ing gown and which I hoped might so cover his person that in
the grey of the morning he would not be recognized. As he
strode off I threw over his head a little black shawl which was
around my own shoulders, saying that he could not find his
hat and after he started sent my colored woman after him
with a bucket for water hoping that he would pass unobserved.
He attempted no disguise, consented to no subterfuge but if
he had in failure is found the only matter of cavil.
"Had he assumed an elaborate female attire as a sacrifice to
save a country the heart of which trusted in him, it had been
well. When he had proceeded a few yards the guards around
our tents with a shocking oath called out to know who that
Col. Hist. Soc, Vol. XXI, Pl. VII.
Mrs. Jefferson Davis.
Blair: Annuls of Silver Spring. 173
was. I said it was my mother and he halted Mr, Davis who
threw off the cloak with a defiance and when called upon to
surrender did not do so and but for the interposition of my
person between his and the guns would have been shot. I
told the man to shoot me if he pleased, to which he answered
he 'would not mind it a bit,' which I readily believe. While
this was transpiring a scene of robbery was going on in camp,
which beggars description — trunks were broken open, letters
and clothing scattered on the ground — all the gold taken,
even our prayer books and bibles taken from the ambulances. '
These latter articles were easily recovered as being of no use
to the robbers. 'My baby's little wardrobe was stolen almost
entirely, the other children shared the same fate. When we
reached Savannah, the city contributed a part of their chil-
dren's clothes to clothe them until I could have more made.
The negroes were robbed of their wardrobe and the Federal
soldiers wore their clothing before them, though reminded of
the fact by the negroes. Our faithful slave Robert owned
his horse which was taken from him and turned over to one of
the officers as were my horses. Capt. Husdon so said his men
received .my gold, took the lion's share and secreted the rest
for the soldiers, consequently Col. Pritchard's search for it
among the valuables of the men was unsuccessful. Col. Pritch-
ard did what he could to protect us from insult, but against
robbery he was powerless to give us protection, though I feel
sure he tried to prevent it. We were robbed not once, nor
twice, but every time the wagons stopped. When we had
progressed about ten miles on our dreary return from the scene
of our capture, a man met us having a paper containing the
first copy the cavalry had seen of Mr. Johnson's infamous
accusation against Mr. Davis, and the reward offered for his
apprehension. It gave him no uneasiness, and was evidently
not believed by the men to be founded in truth. In con-
versation with some of the officers, Mr. Davis' staff were told
that it was fortunate that no resistance was made for they
were ordered if any was offered to fire into the tents (there
being only two, and those two containing women and children)
and make a general massacre. Another said, 'bloody work'
174 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
would have been made of the whole party. Col. Pritchard
told me he did not expect to find Mr. Davis with me but came
out to take my train and carry it back to Macon as a ' bellig-
erent train. ' In the jam of the attested fact, that not a gun
was fired by our party, that no arms were found except those
of Mr, Davis' escort, the gentlemen who accompanied me
were thrown into prison to be tried for the violation of their
parole. Will you not interest yourself for them ? When were
men punished by a great nation for the offer of service to a
helpless w^oman and her little defenceless children? There
were no public papers — no one professes to have found any-
thing of value, only a desolate woman's belongings and some
commissary's stores for her little ones, and servants. Yet
these unhappy young men are consigned to a prison though
just released from a confinement of two years' duration only
a month before. I thought Satan was the only being wicked
enough to desire to punish men for the indulgence of the
manly virtues which he is incapable of feeling. At your ad-
vanced age you would do the same that they did for an un-
protected woman. Will you take care of them and see that
they have a fair trial ? ' '
After being brought to Old Point, where President
Jefferson Davis was confined and away from her, Mrs.
Davis states the unappreciative rogues of the country
had left her a diminutive Japanese cabinet, and the
more refined rogues of Old Point stole it with a little
china cup and saucer — the gift of a dear friend, and
numberless other petty larcenies.
"Sick and wathout help, save at the hands of our guard,
the 14th ]\Iaine, who had fought too long and too bravely to op-
press women and children, kindly.even sympathetically treated
by the crew of the ship, I was forced to return to Savannah —
here to exhaust the little money left me, with my little ones,
unacelimated children and teething baby, wasting away from
the hot climate. Sympathy and homes were proffered me on all
sides but where all were robbed and beggared as well as I, the
Blair: Annals of Silver Spring. 175
former only could be accepted, and now to you, I appeal to tell
me for what I am detained here. Why I alone am excluded
from my husband's trial? What have I done that I am a
prisoner at large with my family in a strange place surrounded
by detectives who report every visitor? Have I transgressed
any rule of your government since I have been under its dread
tyrannj^? Why am I kept in a garrisoned town bereft of
home, friends, husband and the means of support ? Insulted
by a licentious press, which spreads upon its daily journals
every agony of my tortured husband — ]\Iay God forgive them
they know not what they do.
"I have written this to you because I know you would like to
hear the truth, and trust me that I will tell it, knowing as well
as you that the things I have said as the outpourings of my
heart to you would injure his cause if known to others. Please
consider the letter entirely private. If I have been diffuse, it
is because it is so hard to compress such conduct to the help-
less in so small a compass. Let me tell you a significant fact.
Save Col. Pritchard and Genl. Upton, no federal officer offered
me the courteous salutation usual from a gentleman to a lady
until Lt. Grant of the 14th ]\Iaine took charge of us. We were
treated with less consideration than I have seen my knightly
husband show to the beggars who came to our door for alms.
I never knew him to stand covered in the presence of a woman
or allow one to be persecuted. With thoughts of 'martial'
faith and country, he stands before me, and I can say no
more. With sincerest affection,
"Your distressed friend,
"Navina Davis."
Just before this General Early made his raid through
Maryland — ^'too late Early," as he was called. No
history of Silver Spring would be complete without
mention of the famous barrel, not the money barrel
politicians love, but the barrel of Bourbon whiskey
which lay in the cellar, and when powder and shot
could not save the Capitol at Washington, it did. The
officers of the Confederates made their headquarters
176 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
at the old house, which is scarcely seven miles from
this city, and proceeded to drink up as much of it as
they could. They also found the dresses and clothes of
my half-sister, Mrs. Comstock, dressed up as women and
amused themselves dancing and drinking and instead
of pushing through Fort Stevens that afternoon when
few, if any, soldiers were on guard, remained at Silver
Spring until morning. The Sixth Massachusetts ar-
rived the following day and Washington was saved.
General Early burned my father's house, known as
''Falkland," which adjoined that of Silver Spring. It
was a total loss, because although insured it was not in-
sured against the public enemj^
General Early afterwards denied having authorized
this vandalism, when it was criticized by good people
everywhere. My father was a member of Mr. Lincoln's
cabinet and the only Southern man in it. His heart
was full of tender feeling for the Southern people, and
Virginia and Kentucky were full of his kin and boy-
hood friends. Like my grandfather, during the war,
he never failed in trying to lessen its sufferings and
the numbers of Southern people whom he helped out
of prison and aided were legion. When his house was
burned he was in Mr. Lincoln's cabinet and great re-
sentment arose on both sides.
Referring to the house General Early's interview
is as follows :
"Recently in Maryland, the house of Gov. Bradford was
burned without my orders. But I must add that I approved
it and had I been present would have ordered it in retaliation
for the burning of the house of Governor Letcher whom I
know to be a very poor man and whose family was not allowed
five minutes to remove clothing or other valuables. After-
wards when in front of Washington some of my troops were
very determined to destroy the house of Mr. Francis P. Blair
Blair: Annals of Silver Spring. 177
and had actually removed some of the furniture probably
supposing it to belong to his son, a member of the Federal
Cabinet. As soon as I ©ame up I immediately stopped the
proceeding and compelled the men to return every article so
far as I knew and placed a guard to protect it. The house
of his son, Montgomery Blair a member of the Cabinet, was
subjected to a different rule for obvious reasons."
As I have already said, the burning of Falkland ex-
cited strong feelings of resentment. General Benja-
min F. Butler immediately sent word that he intended
retaliating upon the South for the outrage, but my
father wished no retaliation.
He wrote the following letter to General Butler :
"Washington, D. C,
''August 10, 1864.
''My dear General Butler: I received, several days ago, your
telegram announcing the destruction of Seddon's in retaliation
for the burning of mine. I have delayed acknowledging it be-
cause whilst thankful for the consideration which induced you
to resent my wrongs — I have yet regretted your action on this
occasion.
"It is not because I have any regard fior Seddon or Letcher,
that I regret the destruction of their property by the order of
our military commanders. They deserve a much worse pun-
ishment, I know, and I trust they may yet receive it, but it
will not be punishment unless they get it at the hands of the
law. I have a great horror of lawlessness and it does not
remove my repugnance to it that it is practiced upon the law-
less. If we allow the military to invade the rights of private
property on any other grounds than those recognized hj civi-
lized warfare, there will soon cease to be any security whatever
for the rights of civilians on either side.
"The tendency of such measures is to involve our country
in all the horrors of the "Wars of the Fronde, of the petty
Princes and Brigands of Italy, of the Guerillas of Spain, which
made the plunder of the peaceful citizens' homes, highway
robbery and assassination, the concomitants of the war.
13
178 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
"No man, I know, would appreciate such results more than
myself, and there are no talents on which I would sooner rely
than yours to prevent it, if you had proper support,
' ' Yours truly,
"M. Blair."
"It may be proper to say that it was intimated to me through
my postal agent that it was contemplated to burn Seddon's
home shortly after mine was burned in retaliation for that act
and I directed him to say that I hoped it would not be done."
After the death of Francis P. Blair and his wife,
Mrs, S. P. Lee inherited Silver Spring for lier life-
time, with the proviso it should go to her son, Blair
Lee, the present owner and recently a senator from
Maryland. Admiral S. P. Lee, her husband, resided
there for many years. He served in the Navy through
the Civil War with great distinction, and was the last
survivor of the great war admirals. He had been
commander of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron
and of the Mississippi Squadron during the Civil
War. Welles in his diary gives him credit for great
honesty in those days when this trait of character was
often overlooked by those in command of blockades,
who permitted blockade runners for a consideration
to get through the blockade. Mr. Welles also tells us
in his diary that he received for his thoroughness in
catching these Confederate vessels the largest sum of
prize money distributed. He was sailor-like in his
farming. He saw the farm as he would a man-o'-war.
His workmen reported like jackies at a roll call and it
is said that all the daily doings — the fields plowed and
planted — the state of each crop — the hours of every
laborer — each and all, were set down in a log-book
called ' ' the Silver Spring Log. ' ' He not only argued
that farming should be reduced to a ship-shape system,
but he did it. The Admiral remained living at Silver
Blair: Annals of Silver Spring. 179
Spring, known far and wide for his pleasant greetings
to every neighbor and running his log until 1897, when
he died at the age of eighty-five.
My grandmother, Violet Grist, for whom I was named
— a tall, strong-looking old lady — rode horseback every
morning until a few days before her death, when she
was eighty- two, and her spirit should linger along that
winding roadway which follows Sligo Branch, now
where the Seventh Day Adventists have a great sani-
tarium. This was opened for her to ride horseback
through these woods, long before the Civil War, and
extended about seven miles almost entirely on the
Silver Spring property.
Francis Preston Blair had three sons besides the
daughter who lived with him. The youngest, Francis
P. Blair, Jr., was a member of Congress and in the
United States Senate from Missouri, a general in the
Union Army during the Civil War, commanding the
Seventeenth Corps of Sherman's Army and active in
retaining Missouri in the Union, in company with Gen-
eral Lyon, and in whose honor the state has placed
his statue by the side of Senator Benton in Statuary
Hall in the Capitol at Washington. James L. Blair,
the next brother, a lieutenant in the U. S. Nav}^, died
at the early age of thirty-five. His widow lived at
Silver Spring in her place, called the ''Moorings,"
until her death a few years ago. My father, the eld-
est, was the most identified with Silver Spring, living
there from 1853, when he returned from St. Louis,
until his death in 1883. General Jackson appointed
him to West Point, where he graduated and later re-
signed to study law. Like my grandfather, he imbibed
the Jacksonian Democracy, believing in the everlast-
ing Union of the states and the ultimate destruction
of slave property. My grandfather owned numbers
180 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
of slaves, among whom "Uncle Henry," the coachman,
and ''Aunt Nanny," the cook, still figure in my mem-
ory, but my father would never own a slave. He rep-
resented a more militant attitude towards abolition.
The dramatic events of the decades between 1853-
1883 saw him always on the firing line. My grand-
father loved his ease and his Silver Spring, and I re-
member him a very old gentleman in his silk dressing
gown going into his rose garden and pulling off the
heads of the roses by slipping them between his fingers
and bringing them back in his dressing gown's pocket
to lay them without stems in a beautiful silver dish,
which was fashioned like a huge leaf, along the ten-
drils of which ran a little water. And this dish, when
filled with these rose heads, looked like some lovely
big new flower. My father felt duty always calling to
him. He helped secure a defense for John Brown at
Harper's Ferry.^^ He defended Dred Scott before
the Supreme Court of the United States. He sat as a
delegate in the convention that nominated Fremont in
1856. He represented Silver Spring and Montgomery
County in the convention that nominated Lincoln in
1860, as the delegate from the Sixth District of Mary-
land. He was Postmaster-General under Mr. Lincoln,
and when the President and cabinet hesitated about
sending supplies to Fort Sumter, although the young-
est member of the cabinet, he declared it treason and
handed in his resignation, but President Lincoln de-
clined to accept it and agreed with his view. He gave
the country as Postmaster-General, free delivery, the
postal car service, and made it what it is today.^^
He abrogated the franking privilege then enjoyed
-* See Testimony of Chilton, Brown 's attorney, Pub. Doe. Keport on
J. B. Eaid.
23 See a Pamphlet called ' ' Public Career of Montgomery Blair, ' ' by
Madison Davis.
Col. Hist. Soc, Vol. XXI , Pl. VIII.
Francis Preston Blair and His Wife, Violet Gist, as They Looked
AT THE End of the Civil War in the United States. From a Colored
Photograph Owned by Major Gist Blair, Said to Have Been Taken
AT Silver Spring.
Blair: Annals of Silver Spring. 181
by every small postmaster and brought down upon bis
bead a storm of indignation. He curtailed and re-
stricted the cbarges for railway mail transportation
and brought against himself their power. ( See his Post
Office Annual Report in 1861, p. 30; 1862, p. 32; 1863,
Sec. 42.)
He introduced the scheme for registering letters and
exacted rigid accountability on the part of postal em-
ployees. He established the Railway Post Office sys-
tem, by which the railway car became a perambulating
post office and letters were distributed in the car direct
to their destination.^^ No one can now estimate the
time saved in their delivery by this simple novelty.
He drove out the private letter express business and
what was familiarly called ''the penny post system,"
and introduced in its place the letter carrier and col-
lection of letters. This is called the ''Free Delivery"
system. By it the citizen received his letters at his
residence or place of business and mailed his letters in
locked boxes near his home or office, similar to what
we have today. We have lived to see this extended
into the great farming districts under the name of
"Rural Free Delivery."
He recommended and outlined the money order sys-
tem in his annual report in 1862, adopted the month
after he resigned.
But his most far-reaching reform and accomplish-
ment was the Universal Postal Union, suggested to him
by Honorable John A. Kasson. See pages 11 and 12,
Report of Postmaster-General, 1863. This was the
organization of the countries of the world for an inter-
national exchange of mail. He drew the rules sub-
mitted to the Congress which met at Paris May 11,
■26 Reprinted from the Records of the Columbia Historical Society,
Washington, D. C, Vol. 13, in 1910.
182 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
1863, which agreed to the thirty-one articles, about the
same today. ^^
Grreat losses of revenue occurred by reason of the
South seceding, and yet the great deficit arising in the
Post Office of the year before was reduced 50 per cent,
in the first year he held office, and in the year ending
June 30, 1865, the surplus was $861,431 in the Post
Office Department. ^^
How the President felt when he resigned can best be
understood from the letter he wrote him :
''Executive Mansion,
"Washington, D. C,
"Sept. 23, 1864.
"Honorable Montgomery Blair,
"My dear Sir: You have generously said to me more than
once that whenever your resignation could be a relief to me it
was at my disposal. The time has come. You very well know
that this proceeds from no dissatisfaction of mine with you
personally or officially. Your uniform kindness has been unsur-
passed by that of any friend, and it is true that the War does
not so greatly add to the difficulties of your Department as to
those of some other. It is yet much to say, as I most truly
can, that in the three years and a half during which you have
administered the general Post Office, I remember no single
complaint against you in connection therewith.
"Yours, as ever,
"A. Lincoln."
After Mr. Lincoln's assassination he withdrew from
the Republican party on the reconstruction questions
and appeared before the Supreme Court in the Test
Oath cases by which the laws to disfranchise the white
people of the border states were successfully contested
before the courts and presided over the first conven-
tion in Maryland to demand the rights of her white
-' See Testimony of Chilton, Brown 's attorney. Pub. Doc. Eeport on
J. B. Eaid.
^s Report of Postmaster General, 1888, pp. 753-755.
Col. Hist. Soc, Vol. XXI, Pl. IX.
Montgomery Blair, while Postmaster-General of the United
States.
Blair: Annals of Silver Spring. 183
citizens and denounce these laws. He was a friend
and champion of Tilden ; was of counsel for him before
the Electoral Commission and boldly denounced the
fraud by which Hayes was seated. He edited a news-
paper called the Union in the city of Washington as
Mr, Tilden 's representative, and for which the money
was furnished by Mr. W. W. Corcoran. Its columns
boldly denounce the principal politicians of the day,
both North and South, and long before the decision of
the Electoral Commission was rendered, it declared in
rather strong language just what it would be. It is
not to be wondered that this newspaper is now not only
difficult to find, but few even know of its existence. In
the few hours given my father for the development of
Silver Spring, he gave most of them to "Grace
Church," which he helped establish in 1858. He was
a lay reader in the Protestant Episcopal Church and
vestryman in St. John's Church, Washington, D. C, as
well as Grace Church, Montgomery County, for many
years, and often during the winter when the clergyman
could not officiate, drove through the cold, the snow, or
rain from Washington to this little church in the coun-
try, miles away, to read the services of the Episcopal
Church to the few who gathered there.
No more striking instance of his independence and
fearless disregard of consequence to himself can be
instanced than his denunciation of Captain Wilkes for
seizing Mason and Slidell, Confederate Commission-
ers, on a British ship. When Wilkes was being feted
everywhere and had been thanked by a resolution of
Congress, when the country was effervescing over
Captain Wilkes, he saw the trouble ahead with Great
Britain, and stood alone in the Lincoln cabinet against
it, receiving the unmeasured abuse of the country, and
the reproaches of his colleagaies. He was right, and
184 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
recently a pamphlet by Charles Francis Adams, called
the ''Trent Affair," was published for private circu-
lation in which he gives my father unstinted praise for
his action and graphically portrays the sentiment of
the country at the time and how close it brought us to
a war with England.
But these questions are historical and to be found
in any history.
MoDEKN Silver Speing.
When I returned from St. Louis to settle in Mary-
land in 1897, Silver Spring was a cross-roads without
inhabitants. A toll-gate existed about half a mile
north of the station on the Baltimore & Ohio Eailroad,
charging tolls to those who lived south of it for obtain-
ing their mail. Rural free delivery did not then exist,
so I circulated a petition for a post office for the dis-
trict south of the toll-gate and the office of Silver
Spring was named and established near the station on
the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and I was made post-
master May 5, 1899. The office was kept in existence
only by constant fighting, because it interfered se-
riously with Sligo, a quarter of a mile away, and just
north of the toll-gate, the receipts for that office then
depending on the number of letters mailed and can-
celled there. In 1900 the postmaster at Sligo suc-
ceeded in having the Silver Spring office discontinued,
but I secured a further hearing, and had the order dis-
continuing it "rescinded." I remained postmaster
until February 21, 1906, and established the Money
Order System and the Rural Free Delivery there with
three carriers. The office requiring more time than I
could give it, I resigned, and Mr. Frank L. Hewitt, my
assistant, succeeded me and remained postmaster until
removed by a Democratic administration.
Silver Spring now has the Woman's Cooperative
Col. Hist. Soc. Vol. XXI Pl. X.
Mrs. Montgomehv Blair, 1867
Blair: Annals of Silver Spring. 185
Improvement Society, organized about four years ago.
It is a most efficient, useful and public-spirited organi-
zation. Mrs. W. B. Newman, who was president until
recently, has been succeeded by Mrs. L. E. Warren.
The Volunteer Fire Association was organized two
years ago, and possesses a complete modern fire appa-
ratus. The president is William Juvenal, and Clay
V. Davis secretary.
The militia company, consisting of seventy-five men,
drill in the Silver Spring Armory and served during
the recent troubles on the border with Mexico. They
are a "crack" company and considered one of the best
in Maryland.
Brooke Lee, son of Honorable Blair Lee, is captain,
and Frank L. Hewitt lieutenant.
Silver Spring at present consists of some seventy-
five dwellings, ten stores, a mill, and a national bank.
Its growth and prosperity ariB assured.
It has not been incorporated as a town, therefore,
suffers from many of the troubles of unincorporated
villages. Sewers, gas, water, and policemen have
their advantages, but the neighborhood has been so
free from the evildoer that the police are not needed.
Electric light enables us to see without gas and a coun-
try town with many gardens and surrounding fields,
when a healthy community, overlooks the sewer prob-
lem, and the rain from heaven collects water by the
down spout when your well runs dry at less cost than
the water main. But these bountiful aids to nature
are not likely to live many months longer in Silver
Spring, for this flourishing community is even now
planning a government to furnish all of these necessi-
ties, besides the many other modern conveniences
which we receive from politics and politicians, and for
which we pay in good old American money.
THE NATIONAL DEFENSE.
By ADMIEAL COLBY M. CHESTEE.
(Eead before the Society, April 17, 1917.)
The natural law of self-preservation creates the ne-
cessity to defend the country from invasion and to
safeguard its interests abroad.
The right of self-defense is the first law of nature
and it is the first law of nations. Before this immuta-
ble law of all the animal kingdom all other laws be-
come secondary, and treaties as but ' ' scraps of paper. ' '
Every nation has, at some time in its history, been
forced to act in accordance with this doctrine, and so
many precedents have been formed as to establish it
as an axiomatic principle of government. So fully
was this principle recognized by our forefathers that
the very first law written into our statute-books, in the
''Acts for the Confederation of the United States of
North America, ' ' reads as follows :
"Article III. The said states hereby severally enter into
a firm league with each other, for their common defense, the
security of their liberties, and their mutual and general wel-
fare, binding themselves to assist each other against all forces
offered to, or attacks made upon them, on account of religion,
sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense whatever."
Later this fundamental principle of government was
written into the Constitution of the United States in
these words :
'"Congress shall have power to raise and collect taxes, duties,
imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the
common defense and general welfare of the United States."
186
Chester: The National Defense. 187
'^ Security from common danger," wrote Alexander
Hamilton in The Federalist, "is one of the principal
objects of civil society. It is an avowed and essential
object of the American Union. The powers necessary
for attaining it must be effectually confided to the fed-
eral councils."
In the year 1800, out of an appropriation of ten mil-
lion dollars made by Congress for the support of the
government, over 90 per cent, of it was expended upon
the national defense, the remaining 10 per cent, being
used to pay the interest on the public debt, and the
expenses of the Indian wards of the nation. In the
year 1820, out of an appropriation of $20,000,000, 85
per cent, was spent upon the Army and Navy.
Wlien, therefore, our forefathers formed the origi-
nal thirteen sovereign and independent states into a
Federal Union, they had two prime objects in view:
the first, to provide for the common defense; and,
second, to promote the general welfare of the people.
The first object arose from the vital necessity of the
nation, while the second was in the interest of the hap-
piness of the people, a luxurj^ so to speak, which, like
all other luxuries, must give away to the necessities of
the occasion. It will be seen, therefore, that the Na-
tional Defense consists not only of warding off danger
of the country's being invaded, but is the protection
of the people's "inalienable right to life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness." Hence our "trade" with
foreign nations, through which this right is subserved,
is almost as dear to our hearts as is our sovereignty.
The principle of national defense, therefore, is as broad
as the ocean which covers one fourth of the entire sur-
face of the globe. Hence the Navy is the country's
"First Line of Defense." Our forefathers fully un-
derstood the importance of a navy to the country, for.
188 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
while they granted the power to Congress to ^'Eaise
and support Armies," provided that "no appropria-
tion of money to that use shall be for a longer Term
than Two Years," the Navy was created under a sim-
ple enactment, "To provide and maintain a Navy."
Hamilton wrote concerning the nation's marine forces
that "The palpable necessity of the power to provide
and maintain a Navy has protected that part of the
Constitution from a spirit of censure which has spared
few other parts." Even that great pacifist, Thomas
Jefferson, once wrote to Benjamin Franklin that
"Every rational citizen must wish to see an effective
instrument of coercion, and should fear to see it on
any other element than the water. A naval force can
never endanger our liberties nor occasion bloodshed."
But in spite of these fundamental principles of our
national life, the American people have been so ob-
sessed with the idea that military power is dangerous
to democratic institutions, that, in peace times, at
least, they have resisted all the efforts of patriotic citi-
zens, who make a study of war and international
affairs, to prepare for the inevitable conflict that
awaits all nations when their interests become vio-
lently antagonistic to those of their peers, just as the
individual would do but for the fact that in such mat-
ters they are forced to resort to the courts, which, thus
far, at least, are not open to nations. But now that
the tocsin of war has sounded for us, our countrymen
cry out with one voice: "Let us prepare for war,"
when it is almost too late.
But let me ask what reason has the American people
to fear militarism, as it exists, and ever must exist in
this country? The nation was founded by the military
power of the United States and France, as represented
by George Washington, John Paul Jones, Eochambeau
Chester: The National Defense. 189
and Count de Grasse. It was saved from disruption
by the military combinations of Lincoln, Grant and
Farragut, and their martial adherents of the six-
ties. Military men have, for more than half of the
life-time of the nation, ruled over its country's des-
tinies, and yet at no time in our history has ever an
attempt been made to establish a military oligarchy
among our people. Look at that galaxy of great men
who rose to high rank in the council of the nation on
the evolution of events emanating from wars which
have exalted us as a people — Washington, Jackson,
Harrison, Taylor and Pierce, Grant, Hayes, Garfield,
Harrison and McKinley, and last, but by no means
least, Theodore Eoosevelt, who was "kicked upstairs"
into the Presidency by the ''foot-guards" of the Army
of operations in Cuba during the Spanish-American
war ; then tell me, if you can, how it is possible for such
militarism to be dangerous to the liberties of the
American people!
The wisdom of George Washington was never so
conspicuously displayed as when he announced that
celebrated doctrine :
' ' There is a rank due the United States among Nations. If
we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we
desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments
of our prosperity, it must he known that we are at all times
ready for war. ' '
It is because we have not heeded this profound admo-
nition of the Father of his Country, in the past, and
are not now ready for war, that the issue pending in
our political atf airs was forced upon us ; for it is just
as certain as any fact founded upon reason, that had
the German War Party thought this country would, in
time, be able to ''repel insult," we would have avoided
the war that now confronts our peojDle. But we are
J 90 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
coming, Father Abraham, twelve hundred thousand
strong, and we will get there in time. But your First
Line of Defense, the United States Navy — upon which
must fall the brunt of the conflict in defense of our
rights at this time, and which has, in the past, fought
successful wars with Great Britain, France and Spain;
with Morocco, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, once power-
ful nations; in China, Japan and Corea; with Mexico,
Paraguay, Columbia and several of the small Central
American States and in other minor wars, of which
your histories make no mention, will bring you victory
as it has done before, if you will but do your share and
support the service.
But let us look to the future as well as the present
and while doing our utmost to bring this unhappy war
in which we are now engaged to a successful termina-
tion, let us prepare to support that ' ' firm league ' ' into
which our forefathers bound the, now, forty-eight
states into a national defensive force to prevent
further devastating wars between nations. It is now
apparent to every one that this "Union League" must
be the head of any combination of states which has the
welfare of humanity at stake. Let us, then, once
again highly resolve, as Lincoln did for us at Gettys-
burg, that ''our honored dead shall not have died in
vain, and that the government of the people, by the
people, and for the people shall not perish from the
earth," but rather that other peoples shall have a new
birth of freedom.
I would recall to your minds the words of that old
gray-haired speaker, whose voice resounded through-
out Independence Hall on July 4, 1776, when he called
upon the doubting delegates to the convention to sign
the Declaration of Independence. "Sign that parch-
ment," said he, "sign, not only for yourselves but for
Chester: The National Defense. 191
the ages. That parchment shall be the text-book of
freedom, the Bible of the rights of man forever. Nay,
do not start and whisper to each other. It is the truth.
Your whole hearts tell you so, God has proclaimed it.
Look at your history of a small band of outcasts sud-
denly turned into a people. Look at your achieve-
ments at Lexington and Bunker Hill, and then tell me,
if you can, that God has not ordained America to be
free."
I wish I had the powerful eloquence of that speaker
to convince you who are here tonight that you must
prepare the national defense so that your second dec-
laration for independence, promulgated by James
Monroe in 1823, not only for the people of the United
States but for all Americans, may be made effective.
That document is the New Testament of the Gospel of
Liberty, and by Dewey's guns at Manila Bay it was
made to speak for all free men throughout the world.
Look at your history since 1776. That small band of
outcasts which first landed on our rock-bound coasts
for ''Freedom to worship God" is now turned into a
world people. Look at your achievements since Lex-
ington. That Battle Cry of Freedom, which sounded
from the top of Bunker Hill on the 17th of June, 1775,
struck the waters of Massachusetts Bay and formed,
as it were, a great eagre of the sea, which sent forth
its ever-expanding wavelets, rolling up on the shores
of South America like a stupendous bore, and washed
away the effete monarchies of Europe, and formed in
a land where despotism and anarchy had prevailed for
centuries, twenty republics like unto our own. Cross-
ing the North Atlantic Ocean, it swept over the fair
land of France like a great tidal wave and destroyed
that heresy concerning the divine right of Kings, that
had ruled Europe for ages, and formed our great sis-
192 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
ter Eepublic of Europe. Thence, with the impetus
given to its undulating crest by Lincoln, Grant and
Farragut in the last century, it spread over the plains
of Europe, broke the shackles of millions of human
beings held in bondage in Eussia, turned the little
kingdom of Portugal into a republic, enlightened the
warring tribes of the Balkan Peninsula and established
several respectalple little states based upon democratic
principles, and today, looking towards the ''Star in
the East," we see the dawning of a new national life
likened unto our own brilliant constellation in the
Great Empire of the Slav.
Knocking at the door of Turkey and Persia, that
wave of reform bounded over the steppes of Asia until
it reached the broad waters of the Pacific, where it met
and mingled with that great hertian undulation com-
ing westward from the Cradle of Liberty at Philadel-
phia that had destroyed the kings of the Cannibal
Islands and made of the Hawaiian group one of the
brightest stars in the American diadem. From here
on still Westward ho! it was carried upon the white
wings of United States warships under the command
of Commodore Perry to break up the Shogun dynasties
of the Island of Nippon and make a ''World Power"
of Japan, while with the key to liberty in his hands,
Commodore Shufelt of the Navy opened wide the doors
of the Hermit Nation Corea, and introduced that an-
cient regime into the body politic of modern civilized
nations. And finally the lamp of "Liberty enlighten-
ing the World" shone upon the great middle kingdom
of Asia and formed a republic in name, as well as in
fact, that has come to stay.
Will you let such glory grow dim and fade away,
and take up a fad of twilight-sleep for mankind with
which to bring forth world issues? As American citi-
Chester: The National Defense. 193
zens YOU cannot say yea. Then prepare yourselves
for war wliicli will bring peace for yourselves and for
humanity.
Prepare for war, that your President when voicing
the sentiments of the American people concerning in-
ternational affairs may speak as did Commodore De-
catur, when, in 1815, with a large American fleet at his
back and authority from Congress to declare war in
his hands, he told the rulers of the Barbary States to
sign the treaties which deprived them of the ability
to commit piratical acts against American shipping
and to enslave our people, or take the consequences.
And thus with the power back of his words he broke
up a nefarious practice that had disgraced civilization
for years.
Prepare for war, that your President may speak as
did Abraham Lincoln, when, in 1865, with one hundred
thousand of the best troops that ever fought in battle
marching towards the Rio Grande under General
Sheridan, and the entire American Navy steaming at
full speed for Vera Cruz, he told Napoleon III to get
out of Mexico. And he got out.
Prepare for war, that your President may speak as
did General Grant, when, in 1874, with the entire
American Navy mobilized in the waters of the Carib-
bean Sea, ready to act against the Spanish colonies
there, he demanded of Spain redress for the murder
of American seamen captured on the high sea in the
Virginius, and by his powerful words he averted war
between the two nations.
Prepare for war, that your President may speak as
did Benjamin Harrison, when, in 1892, with Admiral
Gherardi's fleet anchored off Montevideo, cleared for
action and bound for the Pacific, he urged the Presi-
dent of Chili to apologize for the killing of American
14
194 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
seamen in Valparaiso, and by his forceful appeal war
was averted between two nations which should be and
are the best of friends.
Prepare for war, that your President may speak as
did Grrover Cleveland, when, in 1895, he told Great
Britain that the Monroe Doctrine was a sacred docu-
ment applying to Venezuela, and was backed by the
whole power of the American people. You know the
result.
Prepare for war, that your President may speak as
did Theodore Koosevelt, when, in 1902, with the Ameri-
can fleet drawn up in battle array in the Caribbean
Sea under the command of Admiral Dewey, he in-
formed the Grerman ambassador that he would give his
country just forty-eight hours to show her intentions
regarding Venezuela, and as our ''big stick" was then
bigger than the German club, a soft answer which
turneth away wrath was received, acknowledged, and
duly recorded to the credit of Germany.
And last, but by no means least, prepare for war,
because your forefathers bound each one of you ' ' into
a firm league to assist each other against all forces
offered to, or attacks made upon these United States,
on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other
pretense whatever."
RICHARD WALLACE AND THE TIMES OF HIS
MAYORALTY.
By ALLEN C. CLAEK.
(Head before the Society, May 15, 1917.)
Wallacliia, within the walls of the Transylvanian
Alps and the waters of the Danube, once a principality,
is now a part of the kingdom of Roumania — the gyp-
sies' Elysium. The Roumanians in recent wars have
proven their courage and fortitude. Wallachia had
its origin in the thirteenth century. Its people, the
Wallachs, claim descent from the Romans and speak
their own language, Wallachian. The subject of this
sketch said he had the Wallachian source.
Richard Wallach, the father, from Boston came to
Alexandria shortly after attaining adult age. He
changed Alexandria for Washington. He was an ac-
tive practitioner of the law. He had his residence on
Sixth Street, the east side, and it is now a part of the
National Hotel. In the residence was his law office.
He built, 1827, the mansion opposite the City Hall, 456
Louisiana Avenue, and there had a law office. He was
attorney for the Corporation of Washington. He
died, December 3, 1835, in his forty-seventh year, and
is interred in the Congressional Cemetery. The press
and bar were eulogistic. He was survived by his sons,
Richard, William D., Cuthbert P., and Charles S.
Richard Wallach, the son, was born in Alexandria,
Virginia, April 3, 1816, at the residence of his grand-
father. Colonel Simms. Corra Bacon-Foster, a his-
torian of the Columbia Historical Society, in perfec-
tion of literature and accuracy, too, has given the
195
196 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
''Life and Letters of Colo. Charles Simms, Gentle-
man, of Virginia," with his picture, autograph and
what goes with completeness of biography. On his
sign was "Chas. Simms, Counselor and Atty-at-Law. "
He was an officer in the Indian War and in the Revo-
lutionary War. He was of the Virginia Assembly,
and a leader in every public enterprise of the bristling
city in which he had his home. He had been the Col-
lector of Customs for Alexandria and was the Mayor
at the time of the British invasion. He was an hon-
orary pall-bearer of Greneral Washington, and his*^
name stands first in the memorial in Christ Church.
He was of the strong men when men of strength were
needed to start the nation.
Mrs. Anne Royall, in her report of the trial in which
she was the defendant as a common scold, gives a
tribute to Master Wallach's youthful chivalry. He
was at the time of the incident in his thirteenth year.
"But of all the human beings, Master Wallach was
the most attentive. This amiable youth hung over my
chair the whole time, with the affection of a son, and
with his head bent to my ear, 'What can I do for you,
Mrs. R. ; tell me what you want, I will do it for you.' "
Richard entered Columbian College. An account
gives it that he graduated with high honors ; another
account has it that he was impatient to begin the study
of law and did not complete the collegiate course. Be-
fore attaining age he studied law in his father's office,
and finished his studies in the office of Joseph H.
Bradley.^ Mr. Bradley and he were the administra-
tors of the personal estate of Wallach, Senior.
In the minutes of the Circuit Court, April 2, 1836,
is that William C ranch. Chief Judge, and Buckner
Thruston were present, and that "Richard Wallach,
1 Fellow students in Mr. Bradley 's office were Philip Barton Key and
George C. Thomas.
Coi. Hist. Soc. Vol. XXI Pl. XI.
Richard Wallach.
Clark: Richard Wallach. 197
esquire, is this day admitted as an Attorney and Coun-
sellor of this court on motion of F. S. Key, esq'"..
United States Attorney for this District." Examined
and admitted at the same time were Henry May and
Charles Lee Jones, to become distinguished in the pro-
fession.
Mr. Wallach was quickly in life a participant in poli-
tics. He championed the Whig cause. He was active
for Clay in 1844 and for Taylor in 1848. He caught
the favor of the citizens and in his thirtieth year was
a law-maker. He was a Common Councilman from
June, 1846, two years, and represented the Fourth
Ward.
Mr. Wallach 's honors ascended and he presented
a commission of which this is the court record :
"Monday, October 15th, 1849.
''Present, William Cranch, Chief Judge. The Hon. James S.
Morsell, James Dunlop, Assistant Judges.
''Richard Wallach Esqr. produced a Commission from the
President of the United States, appointing him Marshal of the
United States for the District of Columbia during the pleasure
of the President of the United States and until the end of the
next Session of the Senate of the United States and no longer
—date 28 June, 1849. ..."
He was confirmed December 4, 1849. It was the
pleasure of the President, Mr. Pierce, that no longer
Mr. Wallach be the Marshal and named a successor
in 1853.
The Marshal of the United States for the District
of Columbia was like unto the Lord High Constable of
England, the seventh officer from the crown. The
Marshal was responsible for the person of the Presi-
dent when at the seat of government. Under the law
the Marshal for the District of Columbia was the Mar-
198 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
shal of the Supreme Court of the United States, and
hence the supreme Marshal of the Federal Marshals.
Thus it appears Mr. Wallach held a most dignified and
exalted position. On state occasions he was the mas-
ter of the ceremonies and he first gave and received
the bend as the guest was ushered to the august pres-
ence of the Chief Magistrate. In the grand parade,
he, on a horse proudly pawing and prancing, came
before all — the bands with piercing horns and resound-
ing drums, the mighties in fine carriages and the ranks
in pretty uniforms. When he came in view the multi-
tudes which lined the avenue had their expectations
rewarded.
Mr. Wallach and Walter Lenox kept bachelors ' hall
at the latter 's house at the intersection of Sixth and D
Streets and Louisiana Avenue. At Marshall Brown's
wedding Mr. Wallach was a guest. Said the groom,
unselfish in matrimonial happiness, to his guest:
''Dick, why don't you select a bride from among these
fine ladies?" Replied the bachelor Dick: ''No, I will
wait until you have a daughter and when she grows up
I will marry her." Thursday was the evening and
April was the month and 1856 the year when and the
Metropolitan Hotel the place where Richard Wallach,
Esq., proudly stood with Rosa, his bride,
"In flow'r of youth and beauty's pride"
to her with this ring endow. The Rev. George Cum-
mins officiated in the Episcopalian form. Marriage
bells may not have rung that evening, yet the clatter of
the plates and the tinkle of the glasses made as madly
merry music at the feast the smiling father of the
bride — the boniface of the hotel — gave to the wedding
party. The bride was seventeen and the groom was
forty. At that day a bachelor of forty was a nasty old
Clark: Richard W attach. 199
baclieior and entitled every bit to all the execration of
the unpaired maidens.
Dickens has described a spirited contest between the
parties, the Blues and the Buffs. Dickens' election
had vim and vigor and suggests an election for Mayor
in Washington. It was ward meetings and mass meet-
ings; serenades and speeches; torchlight processions
with banners and transparencies; newspaper lauda-
tion and damnation. In the open spaces about the city
were high poles with streamers waving a standard-
bearer's name. The ballot boxes closed, the votes
counted, the partisans of the elect gathered at his
house called for a speech and shouted themselves
hoarse every time the elect halted for a breath. And
the boys (at that time much less removed from sav-
agery than at present) entered into the spirit of the
triumph and without knowing who was elected, and
not caring, celebrated by great bonfires from boxes
taken from the merchants' shop-doors and brought in
the wagon they had borrowed without the owner's con-
sent, and which (the wagon) sometimes as a climax
they pushed over the consuming flames.
James Gr. Berret and Eichard Wallach were rivals
for the favor of the citizens on election day. Both
were popular and evenly so. At the election for
Mayor, June 7, 1858, Mr. Berret was the Anti-Know
Nothing and Democratic candidate; Mr. Wallach was
the Independent candidate. The official count gave
Mr. Berret 3,689, Mr. Wallach 3,109. The Daily Na-
tional Intelligencer, in its resume, has: "The election
yesterday proves that rowdyism is not yet subdued in
this city, and that, notwithstanding the unusual police
arrangements made, ruffians did, to some extent, exert
an influence deleterious to the prosperity of the city,
and preventive of public sentiment in the matter of
depositing votes."
200 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
In the Mayoralty contest, next ensuing, June 4, 1860,
Mr. Berret had as the Democratic candidate 3,434,
Mr. Wallach as the Opposition 3,410. The Intelligen-
cer charged the same disorder as two years previous.
Mr. Wallach, while his successful rival was receiv-
ing the plaudits, was preparing a letter ^'To the Pub-
lic of Washington," in which he informed the "Fellow
Citizens" that the opposition had been guilty in the
election of every species of fraud ever devised (which
he specified), and notified them that he intended an
appeal to the Circuit Court and complained that he
was driven from his dwelling.
For the Peace Commissioners the City Councils se-
cured Willard's Concert Hall and through the Mayor
offered it, February 1, 1861, directing the communica-
tion to Ex-President Tyler, the Commission's presi-
dent. The proprietors, Messrs. Joseph C. and Henry
A. Willard, with a highly creditable public spirit, with
haste tendered it to the city government, and upon the
Commission's adjournment declined to accept pay.
The Daily National Intelligencer, February 4, 1861,
had: "We need not remind our readers that this is the
day fixed for the meeting in this city of the Commis-
sioners appointed by many of the Southern and North-
ern States with a view to the adjustment of the un-
happy controversy which already threatens our Union
with total disruption." The Commission had the best
minds of the country, yet it could not devise an ac-
ceptable compromise.
The Potomac was a division line of the sections at
war. So close was the Executive Mansion to that line
that from its northern shore a stone thrown with a
sling-shot might almost hit it. Members of families
separated in their residences by the river made it the
dividing line of their sjTnpathies — brothers north of
Clark: Richard Wallach. 201
the line went to war in suits of blue and brothers
south of it in suits of gray.
Saturday morning, February 23, 1861, shortly before
six, Mr. Seward was pacing the lobby of the Willard.
His actions were mildly mysterious. When the bus
arrived the mystery was over. From it alighted the tall
figure of Abraham Lincoln. Mrs. Lincoln, with three
sons, came the same day in the regular five o'clock
train.
The Wide- Awakes went on to Baltimore to welcome
Mr. Lincoln. Wide-Awakes implies a vigilance which
forestalls being caught napping. Arrived at Balti-
more, they were told Mr. Lincoln is already in Wash-
ington. ''No," said the Wide-Awakes, ^^jou can't
fool us, No Siree, Bob. Not on your life. We are
here to greet Uncle Abe and we are going to do it. ' '
Mayor Berret was applied to on the following Mon-
day morning for a copy of the speech he ivould have
made to Mr. Lincoln- at the cars on Saturday afternoon
if the reception had not been nipped. Mayor B. laugh-
ingly replied he would comply with the request with
pleasure if Mr. Eichard Wallach (who was the Presi-
dent of the Police Board) would consent to furnish his
draught of the route programme Mr. Lincoln would
have followed had those same ceremonies come off.
That first day would have been a strenuous day for
any man except Mr. Lincoln. At eleven o'clock he,
with Mr. Seward, called unexpectedly on President
Buchanan. The President was with the cabinet. He
received the President-elect and Mr. Seward privately
and at the conclusion of the chat introduced them to
his constitutional advisers.
