USA > Maryland > Some old historic landmarks of Virginia and Maryland : described in a hand-book for the tourist over the Washington-Virginia railway > Part 2
USA > Virginia > Some old historic landmarks of Virginia and Maryland : described in a hand-book for the tourist over the Washington-Virginia railway > Part 2
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The straggling hamlet of Belle Haven, then a frontier post in the midst of perils and alarms from Indian incursions, has grown to be a pretentious town, and the wave of civilization has rolled westward two thousand miles beyond it and encompassed with its blessings, the realms of a continent. It presents to-day but few traces of the ex- citing circumstances of those primeval times. The old council house where the colon- ial governors deliberated, still remains; and here and there, other land marks are pointed out to revive memories and traditions, a hipped roofed house, moss grown, with quaint gables, an outside chimney and dormer windows. Now and then in digging in the streets, a crown stamped button from a red coat of one of Braddock's regulars, or a coin with the superscription, "Brittania and Georgius 2d," or a rusted flint lock are
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SOME 011) HISTORIC LANDMARKS
unearthed, which to the fanciful gazer brings up whole chapters of history of the long vanished years and fan into glowing embers their smouldering remains.
Few great battles were fought in the vicinity of Washington during the civil war, but this neighborhood was well peopled with soldiers who were kept constantly on the alert, for raids, and skirmishes: and small actions were matters of frequent occurrence. The most significant and the bloodiest fight of all was the first Bull Run battle, which was fought about twenty-one miles from the city. The second fight, known also as the battle of Bull Run, was fought at Manassas, within a few miles of the first battle.
During the early part of the war the citizens of Washington were well acquainted with the sounds of the conflict; and the fear of invasion was constantly in the minds of all. One of the earliest skirmishes that took place in this immediate vicinity was that at Edwards' Ferry, June 18, 1861, and again October 4, and October 21 and 22, in the same year, there were actions at that place. An unimportant skirmish took place at Seneca Mills, June 14 and 15, 1861, and July 7 of that year there were skirmishes at Rockville and great Falls. A few days later, in July, the forces of the two armies met at Silver Spring in a brief engagement.
Early in May, 1861, Alexandria was evacuated by the confederate forces and later in the month the Union army moved into Virginia and occupied Arlington Heights and Alexandria, capturing Captain Ball of the confederate army and his cavalry troop of thirty-five men. Colonel E. E. Ellsworth, commanding the 11th New York, known as the Ist Fire Zouaves of New York city, was shot and killed in Alexandria.
August 18th, 1861, there was a skirmish at Pohick Church, Va., about twelve miles from Alexandria, and later in the month there were skirmishes at Ball's Cross roads and Baily's Corners. The first day of August there was a skirmish at Munson's Hill. Fairfax Court House, which is about seventeen miles from Washington, was the scene of an engagement June 1, 1861, when a company of regular cavalry cut through the confederate lines. Six Union soldiers were killed and twenty confederates. In the middle of July this town was occupied by the Union forces, under General McDowell, and this inaugurated the Bull Run campaign, which ended in the first battle by that name, which was fought July 21, 1861.
Throughout the rest of the War there was hardly a month in which some engagement did not occur on Virginia soil within twenty miles of Alexandria. The confederates were making constant efforts to drive back the pickets thrown out by the Union forces and to force inward the line of defences. There were engagements at Dranesville, Leesburg, Burke's Station and Dumfries.
Just as Richmond was the object of a general campaign on the part of the Union army, so Washington was the goal toward which flying columns of southern forces were constantly being thrown. The nearest approach to an actual invasion of the capital occurred July 10, 1864, when Fort Reno and Fort Stevens, a few miles north of the city, were attacked by a part of Gen. Jubal A. Early's raiding army. A fight took place at Fort Stevens on the 7th street road, and after a sharp struggle the con- federates were driven back and the threatened capture of Washington was averted. The fighting on this occasion covered three days, although at no time did the engage- ment amount to a fixed battle. Forty union soldiers were killed in the various en- counters on that occasion.
ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA.
