USA > Virginia > Culpeper County > Culpeper County > Genealogical and historical notes on Culpeper County, Virginia > Part 20
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"Fayette Mauzy, Clerk of this County from 1838-73, 35 years, was a man of rare intelligence and geniality of nature; he had a memory unsurpassed in ten- acity and accuracy and enjoyed the unwavering confidence of the people and of the bar and bench. He was greatly beloved by liis brethren of the Lodge, and indeed by the whole community. He was ready at all times to give infor- mation and advice to those who needed it. His most striking characteristic perhaps was his wonderful equanimity of temper. Diogenes hardly excelled him.
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"When Alexander the Great was at the city of Corinth during the Persian war he was visited by many statesmen and philosophers who came to do him honor and he hoped that Diogenes would have come with them, but as he did not, Alexander went to see him and he found him lying in the sun and taking little notice of the great General. Alexander asked him how he could serve him. 'Only stand a little out of my sunshine' said Diogenes. Alexander was struck with surprise at finding himself so little regarded and saw something so great in that carelessness that while his courtiers were ridiculing the Philoso- pher he said: 'if I were not Alexander I would wish to be Diogenes.' Fayette Mauzy would have received a visit from Alexander or Napoleon or from a greater man than either, Robt. E. Lee, with the same composure but with more politeness than was shown by Diogenes to Alexander. He was always polite and courteous to every one and ready to serve them.
"Dr. Philip C. Slaughter was a man of great sagacity and capital sense and though somewhat reserved and peculiar he wielded great influence in the county. He was truly a zealous Mason and rarely failed to attend the meet- ings of the Lodge, and although for many years S. W., he was like the Ephraimites who wanted to pass over the Jordan but could not give the true Shibboleth. He could never give the true response of his office. His death on the 19th. of June, 1866, occurred at the Lodge room in this place; he was then S. W. protem and we were giving the Master's degree to J. S. Grinnan.
"What shall we say of our faithful and zealous Chaplain, John Cole, one of nature's noblemen, and one of God's highest and best gifts to man, for his life was devoted to all that was noble and good and true. No thought of wrong ever entered his mind or disturbed his high purposes. He had a virtue which no power could tempt and a courage no danger could shake, and although his face and bearing to some might seem austere, his big heart was as tender and gentle and soft as a woman's.
"Dr. Wm. M. Thompson, so long J. W., full of humor and fun and of great kindness of heart. full of sympathy for the distressed. He was a man of sing- ularly pure and upright character, honored and respected by all who knew him. Perfectly devoted to his family and always in a good humor. His home was the place where he was most loved and by wife and children he was con- sidered without fault. He had a way, long to be remembered, of asking assent to every proposition or opinion advanced by himself with the question "Don't you think so."
"Jesse L. Burrows, the faithful Tyler of the Lodge for more than 50 years. The sacred oracles at Delphi were not guarded with more fidelity than did this faithful sentinel guard the entrance of his Lodge. He loved his Lodge and his heart was full of charity and love for all his brethren, and he was ready to serve them at all times with alacrity and pleasure.
"Charles Ed. Lightfoot, fitted by nature to command, was one of the best Masters that ever presided over the Lodge, and was as true and Knightly a Cavalier as ever drew sword in defense of his country. In his dealings with his fellow men, no one possessed a higher sense of honor.
"Of the ante-war Masons there are not more than half a dozen left. The memory of those brethren and their deeds is gradually fading away. How for- cibly these memories impress upon us the solemn lessons taught us so beauti- fully in the Master's Degree. 'Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth as a flower and is cut down. He fleeth as a shadow and continueth not.' 'Our life is as a vapor that appeareth for a lit- tle while and then vanisheth away.' The hearts of the strongest of us are but as muffled druins beating funeral dirges to the grave."
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THE CULPEPER OF TO-DAY.
To-day Culpeper, the old town of Fairfax, is a thrifty place of some 2000 people. The town contains a number of handsome residences, with large green lawns and beautiful shade trees, the delight of the Southern people. It is sup- plied with first class brick sidewalks, and a system of water works that is of great advantage, the natural pressure being entirely sufficient for all purposes.
The present municipal government is as follows; Mayor, John Strode Bar- bour; Recorder and Assessor, G. Chapin Lightfoot: Treasurer, G. W. Keerl; Councilmen, R. B. Macoy, W. A. Ashby, J. H. Traylor, J. W. Swan, David Baily and Robert F. Booton; Town Sergeant, A. P. Hill.