The Hlinois delegation, headed by Stephen A. Doug-
lass, came at 2 : 30 o 'clock. Then there was an interview
with General Winfield Scott, whom Mr. Lincoln thanked
202 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
for the escort to the Capital City and other courtesies.
Among the callers was the venerable Frank P. Blair
and his son, Montgomery Blair. At six o'clock the
Secretary of the Peace Congress jDresented a commu-
nication requesting an appointment that day to pay its
respects. At seven he went to dine with Mr. Seward
and before nine was at the hotel. At nine came the
Peace Commission. The members formed a proces-
sion with Ex-President Tyler and Governor Chase, of
Ohio, in advance.
After this reception came a large number of citizens.
Then Mr. Lincoln was informed that the main parlors
and ante-rooms were filled with ladies who desired to
pay their respects. He underwent the ordeal with
great good humor. At ten o'clock Mr. Buchanan's
cabinet called to offset the courtesy of the forenoon.
On the next day Mr. Lincoln, with Mr. Seward, un-
obtrusively slipped into pew number 1, St. John's
Church, which is right before the chancel. Not a dozen
persons were aware of the President-elect's presence.
Unknowingly the Rev. Pyne Smith to him preached an
inspiring sermon and made a selection of marked ap-
propriateness in the Psalm. It is reported that on
this occasion "Mr. Lincoln was dressed in plain black
clothes, with black whiskers and hair well trimmed,
and was pronounced by such as recognized him as a
different man entirely from the hard-looking pictorial
representations seen of him. Some of the ladies say
in fact he is almost good looking." One might think
the people at Washington expected there was coming
to the White House a collection of uncouths from the
apologetic comment. About the first paragraph of
Mrs. Lincoln is: ''The peep afforded at Mrs. Lincoln
in passing from the carriage to the hotel, presented a
comely, matronly, lady-like face, bearing an unmis-
ClarJc: Richard Wallach. 203
takable air of goodness, strikingly the opposite of the
ill-natured portraits of her by the pens of some of
the sensation letter-writers." And so of the eldest
son: "Especially mistaken were those who expected to
see in the young Eobert, a pert, b 'hoyish character, for,
as far as externals go, he seemed every way prepos-
sessing, quiet, unassuming and amiable."
The Mayor and the Boards of Aldermen and Com-
mon Council, February 27, 1861, from the City Hall
in a body proceeded to the Executive Mansion, in the
east room of which at two o'clock they were received
by President Buchanan.
Mayor Berret's Speech.
^'Alr. President: The joint resolution adopted by a unan-
imous vote of the Boards of Aldermen and Common Council
of the city of Washington, and which I have the honor to pre-
sent to you so fully expresses the respect and regard which
they entertain towards you, that it only remains for me to say
on behalf of my fellow-citizens — and in which I cordially
share — that in your retirement on Monday next from the
highest station known to a republican form of government,
you will carry to your native State and home the gratitude
of this community for the many acts of social kindness re-
ceived at your hands, and the deep interest you have ever
taken to advance the city's material interests; their and my
own best wishes for your health and happiness. ' '
Reply op the President.
Mr. Mayor and gentlemen of the Corporation: I reciprocate
with all my heart towards yourselves the kind wishes you have
expressed for me when about to take leave of the city of Wash-
ington. But I must say a few words more. I came to this
city a member of the House of Representatives in December,
1821. A period of nearly forty years has elapsed since that
time, during which, without a single exception, I have been
204 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
treated with the utmost kindness and respect by the citizens
of Washington. Your fathers have treated me in the same
manner that you have done. Among those who are now pres-
ent I do not recognize a single individual whom I then knew,
with but a single exception. (Gen Force.) But good will
towards me has descended from father to son, and I feel the
greatest gratification in knowing and believing that I am so
kindly appreciated, as I think I deserve to be at least by them. "
The city authorities, after their farewell with Presi-
dent Buchanan, made at Willard's a welcome to the
President-elect.
Mayor Berret :
''Mr. Lincoln: As the President elect, under the Constitu-
tion of the United States, you are soon to stand in the august
presence of a great nation of freemen, and enter upon the
discharge of the duties of the highest public trust known to
our form of government, and under circumstances menacing
the peace and permanency of the Republic, which have no
parallel in the history of our country. It is our earnest wish
that you may be able, as we have no doubt that you will, to
perform the duties in such a manner as shall restore power
and harmony to our now distracted country, and finally bring
the old ship into a harbor of safety and prosperity, thereby
deservedly securing the universal plaudits of the whole world.
I avail myself, sir, of this occasion, to say that the citizens of
"Washington, true to the instincts of constitutional liberty, will
ever be found faithful to all the obligations of patriotism, and
as their chief magistrate, and in accordance with the honored
usage, I bid you welcome to the seat of government."
Mr. Lincoln :
"3Ir. Mayor: I thank you, and through you the municipal
authorities of this city who accompany you, for this welcome.
And as it is the first time in my life^ since the present phase
of politics has presented itself in this country, that I have
said anything publicly within a region of country where the
Clark: Richard Wallach. 205
institution of slavery exists, I will take this occasion to say
that I think very much of the ill feeling that existed and still
exists between the people in the section from whence I came
and the people here is dependent upon a misunderstanding
of one another. I therefore avail myself of this opportunity
to assure you, Mr. Mayor, and all the gentlemen present, that
I have not now, and never have had, any other than as kindly
feelings towards you ,as to the people of my own section. I
have not now, and never have had, any disposition to treat
you in any respect otherwise than as my own neighbors. I
have not now any purpose to withhold from you any of the
benefits of the Constitution, under any circumstances, that I
would not feel myself constrained to withhold from my own
neighbors ; and I hope, in a word, that when we shall become
better acquainted — and I say it with great confidence — we shall
like each other better. I thank you for the kindness of this
reception."
Mr. Lincoln was easy of access. He denied himself
to nobody. He responded to all delegations without
regard to personal convenience. The Wigwams and
an enthusiastic crowd, March 1st, at Willard's called
for "Lincoln." He appeared at a window. The
cheering indicated more was expected. Having no
balcony to stand upon, he stepped out upon the window
sill and held on by the window blinds as he spoke.
From the account of the first levee, Friday, March 9 :
"But the downright serious hard work of the evening was
that performed by President Lincoln, who for more than two
hours (i. e., from quarter past eight o'clock till half past
ten) shook hands in right good earnest with all comers, at the
rate of twenty- five per minute, (as timed by a gentleman in
his vicinity) or one thousand five hundred per hour.
' ' The last scene of the levee was a tragic one. The mob of
coats, hats and caps left in the hall had somehow got inex-
tricably mixed up and misappropriated, and perhaps not one
in ten of that large assemblage emerged with the same outer
206
Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
garments they wore on entering. Some thieves seem to have
taken advantage of the opportunity to make a grand sweep,
and a very good business they must have done. Some of the
victims utterly refusing to don the greasy, kinky apologies for
hats left on hand, tied up their heads in handkerchiefs and so
wended their way sulkily homeward. ' '
Witnesses to this scene of confusion were the Presi-
dent's guests, '^ Richard Wallach and lady."
An incident of the second levee, two weeks later, is
related to illustrate Mr. Lincoln's promptness with
pat response. A gentleman in the crowd passing by
remarked to the President that he was a Tennessean,
from Memphis, which called forth, heartily, from Mr.
Lincoln, ''Well, Tennessee's all right."
The declaration of war was overhanging. It was
in the air that the President might be assassinated.
The "President's Mounted Guard" was organized
under the command of the Kansas terror. General
Jim Lane. A handsome young Southerner, an em-
ploye in the Treasury Department, at once enlisted.
A woman of Union sympathy, an acquaintance, went
to him immediately.
She: "I thought you were a Southerner?"
He: ''And so I am."
"Then what are you doing in the President's
Mounted Guards ? ' '
"Oh! I think it is just as well to be near your Old
Abe in case we want to get rid of him. There are sev-
eral of us from below the Mason and Dixon line in that
troop."
The woman informed her husband and he informed
Jim Lane ; and Jim Lane was for discovering him and
hanging him up as an effective example. The woman
declined to divulge the identity, notwithstanding
threats. The case was presented to the President and
Clark: Richard Wallach. 207
in his great magnanimity he applauded the woman.
She reported to the young man what had transpired.
He in chivalric acknowledgment resigned. ''I cannot
betray such a man."^
Appeared, April 15, 1861, the proclamation calling
for 75,000 militia from the several states of the Unior..
The writer does not deal with the Civil War. The
mention of it is incidental. To deal with it would be
a paper interminable. In the city was warlike appear-
ance all the while. The blue-uniformed were inces-
santly going to and coming from the front. At all
hours one could
' ' hear the drum
And the vile squeaking of the wry-neck 'd fife. ' '
It is because of the determination to avoid war history
that the writer cannot give more celebrity to his uncle.
Captain George Clark, Jr., in command of Massachu-
setts volunteers. The volunteers at Baltimore disa-
greeably encountered the mob, but in the purlieus of
Washington enjoyed the ease of camp life. Exactly
three months from the passing through the city, they
passed through it again — all the way from Bull Run.
The volunteers and the volunteers' captain could not
think "of being taken by the insolent foe"; and only
to take breath they lingered at Bladensburg a few days
and then continued the going.
Lewis Clephane had been appointed Postmaster.
His friends, May 15, 1861, made it an occasion for a
serenade. They decided the President should share
the joyousness and proceeded to invade the Executive
Mansion. He appeared at an upper window.
'' Gentlemen, I thank you for this compliment which you
have paid me, and which I take it is designed as an expression
of your approbation at my appointment of your City Post-
master. In so far as you sympathize with that worthy gentle-
2 Susan Edson Briggs, Washington Times, February 9, 1902.
208 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
man upon his appointment, I sympathize with him and you.
But I cannot forget that this question like all others has two
sides to it. I cannot but remember that there are a number
of exceedingly clever gentlemen who have not been appointed
Postmaster. ' '
Susan Edson Briggs, in the Washington Times, Feb-
ruary 9, 1902, says :
' ' I remember early one morning an alarm of fire was turned
in from Willard's Hotel. Colonel Ellsworth . . . simply
called out: 'Boys, there is a fire in Willard's Hotel, I want
fifty or sixty of you to go up there and look after it. ' About a
hundred of these nondescript soldiers started up the Avenue,
impressing into service every horse and wagon they met on
the way. Arriving at Willard's a number of them performed
one of the most remarkable acrobatic feats I have ever wit-
nessed. The man climbed upon the shoulders of a gigantic
fellow, who braced himself against the wall of the burning
building. Another climbed upon the shoulders of the second,
and so on, until they had formed a rope of humanity reaching
to the upper floor of the hotel, where the fire was raging. Up
this ladder of bodies they passed buckets of water, and in a
short while the fire was under control,"
A published subscription for the saving services of
Colonel Ellsworth's Zouaves, May 17, 1861, indicates
about the date of the fire. Ellsworth organized his
corps from the laddies who ran the fires in New York
City.
Of the flag-raisings in which the President partici-
pated only this is mentioned. Fourth of July, 1861.
A flagstaff had been erected at the south front of the
U. S. Treasury. The national colors were presented
to the city of Washington by the Union Committee of
New York. The President said :
"The part assigned me is to raise the flag, which, if there
be no fault in the machinery, I will do, and when up, it will
be for the people to keep it up. ' '
Clark: Richard Wallach. 209
Suspicion was like the atmosphere in Washington
during the early days of the secession. The sympa-
thies of a great majority of the citizens were with the
Union. Any circumstance which indicated disloyalty
was not overlooked. It was to be unmistakably on one
side or the other, and there was not an inch for neu-
trals.
The act of Congress for the creation of the Metro-
politan Police provided for five commissioners with
the Mayors of Washington and Georgetown, ex officio ;
three commissioners from the city of Washington, one
from Georgetown and one from the county.
At the organization, August 19, 1861, in the City
Hall, each of the commissioners presented an oath x)f
office except Mayor Berret, who declined so to do on
the plea that the oath which he had taken as Mayor
was sufficient. At the meeting, August 22, was read
the opinion of the Attorney-General, Edward Bates,
to the effect that the oath attaches to every member of
the Board of Police. The Mayor expressed a willing-
ness to take the oath by the act of Congress, but not
that formulated by the Interior Department and sub-
scribed to by his fellow members. Mr. Wallach was
elected president.
Mr. Berret, August 23, submitted the written opinion
of James M. Carlisle, Corporation Attorney, that the
Mayors were not obliged to take any oath to qualify.
After the reading. Mayor Berret declared his purpose
not to take any new oath of office. The other members
unanimously passed a resolution that the Mayor was
not qualified to act. The Mayor made a valedictory
in his best style.
The hair-splitting of Mr. Berret put him under sus-
picion of disloyalty. The only impression his refusal
to subscribe to the oath could have made was that it
15
210 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
was too strong to accord with liis inclination. The
refusal gave rise to added suspicion and ' ' rumor says,
we know not how truly, that in the 'contraband' cor-
respondence taken from the Leonardtown stage a day
or two since, were letters implicating Mayor Berret
and others." Mayor Berret left the sitting at the
Police Board about seven o'clock P. M. During the
night, without a single resident of the neighborhood
aware of the happening, he, at his residence on H
Street, was arrested.
Mayor Berret and his guards in citizens' dress
reached the depot at six o 'clock in the morning. Such
of his friends as got scent of the arrest came to bid
goodby.
''Mayor Berret put the best face possible on his position,
but it was quite evident to those who saw him that his cheer-
fulness was forced, and that he appeared 'to have something
on his mind.' "
The City Councils in Joint Convention, August 26,
1861, elected Mr. Wallach M^yor. The vote was:
Eichard Wallach 18, William W. Seaton 14, Philip R.
Fendall 1. Upon the declaration of the result of the
vote, Mr. Wallach in part said:
"I feel the exigencies have called me to the position never
before experienced in the history of this city, and I hope that
the Mayor will be able soon to exculpate himself and return
to the city, when 1 pledge myself to vacate the office to which
I have been elevated immediately. ... I have already filled
the highest position in the District, in, the gift of the Ex-
ecutive, and now have reached this pinnacle under circum-
stances which no other ever had, yet I shall exert myself to
the utmost to ensure the prosperity of the city and in the
maintenance of the Union and goverment of the United
States."
Clark: Richard Wallach. 211
In the Star, September 13, 1861:
"We learn that yesterdays' mail carried to New York an
order from the Department of State directing the release of
James G. Berret, late IMayor of the Federal ]\letropolis, from
his present confinement in Fort Lafayette." (New York
Harbor.)
"This order is on condition that he takes the oath of alle-
giance to the United States against any and all enemies what-
soever, and also resigns the office of Mayor. ' '
Through the conduit of the State Department Mr.
Berret, by communication dated Fort Hamilton, Sep-
tember 14, 1861, resigned the mayoralty. He re-
turned to the city the 16th. The Corporation Attor-
ney, Joseph H. Bradley, gave the opinion ''that Mr.
Wallach must fill the ofiice for the remainder of the
term, as though he had in terms been elected to do so."
Mr. Berret, in a communication to the editors of the
National Intelligencer, March 29, 1866, asseverates his
loyalty, although he could not accept the dogmas of
the Eepublican party. He charges that his imprison-
ment in a government fortress was inexcusable and he
was the victim of the prevalent distrust. The Presi-
dent and his Cabinet acknowledged the error and to
atone, offered him a colonelcy in the Army with the
privilege of a position on the staff of the General-in-
Chief. Mr. Berret incorporates a letter dated April
17, 1862, and directed to the President, declining to
accept the nomination as commissioner under an en-
actment for the abolition of slaveiy in the District;
however, he advises the President the appointment
constitutes to him a public recognition of his vindi-
cation.^
3 James Gabriel Berret. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, February 12,
1815. Member of House of Delegates of Maryland, 1837- '39. Clerk in
Eegister of Treasury, Washington City, 1839- '48. Chief Clerk of Pension
212 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Because it was accredited to be hostile, the estimate
of the English press heightens the praise. Liverpool
Post, October 20, 1863 :
"Absolute truth, stern resolution, clear insight, solemn
faithfulness, courage that cannot be daunted, hopefulness that
cannot be dashed, these are qualities that go a long way to
make up a hero, whatever side the possessor of them may take
in any lawful conflict. And it would not be easy to dispute
Mr. Lincoln's claim to all these. He has never given up a good
servant, or a sound principle. He has never shut his eyes to
facts or remained in ignorance of them. He has never hesi-
tated to do his work, or faltered in doing it. No resolution
has remained in nubihus with him because it was a strong one.
No measure has been adopted merely because something
must be done. The exigencies of a fanatical wave have never
betrayed him into fanaticism, and sharp stings of satire have
never drawn from him an explanation of ill-humor, or even
an imprudent rejoinder."
It was upon a call of a delegation coming from Bal-
timore when Mr. Lincoln had been renominated that
he made the often-quoted remark :
"But I don't allow myself to suppose that either the Con-
vention or the League have concluded to decide that I am
either the greatest or best man in America, but rather they
have concluded that it is not best to swap horses while cross-
ing the river, and have further concluded that I am not so
poor a horse that they might not make a botch of it in trying
to swap."
It was at this gathering that President Lincoln, to the
Bureau, 1848- '49. Postmaster of Washington City, 1853- '58. Mayor of
Washington, 1858- '61. Kegeut, ex officio, Smithsonian Institution. Ap-
pointed Commissioner on Abolition of Slavery in the District of Co-
lumbia, 1862. Member of Washington Police Board, 1875- '77. Elector
for Maryland and President of Electoral College, 1888. Member of
Maryland Legislature and Chairman of Committee of Ways and Means,
1891. First Vice-President of Washington Monument Society.
Clark: Richard Wallach. 213
information that a flattering picture of him had been
presented to the Illinois delegation, replied :
"I suppose he (A. B. Sloanaker, of Pennsylvania) made it
from my principles, not my beauty."
President Lincoln to the 166th Ohio Eegiment, Au-
gust 22, 1864, in part :
"I almost always feel inclined, when I happen to say any-
thing to soldiers, to impress upon them, in a few brief remarks,
the importance of success in this contest. It is not merely for
today, but for all time to come, that we should perpetuate for
our childrens' children this great and free government which,
we have enjoyed all our lives. I beg you to remember this,
not merely for my sake, but for yours. I happen, temporarily,
to occupy the White House. I am a living witness that any
one of your children may look to come here as my father's
child has. It is in order that each of you may have, through
this free government which we have enjoyed, an open field
and a fair chance for your industry, enterprise and intelli-
gence. That you may all have equal privileges in the race
of life, with all its desirable human aspirations. It is for this
the struggle should be maintained, that we may not lose our
birthright. Not only for one, but for two or three years, the
nation is worth fighting for to secure such an inestimable
jewel"
Mr. Lincoln, although courageous, was never over-
confident. In defeat he was not vindictive. His am-
bition was minor; his concern for the country major.
Of the President's speech when serenaded by the loyal
Marylanders, October 20, 1864, is:
"I therefore say that, if I shall live, I shall remain President
until the 4th of next jMarch, and that whoever shall be consti-
tutionally elected therefor in November shall be duly installed
as President on the 4th of ]\Iarch and that in the interval I shall
do my utmost that whoever is to hold the helm for the next
voyage shall start with the best possible chance of saving the
ship. ' '
214
Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
November 9, 1864, in the morning at half-past one,
President Lincoln was aroused by Pennsylvania sere-
naders. At the window he spoke :
" I am thankful to God for this approval of the people ; but
while deeply gratified for this mark of confidence in me, if I
know my heart, my gratitude is free from any taint of personal
triumph. I do not impugn the motives of any one opposed to
me. It is no pleasure to me to triumph over any one. But
I give thanks to the Almighty for this evidence of the people's
resolution to stand by free government and the rights of
humanity. ' '
Mr. Lincoln, November 10, 1864, spoke of the disa-
greeable incidents of a popular election and declared,
with all the defects, elections are essential to the main-
tenance of government.
"But the election was a necessity. We cannot have free
government without elections ; and if the rebellion could force
us to forego or postpone a national election, it might fairly
claim to have already conquered and ruined us. The strife
of the election is but human nature practically applied to the
facts of the case. What has occurred in this case must ever
recur in similar cases. Human nature will not change. In
any future great national trial, compared with the men in
this, we shall have as weak and as strong, as silly and as wise,
as bad and as good.
' ' Let us, therefore, study the incidents of this, as philosophy
to learn wisdom from, and none of them as wrongs to be re-
venged.
"But the election, along with its incidental and unde-
sirable strife, has done good too. It has demonstrated that
a people's government can sustain a national election in the
midst of a great civil war. Until now, it has not been known
to the world that this was a possibility. It shows also how
sound and strong we still are. It shows that, even among
candidates of the same party, he Avho is most devoted to the
Union, and most opposed to treason, can receive most of the
Clark: Richard Wallach. . 215
people's votes. It shows also, to the extent yet known, that
we have more men now than we had when the war began.
Gold is good in its place, but living, brave, patriotic men are
better than gold."
President Lincoln's second inaugural address, with
the concluding paragraph which begins "With malice
towards none, with charity for all," contains but five
hundred and eighty-five words. It is a masterpiece
of literature. In the review of it by the London Spec-
tator, of the final paragraph it says :
"No statesmen ever uttered Avords stamped at once with
the seal of so deep a wisdom or so true a simplicity. ' '
At the conclusion of the delivery of the address the
President kissed the thirty-four young women, and
beautiful, of course, who in costume on the stand rep-
resented the thirty-four states which composed the
Union. None of the fair participants have been inter-
viewed, in fact, none of them even by name are known
to the writer, to learn what impression was made upon
them by their part. It is known, however, that the
thirty thousand spectators laughed as the President
in turn stooped to press his lips upon each sweet
standard-bearer.
The first Inaugural Ball was in a tenlporar}^ build-
ing in Judiciary Square. It was built alongside of
the City Hall, and entered through it. It had two
rooms, each 60 by 250 ft. Next to the City Hall was
the ball-room and from that was the entrance into the
supper-room.
The second Inaugural Ball was in the long north
hall of the Patent Office, heretofore used for patriotic
purposes. It surpassed in its appointments any pre-
vious ball. The President did not attend. A note of
it is that Captain Robert Lincoln, of General Grant's
216 Records of the Columhia Historical Society.
staff, escorted the beautiful daughter of Senator Har-
lan. Three years after, it could have read Captain
and Mrs. Kobert Lincoln.
The next day to the surrender at Appomattox, which
was on Sunday, April 9, John W. Thompson, with
characteristic energy and enthusiasm, organized an
impromptu celebrating parade, which called upon the
President and caught him in the preparation of an
address which was delivered the evening following and
to be his last. The President never refused to speak.
How he cleverly side-stepped the giving away of his
thunder until the discharge should have its effect, his
ex tempore exhibits:
"I am very much rejoiced, my friends, in the fact that an
occasion so pleasurable that the people find it impossible to
refrain from giving vent to their feelings. I suppose that
arrangements are being made for a formal demonstration
either this or tomorrow evening. Should such demonstration
take place I, of course, will be expected to respond, if called
upon, and if I permit you to drib'ble all out of me now, I will
have nothing to say on that occasion.
"I observe that you have a band of music with you. I
propose having this interview elosed by the band performing
a particular tune, which I shall name. Before this is done,
however, I wish to mention one or two little circumstances
connected with it,
"I have always thought that 'Dixie' was one of the best
tunes I had ever heard. Our adversaries over the way, I
know, have attempted to appropriate it, but I insist that on
yesterday we fairly captured it. I referred the question to
the Attorney General and he gave it as his legal opinion that
it is now our property. I now ask the band to favor us with
its performance. ' '
On the news of the fall of Richmond, in the public
buildings was impromptu speech-making. Mayor
Wallach spoke at one of the meetings.
Clark: Richard Wallach. 217
General Weitzel telegraphed April 3, 1865, 11 A. M. :
''We took Eiclimond at 8:15 this morning." The
next evening, by the direction of the Secretary of
State, the government buildings were illuminated.
The Army headquarters and the hospitals and public
local buildings and many private residences were
lighted highly, too. The successive successes brought
other glorifications of light. The climax of illumina-
tion was the celebration of the 13th. Says the Star:
' * The grand display last night by the people of Washington
was infinitely creditable to the patriotic public spirit. It
would have been creditable indeed to the great commercial
cities in which wealth of a single block exceeds all in Wash-
ington. ' '
The writer saw in his searches the expression that
J. Wilkes Booth was the handsomest man she ever
saw. Rev. Dr. Richard B. Garrett, of Portsmouth, Vir-
ginia, who witnessed his passing away and has re-
corded his last words, says of his personal appearance :
"He was a handsome man, with clear-cut features and
a head crowned with a shock of beautiful black hair. ' '
Booth, announced as ''the distinguished tragedian,"
made his debut before a Washington audience in
"Richard the Third," April 11, 1863. He was, the
same year, the proprietor of The Washington Theater
(Eleventh and C Streets). This theatrical venture
was a financial failure. His personal disappointment
and the disappointment of his secession sympathy
overthrew the balance of his mind.
The scene of assassination is told in confliction.
The account of Myron M. Parker will be accepted as
correct. The Washington Post, February 19, 1917 :
''Editor Post: The Post has published a letter written by
James S. Knox, a Princeton graduate, to his father two days
after the assassination of President Lincoln.
218 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
"From my recollection of this sad event it contains many-
inaccuracies, which prompts me to give my recollection of the
event. "I was occupying a seat in the orchestra in the seventh
row near the box occupied by the President. Immediately
following the shot Booth jumped from the box to the stage,
falling partly on one side as he struck the stage. (It was
afterward discovered he sprained his ankle.) He at once re-
gained his feet and shouting 'Sic semper tyrannis,' rushed be-
hind the scenes. I saw no one from the audience follow him
on the stage, nor was there any screaming or 'uproar.' No
one shouted 'Kill him,' 'Hang him, 'nor were any seats torn
up,' as alleged by Mr. Knox.
"Mr. Knox says 'Mrs. Lincoln on her knees uttered shriek
after shriek at the feet of the dying President'. I heard no
'shriek' from the box, and if Mrs. Lincoln had been on her
knees it would have been impossible for ]\Ir. Knox to have seen
her.
"The facts are there was no undue commotion. The large
audience seemed awestruck and spellbound. Some emotional
person did call out that the theater was on fire, but this
created no excitement, as some gentleman on the stage assured
the audience that there was no cause for alarm. The audience
then moved out of the theatre in the usual orderly manner.
"When I reached the door President Lincoln was being
carried out. I was so near I could look down in his pale, sad
face. As every one knows, Mr. Lincoln was carried across
the street to 516 Tenth street, where he breathed his last.
"Through the efforts of the Washington Memorial Associa-
tion, of which the late Chief Justice Fuller was president, the
late Rev. Tennis S. Hamlin, vice president, the late James E.
Fitch, treasurer, and myself, secretary, an act of Congress
was passed, authorizing the purchase of the building by the
government, and it now contains the Oldroyd Lincoln collec-
tion, a rare and valuable collection that ought to be purchased
by the government.
"Myron M. Parker.
"1418 F street northwest."
Clark: Richard Wallach. 219
On the morrow of the assassination everywhere was
the drapery of mourning. The draping began early
in the morning and in the course of the day no house
was there that made a break in the emblem of grief.
•^'King Andy," in derision, they called him. A dis-
tinguished Washingtonian (Simon Wolf, 1917) has
titled the seven Senators who dissented from their
party to vote against impeachment, "the Seven Im-
mortals."^ Upon Andrew Johnson rests a shadow
of criticism. The historian will clear it and there
will rest a halo of commendation. In a most trying
time of our history, the time of the readjustment be-
tween the warring sections, was the Johnson admin-
istration. It was a time that no party could be pleased
except with unfair partiality. Of an excitable nature,
during his Presidency he held himself to calmness.
He acted with firmness and without favor. His meas-
ures were moderate and wise. He was a Spartan in
incorruptibility. To reelect a friend Senator from
Pennsylvania, it was suggested that he appoint two
persons who had agreed to contribute five thousand
dollars. Said Mr. Johnson: "I am most anxious to
have Senator Cowan returned to the Senate, but I can-
not entertain such a proposition" — and he signed and
offered his check for the amount stated.^
' ' To James T. Fields :
"Baltimore, Sunday, February 9, 1868.
''3[y dear Fields: . . .
' ' I was very much surprised by the President 's face and man-
ner. It is, in its way, one of the most remarkable faces T
have ever seen. Not imaginative but very powerful in its
* James Dixon, Conn., James K. Doolittle, Wis., Wm. Pitt Fessenden,
Maine, James W. Grimes, Iowa, John B. Henderson, Mo., Edmund G.
Eoss, Kansas, Lyman Trumbull, 111.
5 John F. Coyle in Washington Post, April 28, 1901.
220 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
firmness (or perhaps obstinacy), strength of will, and steadi-
ness of purpose. There is a reticence in it too, curiously at
variance with that first unfortunate speech of his. A man not
to be turned or trifled with. A man (I should say) who must
be killed to be got out of the way. His manners, perfectly com-
posed. We looked at one another pretty hard. There was an
air of chronic anxiety upon him. But not a crease or a ruffle
in his dress, and his papers were as composed as himself. . . .
"Ever, my dear Fields,
"Your affectionate friend,
"Charles Dickens."
The Grand Review. — One hundred and fifty thou-
sand passed in the lines.
The time, May 23 and 24, 1865. In the stand in
front of the Executive Mansion were President John-
son and General Grant.
The First Day. — The Army of the Potomac, General
George G. Meade at the head. Then Brevet-Major
General George A. Custer in the command of cavalry.
"A decidedly exciting feature of the first day was what
appeared to be a runaway of General Custer's horse, though
many people say now that the mad dash past the presidential
reviewing stand was but a little trick of the general's to show
his ability as an equestrian and his mastery of the horse. . . .
As Custer turned from 15th Street into the avenue and faced
Avest in the direction of the reviewing stands, his horse sud-
denly reared, pawed the air a moment and then started wildly
up the thoroughfare. The sidewalks were banked with hu-
manity, but from curb to curb there was a clear open space,
and as the horse tore along, seemingly beyond control, Custer
assuredly created a wild sensation. His hat blew off and his
long yellow hair streamed in the wind, while the ends of his
red scarf floated behind him like a pair of homebound pennants.
Men shouted and women shrieked, all expecting that a tragedy
was about to be enacted before their very eyes ; that the gen-
eral would be dashed to pieces or the animal would charge
Clarlc: Richard Wallach. 221
the crowd with dire results. But Custer had no idea of losing
his valuable life, nor did he intend to work injury to any of
those awestricken people. "When he had gone a little be-
yond 17th Street he brought his horse down on his haunches,
then turned and rode back. When he reached his hat he
stooped gracefully and picked it up, placing it upon his head.
By this time the head of the cavalry column had reached him
and he wheeled into his proper position. As he passed the
President he saluted calmly as though nothing had happened.
Those who witnessed his brilliant display of horsemanship
cheered him to the echo. He smiled upon all, and, taking off
his hat, bowed to the right and left." — The Evening Star.
October 8, 1902.
The Second Day. — At the head General William
Tecumseh Sherman, accompanied by G-eneral 0. 0.
Howard. Army of the Tennessee, Major-General
John A. Logan in command. Army of Georgia,
Major-General Henry W. Slocum in command.
General Sherman has in his "Memoirs":
"As I neared the brickhouse opposite the lower corner of
Lafayette Square some one asked me to notice Mr. Seward,
who, still feeble and bandaged from his wounds, had been re-
moved there that he might behold the troops. I moved in that
direction and took off my hat to Mr. Seward, who sat in an
upper window. He recognized the salute, returned it and
then we rode on steadily past the President, saluting with our
swords."
The parade was a chain of comicalities. The sol-
diers were not slicked up for parade; many of them
carried odd camp utensils and many had pet animals
perched upon their knapsacks.
In the election for Mayor, June 2, 1862, Mr. Wallach,
Unconditional Union, received 3,850 votes; James F.
Haliday, Unconditional Democrat, 958.
That evening at the serenade Mr. Wallach said:
222 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
"He would not close his remarks without saying though not
a member of the Republican or any other party than the Old
Whig party, no man more thoroughly endoraed the policy and
his administration, for the suppression of the rebellion than
he did. He had known President Lincoln long and well, and
knew him to be a single-minded patriot, bent only on restoring
the Union under its time-honored Constitution, and therefore
deserving the sympathy and assistance of all truly loyal men. ' '
The election for Mayor, June 6, 1864, had Mr. Wal-
lach again the candidate of the Unconditional Unions.
Mr. John H. Semmes was the candidate of the Inde-
pendent Unions. The respective vote was 3,366 and
2,373. The Star has of this election :
"Throughout the day the contest was conducted with
animation on both sides, though with commendable good feel-
ing between the partizans of the respective candidates for the
mayoralty, both being admitted to be estimable gentlemen,
and both well fitted to grace the position in question. ' '
The Mayor's address, June 13, 1864, has:
"The beginning of the municipal year tiads the nation
still rent by civil war and discord, the General Government
compelled to make exactions upon the means of all who desire
a perpetuation of free institutions, and our city, in common
with the rest of the loyal portion of the country, has been
called on to bear her proportion of the burden.
Happily, the alacrity with which our young men volun-
teered on the first and greatest moment of danger to the na-
tion's city reduced the claim of the Federal Government upon
us, and through the appropriation of money by the last Coun-
cils, the liberality of its citizens, and the energy of those en-
trusted with the bounty fund, Washington has been relieved
from the apprehension of a forcible conscription under any of
the present calls of the President for troops to aid in the
suppression of the rebellion.
"We have therefore the proud satisfaction of knowing that
our city has furnished its quota with as much alacrity and at
Clark: Richard Wallach. 223
less expense than any other portion of the Union, silencing
forever, I hope, the imputation so loudly and frequently east
upon our loyalty. ' '
Mr. Wallach was reelected, June 4, 1864, over Ho-
ratio N. Easby. Mr. Wallacli received 4,087 votes;
Mr. Easby, on the Workingmen's Unconditional Eight-
Hour ticket, 1,689.
The evening of the election Mr. Wallach said :
**The result to-day is, I take it, an emphatic endorsement of
my administration of this city for years past.
"It is an approval o.f the efforts that have been made to
bring the blessings of the school system within the reach of all,
and proves conclusively that, mth me, you think the magnifi-
cent school structures which are now exciting the admiration
of our sister cities are preferable to the miserably dilapidated
old tenements which disgraced our city. ' '
Mr. Wallach was the president of the Lincoln Na-
tional Monument Association. The funds were de-
rived from theater benefits, balls, picnics and excur-
sions, and like methods. The consummation is the
monument in front of the City Hall, likely, the first
national memorial. The Association was formed
April 28, 1865, in consequence of a resolution pre-
sented in the City Councils by Noble D. Larner. The
secretary was Crosby S. Noyes, the treasurer George
W. Riggs. Lott Flannery, who had been in the Con-
federate service, was the sculptor.
The first item the writer came upon he decided to
report — this paper pertains to the period 1858-1867 —
is the account of the Sunday-School parade. It was
May 24, 1858. It formed at 9 : 30 in the Smithsonian
grounds. The Chief Marshal was William R. Wood-
ward. These processions, composed of the Protestant
Sunday-Schools, continued throughout and beyond the
Civil War. The Catholic children mav have had
224 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
theirs. The writer marched in one. He forgets the
date. It may have been May, 1867. He remembers
that the procession halted in the south grounds of the
Executive Mansion. He also remembers that the
schools separated and that his, the Fourth Presby-
terian, continued to the church. And more, that on
the lawn on the north side, the older girls and boys,
who to him appeared grown-up ladies and gentlemen,
and some of the officers and teachers became highly
excited in their games, called CoiDcnhagen, Clap-in and
Clap-out, King William's Bridge and with other ex-
plosives there were explosives of laughter, and now
and then a modest maid would attempt to run away
never so fast or never in any direction but would make
getting caught a certainty. The writer remembers
that those older than himself seemed to take as much
interest in their silly sports as he did in the table
which had the ice cream and cake on it and the barrel
which held the lemonade.
The Columbian College Scholarships. — The first
granted was in 1855 and to Marion Bradley. The suc-
ceeding successful candidates were, in 1859, J. Abbott
Moore; 1860, Oliver T. Thompson; 1861, Patrick Mc-
Auley; 1862, Joseph H. France; 1863, Elbert Turner;
1864, Faby Franklin. The grants were by different
donors until donated regularly by Amos Kendall.
Royal Visitors. — Baron Renfrew and suite arrived
in the city Wednesday afternoon, October 3, 1860. At
the station back of the rail was a throng of the curious,
without distinction as to sex. It was a question of
state etiquette if the President should in person wel-
come the prospective king. It was solved by the Sec-
retary of State, Mr. Cass, receiving the royal guest in
the large hall of the depot, stating he had the pleasure
of welcoming him in the name of the President and
Clark: Richard Wallach. 225
would accompany him to the Executive Mansion. The
President was in waiting to receive the party. Mr.
Cass presented the royal guest to the President and
immediately Lord Lyons, the English ambassador,
introduced the others of the party. The next day at
the noon hour the President gave a reception in honor
of the Baron.
On the third day the Baron, with the President, Miss
Lane, and his nephews, had an affectionate leave-
taking, at which was expression, reciprocally, of re-
gard personally and nationally. The hospitality to
the Prince by the President and his household was
grateful to Queen Victoria and her gratitude was
proven by her friendliness to the Union during the
war.
"He was then a peachy-cheeked, beardless boy, with blue
eyes, light hair, slender, delicate frame, but the distinguish-
ing nonchalance born of the consciousness he was a real swan
and not an ugly duckling." — The Evening Star, August 15,
1901.
Of T. S. Donoho's poetic outburst is:
"The Prince of Wales.
England ! Time 's illumined story —
Touched by Shakspeare 's wondrous hand,
Bordered with Miltonic flowers,
Chosen from the Eden land —
Pride of earth is thine — and ours ! ' '
It was on Sunday, August 7, 1861, the Prince Napo-
leon with the Secretary of State and the French lega-
tion made a tour of the fortifications on the Virginia
side in the vicinity of the Chain Bridge and reviewed
the manoeuvres of the troops. And on the next day
visited the places of special interest in and about the
city and in the evening dined with the Secretary of
16
226 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
State. The prince was Napoleon Joseph Charles Bona-
parte, the son of Jerome, the brother of Napoleon the
First. His mother was born Patterson and in Balti-
more.
This is the initial paragraph of Mayor Berret's
proclamation, November 16, 1859 :
"Twenty-six States have already designated a day of
Thanks.giving and Prayer, and it seems peculiarly becoming,
that the Capital of the Union should imitate a moral example
which precept and practice have in a manner sanctified among
our cherished usages. Impressed with the propriety of this
duty, I recommend Thursday, the 24th instant, to be set apart
for that purpose."
Sarah Josepha Hale was the pioneer editress. The
loss of a husband with the heritage of five small chil-
dren was nndenying inducement to write. She was
the editress of the Ladies' Home Magazine in Boston
and Godey's Lady Booh in Philadelphia and the com-
piler of a comprehensive ' ' Dictionary of Poetical Quo-
tations." She wrote, too, to amuse the children, who
in countless number have repeated and will repeat the
lines credited to her:
' ' Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow ;
And everywhere that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go."
Joseph Jackson, the historical writer of the Public
Ledger, gave in its columns the facts the writer is
giving and more that make a monument to her. She
advocated unceasingly the establishment of the last
Thursday of November as a National Thanksgiving-
Day.
"No change of administration escaped a letter from Mrs.
Hale. She was writing letters and printing accounts of the
Clark: Richard Wallach. 227
partial success of her proposition, but one thing after another
appeared to put off the main feature of her plan. ' '
The activities of the Civil War drew attention from
all else nntil the decision at Gettysburg made a break
in the war clouds. In the ^^ar,- October 5,-1863, is the
first proclamation of a National Thanksgiving.
In the reorganization of the judiciary, the President,
March 11, 1863, nominated Hon. David K. Cartter of
Ohio Chief Justice, Hon. Abram B. Olin of New York,
Hon. George P. Fisher of Delaware, and Judge An-
drew Wylie of the former Criminal Court, Judges.
The Newsboys' Home was formally opened March
30, 1864. Professor Joseph Henry presided over the
young ruffians. His wife was the secretary. The
president was Mrs. Samuel Hooper. The wives of the
highest in the government had all the offices. That
was because of the gallantry of the men. The build-
ing, well equipped for the requirements, was on the
east side of Seventh Street in Armory Square.
The Board of Trade of the District of Columbia held
a meeting, November 8, 1865, in the Council Chamber,
City Hall. George W. Eiggs was the chairman. A
week later the meeting was in the Trade Rooms, Sixth
Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. At the first annual
meeting, January 19, 1866, this organization was per-
fected: President, John H. Semmes; first vice-presi-
dent, John T. Mitchell ; second vice-president, Samuel
Bacon; first director, George W. Riggs; other direc-
tors, John R. Elvans, Alexander R. Shepherd, Samuel
Norment, William Orme, Richard M. Hall, James W.
Colley, Joseph B. Bryan, Esau Pickrell, Matthew W.
Gait, James L. Barbour and William H. Clagett.
The purposes of the Board, formulated by Mr. Elvans,
were fixed to be: first, to meet daily for consultation
and counsel ; second, invite purchases and sales of pro-
228 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
duce and other goods by samples; tliird, to post de-
scriptions of property to be sold at auction; fourth,
sales of goods not susceptible of hand delivery by auc-
tioneers in the rooms ; fifth, selection of sites specially
adapted to mercantile uses ; sixth, prospectuses of
joint stock companies to be posted, books of subscrip-
tion to be opened in rooms; seventh, time tables and
tariffs of transportation companies ; eighth, daily quo-
tations of funds, stocks and bonds.
The long-time residents of Washington, in accord-
ance with a call, gathered at the Masonic Hall, Ninth
and D Streets, the evening of November 30, 1865, to
make an association. At this preliminary meeting-
were Edmund F. Brown, John F. Callan, Christopher
Cammack, James Clephane, William Cooper, Dr. A.
McD. Davis, Major Thomas S. Donoho, Fielder R. Dor-
sett, Edward M. Drew, Simeon Matlock, George Sav-
age, B. 0. Shekell, John Tretler, John Waters and
Colonel John S. Williams.
The organization meeting was held in the Council
Chamber, City Hall, December 7, 1865. Colonel Wil-
liams was the chairman, Mr. Callan secretary. Mr.
Clephane presented the draft of a constitution, pref-
aced with a preamble, ''anxious to cultivate social in-
tercourse and unite ourselves more closely as original
settlers of the District of Columbia, we have formed
ourselves into an association. The name of the asso-
ciation is the Association of the Oldest Inhabitants of
the District of Columbia, and persons may be elected
to membership who are fifty years of age and have
been forty years a resident."
Colonel B. Ogle Tayloe claimed to be the oldest resi-
dent. The claim was admitted to entitle him to the
presidency. The other officers , elected : William A.
Bradley and Colonel Peter Force, vice-presidents;
Clark: Richard Wallach.
229
Nicholas Callan, treasurer; John Carroll Brent, cor-
responding secretary, and Dr. A. McD. Davis, record-
ing secretary.
Those present signed the constitution, stating place
of birth and time of settling in Washington:
B. Ogle Tayloe
Wm. A. Bradley
Peter Force
Nicholas Callan
J. Carroll Brent
A. McD. Davis
John S. Williams
E. J. Mattingly
Fielder R. Dorsett
John Coburn
William Yonng
Edmund F. Brown
Paulus Thyson
Christopher Cammack
John H. Goddard
Chauncey Bestor
Samuel Stettinius
Thomas Donoho
Edward Deehle
Frank B. Lord
John F. Callan
James Clephane
John Waters
Joseph Bryan
George Savage
David Hepburn
Jeremiah Hepburn
Patrick Crowley
John N. Ford
John H. Plant
John Johnson
The newspaper reports have always an item worth
reporting. At the meeting February 6, 1866, Mr.
Brent entered with Samuel Wells and introduced him
as the oldest inhabitant. He settled August 28, 1790,
that was before the city was laid out. At the meeting
July 4, the same year, Mr, Donoho moved an appro-
priation of $100 to the monument fund. Wisdom
grows with age and as the treasury had in it in all $13,
the motion was rejected.
By a remarkable coincidence exactly one half of a
century after its consummation, April 16, 1912, the
Eev. Page Milburn read before the Columbia Histor-
ical Society ''Emancipation of Slaves in the District."
President Lincoln signed the bill and returned it to
Congress with a brief message, of which:
"I have never doubted the constitutional authority of Con-
gress to a;bolish slavery in this District, and I have ever de-
sired to see the national capital freed from the institution in
some satisfactory way. Hence there has never been in my
230 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
mind any question upon the subject, except the one of ex-
pediency, arising in view of all the circumstances."
