USA > Washington DC > Eminent and representative men of Virginia and the District of Columbia in the nineteenth century. With a concise historical sketch of Virginia > Part 3
USA > Virginia > Eminent and representative men of Virginia and the District of Columbia in the nineteenth century. With a concise historical sketch of Virginia > Part 3
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65
The area of the district, thus reduced to render the American capital the finest
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SKETCH OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
city in the world. Extravagance and mis- legislation of the past twenty years. Be- appropriation were the inevitable attend- fore 1860, the town bore the aspect of a ants of the gigantic and hastily made straggling and neglected village. Nearly contracts; the acts of Gov. Shepherd and all its dwellings, and many of its stores the board of public works were investi- and warehouses, were of wood. The only gated by congress, resulting in the aboli- water supply came from pumps and tion of the territorial government by act of springs, and there was not a single sewer June 20, 1874, and the affairs of the in the whole district. No street railway District of Columbia, including those of existed, worthy of the name, and no street was lighted with gas except Pennsylvania avenue; cattle and horses, ducks and geese, goats and swine rambled through the streets at their pleasure. Some of the finest streets-notably Massachusetts avenue- were mere ditches of mud dur- ing half the year. The citizens had little
Washington, are since managed by three commissioners, under the direct legisla- tion of congress for the levying and dis- bursement of taxes and for all public improvements. The citizens have no vote, either in district or national affairs. Justice is administered by a supreme court of the District of Columbia, having public spirit, and civic pride was hardly six judges, and by a police court, presided over by two judges. The commissioners have full power of police regulation, liquor license, health and building ordi- nances, school supervision, street control, and other regulations for the manage- ment of municipal affairs. Congress, however, is the sole legislature of the district, and one-half the expense of ad- ministering its government, and maintain- ing public improvements of all kinds, is by law paid out of the treasury of the United States, the other half being paid by the property of the district, at an aver- age rate of assessment of one and one- half per cent. It is claimed that this is an equitable division of the cost of support- ing the national capital, in view of the great amount of government property which is free from taxation, and the fact that the benefits derived redound SO largely to the advantage of congress, and of the thousands of employees of the gov- ernment in Washington. known. The people were mostly poor, and those who were well endowed with means feared to favor public improve- ments, lest they should be heavily taxed. Congress had neglected for generations to do anything to improve these dishearten- ing conditions. At length, new and en- larged views of the power and the duty of the government toward its capital be- gan to prevail. The restoration of the Union fostered a spirit of national pride. The people came to believe in their capi- tal as a city not alone of magnificent dis- tances, but of magnificent possibilities. Congress reflected this spirit in the most liberal legislation, where before the nar- rowest parsimony had prevailed. But far as congress was inclined to go, the ambi- tious men whom it placed in power went much farther. By a comprehensive and swiftly executed plan of public improve- ments, the city was so transformed that its oldest inhabitants scarcely recognized it. Hills were abolished and ravines were filled up in all directions, until the very uneven grades of the streets were equal-
The vast improvements which have made Washington as a capital so attrac- tive are all the fruit of the congressional ized. More than two hundred miles of
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SKETCH OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
new sidewalks were laid. Shade trees to land lying at the confluence of two broad the number of 63,000, now increased to rivers, from which the ground rises in natural and not abrupt ridges into the expanded plateau of Capitol hill, 100 feet above the Potomac, the surface of the city presents a gentle undulation which gives variety and constant transition of prospect, without producing any obstruc- tions to travel. The city proper is sur- rounded on the east, north and west by an amphitheatre of well-wooded hills, embracing, formerly, the ancient forest- growth of tall timber, which was cut off 80,000, were planted. One hundred and thirty miles of sewers were constructed. One hundred and eighty miles of streets were paved, and fifty-eight miles of these were treated with wooden pavements, which proved a costly failure, and had all to be taken up. With a vigor and thor- oughness almost unexampled in munici- pal annals, the capital city was transformed from a rude, unpaved, marshy, uncomfort- able and repulsive town, to a city of splen- didly improved, clean and picturesque or burned on the Maryland side (as streets and avenues. Of courseits treasury was bankrupted in the process, and extrav- agance and waste created a great public
on the Virginia) during the ravages of civil war, but has been succeeded by a younger growth of trees. Viewed from debt, in which congress declared by its the vantage-ground of the capitol dome. action the officers exceeded their powers. or even the western portico, or more
But the great work was done, or brought widely from the top of the Washington monument, the environs of Washington so near to completion that a few years of judicious expenditure finished all impor- present a landscape of rare beauty and tant improvements. The city and its varied effect. The near view includes residents, the government, and the people the mass of the city, thickly covered with of the whole country in a measure, share in the resulting benefits.
