USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > Historic homes in Washington : its noted men and women and a century in the White House > Part 3
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THOMAS LOW.
about, ordering the slaves hither and thither with old- time imperiousness.
THOMAS LOW.
A little farther on we came to a row of buildings, built by Thomas Low, of brick brought from England. Their antiquity is their only claim to a place in this sketch. Thomas Low was an historic character in Washington. At the time Warren Hastings was Governor-General in India, Low was his friend and amassed a large fortune. He brought to this country $500,000 in gold. He soon became a friend of Washington, who induced him to invest largely in this city of anticipations. He married Miss Custis, sister of George W. Parke Custis and grand- daughter of Mrs. Washington.
He built a row of houses on New Jersey avenue, one block south of the Capitol. They were originally first- class boarding-houses, and many of the dignitaries of the . land were entertained beneath their roofs; Louis Phi- lippe, Thomas Jefferson, the Adamses, Monroe and many others. It was here that the bill was drawn up, with Alexander Hamilton as guide and adviser, to establish the United States Bank.
The high price set upon property operated also against Mr. Low's investment. His buildings were left solitary and unoccupied for a long time; in fact, till long after he had passed away, with his day and generation.
Like his benefactor, Hastings, misfortune attended him to the grave. His wife parted from him; his fortune wasted away, and he spent his melancholy days in little enjoyment.
He was a man of peculiar temperament and faulty memory. It is said of him that he would forget his own name when inquiring for letters at the postoffice. He once locked his wife in a room, through thoughtlessness, and came to town, keeping her in durance vile until he returned at night.
As you ascend Capitol Hill you might see upon the right the name of George Law, in flaming letters, on one of these historic buildings. Whether his own faulty
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HISTORIC HOMES IN WASHINGTON.
memory changed his name to Law, or whether the rec .- sons that kept him from returning to his native land made it a matter of convenience, doth not appear; but by the oldest inhabitant he is more often called Law than by his real name, Low.
THE OCTAGON HOUSE.
At the corner of 18th street and New York avenue is the Octagon House.
This house was built about one hundred years ago by Col. John Taylor, a man of large fortune and one of the representative men of the time. He owned a large estate at Mt. Airy, Va., and divided his time between that home and the Octagon House.
His income was princely. His slave roll was 500, and among them he had artisans of every class and calling -- miners, shipbuilders and carpenters. Without going outside of his own domain he wrought iron, felled the forests, worked the fields, and built ships. .
The Octagon House stands to-day a hallowed monu- ment to departed chivalry. It was in this house Presi- dent Madison and his wife lived after the White House was burned by the British in 1814. The octagon room over the hallway is the one in which the treaty of peace was drawn. In this house, surrounded by all that was brilliant-by scholars, statesmen, heroes of the war, citi- zens and strangers, Mrs. Madison, the center of attraction, held the elegant "drawing rooms" which have made her noted.
The responsive echoes trom barren walls and banquet halls deserted, bring back faint glimpses of the brilliant scenes then enacted; but memories still. haunt the great rooms and fill every alcove, niche and staircase with his- toric recollections-some that we would like to forget.
For when we pass out of these echoing halls into the grounds, and look upon the sites of slave-pens, we remem- bor that human life and liberty were made a sacrifi e; that men, women and children were here sold to the high- est bidders. When wit and mirth, beauty and grace,
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HOME OF EDWARD EVERETT. .
music and dancing made the old halls ring with gladness, sorrow sat upon the threshold.
The story goes that the spirits of the slaves whom death released from their chains, visit the old home and announce their comming by the ringing of bells. At least, the Octagon House has the reputation of being haunted.
HOME OF EDWARD EVERETT.
On the southeast corner of 18th and G streets stands a plain, three-story brick building with a long.L. Many people have occupied this house who, in different ways, have become noted. This house was built and occupied by Hon. Edward Everett, when he was Secretary of State under the Administration of Millard Fillmore.
We cannot, here, give a sketch of this brilliant man's career up to the time that he occupied a seat in the Na- tional House of Representatives, which was from 1824 to 1834. In 1835 he was made Governor of Massachusetts, a position he filled four years. He then went to Europe, and while residing in Florence, with his family, was ap- pointed Minister to England. Upon his return to the United States he was elected President of Harvard Col- lege.
When Daniel Webster died, the vacancy made in the Cabinet was filled by President Fillmore by the appoint- ment of Mr. Everett. He had been strongly attached to Mr. Webster, and had always made him his confidential friend. It seemed a fitting compliment that he should be the one appointed to fill the place made vacant by the death of his friend. After the close of this Administra- tion he represented the old Commonwealth State as Sena- tor.