Congress passed the enfranchisement of negroes in
the District of Columbia. This, President Johnson,
witli cogent reason and temperate expression, vetoed.
Congress, by a decisive vote on political party lines,
passed the bill over the veto. The Star, January 8,
1867, says:
"Congress having thus reiterated its purpose in the matter,
the citizens owe it to themselves to acquiesce with good
grace in what is beyond their control and aid in giving the ex-
periment a fair trial."
The Celebrated Trials. — The conspirators were tried
under court-martial. The trial began May 10, 1865.
The execution was July 8. Upon the fate of Mrs. Sur-
ratt there rests a shadow of sympathy; from tender-
ness towards woman, a reluctance to accept the guilt
proven, and the regret that there was not some miti-
gation of the severity.
Henry Wirz was tried and executed in the summer
of 1865 for cruelties at Andersonville prison. The
defendant was ably defended by Louis Schade, of
Washington, a German lawyer and journalist.
The trial of John H. Surratt was before Judge Fisher.
It is notable for the high standard of jury intelligence ;
the jurors were the most prominent citizens.^ Jo-
seph H. Bradley, Surratt 's lawyer, had in an adjourn-
ment an altercation with the judge and was by him
disbarred. The verdict was a disagreement, August
10, 1867.
Along in 1866 and 1867 are notices of the festivals
BWm. B. Todd George A. Bolirer C. G. Schneider
Eobert Ball Benj. F. Morsell ■ Benj. E. Gittings
J. Eiissell Barr James Y. Davis Wm. W. Birth
Thomas Berry Columbus Alexander Wm. McLean
Clark: Richard Wallach. 231
of the German Target Association and the Schuetzen
Fest which remind that the German gardens wherein
were German sports with intervals of rest devoted to
foam}^ lager and salty pretzels are unfortunately en-
tirely of the past.
Before the Civil War the city had many rich; after
the war these were richer and many other rich were
added. All were rich in unmortgaged real estate. It
was a constructive period. In the church history is
that many congregations had new edifices. Of these
within seven years are: the New York Avenue Pres-
byterian, the First Presbyterian, the Fourth Presby-
terian, the Foundry M. E., the Calvary Baptist, Capi-
tol Hill Presbyterian, St. Dominic, North Presby-
terian, New Asbury (colored), the First Congrega-
tional and the Memorial Lutheran.
The Destructive Events. — A direful catastrophe was
the explosion at the Arsenal, June 20, 1864."^ The
Washington Infirmary, in Judiciary Square, was to-
tally destroyed by fire, November 3, 1861. And by fire
was destroyed, January 24, 1865, the picture gallery
and other parts of the Smithsonian Institution. Lost
were the effects of James Smithson, the founder, and
the Indian portraits.
The stage was illumined by the brightest lights.
To prove is to name : Edwin A. Southern, Edwin For-
rest, Maggie Mitchell, E. L. Davenport, James E.
Murdoch, Mrs. Wood, Mrs. D. P. (Elizabeth C.) Bow-
ers, Laura Keene, Edwin Booth, John McCullough,
Rose Eytinge, Mme. Adelaide Eistori, Frank S. Chan-
frau, John Brougham, John E. Owens, Mr. and Mrs.
Barney Williams, Miles Levick.
More particularly during the earlier part of the war
in the columns of the newspapers were poor puns and
7 The Arsenal Grounds. The Evening Star, December 27, 1902.
232 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
weak witticisms hitting upon it. These were mnch
like sociability that arises between the pall-bearers on
the melancholy ride to the tomb. The writer tarried
to take one selection. It appeared June 8, 1861, and
is founded on the information in the Boston Traveller
that most of the shirts made by the ladies of the Hub
for the volunteers were from four to six inches too
short, and
' ' Like a man without a wife,
Like a ship without a sail,
The most useless thing in life
Is a shirt without a— proper length. ' '
This paper is garnered from the newspapers and
more from the Star. W. D. Wallach, the editor of the
Star, was the brother of the subject of this paper.
Notwithstanding the relationship, the editor nowhere
shows a favorable bias which might have been excusa-
ble in the times of unparalleled excitement.
Appeared from the press in 1860 '^The Black Gaunt-
let: A Tale of Plantation Life in South Carolina."
The authoress is Mary Howard Schoolcraft, the wife
of the Indian historian, Henry Eose Schoolcraft. It
is a Southern story of the same style but in representa-
tion and purpose exactly opposite to ''Uncle Tom's
Cabin." It is carried in elegance of expression, pro-
fundity of thought and wide scope of learning. A
critic said ''the ability with which Southern institu-
tions are sustained must place it in the library of every
son of the South." She says in the dedication:
"I have for twenty years studied the Bible with more in-
terest than any other book ; yet from Genesis to Kevelation, I
cannot find a sentence that holds out the idea that slavery
will ever cease while there are any heathen nations in this
world ; or indeed will ever cease in this present world ; for in
the final winding-up of all things, daguerrotyped to St. John
in the Book of Revelations, we still find bondsmen alluded to
Clark: Richard Wallach. 233
in very many places. . . . South Carolinians, you know, are * old
fogies,' and consequently they do not believe with the Aboli-
tionists, that God is a progressive being. ' '
To her opposing champion she has :
''I might, tis true, amuse my fancy like our daring, dashing,
witty romancer, Mrs. Stowe, by imagining a millenial world,
where all are born equal, where one man is not a dribbling
idiot, and another a genius like Napoleon, Calhoun," or Web-
ster."
Mrs. Schoolcraft wrote in printing characters, up-
right and square. The writing had striking oddity.
The writer has watched her write — it was as if she was
drawing. She was tall, stalwart. She was as a Titan
goddess. Her features were classic and looks severe.
Her black eyes burned and made the weak-eyed blink.
Still the real estate brokers were not afraid of her.
They persuaded her to trade her valuable residence,
1321 F Street, clear of debt, for equities in new resi-
dences in rows. Her spread-out interests she traded
for like interests and from bettering herself she got
so deep in debt there was no extrication. She finally
knew the gnawing of hunger and the chill of freezing,
and the writer verily believes she made herself a sacri-
fice to unbreakable pride and yielded her mortality to
starvation.
Sojourner Truth was a negress, black as anthracite,
otherwise of no African distinction except her dialect.
Her features were sharp rather than broad. Her
height was six feet and her physical development
massive and regular. She was the inspiration of W.
W. Story's '' Libyan Sibyl," which was the most im-
pressive of the nine hundred and one pieces of sculp-
ture in the International Exhibition, London, 1862.
She was born a slave in Ulster County, New York,
at the beginning of the American Revolution. Her
234 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
given name was Isabella. Her master having broken
his promise of liberation as the reward of best possi-
ble service, she escaped. On the first day of her pil-
grimage she halted at the door of a Quakeress for a
drink of water.
"What is thy name?" asked the Quakeress.
' ' Sojourner, ' ' was the reply.
''Sojourner what?" asked the Quakeress.
And as by inspiration she replied, ''Truth"; and
to herself she spoke: "Thank you, God, that is a good
name. Thou art my last Master, an' Thy Name is
Truth, an' Truth shall be my abidin' name till I die."
Sojourner never learned to read or write. She ad-
vocated throughout the land on lecture tours abolition
for the slaves, suffrage for the women, prohibition for
everybody and the other reforms. She had confidence
in the power of women which has had signal proof
since her day, for said she: "Ef de fust woman God
ever made was strong enough to turn de world upside
down, all 'lone, dese togedder ought to be able to turn
it back an' get it right; an' now dey is askin' to do it,
de men better let 'em. ' '
Frederick Douglas, in Fanueil Hall, at a crowded
meeting spoke of justice to his race in a hopeless vein.
Douglas seated. Sojourner rose. She, with deep voice,
inquired: "Frederick, is God dead?"
It would take a paper to tell fully of Sojourner.
She was received by Mr. Lincoln at the Executive Man-
sion. When ninety years of age she addressed the
United States Senate on a plan to colonize the colored
people in the west on a self-supporting basis. She
lectured at Battle Creek when her years were more
than a hundred. With age her hair from black turned
to white, and two years before her death darkened.
She lived to be 108 years of age and died at Battle
Clark: Richard Wallach. 235
Creek, Micliigan, 1879. She sold her photograph with
the inscription: "I sell the shadow to support the sub-
stance."
To the historians and ethnologists Sojourner Truth
is the most remarkable product of American slavery.
When a young boy the writer heard the black Gamaliel
in conversation give oracularly her opinions.^
Beau Hickman got the means to live by strictly at-
tending to his kind of business and no other kind, that
of a beat. He has created for himself a name which
seems to wear well with time, although not created on
creditable lines. He, when the writer saw him, was
always near a column of the portico of the Metropoli-
tan. Always energetically telling of his own exploits
to an entertained group. His clothes were good,
though of loud pattern. He was gaunt. His eye-
brows and moustache were heavy and black. He
looked the part of a slave driver as illustrated in
''Uncle Tom's Cabin." He was carried as a pen-
sioner on the payrolls of bankers and merchants with
those who worked. On pay-days he said, "I am going
to collect my revenues."
Ben. Perley Poore, in his ''Reminiscences," gives an
excellent likeness of Beau in a wood-cut. Poore says
of him :
"He was fashionably, yet shabbily dressed, generally wear-
ing soiled white kid gloves and a white cravat, ' '
Poore must have had in mind Beau in his days of de-
cline. Poore 's further comment is :
"It was considered the proper thing to introduce strangers ,
to the Beau, who thereupon unblushingly demanded his initia-
tion fee and his impudence sometimes secured a generous
fee."
s The Wasliington Post, October 5, 1902.
236 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
General Green Clay Smith, a popular Congressman
from Kentucky, told the writer he, like other new mem-
bers, acceded to Beau's assessments, which after a few
payments he decided to dishonor. Beau claimed he
rose from the slashes of Hanover County, Virginia.
This is only an extract from ''Old Beau Hickman,"
written for the Evening Star, August 15, 1901 :
"Gen. Sam Houston, of Texas, and the Beau Hickman of
Virginia made their first appearance in Washington city ahout
the same time — somewhere between 1847 and 1850. I have
seen them together many a time on the portico of Brown's
Hotel, on Pennsylvania avenue, Beau discoursing, grimacing
and gesticulating, while the old general sat listening silently
under his huge sombrero, which fitted his giant figure most
picturesquely. Old Sam was everlastingly whittling shingles,
etc., of fine wood, and deftly and artfully shaping them into
various semblances of utility or fancy, which he handed round,
when completed, to the children, principally, or anybody who
wanted them. What Houston 's opinion of Beau Hickman was
I cannot tell. He listened to his more or less sporty stories
and received the narrative with the stolidity of 'The Last of
the Mohicans.' His great, big, generous heart no doubt led
him to frequently dispense the coin of the realm to the im-
pecunious Beau. The latter, however, in those, his palmy
days, was not so destitute as he was afterward. When he
first appeared on promenade on Pennsylvania avenue he was
attired as a Virginia colonel from head to foot. Like Edward
VII he set the fashion. I was then in my salad days and
aspired to be a dandy. The whole lot of us in 'our set' bought
and wore and bowed to the ladies with tall, narrowing crown,
very narrow rimmed silk hats, made by Todd, old Wm. B. and
Jas. Y. Davis, his successor. It was quite the ticket, all the
rage then, to pattern after poor old Beau Hickman, . . . Beau 's
costume when first he stepped upon the scene was, first of all,
the Hickman hat ; a blue cloth, broad-tailed, wide lapeled, high
collared dress coat, glittering with brass buttons, before and
behind; plaid pantaloons; a snowy white, ruffled shirt, stand-
Clark: Richard Wallach. 237
ing collar, and the daintiest patent leather boots, fitting as
immaculately as the kid gloves upon his hands, which held a
slight switch cane. He used a gold eye-glass, and his walk
was a combination of the Grecian bend and the Roman
wriggle. Such was Beau at his zenith. What become of him
afterward and happened to his remains is shockingly remem-
bered by all old citizens. Beau never drank — not a drop.
He always responded to an invitation by saying: 'I never
drink. I'm th'owed. I'll take a good siggar.' And to do
him justice, he usually collared two, three, five or more."
That Bean in his heyday was a model in dress for
the sartorial sportive youth has corroboration in the
theatrical advertisement in the Star, June 27, 1864 :
"Canterbury Hall.
''Beau Sickman or the Bushwhackers of the Potomac!
' ' The Costumes have been made similar to those worn by the
parties to be represented, in some cases have been, through
strategy, procured from the persons themselves, thereby show-
ing a determination to render the characters easily recognized
by all."
Beau Hickman's unparalleled assurance is thus de-
picted in the Worcester Spy, April 2, 1861 :
"The legend runs that Beau was once a gentleman, veri-
table beau — much upon the Brummel order, doubtless, but still
a man of spirit and honor. If so alas ! poor Yorick ! Today he
is anything but the 'glass of fashion and the mould of form.'
No longer Hyperion, he is a Satyr of the seediest sort, body
and soul. A metropolitan Jeremy Diddler, he picks up a pre-
carious subsistence by levying a kind of blackmail upon visitors
of all degrees, upon whom he falls, usually after this fashion :
Two strangers stand together conversing in the hall at Will-
ard's. Beau, who keeps a sort of mental inventory of his
victims, eyes them closely, becomes satisfied they have not yet
contributed towards his support, and at once advances to the
charge. Bowing politely, with a smirk upon his pinched face,
he accosts Mr. Green :
238 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
" ''Ah! dear sir, how d'ye do? Glad to see you, really, be-
lieve I have not yet had the honor. Your name is — ^a — is — ah !
(Waits for Mr. Green to announce it.)
" 'Ah ! yes, of course ; Green ; of — a — of — ah — of — where did
you say ? '
" 'Ah! yes, exactly, of Massachusetts; yes; large family of
you in that State. Yes — of course ! my name is Hickman,
Beau Hickman ! Heard of me, of course — known all over the
world — reside in Washington — man of large influence here ; be
very happy to be service, it's a way I have, the custom here,
always, among gentlemen, among gentlemen! to ah — to — in
short, to contribute — that is, I usually collect a small tax —
not much — ^mere trifle — dollar or two — or even half dollar — of
course don 't exact it, but everybody pays it, you know ; that is,
every gentleman, cheerfully, and — ah, Oh, ah, yes! (as the
coin is passed into the hand) obliged. Thank you; happy to
have you call .on me. Good evening.'
"And so on to the next member of 'the large family,' a pity,
which disgust cannot stifle, generally prompting that donation.
And thus, like a combination ghost of better days — a cross be-
tween Wm. Dorritt, Esq., the Marshelsea pensioner, and Al-
fred Jingle — this unhappy monumental shade of a past gen-
eration flits through a wretched life."
At the bar of the Whitney House, close to the Senate
end of the Capitol, where lie had presented himself,
Senator (Alexander) Eamsey (of Minnesota) to have
a draught of that which cheers and stimulates, he
found he was without the price. Beau Hickman
promptly stepped forward and taking a roll of bills,
in large denominations from his vest pocket, extended
them in his open hands, like a cup, saying "Senator,
help yourself."^
It was a trick of Congressmen to give a new mem-
ber a Hickman initiation. A little banquet was held.
The new member and Beau -were guests. The old
9 John Hartnett.
Clarh: Richard Wallach. 239
members, all of them, one by one slipped out. Beau
would regale the new member with his stories, conde-
scendingly. The best came last and as the new mem-
ber roared with laughter Beau remarked: ''Isn't that
worth twenty dollars V " Sure it is, ' ' agreed the new
member, '4t is worth fifty." ''Then," said Beau,
' ' why don 't you pay it to me T ' With this, a supposed
witticism, the congressman laughed the louder. But
Beau bore upon him, he was not joking, he was in ear-
nest, it was the way he made his living. When the
new member emerged into the hall the old members
came out from their hiding places to join him.^^
Beau, in the carnival on Pennsylvania avenue to
celebrate its wooden pavement, astride a mule made a
grotesque figure. And when the avenue was cleared
for an inaugural parade and Beau was let out mounted
on a long-legged, thin-bodied horse, a high hat on his
head and a red ribbon across his chest, he, as he moved
along alone, was a veritable reproduction of the Knight
of La Mancha.
In the museum of the Hancock restaurant was a
crook cane and a disreputable umbrella with placards
on them, "Beau Hickman's." The cherished anec-
dote in connection therewith is that Beau ordered ter-
rapin, reed birds and other delectables. The elaborate
and expensive repast finished, he walked to the desk,
laid his cane and umbrella upon it, pulled out his great
green wallet as if to settle. He asked if Bowser had
been in. The proprietor said he was not acquainted
with Mr. Bowser. Beau, turning his toes in and
making one leg shorter than the other, limi3ed door-
ward, saying, "Why, he's the fellow who walks like
this." Before the unsuspecting proprietor sized the
situation, Beau was on the other side of the door.
10 William P. Koberts.
240 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
An innumerable tlirong of the respected have been
forgotten as soon as the dirt was thrown on their
coffins, yet the worthless Beau has a continuing celeb-
rity—he was unique as a beat. Eobert L. Hickman
("Beau") died September 2, 1873.
Wallach School Building was dedicated Independ-
ence Day, 1864. With the Marine Band in the van,
the various schools of the Third Division in procession
marched to the new building. The schools, led by Pro-
fessor Joseph H. Daniel, sang with fine effect the dedi-
catory hymn composed by Zalmon Richards. Major
Benjamin B. French, Commissioner of Public Build-
ings, presented to the Mayor the keys of the noble
building. He said it was indeed an ornament to the
city and he congratulated the Mayor that it had been
built under his administration and bore his name.
The Mayor, in part, said :
"Gentlemen of the Board of Trustees of the Public Schools:
As was natural on my induction into office as Chief Magistrate
of the city, I sought to ascertain wherein I could make my
administration most beneficial.
"Many projects of improvements readily suggested them-
selves to my mind, among them the advancement of our public
school system,
"The growth and expansion of our city demanded an ex-
pansion of the means and appliances of education.
' ' That our own as well as the children of the thousands who
were flocking to the metropolis of the Union might reap the
advantage of that particular branch of the public interest you
had in charge, rendered it imperative that we should improve
the character and add yearly to the number of our school build-
ings, and that the enhanced character of the instruction you
intended should be imparted should be met by an equally
ample provision for the comfort and convenience of both schol-
ars and teachers.
Clark: Richard Wallacli. 241
' ' To suit these views a plan was prepared by those skillful
architects, Messrs, Cluss and Kammerheuber, adopted by the
committee, and a contract for the building awarded to Mr.
Faulkner.
"The symmetrical and beautiful structure, this new feature
in our city, alike creditable to you and honorable to its citizens,
the beginning of a benefit to posterity and the commencement
of a new era of school house architecture in our midst, is a
guarantee that a plan of buildings will for the future be
adopted, better adapted in interior arrangements for the pur-
pose intended, and in the external appearance and architec-
tural beauty and proportions, ranking among the noble public
edifices which meet the view on every hand, worthy of the city
which bears so revered a name, the political Capital of this
country and those to whom the custody of the nation's city is
committed, the people of "Washington.
' ' A.nd now, on this, the natal day of our country, and most
appropriate to the occasion, it cannot be but a proud reflection
that in these times of national trouble and distress, when the
strife of faction shakes and threatens the Government, that
we are able to rear in the Metropolis of the Union this monu-
ment to our city's honor, and to assure the country that what-
ever else we may be compelled to neglect or forego, our public
schools will be the last to lose the fostering care of yourselves,
those entrusted with the administration of the city, or the
people of Washington."
With spirit the school girls sang the ode written by
Eev. Byron Sunderland. Hon. James W. Patterson,
of New Hampshire, was the orator.
Mr. Wallach was the president, 1858, of the com-
pany plying steamboats between Washington and
Alexandria.
Mayor Wallach, in a letter to the Secretary of the
Interior, November, 1865, gives a resume of his admin-
17
242 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
istrations. The city had established a paid fire de-
partment with the use of steam fire-engines and a fire-
alarm telegraph system. The Mayor submitted an
elaborate mode of sewerage devised by Messrs. Cluss
and Kammerheuber. He also submitted a plan of
parking the avenues at once, to reduce the cost of pav-
ing and to add to the beautification. It was a plan
never adopted here. He advocated that the corpora-^
tion under a Congressional grant erect a modern mar-
ket house. This was done by private enterprise under
such a grant. This paragraph refers to the Center
Market.
Before and during the Mayoralty Mr. Wallach lived
at the old homestead opposite the City Hall. Here
abounded hospitality. Here Mr. Wallach and Mrs.
' ' In all they did, you might discern with ease
A willing mind, and a desire to please. ' ' — Dryden,
On New Year's Day came his constituents. Around
his board gathered the nationally known. On an oc-
casion of the guests were Hon. John J. Crittenden,
Senator from Kentucky, and Charles Devens, subse-
quently Attorney-General. It was at the time of the
agitation over the Sims fugitive slave case in Boston.
Mr. Devens was the U. S. Marshal for Massachusetts.
During the gossip Mr. Crittenden said: "Devens, you
had better go home, or they'll get that negro from
you." That night about the hour of Mr. Crittenden's
remark, Sims was abducted.
After his administrations, Mr. Wallach removed,
1866, to the corner house of the Minnesota Eow, 201 I
Street, which had been the residence of Stephen A.
Douglass, and he retained the house on Louisiana
Avenue for his law office. And finally he lived at 1801
I Street.
Dr. William Tindall, of Mr. Wallach, January 12,
1916, writes :
Col. Hist. Soc, Vol. XXI., Pl. XII.
Residence of Rich.xrd \V.\ll.\ch. 156 Louisian.\ Avenue.
Clark: Richard Wallach. 243
"I know him t'er?/ well. His geniality was proverbial. His
impulses were always sympathetic, and to be helpful. He
often called upon me at my office in the old District Building
on 4^ street, and talked familiarly of his affairs. I recall the
enthusiastic interest he took in his personal supervision of the
education of his boy."
The writer remembers Mr. Wallach. As he passed
along the streets he stopped to say something of per-
sonal interest to the acquaintance he chanced to meet.
Wherever he was he held attention. He came as a
breeze that lifts to life. All around knew he was in
their midst.
Mr. Wallach was a Unitarian. His father was of
the originators of the church of that faith in Wash-
ington.
The Evening Star, February 26, 1881, not many
days preceding his death has under the headline ''A
Noble Life ' ' :
"He was a strikingly handsome man and was gifted with
those graces of utterance and manner that made him a uni-
versal favorite. ... A distinguishing feature of Mr. Wal-
lach 's official as well as his private life was its scrupulous in-
tegrity. The soul of honor himself, he would tolerate no dis-
honorable men about him. There never was a shadow of a
shade of suspicion about any of his acts. While he was mayor
the City Hall, which had previously acquired the bad name of
'the Buzzard's Roost,' was very unhospitable quarters for the
noble army of jobbers and strikers. In appointing men to
office he made fitness and integrity the first requisites.
' ' The symptoms of Mr. Wallach 's disease^^ manifested them-
selves about two years ago, but it was only about six weeks ago
that the attack took a threatening form. Until lately Mr. Wal-
lach has been able to walk out, was greeted at every step he
took by citizens of high and low degree with a cordiality that
11 Muscular paralysis, hardening the spinal marrow.
244 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
showed the unusual love and respect for the generous, manly,
kind-hearted, genial *Diek Wallach.' "
The National Republican, the same date, has under
the title ''Waiting foe Death" :
"It is a work of supererogation to speak of Dick Wallach 's
good qualities. He entered public life at a very early age, was
constantly before the people, did his duty thoroughly and well
on every occasion, and had scarcely an acquaintance who was
not a friend. Singularly generous, kind-hearted, and genial,
he commanded the respect and affection of all who knew him.
As a citizen he was enterprising, energetic, liberal, laboring
zealously and faithfully for the city, which appreciated his
efforts on her behalf. He has been a landmark of the District
for many years, and his death will be as sincerely mourned by
as large a host of friends as that of any man 's that has hitherto
occurred in this city."
Eichard Wallach died Friday morning, March 4,
1881, at one o'clock. The funeral service was at his
late residence, 1801 I Street. The officiating clergy-
man was the Rev. Douglas F. Forrest, associate pastor
of Trinity Church. The interment was in Oak Hill
Cemetery. It was noted of those present at the serv-
ices were the Commissioners of the District, ex-Mayor
Berret, Wm. W. Corcoran, Joseph H. Bradley and
generally the officials of the old corporation of Wash-
ington.
At the meeting of Public School Board Benjamin C
Loyejoy offered the memorial resolutions, and John
H. Brooks, a colored member, seconded them. Mr.
Brooks commented upon the kindness of Mr. Wallach
to the colored race and claimed it owed him a debt of
gratitude.
Mrs. Wallach lived until January 16, 1916. It is
said of her that her home was "the center of a bril-
liant hospitality and the rendezvous of the most inter-
Clark: Richard Wallach. 245
esting men and women of the country," and that she
was ''especially gifted in music" and ''was a patron
of the best artists." She was survived by her chil-
dren: Marshall Brown, Eichard and Captain Robert^
U. S. A., Mrs. Woodbury (Emily Neville) Blair, Mrs.
Edward A. (Mary A.) Mitchell, and Mrs. John H.
(Rosa Douglass) Merriam.
A CELEBRATED CASE OF AN EARLY DIS-
TRICT DAY: UNITED STATES VS.
HENRY PITTMAN.
By HENEY E. DAVIS.
(Eead before the Society, November 20, 1917.)
In the issue of the Alexandria Gazette of Wednes-
day, December 19, 1827, appeared this item of news :
'' Blackhearted Villainy. — An attempt was made on Monday-
night, between the hours of 9 and 10 o 'clock, to assassinate Mr.
John Corse, one of our most respectable and quiet citizens, and
a man of numerous family. Going from his store to his dwell-
ing, he was suddenly intercepted by a villain, who immediately
shot him with a pistol, and retreated. Though severely
wounded, we are happy to state that he is out of danger and
doing well. A printer by the name of Henrj^ Pittman is posi-
tively asserted by Mr. Corse to have committed the act and a
warrant has accordingly been issued for his apprehension. At
another time we shall enter more into detail."
In the issue of the next day, Thursday, December 20,
1827, appeared the following :
"We have before us a communication from Mr. Henry Pitt-
man relative to the attempted assassination of Mr. Corse. He
says that we have treated him cruelly, denies the commission
of the act, expresses a willingness to submit to the most rigid
examination, pledges himself to visit the town during the com-
ing week for that purpose, and promises the most incontestable
proof that he was 'at no time in Alexandria on Monday.' "
Beyond these two references to an occurrence which
at the time stirred to their depths the two communities
of Alexandria and Washington, diligent search fails
to disclose even an allusion in the press of either city,
246
Davis: United States vs. Henry Pittman. 247
and this, notwithstanding that the trial of the man
accused, which took place nearly, if not quite, a full
year after the event, absorbed the attention and inter-
est of the inhabitants of the entire District of Colum-
bia as then constituted, consisting of the cities of
Georgetown, Alexandria and Washington, and the two
counties of Alexandria and Washington ; which latter,
though physically including, were yet, as municipal
though not judicial entities, exclusive of the two cities
whose names they bore. For while each of the two
counties of Alexandria and Washington had its Levy
Court in accordance with the Maryland system, the
entire District was judicially but one circuit, with a
Court, known as the Circuit Court of the District of
Columbia, sitting alternately for the territories re-
spectively constituting the two counties, with the cities
included.
On the same day on which the first of the items
quoted appeared in the Alexandria Gazette, namely,
December 19, 1827, this entry was made in the minutes
of the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia for
the County of Washington :
' ' Henry Pittman having been brought before the Court by
virtue of a Bench Warrant, issued upon the affidavit of John
Corse charging the said Henry Pittman with assault & battery
by shooting the said John Corse with a pistol, with intent to
kill him, and having been ordered to recognize with two
sureties, to be approved by the Court or one of the Judges
thereof in the sum of One thousand dollars for his appearance
in the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia for the County
of Alexandria on the 2d Monday of April next, and in the
mean time to be of good behaviour, and having failed so to
recognize, it is ordered that he be committed to the custody of
the Marshal for trial. ' '
How long Pittman remained in the custody of the
248 Records of the Columhia Historical Society.
Marshal I have not been able to learn, as the existing
Court minutes shed no light on the case, and, as stated,
no allusion of the iDress to the case other than the two
mentioned is to be found. Later, however, this addi-
tion to the above-quoted minutes was made :
"The affdt. & Bench Warrant sent Alexa. by Genl. Jones in
pursuance of an order from the Court in session in that County
11th Nov. 1828."
As the trial terms of the Court when sitting in Wash-
ington were, at the time, held in May and December
of each year ; as the minutes of the term of December,
1828, are missing; and as there is nothing relating to
the case to be found in the minutes of the Court of
any of the terms from and after that of May, 1828, it
is inferred that the trial took place at the term of De-
cember, 1828, an inference strengthened by the fact
that the still existing book containing the signatures
and oaths of office of attorneys practising before the
Court discloses the fact that at that term the name of
the attorney representing Pittman, namely, Christo-
pher Neale, appears therein for the first time.
Previously, however, to this, Pittman had been in-
dicted at the April, 1828, term of the Court sitting for
Alexandria County, and the proceedings of the Court
for that term, as reported in the third volume of
Cranch's Circuit Court Eeports, at page 289, show the
following, interesting as well for its indication of Pitt-
man's defiant attitude, or what today we would call
''nerve," as for its li-ght upon the history of the case:
' ' United States vs. Pittman.
"A prisoner arraigned for felony is to be placed in the
criminal box, or dock, at the time of arraignment, but need not
hold up his hand when called, if he admits himself to be the
person indicted.
Davis: United States vs. Henry Pittman. 249
"Indictment for shooting John Corse, with intent to disfig-
ure, maim, and kill him.
' ' The prisoner requested that he might be permitted to plead
without going into the criminal dock, in which prisoners
usually stand when arraigned, and which is set apart for that
purpose.
' ' The attorney for the United States did not assent to it.
"Mr. Neale, for the prisoner, cited Burr's case, in which
arraignment was dispensed with.
"The Court {nem. con.) said, that according to the practice
in this Court, and of other courts of criminal jurisdiction, for
the purpose of preserving order and regularity, a certain place
in court is assigned in which persons are to be placed by the
marshal, to be arraigned. The record states that he is brought
to the bar in the custody of the marshal, and the Court think
proper to adhere to the practice.
"The prisoner then went into the prisoner's box. The Court
told him that if he acknowledged himself to be the person in-
dicted, he need not hold up his hand. He was then arraigned,
and pleaded not guilty. ' '
As appears, this occurred at Washington at the May,
1828, term of the court, and tlie affidavit and bench
warrant in the case were sent to Alexandria by General
Walter Jones, the leading lawyer of the District of
tliat day, in pursuance of an order from the Court in
session in Alexandria County, November 11, 1828.
The Alexandria County records of the Court have been
searched in vain for the order thus referred to, or any
subsequent reference to -the case ; and outside of the
scant memorials mentioned, the history of this most
interesting and celebrated case rests wholly in tra-
dition.
A probable explanation of the silence of the press of
the day on the subject is suggested by the fact (for
knowledge of which I am indebted to Mr. W. B.
Bryan's interesting and invaluable '' History of the
250 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
National Capital") that the first punishment for capi-
tal crime in the District, namely, that of one James
McGurk, who, in October, 1802, was executed for the
murder of his wife, received only the scant notice in
the National Intelligencer that ''Yesterday was exe-
cuted James McGrurk, sentenced to death for the mur-
der of his wife"; and that as lately as June 2, 1815,
the same journal, in explaining why it had not pub-
lished certain articles sent to it relating to the personal
merits of candidates for the office of Mayor, an elec-
tion to which office was then pending, said, ''We all
know each other in the City, and the topic is one very
uninteresting to those who do not belong to it," indi-
cating that, in the opinion of that journal at least,
details of local happenings and affairs were so well
known to the members of the comparatively small com-
munity at the time, that report of them would not con-
stitute news.
Whether before or after Pittman's arraignment as
above reported (probably after, as the above-quoted
entry from the records of the Court for the County of
Washington shows that the affidavit and bench warrant
in the case were sent to Alexandria in the following
November), Pittman obtained a change of venue from
Alexandria to Washington for his trial, and he was
undoubtedly tried at the December, 1828, term of the
Court for the County of Washington. This apparent
long delay in his being brought to trial, being quite a
year after the commission of his alleged offense, was,
however, not abnormal. At the time there were but
two terms of the Court for Alexandria, namely, in
April and November, and but two terms for Wash-
ington, namely, in May and December of each year,
and according to the then prevailing practice, one in-
dicted at one term had the right to have his trial de-
Davis: United States vs. Henry Pittman. 251
ferred until the succeeding term. As the alleged
offense was committed in December, 1827, during
which month there was no session of the Court at
Alexandria, he could not be indicted until the follow-
ing term of the Court in April, 1828. Being indicted
at that term and arraigned at Washington at the May,
1828, term, he had the right, according to prevailing
practice, to have his trial deferred until November, if
to be at Alexandria, or until December, if to be at
Washington ; so that notwithstanding the seeming long
lapse of time, he, having availed himself of his right to
a change of venue, was in fact brought to trial at the
earliest possible term of Court.
The incidents of the trial, so far as they have sur-
vived in tradition, will be referred to hereinafter.
As will appear, Pittman was acquitted of the charge
against him, but the details of the case, although as
will be seen they were not disclosed at the trial, be-
came known to the community, partly through Pitt-
man's own disclosures, and partly through the state-
ments of others, who for reasons presently to be seen
were either incompetent to testify, or had such slight
knowledge of any of the facts that the case could not
be laid in its details before the jury.
The story of the case from its beginning is this :
In June, 1811, there was established at Alexandria,
by John Corse, the victim of Pittman 's assault, and
one N. Rounsavell, a newspaper, by name the Alex-
andria Herald, which at first was published semi-
weekly, but from June, 1815, tri-weekly. Corse and
Eounsavell continued in proprietorship of the paper
until May, 1819, from which time until the year 1822
it was published by Eounsavell and Pittman jointly,
and after 1822 by Pittman alone. The last issue of
the paper was of date November 16, 1826.
252 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Corse was a merchant, and Pittman a printer, a vo-
cation by the way in much repute at that time ; for, as
has been pointed out by Mr. Bryan, quoting from the
press of the day, no fewer than six of the Mayors of
the city were members of that craft, and as early as
November, 1801, there was in existence an association
of the journejmaan printers of the District of Colum-
bia, being the third in point of time in the country, and
this was followed by the organization of the Columbia
Typographical Society in 1815; and in the opening
years of the nineteenth century "Washington was the
center of the printing trade of the country. The
Mayors of the city referred to were Daniel Eapine,
Eoger C. Weightman, Joseph Grales, Peter Force, W.
W. Seaton, and John T. Towers. Of these, Messrs.
Gales and Seaton will be recognized as the long-time
proprietors of the National Intelligencer; and in addi-
tion to those mentioned, the records of the city disclose
the names of other printers prominent in city atfairs,
such as Cornelius Wendell and Jacob Gideon, Jr.
For some cause, a difference arose between Corse
and Pittman growing out of their relations to the
Herald; and as Corse's relation to the Herald ceased
in 1819, when Pittman became connected therewith,
and the publication of the paper ceased November 16,
1826, and the difference between Corse and Pittman,
if it had arisen prior to the last-named date, had seem-
ingly not become acute until subsequent thereto, it is
surmised that the trouble between the men arose from
an unpaid indebtedness of Pittman to Corse, growing
out of the conditions of the former's becoming con-
nected with the enterprise.
However this may be, some time during the year
1827, Pittman removed from Alexandria to Washing-
ton and there nursed his grudge against Corse until
Davis: United States vs. Henri/ Pittman. 253
the assault upon the latter, made, as stated, on Mon-
day night, December 17, 1827.
At the time, Pittman was living in a house on the
site to the east of the premises now numbered 923
Pennsylvania Avenue, northwest, and occupied by
Woolworth's Five and Ten Cent Store. His imme-
diate neighbor, whose place of business and residence
were on a part of the site now occupied by Wool-
worth's, was my grandfather, James Gait, the founder
with Wallace Adam at Alexandria, Virginia, of the
jewelry business now conducted under the name of
Gait and Brother at Number 1107 Pennsylvania Ave-
nue northwest. Pittman had known my grandfather
and his family while both were living in Alexandria,
and both removed to Washington at practically the
same time. While nursing his grudge against Corse,
however, Pittman made little if any disclosure thereof,
so that so much of it as was disclosed at the trial came
from the lips of Corse himself; but so far did Pitt-
man's hatred of Corse carry him that he resolved to
kill Corse, and to that end carefully laid his plan,
which, as the sequel will show, notwithstanding its
risks and difficulties, was all but successfully carried
out.
The two prominent ideas in Pittman 's mind were to
kill Corse under conditions when no witnesses might
be present, and at a time when he might successfully
establish an alibi. The latter is clearly indicated by
Pittman 's communication to the Alexandria Gazette,
of which, as above seen, a notice appeared in the issue
of that paper of December 20, three days after the
assault, and the day following the Gazette's account
of the event ; for, as will be recalled, not only did Pitt-
man deny the commission of the act, but he also ex-
pressed a willingness to submit to the most rigid
254 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
examination and to visit Alexandria for that purpose,
promising the most incontestable proof "that he was
at no time in Alexandria on Monday. ' '
From his long residence in Alexandria and his
knowledge of Corse's habit in respect of going to his
place of business in the evening and returning home
therefrom by a regular route, between nine and ten
o'clock, Pittman selected the place of his intended
crime, being at an intersection of two streets at one
corner of which stood a store having a penthouse over
the entrance door, the recess of which was sufficiently
deep to enable one to stand so that in the shadow he
would be scarcely, if at all, observable by passersby.
At the extreme corner of the side-walk, or rather the
point of junction of the two side-walks adjoining this
store, stood a street light, consisting of a lamp sur-
mounting a pole in the form then usual. Such a point
would not seem naturally one to be selected for Pitt-
man's purpose, but he planned to make his assault
upon a night on which the streets would be free of
possible witnesses.
With the details thus carefully planned, Pittman
awaited an opportune occasion, and found the night of
Monday, December 17, admirably suited to his pur-
pose. The day was wintry and rainy and the ensuing
night dark and stormy. Throughout the day Pittman
was careful to keep himself in evidence about places
and among friends and acquaintances, where and by
whom he was well known, and in the evening between
seven and eight o'clock, and as near the latter as he
ventured so to do, he left his home and visited my
grandfather's residence, inviting the latter, in half-
merry fashion, to repair with him to a neighboring
tavern to have a glass of ale by way of antidote to the
weather. At this tavern he was also seen bv all there
Davis: United States vs. Henry Pittman. 255
found, and after a brief loitering bade those assembled
goodnight.
Being safely out of range of observation, he has-
tened to a spot where, by previous employment, he had
in waiting a hack with a colored driver, and thence he
was driven under orders to the driver to make the best
time possible to the Washington end of the Long
Bridge, at which stood a toll house. Knowing the
rate of toll, as the toll gatherer approached the vehicle
Pittman, so crouched within the hack as to make his
identification impossible, passed out the exact toll for
the passage of the vehicle over the bridge and back.
The vehicle then proceeded at a rapid pace until it
came within the limits of Alexandria, where the hack-
man was paid and dismissed with orders to return to
Washington.
Selecting a route that would guard him as much as
possible against the possibility of observation, Pitt-
man went to the scene selected for the tragedy, and
took position in the doorway of the store mentioned,
awaiting the passage of Corse from his place of busi-
ness to his home. Not long after Pittman had thus
disposed himself, he saw Corse coming ujd the street,
and awaiting until the latter was within range of the
light from the street lamjD, he walked deliberately out
onto the side-walk, disclosing his identity to Corse in
order that the latter might know to whom his intended
death would be due, and with an imprecation fired
point-blank into Corse's body. Eevolvers not then
being in use, and Pittman being armed with only one
weapon, but one shot was fired, and Corse sank to the
ground, apparently mortally wounded, if not actually
dead.
Hurrying away into the darkness and storm, and
seeking his way through streets comparatively unfre-
256 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
quented by day and, as a rule, totally deserted by
nigbt, Pittman found his way to the river front, where,
with a plausible tale of unexpected detention in the
city, and concealing his identity as far as possible by
turning up the high collar of his coat, and drawing his
hat over his eyes and face as though to protect him-
self from the storm, he induced a fisherman at the
river front to row him across the river to Griesboro
Point, where he dismissed his boatman, and whence
he walked over the wet and muddy ground to the
bridge spanning the Anacostia Eiver or Eastern
Branch, over which he passed to the city, and thence
to his home, which he reached about two o'clock in the
morning. The only occupant of his house, besides
himself, was a negro servant, who did not hear him as
he let himself in; and the next morning Pittman ap-
peared about his familiar haunts, and was seen by his
friends and acquaintances as usual.
Corse's wound not having proved fatal, as soon as
he was in condition to make any statement of the oc-
currence he positively declared that it was Pittman
who shot him, that he had recognized Pittman beyond
a doubt, and that the latter had seemed to be at pains
to make his identity known. On the same day, namely,
December 19, on which the report of the crime ap-
peared in the Alexandria Gazette, Pittman, as has
been seen, was brought before the Circuit Court at
Washington, on a bench warrant charging him with
the assault; and immediately, in view of Corse's posi-
tive identification of his assailant, and Pittman 's
equally positive denial of being the guilty party, the
affair engaged the universal and active interest of the
communities of both cities, and indeed of the entire
District. The crime having been committed in Alex-
andria County, being that portion of the State of Yir-
Davis: United States vs. Henry Pittman. 257
ginia then included within the limits of the District of
Colnmbia, Pittman was there indicted at the April,
1828, term of the Court, and, as has been stated, in
ordinary course Pittman was entitled to have his trial
postponed until at least the following November, when,
as related, he sought and obtained a change of venue
from Alexandria County to Washington.
At the trial in December, 1828, the prosecution was
conducted by Edward Swann, who in 1821 had suc-
ceeded General Walter Jones as United States District
Attorney, and Pittman was defended by Christopher
Neale, Esquire, of Alexandria, who, like most, if not
all, members of the bar at the time, practised in both
Alexandria and Washington. The Court was com-
posed of William Cranch, Chief .Justice, and Buckner
Thruston and James S. Morsell, Associate Justices,
the Criminal Court for the District created by Act of
July 7, 1838, being not yet in existence. All three of
the judges sat at the trial, which was held in the room
in the City Hall, commonly known as Criminal Court
number 1, and historic by reason of the many cele-
brated cases there tried, including those of Daniel E.
Sickles for the murder of Philip Barton Key, and of
Guiteau for the murder of President Garfield,
The principal witness for the prosecution was, of
course, Pittman 's victim. Corse, who detailed his ac-
quaintance with Pittman, their respective relations
to the Alexandria Herald, the difficulty between the
two that had grown out of those relations, and the
bitter enmity of Pittman thereby engendered and
manifested in various ways ; in addition to which he
told, in circumstantial detail, the story of the assault,
stating positively and impressively his certainty of
his assailant.
Neither the hackman who drove Pittman to Alexan-
18
258 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
dria, nor his house servant, who had reported finding
Pittman, during the day after the assault, engaged in
removing mud from his shoes and garments, could be
put upon the stand, for the reason that, at the time, by
Act of Maryland of 1717, Chapter 13, Sec. 2, then in
force, the enlightened law of the jurisdiction was as
follows :
"That from and after the End of this present Session of
Assembly, no Negro, or Mulatto Slave, Free Negro, or Mulatto
born of a White Woman, during his Time of Servitude by Law,
or any Indian Slave, or Free Indian Natives of this or the
neighboring Provinces, be admitted and received as good and
valid Evidence in Law, in any Matter or Thing whatsoever,
depending before any Court of Record, or before any Magis-
trate within this Province, wherein any Christian white person
is concerned."
And it was not until July 2, 1862, that Congress, by
the Act of that date, forbade the exclusion of a witness
on account of color.
The toll gatherer was, however, produced as a wit-
ness, but all that he could say was that on the night in
question a hack driven by a negro passed his toll-gate
at about eight o 'clock in the evening with a passenger
inside, who had so disposed himself as to put him be-
yond possibility of observation, and that from the
gloved hand with which the toll was handed him, he
could not determine whether the occupant was white
or black.
Pittman, of course, could not testify in his own be-
half, as at the time not even a party in a civil case
could testify in his own behalf; and it was not until
the passage of the Act of Congress of July 2, 1864,
that such parties could testify, nor until the Act of
March 16, 1878, that a party accused of crime was
Davis: United States vs. Henry Pittman. 259
made a competent witness, and even then he was made
competent at his own request, but not otherwise.