There is a bank, C. J Rixey, proprietor, and two weekly newspa- pers, the CULPEPER EXPONENT, established 1881, Raleigh T. Green, editor and proprietor; and the CULPEPER ENTERPRISE, J. T. Wampler, editor and proprietor.
There are two drug stores, Joseph B. Gorrell's, established in 1858, and R. B. Macoy's, a roller flour mill with a capacity of 125 barrels a day, Fray & Co., grain commission merchants, successors of Waite, Miller & Company, several dry goods stores, two furniture stores, two jewelry establishments, two under- takers, one marble yard, iron foundry, machine shop, two hardware stores, one Baptist, Episcopal, Catholic, Presbyterian and Methodist church. Large, modern and commodious public school buildings for both white and col- ored. A female seminary, &c., &c.
The resident physicians are: Drs. W. J. Strother, A. S. Rixey, E. H. Lewis and H. T. Chelf. The lawyers are Messrs. G. D. Gray, D. A. Grimsley, J. C. Gibson, W. L. Jeffries, J. L. Jeffries, J. S. Barbour, Burnett Miller, T. Edwin Grimsley, Chas. M. Waite, E. H. Gibson, C. J. Rixey Jr., D. J. F. Strother and Raleigh T. Green.
The county government is as follows: Judge of the Circuit Court, Daniel A. Grimsley; Judge of the County Court, William L. Jeffries; Attorney for the Commonwealth, Chas. M. Waite; Clerk of the County and Circuit Courts, Warren E. Coons; Treasurer, S. Russell Smith; Sheriff, A. W. Pulliam; Sur- veyor, J. R. P. Humphries; Commissioners of the Revenue, John A. Holtzman and Russell H. Yowell; Superintendent of Public Schools, James M. Beckham; Member of the State Senate, John L. Jeffries; Member of the House of Dele- gates, S. R. MeClanahan; Member of Congress from this district, John F. Rixey.
Besides Culpeper, the county seat, other towns and villages are: Brandy Station, Mitchell's Station, Richardsville, Germanna, Raccoon Ford, Rapidan, Jeffersonton, Rixeyville, Homeland, Eggbornsville, Boston, Stevensburg, Lig- num, Hudson's Mill, Crooked Run, Clarkson, Kelly's Ford, Winstonville, Oak Shade (the seat of Little Fork Church) and Waterloo.
'The present county officers of Rappahannock county are as follows: Circuit Judge, C. E. Nicol, of Prince William county; County Judge, H. M. Dudley (succeeded J. F. Strother); Clerk, Thomas F. Haywood; Sheriff, N. J. Cropp, Jr .; Treasurer, B. J. Wood; Commonwealth's Attorney, Horace G. Moffett; Superintendent of Schools, H. M. Miller; Surveyor, J E. Sutphin; Member of House of Delegates, G. W. Settle; Member of Congress from the dis- trict, James Hay, of Madison county. The county seat is Washington. Other towns are Sperryville, Amissville, Woodville, Laurel Mills, Gaines X Roads, Slate Mills, Flint Hill and Castleton.
'The county officers of Madison county are as follows: Circuit Judge. D. A. Grimsley, of Culpeper; County Judge, F. M. MeMullan; Clerk, N. W. Crisler; Treasurer, H. P. Smith; Sheriff, D. M. Pattie; Commonwealth's Attorney, James E. Thrift. Madison C. H. is the county seat. Other towns and villages are: Haywood, Criglersville, Oak Park, Dulinsville, Fray, Peola Mills, Graves Mill, Rochelle, Twyman's Mill, Locust Dale, Wolftown and Nether's Mill.
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CHAPTER II. "THE CULPEPER MINUTE MEN."
The following is an address which was delivered by the late Rev. Philip Slaughter, D. D., on the occasion of the presentation on the 6th. of September, 1887, of a flag to the Culpeper Minute Men. The reply of the late Judge John W. Bell, who received the flag on behalf of the company, is also given.