But these were the days when sectional strife was entering the wedge to civil discord. To a man of Mr. Everett's transcendent patriotism it weighed upon him like a nightmare. He saw the end from the beginning. His anxiety for his country was so great that it made fearful inroads upon his health, and ere his Senatorial
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HISTORIC HOMES IN WASHINGTON.
term was half over he resigned and returned to private life.
But a man so full of energy and force must needs be occupied. He therefore prepared a lecture upon Wash- ington, which he delivered in all the leading cities of the Union. By his eloquence he secured $100,000 toward the fund to purchase Mount Vernon from the Washington family; and thus it is that to-day the people of the United States owe it, in large part, to Edward Everett that Mount Vernon is the property of the people.
In 1860 he was nominated by the Union party as their candidate for the Vice-Presidency. John Bell, of Ten- nessee, was the candidate for President. A little later on he was using his influence, by speeches, pen and means, to support, protect and defend the liberties of his country. He was the beau-ideal of what the American statesman should be.
The next person occupying this house was Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War in the Cabinet of President Pierce.
He had been married twice. His first wife was the daughter of ex-President Zachary Taylor. She married him against the wishes of her father, who, for years, never exchanged a word with her husband. After her death, Mr. Davis married Miss Howell, of New Jersey. It was after this marriage that he occupied this house, He continued to live in it while Secretary of State. When he was again elected to the Senate, he lived on I street, between 17th and 18th northwest.
And now we come to a name that we hardly know whether to give the honor of an abiding place or not. A man who cannot be honest or true to friend or foe deserves no recognition from his fellow-men. But this man had filled high official places of trust and profit, both in the service of the United States and in the Davis Cabinet. That he proved himself recreant to both, every child who reads knows; that he would have devastated cities with Greek fire, and carried into their midst the seeds of pesti- lence, is also well known.
After depleting the treasury of his friends and his foes,
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THE WIRT MANSION.
he turned his back on his native land and went down into Egypt to retain his ill-gotten gains; but, even there, it was "pricks in his eyes and thorns in his sides." A few years later, the flags are at half-mast on the public build- ings. "Who is dead?" is asked. "Jacob Thompson, ex- Secretary of the Interior Department under James Buch- anan."
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The house has since been the residence of Capt. Henry A. Wise, a distinguished officer of the United States Navy, who married a daughter of Edward Everett. He was bo n in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1819. In 1862 he became Commander in the Navy and Assistant Chief of the Bu- reau of Ordnance and Hydrography. He d'ed in Naples, Italy, in 1869. His wife survived him until 1881. She was noted for her benevolence. The poor of Washington lost in her a benefactor and friend.
The house was afterward rented to the Medical Depart- ment of the Navy for a naval dispensary. Surg. Gen. Philip S. Wales took special pride in this, as it was estab- lished under his administration of the Bureau of Medi- cine and Surgery in this Department.
THE WIRT MANSION.
A few rods to the east of the home of Edward Everett, between 17th and 18th streets, on the south side, stands the old mansion once owned and occupied by Hon. Wil- liam Wirt. Here this eminent jurist lived the 12 years that he was Attorney-General, a position which he held during the Administrations of James Monroe and John Quincy Adams.
This house is rich in incident and stories of the past, both before and after it came into the possession of Mr. Wirt. The first authentic record that we have of it is that it was formerly owned by Tobias Lear.
Col. Lear was a distinguished officer in the Revolu- tionary War, and, at one time, was the private secretary of Washington, by whom he was always treated with the greatest consideration and regard. For many years he
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HISTORIC HOMES IN WASHINGTON.
attended to the details of Washington's private affairs, and was liberally remembered by him in his will. He was afterward appointed Consul-General to San Domin- go, and then was sent to Algiers, as Commissioner, to conclude peace with Tripoli.
This was accomplished in 1805, in a manner not pleas- ing to Gen. Eaton, who, with Hamet Caramelli, the de- posed Bey, had gained important advantages over the reigning Bey.
Mr. Lear's conduct was approved by the Government, though highly censured by many of the people. One morning in the Fall of 1816, while residing in the mansion, he was found in the Summer house of the grounds, in the rear of the house, with his brains blown out and a pistol in his grasp. In 1817 this property was purchased by William Wirt from Benjamin Lear, the son of Tobias Lear.
Mr. Lear was the owner of the old gray stone ware- house on the Potomac at the western extremity of G street, close to the river. This warehouse was built about 1798, and was the first substantial warehouse in the city. When the Government was moved in 1800, all the official furniture and archives were landed at this wharf and stored in this building.
