USA > Virginia > City of Alexandria > City of Alexandria > A Concise History of the City of Alexandria, Va.: From 1669 to 1883, with a Directory of Reliable Business Houses in the city > Part 2
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Nightingale, under Admiral Keppel, who commanded the fleet, two crack regiments of the line (the 44th and 48th foot.) The 44th commanded by Col. Sir Peter Halket, and the 48th by Col. Dunbar.
MAJOR GENERAL EDWARD BRADDOCK,
an Irish officer of distinction, being in command of the expedition, which arrived at Alexandria in the month of February, 1755, , where the troops remained in camp until the middle of April ; be- ing meanwhile joined by troops from the other Colonies, including two companies of rangers from Alexandria and its neighborhood. During his residence in Alexandria General Braddock had his head- quarters, by invitation of Major (*) John Carlyle, a magistrate of the town, at the latter's residence on Fairfax street. On the 14th of April General Braddock, with Admiral Keppel, held a council with Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia, Lieutenant-Governor Sharpe of Maryland, Governor Shirley of Massachusetts, Lieutenant Gov- ernor De Lancey of New York, and Lieutenant Governor Morris of Pennsylvania. Washington was summoned from Mount Vernon and presented to the Council with great formality, and by his dig- nified deportment and great good sense made a fine impression ; Governor Shirly characterising him as a model gentleman and statesman. At this Council the plan of the campaign was deter- mined upon, and on the 20th of April the troops moved from the town, Col. George Washington, an aid to Braddock, taking the route via Mush Pot and Red Hill in advance of the main column, the regimental band playing "The Girl I left Behind Me," as they took up the line of march toward Fort DuQuesne, now the site of Pittsburg, Pa. In his first general order from camp Alexandria, 27th March, 1755, Braddock informs his command that "any soldier who shall desert, tho' he return again, will be hanged with- out mercy ;" but as an encouragement to the men, and to promote
* The Carlyle house, on Fairfax street, (known as Braddock's Headquarters,) was built in 1752, and is in a good state of preservation. It is located in the rear of the Braddock House hotel, its west front being hidden from view by an annex to the hotel of recent construction ; its east front, however, can be seen from Lee street. In 1752 a beautiful lawn extended 75 feet to Fairfax street, on its west tront, and the Potomac river flowed on its eastern side. Since then the .cove which made in at the eastern base of the house has been filled in and Lee and Union streets extended on a line parallel with Fairfax street. The interior arrangements of the house have undergone some change; but the spacious drawing room is still preserved in the ane condition in which it was when the famous Council was held.
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their efficiency, he directed a daily allowance of as much fresh or salted provision, bread or flour, as was possible to provide, unless in case of drunkenness, negligence or disobedience, in either of which case this gratuity would be stopped. In his order of April 7, 1755 Braddock says-"A greater number of women having been brought over than those allowed by the Government sufficient for washing ; with a view that the hospital might be served, and complaint being made that a concert is entered into not to serve with- out exorbitant wages, a return will be called for of those who shall refuse to serve for sixpence per day and their provisions, that they may be turned out of camp and others got in their places."
The six companies of volunteers furnished by the Colonies, two of which were from Alexandria and its neighborhood, were as- signed as follows : to Sir Peter Halket's regiment-Capt. Stephen's Capt. Peyronny's, and Capt. Cock's companies of Rangers, and to Col. Dunbar's regiment-Capt. Waggoner's and Capt. Hogg's companies of Rangers, and Capt. Polson's company of Artificers.
