Historical collections of Virginia : containing a collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, &c. relating to its history and antiquities ; together with geographical and statistical descriptions ; to which is appended, an historical and descriptive sketch of the District of Columbia., Part 74

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893. cn
Publication date: 1856
Publisher: Charleston, S. C. : Wm. R. Babcock
Number of Pages: 1148

USA > Virginia > Historical collections of Virginia : containing a collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, &c. relating to its history and antiquities ; together with geographical and statistical descriptions ; to which is appended, an historical and descriptive sketch of the District of Columbia. > Part 74

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Col. Byrd, in his "Progress to the Mines," in 1732, gives the following notice of Germanna, and "the accomplished Governor Spotswood," and family. The governor had, nine years previously, vacated the gubernatorial chair, and was at this time extensively engaged in the iron-mining business :

This famous town [Germanna] consists of Col. Spotswood's enchanted castle on ong side of the street, and a baker's dozen of ruinous tenements on the other, where so many German families had dwelt some years ago; but are now removed ten miles higher, in the fork of Rappahannock, to land of their own. There had also been a chapel about a bowshot from the colonel's house, at the end of an avenue of cherry-trees, but some pious people had lately burnt it down, with intent to get another built nearer to their own homes. Here I arrived about three o'clock, and found only Mrs. Spotswood at home, who received her old acquaintance with many a gracious smile. I was carried into a room elegantly set off with pier-glasses, the largest of which came soon after to an odd misfortune. Among other favorite animals that cheered this lady's solitude, &- prace of tame deer ran familiarly about the house, and one of them came to stare at me as a stranger. But unluckily spying his own figure in the glass, he made a spring over the tea-table that stood under it, and shattered the glass to pieces, and falling back upou the tea-table, made a terrible fracas among the china. This exploit was so sudden, and accompanied with such a noise, that it surprised me, and perfectly frightened Mrs. Spotswood. But it was worth all the damage, to show the moderation and good humor with which she bore this disaster. In the evening, the noble colonel came home from his mines, who saluted me very civilly, and Mrs. Spotswood's sister, Miss Theky, who had been to meet him en cavalier, was so kind too as to bid me welcome. We talked over a legend of old stories, supped about nine, and then prattled with the ladies, till it was time for a traveller to retire. In the mean time I observed my old friend to be very uxorious, and exceedingly fond of his children. This was so opposite to the maxims he used to preach up before he was married, that I could not forbear rubbing up the memory of them. But he gave a very good-natured turn to his change of sentiments, by alleging that whoever brings a poor gentlewoman into so solitary a place, from all her friends and acquaintance, would be ungrateful not to use her and all that belongs to her with all possible tenderness.

We all kept snug in our several apartments till nine, except Miss Theky, who was the housewife of the family. At that hour we met over a pot of coffee, which was pot quite strong enough to give us the palsy. After breakfast, the colonel and I left the ladies to their domestic affairs, and took a turn in the garden, which has nothing beauti- ful but three terrace-walks that fall in slopes one below another. 'I let him understand, that besides the pleasure of paying him a visit, I came to be instructed by so great a master in the mystery of making iron, wherein he had led the way, and was the Tubal Cain of Virginia. He corrected me a little there, by assuring me he was not only the first in this country, but the first in North America, who had erected a regalar furnace

The city of Fredericksburg is in a handsome valley on the south side of the Rappahannock River, 56 miles from Washington City, and 62 miles from Richmond, on the line of the great southern rail-road. It is at the head of tide on the river, about 150 miles

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VIEW OF FREDERICKSBURG FROM THE WASHINGTON FARM.

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from its month. The Rappahannock is navigable for vessels of' 140 tons, to the Falls of the Rappahannock, a short distance above the town.