Pittman 's defense was therefore reduced to the es-
tablishment of an alibi, a situation for which, as indi-
cated, he had carefully prepared. He put upon the
stand witness after witness to prove his presence in
Washington throughout the day of the occurrence, and
the others who had seen him in the tavern, thereby
placing himself in Washington quite, if not fully, as
late as eight o'clock in the evening.
But his star witness was a Mrs. Hunter, who, at the
time, kept a well-known eating-house on the north side
of C Street, east of Sixth, on the site afterwards occu-
pied by Sproh's Gi-ermania Hotel. This worthy and
altogether creditable woman testified that Pittman was
a nightly visitor to her place, quite invariably at or
near the hour of nine o'clock; that his presence there
was so regular that she could not have failed to observe
his absence for even one night, and that she was posi-
tive that on the night of December 17 Pittman was at
her place at his accustomed hour. Doubtless she was
helped in her failure to note Pittman 's absence by the
fact that the crime occurred on the evening of Monday,
following Sunday, on which latter day the place was
uniformly closed. But, however this may be, no
amount of cross-examination could shake her, and she
sturdily and consistently adhered to her story of Pitt-
man's presence on the occasion.
It was a very fair opportunity for Pittman 's coun-
sel; for, as the enmity between him and Corse might
be appealed to as a motive for the assault, by the same
token it might be appealed to as a reason for Corse's
being mistaken in his identification of his assailant,
it being natural for one under such conditions to look
for his assailant in the person of his declared enemy.
260 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
and in the excitement of the occasion to identify him
as snch ; in addition to which, the clearness and unques-
tioned credibility of the witnesses who had placed Pitt-
man in Washington throughout day, and until an hour
of the evening making the interval between it and the
hour of the assault so short as to render improbable
Pittman's reaching the scene of the act in time for its
commission at the hour fixed, might well raise, in any
mind, the reasonable doubt which alone suffices to
demand the acquittal of one accused of crime.
That Pittman, however, was not sure of his fate at
the hands of the jury was evidenced by an incident on
the morning of the day when the case was to be sub-
mitted for verdict. It was not the practice in those
days for the Court to charge the jury, but only to pass
upon written instructions presented by counsel on
either side, and on the preceding day the testimony
had been practically, if not entirely, closed, and there
remained but the submission of the case by the Court
to the jury. Being about to go to Court to hear his
fate, Pittman stepped into my grandfather's estab-
lishment, but finding him absent at the moment ac-
costed my grandmother with the remark, "I am going
to the court house to hear the verdict in my case, and
if it is guilty this is the last you will see of Henry
Pittman." Before my grandfather's return, and
while my grandmother was even yet under the excite-
ment and nervousness of the communication which she
had received, Pittman reappeared with the announce-
ment of his acquittal.
At the time, the result of the trial was met with
many shakings of the head, and doubts as to its justice,
and in due course, when the facts, as narrated, were
developed and became the common property of the
community, the odium visited upon Pittman became
Davis: United States vs. Henry Pittman. 261
too great for liim to bear, and almost over night lie
disappeared from Washington for parts unknown, and
when, and where, he died, I have never been able to
learn; but for the rest, I have the story as it was fre-
quently and vividly related to me by members of my
family who bore to the occurrence the relation indi-
cated. Other details than those given have defied my
search, and that of others whose interest I have en-
listed, to the end that the story might be told in its
fullness. But I think it safe to say that the criminal
annals of the District do not carry a more interesting,
or in its way celebrated, case.
And Pittman 's threat of suicide anticipated the act
of George A. Gardiner, subsequently tried, in an
equally celebrated case, in the same court room, upon
a charge of fraud in obtaining a large award from the
Mexican Claims Commission, because of alleged dam-
age to a silver mine he claimed to own in that country.
On Gardiner's first trial in 1851, the jury disagreed,
but on his second trial in 1854, he was found guilty,
and upon the rendition of the verdict was seen to slip
something into his mouth, and on reaching the jail,
then in the neighborhood of the court house, he fell
to the floor, and in a short time died from strychnine
poisoning.
And, also, Pittman 's aversion to going into the dock
to plead had something of a reminiscence during the
trial of Guiteau. It will be recalled that throughout
that trial Guiteau indulged in outbursts and interrup-
tions, many of which were of such a character as to be
unfit for report and others called for exercise of the
strictest censorship. Comparatively early in the
progress of the case, his offense in this particular was
so great that Judge Cox, who presided, and whose
patience under the circumstances was the wonder of
262 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
the day, was finally driven to deprive Guiteau of the
right of sitting at the trial table with his counsel, and
to order him into the dock. This much discussed ac-
tion of the court had, partially at least, the desired
effect, and in order to be permitted to resume his seat
at the table, Guiteau promised to avoid for the rest of
the trial his offensive behavior, and accordingly again
took his place beside his counsel on this condition, his
highly original conception regarding observance of
which on more than one occasion threatened his re-
sumption of the dock.
LEWIS CLEPHANE : A PIONEER WASHINGTON
REPUBLICAN.
By WALTER C. CLEPHANE.
(Read before the Society, December 18, 1917.)
I could almost wish that the request to write this
sketch had come to some one else ; for in the desire to
place upon record this outline of the life of my father,
I dislike to be in the position of seeming to magnify
the importance of any of his achievements. On the
other hand, it is with a feeling of pleasurable response
to a call for duty that I eagerly welcome the oppor-
tunity to chronicle the events, a history of which I feel
should be permanently preserved. I shall endeavor
to state without bias the facts as I know them.
On the 13th day of March, 1824, Lewis Clephane was
born in a two story and attic brick house on the south
side of Gr Street northwest, between Twelfth and Thir-
teenth, on the site now occupied by 1208 Gr Street. At
that time the name Clephane was a familiar one in
Washington because the great-uncle of the subject of
this sketch, himself named Lewis Clephane, a well-
known portrait painter, had for many years lived in
the same square and had been the owner of a consid-
erable amount of real estate in this city. To his house-
hold there came to reside in the year 1817, just one
hundred years ago, my grandfather, James Clephane,
a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, who, two years after
arriving in Washington, was married by the Rev.
Stephen Balch to Miss Ann Ogilvie, by whom he had
nine children, of whom my father was the third.
Lewis Clephane may be said to have inherited the
263
264 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
taste for books and newpaper work whicli so early be-
came the dominant note in his career; for his father,
James Clephane, was a printer and was on friendly
terms with Sir Walter Scott, who was the guardian of
his cousin, Margaret Clephane, who subsequently mar-
ried Spencer Compton, who was the second Marquis
of Northampton. It was during his association with
Sir Walter Scott that James Clephane read the proof
of much of the manuscript which afterwards was pub-
lished among the works of that great author. Many
of the first editions of these works are in the library
left by my grandfather.
My father attended school at the academy of Charles
Strahan, then situated at the corner of Ninth and H
Streets. His education, so far as attendance upon
school was concerned, was completed at the early age
of twelve years. At that time, being fired with a de-
sire for business activity, he entered the book store of
Kennedy & Elliott, of which in a few years he was
given full charge. He later embarked in business on
his own account, which he conducted until he was
twenty-three years of age, at which time he made a
newspaper connection with the National Era, an event
which became the turning point of his life and offered
him ample opportunity for the display of the indomi-
table courage which was his to a marked degree, and
for a literary discernment for which his previous
training had fitted him.
He had meanwhile become a member of the Fourth
Presbyterian Church, which many of jou will remem-
ber was in the early days located at Ninth Street on
the southern corner of Grant Place, and was presided
over by the Rev. John C. Smith, who was in his day
one of the pillars of the Presbyterian Church. He
taught in the Sabbath School and was a leader in all
Col. Hist. Soc. Vol. XXI Pl XIII.
Clephane: Lewis Clephane. 265
the church activities. In fact, to the day of his death
he was prominent in religious circles and was when he
died a trustee of the New York Avenue Presbyterian
Church, to which his membership was transferred
during the later years of his life.
Bereft of his mother at the early age of sixteen
years, and with six sisters, all but one younger than
himself, and one younger brother James (later well
known as the father of the Mergenthaler linotype ma-
chine), the responsibilities of life were forced upon
his attention. As might be expected, during his boy-
hood there is nothing to chronicle in the way of
achievements except persistent and successful atten-
tion to the details of the business with which he was
connected, and which fitted him for the tremendous
task which he assumed in January, 1847.
At that time the city of Washington was not a par-
ticularly attractive field for the dissemination of anti-
slavery sentiments. It was, however, the capital of
the nation. The Anti-slavery Association of Phila-
delphia, believing that a newspaper devoted to the
cause of abolition of slavery and published at the
national capital, might command an influence that
a journal of a similar character published else-
where would fail to create, induced Dr. Gramaliel
Bailey, who had previously edited anti-slavery jour-
nals, to start in Washington the publication of the Na-
tional Era. Of this periodical Lewis Clephane was,
from its commencement until it suspended publication
in 1859, its business manager. It will be recalled that
this paper ran its career during the time when the
question of the tolerance of slavery in the territories
of the United States had become acute. The nation
was in a high state of tension on this subject. The
agitation for the abolition of slavery in the District of
266 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Columbia was at its height. While sentiment in the
District appears to have been opposed to the slave
trade, it is none the less true that a large amount of
the wealth of its citizens was represented in negro
slaves. Among the upper classes of Washington so-
ciety therefore, abolition doctrines were not popular.
The new journal was looked upon with suspicion. Its
first editorial, in defining its position, pointed out that
while it was bitterly opposed to slavery, it did not pro-
pose to violate the laws on this subject or to counsel
interference with the continuance of the institution
where it already existed; but that it was unalterably
against the extension of slavery. At no time did it
depart from this position.
Among the contributors were John Greenleaf Whit-
tier, William Cullen Bryant, Mrs. E. D. E. N. South-
worth, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and others more or less
famous.
Mention has been made of the policy of this paper,
as announced in its editorial, not to countenance any
violation of law, because as this policy was never de-
viated from, the unreasonable spirit of the famous
mob of 1848 is the more apparent.
OnAprill6, 1848, a schooner in command of Captain
Edward Sayres, with whom were Daniel Drayton and
others, carried away from Washington surreptitiously
seventy-seven slaves with the idea of landing them in
free territory whence they could make their escape.
The schooner was captured near Point Lookout, and
the slaves brought back, together with Drayton and
Sayres and their companions. Drayton and Sayres
were afterwards convicted and sentenced to a long
term of years in the city jail.
The excitement in the city after the negroes were
brought back culminated in a mob, which, insisting
Clephane: Lewis Clephane. 267
that the Era had instigated this escape, went to the
office of the National Era and succeeded in inflicting
considerable damage there. Mr. Clephane was in the
office at the time and did his best to prevent the demo-
lition of the place, but the credit for its being saved
from destruction is due to Captain Goddard, the head
of the police force, who stationed himself in the door-
way and declared that any man who entered would do
so over his dead body. By his resolute action, as-
sisted as he was only by a handful of his force, the
place was saved. It should be remembered that at
this time there were but fifteen members of the police
force in the city altogether and they were on duty
only at night.
The aftermath of this story is what particularly con-
cerns this paper. After Drayton and Sayres had been
in jail four years, Franklin Pierce, who was then
President, at the earnest solicitation of Senator
Charles Sumner, pardoned the prisoners. Sumner
presented the President's pardon to the jailer and
demanded their release, but was told that the Secre-
tary of the Interior had requested that the prisoners
be not discharged, inasmuch as he was expecting a
requisition for them from the State of Virginia.
Sumner, greatly distressed, called at the Era office and
asked Mr. Clephane what he should do. Being ad-
vised to insist upon the release, Sumner again made
demand upon the jailer for their freedom in accord-
ance with the President's pardon, and with great re-
luctance they were then surrendered. By this time
the news of the pardon had leaked out, the mob spirit
again asserted itself, and search was made for Dray-
ton and Sayres. Although no one connected with the
National Era had had anything to do with the attempt
to liberate the slaves made four vears before, now that
268 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
the men concerned were legally free, Mr. Clepliane felt
that there was no reason why he should not do all in
his power to save Drayton and Sayres from the unrea-
soning fury of the mob, and with that idea in view he
concealed them in his residence until nightfall. It so
happened that heavy rains had continued for a month,
causing freshets which had washed out all the bridges
between Washington and Baltimore. Mr. Clepliane
made the round of the livery stables in the effort to
find a driver who would undertake the task of trans-
porting these men to Baltimore, but it was not until
late that night he found any one who cared to risk his
life and property in the attempt. He finally found an
Irishmah who, for a liberal fee, undertook the com-
mission and about 10:00 o'clock that night Clephane
and his companions started out over the Baltimore
pike, which was not then in its present magnificent
condition. The road was a sea of mud and a mass of
gullies. Every rivulet had become a stream. Those
who remember the old Bladensburg pike will recall
the ford at Bladensburg over the Eastern Branch.
That night it was a wide roaring freshet. The horses
tried the ford and lost their footing, the driver de-
clined to go further and insisted that he would return
to Washington. Mr. Clephane had no weapon with
him, but he did have in his pocket the big office key of
the National Era door. Pulling this out he leveled it
against the driver's ear and told him if he did not go
on, he would blow his brains out. All metal felt alike
to the driver, who could not see how harmless it was.
The horses plunged in; Clephane took the whip; the
carriage went in to such a depth that the water came
over the floor ; the fugitives thought the end had come ;
but the office key and the whip did their work and the
Eastern Branch was joassed. At every stream a like
Clephane: Lewis Clephane. 269
difficulty was encountered. In a covered bridge near
Elkton they were stopped by a highwayman; but the
office key again came into play with the same success-
ful result. At daylight they were on the outskirts of
Baltimore. The carriage was dismissed; tickets were
purchased on the Northern Central Railway above the
city; and the prisoners proceeded on their way to
Harrisburg, rejoicing.
My father always felt very happy in the fact that
he was instrumental in putting before the world the
novel which has since become so famous, "Uncle
Tom's Cabin." It was the custom of Dr. Bailey, the
editor of the Era, to send about Christmas time, to
various persons of literary habits, small checks with
the suggestion that the recipients write stories for
the Era. Mrs. Stowe's name was mentioned to the
management of the paper by Salmon P. Chase as being
a lady in straitened circumstances, who could perhaps
contribute something to the columns of that journal.
A check was sent to her, with the result that she com-
menced to write this story, which appeared in serial
form in the National Era. At first she had no idea of
writing a novel of anything like the length in which it
finally appeared; but the interest it created was so
tremendous that, like Topsy herself, it "growed."
The first number appeared in the issue of June 1,
1851 ; and the last in the issue of April 1, 1852. I have
in my possession a letter written by Mrs. Stowe to my
father, dated April 4, 1854, in which she speaks of the
success of the publication when issued in book form, as
follows :
"The sale thus far has been unprecedented as I am told.
3,000 were sold the first day; ten thousand absorbed in New
England, & he has now 3 steam presses working night and day
— 85 binders constantly at work & is yet behind hand with his
270 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
orders. Nothing can be done until this first push is past. I
can not even get presentation copies bound to send to England
as I desire.
"I am most earnestly desirous that the work should circu-
late at the south. It was expressly shaped with a view to
strengthen the hands of the good and noble minded there who
are longing for deliverance from this great evil. I am hoping
that many there will read it. ' '
It was while Lewis Clepliane was connected with the
National Era that he wrote the call for the first con-
vention of the Eepublican party, he being one of the
little group of men who organized it. It was brought
about in this way :
On the 19th of June, 1855, he with four others formed
a small club known as the Eepublican Association of
Washington, D. C. Its constitution has been fully set
forth in the brochure published by my father entitled
''The Birth of the Eepublican Party." After setting
forth the principles of the club, including the opposi-
tion to slavery in the territories. Article V is in the fol-
lowing language :
"In order to secure concert of action, and more direct inter-
change of intelligence and general cooperation throughout the
country, we invite the formation of similar associations in
every State, County, City or Village, in the Union, whose offi-
cers shall be ex officio members of this association, and who are
requested to report to this association the names of their offi-
cers and number of members, for general information of the
whole. ' '
A significant sidelight upon the times may be
gleaned from a memorandum written on the margin of
the little book which is before me as I write this, con-
taining the signatures of the members of this organi-
zation, as follows :
' ' In signing this constitution I do hereby promise not to di-
vulge the names of its members. ' '
Clephane: Lewis Clephane. 271
Francis P. Blair, Sr., was elected president, but
owing to his age lie felt unable to serve. In resigning
he wrote a letter which was published in all the promi-
nent newspapers of the country and printed in pam-
phlet form by this association and largely circulated.
This letter produced a powerful effect throughout the
country. It was followed by the publication and cir-
culation by this local association of an earnest appeal
to the friends of the cause throughout the United
States to organize clubs animated by similar principles,
with the result that such clubs sprang up like magic all
over the country. The dissemination of this litera-
ture was greatly aided by the National Era. At the
request of this local association Mr. Clephane pre-
pared in this city the call for the first National Conven-
tion of the Eepublican party. It was signed by the
governors of five states dated January 17, 1856, and
called for a meeting to be held at Pittsburgh on the
22d of February, 1856. To that Convention my father
was the delegate from the District of Columbia.
Francis P. Blair was elected president of the Con-
vention. This Convention appointed an executive
committee to call a further Convention for the nomina-
tion of candidates for the offices of President and Vice-
President of the United States. This executive com-
mittee, of which Lewis Clephane was a member, pre-
pared and issued the call for the Convention which
was held at Philadelphia on June 17, 1856. Mr. Cle-
phane represented the District of Columbia at the
Philadelphia Convention, also at subsequent Conven-
tions. Of course, the first nominee of the new party,
Fremont, was defeated, but the foundation was laid
for the future success of the party, which four years
later nominated Abraham Lincoln for President, and
elected him.
272
Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
At the time of the election of Mr. Liucoln, Lewis Cle-
phane was president of the ''Wideawakes," the Re-
publican club of the city, comprising some two hundred
members, who had their headquarters called the
''Wigwam" at the northwest corner of Second Street
and Indiana Avenue in a building which is still stand-
ing. On the night when the returns of the election
were received, after all the members of the club had
left the place with the exception of some five or six,
members of a small military organization known as
the "National Volunteers" made an attack on the
"Wigwam." My father was one of the "Wide-
awakes" who had remained in the building. As the
mob approached the doors were locked. These were
quickly broken open by the mob, who rushed in,
smashed the printing press and scattered the type in
the printing office on the first floor. Meanwhile the
little handful of Republicans had ascended with the
slightest possible noise to the second floor, where the
meeting of the organization had been held. It was
not long before the mob followed them and proceeded
to destroy the flags, pennants and furniture of the
club room. The third floor was the next refuge for
the club members, and when the mob approached the
third floor, the roof was the only place to which a
further retreat could be made. This was promptly
occupied. I have often heard my father describe this
experience and say that before closing the scuttle each
member of the party took a loose brick from the chim-
ney and prepared to give the invaders a warm recep-
tion should they advance beyond the third floor. They
did not do this, however, but went down stairs and
then some one cried: "Fire the building!" The feel-
ings of the captives on the roof can be better imagined
than described. The mob did not know they were in
Clephane: Lewis Clephane. 273
the building at all; nor were these gentlemen anxious
to inform them to that effect; but they had no desire
to remain and be roasted to death. While debating
what was best to be done they were saved by the inter-
vention of Captain Goddard and his little force of men,
who scattered the rioters and released the captives.
Mr. Lincoln being elected, it seemed only right that
the nation's capital should be the home of a Republi-
can newspaper. The National Era had suspended
publication about a year previously. Mr. Clephane,
in company with William Blanchard, Martin Buell
and W. J. Murtagh, and one or two others, therefore
founded the National Republican, and issued its first
number on the 26th of November, 1860. This paper
continued in existence without interruption for twenty-
eight years. It was first published in the ''Wigwam"
building on Indiana Avenue above referred to; then
at a building at the corner of Seventh and D Streets
northwest. It afterwards moved to the west side of
Ninth Street below D ; then to the northeast corner of
Tenth and D. In 1874 the paper moved to the edifice
at the southwest corner of Thirteenth Street and Penn-
sylvania Avenue northwest, which had been erected
for it — the same building which was recently demol-
ished to make room for the new office structure on that
corner being built by the Southern Railway Company.
At that time this building is said to have been larger
and more commodious than any newspaper building
south of Philadelphia. It was fitted up in an elabo-
rate manner and provided with all the up-to-date ap-
pliances used in connection with a newspaper business.
On the occasion when Mr. Lincoln was first inaugu-
rated President it was urged by many that the usual
parade be dispensed with on account of the danger in-
cident to such a public demonstration. Great fears
19
274 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
were entertained for the life of the President-elect.
Greneral Scott, then in command of the military forces
of the United States, was emphatic in his opposition
to a public parade, but Mr. Clephane and other mem-
bers of the inaugural committee, after arguing the
subject with him, finally elicited his cooperation, and
the parade was held in accordance with custom; but
sharpshooters were stationed on the tops of buildings
along Pennsylvania Avenue and artillery at the cross
streets. The dreaded disaster did not happen.
On the 10th of May, 1861, Mr. Clephane was ap-
pointed postmaster of the city, which position he held
for nearly two years, when, at the urgent solicitation
of Mr. Chase, then Secretary of the Treasury, he re-
signed to accept the position of collector of internal
revenue for this District. The office of postmaster
during this period involved the distribution of the mail
for the Army, which made the duties of the position
extremely arduous. They were well performed.
It was during this period, busy as Mr. Clephane was
with the multitudinous duties thrust upon him by rea-
son of the soldiers being added to the patrons of his
office, that he married Miss Annie M. Collins, daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. Simeon Collins, of West Haven, Conn.
The ceremony took place at West Haven on the ninth
of October, 1862. Mr. Clephane continued after his
marriage to reside in his former home next door to the
house in which he was born, then numbered 325 G
Street northwest, but later numbered 1210. As a re-
sult of this union four children were born, all of whom
are still living, to wit: Miss Ella C. Clephane, Walter
C. Clephane (the writer of this sketch), Lewis P. Cle-
phane, and Alan 0. Clephane.^
1 Alan O. Clephane, a lawyer of Washington City, who entered the
United States Naval Eeserve Force at the outbreak of the war with Ger-
Clephane: Lewis Clephane. 275
After the second nomination of Lincoln as Presi-
dent of the United States, a Lincoln and Johnson As-
sociation was formed in Washington of which Mr.
Clephane was elected president. He was made chair-
man of the inaugural committee which managed the
ceremonies incident to the second inauguration of Mr.
Lincoln.
In 1865 he was elected a member of the Board of
Aldermen of the District of Columbia, being the first
Republican to become a member of that body. He
was a member of the committee of one hundred which
advocated a change in the form of government of the
District and whose efforts resulted in the passage of
the Territorial Act of February 21, 1871.
From January 1, 1869, until August, 1871, he was
receiver of the Washington & Alexandria Railroad,
which the old residents will recall as at that time run-
ning around the Capitol grounds on the west and
north.
From December 1, 1873, to August, 1874, he held the
position of collector of taxes of the District of Colum-
bia. During this decade he was engaged to a consid-
erable extent in the contracting business.
Mr. Clephane was largely interested in the banking
business in this District. Among the financial insti-
tutions with which he was connected as a director, may
be mentioned the Second National Bank and the Na-
tional Savings & Trust Company, of which latter he
was at one time vice-president. He was a director of
the Metropolitan Railroad Company, now absorbed by
the Washington Railway & Electric Company; of the
Citizens' Fire Insurance Company; of the Washing-
ton Brick Machine Company; and the Virginia Brick
many, died in that city of pneumonia, January 13, 193 8, while still in the
Xaval Service.
276 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Company. He helped to organize the National Ho-
meopathic Hospital and was for many years the secre-
tary of its board of trustees. His interest in this hos-
pital was very great.
In the year 1877 he completed the erection of his new
residence, at the northeast corner of Thirteenth and
K Streets northwest, which he continued to occupy up
to the time of his death, and where his widow still
resides.
No story of Mr. Clephane's life would be complete
without mention of the Metropolitan Literary Asso-
ciation, which was organized in 1856, and which con-
tributed in large measure to the cultural enrichment
of the citizens of the' District over half a century ago.
It is interesting to note the names of the men who con-
stituted the members of this Association in 1856-1857,
names which are taken from its printed constitution
and list of members in the possession of the family.
Besides the name of- Mr. Clephane, the following,
among others, were enrolled : A. R. Shepherd, William
Gr. Moore, Silas Merchant, William C. Murdoch, R. B.
Donaldson, C. H. Uttermehlfe, E. G. Davis, Nathaniel
Wilson and John W. Thompson, all of which names
are familiar to every Washingtonian and are inti-
mately associated with the growth of the city.
I have made no allusion to my father's private char-
acter. A public expression of my own viewpoint
would perhaps be out of place. But it would be most
unjust to his memory to let this occasion pass without
at least indicating something of the gentleness and
sweetness of his disposition. He was a man of poise,
just in all his dealings with his fellowmen, benevolent
in the extreme. Though small of stature and slight of
build, he was as courageous as a lion, yielding to no
man in matter of principle; yet never self-assertive;
, Clephane: Lewis Clephane. 277
but when his counsel was asked it was freely and
wisely given. From an infant I loved him and as I
grew to manhood my respect for him constantly in-
creased. He left his children the priceless legacy of
a good name, which in the years that have passed since
his death I have learned to value far more than I could
have valued great riches.
During the later years of his life Mr. Clephane was
not actively engaged in business except in so far as he
was giving his endeavors for the good of the various
business and philanthropic enterprises with which he
was affiliated.
In the early part of 1897, still in full vigor of life,
at the age of seventy-two years, he was stricken with
pneumonia, which resulted in his death on the 12th
day of February of that year. His mortal remains
now rest in the Glenwood Cemetery, of whose board of
trustees he had been for years a devoted member.
CLARA BARTON, HUMANITARIAN.
By MRS. CORRA BACON-FOSTER.
(Read before the Society, December 18, 1917.)
It doubtless seems strange to many of you, long-time residents of
Washington, that I, a comparatively new comer, should undertake to tell
you of a lady so well known to you.
I saw Miss Clara Barton in Texas seventeen years ago and with many
fellow sufferers in the storm at Galveston learned to admire and appreciate
the frail little elderly lady, who with a firm hand and remarkable in-
telligence wielded so much power and accomplished so much for the
benefit of our bewildered citizens.
The events of a certain March day two years ago surprised me and I
sought an explanation. In my investigations I may have found some data
that you have overlooked or forgotten. So in justice to the memory of
Clara Barton and to you as custodians of Washington local history I
bring some results. For Clara Barton was a citizen of Washington for a
half century and who can deny that she honored her home?
First on the long roll of America's great women is
Clara Barton. First in her ideals — first in her
achievements. Wlien Senator Hoar was once asked
who in his opinion was the greatest living American,
he unhesitatingly replied, ''Clara Barton." Thinking
he had not been understood the questioner repeated,
''Who is the greatest American manV^ Again the
reply, "Clara Barton, where will you find the man to
equal herV^ In every field of her endeavor she was
successful; the schools she taught for eighteen years
always prospered ; the difficult desk in the Patent Office
was efficiently held ; as a writer her diction was clear
and comprehensive — sometimes eloquent ; in diplomacy
she could instruct statesmen; in oratory John B.
Gough pronounced her remarkable; as winner and
holder of affection none have ever surpassed her ; on
her service to humanity in war and in peace no one
can place an estimate. In courage, intrepidity, and
278
Col. Hist. Soc, Vol. XX!, Pl. XIV.
Clara Barton, at the Time She Organized the American Red Cross.
Bacon-Foster: Clara Bai-ton, Humanitarian. 279
patience, in skill in organization, she has seldom been
equaled by man or woman in any country or in any
age; hers was truly a most remarkable character. In
America she ranks with Jeanne d'Arc in France, to
whom the English are now placing a memorial in West-
minster. When will Americans thus express the grati-
tude and reverence due their heroine, Clara Barton,
the ''Angel of the Battlefield" and the Founder of the
American Red Cross?
Intellectual activity was the characteristic of the
first half of the nineteenth century, peace and pros-
perity in the United States had permitted bright minds
of the great middle class opportunity to turn from the
strife for existence, which had followed the war for
independence, to studies of nature, of science, and of
psychology; in consequence, amazing discoveries, won-
derful mechanical inventions, and spiritual investiga-
tions were changing the mode of life and of thought.
In no section of the country was there more such de-
velopment than in Worcester County, Massachusetts,
where on the Christmas Day of 1821 Clara Barton
was born.
She was the youngest of the family of Captain
Stephen Barton, a man of middle age, who was de-
scended from a founder of the colony. He had been
a soldier under General Anthony Wayne in his cam-
paign against the Indians in the northwest and was a
leader in progressive thought in intellectual Oxford
village; well-to-do, a Free Mason, a life-long Demo-
crat. The little girl, bright and precocious, became
the pet of the much older sisters and brothers, three
of whom, educated school-teachers, proved themselves
in her case worthy anticipators of Madame Montes-
sori's cult. In the long winter evenings, nestled in her
father's arms, she imbibed some knowledge of mili-
280 Records of the Columbia Historical Society,
tary tactics from checkerboard campaigns, and the
brother David took her out to the pasture and taught
her to become a fearless horsewoman while developing
sinew for the strenuous life of middle age. A serious
accident ' befell this brother when Clara was eleven
years old from the effect of which he was an invalid
for two years ; by his desire and the exigencies of the
household she became his sole attendant, thus render-
ing her first service in the cause of humanity; this ex-
perience was also a preparation for later things.
She grew into a painfully bashful, sensitive girl, so
much so as to cause her friends grave anxiety. Phre-
nology was one of the *'isms" of the day and as a
matter of routine was investigated by the Barton
family. One of the exponents of the science, Mr. L.
W. Fowler, was a guest in the house while giving a
course of lectures in Oxford. His advice was sought
as to a future course for her; "The sensitive nature
will always remain," was his reply, "she will never
assert herself for herself, she will suffer wrong first,
but for others she will be perfectly fearless. Throw
responsibility upon her, give her a school to teach."
The accuracy of his estimate of her character the story
of her life sustains, especially in the events of 1900-
1904.
Without difficulty she secured the necessai^y certifi-
cate from the school trustees of the district in which
her recently married sister had located, and at the
early age of fifteen she took up a profession in which
she achieved notable success. In controlling other
minds she acquired self-control, although to the end of
her long life she was timid and sensitive to a degree
unless driven by a strong impulse. Her winning per-
sonality gained the hearts of her pupils, while firmness
and diplomacy checked any insubordination. In the
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 281
intervals between three summer schools she attended
the excellent academy at Oxford village, always an
educational center; in fact she never ceased to be a
student and investigator.
Her brothers' mills at North Oxford were the sec-
ond in the country to introduce spindle and power
looms; they employed many operatives who were
deprived of school facilities— this was long be-
fore philanthropists had evolved a child-labor law.
Not being successful in securing the location of a
district school they erected a building and installed
their young sister as mistress of the factory school,
which she taught winter and summer for ten years. In
the office of the mills, after school hours, under the
tutelage of her capable brother Stephen, she mastered
the intricacies of bookkeeping and became sole account-
ant, a discipline aptly recalled in later Red Cross years
when an assistant complained: "No matter what hap-
pens those accounts must be kept up to date." Mean-
while this indefatigable young woman lived with her
parents ; and, knowing of New England customs of the
day, we may assume that she bore her share of the
household duties and then formed the frugal habits of
a lifetime. Looking back it appears as if the practical
mother had been the balance wheel in this family of
brilliant intellects. Old letters contain reminiscences
of the many frolics that enlivened this period where
the Barton wit had full play, for Clara Barton was far
from being a serious-minded person; her sense of
humor and ready repartee made her always the life of
any assembly of friends.
After the death of the mother in 1851 the father
went to the home of his eldest son, the family home
was closed and Clara decided to spend a year at the
Clinton Liberal Institute in New York State for
282 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
senior study. In this college town she found a lei-
surely, scholarly society, very different from the keen
business activity of the factory village. Friendships
she there formed broadened her point of view and
were lifelong. The principal of the Institute recog-
nized her ability and won her gratitude by his encour-
agement and advice; an associate tutor, a literary
aspirant, admired her and stimulated her ambition—
this friendship with many episodes endured for years
and was probably the great romance of her life; she
also met there Miss Mary Norton, a literary star of
note and friend of Horace Greeley, with whom an
aifectionate and intimate relation existed until the
death of Miss Norton many years later. This year in
college, with the succeeding season in the cultivated
Norton family circle while teaching in Hightstown,
N. J., was doubtless most important in the develop-
ment of Clara Barton's character — although she was
then over thirty — in softening the very practical ideals
of New England life.
While teaching in Hightstown she learned of the
deplorable lack of public schools in the neighboring
Bordentown. A progressive trustee of the place in-
terested her in the subject and she proffered to make
an effort to establish a school that would succeed; if
she should fail she would demand no salary for the
first three months of service. Her offer was reluc-
tantly accepted, a small room was secured for the ex-
periment and she opened her term with an attendance
of six notoriously bad boys of the town. Somehow she
tamed them and attracted others until the small room
could not accommodate the applicants. Here she met
Miss Lydia Haskell, a kindred ambitious spirit with
whom much of her future was associated.
Her success in the public school was so pronounced
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 283
that at tlie close of the year the little city decided to
provide a reputable building. In the fall the school
opened with six hundred pupils. There was much op-
position by private institutions and when new text-
books were required there was open rebellion. This
was long before the era of free textbooks, but Clara
Barton solved the difficulty by securing a subscription
of four hundred dollars for purchase of books for free
distribution. The situation, however, was uncomfort-
able for her ; although she had built up the school sys-
tem, a man from abroad had been engaged as princi-
pal; he became jealous of her ability and popularity
and annoyed her in many ways ; angered by a particu-
larly ungentlemanly act, she promptly resigned and
left the place. Her many pupils always remained her
devoted allies, with some of whom she corresponded
for years. A few of her letters have been preserved
and are treasured today as priceless mementos. In
Bordentown no name is more honored than that of
Clara Barton.
Having friends in Washington she came here in No-
vember, 1854. She soon secured copying from the
Patent Office, where a rapid perfect round handwrit-
ing such as hers was in demand. In a letter of that
time to Miss Haskell we read that she was copying at
home 10,000 words daily, preparing the mechanical
part of the annual report for the printer. The Com-
missioner of Patents at the time was Judge Charles
Mason, of Iowa, long a resident of Washington. At-
tracted by the quality of her work he appointed her
(in 1855) clerk in charge of a confidential desk at the
salary of $1,400 per annum. Thus she was the first
woman to receive an appointment in governmental de-
partment service. The chief clerk of the office is
quoted as saying, ''She was the very best clerk ever
284 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
in this office." She became an intimate friend of the
Commissioner's family; the daughter, Mrs. George C.
Remey, now testifies to their esteem and affection for
her. Meantime she was rising at four in the morning
to prepare lessons in French.
Under the Buchanan administration, with another
Commissioner, the woman from abolitionist Massa-
chusetts was dropped. The ensuing two years Clara
Barton spent in Worcester and Boston studying
French, literature, and art. She wrote to a former
pupil from Bordentown, then in Mobile, that she loved
the South and would like to make her home among
southerners; and asked if he would advise her if he
found an opening for a teacher of experience, one who
could teach French and painting and was considered
an expert accountant; but in 1860 she was reinstated
in the Patent Office.
The decade from 1851, when she left her native vil-
lage home, to 1861, although coming somewhat late in
her life, was the formative period of her character;
she found herself, became conscious of her ability,
conquered the painful sensitiveness, and finally re-
fused to marry the persistent lover of years. All the
patriotism inherited from her martial father was
aroused during the exciting days following the elec-
tion of President Lincoln; the apathy of her fellow
clerks incensed her ; she offered to do the work of two
desks, to turn the pay of one to the family of a man
who could serve his country ; and finally when in April,
1861, the Sixth Massachusetts volunteers from her
own county came limping into the city from the en-
counter at Baltimore she left her desk; her country
had called her.
In the Treasury Department are on file the vouchers
for pay signed by Miss Barton, the last dated July,
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 285
1865, showing tliat altliougli absent from the office
much of the time, her salary had continued. It has
been said that a devoted friend, Mr. Edward Shaw,
worked overtime at her desk in order to hold it for her.
Letters from fellow clerks have been preserved that
testify to their affection for her and in which they beg
her to return to the office.
The War or 1861-1865.
With Clara Barton's record of service in the War
between the States all are more or less familiar. In
recalling it we should remember that during the first
of the conflict there was no organized relief other than
the regular medical staff of the army, with its supplies
often far in the rear when most urgently needed at the
front ; men suffered and died for lack of attention.
Later the great Sanitary and Christian Commissions
did noble work on the field and in hospitals.
Until the winter of 1861 Clara Barton was active in
the encampments and hospitals about Washington,
distributing supplies sent her by friends in Worces-
ter, New Jersey, and central New York State, and
meeting and ministering to wounded men from Vir-
ginia battlefields ; she was then summoned to her home
in Massachusetts to care for her father in his last ill-
ness, returning to Washington in the spring of 1862.
All the summer came distressing reports of the
dreadful suffering at the front from want of supplies
and care. Putting aside considerations of convention
and propriety, Clara Barton determined to go to the
fields where her supplies were most needed. By per-
sistent effort she secured a pass from Colonel Eucker,
the Washington depot quartermaster, who always was
her devoted friend and champion. With assistants —
among them Mrs. Fales, wife of a Patent Office official.
286 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
also a worker for the soldiers during the war — she was
on the field after the battle of Cedar Mountain in Au-
gust, 1862. Her description of that experience is
characteristic: ''When our armies fought on Cedar
Mountain I broke the shackles and went to the front."
She arrived after the battle and found much to do —
"Five days and nights with three hours sleep, a nar-
row escape from capture, and some days of getting the
wounded into hospitals at Washington. And if you
chance to feel that the positions I occupied were rough
and unseemly for a woman, I can only reply that they
were rough and unseemly for men. But under all lay
the life of the nation. I had inherited the rich bless-
ings of health and strength of constitution— such as is
seldom given to woman — and I felt some return was
due from me and that I ought to be there." She was
again at Fairfax, September first, with its dreadful
night watch among the wounded and dying in the hay-
strewn open field and the succeeding three days before
the retreat on Washington. Then, after ten days' rest,
with Rev. C. M. Welles and Lieutenant Fisk, she was
given an army wagon and instructed to follow the
army into Maryland with supplies. By an adroit
night drive she succeeded in passing the army supply
train and took her place immediately in the rear of the
artillery; thus she was able to provide much needed
surgical articles and food long before regular supplies
reached the field hospitals at Antietam.
The value of her service there so impressed Colonel
Rucker that in October he gave her a relief train of
six army wagons with drivers trained by experience in
the Peninsular campaign and an ambulance for her
personal accommodation, with directions to accompany
the Ninth Army Corps from Harper's Ferry up the
Valley of Virginia. Her pleasant way of subduing
Ba€on-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 287
these rough men, restive under the control of a slight
woman, was amusing; they became her most devoted
friends and servants; she meanwhile suffering from a
most excruciating bone felon.
Early in December she was with General Burnside
at Falmouth, opposite Fredericksburg, and even
crossed on the frail pontoon bridge into that city of
carnage. No pen can describe the misery of those
freezing days, when hers were the only relief stores
available and many died in the snow uncared for, her
headquarters merely an old army tent. After the de-
feat she returned to Washington to collect and prepare
supplies for another campaign.
Her brother David had received the appointment of
quartermaster at Hilton Head, off Charleston, S. C,
where she joined him in April, 1863. General Leggett
wrote: "There and at Morris Island the command was
constantly under fire for eight months of weary siege ;
scorched by the sun, chilled by the waves, rocked by
the tempest, buried in the shifting sands ; men toiling
day after day in the trenches with the angry fire of
five forts hissing thro' the ranks every day of those
weary months. But Clara Barton was there doing all
in mortal power to assuage the miseries of the unfor-
tunate soldiers." This long dreadful vigil left her
blind, helpless, and ill for weeks ; but she was again in
Washington in 1864 arranging her supplies that had
overflowed her warerooms. At this time, upon the
recommendation of Medical Director McCormick, she
received the appointment of ''Superintendent of
Nurses in the Army of the James" under General But-
ler, and took her station at the front. At the battle of
Spottsylvania with her assistants she took her posi-
tion near Fredericksburg.
One of Clara Barton's greatest war achievements,
288 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
measured by results, was her success in securing the
authority to cut the red tape regulations that continued
the congestion at Acquia Creek, where hundreds of
wounded men were held waiting in ambulances and in
the fields for transportation to Washington hospitals.
No one was ever told how she secured a tug for the
Capital, but she came and at night aroused the Chair-
man of the Senate Military Committee, who at once
conferred with the War Department officials; they
were incredulous of the recital of incapacity at the
front, but the senator so stormed, threatening pub-
licity, that in two hours the Quartermaster-General
was en route for Acquia Creek, where he took charge
and cleared the situation.
Clara Barton remained at the front until the end of
the conflict, with occasional returns to Washington for
supplies. Her nephew, Sam Barton, was in charge of
her warerooms, which were located on Seventh Street
near the Avenue.
Official Orders.
The following official orders and letters (which I
copy from the originals) are significant in view of the
fact that the compilers of the twenty-eight volumes of
the ' ' Official History of the War ' ' did not mention the
work of Clara Barton. While not associated with the
great Sanitary and Christian Commissions, she at all
times worked in harmony with them and exchanges of
supplies were constantly being made. Her relief was
independent and always first when needed.
Surgeon General's Office
Washington City, July 11, 1862.
-Sfir;
At the request of the Surgeon General I have to request that
you give every facility to Miss Barton for the transportation
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 289
of supplies necessary for the comfort of the sick. I refer you
to the accompanying letter.
Very respectfully,
R. C. Wood. A. 8. Gen'l.
Major D. H. Rucker, A. Q. M.
Washington, D. C.
[Reverse]
Office of Depot Quartermaster,
Washington, July 11, 1862.
Respectfully referred to General Wadsworth, with the re-
quest that permission be given to this lady and friend to pass
to and from Acquia Creek on government transports at all
times when she may wish to visit the sick^and hospitals, etc.
with such stores as she may wish to take for the comfort of the
sick and wounded.
D. H. Rucker, Quartermaster and Col.
[Also]
H 'd Qrs. M.ih. Div. OF Va.
Washington. D. C. July 11 '62.
The within mentioned lady, (Miss Barton) & friend have
permission to pass to and from Fredericksburg by Gov't boat
and railroad at all times to visit the sick and wounded & to
take with her all such stores as she may wish to take for the
sick, and to pass anywhere within the lines of the U. S. forces,
(excepting to the Army of the Potomac) & to travel on any
military R.R. or Govt, boat to such points as she may desire to
visit and to take such stores as she may wish by such means of
transportation.
By order of Brig. Gen'l Wadsworth,
Mil. Gov. D. C.
T. E. Ellsworth, Capt. & A. D. C.
.0
290 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Surgeon General's Office
July, 11, 1862.
Miss C. H. Barton has permission to go upon the sick trans-
ports in any direction — for the purpose of distributing com-
forts to the sick and wounded — and nursing them, always sub-
ject to the direction of the surgeon in charge.
William A. Hammond
Surgeon General U. S. A.
to whom it may concern :
Inspector General's Office
Army of Virginia.
No. 83. Washington, D. C. August 12, 1862.
Know ye, that the bearers, Miss Barton and two friends, have
permission to pass within the lines of this Army for the pur-
pose of supplying the sick and wounded. Transportation will
be furnished by Govt, boat and rail.
By command of Major General Pope :
R. Jones, Asst. Inspector General.
War Department,
Washington City, D. C.
March 27, 1863.
The Quarter Master, Col, Rucker, will issue transportation
to Clara Barton from Washington to Port Royal, S. C. via New
York. She is ordered to report at Port Royal as a nurse.
By order of the Secretary of War.
P. H. Watson,
Asst. Sec'y of War.
OL. Hist. Soc, Vol. XXI, Pl. XV.
One of Clara Bartox's Passes.
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 291
Washington, D. C. 225 Penn Ave.
March 29, 1863.
Dr Von Etten,
Medical Director,
U. S. Forces on St Helena Island,
Port Eoyal, S. C.
Dear Sir: The bearer Miss Clara 'H. Barton visits the 10th
Army Corps for the purpose of attending personally to the
wants of wounded soldiers. She has rendered great service in
all the great battles that have been fought in Virginia for the
last six months. She acts under the direction of the Surgeon
General and with the authority of the Secretary of War. The
smoke of battle, the roar of artillery, and the shrieks of shot
and shell do not deter her from administering to those who
fall. She will explain all to you and I trust be able to do much
good in the coming battle. Here she is highly respected and
all bestow upon her much praise. If in your power to assist
her in carrying out her plans, please do all that can be done
and rest assured your kindness will be appreciated.
Very respectfully,
Edward V. Preston, P. M. U. 8. A.