The advance in population of the Dis- trict of Columbia, in successive decades, is shown in the following:
dwellings, stores, and shops, intersected by the two great arteries of Pennsylvania avenue, running to the treasury, and Maryland avenue, running westward to the Potomac. At frequent intervals through the perspective of roofs rise 24,023 the tall steeples of churches and the . 33,039 massive white marble edifices of the 39,834 various government buildings. Turning
1800, inhabitants 14,093
1810, inhabitants.
1820, inhabitants.
1830, inhabitants
1840, inhabitants
1850, inhabitants
51,687 the Potomac - nearly a mile wide op-
1860, inhabitants.
43,712 westward, the bright, broad current of
1870, inhabitants. 75,080 posite the capitol - sweeps southward, while there comes in on the left, joining 188o, inhabitants 131,700 177,624 the main stream at Greenleaf's point (on 1890, inhabitants. 230,392 1892, police census. which the government arsenal is situ- . 251,000 ated), the deep current of the Anacostia,
The site of the city of Washington is or eastern branch of the Potomac. To admirably adapted by nature for the the south, on the heights beyond the building up of an attractive and imposing eastern branch, is seen the long mass of city. Situated in part on the tongue of the government insane asylum buildings.
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SKETCH OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
On the Virginia shore rises a long forest- acres. From the central building springs clad range of hills, amid which may be discerned Arlington heights, with its pil- lared edifice erected by George Wash- ington Parke Custis, now occupied by the government, and its National cemetery or city of the dead, where 15,000 Union soldiers are interred; while the spire of Fairfax seminary, six miles distant, rises above the horizon in the direction of Alexandria. The latter little city, with its houses, churches, and shipping lying along the harbor, is clearly visible, and the river is at almost all seasons dotted with the sails of river craft and with steamers plying up and down. To the northwest, over the roofs of the execu- tive mansion and the new state depart- ment, rise the lofty and picturesque heights of Georgetown, attaining at the adjoining village of Tenallytown, just outside the borders of the District of Columbia, a height of some 400 feet above the level of the sea. To the north are seen the buildings of Howard uni- versity, crowning Seventh street hill, and beyond the towers of the Soldiers' home, a free refuge for the disabled soldiers of the army, comprising a beautiful park of 740 acres in extent. It was this delight- ful and comprehensive view which drew from Baron von Humboldt the remark, as he stood on the western crest of Cap- itol hill and surveyed the scene, " I have not seen a more charming panorama in all my travels."
a lofty iron dome 1351/2 feet in diameter, and containing 8,009,200 pounds of cast and wrought iron. The apex of the dome is surmounted by a lantern fifteen feet in diameter and fifty feet high, crowned by a bronze statue of Liberty. The beauty and imposing proportions of this dome, which seems to be hung airily in the sky, pre- sents a picture that is a delight to the eye of the beholder. The high, advantageous position, great architectural mass, and harmonious and imposing effect of the capitol from many points of view have secured for it the almost unanimous praise of the best judges of all countries as one of the noblest and most impressive modern edifices in the world. The ma- terial of the central building is Virginia freestone; that of the wings is white marble from Massachusetts; while the fluted marble columns are from Mary- land. The total expenditure upon the capitol for erection, extension, and re- pairs has been a little over $15,000,000. The first capitol was erected on the same site, the corner-stone laid by George Washington, September 18, 1793, seven years before the removal of congress to Washington. Before its completion the whole was destroyed by the British at the invasion of Washington, August, 1814. The present central structure dates from 1818 (completed 1827), and the extension or wings from 1851. The corner-stone of the capitol extension was laid July 4, 1851, and the new hall of representatives was occupied in 1857, and the senate chamber in 1859. The work was continued during the Civil war, the imposing iron dome ris- ing foot by foot, while hostile armies were contending for the possession of the cap- itol, until the statue of liberty crowned
The capitol, the most conspicuous ob- ject in Washington, is constructed in the purely classic style, with a center and two projecting wings of great extent, and orna- mented on the east front with sixty-eight Corinthian columns. The length of the capitol is 751 feet 4 inches; breadth, 121 to 324 feet, covering three and a half the summit on December 12, 1863.