Fredericksburg was founded by law in 1727, and named from Prince Frederick, father of George Ill. The neighboring village of Falmouth was founded at the same time. The preamble of the act establishing Fredericksburg says :

" Whereas grent numbers of people have of late seated themselves and their families opon and pear the river Rappahannock, and the branches thereof above the falls ; and great quantities of tobacco and other commodities are every year brought down to the upper landings upon the said river, to be shipped eff and transported to other parts of the country ; and it is necessary that the poorer part of said inhabi- tante should be supplied from thence, with goods and merchandise in return for their commodities : huit for want of some convenient phicc, where traders may cohabit and bring their goods to, such suppile . are not to be had, without grent disadvantages : and good houses are greatly wanted upon some navi- gable part of said river, near the fills, for the reception and safe keeping of such commodities as are brought thither; and for the entertainment and sustenance of those who repur thither from remote places with carriages drawn by hor-es or oxen. And forasmuch as the inhabitants of the county of Spotsylvania have made humble supplication to this General Assembly, that a town may be laid out in some convenient place near the falls of the said river, for the cohabitation of such as are minded to re side there for the purposes aforesaid. whereby the peopling that remote part of the country will be en couraged, and trade and navigation may be increased. Be it enacted." &c.

The town originally comprehended fifty acres, and was laid out on what was then called " the lease land." In 1742 and in 1759, its boundaries were enlarged. In 1738, a law was passed directing that " fairs should be held in Fredericksburg twice a year, for the sale of cattle, provisions, goods, wares, and all kinds of merchandise whatsoever." All persons at such fairs, going to or from them, were privileged from arrest and exe- cution during the fairs, and for two days before and two days after them, except for capital offences, breaches of the peace, or for any controversies, suits, and quarrels, that might arise during the time. The fairs were continued, from time to time, by various acts, until 1769, when the right of holding them was made perpetual.

When Fredericksburg was incorporated, there was a warehouse on its site. The act appointed John Robinson, Henry Willis, Au- gustine Smith, John Taliaferro, Harry Beverly, John Waller, and Jeremiah Clowder. trustees. The first church was built on the site of the present Episcopal church. Col. Byrd. in 1732, five years after the town was established, notices it as follows :

I was obliged to rise early here, that I might not starve my landlord, whose con- stiration requires him to swallow a beefsteak before the sun blesses the world with . its genial rays. However, he was so complaisant as to bear the gnawing of his stom- ach till eight o'clock, for my sake. Col. Waller, after a score of loud hems to clear his throne, broke his fast along with us. When this necessary affair was dispatched, Col. Willi walked me about his town of Fredericksburg. It is pleasantly situated on the south shore of Rappahannock River, about a mile below the falls. Sloops may come up and lie 'close to the wharf, within thirty yards of the public ware- houses, which are built in the figure of a cross. Just by the wharf is a quarry of white stone that is very soft in the ground, and hardens in the air, appearing to be as fair and fine-grained as that of Portland. Besides that, there are several other quarries in the river bank, within the livats of the town. sufficient to build a large city. The only edifice of stone yet built, is the prison ; the walls of which are strong enough to hold Jack Sheppard, if he had been transported thither. Though this be a com- modious and beautiful situation for a town, with the advantages of a navigable river, and wholesome air, yet the inhabitants are very few. Besides Col. Willis, who is the top man of the place, there are only one merchant, a tailor, a smith, and an ordinary keeper ; though I must not forget Mrs. Levistone, who acts here in the double ca. pacity of & doctress and coffee woman. And were this a populous city, she is quali- fed to exercise two other callings. It is said the court-house and the church are going to be built here, and then both religion and justice will help to enlarge the piare.

Fredericksburg is regularly laid out, and compactly built : many of its buildings are of brick. The principal public buildings are a court-house, clerk's office, and jail, a market-house. an orphan asylum, 1 Episcopal, I Presbyterian, 1 Methodist, 1 Baptist, and !

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Reformed Baptist church. The orphan asylum and a charity school are for females. The town also contains 2 banks, and 1 male and 1 female seminary of the higher class. It is supplied with water from the river, by subterraneous pipes ; and is governed by a mayor and common council. A canal, extending from the town to Fox's Mill, a point on the Rappahannock 35 miles above, has been commenced and partly completed. Fredericksburg enjoys considerable trade, chiefly in grain. flour, tobacco, maize, &c .. and considerable quantities of gold are exported. Its exports have been computed at over $1,000,000 annually. The Falls of the Rappa- hannock in the vicinity afford good water-power. There were in 1840, by the U. S. statistics, 73 stores, cap. 8367,961 ; 2 tanneries, paints, drugs, &c., cap. $37.000 ; 1 grist-mill, 2 printing-offices, 4 semi-weekly newspapers : cap. in manufactures, $141,200; 5 acad- emies, 256 students ; 7 schools. 156 scholars. Population in 1830, whites 1,797, slaves 1,124, free blacks 387; total, 3,308. Popu-

lation in 1840, 3.974.