' At that time only the Navy and War Departments were completed; all the boxes, etc., that belonged to those particular Departments were carried there, and every- thing belonging to the other Departments was trans- ferred to hired houses opposite the "Six Buildings," on Pennsylvania avenue, between 2Ist and 22d streets.
At that time there were so few wagons in the city that it was difficult to procure a sufficient number to move the public property. Mrs. Adams speaks of the same incon- venience in getting firewood to keep the White House warm.
Mr. Wirt was born in Bladensburg, Md., in 1772, of Swiss and German parentage. He was educated in Montgomery County, Maryland; read law, and com- menced practicing .in 1792, in Culpeper Courthouse. In 1795 he married Miss Lucy Gilmore, of Virginia, and
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THE WIRT MANSION.
settled near Charlottesville. His wife lived but five. years.
In 1799 he was chosen Clerk of the House of Delegates, and was afterwards appointed Chancellor of the Eastern Shore of Virginia; the year 1802 found him practicing law in Norfolk and engaged in literary work. During this time he published in the Virginia Argus his "Letter to a British Spy." Later there appeared in the Rich- mond Enquirer a series of papers from his pen, under the title of "Rainbow."
He was retained to assist in the prosecution of Aaron Burr for treason. He was Attorney-General of the United States from 1817 to 1829. It was during these years that he lived in the G street mansion.
When this house was purchased it was three stories high, with attic and back bui dings. The grounds ex- tended from the corner of 18th and G down to F street, and passed by and included all the g ound on F street in which Michler Row now stands, coming north to G street, where Clark's (formerly Cruit's) large stable now stands. Mr. Wirt's stables were filled with fine horses and car- riages.
There was a beautiful flower garden on the east of the house, which you approached through a veranda. Mrs. Wirt was a connoisseur in the flower kingdom, and it was while living in this house that she wrote her "Flora's Dictionary."
This was the first book published containing emblems of flowers with appropriate selections from the poets; it had also an appendix containing the botanical history of each flower, and suggesting why the flower was chosen to represent the emblem.
Mr. Wirt made large additions to the place; a spacious dining-room was built, which was often used for dancing parties. This was, at that time, the largest room for private entertainments in Washington. We can readily people these rooms again in memorv.
As a matter o course, the Judges of the Supreme Court, of which Judge Marshall was Chief, were frequent visitors. The members of the Cabinet under the Admin ..
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HISTORIC HOMES IN WASHINGTON.
istrations of James Monroe and John Quincy Adams were all men of distinguished ability. There was Wil- liam H. Crawford, of Georgia; Richard Rush, of Pennsyl- vania, Secretary of the Treasury; John C. Calhoun, Sec- retary of War; Smith Thompson, of New York, and Sam- uel Southard, Secretary of the Navy, and Henry Clay, of Kentucky, Secretary of State.
These were some of the men who made up a galaxy of really great men who adorned society in those days, and made a brilliant and charmed circle oftentimes in the Wirt Mansion.
Mr. Wirt was twice married. At the time of his first wife's death he was about 30 years of age. It is said of him that he was a most companionable, genial, warm- hearted man, highly engaging and prepossessing in manner. He was strikingly elegant and commanding in appearance.
At Pen, Park, Albemarle County, where he married Miss Gilmore, he placed this tablet over the grave of her who first brought him to this spot:
"Here lies Mildred, Daughter of George and Lucy Gilmore, · Wife of William Wirt .. She was born Aug. 15, 1772; Married May 25, 1795; Died Sept. 17, 1799,
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"Come round her tomb each object of desire, Each purer flame inflamed with purer fire; Be all that's good, that cheers and softens life,
The tender sister, daughter, friend and wife,- And when your virtues you have counted o'er, Then view this marble, and be vain no more."
His second wife was not won without many apprehen- sions on the part of the pater familias. The lover, at this period of his life, had no promises of a fortune, or even a living competency, to strengthen his claim, and so it came that Col. Gamble, for reasons best known to himself, when the momentous question was proposed, thought best to put the gay young man on probation.
THE WIRT MANSION. 41
During this interval, his biographer says, Col. Gamble had occasion to visit his future son-in-law's office at sun- rise one Summer morning. It, unluckily, happened that Mr. Wirt had the night before brought some young friends there, and they had had a merry time, which had so be- guiled the hours that even at sunrise they had not de- parted.