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SKETCH OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
The south wing of the capitol is occu- natural history generally. The advan- tages of Washington as a center of educa- pied by the house of representatives and its offices. This is the largest legislative tion and aids to research in almost every chamber in the world, 139 feet by 93 feet. field, open freely to all, are great, and an- The galleries accommodate about 1,500 nually increasing in extent. The univer- persons, while the floor affords room and sity of Georgetown, the Columbian uni- desks for 360 members.
The Washington National Monument was commenced in 1848, by an association incorporated by congress. Its corner- stone was laid July 4, 1848. After an ex- penditure of $230,000, raised by voluntary subscription, the monument came to a standstill for twenty years. It was finished in 1885, in accordance with appropriations from the public treasury, by act of congress passed in 1876. It is built of great blocks of crystal Maryland marble, lined with blue gneiss, and rests on a foundation 104 feet square and 37 feet deep. The walls at the base are 15 feet thick; at the height of 152 feet, where the new work was begun, they are 12 feet thick; 10 feet higher, they are reduced to 8 feet, and at the top to 11/2 feet in thickness. The base of the shaft is 55 feet 51/2 inches square; the top of the shaft, at base of the pyra- mid, is 34 feet 51/2 inches square. The height of this monument is 555 feet 51/2 inches; the cap-stone was set December 6, 1884; the weight of the whole structure, including foundation, is 81,117 tons of 2240 pounds; cost, $1,187,710. It was dedicated February 21, 1885. Within the monument are an elevator and an iron stairway of 900 steps.
The Smithsonian institution, built in 1847, and the National museum, which occupies a large edifice erected in 1880, specially for exhibition purposes, are free public institutions, amply endowed, and afford the means of scientific culture through their extensive collections in zo- ology, antiquities, geology, ethnology and
versity, Howard university, and the new Catholic university of America, are liberally endowed colleges for higher ed- ucation.
By the recent purchase of ground on the banks of Rock creek for a zoological park, congress has provided for a public exhibi- tion of specimens of animals and birds. The larger Rock Creek park, lying beyond, the purchase of which was completed in 1892, embraces about 1,500 acres of picturesque and attractive drives and rambles, adding a splendid and permanent means of health and recreation to the citizens and sojourn- ers at the national capital.
The water supply of Washington is brought by a capacious aqueduct from the Great Falls of the Potomac, sixteen miles above. It affords 80,000 gallons daily, and cost $3,500,000.
During the Civil war of 1861-65, Wash- ington was the center of prodigious mili- tary operations. The city was fortified soon after the outbreak of hostilities by a cordon of strong earthworks or forts, sixty-eight in number, having an aggre- gate perimeter of about fourteen miles, and it constituted a great depot for mili- tary supplies. The rumble of continuous caravans of military wagons, laden with s.ores and ammunition for the great ar- mies in the field, was heard night and day. The capitol terraces were occupied as an army bakery, many churches and public buildings were converted into hospitals, and the environs of the city were one vast camp.
As the political capital of the United
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SKETCH OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
States, Washington enjoys a distinction | of prosperity and influence. "The only to which no other metropolis can lay claim. The vast and varied interests connected with the legislation for a peo- ple of 65,000,000, now embracing forty-four states and three territories, draw to Wash- ington an annually-increasing number of citizens, while its mild winter climate and cosmopolitan social advantages render it an attractive resort.
The number of officers and clerks in government employ is more than 6,500. The members of the various foreign lega- tions form a cultivated circle, mingling freely with the residents, and a great many army and navy officers, both in active service and retired, find Washing- ton the most agreeable home in the coun- try. Wealth and taste are displayed in the numerous fine private residences erected in recent years, and the march of population is overflowing the city limits, and taking possession of the attractive suburbs.