Seven miles below the National Capital, on the opposite shore of the Potomac River stands the city of Alexandria, with a population of eighteen thousand and a history dating back to the year 1748, when Thomas, Lord Fairfax, Lawrence Washington, and their associates, as incorporators by the authority of the General Assembly of Virginia, organized the beginning of its municipal government. Fifty years before that time not a single white man had permanent residence there, and only a few years before, 1669, the whole of the domain from Great Hunting Creek to the falls of the Potomac
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OF VIRGINIA AND MARVLAND.
THE FAIRFAX HOUSE. COR. CAMERON AND ST. ASAPH STS. Britain during the colonial contest.
extending miles inland and embracing six thou- sand acres, had been purchased by John Alexan- der in 1699 of Capt. Robert Howsen, for 6600 pounds of tobacco. Howsen had secured his right to it by a Royal Patent granted to him in 1688 by Governor Berkeley for having brought to Vir- ginia a certain number of imigrants. The nucleus of the town, was first formed somewhere near the site of the gas works, and was called Belle Haven.
The streets of this old town cross each other regularly at right angles and some of them are adorned by many fine residences, among which are types in plenty of the old Colonial days. In these houses are still preserved, much old fur- niture, and many valuable portraits of the celeb- rities of the Colonial days. Washington street, laid out by General Washington, is one hundred feet in width. King street through which the road passes for a mile in its course, is the main and business thoroughfare. A number of streets such as Royal, King, Prince, Duke, Queen and Princess still savor of the old time spirit of roy- alty when Virginia was under Kingly rule.
Pitt and Wilkes and St. Asaph streets will re- mind one of the kindly offices of friends in Great
The city fronts at a convenient elevation on the river where the depth will admit of vessels drawing over twenty-five feet of water. Once its port was a very busy one, with a commerce extending to the West Indies, South America and Europe. Before the time of railroads the merchants of the place kept up an extensive trade in wheat and other farm commodities, brought over the turnpikes by the caravans of white sheet topped wagons from the rich lands of the Shenandoah and adjoining regions.
The old town's historical associations are of surpassing interest to every lover of the lore of Colonial times. No locality in the thirteen original provinces was more inti- mately connected with the beginnings and subsequent development of the spirit and feeling which led to the declaration of American Independence. It was indeed a hot bed of patriotism all through the long struggle. Her people were early imbued with the spirit of resistance to the oppressive measures of Great Britain and no town in all the colonies re- sponded more promptly and continually for troops and re- sources, through the contest. "Here it was," says a contempo- rary English traveler, "that Geo. Washington amid the plaudits of the inhabitants first stepped forth as the patron of sedition and revolt and subscribed fifty pounds for the support of hostil- THE LLOYD HOUSE. COR. WASHINGTON AND QUEEN STS. ities." The town was then about twenty-five years old and its population about five thousand.
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SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS
Through the years of the continental strife and general trouble incident to it, as everywhere else, the industries of the town were greatly depressed, but prosperity re- turned with the dawn of peace. The wagon trains again came down with their freight, from the far frontiers, and commerce again unfurled her sails as in the years agone. In 1814, the population was nearly 8000. In 1816, two years after the capitulation to
CHRIST CHURCH, ALEXANDRIA, VA.
and plunder by Admiral Gordon, commander of the British fleet up the Potomac, the arrivals of sails at its port were, nineteen ships, forty-two brigs, fifty-two schooners from foreign ports and three hundred and twenty-two coastwise entries.
Had the conditions of trade and traffic and the various local economic industries which then existed continued unchanged through the succeeding years, Alexandria to- day could doubtless show a population double and treble that which it now claims.
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OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND.
The construction of the Potomac Canal and the laying of the three several railways, the Baltimore and Ohio, with its branch to Winchester, the Midland and the Loudoun and Hampshire, ended the old time wagon industries over the mountains and diverted most of the wonted trade to other points.
Here in the spring of 1755 met the Colonial Governors, Dinwiddie of Virginia, Shir- ley of Massachusetts, De Lancy of New York, Morris of Pennsylvania, Sharpe of Maryland and Dobbs of North Carolina, to arrange plans for the prosecution of the French and Indian war on the Ohio river. This meeting of the colonial governors might be called the second congress in America. That of the council at Albany in 1747, the first.
Christ Church, built in 1767 on Washington street near to King with its unaltered pew of George Washington will bring back forcibly the plainer days when the great hero mingled so often in religious service with his neighbors and friends of old Fairfax.