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The last order issued by Braddock from Alexandria was dated April 16, 1755; his order of the 17th, 18th, and 19th were issued on the march. His order of the 21st was issued from Frederick, Maryland. The last order of which there is any record was in camp at the Little Meadows, Tuesday, June 17, 1755. The line of march was by Winchester, Frederick and Cumberland. The battle was fought on the 9th of July, 1755. In the action Brad- dock received his death wound, and died on the night of the 14th, and was buried by the road near Fort Necessity. In this engage- ment the 44th and 48th were almost annihilated. The Virgin- ians, while acting with great gallantry, also suffered heavy loss, and among the killed was Thomas Longden of Alexandria. Before the battle commenced Washington urged upon General Braddock the propriety of permitting him to advance with the Virginians and a band of friendly Indians and open the way to Fort DuQuesne ; but the General treated the proposal with scorn, and, turning to his body servant said, "Bishop, this young man is determined to go into action to-day although he is really too much weakened by illness for any such purpose. Have an eye to him, and render him any assistance that may be necessary." Bishop had only time to reply, "Your Honor's orders shall be obeyed," when the troops were in motion, and the action soon after commenced. Sixty-four British officers were killed or wounded, and Washington was the
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only mounted officer on the field not wounded. Ilis horse being shot, Bishop was promptly at hand to offer him a second, and he was so exhausted from his previous illness and his exertions in the battle that he was with difficulty extricated from his dying charger, and was actually lifted by the strong arms of Bishop into the sad- dle of the second horse In his "Recollections," Mr. Custis says : "It was at this period of the combat that, in the glimpse of the smoke, the gallant Washington was seen bravely dashing amid the ranks of death, and calling on the Colonial troops, who alone main- tained the fight-'Hold your ground, my brave fellows, and draw your sights for the honor of old Virginia.' It was at this period, too, of the battle that the Indian* commander, pointing to Wash- ington, cried to his warriors. "Fire at him no more. See ye not that the Great Spirit protects that Chief. He cannot die in bat- tle." Washington's second horse having fullen he made his way to the spot, where the commanding General, though mortally stricken, raging like a wounded lion, and yet breathing defiance to the foe, was supported in the arms of Bishop. Grasping the hand of Washington, Braddock exclaimed : "Oh, my dear Colonel, had I been governed by your advice we never should have come to this." On the death of Braddock, Bishop attached himself to the person of Washington. He attended him at the time of his mar- riage, and became chief of the stubles in Williamsburg, in the palmy days of that ancient capital. He settled on the banks of the Potomac, married, and was made overseer of one of the farms of the Mount Vernon estate, and died at Mount Vernon about 1785, at over eighty years of age.
After the defeat, Col. Dunbar of the 48th, succeeded to the command of the remnant of the army, and marched to Philadelphia ; and Washington, with the Virginians, returned to Alexandria.
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* When Washington wont to the Ohio in 1770, he had for his companion his friend and neighbor, Dr. James Craik, of Alexandria, and it was with strong community of feeling they looked forward peaceably to revisit the scenes of their military expeditions. They set out on the 5th October with three negroes, two belonging to the General and one to the Doctor. During this trip they met an aged Indian Chief, who told Washington, through an interpreter, that during the battle of Braddock's field he had singled him out as a conspicuous object, fired at him many times, and directed his warriors to do the same ; but none of his balls took effect. He was then persuaded that he was under the special guardianship of the Great Spirit and ceased firing at him. He had now come a long way to pay homage to the man who was the particular favorite of Heaven, and who could never die in battle.
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REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
The true cause of the Revolutionary war was the longing for lib- erty and independence, nurtured in the breast of the Colonists by their isolation from the Mother Country, and by the habits of life, incident to a new country ; but the circumstances which actu- ally led to the conflict were: The encroachment of the British Government upon the rights of the colonies by taxing them with- out their consent, and other acts of Parliament, alike tyrannical and oppressive. The first act of oppression was the Stamp Act, passed 1765. The second act was passed 1767, laying a duty on tea, glass, paper, etc., imported into the Colonies. The third act was to close the port of Boston. The fourth act of tyranny, passed by the British Parliament, required all persons, indicted for of- fences, to be sent to England for trial.