Gen. Hugh Mercer and Gen. George Weedon, both of the army of the revolution, resided here before the war. Gen. Mercer was then a physician. His house, in which was his apothecary-shop, stood on the sw. corner of Princess Ann and Amelia sts. : it was a long frame building, of antique architecture, and a story and a half in height. Gen. Weedon was an inn-keeper. An English traveller, Dr. J. F. D. Smyth. in his tour published in London in 1784, says of these gentlemen :

I arrived at Fredericksburg, and put up at the inn kept by one Weedon, who is now a general officer in the American army, and was then very active and zealous in blowing the flames of sedition. In Fredericksburg I called upon a worthy and intimate friend, Dr. Hugh Mercer, a physician of great merit and eminence, and, as a mani, pos- sessed of almost every virtue and accomplishment. . . Dr. Mercer was afterwards a brigadier-general in the American army, to accept of which appointment I have reason to believe he was greatly influenced by Gen. Washington, with whom he had been long in intimacy and bonds of friendship. For Dr. Mercer was generally of a just and a moderate way of thinking, and possessed liberal sentiments, and a generosity of princi- ple very uncommon among those with whom he embarked.

The interesting memoir subjoined, of Gen. HUGH MERCER, Is principally abridged from the Southern Literary Messenger for April, 1838 :

Gen. HUGH MERCER was a native of Scotland, and graduated at an early age in the science of medicine. At the memorable battle of Culloden, he acted as an assistant sur- geon, and, with a multitude of the vanquished, sought a home of freedom in the wilder. ness of America. He landed in Pennsylvania, where he remained but a short time. From thence he removed to Fredericksburg, where he married, and became distinguished for his skill in medicine. In the Indian war of 1755, he served as a captain under Washington. In one of the engagements with this wily for, he was wounded in the right wrist by a musket ball ; and in the irregular warfare then practised, his company scattered and became separated from him. Faint from loss of blood, and exhausted by Intique, be was closely pursued by the savage foe, their thrilling war-whoop ringing through the forest. and stimulating to redoubled energy the footsteps of their devoted vienna. Fortunately the hollow trunk of a large tree presented itself. In a moment he concealed himself in it, and though his pursuers reached the spot and seated themselves around han, be yet miraculously escaped ! Leaving his place of refuge, he sought the abodes of civilization, through a trackless wild of more than one hundred miles in extent : and after supporting life on roots and the body of a rattlesnake, which he encountered

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and killed, he finally reached Fort Cumberland in safety. For his gallantry and mili. tary skill in this war -- proved, in a distinguished degree, by the destruction of the Indian settlement at Kiftaning, Pennsylvania-the corporation of Philadelphia presented to him an honorable and appropriate medal.

The commencement of the American revolution found him in the midst of an exten- sive medical practice, surrounded by affectionate friends, and enjoying in the bosom of a happy family all the comforts of social life. Stimulated to action by a lofty spirit of patriotism, he broke from the endearments of domestic life, and gave to his country, in that trying hour, the energy and resources of a practised and accomplished soldier. In 1775, he was in command of three regiments of minute-men; and early in 1776 we find him zealously engaged. as a colonel of the army of Virginia, in drilling and organ- izing the raw and ill-formed masses of men who, under the varied names of sons of lib- erty, minute-men, volunteers, and levies, presented the bulk without the order -- the mob without the discipline of an army. To produce obedience and subordination among men who considered military discipline as a restraint on personal liberty, and who had entered into the war unpaid and unrestricted by command, was a severe and invidious task. The courage, the fortitude, the self-possession of Col. Mercer quailed not at these adverse circumstances ; and, by the judicious exercise of mingled severity and kindness, he soon succeeded in reducing a mutinous soldiery to complete submission. Tradition has preserved the following anecdote, illustrating, in a striking manner, his character- istic promptitude and bravery :