Office of the Prov. M. Gen'l
Dept of the South
Morris Island 11 July 1863
Miss Barton — Hospital Nurse authorized by the Prest of the
U. S. will receive all facilities within our lines & permitted to
go to the front — All persons when called upon to render her
facilities will do so to the extent of their ability
By command
Brig Genl Q A Gillmore
James F. Hall
Lt. Col & Prov 31 Genl
292 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Headquarters, Department of the South.
Folly Island, S. C. Nov. 9, 1863.
My dear Miss Barton,
Col. Elwell informed me that he thought you desired per-
mission to visit Morris and Folly Islands. I will be very glad
to have you do so. I send you herewith the necessary permit.
^ Very sincerely, Your obd. Ser,
Q. A, GiLLMORE,
Maj. General Commanding.
Headquarters Department Virginia & North Carolina.
Near Point of Rocks.
June 23, 1864.
Miss Clara Barton the bearer is entrusted by the benevolent
in Massachusetts with stores for the relief of the sick in this
Department. Medical Directors, Surgeons, and other officers
will afford her every aid and assistance in their power and free-
dom to pass wherever she may desire to go.
Benj. F. Butler,
Maj. General Commanding.
WxVR Department, Washington, D. C.
May 11, 1864.
Pass Miss Barton and assistant to Fredericksburg to report
to Surgeon Dalton for duty with wounded as volunteer nurse.
By order of the Secretary of War,
Joseph K. Barnes, Acting Sur. General.
[Reverse]
Miss Barton and assistant will report to Surgeon Faxon in
charge of 6th Army Corps hospitals for duty.
By order of P. B. Dalton, Surgeon U. S. V. & Chief Med.
Officer.
J. M. KoLLiCK, Asst. Surg. & Executive Officer.
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian, 293
Headquarters Army of Potomac.
Office of Chief Quarter Master
Dec. 2, 1862
The bearer, Miss Clara H. Barton, is authorized to pass on
any Government Boat from Washington City to Acquia Creek
and Belle Plain, to join the command of Genl. Sturgis in this
army.
RuFus Ingalls,
Lt. Col. A. B.C. and Chief Qr. Master.
Headquarters 2nd. Div. 9th Army Corps.
Army of the Potomac.
Dec. 31, 1862.
Guards and Patrols: Pass the Bearer, Miss Barton, with
male attendant and such luggage as she may have, on the cars
and boat, from these Head-Quarters to Washington, D. C.
By order of Brig. Gen. Sturgis.
Henry R. Mizhels,
Capt. and A. A. G.
Approved by command of Maj. Gen. Sumner,
J. E. Mallon,
Maj. &" Provost Marshall, R. G. D.
In connection with tlie preceding it is interesting to
read this letter from General Sturgis, written many
years later while Governor of the National Soldiers'
Home :
Washington, D. C. April 3, 1881.
My dear friends-
Many thanks for the photograph ; it is very good as the
phrase goes — it is a faithful portrait, but not a true picture.
To produce the latter is beyond the photographer's art. A
portrait of Naj^oleon as a Sunday school teacher, might be good
as a portrait, but it could not be Napoleon, nor is this which is
now before me, Clara Barton.
294 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
If the brave men who fell at Fredericksburg and upon
scores of other bloodj^ fields, could be brought to life again,
they would fail to recognize their devoted friend thus sur-
rounded by so many appointments of graceful ease and luxury.
Ah ! No — their picture of Clara Barton would be the picture
of an angel of mercy, hovering over a field of carnage and
slaughter ; enveloped in the smoke of battle as in a cloud, and
bringing succor and hope to the wounded, and tenderly per-
forming the last sad rites to the honored Dead. This would be
a true picture — this would be history, and this, in short —
would be Clara Barton.
Nevertheless, I shall cherish this photograph as a treasure
and shall give to it a conspicuous place in my collection, but
away down in my heart I shall always retain the image which
the dead soldier would have painted. . . .
I am, dear Miss Barton,
Very truly your friend,
S. D. Sturgis.
Port Royal, April 8, 1863
Miss P. H Terry,
My Bear Sister,
Should Miss Barton go to the Expedition as she desires to
do — and as I think should do — I have told her to find you and
I hope it will be possible for her to stop with you on the Dela-
ware. She is in the good work with you — having rendered
great service to the wounded on many battlefields in Virginia.
She has probably seen more carnage on the battlefield than any
American woman — an angel of mercy to the suffering — and I
am sure you will find in her an experienced fellow worker,
and a congenial spirit of high order. I commit her to your
kindness, as she has been committed to me by my friends in
Washington — I am getting along as well as I can expect.
Your friend,
J. J. Elwell
Col. Hist. Soc, Vol. XXI, Pl. XVI.
^//
-x' .\.'
■^
^r^/^C-/
^- r
^
<^/>
^^.^^4^^^^
Order for Transportation to Port Royal, 8. C.
Bacorir-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 295
Headquarters, Hilton Head, S. C.
April 8, 1863
Order: Permission is granted Miss Clara Barton to visit the
Army in the neighborhood of Charleston S. C. and return at
pleasure.
By command of Maj. Gen. D. Hunter
James F. Hall, Lt. Col. 6- Prov. M. Genl.
Sanitary Commission,
Southern Dept.
Beaufort, Nov. 15, 1863.
Miss Clara Barton,
Hilton Head.
My dear Miss Barton; . . . Tomorrow we expect to load the
brig assigned by Col. Elwell for our special use. Any stores
which you may wish to transport can be taken upon her on
Tuesday, which stores could lie upon her in the Inlet and be
moved as you need to your tfent. ... I shall be at the ' * Head ' '
once or twice and do myself the pleasure to call upon you —
Etc. Yours,
M. M. Marsh, Supt.
Beaufort, June 2, 1864.
My dear Miss Barton,
. . . Expect to see you Monday next. I wish to consult
you upon the propriety of establishing a place at the "Head"
where discharged soldiers and others could rendezvous for
lodging and subsistence. Also to ask, if such a thing should
be established, if you would not assume its general supervis-
ion. Etc.
Yours,
M. M. Marsh, Supt.
296 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Seaech for Missing Soldiers.
On tlie return of peace Clara Barton was besieged
with letters from every section of the country begging
her to seek some scrap of information concerning
friends who had simply disappeared, leaving no rec-
ord. By the advice of President Lincoln she located
at Annapolis, the entrepot for exchanged and returned
prisoners, to compile a list of those who returned, or
were lost, for publication.
To the friends of missing persons; Miss Clara Barton has
kindly offered to search for the missing prisoners of war.
Please address her at Annapolis, Maryland, giving name, regi-
ment, and company of any missing prisoner.
A. Lincoln.
This brought the heartbroken correspondence of the
friends of all missing soldiers to her and placed on the
records of the government the names of 20,000 men
who otherwise had no record of death, and today their
descendants enjoy the proud heritage of an ancestor
who died honorably in the service of his country and
not under the possible suspicion of being a deserter.
Later she established a "Bureau of Correspondence
for Friends of Paroled Prisoners" in Washington with
a force of twelve clerks, and issued through the press
a call for information, and posted lists of missing men
in post offices. The books and letters of this bureau
have been preserved as Clara Barton filed them away.
The perfection and accuracy of her system elicit admi-
ration and commendation from the most modern of
efficiency experts. The pathos of these letters of in-
quiry is pitiful; none ever remained unanswered,
many received precious information. When she had
expended $7,000 her private funds were exhausted and
she appealed to Congress for the means to continue
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 297
the work. Without a dissenting voice $15,000 was
appropriated. The report of the Senate Committee
follows :
)th Co
1st Session
^r. -, ^ rs . rRep. Com.
39th Congress Senate-^ ^_ „„
I No. 26
In the Senate of the United States.
March 2, 1866.
Report.
The Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia, to whom
was referred the memorial of Miss Clara Barton, praying aid
to carry out a plan she has originated for obtaining informa-
tion of missing soldiers, and communicating the same to their
relatives, having had the subject under consideration, beg re-
spectfully to report :
That on the arrival at Annapolis of large numbers of paroled
and exchanged prisoners of war, in the winter of 1864-5, she
received letters of inquiry from all parts of the country, de-
siring information of soldiers supposed to have been captured.
She then advertised, with the entire approval of President Lin-
coln, that she would receive and answer such letters from An-
napolis; and by publication of the names of missing soldiers
and personal inquiry among the prisoners, she received infor-
mation of more than one thousand of the J&fteen hundred
soldiers whose names were thus published, and which she com-
municated without delay to their anxious relatives.
She subsequently found it necessary on account of the
largely increased number of inquiries, to extend her labors and
incur additional expense, by the employment of clerks, and
the publication of additional lists of missing men, 20,000 of
which were distributed through the country, including one
copy to each post office in the loyal states.
The system which she has originated has thus far proved a
complete success, but she has been compelled to abandon the
project solely for lack of means to carry it on ; and in order
to enable her to carry it to completion, the committee respect-
fully recommend the passage of the accompanying joint reso-
298 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
lution appropriating $15,000 to reimburse her for expense
already incurred, and to aid her in completing her work. The
only aid she has heretofore received has been the printing of
the rolls by the public printer, which the joint resolution rec-
ommends shall be continued.
She has in many instances obtained information of soldiers
who were reported as ''deserters," while they were languish-
ing in southern prisons, and their families were mourning for
them as disgraced, and her report has carried joy to many a
household, whose members, while they may have had pre-
sumptive evidence of the capture or death of the absent one,
only received positive evidence through her instrumentality.
Her observation warrants her in stating that, if the desired
aid be granted, information can be obtained of probably four-
fifths of those whose fate will otherwise never be ascertained.
The committee therefore respectfully recommend the pas-
sage of the accompanying resolution. (S. No. 36.)
The debate in the Senate (Congressional Globe,
March 5, 1866, page 184) is especially interesting in
view of later events.
During this period, with the Dorrance Atwater list
of deaths, she accompanied the army agent detailed to
locate and mark the graves in establishing the first
National Cemetery at Andersonville, Ga., where she
raised the flag after devoting months to this most
grewsome task. {Harper's Weekly of October 7, 1865,
describes this and has a full-page illustration.)
An insistent demand was made for Clara Barton on
the then most popular lecture platform, to which, after
much hesitation and on the advice of John B, Gough,
she yielded and told, of her wartime experiences to
enthusiastic audiences all over the North, commencing
at Hightstown, N. J. It is noteworthy, in view of a
later investigation of her financial standing, that these
lectures netted her over $5,000. She was also receiv-
ing a steady income from contributions to the press.
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian, 299
The long-continued strain of eight years proved too
great for even her remarkable vigor, and one night
she stood before a brilliant audience voiceless. A se-
vere prostration ensued. A year later she went to
Europe for the rest she could not secure in America.
She had friends in Switzerland to whom she went.
Her name and service were well known abroad and
she was soon honored by a visit from the "Interna-
tional Committee of the Red Cross," an organization
of which she had previously known little. Their in-
quiry was, "Why should the great United States gov-
ernment refuse to give its allegiance to this humani-
tarian Convention?" She, of course, could not reply.
Nor did she then know that a former minister to
Switzerland and the eminent Dr. Henry Bellows of the
Sanitary Commission had in vain urged upon our gov-
ernment the adoption of this treaty in 1864 and again
in 1868.
Fbanco-Peussian Wae.
July 15, 1870, France declared war upon Prussia.
A letter from Clara Barton, written in Berne on the
twenty-first, so ably describes the situation that in
honor to her intelligence it should be better known :
It is scarcely possible to conceive of anything more precipi-
tous than the business of this little week of time, which has
thrown the great nations into the attitude of war and put to
the test of decision the courts or people of every country in
Europe. A week ago she thought herself at peace. True she
had heard a day or two before of a few hasty words between
France and Prussia, but no one deemed it to mean more than
words until the wires of the 15th flashed Napoleon's declara-
tion of war. All Europe stood aghast. What did it mean?
What was it all about ? No one could believe it meant war in
reality, and the nations held their breath. Even the Prussian
press said it "could not be" it was zu dumm. But the reader
300 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
of history has yet to learn that nothing can be ' * too foolish, ' '
and no pretext too slight, where personal interest, royal dig-
nity, ambition, or pride are injured or threatened. But in
which of these, in the present instance, lies the tenderest nerve,
it is difficult, at this early moment of confusion and consterna-
tion, to decide.
Spain, which appears to have given, most innocently, the first
provocation, holds no place in the quarrel, and has less to say
and do about it than any other country. Her crime consists
in that her poor crown goes a begging, and she offered it to one,
and another, until at length the young German Prince Leopold
of Hohenzollern, having neither a crown nor the prospect of
one, accepted it. But when France, anxious to preserve the
national balance of power, and fearing to see her rival, and old
enemy, Germany, ruling on two sides, holding the keys to both
the Baltic and Mediterranean objected, he declined it. But
when for still further security, France insisted upon demand-
ing of the King of Prussia that in case of a pretender, neither
the Prince of Hohenzollern nor any other subject of his, should
ever accept, the King refused to confer with the messenger.
This insults the dignity of France, and she replies with one
word — ''War," and her populace, wild with enthusiasm,
shouts — "Yive la guerre." The decision passes over to
Prussia. The old King listens in profound silence while Bis-
marck reads to him the declaration, and starts with visible as-
tonishment at the passage in M. Ollivier's statement, in which
he says that France accepts the war and throws upon Prussia
the responsibility. When all is finished, he turns to his son,
the Prince Royal, embraces him tenderly, steps a little to one
side, and after a moment's hesitation, replies for Prussia in
scarce more words than Napoleon has for France; "War.
Prepare for War." And thus it is commenced.
It were long to tell, and will be the work of later days to
gather up and report, the various opinions and actions of the
surrounding nations of Europe. To-day it is enough to know
that all France and Prussia with, both northern and southern
Germany, are armed and marching to the Rhine ; That at any
moment we may hear that her blue waters are purpled with
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 301
the flowing tide of human life; that the flying wheels of ar-
tillery are plowing her golden fields, already bending low for
the harvest, and the crushing hoof of cavalry trampling out
her unripened vintage.
It may however, be interesting, or at least amusing, some
time after this, if the war continues, when the nations shall
have settled themselves, to refer to these first impressions and
decisions, before policy, strategy, or power have wholly en-
tered into the warp and woof of what may yet become a vast
political web, enveloping the entire continent of Europe, and
with this view I gather a few of the most important.
We are assured that nothing could exceed the outburst of
patriotic enthusiasm manifested by the French people at the
moment of the declaration, and the troops were with difficulty
restrained. "To the Rhine, to the Rhine." rang out on
every side. This is balanced by an equal enthusiasm, per-
haps a trifle more calm, on the part of the Prussians, the busi-
ness men of Dresden immediately offering a prize to him who
should first capture a French cannon. Baden, Wurtemburg,
and Bavaria at once proffer money and troops. Hanover was
a little slow to come in at first, and partly turned to France,
but overpowered by the stream of public opinion, she wheels
into line. Netherlands takes a decided stand and maintains an
armed neutrality under the Prince of Orange. Italy attempted
some demonstration in favor of Prussia and against Rome, but
this was immediately put down, and the people gave their
verdict as follows: "We shall neither French nor Prussians
be, but Italians." Poor Italy has nothing to spare for her
neighbors ' quarrels ; she will need all her military power for
the arrest of her own revolutionary element. Austria at once
announced her neutrality, and the Emperor so wrote Napoleon
with his own hand. Denmark, like the Netherlands, hesitated.
She remembers bitterly the loss of Schleswig-Holstein by the
Prussian aggression and naturally turns away. There is exul-
tation in the thought of a blockade of the Baltic at such a
moment for Prussia. Revenge is sweet; but this endangers
amicable relations with England, Russia, and North America,
and perhaps she cannot afford to indulge her resentment, how-
302 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
ever gratifying it might be. So, via Hamburg, at last comes
rumor of her declaration of neutrality. The intelligence from
Russia is vague and uncertain. England attempted to act the
mediator, but failed, and announces a strict neutrality, al-
though she had previously declared her sympathies to be with
Prussia. If one be not mistaken, Napoleon will need patience,
faith, and a good appetite to relish the neutral dish England
will serve up for him under these conditions. Her style of
neutrality is something wonderful. . . . And last comes little
Switzerland, bright as a diamond in her rough mountain set-
ting, proclaiming a neutrality which she means ; with no policy
but truth, no strategy but honesty, no diplomacy in this mat-
ter but to preserve inviolate and at all hazards her own na-
tional independence and God-given liberty. Hers is an armed
neutrality in which one has faith. Down all her mountain
sides and through all her valleys and over her fields, come one,
and two, and three, her sturdy brown cheeked mountain farm-
ers in their neat uniforms of blue, with knapsack and cartridge
box, grasping the ready musket with hands long calloused by
the plow, the sickle, and the scythe. During the twenty-four
hours since the declaration of war, there has been pouring
across her green peaceful bosom, this strange, steady stream
of soldier-life, till one fancies the fiery torch of Duncraggan
must have been sped over the hills. Forty thousand troops to-
day line her borders ; the entire length of her frontiers from
Basle to Lake Leman and the Boden-See glistens with bayonets
and darkens with men. Switzerland means nothing but honest
neutrality and the preservation of her liberties at any cost,
and when she tells you that she needs help, you may believe it
and know that she deserves it.
Princess Luise, Grand Duchess of Baden, only
daughter of King William of Prussia, came into the
life of Clara Barton at this time in a personal visit to
her; and one of the dearest and sweetest friendships
of her long, eventful life was then formed, one that
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 303
endured without a break to the end. This royal lady
came to urge her to go to Karlsruhe to counsel and
assist in directing Eed Cross work for relief. Although
still an invalid she consented; she served on several
battle-fields, including Worth and Gravelotte, and en-
tered Strassburg immediately after the surrender to
find a scene of devastation and misery rarely equalled.
In her own practical way, to become so familiar in
America, with the earnest cooperation of the Grand
Duchess of Baden, she procured materials for cloth-
ing, cutters, and teachers, secured a large room for
work and invited women to come and make clothing
for themselves and others and also earn a moderate
pay therefor. For eight months fifteen hundred fin-
ished garments were turned out weekly. She also
organized relief work at Metz, Montbelard, and Bel-
fort. Most touching accounts have been preserved
of the gratitude of these suffering people who had
been in no way responsible for their destitute condi-
tion. Throughout the war she served as agent of the
International Committee of the Eed Cross; her bras-
sard, stamped with its official seal, has been carefully
preserved.
After the fall of the Paris Commune, May, 1871,
Clara Barton went to that distressed city with the
International Eed Cross relief workers with supplies,
including garments that had been made at Strassburg.
She also distributed in France funds from the French
Eelief committees of Boston. Late in the winter she
went to Karlsruhe, becoming there a member of the
"palace set," an intimate companion of the Grand
Duchess of Baden. The following summer she made
an extended tour with friends in Italy. Her health
again failing, she spent a year of illness in London,
returning to America late in 1873. Then ensued three
304 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
years of extreme prostration. In 1876 she had recov-
ered sufficient strength to reach the noted sanitarium
at Dansville, N. Y., where she established and main-
tained a home for ten years and where her health was
gradually restored.
Owing to her long-continued illness, she had been
delayed in preparing and submitting itemized reports
to the French Relief committees of Boston until May,
1876, from one of which she received the following
reply :
60 State St. Boston
July 1st, 1876
Dear Miss Barton,
You will wonder at my long silence, but owing to the ab-
sence of the gentlemen of the Committee under whom I act, I
have only been able to obtain their signatures to-day. The
money in the hands of Messrs Brown Bros. & Co., including in-
terest on bonds, to May 1st is $4521 of which one quarter (or
$1130) belongs to Mr Jackson's fund. He will write to you
about this. The remainder, $3390, belongs to my fund. Of this
I am directed to pay $150 to distressed families from Alsace
now in Boston. The balance, (or $3240) to pay to the Massa-
chusetts General Hospital in trust, to pay all income arising
from this money to you during your life, afterwards to become
the property of the Hospital.
In making this arrangement the Committee desire to express
their high appreciation of your intelligence and self sacrifice
in distributing the funds placed in your hands, and the great
sympathy with you, in your long and painful illness, caused
partly by the work which you did in their behalf. They recog-
nise the great accuracy of your accounts, the large number of
vouchers collected by much labor, and the scrupulous care with
which you have guarded the money entrusted to you. They
wish you good health and a long life.
I need not tell you, dear Miss Barton, how cordially I join in
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 305
all good wishes for your health and happiness. May the Hos-
pital pay your annuity till the next Centennial.
Sincerely Yours,
Edmund Dwight.
Eaely History of the American Red Cross.
During the long and trying illness one thought had
oppressed her, why was it that her own beloved coun-
try should be the only one to fail to recognize the merit
of the Geneva Convention of the Red Cross? Why
had it been that two distinguished men failed to inter-
est our government? Could she hope to succeed in the
effort she had promised to make? With returning
strength she commenced writing Red Cross articles
for the press for the creation of a public sentiment.
In reply to an appeal for assistance and counsel, Dr.
Bellows advised her to abandon the project as hope-
less. But she was not to be discouraged and in 1877,
as the appointed agent of the "International Commit-
tee of Geneva," she presented to President Hayes a
letter from President Moynier of the Committee ask-
ing that our government accept the ''Articles of the
Convention of Geneva." She was most politely re-
ceived. The letter was referred to Secretary of State
Evarts, who in turn referred it to the Assistant Secre-
tary, Mr. Frederick Seward, who had pigeon-holed the
former appeals — he filed this carefully with them. As
no influential member of Congress could be interested
in the almost unknown "Red Cross," the case indeed
seemed hopeless, but she resolved to wait for another
administration before acknowledging defeat. At this
time she associated with herself her old-time friend
Mary Norton, Mrs. Fidelia Taylor, and Consul-Gen-
eral Hitz, Switzerland's representative to the United
States, as a committee or society of the Red Cross,
21
306 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
This committee devoted its activities to bringing to the
public attention the subject of the Red Cross and to
creating a sentiment in favor of a treaty. The mem-
bers were assisted by able pens of other interested
individuals. The press of that da}^ bears ample testi-
mony to their industry and ability. In 1878 a small
pamphlet, ''The Eed Cross of the Geneva Conven-
tion," was widely circulated. This educational work
was continued with unflagging zeal until the adminis-
tration of Mr. Hayes was succeeded by that of Mr.
Garfield, who with his brilliant Secretary of State,
Mr. Blaine, cordially endorsed the movement.
The original small committee was reorganized on
May 21, 1881, and was incorporated in July, 1881, in
the District of Columbia as "The Association of the
Red Cross," with the same object and scope, to secure
the adhesion of our government to the "Convention of
Geneva." The constitution of the society was care-
fully drawn by Judge William Lawrence and signed
by about fifty prominent individuals.^ President Gar-
field nominated Clara Barton for its president, but his
tragic death prevented official action, and it remained
for President Arthur to recommend the treaty in his
1 The signers of the Constitution were : Clara Barton, William Law-
rence, Mrs. Charles H. Upton, Edward W. Whitaker, L. A. Martha Can-
field, Joseph E. Holmes, Mrs. M. F. Walling, Walter P. Phillips, Mrs.
Fidelia H. Taylor, William F. iSliney, Emily Thornton Charles, William
M. Ferguson, E. E. Throckmorton, F. A. Prescott, Mary Stacy Withing-
ton, Eichard J. Hinton, A. M. Smith, Lizzie B. Walling, Judson S,
Brown, John Hitz, J. E. F. Gould, S. W. Bogan, C. H. H. Cottrell, Wil-
liam W. Hibbard, A. J.. Solomons, Greorge Kennan, Alexander Y. P.
Garnett, Eush E. Shippen, Sarah H. Hatch, E. D. Mussey, Mary Willard,
Delphine P. Baker, Mrs. W^illiam W. Hibbard, George B. Loring, Emiline
E. W. Kennan, Q. A. Bland, M. Cora Bland, E. N. Tilton, Imogene Eobin-
son Morrell, E. N. Throckmorton, Mrs. Lillian L. Walker, S. E. Barton,
F. C. Phillips, W. J. Curtis, P. V. De Graw, E. L. De Graw, Olive Eisley
Seward, F. H. Trusdell, Albert C. Phillips, F. B. Taylor, and Helen M.
Boynton.
Col. Hist. Soc, Vol. XXI, Pl. XVII.
flLi^jinLeyUiiPC-i^K. c^J-yi:^i^.4^^^£c/7^<, /^/^ Oti?-^ ^r<^^^.
Some of the Original Members of the American Association of the Red Cross.
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 307
inaugural. It was accepted and signed by him March
1, 1882, Congress generously providing $1,000 for
printing a '' History of the Red Cross." The senti-
ment had grown in four years. The letter-head of the
"Association" read:
The American Association of the Red Cross organized under
the Treaty of Geneva for the Eelief of Sufferings of War, Pes-
tilence, Famine, Fires, Floods, and other Great National Ca-
lamities.
Chester A. Arthur, President Board of Consultation.
Executive Officers ;
Clara Barton, President.
Walter P. Phillips, General Secretary.
George Kennan, Treasurer.
Trustees ;
Charles Folger, Robert T, Lincoln, George B. Loring.
Upon the assurance that our government would take
confirmatory action, local societies were organized in
Dansville, Rochester, and Syracuse just in time to
afford Red Cross relief to sutferers from forest fires
in Michigan. It is interesting to note the name of
Susan B. Anthony as an incorporator of the society at
Rochester; she and Clara Barton were then and to the
last, intimate and confidential friends; Clara Barton
was an active suffragist.
The ''Association of the Red Cross" worked under
its District of Columbia charter for ten years, but a
federal charter was desired in order to protect the in-
signia and to give the society the power and standing
it should have in the nation. Every possible effort
was made to secure this legislation from Congress.
Many weary days Clara Barton and others spent at
the Capitol interviewing indifferent members. Sev-
308 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
eral times success was almost within grasp, only to
fail in the most unexpected and exasperating manner.
In 1893 the ''Association" was re-incorporated in the
District as the "American National Eed Cross" with
a somewhat broader scope. From 1892 to 1895, in-
clusive, the old mansion at the corner of Seventeenth
and F Streets, now the Depot Quartermaster's Office,
which Miss Barton rented and renovated at her own
expense, was Red Cross headquarters.
In the seventeen years from 1881 to 1898 relief was
taken to fifteen fields of disaster, three in foreign
lands. Approximately one million dollars in money
and supplies were distributed at a total expense of less
than two per cent. In America this relief was distrib-
uted through local committees, sometimes under the
personal supervision of Clara Barton, president, and
her able field agent, Dr. J. B. Hubbell, to whom honor
is due for self-abnegation and devoted service to the
cause of humanity. Each year a full and complete finan-
cial report was made at the annual meeting of the so-
ciety, as required by its constitution. Accurate accounts
were kept of all receipts and expenditures ; in the cases
of extended fields these accounts were audited by ex-
perts. Insinuations of laxity in this accounting, so
widely circulated that some even of Miss Barton's
staunchest friends have thought it wise to quote ex-
tenuating circumstances, are proven by late investiga-
tion to have been unfounded on fact. No donor to or
recipient of Red Cross relief ever criticized Clara
Barton's bookkeeping. The dominating motive in this
relief work was expedition. In all the appeals for as-
sistance therefore the call was for supplies to be made
immediately available rather than for funds to pur-
chase these supplies. No salaries were jDaid to this
old Red Cross force except to a few temporarily em-
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 309
ployed in field service or as secretaries to the presi-
dent in times of pressure of work. The expense of
the headquarters was always borne by Clara Barton,
in fact she maintained the Red Cross for twenty-three
years, the United States alone of all the nations having
failed to establish a fund for the maintenance of its
Red Cross. Dues were not collected from members of
the central committee until 1900.
In August, 1881, the citizens of Dansville, N. Y.,
organized the first Red Cross auxiliary society, which
was followed in a few weeks by similar action in
Rochester and Syracuse. Scarcely was the first com-
pleted when a call from Michigan touched every humane
impulse ; forest fires had swej^t over miles of territory,
hundreds of people had been made homeless and were
suffering. Money and supplies were quickly collected
and sent to the relief of stricken refugees through Mr.
M. J. Bunnell and Dr. J. B. Hubbell. This prompt
action was an object lesson of the value of organiza-
tion.
About 1884, yielding to the solicitation of General,
then Grovernor, Benjamin F. Butler, Clara Barton took
charge of the ''Woman's Reformatory" at Sherburn,
Massachusetts, for one year. She made her own bond,
depositing $10,000 in railway securities. As always,
she succeeded in making an unusual record by winning
the hearts and confidence of the unfortunate inmates
and by saving the State much money.
The first great work of the Red Cross after its in-
corporation was during the inundations of the Ohio
and Mississippi valleys in 1882, 1883, and 1884, when
in specially chartered steamboats Clara Barton and
her volunteer assistants supplemented the relief pro-
vided by Congress by distributing approximately
$175,000 in supplies.
310 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
The expedition had barely returned from the west
when Secretary of State Frelinghuysen designated
Clara Barton to represent this country at the Interna-
tiotial Conference of the Eed Cross to be held at
Geneva in September, 1884. At this Conference, she,
the only woman among the titled and illustrious repre-
sentatives of thirty-two nations, received an ovation.^
It is said she bore herself with modest and simple dig-
nity. From the official proceedings of this Conference
we learn that the discussion of the resolution ''That
the Red Cross societies in time of peace engage in
humanitarian relief work analogous to the duties de-
volving upon them in periods of war," was principally
a recital of the American Red Cross work in fields of
national disasters, and that immediately after its adop-
tion Colonel Tosi of Italy proposed the following reso-
lution : ' ' That this Conference declares that in obtain-
ing the accession of the United States of America to
the Convention of Geneva Miss Clara Barton has well
merited the gratitude of the world," which was passed
by acclamation.
In 1887 she was designated a delegate to the Con-
ference at Karlsruhe, this time by President Cleve-
land. There she was the special guest of the Grand
Duchess of Baden and had another opportunity to meet
the old Emperor of Germany, who summoned her to
Baden-Baden for the interview. He favored her with
a long and private audience. He inquired about the
Germans in America, hoped they were proving good
citizens, and in parting gave her his hand, saying: ''It
is probably the last time. Good-bye." On a previous
occasion he had bestowed upon her the Iron Cross of
Merit in recognition of her relief service in the Franco-
Prussian War.
1 Berne (Switzerland) Bundesblatt, Sept. 4, 1884.
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 311
JoHXSTOwx Flood Eelief.
In May, 1889, Johnstown in Pennsylvania was swept
away by an avalanche of water released by the break-
ing of a dam in the mountains. Clara Barton with a
corps of experienced volunteers arrived on the first
train from the east and reported for service to the
astonished militia general in command, who was non-
plussed as to what he could do to make so great a lady
comfortable. She was not long in convincing him she
could care for herself and relieve him of many per-
plexities during the five months of her stay. Within
a week carloads of lumber were arriving consigned to
"Clara Barton" that went into barracks to shelter the
homeless inhabitants and a warehouse for incoming
supplies of food and clothing. In the stress of imme-
diate need the force worked day and night assisting a
committee of citizens. Twenty-five thousand persons
were recipients of Red Cross assistance. At the close
of the season she turned over to a society, organized
for the purpose of continuing the work, all stores, in-
cluding buildings, and all papers and duplicate ac-
counts of relief work, with the services of two clerks
as long as needed. On this field a working force of
fifty men and women had been employed, some being
paid for their services. A peculiar circumstance
caused some unjust criticism. When the temporary
buildings had to be razed, the merchants of the city
protested against the sale or gift of the materials to
citizens of Johnstown— the Flood Commission having
distributed $2,378,000 pro rata among them— yet the
removal of some of the lumber to Washington brought
criticism from persons who did not know the facts.
Lots in Kalorama in this city were purchased on which
it was proposed to build a Red Cross warehouse with
these materials, but the gift to Clara Barton person-
312 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
ally of a house complete for occupancy, with large
grounds, by the National Chautauqua Association at
Glen Echo, Maryland, caused the abandonment of this
project. In the report of the Johnstown Finance
Committee occurs this statement :
In this matter of sheltering the people, as in others of like
importance, Miss Clara Barton, president of the Red Cross As-
sociation, was most helpful. At a time when there was a
doubt if the Flood Commission could furnish houses of suitable
character and with the requisite promptness, she offered to as-
sume charge, and she erected with funds of the association,
three large apartment houses which afforded comfortable
lodgings for many houseless people. She was among the first
to arrive on the scene of calamity bringing with her Dr. Hub-
bell, the field officer of the Red Cross Association, and a staff
of skilled assistants. She made her own organization for re-
lief work in every form, disposing of the large resources under
her control with such wisdom and tenderness that the charity
of the Red Cross had no sting and its recipients are not Miss
Barton's dependents, but her friends. She was also the last
of the ministering spirits to leave the scene of her labors, and
she left her apartment houses for use during the winter and
turned over her warehouse with its store of furniture, bedding,
and clothing and a well equipped infirmary, to the Union
Benevolent Association of the Conemaugh Valley, the organiza-
tion of which she advised and helped to form; and its lady
visitors have so well performed their work that the dreaded
winter has no terrors, mendicancy has been repressed, and not
a single case of unrelieved suffering is known to have occurred
in all the flooded district.
From an editorial in the Johnstown Tribune of No-
vember 1, 1889, reprinted in an editorial of the same
paper on July 25, 1916, we quote :
How shall we thank Miss Barton and the Red Cross for the
help they have given us ? It cannot be done ; and if it could,
Miss Barton does not want our thanks. She has simply done
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 313
her duty as she saw it and received her pay — the conscious-
ness of a duty performed to the best of her ability. To see us
upon our feet, struggling forward, helping ourselves, caring
for the sick and impoverished — that is enough for Miss Barton.
Her idea has been fully worked out, all her plans are accom-
plished. What more could such a woman wish ?
We cannot thank Miss Barton in words. Hunt the diction-
aries of all the languages and you will not find the signs to ex-
press our appreciation of her and her work. Try to describe
the sunshine. Try to describe the starlight. Words fail, and
in dumbness and silence we bow to the idea which brought her
here. God and humanity. Never were they more closely linked
than in stricken Johnstown. . . . Picture the sunlight or the
starlight and then try to say good-bye to Miss Barton. As well
try to escape from your self by running to the mountains. ' ' I
go, but I return" is as true of her as of Him who said it.
There is really no parting. She is with us, she will be with us
always — in the spirit of her work even after she has passed
away.
But we can say God bless you, and we do say it. Miss Bar-
ton, from the bottom of our hearts, one and all.
While organizing the relief for the Russian famine
in 1892 Clara Barton received the following letter
from Johnstown :
. . . Herewith please find enclosed N Y Dfts aggregating
Fifteen Hundred Dollars contributed by citizens of Johns-
town and vicinity to the Russian Relief Fund and directed to
be forwarded and distributed through the agency of the Red
Cross Association.
Subscriptions are still being received and a supplemental re-
mittance to you will be made later.
It is hoped that the relief for the starving peasantry of
Russia may be as prompt and efficient as was furnished by a
most generous public to our Johnstown people in the year
1889 and its distribution be as fair and just.
Trusting success niay attend the efforts of those in charge,
I remain, respectfully
B. S. Yeagley, Acting Mayor.
314 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
EussiAN Famine Relief.
The call for relief for famishing Eussians followed
in 1891. Iowa and the west responded nobly with
many carloads of corn, for which the Order of Elks
and others furnished the funds for the ocean transpor-
tation. Most of the business of this movement was
transacted through the Red Cross at the headquarters
in Washington. To Dr. Hubbell, already in Europe
as delegate to the International Conference at Rome
from the United States, was given the oversight of the
receipt of shipments and distribution; he cooperated
with the Russian Red Cross and with the advice of
Count Tolstoy, Count Brobinskoy, and others. Amer-
ica's contributions supplemented the Russian imperial
relief by an amount of food to supply seven hundred
thousand people for one month.
Mr. B. F. Tillinghast, for years editor of the Daven-
port Gazette and secretary of tlie Iowa Relief Com-
mittee, who made a full report at the time, has lately
supplemented it in a letter dated October 30, 1916, from
which I quote:
... I would not detract in the smallest way from the glor-
ious records made by many American women, all of them
deserving of very high honors and lasting gratitude; but in
my opinion Clara Barton stands out most luminously for the
many years she served humanity; for the great number and
variety of her activities; for the zeal, devotion and self sacri-
fice that marked her efforts; for the actual results she at-
tained. Those closest to her, those among whom she admin-
istered relief, those who were witnesses to her fearlessness and
singleness of purpose are her most unwavering and grateful
upholders. . . .
My personal acquaintance with Miss Barton extended
through some twenty years. But for a longer period I did all
I could to assist in raising funds for relief work in which she
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 315
was engaged. At her request I went to Beaufort, South
Carolina, at the time of the destructive tidal wave, and saw
organized charity at its best. The store houses were full of
goods — clothing, seeds, implements, and provisions — and from
what I saw during two weeks I know that every dollar was
made to do its utmost, the dominant object being to help the
sufferers to help themselves. The expenses at Red Cross head-
quartei's, and all through the work, were kept down to the
minimum, the surroundings of j\liss Barton and her staff be-
ing the most common place. How a woman could toil as she
did, all day and much of the night, I do not know. Hers
was the encouraging force that stimulated her helpers at most
discouraging times.
For several months in 1892, by appointment of Governor
Boies of Iowa, I acted as Secretary of the Russian Famine
Relief Committee of that state. Miss Barton was consulted
and strongly advised that the contributions, if in money, be
converted into home-gro\\Ti grain. This was because the rail-
roads offered free transportation to the Atlantic seaboard, a
service that represented many thousand dollars ; and also be-
cause foodstuffs were more needed in the famine districts than
money. The aggregate contributions were assembled in New
York, stored in warehouses, and placed aboard the steamship.
... I was designated by the Iowa committee to receive ship-
ments and supervise loading in New York and while so em-
ployed met Miss Barton frequently. Her counsel was sought,
because it was businesslike. She stated that she wished to see
Iowa's contributions go intact, and in order that this might
be done she deposited in the Chemical National Bank a check
drawn on Riggs & Co. of Washington for an amount estimated
to be ample to cover expenses. My recollection is that this
deposit was $20,000, but this and the checks against it are on
record.
In the spring of 1902 President Roosevelt named a com-
mission of five to represent the American branch at the Sixth
Conference of the International Red Cross to be held in St.
Petersburg. Miss Barton headed the delegates, I acted as sec-
retary and was with her at St. Petersburg. I was deeply
316 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
impressed, at her then advanced age, by Miss Barton's clear-
ness of mind, her ready memory, and her passion for effective
work. No other delegate at the Conference, twenty-six na-
tions being represented, was shown as much deference, not
only by her associates, but by the Dowager Empress, the Czar,
and the Czarina. The decoration of the Order of the Red
Cross was confered upon her by the Czar at that time.
]\Iiss Barton's habits and manners were those of marked
simplicity. Her economy in all things but time, nervous, and
physical force, was more than frugal, as this was many times
in evidence. . . . My faith in her sincerity, unselfishness, fidel-
ity to every trust, and strict probity can never be shaken. As
for her unequalled achievements, they cannot be called in
question.
The Russian Ambassador, Mr. Boris Baklimetieff,
during his visit to Boston August, 1917, on learning of
the reception tendered by the G. A. R. and women of
the Relief Corps to the old army nurses, requested
permission to attend. In his address to the nurses he
made a touching allusion to the veneration in which
Russians of every class hold the name of Clara Barton.
South Caeolina Tidal Wave.
Probably the greatest work accomplished by the
American Red Cross was the relief taken to the inhabi-
tants of the islands off the coast of South Carolina
after the tidal wave of 1893. The best account of this
that I have found was given by Clara Barton in her
report published in 1894:
It cannot be necessary to repeat at this late day that I was
asked by your Governor Mr. Tillman to accept the charge of
the relief of the sufferers of the Sea Islands, of whom it was
said there were thirty thousand who would need aid until they
could raise something to subsist upon, themselves. This was ac-
cepted with great hesitation, and, only in view of the fact that
no other body of persons in all the land appeared to assume
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 317
the responsibility, and with the cordial, unselfish, and gen-
erous support of the advisory committees of Charleston and
Beaufort, to whom our earnest thanks are due, the work has
been carried on to a successful conclusion. It later developed
that an equal number of persons, both white and colored, re-
siding on the seagirt coast of the state, now known as the
"mainland," were nearly as destitute as the islanders, and
many of them equally storm swept. Finding these people ap-
pealing to us, and well knowing that, in the depressed financial
condition of the entire United States, we could not safely take
on this double charge, we memorialized the South Carolina
Legislature in November; the people, also under our advice,
petitioned for a little aid to get them through the winter.
The Governor also recommended the suggestion. For some
reason which we never knew, no response was given. We
never questioned this, but redoubled our exertions to meet
the wants as they came by single rations issued upon applica-
tion, until our books show an issue up to June 1st of over
34,000 to the needy white and colored on the mainland of the
State, from Charleston to Savannah. No applicant unless
detected in absolute imposition, and this after having been
repeatedly served with all he needed for the time, has ever
been declined. Our thirty thousand Sea Islanders have re-
ceived their weekly rations of food, they have been taught to
distribute their own clothing, making official report, and have
done it well. They are a well clothed people ; and over 20,000
garments have gone to the mainland. Thousands of little
homes have been rebuilt or repaired, and are occupied. Over
245 miles of ditches have been made, reclaiming and im-
proving many thousands of acres of land ; nearly five tons of
garden seeds, producing all varieties of vegetables in their
well fenced gardens of from a quarter of an acre to one acre
and more for each family ; with 800 bushels of peas and beans,
have been provided. These seeds have been distributed on the
islands and to every applicant from the mainland ; 1,000 bushels
of Irish potato seed, 40,0 bushels of which went to the main-
land; 1,800 bushels of seed com, 800 bushels of this dis-
tributed on the mainland. These provisions, together with a
318 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
revival of the phosphate industries, the fish in the rivers, and
their boats in repair, have served to make the 30,000 Sea
Islanders, whom we were asked to take charge of nine months
ago, a prosperous and self-helping people. They know this
and realize they can take care of themselves, and we cannot
but regard any attempt at throwing them again upon the
charities of the outside world as demoralizing, misleading, and
fatal to them, as a self supporting and independent class of
industrial people, and a matter which should concern the
State whose wards they are.
Her report should be supplemented by a statement
of the Beaufort, S. C, Relief Committee composed of
the leading citizens of that city :
. . . The undersigned, citizens of Beaufort, who have been
associated with the work of the Red Cross since its advent in
our midst, feel impelled by a sense of duty, and in simple
justice to an organization which eame to our relief at a time
when their advent was regarded as a most fortunate event,
to say, that we have been deeply impressed with the integrity,
economy, impartiality, and unswerving devotion to duty of
that organization under the most trying circumstances and
over a field that extended almost one hundred and fifty miles
along the coast, among numerous islands, distant and inac-
cessible, and at a time when the country was in such financial
and industrial throes as to tax the resources of each com-
munity to provide for its own poor, and in consequence
whereof comparatively very little means were obtained where-
with to administer to the starving thousands. Viewing the
situation from that standpoint, Miss Barton at once perceived
the necessity of confining her work to a limited territory
commensurate with the means at her disposal, and make the
"mainland" the line of demarkation and concluded, as a mat-
ter of necessity, to confine her labors to the Sea Islands, that
being the territory devasted by storm and inundation, and the
one over which she was invited to take charge and for whose
relief the moneys sent her were intended by the donors. Not-
M-ithstanding this, the system adopted has never been strictly
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 319
adhered to and thousands of persons, white and colored, re-
siding on the mainland have been helped.
In the kindness of her heart, throbbing with anxiety for
the amelioration of the suffering and destitute with which we
have been surrounded, no one possibly regrets with keener pangs
of disappointment than Miss Barton that she was not able to
extend her field of usefulness even beyond the present laborious
one and gather under her benevolent care every destitute
person, white and colored, far and near, who had even a
semblance of claim as a stoi-m sufferer.
Being impressed with the need of its people, white and
colored, on the mainland to a greater extent than the means
at her command would relieve. Miss Barton sent the follow-
ing letter to Governor Tillman under date of December 16,
1893:
''"We have been awaiting your legislative committee with
considerable anxiety as this field, ever an exceedingly hard
and perplexing one, has been made doubly difficult, owing to
the great number of appeals from the mainland. Delegations,
committees, and single petitioners swarm around us in such
vast numbers that, added to our island wards, well nigh dead-
locks our relief work. "We are overpowered by importunate
and destitute people and our funds are far too small to relieve
the multitude, so that if we are not speedily relieved our
supply will be entirely exhausted. You will remember, Gov-
ernor, that we were invited to take charge of the relief of. the
Sea Islands, and that we did not accept the great responsibility
for wrecks because we were apprehensive that we, veterans
though we were, could not successfully cope with the diffi-
culties, owing to the depressed condition of the country; the
many demands that had been, and were being made on the
pocketbooks of the great-hearted people, as well as the fact
that there were many thousands of helpless ones on the is-
lands who would have to be cared for, not Aveeks but months.