"As the son of one of the original Minute Men of 1775, I naturally feel an interest in their history. And as I happen to have the only contemporary record of their first formation, I have thought it might have some interest for you. The late Captain Slaughter, of Slaughter's Mountain, left a journal of his daily life from the year 1775 (when, at the age of sixteen years, he joined Capt. John Jameson's company of Minute Men, to the year of his death), cov- ering a period of 75 years. In this journal he recorded the first formation of the Minute Men of Culpeper, their first march to Williamsburg, and his daily marches throughout the Revolutionary War, including a minute detail of the battles of Brandywine and Germantown; of the dreadful winter at Valley Forge, near Philadelphia, where some officers were reduced to a single shirt, and had to wrap themselves in a blanket while that shirt was washed, and had to cut up the body of the shirt to make collars when they appeared on parade. until the yoke and sleeves were all that remained; and the soldiers left the print of their naked feet upon the cold snow. Some officers were better off. and he tells an anecdote of his mess mate, Lient. John Marshall (the embryo Chief Justice) who had the only pair of silk stockings in the regiment. Just before the battle of Brandywine, Marshall wore his stockings to an evening party in the country, and slept that night in camp upon a bed of leaves. At midnight alarm guns were fired, and Marshall not being able to find his stock- ings in the dark, set fire to the leaves, which burned a hole in his stockings, into which he thrust his feet, and away he went in that comical costume.
"Capt. Slaughter's war journal was taken by the Federals when my house was pillaged during the Civil War. There was, however, a duplicate of the first twelve pages in the author's autograph, and it so happened that these pages contain the account of the time, place and circumstances of the organi- zation of the Minute Men of Culpeper. Before I read some extracts from the journal it may be well to remind you of the political situation that led up to these events.
"The year 1775 was the transition era from a monarchy to a republic. When Lord Dunmore, fearing the resentment of the people for his removal of the gun-powder from the magazine at Williamsburg, had taken refuge on a inan-of-war, British rule had practically ceased in what used to be called his Majesty's "Ancient Colony and Dominion of Virginia," but the republic had not been formally inaugurated. In this emergency it became necessary to take measures of self defence. The people met in convention July 17th., 1775. The convention appointed a general committee of safety for the colony and di- rected committees of safety to be chosen by the freeholders in each county.
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Upon these committees was devolved the supreme executive authority. The military consisted of two regiments of regulars, commanded by Patrick Henry and William Woodford-and of the militia. The county lieutenant and com- mander-in-chief of the militia of Culpeper was James Barbour, the great-grand- father of the Hon. John S. Barbour and James Barbour, who was once a rep- resentative from this county.
"The convention also divided the colony into 16 districts, in each of which a battalion of 500 men was to be raised and disciplined to march at a moment's warning. This district was composed of the counties of Fauquier, Culpeper and Orange, and the committee of safety commissioned Lawrence Taliaferro, of Orange, to be the colonel; Edward Stevens, of Culpeper, to be the lieuten- ant colonel; and Thos. Marshall, of Fauquier, the father of Chief Justice Mar- shall, the major of this battalion. They also commissioned ten captains for the companies into which the battalion was distributed.
"Captain Slaughter only gives the name of the captain of the company to which he belonged, to-wit: John Jameson, the grandfather of your townsman, Mr. Philip Jameson, who was then clerk of the county. One of them probably was Capt. Nat. Pendleton, who was the ancestor of George H. Pendleton, once Minister at Berlin. Others may have been captain afterwards. General James Williams, who has so many descendants in the county, and Major John Wil- liams, the ancestor of the Pattons, who were so prominent in the late war, and Captain James Pendleton, the ancestor of the Hon. John S. Pendleton, Capt. Philip Clayton and Col. James Slaughter, who were with the Minute Men in in the first battle in Virginia. The camp of the Minute Men was in Major Clayton's old field (Catalpa), and the precise spot was marked within my mem- ory by a grand old oak, which, with all its honors, the woodman 'would not spare.' The author of the journal thus describes the meeting of the Minute Men:
'We encamped in Clayton's old field. Some had tents, and others huts of plank, &c. The whole regiment appeared according to orders in hunting shirts made of strong, brown linen, dyed the color of the leaves of the trees, and on the breast of each hunting shirt was worked in large white letters the words, 'Liberty or Death'!, and all that could procure for love or money bucks' tails, wore them in their hats. Each man had a leather belt around his shoulders, with a tomahawk and scalping-knife. The flag had in the center a rattlesnake coiled in the act to strike. Below it were the words, 'Don't tread on me!' At the sides, 'Liberty or Death'! and at the top, 'The Culpeper Minute Men.'