The Colonel opened the door, little expecting to find any one at that hour. His eyes fell upon a strange group. There stood Mr. Wirt with the poker in his right hand, the sheet-iron blower fastened upon his left arm, which was thrust through the handle; on his head was a tin wash basin, and as to the rest of his dress-it was hot weather, and the hero of this grotesque scene had dis- missed as much of his wardrobe as comfort might be supposed to demand, substituting a light wrapper, that greatly added to the theatrical effect.
There he stood in his whimsical caparison, reciting, with an abundance of stage gesticulations, Falstaff's onset upon the thieves. His back was toward the door, and the opening of it drew all eves.
We may imagine the queer look of the anxious proba- tioner as Col. Gamble, with a grave and mannerly silence, bowed and withdrew, closing the door behind him without the exchange of a word.
It is quite possible some escapade of this kind gave credence to another story told of Mr. Wirt. The story runs that, after the death of his first wife, while residing in Richmond, Va., he sometimes indulged in sprees. At one time, after a night of conviviality, and while still under the influence of wine, he lay asleep under a tree in the most public thoroughfare of the city. The young lady to whom we have already referred chanced that way, and seeing him in this condition, and wishing to shield him from the public gaze, took out her handker- chief and laid it over his face.
When Mr. Wirt awakened from his sleep of intoxica- tion and removed the handkerchief, he saw it bore the initials E. M. G. It is difficult to say which feeling pre- dominated, chagrin that she should have found him there.
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HISTORIC HOMES IN WASHINGTON.
or joy at the flicker of hope to his aspirations this action on the young lady's part gave to him.
It has been said, as far as the handkerchief story goes, that Miss Gamble declared it lacked one important ele- ment, which was truth. As for his convivial spirit, the Falstaff night, at least, points a moral and adorns a tale
About this time in Mr. Wirt's life, the promotion to the Chancellorship came in most opportunely to sustain the pretensions of the lover. But after his marriage, and the expenses of a household came upon him, we find this extract from a letter written to a friend:
"This honor of being a Chancellor is an empty thing, stomachally speaking; that is, a man may be full of honor, and his stomach may be empty; or, in other words, honor will not go to market and buy a peck of potatoes. This is the only rub that clogs the wheels of my bliss. But it is in my power to remove even this rub, and in the event of my death to leave my wife and my children independ- ent of the frowns or smiles of the world."
He resigned the Chancellorship, and the success he made in life is known to the world. He was a man greatly beloved for his social virtues; but each year the illustrious are passing away with the fading memories of contem- porary friends.
When Gen. Jackson was made President Mr. Wirt rented his mansion to Gov. Branch, of North Carolina, Secretary of the Navy, during his first term; afterward to the Hon. Lewis McLane, Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. McLane had served as Senator from the State of Dela- ware. He was also Minister to England, and afterwards became a resident of Baltimore, where he was for many years President of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company.
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. Mr. Wirt sold this property to the Branch Bank of the United States, which was then in the building now in use by Riggs & Co. The bank sold the property to Maj. Andrews, of the Army, after which it was purchased by the late Dr. Thomas-Lawson, Surgeon-General of the Army.
Dr. Lawson was a bachelor; he lived here for a time.
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THE WIRT MANSION. 1
but afterward rented the house to the French Minister, Count de Sartiges, who became noted for the hospitalitis dispensed during his long residence in Washington.
The next person to occupy this house was the Hon. Aaron Brown, Postmaster-General under President Buch- anan. . His residence here was very brief; he had held the office but little more than a year when he d ed. While he resided here his wife and stepdaughters, the Misses Saunders, gave very elegant entertainments.
The mansion was next used as a fashionable boarding- school, instituted by Mrs. Smith. In addition to the usual exercises, she established a riding-school on the grounds, where young ladies were instructed in horsemanship.
The Prince of Wales when on a visit to this country was entertained here at lunch by Mrs. Smith.
When Dr. Lawson died, this, with other valuable prop- erty, was willed to his children; their mother was his colored housekeeper. The property was sold by them, for an asylum for the orphans of the Army and Navy. It has since been used as an office by the Signal Corps.
This house, to-day, stands a silent witness of the "have beens," filled with mournful echoes of the past.
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'A few squares to the west of this are two double three- story brick houses, one at the corner of 26th and K streets; the other, and older, near what is known as the lower K street bridge. They are large and commodious buildings that at once strike the looker-on as houses whose histories reach back into the shadowy past.