''We made our estimates based upon investigation and
finally accepted, when lo, a multitude that we were unpre-
pared for sweeps down iipon us from the mainland and we are
overwhelmed. We ask you. Governor, to relieve us of this
320 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
additional burden in some way, either by selecting a com-
mittee to take care of them or by placing a sufficient sum of
money in our hands for their relief, defining the district ex-
actly if possible. "We will petition your State in this direction
and sincerely trust you will give the memorial your hearty and
earnest endorsement and support as you have every measure
for the benefit of the people. ' '
Two days later Governor Tillman sent the following mes-
sage to the Legislature :
''. . . I transmit herewith a letter from Miss Clara Barton,
President of the American National Red Cross Society which
has in charge the distribution of the relief fund contributed
for the Sea Island sufferers whose houses and crops were de-
stroyed by the cyclone and storm of the 27th of last August.
This noble lady and her co-workers have labored zealously in
behalf of the homeless and destitute islanders, and she now
appeals for help for another class, the people living on the
mainland who are begging for relief.
"From my personal knowledge a considerable area in
Colleton County was as seriously damaged as any of the is-
lands, except possibly St Helena, and I would recommend such
appropriation as in your wisdom you may see proper to make.
Having failed to adopt my suggestion of having a special
committee to investigate the matter you will have to rely on
such information as can be furnished by the representatives
in your bodies from the devastated district to help you. Etc.
B. S. Tillman, Governor."
Notwithstanding the appeal and the message of the Gov-
ernor the Legislature adjourned without taking any steps to
investigate the condition of the sufferers or to provide a
single cent for the relief of these their fellow citizens.
Upon closing up her labors in this field, we, on behalf of
the thousands who have been so liberally benefited by her
charitable work, tender to her and her staff of co-workers our
most heartfelt and sincere thanks and high appreciation of
the gratifying results of their labor.
In conclusion we deem it a pleasure to be enabled to place
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 321
upon record our confidence in the Red Cross, together with
that of the thousands of others through the country who have
preceded us, and who have had an equal opportunity with us
to observe the workings of this organization and be imbued,
as we have, with its efficiency and availability promptly to
meet any emergency upon which it may be called to admin-
ister, and to affirm how well founded is the confidence reposed
in the American National Red Cross.
G. Holmes, Mayor
Wm. H. Lockwood
Chas. E, Banner
Robert Smalls
Geo, W. Ford
N. Christensen
George Waterhouse
Duncan C. Wilson
J. J. Dale
L, A. Beardslee, Commodore U. 8. N.
Clara Barton also visited Charleston, in 1886, after
the destructive earthquake. At that time her call on
Eed Cross societies and the public (through the press)
brought much needed supplies to be distributed by
local committees. In behalf of the Eed Cross she
donated five hundred dollars to charitable institutions.
The relief work being well organized under Mayor
Courtney, her personal services were not needed.
On May 28, 1904, the Southern Reporter of Charles-
ton published the following editorial: "We of South
Carolina can never forget Miss Barton's contribution
to the storm-wrecked people on our desolated sea coast
after the fearful tempest of 1893. She came as an
angel of mercy and those deeds of mercy are indelibly
engraved on our hearts. With uncovered heads and
with profound deference we bow to the blesssed name
of Clara Baeton." -
22
322 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Relief Woek in Aemenia.
Clara Barton's diplomacy served her well in secur-
ing from the Sublime Porte permission to send relief
to the sufferers from Kurdish atrocities in Armenia.
During the summer of 1895 reports from mission-
aries and travellers had touched the sympathetic
American heart and the demand was made that sup-
plies be sent to Armenia. As the representative of
the American Red Cross, Clara Barton was the logical
messenger, Turkey being a signatory of the Conven-
tion of Geneva, but the Turkish minister at Washing-
ton refused a permit. Not deterred by this she, ac-
companied by assistants with funds, and promises,
sailed for Constantinople by the way of London.
Her interview with Tewfik Pasha, prime minister,
to whom she was introduced by Hon. A. W. Terrell,
United States Minister, as told by herself is inter-
esting :
To those conversant with the personages connected with
Turkish affairs, I need not say that Tewfik Pasha is probably
the foremost man of the government ; a manly man, with a
kind, fine face, and genial, polished manners. Educated
abroad, with advanced views on general subjects, he im-
presses one as a man who would sanction no wrong it was in
his power to avert.
We were received at the Department of State in an uninter-
rupted interview lasting over an hour. As this was the main
interview and the base of all our work, it is perhaps proper
that I give it somewhat in detail. Islv Terrell's introduction
was most appropriate and well expressed, bearing with strong
emphasis upon the suffering condition of the people of the in-
terior in consequence of the massacres, and the great sympathy
of the people of America ; their intense desire to help them, the
heartfelt interest in their missionaries whose burdens were
greater than they ought to bear, and the desire to aid them;
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 323
and that for all these reasons we had been asked to come ; that
our objects were purely humanitarian, having neither political,
racial, nor religious bearing ; that as the head of the organiza-
tion thus represented I could have no other ideas, and it was
the privilege of putting those ideas into practice, and the pro-
tection required meanwhile, that the people of America,
through him and through me, were asking.
The Pasha listened most attentively to the speech of Mr. Ter-
rell, thanked him, and replied that this was well understood;
that he knew the Red Cross and its president, and turning
to me, repeated; "We know you. Miss Barton; have long
known you and your work. We would like to hear your plans
for relief and what you desire." I proceeded to state them,
bearing fully upon the fact that the condition to which the
people of the interior of Asia Minor had been reduced by
recent events, had aroused the sympathy of the entire Amer-
ican people, until they asked, almost to the extent of a demand,
that assistance from them should be allowed to go directly to
these sufferers, hundreds of whom had friends and relatives in
America — a fact which naturally strengthened both the inter-
est and the demand ; that it was at the request of our people,
en masse, that I and a few assistants had come ; that our object
would be, to use the funds ourselves among those needing it,
where ever they were found, in helping them to resume their
former positions and avocations, thus relieving them from con-
tinued distress, the State from the burden of providing for
them, and other nations and people from a torrent of sym-
pathy which was both hard to endure and unwholesome in its
effects; that I had brought skilled agents, practical and ex-
perienced farmers, whose first efforts would be to get the people
back to their deserted fields and provide them with farming
implements and material wherewith to put in summer crops,
and thus enable them to feed themselves. These would in-
clude plows, hoes, spades, seed corn, wheat, and later, sickles,
scythes, etc, for harvesting, with which to save the miles of
autumn grain we had heard of as growing on the great plains,
already in the ground before the trouble ; also to provide for
324 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
them such cattle and other animals as it would be possible to
purchase or to recover ; that if some such thing were not done
before another winter, unless we had been greatly misin-
formed, the suffering there would shock the entire civilized
world. None of us knew from personal observation, as yet,
the full need of assistance, but had reason to believe it very
great. That if my agents were permitted to go, such need as
they found they would be prompt to relieve. On the other
hand, if they did not find the need existing there, none would
leave the field so gladly as they. There would be no respect-
ing of persons; humanity alone would be their guide. "We
have," I added, "brought only ourselves, no correspondent has
accompanied us, and we shall have none, and shall not go home
to write a book about Turkey. "We are not here for that.
Nothing shall be done in any concealed manner. All des-
patches which we send will go openly through your own tele-
graph, and I shall be glad if all we shall write could be seen by
your government. I cannot of course say what its character
will be, but I can vouch for its truth, fairness and integrity,
and for the conduct of every leading man who shall be sent.
I shall never counsel nor permit a sly or underhand action
with your government, and you will pardon me. Pasha if I
say that I shall expect the same treatment in return — such as
I give I shall expect to receive."
Almost without a breath he replied; "And you shall have
it. We honor your position, and your wishes will be re-
spected. Such aid and protection as we are able to, we shall
render." I then asked if it were necessary for me to see other
officials. "No," he replied, "I speak for my government."
and with cordial good wishes our interview closed.
I never spoke personally with this gentleman again ; all
further business being officially transacted through the officers
of our Legation. Yet I can truly say, as I have said of our
matchless band of missionary workers, that here commenced
an acquaintance which proved invaluable, and here were given
pledges of mutual faith, of which not a word was ever broken
or invalidated on either side, and to which I owe what we were
able to do through all Asia Minor. It is to the strong escorts
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 325
ordered from the Sublime Porte for our expeditions and men,
that I owe the fact that they all came back to me, and that I
bring them home to you, tired and worn, but saved and useful
still. Dr. Hubbell and the leaders of the expeditions tell us
they were never, even for a portion of a day, without an escort
for protection, and this at the expense of the Turkish govern-
ment, and that without this protection they must not and
could not have proceeded.
Although the American people by their violent de-
nunciations of Turkish methods made her position ex-
tremely delicate, Clara Barton so conducted her busi-
ness as never to be subjected to the slightest disrespect
in the Turkish country. Four expeditions were sent
hundreds of miles into the interior, from the Medi-
terranean to the Black Sea, and returned in safety.
Medicines for the stricken and supplies for rehabili-
tating the distressed Armenians in their homes were
IDurchased and distributed to the amount of $116,000.
All the expense of the expedition and distribution was
met out of Bed Cross special funds. Clara Barton
with her secretary remained at Constantinople for six
months directing, supplying, and corresponding, work-
ing day and night over details. This must certainly
be classed as a wonderful adventure skilfully and he-
roically conducted.
Prince Guy de Lusignan, Patriarch of Armenia, con-
ferred upon Clara Barton the decoration of the Royal
Order of Melusine, which is described officially as
follows :
Brevet of Chevalier of the Royal Order of Melusine,
founded in 1186, by Sibelle, Queen and spouse of King Guy of
Jerusalem, and reinstituted several years since by Marie,
Princess of Lusignan. . The order is conferred for humanitar-
ian, scientific, and other services of distinction, but especially
when such services are rendered to the House of Lusignan, and
326 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
particularly to the Armenian nation. The Order is worn by a
number of reigning sovereigns, and is highly prized by the
recipients because of its rare bestowal and its beauty. This
decoration is bestowed by His Royal Highness, Qny of Lu-
signan, Prince of Jerusalem, Cyprus, and Armenia.
The Sultan of Turkey, also, despite the hostile atti-
tude of the American press, awarded Clara Barton the
decoration of the Shefaket, his letter transmitting the
decoration through the State Department containing
these words :
As Miss Barton, American citizen, possesses many great and
distinguished qualities and as recompense is due her, I am
pleased therefore to accord her the second class of my decora-
tions of Shefaket.
This Order is bestowed upon those who have ren-
dered signal service in humanitarian work.
Minister Terrell's appreciation of her services in
Armenia is shown in the following letter :
Austin, Tex. Dec. 31st 1909.
My Dear Miss Clara Barton,
Your welcome letter was read on my return some time after
an absence of several weeks. It convej^ed to me the pleasing
reflection that I was not forgotten.
You referred in that letter to our interview with the Min-
ister of Foreign Affairs, when I was trying to open the door
for you to take relief to the destitute Armenians. Your letter
was written on the 14th inst. On the 22d (six days after-
wards) I, while addressing the directors of the "New York
Woman's Hospital," and the wealthy ladies who patronize
that hospital, spoke of that same interview at length. It was
a strange co-incidence. Amongst other things I told that audi-
ence, that when we were returning from the Sublime Porte and
crossing the bridge over the Golden Horn as the sun was shin-
ning low in the western sky and the cold blast blowing from
the Bosphorus — I asked you how you eould pursue so strenu-
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 327
ous a life, and if you did not grow weary? And then came
your answer, when you told me that you sometimes grew so
weary, that you felt like placing your cheek on the bosom of the
earth, and thus fading into the unknown; but then came the
thought that suffering humanity needed you, and that thought
cheered and sustained you — I can never forget it.
What a grand consolation will be yours when you leave this
transitory existence ; the reflection that your life has been de-
voted to alleviating the pangs of suffering humanity will some
day sweeten the death pang and gild with rosy light the open-
ing visions of the future.
I cherish the hope that we will meet again. If fate decree
otherwise the memory of my pleasant relations with you will
always be cherished, and I will esteem it among the most for-
tunate events of my life that I knew you. May God bless and
long preserve you.
Truly your friend
A. W. Terrell
The Spanish-Ameeican Wae.
It has lately been stated that the existing conflict in
Europe has afforded the first war field for the Ameri-
can Eed Cross. There was an unpleasantness in Cuba
in 1898 that cost the United States many fine men and
much treasure. Knowing Clara Barton, it is needless
to state that our Red Cross was early known to Cubans
and Spaniards, as well as to Americans. In fact she
received testimonials and decorations from the Cortes
of Spain and the Spanish authorities in Cuba. Relief
was first taken to the reconcentrado camps, then, when
war had been declared, to our soldiers at the front.
The following papers will partly tell the tale officially:
328 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Executive Mansion
Washington
February 4, 1898.
To Whom it May Concern :
The bearer, Miss Clara Barton, President of the American
National Red Cross, and Delegate of the United States of
America Vienna, 1897, of Washington, D. C, is about to pro-
ceed to Cuba to assist in the relief of the unfortunate people
there. Miss Barton's well known ability, her long devotion to
the noble work of extending relief to the needy and suffering
in different lands, as well as her high character as a woman,
commend her to the highest consideration and good will of all
people.
I bespeak for Miss Barton, wherever her mission may take
her, such assistance and encouragement, as she may need in
prosecuting the work to which she has devotedly given so much
time and service.
William McKinley
War Department, Washington, June 6, 1898.
Clara Barton, President:
The tender of the services of the American National Red
Cross, made to this Department, through the Department of
State, under date of May 25, 1898, for medical and hospital
work as auxiliary to the hospital service of the Army of the
United States, is accepted; all representatives and employes
of said organization to he subject to orders according to the
rules and discipline of war, as provided by the 63d Article of
War.
Very respectfully.
R A Alger,
Secretary of War.
From Senate proceedings, 2d session, 55th Congress,
1898, pages 2916-17 and 3129-30.
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 329
Mr Proctor: Mr President, more importance seems to be
attached by others to my recent visit to Cuba than I have
given it and it has been suggested that I make a public state-
ment of what I saw and how the situation impressed me. . . .
Miss Barton needs no endorsement from me, I had known
and esteemed her for many years, but had not half appreciated
her capability and devotion to her work. I especially looked
into her business methods, fearing that here would be the
greatest danger of mistake, that there might be want of system
and waste and extravagance, but found she could teach me on
those points. I visited the warehouse where the supplies were
received and distributed, saw the method of checking ; visited
the hospitals established or organized and supplied by her ; saw
the food distribution in several cities and towns, and every
thing seems to me to be conducted in the best manner possible.
The ample fine warehouse in Habana, owned by a Cuban firm,
is given, with a gang of laborers free of charge to unload and
re-ship supplies.
The children's hospital in Habana, a very large fine private
residence, is hired at a cost of less than $100 per month, not a
fifth of what it would command in this city. It is under the
admirable management of Mrs Dr. Lesser of New York, a Ger-
man lady and trained nurse. I saw the rapid improvement of
the first children taken there. All Miss Barton's assistants
seem excellently fitted for their duties. In short I saw nothing
to criticise, but every thing to commend. The American peo-
ple may be assured that their bounty will reach the sufferers
with the least possible cost and in the best manner in every
respect.
Mr Gallinger : In my investigations I visited the orphan-
age under the care of that sainted woman, Clara Barton, who
is being ably assisted by Dr A. M. Lesser, Surgeon-in-chief of
the Red Cross Hospital in New York and his accomplished
wife. It was also my great privilege to meet there 'My Louis
Klopsch, proprietor of the Christian Herald, under whose ef-
forts the money has been raised to carry on Miss Barton's
Heaven-inspired work, ... I wish I could command Ian-
330 Records of the Columh'ia Historical Society.
guage eloquent enough to pay a just tribute to Clara Barton,
the guardian angel of oppressed, suffering humanity. More
than seventy years of age, when the cry came from far-off Ar-
menia she was soon in that stricken land carrying the minis-
trations of the gospel and distributing her benefactions under
the aegis of the Society of the Red Cross. More than three-
score and ten years of age, she has again responded to the
Macedonian cry and is in Cuba relieving suffering and sorrow
— a very angel of mercy and of human love and sj^mpathy. —
God Ness Clara Barton.
Clara Barton's chief assistant in Cuba describes
vividly her work on that island before and during the
war.
Santiago de Cuba. Oct. 7, 1916.
... I met Clara Barton through my uncle. General J. J.
Elwell, whose medallion of bronze is in the Soldiers Monument
in the public square, Cleveland, Ohio, who had been intimately
acquainted with her during the Civil War.
Personally recommended to President McKinley by Miss
Barton, I was appointed hy the State Department to report
immediately to General Fitzhugh Lee, U. S. Consul General
at Havana, Cuba, as his aid in the distribution of vast stores
of provisions accumulating in Havana warehouses forwarded
by the Cuban Relief Committee of New York. In the interest
of the Red Cross, and as the representative of the Cuban Re-
lief Committee, Miss Barton was prepared to depart for Ha-
vana, so we made the journey together. On our arrival in
Havana I reported to General Lee and was made his distribut-
ing agent. The General slapped me on the back and said in
his hearty manner, ' ' Elwell, I am glad to see you, I was nearly
crazy over this business. ' '
After General Lee had paid his respects to Miss Barton the
three of us visited the warehouses where the Cuban Relief
supplies were stored. There were thousands of tons of mer-
chandise stacked mountain high. The flour, rice, and heavy
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 331
groceries were in sight ; but the thousands of boxes of fancy
groceries and barrels packed by the good people of the United
States, were in a hopeless jumble. Miss Barton's eyes flashed
when she realized the situation : ' ' General, ' ' she said, ' ' I think
my work is cut out for awhile, " "Oh, Miss Barton, will you
help us?" said General Lee, "we need your veteran assistance
so badly. " "Of course I will, ' ' said Miss Barton.
Immediately we cut off despatch of all outgoing goods. A
stream of drays were leaving the warehouse heavily loaded
handled by well meaning Cubans directed by an inexperienced
committee. At Miss Barton's suggestion we immediately
locked the warehouses, gathered a staff of fifty helpers, and
working continuously night and day for forty-eight hours,
made a complete invoice.
The variety of donations subscribed by the people was
unique. We found hundreds of barrels and boxes of clothing
and groceries, many mixed with perhaps a peck of rotten po-
tatoes or other perishable vegetables in the center of the pack-
age. Much of the merchandise was valuable, such as drugs,
medicines, fancy groceries, and wines. Scattered thro' this
bulk of merchandise we found, by measurement, more than a
ton of quinine. As you know, these supplies were virtually
donated for Cuban reconcentrados, namely, the families of
Cubans fighting in the country districts. These miserable
people were penned up in towns and villages controlled by
Spanish troops and were being allowed to slowly starve to
death. Even in the city of Havana no serious provision had
been made to feed the starving reconcentrados. Always to-
gether. Miss Barton and myself, scoured the western part of
Cuba from Finos del Rio to Cienfuegos, Santa Clara, and
Sagua la Grande, including all the towns and villages.
Soon Miss Barton had a staff of her veteran Red Cross work-
ers and we all worked together in a common cause. We estab-
lished in exquisitely sanitary order the horrible hospitals that
we found in the towns and villages. We changed the "hell-
and-repeat" conditions of swollen, starving despair to hope
and cleanliness and order.
I will describe only one expedition as a fair sample of how
332 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Clara Barton worked for the reconeentrados before she for-
mally opened up her tremendous Red Cross campaign in Cuba.
We learned that the village of Jaruco was in a starving condi-
tion. I loaded provisions, including food, clothing, medicines,
and equipment sufficient for a village hospital. Before day-
light next morning Miss Barton, a doctor, two trained nurses,
and I crossed the ferry and boarded the train for Jaruco.
The railroad company allowed us to carry our provisions and
hospital stores by the passenger train. When we arrived at
Jaruco we found awaiting us at the railway station the mayor,
the priest, and all the principal dignitaries of the town. We
were taken to the mayor 's house where an elaborate lunch was
served. Miss Barton whispered in my ear, "My boy, this will
not do; it is taking up too much time." We ate a few bites
and Miss Barton made one of her perfect little speeches and
smoothly and diplomatically we got away in less than a half
hour. We started up the hill to the quarter laid off for the
reconeentrados, who were established in about a hundred
dilapadated, filthy tents and miserable shanties. There was a
corpse in the first tent, the face covered with a dirty cloth.
The other occupants were sour with dirt, their legs, arms and
abdomens swollen from starvation. We found several more
dead bodies and mau}^ more beyond help, and all the rest dirty,
ill, and absolutely helpless. Miss Barton and I were with the
alcalde and the priest, followed by the whole village. She
asked the alcalde if they had a hospital. He replied, "No, not
one of any account." A little boy touched me on the arm,
saying: "Senor, we have a hospital on the other side of the
hill." I told Miss Barton what the boy had said, and led by
him soon found it. It was a splendid building for a village,
large patio, firm walls of brick, sound tile roof and floor. We
came by the back way and as I entered the door I smelled a
horrible stench. I begged Miss Barton to stand back until I
had investigated, then I fortified myself with a big chew of
tobacco and lighted a strong Havana cigar blowing the smoke
thro' my nose as I entered. On a cot saturated with their
human filth sat apparently two corpses, stark naked. They
turned out to be half breed Chinamen. They both died the
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 333
next day. In the corner was the nastiness of where a person
had lately died, apparently dragged away shortly before we
came. There were probably ten patients scattered thro' the
hospital, some of them very low. We found the front rooms
slightly better than the rear. "We found no food or drugs. At
nine o'clock I started to clean up. By Miss Barton's direction
the patients were laid outside, washed and dressed in pajamas.
I found a limekiln and immediately employed every cart in
town to haul lime and water. First we covered patio, floors,
walls and ceilings with slaked lime using cartloads for the
purpose and for whitewash. Next we washed out the lime
with water in abundance and finally finished with creoline,
carbolic acid, and chloride of lime from our stores, ending with
a coat of whitewash, mixed with disenfectants. I burned most
of the furniture. To make a long story short, at five o'clock
we had a strictly sanitary hospital full of clean patients with
an efficient native doctor and six volunteer Cuban young
ladies under the supervision of four trained nurses. By the
next day's train we had finished furnishing and equipping the
hospital and pronounced it 0, K. We reached Havana late at
night finishing our waiting mail at one A.M.
It was a strenuous life. How Miss Barton stood it I can
not tell. Often when I was dead tired she seemed as fresh
as ever. The only way it could be accounted for was the
fact that any time when she had a few minutes for relaxa-
tion in the train, in a carriage, any^'here, she could drop off
into a dead sleep. People thought it a sign of weakness. I
knew it meant recuperation and strength. I lost twenty-five
pounds in weight ; but was hard as a rock. I ate ravenously at
every opportunity. Miss Barton ate sparingly, scarcely ever
tasting meat or strong food.
I write you all the above to show you how closely I observed
Miss Barton both from a private as well as a business point
of view.
It ma}- be interesting to go a little farther with this letter be-
ginning with the destruction of the Maine. We were sitting in
the front room on the second fioor of the Ingleterra Hotel busy
with our mail when the war vessel Maine disaster occurred.
334 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
I came within a hair breadth's of being aboard her when it
happened. Miss Barton, General Lee, and I were aboard the
Maine the day before at a reception given by Captain Sigsbee.
A friend had invited me to come aboard and mess with the
officers the next evening. I was halfway down the stairway on
my way aboard when a sack of mail arrived and a violent
thunderstorm came up at the same time. I knew Miss Barton
would work half the night on the mail ; so, at the last moment
I decided to remain to help her. As near as I can recollect
about nine o 'clock there was a terrible explosion w^hich nearly
jarred out the lights. We sprang to the balcony to see the sky
aflame and the city in a panic. We thought the armory had
blown up. We did not know for an hour that it was the Maine.
At daylight I was at the scene of horror and a little later Miss
Barton and I called at the palace on General Blanco, Governor
of Cuba, who had been in his office since daylight.
General Blanco, who was a tall handsome man with a heavy
white mustache and beard, gave Miss Barton his hand and said
in broken English; "Miss Clara this is the beginning of the
end. Before God, I knew nothing of this." His face was
stern, the tears were coursing down his cheeks.
We went from the palace to the hospital, to which the victims
of the explosion had been sent. We found help scarce, so we
both volunteered. All my life I have been chicken-hearted at
sight of human blood — ^would often faint at sight and smell of
it, but on this occasion I found myself immune. It was hard,
grim work, and several of our brave sailor boys died under
our hands.
Finally the blockade was declared and we were ordered out
of Cuba by decree from the U. S. Government. We sailed for
Key West where we met the Red Cross steamer, State of Texas
loaded with 1400 tons of stores. JMiss Barton assumed charge
of the steamer and formally appointed me a member of her
staff.
We remained in Key West several weeks, then sailed for
Tampa. We saw the train of the first U. S. regulars enter
Tampa and the last Government transport leave for Daiquiri
and Siboney, Cuba. I had lived many years in Santiago de
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 335
Cuba and vicinity, I knew every cow path in the neighborhood.
Colonel "Wagner called me to the war office at Tampa to help
with Santiago war maps. I was offered a commission as
Captain in the volunteer army to go to Cuba as a scout ; but
declined as I felt I was needed by Miss Barton. From Tampa
we sailed direct to Siboney, arriving on the day of the first
little skirmish at Las Guasimas. Then came the battles of
Caney and San Juan hill, the bombardment of Santiago, and
the sinking of the Spanish fleet. We found thousands of refu-
gees in Firmeza and in the adjoining woods on the verge of
starvation. We fed them from our Red Cross steamer at Si-
boney. The provisions were towed ashore at night by steam
launches on small pontoons which we borrowed from the U. S.
Government. The surf was so high in the day time we had to
finish by dawn. The Cuban army furnished me with seventy-
five soldiers to help haul the pontoons thro' the surf and
handle the goods on shore. I appointed a major as "Cap-
itoz." . . .
When peace was finally declared our steamer was allowed to
enter Santiago Bay ahead of the war vessels and transports,
and I happened to be the first civilian to step ashore in Santi-
ago after the Spanish-American war. As our vessel steamed
up to the dock I was hailed by jNIr ]\likelson, a prominent
merchant and German vice-consul, "Hello, Elwell," he
shouted, "have you anything to eat aboard?" I found he
had established a large soup kitchen and had been feeding the
hungry until all his supplies had been exhausted, then had
come the bombardment and practically the entire population
had fled to the country ; the citj' looked like a ' ' deserted vil-
lage"; but when they learned that the U. S. army were inside
they came swarming back by the thousands. Inside of two
hours, using the Mikelson kitchen to its fullest capacity we had
enough rich wholesome broth and soda crackers ready to feed
ten thousand empty people. We repeated this program for
several days until supplies from merchant ships and the army
relieved the pressure.
^Months passed before we fully finished the Red Cross work
thro 'out Cuba.
336 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Before finishing this letter I wish to mention a fact that
always impressed me. The really great people, such as the
President of the United States, Senators, Generals of our
army. Admirals of our navy. Governors, Presidents of our
railroad systems, and thorough-breds generally, always treated
Clara Barton as a superior person to themselves, as one from
whom they might ask and take advice. No one knows better
than I the purity of Miss Barton's character. , . .
J. K. Elw^ell.
From Clara Barton's Report.
All effort was made to hold our ship {State of Texas) free
from suspicion. The process of reasoning leading to the con-
clusion that a solid cargo, packed in tight boxes in the hold of
a ship, anchored at sea, could become infected in a day from
the land or a passing individual, is indeed, an intricate
process; but we had some experience in this direction, as for
instance, Capt. McCalla in his repeated humane attempts to
feed the refugees around Guantanamo had called again for a
hundred thousand rations, saying that if we could bring them
to him soon, he could get them to the thousands starving in the
woods. We lost no time, but got the food out and started with
it in the night. On reaching Guantanamo we were met at a
distance out and called to, asking if any one on our ship had
been at Siboney within four days, if so, our supplies could not
be received, so we took them awaj^, leaving the starving to
perish.
On Friday morning the constant recurring news of the sur-
render of Santiago was so well established that we drew anchor
and came up to the flagship and the following letter was ad-
dressed to Admiral Sampson :
"Admiral Sampson: — It is not necessary for me to explain
to you my errend, nor its necessity ; both your good head and
heart divine it more clearly than any words of mine can repre-
sent. I send this to you by one of our men, w^ho can tell you
all you wish to know. Mr ELwell has resided and done
mercantile and shipping business in Santiago for the last
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 337
seven years; is favorably known to all its people; has in his
possession the keys to the best warehouses and residences in
the city, to which he is bidden welcome by the owners. He is
the person appointed four months ago to help distribute this
food, and did so with me until the blockade. There seems
to be nothing in the way of our getting this 1400 tons of food
into a Santiago warehouse and getting it intelligently to the
thousands who need and own it. I have twenty good helpers
with me. The New York Committee is clamoring for the dis-
charge of the State of Texas, which has been raised to $400 a
day.
''If there is still more explanation needed. I pray you,
Admiral, let me see you.
' " Eespectf uUy and cordially,
"Claea Barton."
This was immediately responded to by Captain Chadwick,
who came on board, assuring me that our place was at Santiago
— as quickly as we could be gotten there.
On Saturday, the 16th, feeling that it might still be possible
to take supplies to Guantanamo, requested by Captain Mc
Calla, a letter was addressed as follows:
"Captain: — If there is a possibility of going to Santiago be-
fore tomorrow morning, please let me know, and we will hold
just where we are and wait. If there is no possibility of this,
we could run down to Guantanamo and land Captain Me
Calla 's 100,000 rations in the evening and be back here to-
morrow morning. "Will you please direct me.
"Yours faithfully, Clara Barton."
(To Capt. Chadwick.)
TJ. S. Flagship New York
July 17, 1898.
"Bear Miss Barton: — ^We are now engaged in taking up
mines, just so soon as it is safe to go in your ship will go. If
you ^^-ish, you can anchor near us. and send anji:hing up by
boats, or, if we could get lighters, drawing less than eight feet,
food may be sent by the lighters, but it is not yet possible for
23
338 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
the ship to go in. There are four ' contact ' mines and four
what are known as ' observation ' mines, still down.
Yours very truly.
F. E. Chad WICK.
It was after this that we turned back again and steamed to
Guantanamo to unload our supplies at night and return the
next morning.
These were anxious days. While the world outside was
making war history, we thought of little beyond the terrible
needs about us — if Santiago had any people left, they must
be in sore distress, and El Caney — terrible El Caney — ^with its
thirty thousand homeless, perishing sufferers, how could they
be reached ?
On returning from our fruitless journey to Guantanamo we
stopped at Siboney only long enough to get our despatches,
then ran down directly in front of Santiago and lay with the
fleet. A personal call from Admiral Schley, Captain Cook,
and other officers served to show the interest and good will of
those about us. Between three and four o'clock jn the after-
noon a small Spanish steamer — which had been among the
captures of Santiago — ran alongside and informed us that an
officer desired to come aboard. It proved to Lieutenant Cape-
hart, of the flagship, who brought word from Admiral Sampson
that if we would come alongside the New York, he would put a
pilot on board. This was done and w*e moved on through
waters we had never traversed — past Morro Castle, long, low,
silent and grim — past the Spanish wrecks on the right — past
the Merrimac in the ehannel, which Hobson had left. We
began to realize that we were alone, of all the ships about the
harbor there were none with us. The stillness of the Sabbath
was over all. The gulls sailed and flapped and dipped about
us. The lowering summer sun shot long golden rays athwart
the green hills on either side, and tinged the waters calm and
still. The silence grew oppressive as we glided along with
scarcely a ripple. We saw on the right as the only moving
thing a long slim boat or yacht dart out from among the bushes
and steal its way up half hidden in the shadows. Suddenly it
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 339
was overtaken by either message or messenger, and like a col-
lared hound glided back as if it had never been. Leaning on
the rail half lost in reverie over the strange quiet beauty of the
scene, the thought suddenly burst upon me : Are we really go-
ing into Santiago — and alone ? Are we not to be run out and
wait aside and salute with dipping colors while the great bat-
tleships come up with music and banners and lead the way?
As far as the eye could reach no ship was in sight. Was this to
remain so ? Could it be possible that the commander who had
captured a city declined to be the first to enter — that he would
hold back his flag ship and himself and send forward and first
a cargo of food on a plain ship, under direction of a woman ?
Did our commands, military or naval, hold men great enough
of soul for such action ? It must be true — for the spires of San-
tiago rise before us, and turning to the score of companions be-
side me I asked, ' ' Is there anyone here who will lead the doxol-
ogy?" In an instant the full rich voice of Enola Gardner
rang out: "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow." By
that time the chorus was full, and the tears on many a face
told more plainly than words how genuine was that praise,
and when in response to a second suggestion "My Country,
'Tis of Thee" swelled out on the evening air in the farewell
rays of the setting sun, the State of Texas was nearing the
dock, and quietly dropping her anchors she lay there in undis-
puted possession of the city of Santiago.
The city was literally without food. In order to clear it for
defence, its inhabitants had been ordered out, ten days before,
to El Caney, a small town of some five hundred people, where
it was said thirty thousand were gathered, without food,
shelter, or place of rest. Among these were the old time resi-
dents — the wealthy and the best people of Santiago. The
British consul, Mr Ramsden, and his family were of them, and
the care and hardship of that terrible camp cost his life. A
message from the headquarters of General Shaf ter, telegraphed
us even after leaving Siboney, said: "The death rate at El
Caney is terrible. Can you send food?"
Word went back to send the refugees at once back to Santi-
340 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
ago — we were there and could feed them — that the State of
Texas had still on board twelve hundred tons of supplies sent
for the reconeentrados. 'That day poured in upon us all that
had strength to make the journey, of the thirty thousand starv-
ing wrecks of El Caney. If there were any at night who had
not received food, no one knew it.
Until ten o 'clock on Monday the 18th we saw no sign of life
on the waters of the bay — neither sail, steam, nor boat — ^but
suddenly word passed down from the watch on deck that a
ship was sighted. Slowly it came in view — large, fine, full-
masted — and orders went to salute when it should pass. At
length here was something to which we could pay deference.
The whistles were held, the flag was ready for action, ropes
straight and without tangle — all stood breathless — ^but she
does not pass, and seems to be standing in. In a moment more
a stout sailor voice calls out: "Throw us a rope," and here,
without salute, whistle, or bell, came and fastened to the stern
of our boat this glittering and masted steamship from whose
decks below Admirals Sampson and Schley and their respec-
tive staffs shouted up their familliar greetings to us. The day
was spent with us till four o 'clock in the afternoon and when
about to leave and the admiral was asked what orders or direc-
tions he had for us, the reply was, "You need no directions
from me, but if anyone troubles you, let me know. ' '
Extract from report of Lieutenant-Colonel B. F.
Pope, Chief Surgeon, Fifth Army Corps, page 786,
Annual Eeport War Dept., 1898, battles of San Juan,
El Caney, and Santiago de Cuba :
In Major "Wood's hospital over 1,000 wounded men were re-
ceived within three days, and in spite of lack of shelter and the
subsequent exposure to intense heat and drenching rains, the
mortality rate was less than 7 per cent. . . .
Early after the battle the hospital was honored by the pres-
ence of Miss Clara Barton and her staff of four assistants, who
immediately set up their tents and cooking apparatus and la-
bored incessantly, day and night, in the broiling sun and
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 341
drenching rain, preparing sick food for the wounded and serv-
ing it to them, and in a thousand other ways giving the help
that the Red Cross Society brings.
«
Extract from report of Major Louis A. LeGarde,
Surgeon, U. S. A., on the operation of ''Base Hospital"
at Siboney, Cuba, pages 800-801, Annual Report, War
Dept., 1898 :
The landing of the troops was done in such a precipitate
manner that ammunition and the bare ration of the soldier
seemed by military necessity to be the first consideration. It
was at this time that I remembered the offer of the honorable
Clara Barton, President of the American Red Cross Associa-
tion, through the corps surgeon, to assist us in any way she
could with supplies and help from the State of Texas, which
lay at anchor near our landing. I desire to testify to the loyal
manner in which this promise was kept.
While the wounded for four days kept crowding into our
hospital faster than large details of men could provide them
with canvas shelter. Miss Barton's assistants worked unre-
mittingly with us to relieve the pangs of suffering humanity.
They furnished us, with willing hearts and willing hands, deli-
cacies like gruel, malted milk, ice, soups, etc., when military-
necessity prevented us from getting our own. As the wounded
crowded upon us in numbers far bej'ond anything we had
reason to anticipate, they came forward with cots, blankets,
and other articles for the comfort of the unfortunates. For
such help at a moment of supreme need, coming from people
in no way connected with the military service, the deep sense
of gratitude not only of the medical department but of the
whole of the Fifth Corps, can not be conveyed by words.
342 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Chief Surgeon's Office
Headqrs. 1st Div. 5th. Corps.
To July 14th 1898.
Miss Clara Barton*
President American National Red Cross.
My Dear Miss Barton;
The great sense of obligation which I personally feel for your
invaluable assistance in my work, my knowledge of your inde-
fatigable efforts for the relief of distress and privations of our
wounded, and my knowledge of the value of your aid in other
fields where such aid is continually needed, prompt me at this
time to recommend your removal, with such of your people as
are not immune to yellow fever, to some other point where you
may be useful without practically imprisoning your personel
and supplies.
We are now nearly surrounded by yellow fever, which is
increasing and will probably continue to increase.
Again let me ask you to accept for myself and for each of
the officers of the 1st Division Hospital, our profound grati-
tude for the able and efficient aid rendered to our hundreds of
wounded at a time when Charity, in your broad exemplifica-
tion of the term, helped many of our brave wounded on their
way to again become useful citizens of our owti Great Country.
Very respectfully
M. W. Wood
Major, Surgeon U. S. Army
Chief Surgeon 1st Div. 5th Corps.
Camp of the 16th U. S. Infantry
Before Santiago, Cuba
July 25, 1898.
To Miss Clara Barton,
President, American Red Cross Society,
Santiago De Cuba,
Dear Madam:
The Officers on behalf of the sick of this Regiment desire to
express to you and your Society their profound thanks for the
generous and timely aid offered us.
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 343
Only a personal visit and inspection could give an adequate
idea of the extreme destitution to which we were reduced dur-
ing the active investment of Santiago and up to July 24th.
Without food, or transportation to eonvey the same, without
tentage for our sick and wounded, drenched by rain and
burned by a tropical sun, lying in mud day and night, our con-
dition may be imagined but cannot be fully described.
At a time when from one hundred to one hundred and sev-
enty-five were being reported sick and new cases multiplying
by the score, j^ou kindly responded to our request and supplied
food suitable and convenient for wounded and feverish men.
We wish you and your society to know that we are sincerely
grateful for the assistance rendered.
With every expression of regard we remain,
Very Respectfully,
Jno. Newton, Capt. 23d Inf.
George H. Palmer, Capt. 16th Infty.
J. E. Woodward 2d Lt. 16th Inf.
Guy G. Palmer, 2d Lt. 16 ih Infty.
R. R. Steedman, 1" Lieut 16th Infty.
Edgar Ridenour 2d Lieut 16th Infty.
S. R. Whitall, Capt. 16th Infty.
S. W. Dunning 1st Lieut 16 Infantry
W. H. Cowles 1" Lt 16 Infamtry
Chas. p. George 1st Lt & Adjt 16th Inf.
W. C. McFarland, Capt. 16 Inf.
John F. Preston, Jr. 2nd Lieut & Actg Adjutant, 16th Inf.
B. T. Summons, 2d Lt. 16th Inft.
E. C. Carey 2d Lieut, 16th Inf.
James B. Gowen 2nd Lieut. 16th Inf.
I. Erwin 2nd Lieut. 16th Infty .
Leven C. Allen Capt. 16tli Inf.
H. A. Theaker Col 16th Infty
W. H. McLaughlin Major 16" Inf
C. C, Bateman Chaplain U S Army.
From President McKinley's Message to Congress,
December 5, 1898 :
344 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
... In this connection it is a pleasure for me to mention in
terms of cordial appreciation tlie timely and useful work of the
American National Red Cross, both in relief measures prepara-
tory to the campaigns, in sanitary assistance at several of the
camps of assemblage, and later, under the able and experienced
leadership of the president of the society, Miss Clara Barton,
on the fields of battle and in the hospitals at the front in Cuba.
Working in conjunction with the governmental authorities
and under their sanction and approval, and with the enthusi-
astic cooperation of many patriotic women and societies in the
various States, the Red Cross has fully maiiitained its already
high reputation for intense earnestness and ability to exer-
cise the noble purposes of its international organization, thus
justifying the confidence and support which it has received at
the hands of American people. To the members and officers of
this society and all who aided them in philanthropic work the
sincere and lasting gratitude of the soldiers and the public is
due and is freely accorded.
On January 12, 1899, the United States Senate
adopted a resolution thanking Miss Barton and the
officers and agents of the American Eed Cross for
their humane and beneficent service to humanity in
relieving the distress of the Armenians and other suf-
fering persons in Turkey and in ministering to the
suffering caused by pestilence in the United States and
for the like ministration and relief given by them to
both sides in the Spanish West Indies during the pres-
ent war. (S. E. 203, 55th Cong., 3d sess., p. 601, Cong.
Eecord.)
E. A. Alger's "The Spanish- American War," Har-
per & Brothers, page 436, says :
... In this connection I desire to testify to the work of the
trained nurses and that noble band of women, who, under Miss
Clara Barton and her Red Cross .flag rendered such acts of
tenderness and sweet mercy to the wounded and the dying, the
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 345
sick and the convalescent on the battlefield and in camp. Miss
Barton, her corps of assistants, and the supplies on the Red
Cross ship Texas were of inestimable assistance after the battle
of San Juan.
Clara Barton had attained the summit ; she was the
foremost woman of the age ; acclaimed by the great of
her own country, honored by foreign nations, loved by
her associates, she might hope to close her long career
of service to humanity and anticipate an evening of
peaceful rest. Alas, it was not so to be, her greatest
trial awaited her.
A hint of impending trouble is found on page 134 of
''Under the Red Cross, or a History of the Spanish-
American War," by Henry M. Lathrop M.D. (edited
by John R. Musick), published by F. B. Warner & Co.,
New York, 1898:
The Red Cross up to this time had been kept clear of po-
litical rings and uncontaminated. Miss Barton was the ac-
knowledged chief in authority. The society had begun to win
the most enviable reputation, it was growing to be a power,
and already politicians who had hogged everything else from a
cross roads post office to a foreign minister had begun to lay
plans for displacing Miss Barton with the wife, niece, or
daughter of a Washington politician. Miss Barton was prob-
ably not aware of their unholy schemes at this time. Perhaps
even if she had been, it would not have disturbed the serenity
of her countenance, for she was working for God and hu-
manity.
Galveston Relief.
September 8, 1900, the beautiful city of Galveston
was nearly swept away by a tidal wave ; I was a terri-
fied witness and sufferer. As soon as the relief train
of supplies provided by the Neiv York World could
make the long journey Clara Barton appeared, ill and
worn.
346 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
From her bed, to which she was confined for over a
week, she organized relief out of the existing confusion
and at once order prevailed. Very many families were
without shelter; for such as were owners of city lots
lumber was procured and soon devastated areas were
dotted over with ochre-washed houses raised high on
frail-appearing supports. These were recognized as
''Red Cross houses." Clothing was wisely distributed
and food supplied. On the mainland local committees
were looking after the suffering under her direction.
To a strawberry-raising locality thousands of plants
were furnished in time for the spring crop. Nothing
seemed to be overlooked by the Red Cross force.
Clara Barton remained in Galveston over two
months. She was then in her seventy-ninth year, slight
and frail in appearance, with a wearied carriage,
but with a smile that still was ready and winning.
This was her last great relief field. The appreciation
of the people of Texas of this beautiful character is
shown in touching resolutions.
The Central Relief Committee of Galveston on a
most beautifully engrossed sheet thus expressed their
gratitude :
Whereas, The people of Galveston have been the beneficia-
ries of the noble charity and experience relief of the American
National Red Cross and the Central Relief Committee have had
the invaluable counsel of Miss Clara Barton, President, and
Mr Stephen E. Barton, Vice-President; therefore be it.
Resolved, That for ourselves we acknowledge the assistance
and the inspiration of Miss Barton and Mr Barton in the per-
plexing duties to which we were called; that we regret their
departure but realize that in the economy of their mission to
the world they cannot remain with us longer.