Among the troops which arrived at Williamsburg, then the metropolis of Virginia, was a company of rifiemen from beyond the mountains, commanded by Capt. Gibson. A reckless insubordination, and a violent opposition to military restraint, had gained for this corps the sarcastic name of "Gibson's Lambs." They had not been long in camp before a mutiny arose among them, producing much excitement in the army, and alarm- ing the inhabitants of the city. Freed from all command, they roamed through the camp, threatening with instant death any officer who should presume to exercise au- thority over them. In the height of the rebellion, an officer was dispatched with the alarming tidings to the quarters of Col. Mercer. The citizens of the town vainly im- plored him not to risk his life and person amid this infuriated mob. Reckless of personal safety, he instantly repaired to the barracks of the mutinous band, and directing a gene- ral parade of the troops, he ordered Gibson's company to be drawn up as offenders and violators of law, and to be disarmed in his presence. The ringleaders were placed under a strong guard, and, in the presence of the whole army, he addressed the offenders in an eloquent and feeling manner, impressing on them their duties as citizen-soldiers, and the certainty of death if they continued to disobey their officers, and remained in that muti- nous spirit, equally disgraceful to them and hazardous to the sacred interests they had marched to defend. Disorder was instantly checked, and, after a short confinement, those under imprisonment were released ; and the whole company were ever after as exemplary in their deportment and conduct as any troops in the army.

Col. Mercer now joined the continental army, Congress having conferred upon him the rank of brigadier-general ; and throughout the whole of the stormy and disastrous campaign of 1776, he was a bold, fearless, and efficient officer. At the battle of Prince- con, Gen. Mercer was mortally wounded. The circumstances were these :-- In the march from Trenton to Princeton, Gen. Mercer led the vanguard of Washington's army. Reaching Princeton about sunrise, Gen. Mercer encountered three British regiments, who had encamped there on the previous night, and who were leaving the town to join the rear of their troops at Maidenhead. A fierce and desperate conflict, immediately ensued. The American militia, constituting the front, hesitated, became confused, and soon gave way, while the few regulars in the rear could not check the dastardly retreat. Ere the fortune of the day was changed, and ere victory perched on the patriot standard, the heroic Mercer fell. Rushing forward to rally his broken troops, and stimulating them by his voice and example, his house was shot from under him, and he fell, danger- ously wounded, among the columns of the advancing enemy. Being thus dismounted, he was instantly surrounded by a party of British soldiers, with whom, when they re- fused him quarter, he fought desperately with his drawn sword until he was completely overpowered. Excited to brutality by the gallantry of his resistance, they stabbed him with their bayonets in seren different parts of his body, indicted many blows on his head with the butt-ends of their muskets, and did not cease their butchery until they believed · him to be a crushed and mangled corpse. Nine days after the battle, he died in the amins of Major Geo. Lewis of the army, the nephew of Gon, Washington, whom the unele had commissioned to watch over the last moments of his expiring friend. His

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Jatter hours were soothed by the skilful and affectionate attendance of the distinguished Dr. Rush.

In a small house, a few yards distant from that blood-red plain of carnage and of death, far away from the soothing consolations of domestic affection, this distinguished martyr of liberty breathed his last. The victorious flag of his country proudly floated over a field of triumph, and without a murmur he sank into a soldier's grave, finding a hallowed sepulchre in the hearts of his countrymen, and a fadeless epitaph in their insti- tutions.

· The remains of this gifted and accomplished soldier now sleep in Christ church, Phila. delphia, under a plain marble slab, bearing the simple yet expressive inscription -- " In memory of Gen. Hugh Mercer, who fell at Princeton, Jan. 3d, 1777."

The valor of Gen, Mercer was only equalled by his modesty. When Virginia organ- ized the third regiment, there were numerous applications for commissions. but scarcely one for less than the rank of a field-officer. "During the sitting of the House of Bur- gesses upon the question, a plain but soldierly-looking individual handed up to the speaker's chair a scrap of paper, on which was written, ' Hugh Mercer will serve his adopted country, and the cause of liberty, in any rank or station to which he may be appointed.' This from a veteran soldier bred in European camps -- the associate of Washington in the war of 1755, and known to stand high in his confidence and esteem, was all-sufficient for a body of patriots and statesmen such as composed the Virginia House of Burgesses in the revolution. The appointment of Mercer to the command of the 3d Virginia regiment was carried instanter."