'During our encampment an express arrived from Patrick Henry, com- mandant of the First Virginia Continental Regiment, by order of the commit- tee of safety, then sitting in the city of Williamsburg, requesting the Minute Men to march immediately to that city, as Governor Dunmore had conveyed powder and military stores from the magazine to a British man-of-war, etc., etc. The Minute Men immediately made ready and marched with all possible dispatch, and in a few days reached the city of Williamsburg. Many people hearing that we were from the backwoods, near the Indians, and seeing our dress, were as much afraid of us for a few days as if we had been Indians; but finding that we were orderly and attentive in guarding the city, they treated us with great respect. We took great pride in demeaning ourselves as patriots and gentlemen. The Minute Men were chiefly armed with fowling-pieces and squirrel-guns, and Dunmore having retired to the man-of-war, one-half of the men returned home. My father remained, but insisted that I should go back to school, I not being quite seventeen years old. This, by the advice of friends,
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I agreed to do. Those Minute Men who remained under the command of Col. Edward Stevens, of Culpeper, and Major Tom Marshall, of Fauquier, had the honor of being at the battle of the Great Bridge, that being the first battle fought in Virginia. They were also at Norfolk when that city was burned.
'In the spring of '76 I again left school and enlisted as a soldier in Captain John Jameson's troop of cavalry, but before the company was ready to march I was appointed by the committee of safety a lieutenant in Capt. Gabriel Long's company of riflemen. We raised the company and marched to join the army under Gen. Washington, in New York. In the spring of '77 we joined the 11th. Va. Continental Regiment, in New Jersey, which was commanded by Daniel Morgan.'
"This is all in the journal which concerns the Minute Men of Culpeper.
"So many of the Culpeper companies having been in the course of the war absorbed into the Continental regiments that, by Act of Assembly October, 1776, they were dissolved and merged in the militia. Thus, though the men were fighting on every field, the name no longer survived. When the name had been buried nearly a century and the blast of the bugle was again heard in the land, the sires rose in the persons of their sons, unfurled the old flag, disclosing its emblem ready to strike, and rattling the warning, 'Don't tread on me.' The Minute Men were reorganized, with Tazewell Patton, a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, for their captain. In 1860 a flag was pre- sented to them by that unique orator, John S. Pendleton, who stirred their hearts with his burning words. Captain Patton rapidly rose to be colonel of the 7th. Virginia Infantry, and after braving the battle and the breeze on ma- ny a hard-fought field, fell in that dreadful charge of Pickett's Division on the Heights of Gettysburg in 1863. His body, after lying embalmed in a vault at Baltimore, was re-interred in the Stonewall cemetery at Winchester, at dead of night, in the same grave with that of his brother George, colonel of the 22nd. Virginia Infantry, who, while commanding a brigade in the battle of Winches- ter, was mortally wounded by a shell in 1864. And these two gallant, loving brothers embraced each other in the dust of one grave. Three streams of Revolutionary blood met in their veins-that of the Minute Men of Culpeper, Major John Williams and Capt. P. Slaughter, and that of Gen. Mercer, the he- ro of Princeton.
"And this reminds me of an incident in Gen. Mercer's life, pertinent to the present occasion. When a captain under Washington, in the war against the Indians and French in 1775, his right arm being shattered by a ball, he became separated from his company, and with the Indians whooping in hot pursuit, he only escaped by hiding in a hollow tree, upon which they sat without dis- covering him. Having a wilderness of 100 miles to traverse he was only saved from starvation by killing a rattlesnake, upon which, and some roots, he sub- sisted until he reached Fort Cumberland. It was fitting that the son of a sire who had fed upon a rattlesnake should command a company whose flag was emblazoned with a picture of that animal, and which was a fac simile of the flag under which his ancestor marched through the wilderness to Willamsburg in 1775. There appeared in the London Morning Chronicle, of Feb. 25, 1776, a re- markable article in these words: 'The Americans have a flag with a snake with 13 rattles on it, in the attitude to strike, and with the motto, 'Don't tread on me.' It isa rule in heraldry that the worthy properties of an animal on a erest should alone be considered. The rattlesnake is an emblem of America, being found in no other part of the world. The eye excels in brightness. It has no eye-lids, and is therefore an emblem of vigilance. She never begins an attack, and never surrenders, and is therefore an emblem of magnanimity.
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She never wounds until she has given warning. Her weapons are not display- ed until drawn for defence. Her power of fascination resembles America- those who look steadily on her are involuntarily drawn towards, and having once approached, never leave her. She is beautiful in youth, and her beauty increases with age. Her tongue is forked as lightning.