Resolved That for our people who have found relief under
the sheltering arm of the Red Cross and consolation in the
overflowing love of its consecrated agents, we hereby express
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 347
the everlasting gratitude of a community which has been lifted
out of its sorrows into the dawn of new hopes and out of its
losses into the resolution of a new life.
Resolved, That we recommend to the world the great or-
ganization whose efficiency and tenderness have been demon-
strated to us during the last two months, and we appeal to
civilization for the maintenance of this surpassing institution,
which knows no country but the desolate places and no class or
race but stricken humanity, wherever it is found upon the
globe.
Resolved, That we especially thank and render homage to
the woman who is the life and spirit of the Red Cross. She
who is the embadiment of the saving principle of laying down
one's life for one's friend, whose friend is the friendless and
whose charge is the stricken, and should be exalted above
Queens and whose achievements are greater than the conquests
of nations or the inventions of genius, and who is justly
crowned in the evening of her life with the love and admira-
tion of all humanity. Miss Clara Barton.
Resolutions of the Texas Legislature.
House Concurrent Resolution, No. 8.
Be it resolved hy the Legislature of the State of Texas:
In behalf of the people of Texas, the legislature extends to
the American National Red Cross Society, the most grateful
acknowledgement for the relief extended through the Society
to the sufferers in Texas by the storm of September 8, 1900,
and especially does the Legislature thank Miss Clara Barton,
President of the Society for her visit to the State and her
personal supervision and direction of relief to those who were
in need and in distress.
That the Governor be, and he is hereby, requested to trans-
mit a copy of this resolution to Miss Clara Barton.
Approved February 1, 1901.
348 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Last Years with the Red Cross. *
After lier triumphs in Cuba it was not a difficult
matter for Clara Barton to obtain the Federal Charter
so desired for the Red Cross and so persistently
sought. It was granted June 6, 1900. By it more
power was given to an executive committee and a
board of control established.
In the Congressional Record for May 15, 1900 (page
5573), we read that the House Committee on Foreign
Relations added several names to the list of incor-
porators as an amendment to the bill under considera-
tion:
''on page 3, sec. 1, line 8, after the word 'Indiana' insert,
'George C. Boldt, Wm. T. Wardwell of N. Y., Daniel Hastings,
J. Wilkes O'Neill of Pa., Thos. F. Walsh of Colo., John G.
Sumner of Calif., Chas. C. Glover, S. W. Woodward, Elizabeth
Kibbey, Mabel T. Boardman, Walter Wyman, S. J. Kimball,
of the District of Columbia, Edward Love of Mich."
During the debate (page 5573), Mr. Gillette, the Chair-
man of the Committee, remarked :
"The Red Cross organization has been built up largely by
the heroic work of Clara Barton."
And on May 16, 1900 (page 5619) :
"To me personally it seems only right that as Miss Clara
Barton and her associates have won for this emblem in our
country the honor which it has, so that whenever we speak of
the Red Cross Association it stands for noble purposes and
achievements — it seems to me only fair that it should be by law
protected, and that they who have won for it the glory should
have the full use of it."
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 349
In the Senate, Mr. Money said :
' ' I desire myself to be absent for a month and I wish to have
this bill put through while I am here. Miss Barton has made
a special request of me that I should have it passed. Every-
body knows her work, and when I mention the name of that
lady, it is not only with respect but with reverence, for I my-
self have personally seen her work in foreign lands, in hos-
pitals, and amidst scenes of suffering and distress." (56th
Congress, p. 2019.)
In 1902 Clara Barton went to St. Petersburg as
delegate from the United States to the International
Conference of the Red Cross, where the Czar of Eussia
decorated her with the Order of the Red Cross. Dur-
ing her absence occurred the disaster of Mount Pelee.
The dilatory action of the lately organized Board of
Control of the American Red Cross, resulting in the
first failure in all the twenty years of its existence,
greatly annoyed her.
Clara Barton had a keen sense of humor ; in repartee
she was ready and apt. A commentator has said that
this faculty for enjoyment of the ludicrous sustained
her through the serious business of her long career.
She had implicit confidence in her own judgment ;
nothing could swerve her from a course once decided
upon. She was naturally impatient of dictation ; con-
trolled she would not be. She abhorred contention,
she would neither dispute nor listen to a heated dis-
cussion of any question. During her long experience
in business life she was never a party in any legal ac-
tion; diplomatically all troubles were settled out of
court.
She was easy and quiet in manner, never hurried
nor flustered, always in command of her nerves and
temper, and while perfectly fearless, she carefully
guarded herself against anv infringement of social
350 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
canons. For personal adornment she cared little,
choosing green dresses in her youth and ornaments of
bright red, for cheer, in her older years. She was ex-
tremely frugal, spending less and less upon herself
as her income dwindled from inroads upon the prin-
cipal for the upkeep of the Eed Cross and charities.
Clara Barton, however, had one pronounced failing ;
she was never able to resist a plea for assistance ; her
heart, her home, her purse, were always open to the
unfortunate. To her friends and relatives she was a
veritable fairy god-mother, to the impecunious para-
sites that dogged her steps she always listened, with
many unpleasant results. One experience of this kind
entailed much trouble in the sequel. At Mt. Vernon,
111., after the disastrous cyclone of 1888 she met a
young man who was doing efficient relief work. She
was much impressed by his seeming earnestness and
ability. At Johnstown he again appeared as a volun-
teer assistant. During the press of office work in
Washington, while the Russian Famine Relief funds
were coming in, he was employed to assist the account-
ant, and had charge of the mail and banking. Miss
Barton trusted him implicitly and became very fond
of him. Later when her tried and true friends and
co-workers in the society for years, Dr. and Mrs.
Gardner, presented her in trust for the Red Cross a
large tract of land in Indiana for the use of the society
he was made manager. Money was advanced him for
necessary improvements which he never made. Diffi-
culties of a personal character arose between him and
the donors, and the threats of a suit in the courts
greatly distressed Miss Barton, who feared that the
publicity attending this action would be a reflection
upon the good name of the Red Cross.
Investigation of his management of the farm re-
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 351
vealed that instead of a stock farm with horses loaned
by prominent horsemen, as he had represented to Miss
Barton, he had a stable of racing horses and was ab-
sent the greater part of the time attending races at
different fairs. County records disclose that the per-
sonal tax of this man for the two years following the
Russian Eelief amounted to $1,840. Ten years after
he was brought forward a perjured witness against
his benefactress in an investigation of Red Cross
methods by a committee appointed by Hon. Richard
Olney,^ Secretary of State under President Cleveland
and counselor of the Society, by request of Miss Bar-
ton's friends. (Senator Proctor was the chairman of
this Committee.) Appearances indicate that this man
purloined money from not only the Russian but also
from Johnstown Relief funds, later destroying account
books now missing. Proof of his culpability, which
was suspected when he was surprised in the act of
copying Miss Barton's signature, is proved by can-
celled bank checks still in existence, as well as in the
large personal tax assessed against him.
In 1900 under the new Federal Charter Clara Barton
1 ElCHARD OlNEY
710 Sears Building
Boston, 5 June, 1916.
Mrs. Corra Bacon-Foster
The Marlborough,
Washington, D. C.
Bear Madam,
I have always believed in Miss Barton's merits as a patriot and dis-
interested -worker in aid of suffering humanity and particularly in the
value of her services during the late Civil War. It cannot be true, I
think, that she has ever done any thing to disentitle her to conspicuous
recognition in the new Eed Cross Building.
Very truly yours,
EiCHARD Olney
352 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
submitted lier resignation as president ; it was not ac-
cepted; instead she was elected president for life, dis-
regarding her protest. Shortly afterwards dissensions
arose, the first the society had ever known; coming
after a half century of devoted service and sacrifice to
her country and to humanity, this was a heart-crushing
experience for her. She wrote in February, 1903 :
All of this kind of life is so distasteful to me that I cannot
carry it much longer. It will in some way undermine my
health. If I could without ruin to myself, the Red Cross, and
the dissatif^faction of those who try to stand by me, give it all
up, I would be so glad to do so, but I should disappoint all
friends and gratify all enemies ; ought I do this ? I who have
struggled so hard all these years to keep the Red Cross peace-
able, to have no gossip — ^have borne all things for this end,
and now to have its disruption spread over the world, is some-
thing so humiliating that I can scarcely take it in, or bear it.
The Red Cross is in precarious hands and must be rescued by
such persons as sign a protest, not one of whom ever went to
a field or gave a dollar above fees, and half of whom never
known as members until now they appear in protest against
the management.
On May 14, 1904, she submitted her resignation :
Gentlemen; — It is now twenty-three years since by the ex-
press desire of President Grarfield on the eve of his martyrdom
I accepted the presidency of the organization over which you
have the honor to preside ,and the duties of which you have the
kindness to administer.
Until that moment the American Red Cross had no ex-
istence, it stood before the country an anomaly, its very name
was unknown. There are those in your present body whose
young manhood then received its first lessons, little dreaming
of the vicissitudes that faith and faithlessness would lead them
through.
Its first object and its "raison d'etre" was to gain ac-
cession to the international treaty under which it exists; sec-
Bacon-Foster: Clara Baiion, Humanitarian. 353
ondary, to fulfil the duties set forth in the charter which you
sacredly hold. To this end it has struggled on — a strange
ship in unknown waters, without chart, for it had no prede-
cessors, buffeting with floating obstructions, often perplexed
and uncertain, but never unheeding its compass, with its un-
erring needle steadily pointing to the relief of human suffer-
ing wherever found.
It were all too long to review its course, or recount its
efforts and you do not need it. Its active fields of service are
verging on the score. By degrees its name has become known
and familiar to our people, and its work so in part. It has
largely conducted the relief in our only foreign war. It has
by its example enlarged the scope of the organized charities of
the country and has brought us into practical relations with
the humanitarian methods of other nations and made possible
an interchange of beneficence. Although its growth may seem
to have been slow, it is to be remembered that it is not a shrub
or plant to shoot up in the summer and wither in the frosts ;
the Ked Cross is a part of us, it has come to stay and like the
sturdy oak, its spreading branches shall yet compass and
shelter the relief of the nation.
With those forming its present board of management rests
its guidance — a guidance which all may safely trust.
To the combined wisdom of the leaders of armies, of sena-
tors and judiciary, and the rich experience of trusted helpers
is committed the charge of a quarter of a century.
It is a waste of time to remind you of the years and the
occasions in which your weary president has sought to lay
her weary burdens down. Year after year she has framed
and offered her resignation to preceeding boards and com-
mittees. These have been resolutely met by appointments
for life,
I can find no fitting words by which to express my ap-
preciation and gratitude for the courtesy thus extended to me.
I am poor even in thanks for such honored trust.
But once more and for all, most honored officers and friends,
I tender my resignation as president of the American Na-
tional Red Cross, which resignation being absolute calls only
for acceptance.
24
354 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
By the laws governing your organization this resignation
is made to your honored Board of Trustees and Executive
Committee and it is an unspeakable joy to me that the toil-
worn, weary mantle that drops from mine falls upon the
shoulders of my vice president, the woman so cherished in our
own country and honored and trusted in others. [Mrs. John
A. Logan.]
It is a pride as well as a pleasure to hand to you an organi-
zation perfectly formed, thoroughly officered, with no debts
and a sum of from $12,000 to $14,000 available to our treasury
as a working fund.
This resignation was accepted at a special meeting
of the organization on June 16, when, upon the motion
of Mr. Simon Wolf, a committee of five was appointed
by the trustees "to convey to Miss Barton the high
sense of appreciation of the organization of her efforts
for the Red Cross."
In the bill reincorporating the American Red Cross
in 1905 (S. 5704, 58th 3d) the name of Clara Barton
leads the list of incorporators. It was placed there
without her knowledge by its author. Senator Proctor,
who had been Chairman of the Red Cross Investigating
Comittee.
The following resolution, presented by Dr. Duchas-
soy, delegate from France, was adopted immediately
after the presentation of the report of the delegate of
the American Red Cross, at the Seventh International
Conference of the Red Cross, London, 1907: "Le VIP
Conference addresse a Miss Clara Barton, qui nous
regrettons de ne pas voir aujourd'hui parmi nous, le
souvenir reconnaissant que nous lui conservons pour
sa collaboration d 'autrefois et pour les grands exam-
ples qui elle a donne au vieux monde europeen."
[From the official proceedings of the Conference.]
Clara Barton, however, did not remain inactive, in
Bacon-Foster: Clara Barton, Humanitarian. 355
1905 she organized the ''National First Aid Associa-
tion" on the model of the British "St. John's Ambu-
lance." It has been very successful. It carries her
name in perpetuity as president. The acting president
at present is Mrs. Harriette L. Reed, her old-time
friend and co-laborer in the Red Cross.
Honored and loved, the remaining years of her life
were quietly spent at Oxford and Glen Echo. On an
April day of 1912 she passed away. All that is mortal
reposes at Oxford under the Cross she served so de-
votedly, where from over the beautiful plain the setting
sun is reflected by the white cross of the early Hugue-
nots as it were a benediction from the great ideal of
service to God upon the emblem of service to mankind.
The International Bulletin (quarterly) of the Socie-
ties of the Red Cross, published by the International
Committee, Geneva (Switzerland), July, 1912, pays
this tribute to our immortal American :
Au commencement d'avril, 1912, les journeaux nous ont
appris la mort de Miss Clara Barton, la premiere femme qui
se leva en Amerique pour faire entendre la voix de la charite
sur les champs de bataille et qui implanta le Croix- Rouge aux
Etats-Unis.
Deja pendant la guerre civile en Amerique (1860-65) puis
en France, lors de I'invasion en 1870-71, elle se consacra
entierement au soulagement des blesses. En recompense de
ses services elle recut de 1 'empereur Guillaume I^"" la croix de
guerre, et le Grand due de Bade lui confera egalement une
medaille.
Elle a ecrit elle-meme, dans un livre paru en 1898, a New-
York, rhi.stoire de la fondation de la Croix-Rouge aux Etats-
Unis en 1881, avant meme que le gouvernement americain eut
adhere a la Convention de Geneve de 1864. Son nom
est indissolublement lie a toute cette periode, ou la Croix-
Rouge commenca a travailler non seulement en temps de
356 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
guerre, mais immediatement en temps de paix, pour secourir
les vietimes des catastrophes et ealamites plus frequentes en
Amerique que les guerres. Des 1881, soit des sa fondation,
la Croix-Rouge, a 1 'instigation de Miss Barton, entrait en
lice pour travailler au soulagement des vietimes de I'incendie
du Michigan. Et des lors il ne se passa guere d'evenement ou
I'intervention charitable de la Croix-Rouge put etre utile,
sans que Clara Barton ne prit la tete de I'ceuvre de seeours a
organiser.
... [A two-page review of her services on the more import-
ant Red Cross relief fields, the decorations and honors con-
ferred upon her, and the history of the American Red Cross
administration up to 1904.]
Elle lui laissait un depot sacre, le reputation de la Croix-
Rouge americaine. qu'il promettait de maintenir a la hauteur
ou elle I'avait placee elle-me.
Clara Barton vecut des lors dans une retraite complete et
dans le silence. Elle avait bien merite de la patrie et de la
Croix-Rouge et elle pouvait repasser dans sa vieillesse ses
beaux etats de service en f aveur de 1 'oeuvre a laquelle elle con-
sacra toute sa vie. . . .
On Jan. 26, 1918, one month after reading this
paper, Mrs. Bacon-Foster crossed to the Great
Beyond.
APPENDIX.
OFFICERS.
Officers Elected at the Twenty-fourth Annual Meeting
Held January 15, 1918.
President ....
Vice-Presidents
Treasurer
Recording Secretary . . . ,
Corresponding Secretary
Curator
Chronicler
Managers classified
according to expira-
tion of term of service.
1919
1920
1921
192
K
Allen C. Clark.
Job Barnard.
WiLHELMUs B. Bryan.
CuNO H. Rudolph.
Miss Maud Burr Morris.
William F. Roberts.
James Franklin Hood.
Frederick L. Fishback.
Mrs. Chas. W. Richardson.
William Tindall.
John B. Larner.
James Dudley Morgan.
William Van Zandt Cox.
William Henry Dennis.
Theodore W. Noyes.
John Joy Edson.
358
COMMITTEES.
On Communicaiions.
Fred. L. Fishback, Chairman, Fred E. Woodward,
WiLHELMUs B. Bryan, John A. Saul,
Clarence R. Wilson, James Dudley Morgan,
W1LLM.M Henry Dennis, Washington Topham,
Theodore W. Noyes.
On Qualifications.
William V, Cox, Chairman, William F. Roberts,
James F. Hood, Job Barnard,
Mrs. Charles W. Richardson.
On Publication.
John B. Larner, Chairman, John Joy Edson,
Carden F. Warner, Ralph W. Lee.
On Building.
Job Barnard, Chairman, Appleton P. Clark,
Charles James Bell, Mrs. Phoebe A. Hearst,
Charles C. Glover, Glenn Brown,
Mrs. Henry F. Dimock.
On Exchange.
CuNO H. Rudolph, C/iaiVma/i, William King,
Corcoran Thom, Stanton J. Peelle,
William Tindall, Montgomery Blair.
On Membership.
James F. Hood, Chairman, Edson L. Whitney,
Charles S. Bundy, W. Lloyd Wright,
George M. Kober, Miss Maud Burr Morris,
Mrs. Velma S. Barber, Miss Alice Bukey,
Mrs. Michael I. Weller, Miss Alice R. James,
Mrs. Margaret B. Downing.
On Exchange of Duplicates.
Mrs. Charles W. Richardson, Chairman,
Miss Cordelia Jackson.
359
LIST OF MEMBERS OF THE COLUMBIA HISTORICAL
SOCIETY, I^IAY 8, 1918.
Life Members.
Dimock, Mrs. Henry F., 1301 Sixteenth St.
Goldenberg, M.,
Hutclieson, David,
Jackson, Miss Cordelia,
922 Seventh St.
1221 Monroe St.
D. C.
3021 N St.
Brookland,
Honorary ]\Iember.
Porter, Miss Sarah Harvey, 1834 K St.
Annual Members.
Abell, Mrs. Edwin F.,
Abell, Walter W.,
Ailes, Milton E.,
Baker, Mrs. Abby Gunn,
Barber, Mrs. Velma S.,
Barbour, Mrs. Annie V.,
Barnard, Job,
Bell, Alexander Graham,
Bell, Charles James,
Bennett, William A.,
Beresford, R.,
Bingham, Benjamin F.,
Blair, Major Gist,
Blair, Henry P.,
Blair, Montgomery,
Blair, Woodbury,
Bourne, Mrs. Linnie M.,
Bride, Cotter T.,
Britton, Alexander,
Brown, Glenn,
16 East Mt. Vernon Place,
Baltimore, Md.
Sun Bldg., Baltimore, Md.
1620 I St.
1303 Clifton St.
703 E. Capitol St.
1741 Rhode Island Ave.
1401 Fairmont St.
1331 Connecticut Ave.
1327 Connecticut Ave.
1329 Irving St.
605 F St.
110 Maryland Ave., N. E.
LTnion Trust Building.
Colorado Building.
Hibbs Building.
Hibbs Building.
2027 Hillyer Place.
131 B St., S. E.
1811 Q St.
806 Seventeenth St.
360
List of Members.
361
Bryan (M.D.), Joseph H.,
Bryan, Wilhelnius Bogart,
Buchanan, (Gen.) James A.,
Bukey, Miss Alice,
Bulkley, Barry,
Bundy, Charles S.,
Burchell, Norval Landon,
Butterfield, John W.,
Carr, Mrs. William Kearny,
Casey, Mrs. Silas,
Chilton, Robert S., Jr.,
Chilton, William B.,
Church, William A. H.,
Clark, Allen C,
Clark, Appleton P., Jr.,
Clark (Rev.), John Britton,
Clephane, Walter C,
Colbert, Michael J.,
818 Seventeenth St.
1330 Eighteenth St.
2210 M'assachusetts Ave
209 Md. Ave., N. E.
The Benedick.
1422 Irving St.
1102 Vermont Ave.
419 Fourth St.
1413 K St.
The Oakland.
Cobourg, Ontario, Can.
2015 I St.
912 B St., S. W.
816 Fourteenth St.
1778 Lanier Place.
2713 Wisconsin Ave.
Chevy Chase, Md.
Southern Bldg.
Combs, Mrs. Henrietta Du Hamel, The Olympia.
Corby, W. S.,
Cowles, John H.,
Cox, William Van Zandt,
Coyle, Miss Emily B.,
Cull, Judson T.,
Dale, Mrs. Mary J. M.,
C.
Langdon Station, D.
Sixteenth and S Sts.
Emery PL, Brightwood, D. C.
1760 N St.
319 John Marshall Place. .
Hotel Orendorf, El Paso, Tex.
Davenport, R. Graham, U.S.N., 1331 Eighteenth St.
Davis, Miss Adelaide,
Davis, Mrs. Elizabeth B.,
Davis, Henry E.,
Davis, Miss Josephine,
Dennis, William Henry,
117 B St., S. E.
2212 First St.
Wilkins Building.
The Concord.
416 Fifth St.
Devitt, S.J., (Rev.) Edward I., Georgetown X^niversity,
Doulon, S.J., (Rev.) A. J.,
Dove, J. Maury,
Downing, Mrs. Margai-et B.
Drury, Samuel A.,
Georgetown University.
1740 New Hampshire Ave.
1262 Lawrence St., Brookland,
D. C.
2637 Connecticut Ave.
362
Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Dulin, Mrs. Chas. Grayson,
Dunlop, G. Thomas,
Eaton, George G.,
Edmonston, William E.,
Edson, John Joy,
Emery, Frederick A.,
Eustis, William Corcoran,
Evans, Miss Isabel Pernello,
Fishback, Frederick L.,
Flannery, John Spaulding,
Fletcher, Miss Alice C.,
Forman, (Dr.) Samuel E.,
Gaff, Thomas T.,
Gale, Thomas M.,
Galliher, W. T.,
Garfinkle, Julius,
Gasch, Herman C.,
Gill, Herbert A.,
Glassie, Henry H.,
Glennan, John W.,
Glover, Charles C,
Graham, Edwin C,
Grosvenor, Gilbert H.,
Guilday, (Rev.) Peter,
Hamilton, George E.,
Hannay, Wm. Mouat,
Harper, Albert,
Harvey, Frederic L.,
Hearst, Mrs. Phoebe Apperson,
Henderson, John B., Jr.,
Henderson, Richard W.,
Heurich, Christian,
Hibbs, William B.,
Hickey, Miss S. G.,
Hill, William Corcoran,
Hood, James Franklin,
Hoover, William D.,
1625 K St.
Fendall Building.
416 New Jersey Ave., S. E.
1220 Massachusetts Ave.
1324 Sixteenth St.
2608 Cathedral Ave.
1611 H St.
The Marlborough.
2709 Thirty-sixth St.
2411 California Ave.
214 First St., S. E.
The Kenesaw.
1520 Twentieth St.
2300 S St.
Amer. Nat. Bank.
1226 F St.
1753 P St.
Colorado Building.
Department of Justice.
Warder Building.
1703 K St.
1330 New York Ave.
Sixteenth and M Sts.
Brookland, D. C.
Union Trust Bldg.
207 I St.
505 E St.
2146 Florida Ave.
Pleasanton, Cal.
]601 Florida Ave.
1109 F St.
1307 New Hampshire Ave.
Hibbs Building.
1416 K St.
1724 H St.
Amer. Security & Trust Co.
Nat. Savings & Trust Co.
List of Members.
363
Howard, George,
Nat. Savings & Trust Co.
Hunt, Mrs. Alice Underwood, 814 Fifteenth St.
Hunt (LL.D.), Gaillard,
Hutchins, Walter Stilson,
Hyde, Thomas,
James, Miss Alice E..,
Jameson, J. Franklin,
Janin, Mrs. Violet Blair,
Jennings, Hennen,
Johnson, Frederick T. F.,
Johnston, James M,,
Kann, Simon,
Kaufman, D. J.,
Kelly, Henry A.,
Kern, Charles E.,
Kibbey, Miss Bessie J.,
King, William,
Kingsman (M.D.), Kichard,
Knight, Hervey S.,
Kober (M.D.), George M.,
Larcombe, John S.,
Larner, John Bell,
Larner, Philip F.,
Library of Congress.
1308 Sixteenth St.
1537 Twenty-eighth St.
10 Third St., N. E.
2231 Q St.
12 Lafayette Square.
2221 Massachuse.tts Ave.
The Balfour.
1628 Twenty-first St.
2029 Connecticut Ave.
Macomb St., east of Conn. Ave.
P. 0. Department.
1328 Harvard St.
2025 Massachusetts Ave.
3114 N St.
711 East Capitol St.
Victor Building.
1819 Q St.
1815 H St.
Wash. Loan and Trust Co.
918 F St.
Learned (LL.D.), Henry Barrett, 2133 Bancroft Place.
Lee, Ralph W.,
Leiter, Joseph,
Lenman, Miss Isobel Hunter,
Letts, John C,
Lisner, A.,
McKee, Frederick,
McKenney, F. D.,
Mackall (M.D.), Louis,
Magruder, Caleb Clarke, Jr.,
Mark, (Rev.) Augustus M.,
Marlow, Walter H.; Jr.,
Marshall, James Rush,
Matthews, Henry S.,
Meegan, James F.,
1514 Newton St.
1500 N. H. Ave.
1100 Twelfth St.
52 St.
1723 Massachusetts Ave.
610 Thirteenth St.
Hibbs Bldg.
3044 St.
820 Riggs Bldg.
Twentieth & Evarts Sts., N. E.
811 E St.
2507 Penna. Ave.
1415 G St.
813 Seventeenth St.
364 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Merritt, William E. H., 1403 H St.
Moore, Mrs. Virginia Campbell, 1680 Thirty-first St.
Morgan (M.D.), James Dudley, Chevy Chase, Md.
Morgan, Mrs. Jas. Dudley, Chevy Chase, Md.
Morris, Miss Maud Burr,
Morse (M.D.), Edward E.
Moss, George W.,
Neale, Sidney C,
Norment, Clarence F.,
1603 Nineteenth St.
Cosmos Club.
2147 Wyoming Ave.
1208 F St.
2339 Massachusetts Ave.
Norton (U.S.N.) , Capt. Harold P., 1704 Nineteenth St.
Noyes, Theodore Williams,
O'Connell, Rt. Rev. D. J.,
Peacock, Miss Virginia T.,
Peelle, Stanton J.,
Peter, Miss Fannie I.,
Peyser, Capt. Julius I.,
Prescott, Samuel J.,
Richards, William P.,
Richardson (M.D.), Chas. W
Richardson, Mrs. Charles W., 1317 Connecticut Ave.
Richardson, Francis Asbury, Cosmos Club.
1730 New Hampshire Ave.
800 Cathedral Place, Rich-
mond, Va.
2466 Ontario Road.
1416 F St.
Indian Office.
Southern Building.
814 Thirteenth St.
District Building.
1317 Connecticut Ave.
Richardson (M.D.), J. J.,
Riggs, T. Lawrason,
Roberts, William F.,
Rogers, Wm. Edgar,
Rosenberg, Maurice D.,
Rudolph, Cuno H.,
Sanders, Joseph,
Saul, John A.,
Scisco (Ph.D.), Louis Dow,
Shahan (D.D.). Rt. Rev. T. J
Shand, Miles M.,
Shandelle, S.J., (Rev.) Henry J., Georgetown University
Shir-Cliff, William H., 1706 Lamont St.
Shuey, Theodore F., U. .S. Senate.
Simpson (M.D.), John Crayke. 1421 Ma.ssaehusetts Ave.
Small, J. Henry, Cor. Fifteenth and H Sts.
1509 Sixteenth St.
1311 Massachusetts Ave.
1514 H St.
1860 Park Road.
1953 Biltmore St.
Second Nat. Bank.
1460 Columbia Road.
344 D St.
The Woodley.
Catholic Univ. of America
Department of State.
List of Members.
365
Smith, Thomas W., 1867 Columbia Road.
Snow, Alpheus H., 2013 Massachusetts Ave.
Spofford, Miss Florence P., The Woodward.
Stockton (Adm.), Chas. Herbert, 2019 St.
Swormstedt, John S., Southern Building.
Swormstedt (M.D.), Lyman B., 2 Thomas Circle.
Taggart, George E.,
Taylor, Miss C. Bryson,
Thom, Corcoran,
Thompson, Corbin,
Thompson, Mrs. John W.,
Tindall (M.D.), William,
Tobriner, Leon,
Todd, William B.,
Topham, Washington,
Trego, Mrs. Elizabeth Yonge,
Truesdell, Col. George,
Turner, Mrs. Harriot Stoddert
1758 Park Road.
1822 Massachusetts Ave.
Amer. Security and Trust Co.
Woodbridge, Va.
1419 I St.
The Stafford.
1406 16th St.
1243 Irving St.
1219 F St.
The Olympia.
1627 Lincoln Ave.
, 1311 New Hampshire Ave.
Van Schaick, (Rev.) John, Jr
Van Wickle, William P.,
Wardman, Harry,
Warner (M.D.), Garden F.,
Weller, Joseph I.,
W^eller, Mrs. M. I.,
White, Enoch L.,
Whitney (Ph.D.), Edson L.,
Willard, Henry K.,
Williams, Charles P.,
Williamson, Charles J.,
Wilson, Clarence R.,
Wood, (Rev.) Charles,
Woodhull, Gen. Maxwell
Woodward, Fred E.,
Wright, W. Lloyd, .
Wurdeman, J. H.,
Wyeth, Major Nathan,
1417 Massachusetts Ave.
1217 F St.
1430 K St.
Chevy Chase, Md.
2002 R St.
408 Seward Sq., S. E.
1753 Corcoran St.
., 1234 Euclid St.
Kellogg Building.
1675 Thirty-first St.
2616 Connecticut Ave.
1512 H St.
2110 S St.
Z., 2033 G St.
Eleventh and F Sts.
1908 G St.
610 Twelfth St.
1517 H St.
COMMUNICATIONS MADE TO THE COLUMBIA
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
(Continued from page 292, Vol. 20.)
1917.
Jan. 16. The Earliest Proprietors of Capitol Hill. Margaret
Brent Downing.
In memoriam — Louis Pierce Shoemaker. John A.
Saul (printed in last volume).
Feb. 20. Beginnings of Street Railways in the National Capi-
tal. Dr. William Tindall.
A Critical Moment for Washington. Rev. George
Williamson Smith.
Mar. 20. An Old Washington Mansion. Maud Burr Morris.
Patriots of the Revolutionary Period who are In-
terred Here or in Arlington. Selden M. Ely.
Apl. 17. Silver Spring. Gist Blair.
(Talk by Admiral Colby M. Chester, on ''National
Defense.")
May 15. Washington under Mayor Wallach. Allen C. Clark.
Nov. 20. A Celebrated Case of Early Days: U. S. vs. Henry
Pittman. Henry E. Davis.
In Memoriam : Mary Stevens Beall. Cordelia Jack-
son.
Dec. 18. Lewis Clephane, A Pioneer. Walter C. Clephane.
Clara Barton, Humanitarian. Corra Bacon-Foster.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE COLUMBIA HISTORICAL
SOCIETY.
162d meeting. January 16, 1917.
About 125 members and guests were present at the 162d
meeting held in the banquet room of The Shoreham Hotel, on
the evening of January 16, 1917. The president, Mr. Clark,
presided and after announcing new members, and the names
of persons who will address the Society during the winter,
introduced the historian of the evening, Mrs. Margaret Brent
Downing, whose communication dealt with the "Earliest Pro-
prietors of Capitol Hill." The subject was discussed by Mr.
Callaghan, Dr. Morgan, Dr. Tindall and President Clark.
The second part of the evening was devoted to honoring the
memory of our late manager — Louis Pierce Shoemaker. A
Resolution of sympathy, prepared by the president, was read,
and the "In Memoriam" was given by Mr. John A. Saul.
Other tributes to his memory were paid by Mr. Callaghan,
Judge Bundy and President Clark.
The evening closed with the Annual Election and reports
of officers ; all officers for 1916 were reelected, except the
treasurer and corresponding secretary, Mr. Cuno H. Rudolph
and Mr. William F. Roberts being elected to those offices re-
spectively. Mr. William Van Zant Cox and William Henry
Dennis were elected to the Board of Managers, to serve until
1921.
163d meeting. February 20, 1917.
President Clark presided at the 163d meeting, in the Gold
Room of The Shoreham Hotel on February 20, 1917, when
about 125 members and guests were present.
After announcements by the Chair, the first communica-
tion of the evening was given by Dr. Tindall, and dealt with
the "Beginnings of Street Railways in the National Capital."
The second communication was by Rev. George Williamson
367
368 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Smith, D.D., and was entitled "A Critical Moment for Wash-
ington," written from his personal knowledge and observa-
tion during the Civil War. Discussion of both papers fol-
lowed, and Mr, H. K. Willard and Mr. Washington Topham
displayed pictures of old Washington, and added items of
interest as to early passenger traffic.
164th meeting. March 20, 1917.
The March meeting was held on the twentieth of the month
in the Gold Room of The Shoreham Hotel, with President
Clark in the chair, and an audience of about 175 members and
guests.
The Chair read a Washington Post editorial describing the
beauty and significance of the illuminated dome of the Capitol,
adding some interesting facts about the "poem in white
marble," and then introduced the speakers of the evening.
The first paper was the history of "An Old Washington
Mansion" (No. 2017 I Street, N.W.) by Miss Maud Burr
Morris, and the second paper was by Prof. Selden M. Ely, who
enumerated the names of "Patriots of the Revolutionary
Period who are Interred here or in Arlington," — who consti-
tute. Prof. Ely claims, a valid claim for the right of suffrage
in the District of Columbia.
Some Revolutionary muster rolls were exhibited by Miss
Sally S. Mackall, and the papers were discussed by Mrs. Corra
Bacon-Foster, Mr. William Van Zant Cox and Miss Jackson.
165th meeting. April 17, 1917.
Mr. Gist Blair read a sketch about "Silver Spring," in
Montgomery County, Md., as the first paper of the evening,
at the 165th meeting of the Society, held April 17, 1917, in
the Gold Room of The Shoreham Hotel.
This was followed by a patriotic and stirring address by
Rear-Admiral Colby M. Chester, on the subject of "National
Defense. ' '
President Clark presided, and there were about 100 persons
present.
Proceedings of the Society. 369
166th meeting. Maij 15, 1917.
The Society met in the Gold Eooni of The Shoreham Hotel
on the evening of May 15, 1917, with an unusually large at-
[endance of members and guests. President Clark presided
and announced that owing to sudden indisposition of the Sec-
retary, Mrs. Mary Stevens Beall, the reading of the Minutes
of the last meeting would be postponed. He then read the paper
of the evening, entitled "Washington Under Mayor Richard
Wallach," which consisted of a collection, from newspapers
of the day^ personal reminiscences and other sources, of his-
toric events, anecdotes and biographical sketches of local celeb-
rities of greater or less degree, making a most valuable con-
tribution to local history. Interesting items were added by
Mr. Topham, Dr. Tindall, Mr. Saul and Judge Bundy.
At the close of the discussion, Mr. Topham spoke of the
great fidelity, efficiency and interest in the affairs of the
society, of its secretary, who, until that evening, had the un-
usual record of not having been absent from a single meeting
during the many years of the Society's existence, and at his
instance, a Resolution was passed, extending to Mrs. Beall the
sympathy of the members of the Society in her illness. Miss
Morris was directed to record the proceedings of the meeting.
After a short farewell speech by the Chair, the society was
disbanded for the summer.
167th meeting. November 20, 1917.
President Clark presided, and welcomed the members and
guests present at the opening meeting of the season, held
November 20, 1917, in the Gold Room of The Shoreham Hotel,
in a short speech, mentioning many important events that
had occurred during the summer, including the passage of the
Shepherd "Dry" law, and two Liberty Bond Issues by the
United States Government. He also announced the death of
several members and the acquisition of new members, and
then introduced Mr. Henry E. Davis, who read a paper on
"A Celebrated Case of Early Days : U. S. vs. Henry Pittman,"
dealing with the trial of the latter for the attempted murder
of John Corse, in Alexandria, Va., in the year 1827.
25
370 Records of the Columhia Historical Society.
The death of our former Secretary, Mrs, Beall, was also an-
nounced as having occurred shortly after the last meeting, and
the appointment of Miss Morris to fill the vacancy caused by
her death. A resolution prepared by President Clark was
then read, and a copy directed to be sent to the family of Mrs.
Beall, and to be entered upon the Minutes, as follows :
"Mary Stevens Beall passed from the earthly life Satur-
day, the nineteenth day of May, in the current year. On the
Tuesday evening immediately preceding, and the time of the
last meeting of the Society for the season, she had a stroke of
paralysis from which she did not revive.
"Mrs. Beall for twenty-one years had been the secretary of
the Columbia Historical Society; and except for a short time
following the organization, the only secretary.
"In the discharge of duty, Mrs. Beall exhibited an extra-
ordinary example of fidelity — a fidelity 'as constant as the
stars that never vary. '
"Despite severity of weather or any untoward condition,
she, in the long period, missed but two sessions, and those be-
cause of near bereavement.
"Mrs. Beall for the secretaryship had aptitude and ability.
She was enthusiastically inclined to historical research and
contributed to its store. She was thorough in the detail. Her
enunciation was peculiarly distinct. The accounts of the pro-
ceedings, which might have been dry, have interest and
piquancy by literary grace.
"Mrs. Beall's days were full and useful. She was helpful
in religious and in educational work. As a mother and as a
grandmother she fulfilled the noblest work of all. Of the
troubles she likely had more than an equal share. These with
good sense, she offset by good nature. She learned ' the luxury
of doing good. '
"To the officers and members of the Columbia Historical
Society, the severance of the long association causes deep
sorrow. The memory of Mrs. Beall by them will be cherished
until their days, too, are consummated.
Proceedings of the Society. 371
'' Resolved: That this expression be recorded upon the Min-
utes of proceedings, and a copy transmitted to the family. ' '
The "In Memoriam" to Mrs. Beall was prepared by Miss
Cordelia Jackson, who verbally paid a glowing tribute* to our
late Secretary; this was followed by additional eulogies by
Mr. Clark, Dr. Morgan and Mr. Dennis.
168th meeting. Decemher 18, 1917.
The last meeting of the year was held on the evening of
December 18, in the Gold Room of The Shoreham Hotel, with
an audience of about 65 persons. President Clark presiding.
The first paper of the evening was by Mr. Walter C. Cle-
phane, who read a sketch of the life of "Lewis Clephane, a
Pioneer Washington Republican" and well known to many of
those present. This was followed by a most comprehensive
and detailed account of the life of "Clara Barton, Humani-
tarian," by Mrs. Corra Bacon-Foster, both of which papers
are valuable additions to our Records.
* Copy of the ' ' In Memoriam ' ' appears in this volume.
IN MEMORIAM— MARY STEVENS BEALL,
1854-1917.
By miss COEDELIA JACKSOX.
(Bead before the Society, November 20, 1917.)
' ' God sent her into the world to open the eyes of those who
looked to beautiful thoughts. And this is the beginning and
end of literature."- — J. M. Barrie.
It is a difificult matter to analyze the life of one we have
known and loved for more than a quarter of a century, espe-
cially if that life has been symmetrical and complete. The
life of our late secretary in any aspect, religious, social or in-
tellectual, is a lesson and a treasure to her friends, for the
wise may be wiser and the good better by considering it. To
such a life there is only one solution, the world is better be-
cause she lived.
In an old-fashioned house. No. 304 Union Street, Phila-
delphia, November 1, ISoi, the blue eyes of Mary Stevens
first saw the light. She was the only daughter of Mr. James
Stevens, a prominent merchant of the Quaker City, and
Georgianna Gill Haines, his second wife. The importance of
the family had been recognized, the founder having played
an important part in the formation of the colonies. In Ad-
kyns, "History of Gloucestershire, England," we read the
family is an ancient one, having been in the parish of Easing-
ton as early as the twelfth century. In 1591 Thomas Stevens
was appointed attorney-general to Princes Henry and Charles.
A handsome effigy of a man in a gown, kneeling, has been
erected in the parish church. The manor of Sodbury, Chip-
ping, given by William the Conqueror to Odo Earl of Cham-
pagne, "his near kinsman who attended him in the invasion
of England and for his good services," was purchased by
Thomas Stevens and "continued in the family many cen-
turies. ' ' The coat of arms which, according to Burke, belongs
372
Col. Hist. Soc , Vol. XXI, Pl. XVIII.
Mrs. Mary Stevens Beai.l, About LS9o.
In Memoriam — Mary Stevens Beall. 373
to those of the highest rank, bears the motto, "Deus intersit,"
"all's for ye best."
Of the Stevens family, Elias Jones in his history of Dor-
chester Co., Md., says: "William Stevens came to Maryland
in 1651 with his family, wife Madgalen and sons William and
John. He settled in Calvert Co., and then removed to Dor-
chester Co. He was commissioned Justice of the Peace 1669. ' '
Archives of Md., Vols. Ill and V state "February 9, 1669,
the Commission is resumed and he was constituted one of the
Gentlemen of the Quorum. He was also appointed Coroner
of Somerset County with the Oath."
Charles Kousby writing from London, 14 December, 1681,
to the Hon. Col. Stevens "at his home at Pocomoke in Md.
thanks him for all his kindnesses, especily for favouring,
countenancing and advancing that affaire of His Majestic
wherein I am concerned." John Stevens the ancestor of our
secretary became a member of the House of Burgesses. Hon.
Samuel Stevens, who was governor of Maryland from 1822 to
1829 and who received and entertained the beloved Lafayette,
was a member of this distinguished family.
Our beloved secretary of sacred memory, with whom many
of the molding incidents of my own life are associated, had
two half sisters and a half brother over whom she exercised a
gentle and noble influence. Her childhood was passed in the
privacy of her home under the constant care of a devoted
mother, her father having died suddenly of sunstroke in New
Orleans before she reached her eleventh year. Her mother
was qualified in every way to train her for a career she was
destined to illumine. She followed with interest the varying
fortunes of the Civil War. Did she dream that in after years
she was to be known and admired by its heroes such as General
George C. Thomas, Captain Henry W. Frankland, Joseph W.
Kirkley, Capt. John Kingsberry, Col. Nathan Bicksford?
At its close she entered the Misses Bedlock's school that had
been endowed by Benjamin Franklin. Her mental training
had been so well provided for she was able to take her place
at the head of her classes. Her thirst for higher education
led her to the State Normal School, where she graduated with
374 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
the highest honors. The following year she was enrolled as
one of its teachers. When asked to chaperone one of her
classes abroad, she promptly replied, "Never will I leave
America. It is the flower of civilization. ' ' Our country never
produced a more zealous patriot than Mary Stevens.
It is interesting to notice that her literary convictions were
formed while in school. Belles-lettres and history became her
favorite studies. A copy of Shakespeare was usually found
under her arm. She had a wide knowledge of the French
poets and could read them with ease in the original. Thus
she grew to womanhood, enthused by the loftiest aspirations
and achievements and surrounded by the best social advantages
and influences.
Some of the gayest and most delightful hours of her social
life were those which she passed outside of Philadelphia in
the long visits she paid during the summer months to relatives
on the Eastern shore of Maryland. On the adjoining farm
lived Mr. Alexander Evans Beall, reputed to be the hand-
somest man in Maryland. He was a widower with three chil-
dren, one of whom, Herbert N. Beall, is a leading druggist
of Washington. The scion of a noble house was he, a direct
descendant of Ninian Beall of Dumbartonshire, Scotland, who
fought against Cromwell, was transported to Maryland and
granted 795 acres of land, "Rock of Dumbarton,*' on which
Georgetown was laid out a century later. The name of Beall
is closely linked with that of the proudest descent in England
and Scotland, and in America it is connected with such well-
known families as the Brooke of Maryland and Virginia,
Willing and Balch of Philadelphia and many others equally
renowned. Mr. Beall, brilliant and fascinating, proved to be
a typical Lochinvar and the following winter, February 12,
1871, the wedding took place in the home church of the bride
in Philadelphia, Rev. Cheston Smith, her pastor, who was
described by a maid in the family as "very lady-like looking,"
performing the ceremony. It was an alliance of congenial
tastes, affection and judgment. A miniature portrait painted
at this time and in possession of her family shows one of the
brightest and most winsome faces. A wealth of black hair on
In Memoriam — Mary Stevens Beall. 375
the slightly bent head with its large expressive eves makes a
pleasing effect. Time has wrought many changes since then,
but the smile still lingers on the portrait, unmindful of vicis-
situdes and trials.
The happy bride began her new life in a stately mansion
rising out of a grove of majestic trees. In every room was an
enviable collection of pier-glass, antique mahogany, card
tables and candle stands. It was the abode of knowledge,
culture and refinement, as well as the hospitality of ante-
bellum days. She became a Dorcas in charity, a Deborah in
counsel, a Hannah in prayer. As a Phebe she was the helper
of many. The seal of happiness was cemented by the birth of
a daughter, an only child, who, in later life, became Mrs.