This seat of the political union of a great nation, founded by the illustrious Washington, whose name it bears, has entered upon a new and enlarged career |perennial attraction to American citizens.
child of the Union," as Senator Southard styled it fifty years ago, Washington now presents itself as fully worthy of its par- entage. With its unsurpassed natural advantages, its sightly and beautiful loca- tion, its genial climate, its suburban scenery and attractions, its magnificent public buildings, its fine broad avenues and profusely shaded streets, its free gal- lery of art, its noble libraries and extensive museums of science, its national observa- tory, whose telescope has added new stars and satellites to the sky, its men of learn- ing devoted to every field of research, and its rapidly growing wealth and population, Washington has outlasted the possibility of decadence.
As the seat of so many notable events in our political history, the forum of de- bate where the great questions of consti- tutional law and national welfare have been decided, the place of the graves of many illustrious dead, and the repository of the records of a government, which, though but a century old, is rich in national archives, the capital presents a
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4
PERSONAL SKETCHES.
COL. JOHN JAMES ABERT,
tained. In 1824 he was brevetted lieuten- the distinguished military engineer, was ant-colonel for ten years' faithful service born in Frederick, Md., September 17, in one grade; and at the death of Col. 1788, and died in Washington, D. C., Jan- Roberdeau, February 12, 1829, he was ap- uary 27, 1863. He was the son of John pointed to the charge of the topographi- Abert, who came to this country with Gen. cal bureau. As the duties of his bureau Rochambeau in 1780. His mother was increased in magnitude and importance, Margarita Meng. Young Abert entered Col. Abert exerted himself to cause it to as a cadet of the Military academy, West be made a distinct branch of the war de- partment, which he effected June 22, 1831. At this time his corps consisted of six majors and four captains by brevet and six civil engineers ; besides which some twenty subalterns of the line of the army were detailed on topographical duty under his orders. He was Indian com- missioner in 1832-3. Upon the reconstruc- tion of the army, by act of congress ap- proved July 5, 1838 ( 5 U. S. statutes, sec. 4, p. 257 ), the corps of topographical en- gineers was organized and created one of the staff corps of the army, with the offi- cer to whose fostering care and judicious management it mainly owed its existence for its colonel and chief. Col. Abert was, in fact, at the head of his corps for upwards of thirty-two years, until he was honorably retired from active duty September 11, 1861, after his long and faithful service. The army and the coun- try will not need to be reminded of the vast interest and value attached to the operation of this corps since its organiza- tion. The geographical and other infor- mation concerning this continent which its
Point, in the year 1808, only six years after its first establishment by law. Grad- uating from the academy in 1811, he was from then until November, 1814, employed in the war office. Meanwhile he studied law and was admitted to the bar in the District of Columbia in 1813. In the war of 1812, he volunteered as a private sol- dier for the defense of the capital; was in the battle of Bladensburg, August 24, 1814, and his services on that occasion were acknowledged by conferring upon him a land warrant under the existing laws. He was appointed topographical engineer, with rank of major, November 22, 1814. At that time there was no organized corps of those officers, but they formed a part of the general staff, and served with gen- erals in the field. After the close of the war, they were employed in surveys of the sea-coast and inland frontiers, report- ing to the chief of engineers, and the re- sults of their labors were collected in a topographical bureau established in the war department under charge of Major Roberdeau. On the reorganization of the army, in 1816, Major Abert was re-lofficers have collected and published has
1. 1. Mert.
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PERSONAL SKETCHES - DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
challenged the admiration of the scientific Hoadly, in Cincinnati, O. - at the same world, while the practical benefit of their time taking the regular course in the labors has been felt in nearly every state law school of the Cincinnati college, and every territory ; the whole forming a from which institution he received the de- proud monument to him who was its gree of LL. B. in April, 1868; and was founder. He was a member of several admitted to the bar of Hamilton county, scientific societies, and was one of the or- Ohio, on the 5th of May following. An ganizers of the National Institute of accomplished and profound scholar he Science, which was subsequently merged into the Smithsonian institute.
Lake Abert, in Oregon, was named in honor of Col. Abert, and in recognition of his valuable military services.