IMA
ALL HOUSE
MARSHALL HOUSE.
The spacious rooms of the Old City Hotel on Royal street between King and Cam- eron will call up many festive scenes when the same revered personage was wont to lay aside his dignity for the time and trip gaily through the mazes of the dance, with fair women and brave men; here also, he had his headquarters when he visited Alexan- dria, and here in 1799 he gave his last military order to the Alexandria volunteers.
The Marshall House on King street above Royal, will make fresh the tragic circum- stances of the killing of Col. Ellsworth of the New York Zouaves, May 24th, 1861. That was the first blood shed in Virginia during the war. The following tragic account of the occurrence is from the Alexandria Gazette:
"Probably no survivor of the Army of the Potomac visits Alexandria without inquir- ing for the Marshall House. It became famous in history in the early days of the late war, and has so remained ever since. It was in this building that one of the bloodiest tragedies of the war was enacted, in which two men met their death in a terrible en- counter.
"The spring of 1861 found Alexandria, as well as many other Southern cities, in a ferment of excitement. The place was held by a few companies of Confederate soldiers, who flaunted the stars and bars literally within sight of the Capitol and under the guns of the Federal steamer "Pawnee," which was anchored off the city at the time.
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"One beautiful Saturday afternoon, a few weeks be- fore the lamentable tragedy which concentrated the at- tention of the country on Alexandria, James Jackson, who was the lessee of the Marshall House, a sort of tav- ern more than a hotel, situated on the southeast corner of King and Pitt streets, flung to the breeze, from the roof of that building, a large-sized Confederate flag, with the defiant assertion that the man who lowered it would do so over his dead body. The occasion was one of some rejoicing and enthusiasm among those who had cast their fortunes with the Confederacy, or who sympathized with the disunion movement.
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"A few days before the capture of Alexandria, Presi- dent Lincoln and his Cabinet, from some elevated spot in Washington, with field glasses, viewed the objection- able flag, and in the course of the conversation that . followed, Mr. Lincoln remarked that the ensign of treason would not remain there long; nor did it, as on the night of Thursday, May 23, 1861, a silent move COL. ELMER E. ELLSWORTH. was made on this defiant city, which resulted in its cap- ture and the stampede of its Confederate garrison to Manassas Junction on the Orange and Alexandria (now Virginia Midland) Railroad, about twenty-seven miles distant.
"The plans of the Federal troops, through some miscarriage, proved ineffectual so far as capturing the rebel soldiers was concerned, and only a small company was netted. The Federal troops were sent in three directions, when the move on the city was made- some by way of Chain Bridge above Georgetown, others via the Long Bridge, where trains now pass from Washington into Virginia, and the remainder by water. The Confederate pickets around the wharves and on the outskirts of the city gave the alarm in time to allow a safe retreat, and when Uncle Sam's soldiers entered the city, those of the Confederacy were well on their way South.
"The New York Fire Zouaves were among those who reached Alexandria by water. No doubt their young and patriotic, though ill-starred colonel had viewed the obnox- ious flag from a distance as well as Mr. Lincoln, and had longed for the opportunity of lowering it. The Marshall House is situated five blocks in a westerly direction from the wharf where the Zouaves landed. It was very early in the morning when Colonel Ellsworth, with a small squad of his men, proceeded up the street of Alexandria, little dreaming that in less than half an hour's time his lifeless body was to be borne over the same street to the boat from which he had just landed. Cam- eron street, a commercial thoroughfare, up which he wended his way, was comparatively deserted. But few people were moving, the bulk of the city's inhabitants being asleep. The inmates of the Marshall House were still in the arms of Morpheus, oblivious to the fact that the rebels had vanished before the defend- ers of the Union, while the flag of the Gonfed- eracy was hanging limp in the absence of any breeze. The ill-fated Colonel Ellsworth soon reached the fatal tavern and with his half- dozen followers obtained an entrance. Meet- THE ELLSWORTH TRAGEDY. ing with no opposition, and not dreaming for
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OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND.
a moment they would encounter any resistance in the face of the fact that the city had been captured, the colonel proceeded immediately to the roof for the purpose of taking possession of the coveted flag.