In his Centennial oration Mr. Wm. F. Carne says : "The town grew up amid restrictions on commerce and fetters on manufactures which it seems now incredible that any community schooled in Magna Charta could have borne; but the colonists in Alexandria like Anglo Saxons everywhere, had a profound respect for law. They submitted to these restrictions because they were accustomed to them, aud as they were pressed by French power, and in con- stant dread of the Indians, who still lingered near, they expected British aid, and thought the profits, which England made by a monopoly of their trade, was a high price to pay for such assist- ance-but it was at least a price paid for something. But when Braddock came, and the British troops instead of protecting the Colonists had been compelled to rely on the Colonial troops to pro- tect them, the feeling changed. Braddock had come and gone- the town folks and country people having relied upon themselves for defence against the Indians and French, felt able, in a just cause, to meet the world in arms on their own soil. Hence these restrictions on navigation and manufactures annoyed them. They felt that for a nation to be free it would be sufficient that she willed it. They bore the load because they were accustomed to it, but one straw, to which they were not used, would break the camel's back. That straw came in the stamp act, and we may look with just pride at Alexandria's part in that day.
"The stamp act was to be put in operation on the 1st of Novem- ber, 1765. Alexandria was then represented in the House of Burgesses by George Johnston. He was one of the town trustees, and at his home, on the corner of Prince and Lee streets, he pre- pared resolutions for nullifying that act of Parliament. It is the tradition of his family that the habitual gravity of his demeanor seemed, after the news of the stamp act reached Alexandria, to grow yet more intense, and that after a long examination of the
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English law, he wrote the resolutions which Patrick Henry, shortly afterwards, introduced into the House of Burgesses. It is said that on completing the resolutions he showed the paper to his wife. saying :-. This paper may cost me my life, yet it is the truth and whether or not any one sustain me I will not turn back.' He went with Washington, who was also a delegate, to Williamsburg, in May. Mr. Wirt narrates, and he is universally followed, that Henry drew his resolutions upon the blank leaf of a volume of 'Coke upon Littleton.' There can be no doubt whatever that Johnston came from Alexandria to the House determined to offer such resolutions and thoroughly prepared with copious argument and authorities to support them. Certain it is that when Henry's vehement voice was raised on that memorable occasion, and 'Treason! Treason!' resounded amid the excited crowd, Johnston took his stand alongside of Patrick Henry ; when Henry stepped to the front, Johnston stood beside him ; when Henry spoke the startling words, whose echoes are yet unspent, Johnston chimed calmly in-as logical as clear, identical in spirit, one in tone, not as brilliant, but more practical, as when-
'After the tocsin's alarum- Distinctly the clock strikes.'
"This was Alexandria's share on that momentous day. George Johnston died the year following. Had he lived he would have been one of the leading statesmen of the Revolution."
Alexandria sent to the Continental Army many of her sons to die on the field of battle. WASHINGTON was honorary Captain of the Volunteer Company formed in 1775, which offered to follow him to Cambridge, when he was chosen Commander-in-Chief of the Colonial armies. One of the Alexandria companies was at - tached to the 9th Virginia regiment. The flag belonging to this regiment was for many years deposited in the Alexandria Museum, and was burned at the conflagration of the market building on the 19th of May, 1871. Alexandria soldiers died at Quebec with Wolfe, and at Princeton, under Mercer ; and the Colonial banner had no truer followers. Among her sons were Capt. David Arell, Col. William Payne, Capt. John Hawkins, Major Henry Piercy, Col. Dennis Ramsay, Nathaniel C. Hunter, Col. Charles Little, Col. Geo. Gilpin, John Longden, Dr. James Craik, Major William Johnston, Col. Charles Simms, and Samuel Hilton. George Cor- yell died February 18, 1850. He resided in Alexandria many years. He came from Coryell's ferry in New Jersey, which his family owned. It was at this point that Washington, pursued by Cornwallis across the Jersey's, was ferried over by the Coryells.
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FRENCH SPOLIATION CLAIMS.