"Captain Patton was succeeded by his lieutenant, Capt. Crittenden, who soon rose to the command of a regiment, whose flag he followed in many a bloody battle, and is with us to-day, a battle-scarred veteran, still owning the flag, all tattered and torn, presented by Pendleton to Patton in 1860. The Minute Men of Culpeper were again reorganized in 1879 by Capt. Wm. Nalle, a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute. His lot has fallen in times of peace, but if ever the occasion comes to "flash his maiden sword," he will doubtless bear himself as becomes a Minute Man of Culpeper. And this brings me to your present gallant captain (Burrows), who, though not himself de- rived from the Minute men of "75, his better half is; and what is better still, he has won his laurels on the field, having shed his blood at Manassas, and been captured in Picket's historic charge at Gettysburg. To him I now present this flag in memory of the men who fought our battles in council and in the field. Perhaps it may enhance your interest in it to know that it was painted for me by a maiden who is a lineal descendant of a Minute Man of '75. And now let me say to the young men who have not been promoted to the holy es- tate of matrimony, that when the aforesaid Minute Man was made captain in the field he wrote the name of his sweetheart upon his commission, vowing that it would never be disgraced. Having heard that a powerful rival was be- sieging the heart of his betrothed in his absence, and not being able to get a furlough, he sent a sergeant 500 miles to Culpeper, to make a reconnoisance of the situation, who reported that the enemy had retreated. After the war they were married. Perhaps you would like to know her name-it was Margaret Frenchi, the same as that of Col. Patton's mother, who was her grand-daugh- ter. She was the daughter of French Strother, who represented Culpeper for thirty (30) years, and who was Senator when he died. He was a member of the Assembly of '76, which gave us our constitution, bill of rights, and act of religious freedom. His own son, Geo. French, was a member of Congress from Culpeper, as was also his grandson, James French, whose son, Captain John Strother, has served in council and in the field. He is represented here to-day in the person of Dr. Johnson Strother, who also, with Mr. George Williams and his son, represent Gen. James Williams, of the Revolution. And I may add that a grandson of this romantic marriage is here this morning, a member of the present company of Minute Men, as are also two descendants of James Bar- bour-the county lieutenant of 1775, whose grandson and great-grandson have represented us in Congress, and another of the same name in the General As- sembly and the convention."
JUDGE BELL'S REPLY.
"DR. SLAUGHTER :
Rev. Sir .- It gives me the profoundest pleasure to meet and to greet you here to-day. I rejoice from the imnost depths of my heart to look upon your face again, and to see in it plainly the fading lineaments of your distinguished sire who, one hundred and eleven years ago, stood near the wide-spreading and historic oak on yonder hill, and helped form and command the first 'Culpep- er Minute Men' of 1775, and who threw to the breeze their ever memorable flag with the defiant motto, 'Don't tread on me.'
"They shed lustre on themselves in the Revolution of '76, and have come down to posterity with imperishable honor! Glory and honor, and riches and
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fame to the illustrious old Philip Slaughter of Culpeper.
"Born and commissioned for an exalted destiny, the old Minute Men of Culpeper boldly declared, 'no taxation without representation,' and cour- ageously adhered to the great prerogatives of Magna Charta, 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' They will live in history and in the hearts of the people, as long as the love of American liberties survives.
"The second company of the Culpeper Minute Men was formed in April or May, 1859, just eighty-three years thereafter. Impelled by the like gallant spirit that aroused their fathers of '76, they marched out, fought and bled in defense of their personal and property rights, of their constitutional and polit- ical liberty: a cause than which, none more sacred ever enlisted the feelings and patriotism of inen, or employed the strong arm and courage of soldiers.
"Glorious, valorous Minute Men of 1860! They, like their illustrious pred- ecessors of '76, 'formed in a minute, marched in a minute, and fought in a minute.'
"Turned over to the Confederate States they were afterward merged in the distinguished and chivalrous 13th. Virginia, once commanded by the dis- tinguished and gallant Hill, afterwards Lieutenant General of the Confederate forces, and the courageous and "bloody 49th.," then commanded by the gal- lant and intrepid Smith, afterwards the War Governor of Virginia. They will live in the brilliant history of the Southern Confederacy of States, as those of '76 do in that of the united colonies of North America.
"And now, soldiers, can a richer compliment be paid to the 'Minute Men' of 1879, than to receive this beautiful and lovely flag, this day presented to you by this distinguished and eloquent son of the yet more distinguished old Cap- tain Philip Slaughter of Culpeper.
"As I behold you standing before me, I recall an incident which, if my memory does not fail me, I read in the history of the campaigns of Frederick the Great. At night-fall, after one of those sanguinary, but victorious en- gagements, which crowned him as the mightiest captain of his age, the shat- tered and bleeding remnant of one of his legions was ordered up for the roll- call. As the name of each absentee was called, a shout like the sound of a trumpet rent the air with the answer, 'dead on the field of honor'!
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