Thomas Hughes and with her interesting family resides in
Georgetown. A grandson, Stevens Hughes, is serving his
country in the U. S. Navy. Another is a trusted employee of
the American Security Trust Co.
In the fall of 1881 her health became impaired and the fol-
lowing December the family moved to Georgetown, taking up
their residence on the historic part of ''Gay" Street, now
''N," near the present home of the Secretary of War. Here
she steps from the privacy of her home life and becomes the
center of a brilliant coterie of literary lights. Among them
may be mentioned Dr. Joseph M. Toner, physician, writer and
philanthropist, Dr. Samuel C. Busey, whose reminiscences of
"Washington delight the present-day reader, Charles Francis
Adams, the historian, and Mrs. Adams, James Madison Cutts,
grandnephew of Dolly Madison, Matthew G. Emery, last
mayor of Washington, John Adam Kasson, minister to Aus-
tria-Hungary and Germany, and Eev. Dr. Byron Sunderland,
the venerable pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. We
marvel not that she was the admired of all who flocked to her
hospitable home. "It is only in such environment we realize
fully the picturesque figure of some of her ancestors serenely
silhouetted against a mural background."
As a member of the Short Story Club, the Unity Club and
Potomac Club she contributed numerous essays to each one.
As the private secretary of Dr. Toner she became a close
student of Washingtoniana, devoting a vast amount of time
376 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
and labor to the study of the life of Washington. It is said
no two individuals were as familiar with the daily life of
Washington as Mrs. Beall and Dr. Toner. Together they
made a most comprehensive colleetion of the letters and writ-
ings of Washington, a task that had never before been accom-
plished. In 1892 this immense collection was deposited in
the Library of Congress and has proven to be of immense
value to the historian.
Early in the winter of 1894 Doctor Toner conceived the
idea of forming an historical society, not only for the preser-
vation of data relating to the District but for sympathetic
comradeship. A meeting was called in the president's room
of Columbian, now the George Washington University, March
9, at 4:20 P.M., "for the purpose of exchanging views as to
the best methods of collecting and preserving data, relating
to the District." April 12 another meeting was called and
the Columbia Historical Society was formed. Among its
members were men who had achieved a high reputation — Dr.
Cleveland Abbe. Col. John G. Nicolay, secretary to and biog-
rapher of the immortal Lincoln, Ainsworth Rand Spofford,
Librarian of Congress, Hon. John Kasson, former Minister to
Austria-Hungary and Germany, Judge Alexander B. Hagner,
Judge Walter S. Cox, Matthew G. Emery, Professor Simon
Newcomb, Professor Bernard Taylor Janney, Superintendent
of Public Schools in Georgetown, and Hugh T. Taggart, all of
graceful memory. Only in the national capital could such a
grouping come together. Into its limited membership came
Mrs. Beall. Her courtly manners, varied interests and liter-
ary fragrance made her a welcome member. January 5, 1895,
she gave her first and only communication before the So-
ciety, ' ' The Military and Private Secretaries of George Wash-
ington." It was read before a membership of forty and dis-
cussed by Doctor Gallaudet. Already those qualities essen-
tial to leadership had been recognized in her to a notable de-
gree — her power to lay plans and execute them; her large
vision; her intuition; her executive ability, her keen and
retentive memory, and on October 7, following on the resigna-
tion of Doctor Marcus Baker, she was unanimously elected to
fill out the unexpired term as Recording Secretary.
In Memoriam — Mary Stevens Beall. 377
The second annual election of officers was held at the resi-
dence of Doctor Toner, February 6, 1896. Doctor Toner was
elected president, Hon. Mr. Kasson and Mr. Spofford vice-
presidents, Doctor James Dudley Morgan treasurer, Mr.
James F. Hood, curator, Mr. Michael I. "Weller, corresponding
secretary. Judge Hagner and Col. Nicolay were chosen as
councilors for four years. Wisely and naturally Mrs. Beall
was reelected recording secretary.
So familiar are we with her labors in the Society for more
than twenty-two years, it would be a work of supererogation
to even summarize them. Her plans for its development were
sane, rational and original. Her motive was inflexible, the
ingathering of new members, not only residential but from
different parts of the country. "Her fires of zeal burned
with unquenchable flame on the altar of her heart." Her
active strength of mind and body was given without stint.
The society stands today a living memorial to her, speaking
more eloquently than any panegyric of speech.
What were her flights of fancy in her day dreams for the
society? The question is answered, a library. Our library
had its beginnings like an infant colony on a new continent.
At first it grew feebly. Years elapsed before it secured a
steady growth. At every step she aided and fostered its
growth, breaking down the bars of opposition. In March,
1910, the initial step was taken and a library comprehensive
in scope and representative of the best literature was opened
to the public. In one section are our publications, indexed
and catalogued by her. Nay, the arrangement on the shelves
was with her own fingers. In another, the priceless collection
of manuscript letters of the families of 1800, brought thither
by a permanent seat of government. In another, more than
one thousand unbound volumes and pamphlets, together with
half a hundred maps. In another the exchange volumes of
other societies, together with relics of the Washington fam-
ilies. During her incumbency as librarian she undertook on
short notice the indexing of six folio volumes of the Letters
and Speeches of Carl Schurz, edited by Doctor Frederick
Bancroft, formerly Librarian of the State Department. The
work was accomplished in a few months.
378 Records of the Columhia Historical Society.
At the request of Mr. Kobert Brownlow she wrote a "His-
tory of the Washington Coach" over which a dispute had
arisen as to whether the original coach had been destroyed.
She proved conclusively it had been broken up and the orig-
inal pieces sold as souvenirs.
Her versatility of talent is shown in the following works:
^'The Merchant of Venice as Shakespeare Saw it Played";
"Talks on Early Art in Greece, Rome and Egypt," together
with numerous short stories and magazine articles.
A few weeks before she passed away she was unanimously
elected recording secretary of the National Shakespeare Fed-
eration.
We pass briefly over the closing scenes. The last day of
activity, May 15th, 1917, was spent in Georgetown in company
with Mrs. Cazenove Lee, arranging and pasting historical
photographs in an album. As usual she was full of cheerful-
ness with no signs of dissolution which alas ! was so near.
Precisely at five o'clock her earthly labors ended. Gathering
together a few remaining photographs she turned to Mrs. Lee
and said, "These are all I will have to paste tomorrow. Good
evening, Mrs. Lee," and left the house. These were her last
words. In a few moments she was stricken with a fatal ill-
ness, apoplexy, and hurried to a nearby hospital. Would we
could lift the curtain of the sick room and witness the loving
ministrations of her physician, our former president ! In three
days the gentle spirit yielded itself to its Maker.
Her life went out ere it registered its maturest powers.
Her day was brief, but from dawn to dusk it was filled with
the summer's radiance. The precious moments were garnered,
the golden opportunities were met. Her right to a niche in
the Temple of Fame there are none to dispute. Who could so
nobly exemplify the motto that was engraven on the colonial
shield, "Non si'bi sed allis."
•"Forget thee! if to dream by night or muse on thee by day,
If all the passions deep and wild a poet 's heart can pay,
If prayers in absence breathed for thee to Heaven's protecting power,
If winged thoughts that flit to thee, a thousand in an hour,
If busy fancy blending thee with all our future lot,
If this thou call'st forgetting, thou indeed shalt be forgot."
Col. Hist. Soc, Vol. XXI., Pl. XIX.
4
Mr.s. Mary Stevex.s Beall, About 1902.
KEPORT OF THE TREASURER OF THE COLUMBIA
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
For the Year Ending December 31, 1917.
Balance on hand January 1, 1917 $ 239.28
Receipts.
From Members for dues 920.00
For one Life Membership 50.00
From sale of Society's publications 171.00
$1,380.28
Disbursements.
Rent of Gold Room (Shoreham) $ 75.00
Rent of Office (Pacific Bldg.) 120.00
Insurance on books, etc 7.19
Printing and stationery 123.55
Postage 47.68
Secretary's salary 165.61
Treasurer's Assistant's salary 15.00
Flowers for Mrs. Beall 10.00
Publication of Vol. 20 582.71
Proceeds of Life Membership deposited in
American Security & Trust Co 50.00 $1,196.74
Balance on deposit Second National Bank, Jan.
1. 1918 $ 183.54
379
380. Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Life Membership Fund.
(On deposit with American Security & Trust Go.)
Balance January 1, 1917 $230.96
Jan. 2, 1917, interest 2.31
Apr. 25, 1917, life membership 50.00
July 2, 1917, interest 2.45
Dec. 31, 1917, interest 2.85
Balance January 1, 1918 $288.57
CUNO H. EUDOLPH,
Treasurer.
CertifiCxVte of Audit Committee, Feb. 13, 1918.
Books and vouchers have been examined and found correct.
(Signed) Ralph W. Lee,
W. F. Roberts,
Audit Committee.
TWENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
RECORDING SECRETARY.
Mr. President and Members of the Society:
During the year 1917 the Columbia Historical Society has
held seven meetings in the Gold Room of The Shoreham, on
the third Tuesday of the months of January to May inclusive,
and in November and December, with an average attendance
of about one hundred and fifteen members and guests. There
have been six deaths and several resignations, which have been
offset by a sufficient number of new members to bring the
membership to 216, being an increase of two over last year's
membership. These are classified as follows : four life mem-
bers, one honorary member, one complimentary member, and
two hundred and ten annual members.
The Society sustained a severe loss in the death of Mrs.
Mary Stevens Beall, its Recording Secretary for twenty-one
years, who established an enviable record for fidelity and effi-
ciency in her work for the Society, and whose memory will
always be cherished by those associated with her in her long
tenure of office, as well as by all who knew her.
The Board of Managers held eight meetings during the past
year, with an average attendance of eight members, and trans-
acted much business of benefit and interest to the Society.
Volume 20 of The Records made its appearance in the early
summer of 1917 and is of a high order in the quality of its
material, containing papers of great value, notably, Mr.
Noyes' paper on "The Presidents and the National Capital,"
and the biographical sketches of Mayors Emery and Lenox,
and of Benjamin Stoddert, first Secretary of the U. S. Navy.
During the past year an unusual number of papers were
read before the Society, most of which were fine examples of
the subjects most desirable for publication in our records, and
the forthcoming volume promises to be particularly interest-
ing as well as a valuable addition to Washingtoniana.
381
382 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Many war publications have been received from abroad,
and many books and pamphlets from the various state His-
torical Societies and Libraries, so that our Library has entirely
outgrown its present quarters, and it is becoming a problem
to know what to do with them.
Respectfully submitted,
Maud Burr Morris,
Recording Secretary.
January 15, 191S.
TWENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
CURATOR.
To the President and Members of the Columbia Historical
Society :
I herewith hand you my twenty-fourth annual report as.
Curator of this Society, showing the following books and
pamphlets acquired by exchange or gift, during the year 1917 :
Asia, a Journal of the American Asiatic Association, for
April, 1917.
New York Public Library, Bulletins of, Jan. to Dec, incl.,
1917.
Bohemian Review, Feb., Mar., May, June and Sept., 1917.
Quarterly Bulletin, Iowa Masonic Library (Cedar
Rapids, la.), July and Oct., 1917.
American Magazine Subject-Index, 1916 and 1917, Bos-
ton Book Co.
The Wilson Bulletin (White Plains, N. Y.), May, 1917.
Goodspeed's Catalogue, Feb., 1916, and April, 1917.
Chambre de Commerce de Paris, Bulletins, Dec, 1917.
Alliance Francaise, Bulletins of, Nos. 55, 56, 58, 61. 62,
64, 65, 66, 67, 71, 72, 73.
George Washlntgton University Bulletin, Catalogue,
1917 : Report of President, 1916 and 1917.
Smithsonian Institute, Bulletin 101, Columbian Institute'
for the Promotion of the Arts and Sciences, by Richard Rath-
bun (1917).
Smithsonl\n Institute, Report, Arrowpoints, Spearheads
& Knives of Prehistoric Times, by Thomas Wilson.
Library of Congress, Reports of the Librarian and Super-
intendent of Library Building and Grounds, 1917.
Calendar of Papers of Franklin Pierce, prepared by W.
L. Leech.
American Jewish Historical Society, Publications of, No.
25, 1917.
383
384 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
Montana State Historical Society, Vol. 8, 1917 (Helena,
Montana).
Western Reserve Historical Society, Annual Report of,
1917.
Washington Historical Quarterly (Seattle, Washing-
ton), July, Oct., 1916, January and April, 1917.
Nebraska State Historical Society, Publications of (Lin
coin, Neb.), Vol. XVIII, 1917.
Wisconsin Magazine of History (State Historical Society
of Wisconsin), Vol. I, Nos. 1 and 2.
Wisconsin Historical Publications, Studies, Vol. I, by
Frederick Merk.
Proceedings, 1916.
Collections, Vol. XXIV.
Draper Series, Vol. V.
Minnesota History Bulletin, Vol. II, Nos. 2 and 3, May
and Aug., 1917.
The Record (University of North Carolina), Vol. 16, No.
1, 1917.
American Antiquarian Society, Proceedings of, New-
Series, Vol. 77, Pt. 1, 1917.
Photograph, "Wakefield on the Potomac, where George
Washington was born in 1732, ' ' presented by Joseph I. Keefer.
Photograph of A. T. Britton (framed), presented by James
J. Becker.
Photograph of the Justices of the U. S. Supreme Court in
1876 (framed), by M. B. Morris.
Open Boats, by Alfred Noyes.
Catholic Founders of the National Capital, by Marga-
ret B. Downing, 1917.
Memorial of Mrs. Teunis S. Hamlin, by the Congregation
of the Church of the Covenant (2 copies).
Standard Guide of Washington, D. C, 1886.
Catalogue of Columbian University, 1897-8, 1900-1.
Various Forms of Local Government, by W. B. Bryan
(1898).
Finances of National Capital Partnership, by Theodore
W. Noyes (1898).
Annual Report of the Curator. 385
Washington as a Center of Learning, by Clifford Howard
(1904).
Contributions to Archeology of the District of Colum-
bia, by Louis A. Kengla.
War of the Metals, by Theodore W. Noyes (1899).
"Columbia Heights," by the Columbia Heights Citizens
Association (1904).
A Century of Geography in the United States, by
Marcus Baker (1898).
Centennial of the Beginnings of Presbyterianism in
the City of Washington (1895).
Handbook of the Washington Cathedral.
Supreme Court of D. C, General Term, At Law No.
22,778 (Jane Austin vs. District of Columbia). 11 copies.
Code of Law of the District of Columbia, 1879.
16th Annual Report of the Board of Managers and
Lady Visitors of Epiphany Church Home, 1887.
Report of Condition of Charitable Institutions in D. C,
1886.
Annual Report of Commissioners of the District of
Columbia, 1880, 1896, 1889, 1906.
Annual Report of Health Officer of District of Co-
lumbia, 1906.
Manufacturing in the District of Columbia, by Louis
P. Shoemaker.
Message of the Mayor of the City of Washington,
June 29, 1868 (44 copies).
Message of the Mayor of the City op Washington, July
19,1869 (17 copies).
Annual Report on Improvements and Care of Public
Buildings in D. C. (1889).
2d, 6th, 12th and 13th Annual Reports of Washington
Board of Trade.
Report of Board op Public Works of D. C, 1873.
Respectfully submitted,
James F. Hood,
Curator.
April, 1918.
26
CHRONICLER'S REPORT FOR 1917.
Jan. 7-13. Beginning of the movement by advocates of
Woman Suffrage to ''picket" the White House
gates. The sentinels carried banners with legends
asking when the President would support the cause
of Woman Suffrage.
Jan. 13. An Avenue landmark — the Corcoran Building — at
the corner of Fifteenth Street and Pennsylvania
Avenue, in the hands of wreckers, preparatory to
the construction of the new Hotel Washington on
the site.
Jan. 13. Special services were held in St. John's Church, in
commemoration of the founding of the century-old
landmark. This building was designed by Benja-
min H. Latrobe.
Jan. 14. Dedication and formal opening of the new Dunbar
High School, First Street between N and Streets,
N. W. This thoroughly equipped school for col-
ored youth was named for the colored poet, Paul
Laurence Dunbar.
Jan. 16. Admiral George Dewey, hero of the Battle of Ma-
nila Bay and ranking officer of the United States
Navy, died.
Jan. 23. Mrs. M. C. Stewart, the first woman to be admitted
to the Capitol press galleries, died.
Jan. 25. Anson S. Taylor died.
Feb. 3. Diplomatic relations with Germany severed by
President Wilson.
Dr. J. Ford Thompson died.
Feb. 12. The Myrtilla Miner Normal School on Brightwood
Avenue, for the education of colored students, was
dedicated.
Feb. 16. The new Central High School, Thirteenth and Clif-
ton Streets, N.W., was dedicated.
386
Chronicler's Report. 387
Mar. 1. Exercises occurred marking the semi-centennial of
the founding of Howard University.
Mar. 3. The Sheppard Bill providing for prohibition in
the District of Columbia beginning November 1,
1917, was approved.
Apr. 6. Declaration of a state of war with Germany was
signed by the President today.
Apr. 12. The United States Government took the first step
toward the formation of a great army by calling
for 500,000 volunteers.
Apr. 21. The Federal Government gave over a large tract
in Potomac Park for gardening under the direc-
tion of the Boy Scouts.
Apr. 22. The British Mission headed by Minister Arthur J.
Balfour and Lord Cunliffe, head of the Bank of
England, reached Washington and were received
by the President. A loan of $200,000,000, the first
foreign loan to be made, was extended by the
United States to the British Government.
Apr. 25. The French Mission, headed by Marshal Joffre and
former Premier Viviani, accorded a great ovation
on arrival in Washington.
May 12. Dedication of the Red Cross Memorial Building,
erected by the United States Government and pa-
triotic citizens as a memorial to the women of this
country who devoted their lives to relieving thp
sick and wounded during the Civil War.
May 18. The President's Proclamation putting into effect
the selective draft provision of the Army Bill, was
issued.
May 26. The District of Columbia Chapter of the Red Cross
voted $10,000 to be given to Marshal Joffre for the
orphans of France.
June 5. Registration Day for the registration of men of
draft age for army service. 32,327 registered in
the District of Columbia.
June 7. 25,000 Confederate Veterans and Sons of Con-
federate Veterans marched up the Avenue and
388 Records of the Columbia Historical Society.
passed in review before President Wilson as living
proof that ours is a united country today.
June 9. The fifth boundary milestone at the head of Fes-
senden Street on the Maryland Boundary line,
placed there in 1792, was dedicated by the Inde-
pendence Bell Chapter, D. A. E.
June 23. Laying of the cornerstone of the new Odd Fellows
Hall on Seventh Street between D and E Streets,
N.W. The old hall was built in 1840 and was one
of the first fraternal halls in America.
June 28. The statue of Robert Emmet, designed by Jerome
Conner, the gift of American citizens of Irish
ancestry, was presented to the United States and
installed in the National Museum.
July 21. The District of Columbia ealled to the colors 1858
men with requirements for service of 929 men.
July 28. The entire National Guard of the District was
called into the Federal service.
Aug. 2. Mr. S. Walter Woodward, prominent Washington
merchant, died at his summer home in Stock-
bridge, Mass.
Sept. 4. By proclamation President Wilson welcomed the
men of the National Army into the service of the
United States. A great demonstration in the form
of a parade led by the President occurred as a
tribute to the men from the District selected for
enrollment in the National Army.
Sept. 24. Death of Dr. E. M. Gallaudet, retired president of
Gallaudet College and one of the foremost bene-
factors of deaf mutes.
Oct. 24. Proclaimed Liberty Day by President Wilson.
Oct. 26. Demolition begun of the National Rifles' Armory,
south side of G Street between Ninth and Tenth
Streets, to make way for a ten-story office building.
The National Rifles were for many years one of
the leading military organizations of the District.
Orsranized in 1859 and disbanded in 1905.
Chronicler's Report. 389
Nov. 1. The Sheppard Prohibition Law making Washing-
ton dry became effective today.
Nov. 15. John W. Foster, former Secretary of State, died.
Mr. Foster also served as Minister to Mexico,
Russia and Spain successively.
Dec. 1. Purchase of the historic Cameron House by the
Cosmos Club.
Respectfully submitted,
Frederick L. Fishback,
Chronicler.
NECROLOGY.
1917, March 29 Mrs. Nelly Lloyd Knox-Heatii.
1917, April 7 Henry K. Simpson.
1917, April 27 Andrew W. Pentland.
1917, May 19 Mrs. Mary Stevens Beall.
1917, Aug. 2 S. Walter Woodward.
1917, Sept. 26 N. H. Shea.
INDEX.
Prepared by John B. Larxer.
Abbe, (Prof.) Cleveland, founder Weather Bureau 117, 127
Actors, 1864-5 231
Adam, Wallace, founder of Gait and Brothers 253
Addison 's Chapel 152
Adlum, Major John 150
Alexandria, forces swarming into 103
Alexandria Gazette, account of Pittman case 246-7
Alexandria Herald, Corse and Eounsavell, proprietors 251-7
American Indians early settlers Capitol Hill 1
American National Bed Cross, incorporated, 308. First auxiliary,
309. First great work of, 309.
American Eed Cross, early history of 305-310
Anacostia 1
Anacostia & Potomac Eiver E. E. Co 30, 32, 39, 41
Analostan 158
Annals of Silver Spring, Communication by Gist Blair 15.5-185
Annapolis Eail Eoad destroyed 109
An Old Washington Mansion, Communication by Maud Burr
Morris ". 114-128
Anti-Merger Legislation 33
Anti-Slavery Association 265
Appendix 357-389
Appomattox, Surrender of 216
Arlc and Dove 3, 5
Arlington 158
Arlington Heights, battery and sentinels at 103, 105
Arlington National Cemetery 130, 132, 133
Armenian Eelief 322-327
Army and Navy, Appropriation ISOO 187
Arsenal, explosion at 231
Arts Club of Washington 128
"Association of Eed Cross," 307. Eeincorporated, 308.
B. & O. E. E 109, 184
Bacon-Foster, Corra, 195. Communication Clara Barton, 278-356.
Bailey, Dr. Gamaliel, Ed. National Era 265
Balch, Eev. Stephen Bloomer 145, 153
390
Index. 391
Baldwin, Gen. Abraham 143
Baltimore Pike, held by Vansville Rangers 105
Barlow, Joel 1-13
Barnes, John 147
Baron de Mareschal 125
Barton, Clara, Communication by Corra Bacon-Foster, 278-556. An-
cestry, birth and early life, 278-281. Death of Mother, 281.
Friendships, 281. Teacher, 281-282. In Washington, 283-285.
Eecord of Service Civil War, 285-288. Official Orders, 288-
295. Search Missing Soldiers, 296-299. In Franco-Prussian
War, 299. Early History Eed Cross, 305-310. Johnstown Flood
Belief, 311-313. Russian Famine, 314-316. Tidal Wave, S. C,
316-321. Armenia, 322-327. Spanish-American War, 327-345.
Galveston, 345-347. Last Years with Red Cross, 348-355. In-
vestigation farm management, 350-351. Resignation, 352.
Death, 355.
Barton, Capt. Stephen, father of Clara 279
Beall, Col. George 147
Beall, Mary Stevens, Resolutions, 370. In Memoriam (Miss Cordelia
Jackson) 372
Beall, Thomas, Trustee Federal City 152
Beatty, Col. Charles 152
Belt Line R. R. Co 30, 32, 40, 46, 53, 66
Benton, Jessie 163
Berret, J. G., 199-200*. Speech to Lincoln, 203. Arrest of, 210.
Resignation, 211. Sketch of, 211. Proclamation, 226.
Black, Henry 139
Blair, Francis Preston 159, 161-162, 163, 168, 178-179. 202, 271
Blair, Montgomery, 159, 163, 202. Letter from Butler, 177, 180.
Letter from Lincoln, 182.
Blount Gen. Thomas 139
Blue Plains 1, 13
Board of Public Works 38, 59, 60
Board of Trade, organized 227-228
Booth, J. Wilkes, description of 217
Boundary & Silver Springs R. R 31, 37, 39, 65
Boyd, Thomas 144
Braddock, General 155
Bradley, Joseph H 196
Briggs, Susan Edson, Article in Washington Times 208
Brightwood and Silver Springs R. R. Co 32
Brightwood R. R. Co., 30, 32, 41, 65. Transfers, 70.
Brown, S. P 53
Brown System (R. R.) 53. 56
Burche, Capt. Benjamin 147
Bureau Engraving and Printing 1
392 Index.
Burns, David 14
Butler, Gen. B. F., letter to Blair, 177. Seizes Str. Maryland at
Perryville, 109.
Caldwell, Timothy, of Philadelphia 116, 117
Caldwell house 118, 126, 128
Calvary Baptist Church 231
Calvert, Cecilius 5
Calvert, Charles 7, 10
Campbell, Capt. H. G 137
Canterbury Hall 237
Capitol Hill, Earliest Proprietors of. Com. Margaret Breut Downing. 1-23
Capitol Hill, Presbyterian Church 231
Capital North O Street & S. W. E 30, 40
Capital K. R. Co., 30, 32, 40, 53, 56. Transfers, 69, 70.
Capital Traction Co., 26, 27, 28, 29, 54, 5S. Transfers, 69, 70, 75.
Trackage, 82.
Carbery, Capt. Henry 150, 153
Car conductors and drivers 49, 51
Carleton, Joseph 133
Carlisle, James M., Corp. Attorney, opinion of as to oath 209
Carroll, Anne, Daniel and Charles 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 147
Carroll Chapel, Graveyard (Md.) 149
Carroll Papers, Deposition of Elizabeth Carroll 17 note
CarroUsburg 13
Casey, Levi, of S. C 139
Celebrated trials 230
Cerne Abbey Manor , 2, 8, 9, 10, 12, 19
Chapman, Major H. H 150
Chariots 72
Chester, Admiral Colby, Communication, The National Defense. 186-194
Citizens Line 25
Citizens Eailroad Co 26
City & Suburban B. E. Co 30, 32, 43
Clark, Allen C, Communication, Eichard Wallach 195-245
Clean Drinking Manor 157
Clephane, James, father of Lewis 263
Clephane, Lewis, 163. Communication by Walter C. Clephane, 263-
277. Early life, 263. Education, 264. National Era, 265.
Drayton & Sayres, 267. Uncle Tom's Cabin, 269. Forms Re-
publican Association, 270. President Wideawakes, 272. Founds
National Republican, 273. Appointed Postmaster, 274. Mar-
riage, 274. Elected Alderman, 275. Eeceiver W. & A. E. R., 275.
Collector of Taxes, 275. As banker, 275. National Home-
opathic Hospital, 276. Metropolitan Literary Asso., 276. Char-
acter, 276. Death, 277.
Clinton, Gen. George 138
Index. 393
Color Line 76
Columbia & Maryland E. E 30, 32
Columbian College Scholarships 224
Columbia R. E. Co 30, 32, 39, 55, 59, 61, 74, 86
Columbia Topographical Society, organization of 252
Committees for 1918 359
Communications, List of 366
Congressional Cemetery 136
Connecticut Ave. & Park E. E 31, 32, 38, 65
Constitution, exclusive legislation over District of Columbia 129
Corcoran, W. W 145, 183
Corporation Counsel (Syme), opinion interchangeable transfers .... 70
Corse, John, shot by Pittman 246-247, 257
Cox, Justice Walter S., Guiteau trial 261-262
Critical Moment for Washington, Communication by Eev. George W.
Smith 87-113
Daniel, Prof. Joseph H 240
Davis, Henry E., Communication, United States vs. Henry Pitt-
man 246-262
Davis Hotel 120
Davis, Jefferson, Mr. and Mrs 168
Davis, Navina, letter to Blair 169-175
Davis, John A 136
Deakins, Francis 152
Deakins, Capt. Leonard 152
Deakins, Col. Thomas 144
Deakins, Col. Wm., Jr 142, 152
Decatur House 117
Democratic Jackson Association, 93. Centered on Scott 's house, 98.
Plot to seize President, Cabinet and General Scott, 110. Sig-
nals, 112.
Destructive Events 231
Dickens, Charles, 199. Letter to J. T. Fields, 219-220.
Digges, Ed-ward, William and Dudley 11, 15
Diggeg family 157
District of Columbia, Maryland to reclaim, 93. Patriots in Amer-
ican Eevolution interred in District of Columbia or Arlington,
communication by S. M. Ely, 129-154.
Dorranee Atwater, list of deaths 298
Downing, Margaret Brent, communication 1-23
Drane, Anthony 150
Duddington Manor 1, 2, 9, 158
Dwight, Edmund, letter to Clara Barton 304-305
Earliest Proprietors of Capitol Hill, Communication, Margaret B.
Downing 1—23
Early, General, Md. raid 1 75-176
394 Index.
Easby, Horatio X., defeated for Mayor 223
East Washington Heights Tr. Co., 26, 4-4. Trackage, S2.
Eckington & Soldiers' Home E. E. Co 30, 32, 43, 52, 53, 5S, 67
Ellsworth Zouaves 208
Elwell, J. K., description of Clara Barton 's work in Cuba .... 330-336
Ely, S. il.j Communication, Patriots of the American Eevolution in-
terred in Arlington or District of Columbia 129-154
Evening Star, eulogy of Mayor Wallach 243
Fairfax Court House, garrison at 109
Falkland 176
Family Graveyard, Sq. 390 148
Fares and tickets (E. E.) 64-67
Faulkner, Peter 141, 153
Faust, Mr. and Mrs., School 126
Federal City 115
Fenders and Wheel Guards 76
First Congregational Church 231
First Line of Defense, the Xavy 187, 190
First Presbyterian Church 231
Fisher, Judge, Surratt Trial 230
Flannery, Lott, Sculptor Lincoln Monument 223
Follin, John 135
Force, Peter 2-52
Forrest, General Uriah . 115, 144
Fort Henry, attack on 92
Fort Stevens 176
Foster, Corra Bacon, Communication, Clara Barton 278-356
Foundry Methodist Episcopal Church 231
Fourth Presbyterian Church 231, 264
Franco-Prussian War, Letter of Clara Barton 299-305
Franklin Hotel, formerly O 'Xeale 's 123, 127
Freeman, Col. Constant 148
Fremont, General 163
French, B. B., Commissioner of Public Buildings 240
Gaither, Gen. W. L 160
Gales, Joseph 252
Gait, James, founder of Gait & Bro 253
Galveston Eelief 34.5-347
Gardiner, Geo. A., trial and suicide of 261
Georgetown & Tennallytown E. E 30, 32, 44, 65
German Target Association 231
German War Party 189
Gerry, Elbridge 137
Gherrardi, Admiral , 193
Gideon, Jacob 136, 137, 153
Gideon, Jacob, Jr 252
Index. 395
Giesborough 1, 11, 13
Gillespie, James, of Xoith Carolina 140
Gist, Christopher 155
Gist, Eliza Violet 161, 179
Gist, General X 164
Globe 161-162
Grace Church 183
Granger, Gideon and Mindwell P 116, 120
Great Falls and O. D. E. E 45
Green Hill 158
Green, John 133
Guiteau, 257. Trial of, 261.
Hacks and coaches SO
Hale, Sarah Josepha, editress 226
Haliday, J. F., candidate for mayor 221
Hamilton, Alexander, quotation. Federalist, 187. Marine Forces, 188.
Harpers Ferry, John Brown's raid, 96. Seizure of, 102.
Harrison, Dr. Elisha 140
Haskell, Lydia, friend of Clara Barton 2S2
Hay, John, view on slavery question, 95. Life of, 1]1.
Heintz, Daniel (Hines or Hinds) 147
Herdie Phaeton Line 64, 66, 72-74
Hesser, Frederick 150
Hickman, Beau 23.5-240
Hicks, Governor of Maryland, terrified 107
Highway Bridge 47
Hines, Christian, Henry and John 149
Hoban, Col. James 148
Holmead, Anthony, Patentee ' ' Widow 's Mite " 114
Holmead Cemetery 141
House, James 134
Hubbell, Dr. J. B., field agent Eed Cross 308-309, 314
Hunter, Mrs., witness Pittman case 259
Inaugural Ball, first and second 215
Indians, Piscatawags 155
' ' International Com. of Eed Cross " 299, 303
Interstate Commerce Commission, reg. cars 83-85
Jackson,. General James 138, 143
Jackson, Andrew 127, 159, 161, 167, 179, 189
Jefferson, Thomas 125. 188
Jenkins ' Hill 19, 20
Jitney Busses 77
John Brown 's outbreak at Harpers Ferry 96
Johnson, Andrew, Impeachment 219
Johnstown Flood, Belief, 311-313. Eeport Finance Committee, 312.
Editorial Johnsiown Tribune. 312.
296 Index.
Jones, Charles 157
Jones, Edward 136
Jones, James, of Georgia 141
Jones, Gen. Walter 157 note, 249, 257
Kalorania 143, 144
Kasson, John A., Postmaster General 181
Kennedy & Elliott, bookstore 264
Kentucky Argus 161
Key, Francis Scott 156, 197
Key, Philip Barton 196 note, 257
Kinney, Major John, of N. J 140
Lafayette, Gen., visit to Washington 127
Xiarner, Noble D., author Bill for Lincoln National Monument Asso. 223
Latimer, Mrs 126
Lear, Tobias 141
Lee, Admiral and Mrs. S. P 166-168, 178
L 'Enfant, 19, 20, 136, 157, 158. Brown's paper on, 21. Morgan's
paper, 22. Bishop O'Connell's letter, 23.
Lenox, Walter 198
Lincoln, Abraham, 189, 190, 192, 193, 201, 202, 271, 273. Inaugura-
tion of, 87. Address, 88 et seq. Effect of, 91. Shrewdness of,
96. Conspiracies to seize, 97. Call for men, 101, 110, 111, Ee-
ply to Mayor Berrett, 203-204. First levee, 205. Incident Sec-
ond levee, 206. Militia proclamation, 207. Address, 207. Flag
Eaising, 208. Estimate of, 212. Address to Ohio regiment,
Marylanders and others, 213-214. Inaugural address, 215. As-
sassination of, 217. Eeceive Sojourner, 234. Note given Clara
Barton, 296.
Lincoln National Monument Association 223
Lingan, James Maccubbin 115, 134
Livery Stables 80
Livingston, H. B., of New York 141
Liong Bridge 47
Lord Baltimore 1, 4, 5, 10
Love System (E. E.) 55
Xiovejoy, Benj., Eesolutions on death of Wallach, Public School Board. 244
Macomb, Alexander 136
Madison, President, Conference at Monroe residence 120
Markoe, Francis, Jr., . . . 116 and note, 117 and note, 125 note, 127, 128
"Maryland & Washington E. E 30, 32, 43
Maryland Legislature, called by Governor to meet at Frederick, 92.
To reclaim D. C, 93.
Maryland, Province of, 1. Little Eepublie of, 2. Sketch of, 4.
Massachusetts Volunteers at Baltimore, Bull Eun, Bladensburg . . . 207
Matthews, Mrs. Washington 126
McFadden, Alexander, Lieut 152
Index. 397
McGurk, JameSj first person punished for capital offense in D. C. . . 250
Meason, or Mason, Thomas 134
ilembers, List of 360
Memorial Lutheran Church 231
Mergenthaler Linotype Co., founder of 265
Metropolitan Coach Co 74 et seq.
Metropolitan Literary Association 276
Metropolitan Police, creation of 209
Metropolitan K. E. Co., 31, 32, 35, 37, 38, 42, 53, 54, 57. First tracks,
59, 60. Fares, 64. Tranf/ers, 68, 70, 74, 77, 86.
Mexican Claims Commission, Gardiner Case 261
Milburn, Eev. Page, Communication Columbia Historical Society
quoted 229
Militarism 188
Missouri Compromise 162, 168
Money Order System 181
Monroe Doctrine 191, 194
Monroe, James 120, 121, 123, 125, 126
Montgomery County 155-156, 159-160
Montgomery, Eichard 159
Moore, D. T 26
Morris, Maud Burr, Communication, An old Washington Mansion. 114-128
Morrison, Col. James, of Kentucky 140
Motive Power 49
Motor Vehicles 78
Mt. Olivet Cemetery 147
Municipal Ownership 33
Xapoleon, Prince, visit to Washington 225
National Defense (The), communication by Colby M. Chester . . 186-194
National Era 264-273
National Homeopathic Hospital 276
National Hotel 195
National Intelligencer 199-200
National Eepublican, 244. Founding of, 273.
Neale, Christopher, Pittman's attorney 248, 257
Negroes, Enfranchisement in D. C 230
New Asbury (Col.) Church 231
Xewsboy 's Home, established 227
New Troy 1, -, 13
Xew York Avenue Presbyterian Church 231, 265
Xorth Presbyterian Church 231
Xotley, Thomas, X^otley Hall 2-12
Oak Hill Cemetery, 144, 244. Interment of Mayor Wallach, 244.
Octagon House 11 (-123
Otficers 1918 358
Official Orders, given Clara Barton 288-295
Oldest Inhabitants Association, organized, 228. List of members, 229
398 Index.
Old Presbyterian Cemetery 144, 146, 154
Omnibus Line 25
'Neale 's Hotel 124, 127 and note
Page, Dr. Chas. G., inventor electric car 52
Parker, Myron M., assassination of Lincoln 217-218
Parson Williamson 157
Peace conference at Washington 95
Peggy O 'Neale 127 and note
Peter, John 152
Peter, Eobert 146
Pittman, Harry, 247. Indictment of, 248-249. Arraignment and
trial, 250. Eemoval to Washington, 252. Threat of suicide, 261.
Pittman, U. S. vs.. Communication, Henry E. Davis, 246-262. Story
of the case, 251.
Policemen (Street Crossing) 81
Potomac Light and Power Co 30
President Davis, demand for surrender of Fort Sumter 101
Prince of Wales, visit to Washington 225
Princeton, explosion on 125
Proceedings, 1917 367
Public Schools, free textbooks in 283
Public Utilities Commission 33, 78, 79, 83, 84
Queen Burying Ground 144
Eailroad tracks, first used 58
Railroad traffic 59
Eails, 58, 59, 60. Eemoval of, 61.
Railway Postoffice System 181
Randolph, John 128
Rapine, Daniel, Mayor 252
Reciprocal use of tracks, provisions of Code 62
Reeside, John E., operator of Union Line 25
Report of Chronicler 386-389
Report of Curator 383-385
Report of Secretary 381
Report of Treasurer 379
Republican Party, 162-163. Birth of, 270.
Review, The Grand '. 220-221
Revolutionary War Pensioners 153
Richardson, Thomas 152
Richmond, fall of 216-217
Ritchie, John T 136
Eiversdale 158
Eoberdeau 146
Rock Creek Cemetery 141
Rock Creek R. R., 27, 28, 36, 38, 55, 65. Transfers, 70.
Eounsavell, N., proprietor Alexandria Herald 251
Index. 399
Eojall, Anne 196
Eoyal Visitors, 1860 224
Eural Free Delivery 181^ 184
Eussian famine 313-316
Salm-Salm, Princess 128
Sayres & Drayton, case of 266
Schoolcraft, Mary H., authoress 232-233
Schuetzen Fest 231
Scott, General, 94. Conspiracy to seize, 97. Defense of city, 98.
His experiences and character, 99. "City is safe enough,"
102. Sale of headquarters, 105, 107. Plot to seize, 110. Alarm
at Washington, 112, 113.
Seaton, W. W 252
Semmes, John H., candidate for mayor, 222. President of Board of
Trade, 227.
Senate, U. S., report of committee on Military Affairs on missing
soldiers 297
' ' Seven Buildings " 122
Seventh Day Adventists Sanitarium 179
Sherman, General, extract from Memoirs, Grand Eeview 221
Sickles, Daniel E., trial of 257
Sight Seeing Vehicles 79
Simms, Col, Charles, Life and Letters of 196
Sixth Eegiment, Massachusetts in Baltimore 104
Slave law of Maryland 258
Slavery, Abuses of 162
Smith, Eev. George W., Communication, Critical Moment for Wash-
ington 87-113
Smith, Eev. John C 264
Smithsonian Institution, burning of 231
Sojourner Truth, negress 77, 2.".V234
Soldiers, search for missing, Clara Barton 296
South Carolina tidal wave 316-321
Southern States, secession of 92, 95, 96
Spanish-American War 327-345
Sproh 's Germania Hotel 259
St. Dominie 's Church 231
St. Elizabeth 's hospital 6
St. John's Church 183, 202
St. John 's Orphanage 125
St. Patrick 's Church 14
Stage Coaches , 24, 26
Stoddert, Benjamin, 1st Secretary of Xavy 115, 152
Stowe, Harriet B 269
Strahan, Charles, Academy ... 264
Streets, condition of 60
400 Index.
Street paving adjacent to tracks (Organic Act 187&) 63
Street Eailways in the District of Columbia, Beginnings of, Commu-
nication Dr. Wm. Tindall 24-86
Sunday School Parade 223-224
Sunderland, Eev. Byron 241
Supreme Court D. of C, Judges, March 11, 1863 227
Surratt, John H., trial, 230. Jury, 230' note.
Swan, Caleb 234
Sydenhams of Coombe 7 §
Taxation (Street E. R.) 'go
Taxicabs 80
Tayloe, B. Ogle, oldest resident, 1st President Oldest Inhabitants
Association 228
Tewfik Pasha, Interview with Clara Barton 322-32.5
Thompson (Geo.) and Gerrard (Thos.) 1-20
Thompson, John W ,53 2I6
Tindall, Dr. Wm., Communication, Street Eailways, 24-86. Writes
of Mayor Wallach, 242.
Towers, John T 252"
Trackage 82
Transfers, 67. Reciprocal (Act), 68.
Treasury Department 127
Trent Affair 184
Troops, in Washington 108
Tunnicliff 's Tavern 24
Uncle Tom 's Cabin 269"
' ' Under the Eed Cross, ' ' extract from 34.5
Union Labor Building 20
Union League 190
Union Line 25
Union, newspaper 183
Union B. E. Co 31, 32, 37, 38, 42
U. S. Electric Lighting Co 30
U. S. Marshal, D. C 197
U. S. vs. Pittman, 246-262. Story of the case, 251.
United States Pension Eoll Vol. 3 153
Vanderwerken, Gilbert ., 25
Van Ness, General, Mrs. and Miss 124
Virginia, vacillation of 102"
Virginia Troops assaulting at Portsmouth, 103. At Alexandria, 110.
Wainwright, Mrs. Eichard 126
Wallach, Mrs. R., death of and survivors 244-245
Wallach, Richard, Communication by Allen C. Clark 195-245
Wallach School Building, dedication 240-241
Wallach, William D., Cuthbert P. and Chas. S 195
Warburton H 157
Index. 401
Washington, Alexandria & Mt. Vernon Ey 46
Washington, Arlington & Falls Church Ey 46
Washington & Alexandria E. E 275
Washington, Berwyn & Laurel E. E 32
Washington & Georgetown E. E., 26, 27, 28, 49, 54, 57, 58. Fares,
64, 67, 73, 76, 86.
Washington & Gettysburg Ey 48
Washington & Glen Echo R. R 31, 35, 48
Washington & Great Falls Electric E. E 31, 32, 34, 65
Washington & Interurban E. R 46, 82
Washington & Marlboro E. Co 48
Washington & Md. R. Co., 26, 45, 82. Trackage, 82.
Washington & Old Dominion R. R 26, 45
Washington & University Ry 48
Washington, flight from, 105 et seq. A dead city, 108. Illumina-
tion of, 217.
Washington Infirmary, burning of 231
Washington Ry. & Electric Co., 26, 30, 32, 39, 40, 41, 66, 75, 79.
Trackage, 82.
Washington-Rockville Ry 35
Washn. Spa Spg. & Gretta Ry 46
Washington Traction & Electric Co 30, 31, 32
Washington Utilities Co 33
Washington- Virginia Ry., 26, 46. Trackage, 82.
Washington, Woodside & Forest Glen R. E. & Power Co. of Mary-
land 31, 41
Waters, George, flour in his mills seized 104
Waters, William 146
Weightmau, Eoger C, Mayor of Washington 252
Wendell, Cornelius 252
Western High School 1-42
West Washn. & Great Falls Elec. R. R 31-35
Wheel Tax SI
White House, repaired 122 and note.
Wide Awakes 201, 272
Widow's Mite, patent 114
Willard, Joseph C. and Henry A 200
Willard 's Hotel, fire in 208
Willis System (R. R.) 53
Wilson, John R 136
Witherspoon, John 161
Woman's Reformatory, Clara Barton takes charge of 309
-Wotherspoon, Mrs 126
Y. M. C. A. Bldg 125
Yoast, John 152
Young, Xotley • 12, 13, 14, 148
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