By our treaty of alliance with France, in 1778, the United States agreed, in consideration of the aid extended by France to the Colonies, then engaged in the war for Independence, to guarantee forever the possession of her Colonies in America. When, how- ever, the French Revolution broke out, and, to stem the career of conquest entered upon by France, an armed coalition of the Euro- pean sovereigns was formed against her, our Government was placed in a serious dilemma. It had either to make common cause with France, in defense of her American possessions, or repudiate the treaty stipulation by which we engaged to protect them from invasion or conquest. To unite with France in a war against the combined Powers of Europe, weak as we were from the struggle through which we had but recently passed, and bur- dened with the debt we had incurred in maintaining it, would have jeoparded our newly-acquired independence, and wrought for us, in any event, such grievous injury, that we should have found it difficult to recover from. As a means of relief repeated appeals were made to France, and money offered to release us from this perpetual and most onerous treaty obligation. France insisted on keeping the United States bound by the conditions of the compact. These we were in no condition to fulfil, and finally Washington cut the Gordian knot by issuing a proclamation of neutrality. The sale of French prizes in our ports, and the departure of priva- teers from them, carrying French commissions, were subsequently prohibited. In consequence of this repudiation of the letter and spirit of our treaty with France, the latter retaliated, by arming and sending out, from San Domingo alone, eighty-seven cruisers to prey upon the commerce of the United States. The aggregate result of these predatory incursions, was the capture, between the years 1792 and 1801, of more than fifteen hundred American vessels, entailing a loss upon our citizens of from eight to thirteen millions of dollars. Not one of the captures was legally made, as our commercial treaty with France established, and as the French Government ultimately acknowledged. After many and tedious negotiations on the subject, and when we were on the very verge of war with France, in consequence of these outrages, a treaty was agreed upon, whereby our Government consented to relinquish these claims against France, and as an equivalent, France released
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the United States from the perpetual obligation to protect and defend the French dependencies in America against any and all belligerents.
By thus setting off the claims of American citizens against the treaty obligations due by the United States to France, our Govern- ment became bound, it is contended, to indemnify the claimants. This it has failed to do; although between the years 1827 and 1846 twenty-two reports of committees, all in favor of the claimants, were made in the two Houses of Congress, each by a bill, and each bill for a compromise sum of five millions of dollars. The bill passed both House on two different occasions, and was vetood, in the first instance, by President Polk, on the ground of "inexpediency," and, in the second, by President Pierce, who subsequently acknowl- edged he had made a mistake.
There was no actual declaration of war, yet hostilities between the two countries commenced on the ocean. The U. S. frigate "Constellation" captured the French frigate "L'Insurgente," in 1799. That frigate had already captured the American schooner "Retaliation." On the 1st of February, 1800, the "Constellation" had an action with the French frigate "La Vengeance," but escaped capture, after a loss of one hundred and sixty men in killed and wounded.
During this period the commercial marine of Alexandria was very large. Its ships traversed every sea, and the Star-Spangled banner of our country floated from the mast-heads of our vessels in every clime. In many instances, merchantmen engaged in foreign trade, went to sea armed, and by that means, were enabled to protect themselves from the depredations of pirates, who were very numerous during the maritime war with France, from capture, in some instances, by privateers. Among the captures was the ship Lexington, Capt. James Mckenzie, October 14, 1797. Capt. John McKnight was captured several times .* In 1792, he was overhauled in the English Channel by the French privateer "L'Insurgente," and during the chase Capt. McKnight was wounded in the leg by the privateer's fire. Both captain and crew were held in custody for two years. The captain, growing tired of confinement, took "leg bail" and came home. Capt. McKnight had the misfortune to be
*Mr. William H. MeKnight is a son of Capt. John McKnight, and Hon. Lewis Mckenzie a son of Capt. James Mckenzie.
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again captured in 1797, while in command of the ship "Polly and Nancy," and on the 16th July, 1798, the French took him again, and with the French flag flying over his head he was taken into Siras, Spain. His captors treated him with becoming respect ; but, Mr. O'Morrow, his first officer, while walking the quarter-deck, was severely beaten with swords as they had done several other Americans. What think you citizens of Alexandria of that ? And yet the United States, bound to France by a solemn treaty which they violated and thereby assumed the claims of our citizens against France, have refused, to this day, to pay the loss sustained by them. This outrage ought to be settled and by this Congress. Will they do it ? No !