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"After passing through the front door, a staircase was encountered which ran spirally, the first turn leading to the second floor, the third to the next floor, and the fourth to the garret and roof. The colonel and his men, before they reached the roof, met a man in his night-clothes coming out of one of the rooms, of whom they inquired for the proprietor. The man replied that he was a boarder himself, and knew nothing of the whereabouts of the proprietor. It has since been suggested that the unknown individ- ual was Jackson himself. It took the Zouaves but a few minutes to lower the flag and detach it from the pole which protruded from the trap-door, and Colonel Ellsworth having taken it in charge, began his descent. About half-way down the flight of stairs leading from the garret, he saw Jackson, but partially dressed, emerge from one of the rooms on the landing armed with a double-barrelled gun. Ellsworth, little dreaming of the bellicose nature of the man with whom he had to deal, pleasantly remarked to him, "I've gotten a prize." Jackson made some defiant retort, and, before any one could divine his intention, raised his gun and discharged it at the colonel. An extra- ordinary charge of buckshot had been placed in the weapon, and a hole was torn in the unfortunate Ellsworth's breast large enough in which to place one's fist. Colonel Ellsworth, it is said by some, fell without a groan, though others have asserted that he gave vent to an audible sigh. In his descent he fell on his face on the landing, and while his life's blood was flowing his followers were avenging his death. The weapon Jackson used was an ordinary double-barrelled shotgun, and after killing Ellsworth he took aim at those who were with him, but before he could pull the trigger the second time the gun was knocked upward by the Zouaves and the charge entered the door frame. Francis E. Brownell, one of the squad, then sent a bullet crashing into Jackson's head and as he fell, sword bayonets were thrust through him. Jackson's body was forced down the flight of stairs leading to the second floor, and fell on the landing. The body of Ellsworth was subsequently raised by those who had accompanied him into the fatal building, covered with an American flag, and silently and sorrowfully borne to the boat from which he had a short time before landed.
"Considering the terrible tragedy which had been enacted, the day proved a remark- ably quiet one, Jackson's body was soon picked up by his friends, washed, and placed in a coffin, and it lay in state throughout day and night.
"The scene of the tragedy was visited by numbers during the day. The landing upon which Jackson fell and where he had writhed in death agony presented a sickening sight. Blood filled a space about two yards square, and it was necessary to go on tip- toe to avoid walking in it. There was a pool of blood about a foot square where Ells- worth had fallen.
"Colonel Farnham succeeded Ellsworth in command of the Zouaves. On the 21st of July following, the regiment participated in what proved to the Federal army the in- glorious battle of Bull Run. The Zouaves and the famous Black Horse Cavalry en- gaged in hand-to-hand encounter throughout the eventful day, with terrible carnage to both, during which Colonel Farnham was struck on the ear by a piece of shell, from the . effects of which he died a few weeks later. In the stampede from the fatal field the Zouaves suffered greatly, and the Monday following, the survivors straggled into Alex- andria in a bedraggled, dejected, condition, many of their comrades being then stark and stiff on the bloody field of Bull Run. A cold rain had set in, and no provision had been made for their reception, and they were on the verge of suffering. It was in this emergency that numbers of the prominent people of Alexandria, though southern sym- pathizers, exhibited a christian spirit which the good-natured Zouaves were not slow to appreciate. Houses were opened and entertainment afforded many of them and their straggling confreres by parties whose political predilections were hostile to the principles for which the vanquished had fought.
"The Zouaves lingered about Alexandria for a few months, and the term of their enlistment having expired, they were mustered out of service.
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SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS
"Jackson, the destroyer of Colonel Ellsworth, was a typical Southerner. Though brave and fearless, his political predilections had run riot with his judgment, and, rather than let the rash threat of protecting his flag come to naught, preferred sacri- ficing his life. There is little to be said in palliation of his act save that he lived at a time when men's blood had reached the fever-hcat of excitement, and when rasliness was occasionally exhibited by the champions of both sides.
"The killing of Ellsworth produced the greatest sorrow as well as exasperation in the North, and Alexandria was immediately beseiged by parties from a distance, anxious to inspect the scene of the tragedy. A piece of oil-cloth on the landing on which the col- onel fell was cut up and carried away by relic hunters. The flooring subsequently met the same fate, and finally the balusters were cut away, piece by piece, and carried North. For several years the old Marshall House was looked upon as a sad memento of war times by soldiers of both sides-by the Federals as a place where a brave and promising young officer laid down his life at the beginning of the four-years conflict, and by the Confederates as the spot where a determined sympathizer of their cause showed a courage in the face of inevitable death equalled by few on either side.