They were built about the year 1728, by Col. John Peters, of Georgetown, whose son, Thomas Peters, mar- ried Martha Custis, a sister of Washington Parke Custis of Arlington. His mother was the beautiful Eleanor Calvert, of Mount Airy, Prince George's Co., Md., the daughter of Benedict Calvert and granddaughter of the sixth Lord Baltimore, who had married John Custis, the son of Lady Washington by her first marriage. Martha Washington, as is well known, on the death of her son, J hn Custis, took these children and brought them up as her own
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HISTORIC HOMES IN WASHINGTON.
Mr. Hines, an old resident, in his recollections of Wash- ington City, relates an incident appropriate to these houses:
"Gen. Washington had ridden up from Alexandria, and crossed the ferry to Georgetown, where he was re- ceived by the students of Georgetown College and citi- zens, armed and organized for the occasion, who saluted him with a volley of cheers. Gen. Washington was greatly pleased, and so expressed himself, at the sol- dierly appearance of the boys, who wore red waist-belts. They then formed a procession and escorted the General over the bridge to Peters's house, and formed in line opposite the spot where, for many years, stood the old dilapidated brewery."
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CHAPTER IV.
HISTORIC HOMES OF LAFAYETTE SQUARE-THE ERECTION AND OCCUPATION OF THE EXECUTIVE MANSION. ١٠
THE WHITE HOUSE-JOHN ADAMS, PRESIDENT-ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL-THE NEW' CAPITOL-ONE WING OF THE CAPI- TOL ERECTED-PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE ON PAPER-ONLY TWO COMFORTABLE ·
HABITATIONS-MEAGER ACCOMMODA- TIONS FOR CONGRESS-THE PRESIDENT'S HOUSE-WASHING- TON AT THE LAYING OF THE CORNER-STONE-MRS. ADAMS FOUND EVERTYHING IN CONFUSION-LETTER TO HER SISTER. THE HOUSE UPON A GRAND SCALE-WOODS EVERYWHERE AND NO WOOD TO BURN-IN A NEW COUNTRY-FOUR MILES TO RETURN CALLS-DRIES CLOTHES IN THE EAST ROOM-THE FIRST LEVEE-ABIGAIL ADAMS AS WIFE AND MOTHER-HER LETTER TO HER HUSBAND.
In 1800, on November 17, 24 years after the Declara- tion of Independence, the Sixth Congress took up its abode in the Capital City. , John Adams was President, Thomas Jefferson Vice-President, Oliver Wolcott Secre- tary of the Treasury, Samuel Dexter Secretary of War, and Benjamin Stoddard Secretary of the Navy.
The Government officials numbered 54 persons, in- cluding the President, Secretaries, and various clerks.
Congress had appropriated money and the friends of the District of Columbia had borrowed funds to push for- ward as rapidly as possible the Capitol building. Mr. Hallet was the first architect of the Capitol, and was suc- ceeded by Mr. Hadfield and Mr. Hoban; but a few years after, the magic touch of the peerless Latrobe made it a habitable and imposing building.
Philadelphia was a far more attractive city in all re- spects, and the members of Congress who attended the first session held in Washington were unhappy over the discomforts that beset them. They wrote most dismally
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HISTORIC HOMES IN WASHINGTON.
of the condition of everything. Their letters give graphic descriptions of the new Capital, and, in fact, give the only picture we have of the city at that time.
The following letter by John Cotton Smith, member of Congress from Connecticut, portrays vividly the cheer- less state of affairs at that time:
"Our approach to the city was accompanied with sensa- tions not easily described. One wing of the Capitol only had been erected, which, with the President's House, a mile distant from it, both constructed of white sandstone, were shining objects in dismal contrast with the scene around them.
"Instead of recognizing the avenues and streets por- trayed on the plan of the city, not one was visible, unless we except a road, with two buildings on each side of it, called New Jersey Avenue.
"Pennsylvania Avenue, leading, as laid down on paper, from the Capitol to the Presidential Mansion, was, nearly the whole distance, a deep morass covered with alder bushes, which were cut through the width of the intended avenue during the ensuing Winter. Between the President's House and Georgetown a block of houses had been erected, which then bore, and may still bear, the name of the "Six Buildings." There were, also, other blocks, consisting of two or three dwelling-houses, in different directions, and, now and then, an isolated wooden habitation, the intervening spaces, and indeed the surface of the city generally, being covered with scrub-oak bushes on the higher grounds, and on the marshy soil either with trees or some sort of shrubbery. Nor was the deso- late aspect of the place a little augmented by a number of unfinished edifices at Greenleaf's Point, on an emi- nence a short distance from it, commenced by an individ- ual whose name they bore, but the state of whose funds compelled him to abandon them, not only unfinished, but in a ruined condition.
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