THE WHISKEY REBELLION,
occurred in western Penesylvania, in 1794. It grew out of an unpopular excise law passed in 1791, which imposed duties on domestic distilled liquors. A new act on the subject, equally unpopular, was passed by Congress in 1794; and, when soon after the session had closed, officers were sent out to the western districts of Pennsylvania to enforce the law, the inhabitants offered armed resistance. The rebellion became general throughout all that region, and in the vicinity of Pittsburg many outrages were committed. President Washington issued two proclamations without effect. All peaccable means for maintaining law being exhausted, he ordered out a large body of the militia of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which marched to the insurgent district in October, under the command of General Henry Lee (father of General Robert E. Lee) who was then the Governor of Virginia. The military argument was effectual and the rebellion was crushed. Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick, commanded the Alexandria troops, and among them were ex-Mayor William Veitch and Lewis Piles.
THE WAR OF 1812-15 WITH ENGLAND.
Thirty years after the close of the war of the Revolution, the American people were again compelled to declare war against Great Britian, in order to secure such recognition at her hands, as an in- dependent nation felt was their due; thus proving the truth of the prophecy of Franklin who, in 1783, on being congratulated upon the successful issue of the Revolution of 1776 in securing the in- dependence of the Colonies, replied : "This was not a war for
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independence, it was simply a war of revolution; the war for independence is yet to be fought." When the last British troops left the soil of the Colonies, at Ft. George, New York harbor, it was with no emblematic indication of surrender. They nailed the British ensign to the staff, slushed the pole, and knocked off all the guys and cleets, and sailed out of the harbor saluting the flag as on a holiday, and, as if intending to return, leaving the ensign flying as a warning to all that Great Britain still claimed the sover- eignty of the land .. It was only great courage and daring, and at the risk of life, that the British ensign was removed and the flag of the free unfurled in its stead.
The first opportunity to seriously annoy the United States occurred in 1793, when, England and France being at war, Great Britain issued, on the 8th of June, the Orders in Council respect- ing neutrals on the high seas; which, together with the active impressment of American seamen under the plea that a British subject could not expatriate himself and become a citizen of another country so as to relieve him from the responsibilities of military service due Great Britian, seriously annoyed the commerce of America, inflicting great pecuniary loss on her merchants. Great Britian perfidiously turned loose the Algerine pirates of the Mediterranean, ostensibly to prey on French commerce, but as they were unrestrained, either by Great Britian or their own Govern- ment, which was really deriving a royalty from the prizes, American commerce met another foe.
France, in a retaliating mood, issued the Berlin decree of July 2, 1796, very much to the effect of the "Orders in Council," which was supplemented in 1798 by a still more stringent decree.
American commerce was thus placed in extreme jeopardy ; the British captured, as prize, all American vessels trading with France ; the French captured all trading with Great Britian ; while the Algerine pirates, capturing all they could find no matter where bound, left no portion of the high sea free for American commerce.
In the meantime, the emissaries of Great Britian were stirring up strife with the Indians on the northwest frontier, and urging them to depredations upon the settlers; and, not content with foreign interference were covertly treating with the Tories of New England, with a view of inducing them to sever their connection
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with the United Colonies and unite with Canada, under the British flag.
The American Ministers to Europe were snubbed ; it was with difficulty they could obtain a diplomatic audience; they were treated without consideration as though they represented an un- known quantity, leading them to appreciate the warning of Wash- ington, in his message to Congress, in 1793: "There is a rank due to the United States among nations, which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness. 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 be known that we are at all times ready for war."
The result of all these accumulated insults was a declaration of war, passed June 18th, 1812, which, pressed with vigor both by land and sea, resulted in a substantial recognition of America as one of the Powers of the earth, and a treaty of peace, February 17, 1815.
Alexandria came in for her share of the fortunes of war.
The British Atlantic Squadron, * coming up the Potomac, fright- ened Capt. Dyson, who was in charge of Fort Washington, so that he abandoned the fort and allowed the British unopposed to come up to the city, where they arrived Aug. 28, 1814, only to find the place helpless ; the able-bodied men and all the guns having been sent to Washington for the purpose of protecting that city. The town of course surrendered, there being no other alternative, and the British, after burning one vessel, loaded several others with stores, and left, carrying them away with three ships, three brigs, and several smaller craft, with 16,000 lbs. flour, 1,000 hogsheads of tobacco, 150 bales of cotton, and $5,000 worth of wines and cigars.
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