On January 25, 1812, he was married to leading case of Hall vs. Smith, reported Ellen Matlack Stretch, the granddaugh- in the fourteenth volume of Bush's re- ter of Col. Timothy Matlack, the Revolu- ports, Mr. Abert prevailed, notwithstand- tionary patriot. After fifty years of wed- ing three adverse decisions in the lower ded life, January 25, 1862, Col. Abert and court: Four years previous his reputation his wife celebrated their golden wedding as a criminal lawyer had been made se- in their elegant home, No. 1731 "I" street, cure by his able defense of Henry Kra- in Washington city. His sons served with distinction in the United States army during the Civil war.
WILLIAM STONE ABERT
was born at Mt. Pleasant, Washington, D. C., July 27th, 1845. He was the son of Col. James W. Abert, of the U. S. en- gineers, and Jane Lenthall Stone, the only daughter of Wm. J. Stone, Sr. He grad- On October 5, 1875, he married Nannie S. Hamilton, of Louisville, Ky., and two uated at the college of New Jersey in Princeton in the class of 1865, and re- years later returned to his native place. ceived the degree of A. M. three years His success at the Washington bar has been marked, and his opinion upon mat- ters of law is always received with great respect. Among the important cases in which he has appeared as counsel, both before the supreme court of the United States and the District of Columbia, may be mentioned: The Wabash Railway Co. vs. McDaniels, 107 U. S. repts .; the case of Ormsby vs. Webb, 134 U. S. repts .; the Washington City postoffice case, and the Rock Creek Park cases- the last named later. While in college he displayed su- perior talent for declamation, and in rec- ognition of his ability, he was elected one of the four junior orators of his class from Whig hall; and in his senior year was awarded by the American Whig society the first prize in oratory, competed for by the members of his class. In the year following his graduation, he removed to Newport, Ky., and later was two years a law student in the office of Judge George
was soon found in the ranks of the Ken- tucky bar, and was of counsel in many im- portant cases in that commonwealth. After an exhaustive argument in 1878 in the Kentucky court of appeals, in the
mer in Campbell county, Kentucky. Kramer, who was indicted for the murder of his brother, was successfully defended in the Kentucky court of appeals in 1875 by Mr. Abert, who was opposed by John Rodman, the attorney general of the. commonwealth. This case is especially important for its exposition and definition of the doctrine of self-defense.
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PERSONAL SKETCHES - DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
displaying Mr. Abert's unusual mastery of work involved, except the man who un- details, combined with his no less remark- dertakes it. able command of logical argument. It was upon his argument in the Powell will WILLIAM STRETCH ABERT case, that the supreme court of the was born in Washington, D. C., Feb- ruary 1, 1836, and was the youngest son of Col. J. J. Abert, the chief of the corps of topographical engineers. He entered the army from civil life and was appointed second lieutenant Fourth United States artillery June 18th, 1855, having pre- viously passed with credit the required examination. He was devotedly attached to his profession, and by study, and all other means at his command, endeavored to quality himself for a high position in the service which his father so long United States sustained the right of appeal from the decree of the su- preme court of the District of Colum- bia in a will contest, where issues from the orphans' court had been tried by jury. In the case of the United States to the use of Davis vs. Draper, Henderson and others, reported in the nineteenth volume of the D. C. repts., Mr. Abert, after a learned argument based upon his brief showing profound and extensive research, established a rule of vital importance to litigants as affecting the validity of appeal adorned. At the commencement of the bonds, where appeals are taken from the Civil war, in 1861, he was under the com- special to the general term in equity causes. In 1889, the supreme court of the
mand of Col. Dimmick, at Fortress Monroe. The vital importance of retain District of Columbia, under authority of ing that port had been duly estimated the act of congress approved March 2 (25 and early efforts made to secure it by reinforcements. The anxiety respecting its safety, about the 19th of April, is well remembered by those who were aware of its situation. Rumor reached Washington that a large steamer, believed to be one from New York with reinforcements, had been seen approaching the fort, when an armed vessel put out from the Virginia shore towards her, and she was seen to turn back. statutes at large), appointed Mr. Abert and Mr. Benjamin Lovejoy commissioners to compile all the statutes in force in the District of Columbia. The important duties under this commission embrace the compilation of all acts of congress spe- cially applicable to the District of Colum- bia from February 27, 1801; the acts of the legislative assembly of the district from June 2; 1871, to and including June 26, 1873; the statutes of Maryland, beginning with the session of the assembly held the
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