"About twenty years ago, on a cold, weird night, the Marshall House was found to be on fire, and, despite the exertions of the fire department, but little more than the bare walls were left standing. Upon being rebuilt, it ceased to be a house of enter- tainment and the new building is used for other purposes."
There is more at Alexandria to call up the memory of Washington than in any other place in our country except that of Mount Vernon. Alexandria was, emphatically, his own town. It was his post-office, his voting and market-place. It was the meeting- place of the lodge of Freemasons to which he belonged. He was a member of its cor- poration council, and owned property within its limits. He was the commander of its local militia, and was a member of its volunteer fire company. He slept in the houses of many of its leading citizens, and danced the minuet with its fairest daughters. He was a vestryman of the parish, and was a regular attendant of Christ Church, where his pew is kept undisturbed to this day.
This farthing, struck in the London mint in the year 1752, when George the 1 II .REX. Second was reigning monarch was doubt- NI less brought over the sea by one of Braddock's soldiers three years later and ORGIVS put into circulation in the new born RITA hamlet of Belle Haven. From its worn appearance it must have been kept nim- 1752 bly going from pocket to pocket and the story of its wanderings if we could read it now would be a very entertaining one. Mayhap it helped to pay for many a mug of cider or grog, or dinner, while the troops were waiting for their long march through the wilderness.
THE OLD TAVERN.
In the ball room of the city hall the birth-night balls, in honor of the birthday of the king and queen, were given before the revolution, when Gen. George Washington was a very young man and danced at them with no thought of disloyalty. From the court yard went all the coaches for Georgetown, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, before the city of Washington was anything but swamp and forests, and not even laid-out, and to Williamsburg, Richmond, Charleston and New Orleans, as soon as a regular road was opened through the wilderness. In those days Alexandria was considered a central place of importance to which the fashions were sent from Philadelphia. Later, when the British came to help fight the French and Indians, when General Braddock had his headquarters, and held his council of war in the Carlyle House on the opposite side of the market, some of his officers, and many people of distinction, were glad to stay at the City Hotel, then known as Claggett's or Gadsby's Tavern. Later still, long afterwards
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OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND.
in fact, when Gen. Lafayette was entertained by the Masonic Lodge, "he alighted from his carriage at the door of the City Hotel at 3 o'clock." dined at the banquet in the ball room, and lodged there during the festivities incident to his visit.
VISIT OF GENERAL LAFAYETTE.
The visit of General Lafayette to Alexandria is one of the green spots in the city's history. There are some now living who remem- ber the occasion; others who have a dim recol- lection of it when, as little children, they toddled along, having hold of their parents' hands. This was in the year 1824, the city at that time put on a holiday attire, and the enthusiasm animated all from the youngest to the oldest.
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At that time hundreds of Alexandrians could be found who had fought in the seven years' con- flict for independence. To them the name of Lafayette was sacred, and many who participated in the honors conferred upon the illustrious Frenchman had been encouraged by his presence and valor on the field of battle.
It is unnecessary to describe all the details of his reception and entertainment while here. Let it suffice when it is said that almost every one in the community turned out and vied in doing honor to him, who when the infant republic most needed help, left his own land and cast his fortune with us, and lived to see the independence of a country declared which has grown and prospered ever since.
THE LAFAYETTE HOUSE. The house where Lafayette was entertained while in Alexandria is one of the most promi- nent in the city. It is situated on the southwest corner of St. Asaph and Duke streets Such are a few of the many points of historic interest which the old town possesses for the curious wayfarer within its borders.
THE CARLYLE HOUSE.
Few of all the colonial buildings of Virginia left standing, have more interesting his- torical associations than the Old Car- lyle Mansion which forms a portion of the Braddock Hotel on North Fair- fax street. It was built by John Car- lyle in 1745, when the town was in its infancy and surrounded by forests. At that time the waves of the Poto- mac washed close to the walls of the building, but by subsequent levellings and fillings of the immediate hill slopes for the city's improvements, they have receded to the distance of several hundred yards.
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