In Wilkinson's Memoirs, several interesting particulars of the life and services of Gen. Mercer are related, and, in allading to his death, that writer remarks : " In Gen. Mer- cer we lost, at Princeton, a chief who, for education, talents, disposition, integrity, and patriotism, was second to no man but the commander-in-chief, and was qualified to fill the highest trusts of the country." The same author remarks, that an evening or two before the battle of Princeton, Gen. Mercer being in the tent of Gen. St. Clair with sev- eral officers, the conversation turned on some promotions then just made in the army. Gen. Mercer remarked, " they were not engaged in a war of ambition, or that he should not have been there ; and that every man should be content to serve in that station in which he could be most useful ; that for his part he had but one object in view, and that was the success of the cause, and that God could witness how cheerfully he would lay down his life to secure it." Little, adds the writer, did he or any of the company then think that a few fleeting hours would seal the compact.

COL. FIELDING LEWIS, who married Elizabeth, a sister of Washington, resided in Fredericksburg on the farm where lies buried Mary, the mother of Washington. He was proprietor of half the town, and of an extensive territory adjoining. He was an ardent patriot of the revolutionary war, and superintended the great manufactory of aris in this neighborhood at that time. He was also a magistrate, and represented the county in the legislature. He died in Dec., 1781, aged 55, universally respected and esteemed. His valuable estate was divided equally among his sons. His children were Capt. Fielding Lewis ; Capt. George Lewis, a captain of Washington's life guard ; Elizabeth Lewis, who married Charles Carter, Esq. ; Maj. Lawrence Lewis, who was aid to Gen. Morgan in suppressing the Whiskey Insurrection ; and Capt. Robert Lewis, who was one of Washington's private secretaries.

Opposite Fredericksburg, on the east side of the Rappahannock, below the rail-road bridge, and within the limits of Stafford county, is " THE WASHINGTON FARM," at present the property of the Rev. Thomas Teasdale. A few years after the birth of Washington, his father, Augustine Washington, removed with his family to this place, where he re- sided until his death, April 12th, 1743. at the age of 49. The house in which he re- sided has long since been gone : it stood near the present residence of Mr. King, from which spot the view of Fredericksburg in this volume was taken. Here it was that Washington spent his early youth; and here, says tradition, is the place where, when a young man, he threw a stone across the Rappahannock,-a feat that no one, it is said, has since succeeded in accomplishing.

Sparks, in his life of Washington, says that his father was buried at Bridge's Creek, Westmoreland county, in the tomb of his ancestors. " Little is known," says the same author, " of his character or his acts. It appears by his will, however, that he possessed a large and valuable property in lands ; and as this had been acquired chiety by hisavvn industry and enterprise, it may be inferred that in the concerne of business he was

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methodical, skilful, honorable, and energetic. His occupation was that of a planter, which, from the first settlement of the country, had been the pursuit of nearly all the principal gentlemen of Virginia.

" Each of his sons inherited from him a separate plantation. To the eldest, Law- rence, he bequeathed an estate near Hunting creek, afterwards Mount Vernon, which then consisted of 2,500 acres ; and also other lands, and shares in iron works situated in Maryland and Virginia, which were productive. The second son had for his part an estate in Westmoreland. To George were left the lands where his father lived at the time of his decease ; and to each of the other sons, an estate of six or seven hundred acres. The youngest daughter died when an infant, and for the only remaining one a suitable provision was made in the will. It is thus seen that Augustine Washington, although suddenly cut off in the vigor of manhood, left all his children in a state of comparative independence. Confiding in the prudence of the mother, he directed that all the proceeds of the property of her children should be at her disposal, till they should respectively come of age.

"This weighty charge of five children, the eldest of whom was eleven years old, the superintendence of their education, and the management of complicated affairs, de- manded no common share of resolution, resource of mind, and strength of character. In these important duties Mrs. Washington acquitted herself with great fidelity to her trust, and with entire success. Her good sense, assiduity, tenderness, and vigilance, overcame every obstacle ; and as the richest reward of a mother's solicitude and toil, she had the happiness to see all her children come forward with a fair promise into life, filling the sphere allotted to them in a manner equally honorable to themselves and to the parent who had been the only guide of their principles, conduct, and habits. She lived to witness the noble career of her illustrious son, till, by his own rare merits, he was raised to the head of a nation, and applauded and revered by the whole world. It has been said, that there never was a great man, the elements of whose greatness might not be traced to the original characteristics or early influence of his mother. If this be true, how much do mankind owe to the mother of Washington."

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Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893. cn Publication date: 1856 Publisher: Charleston, S. C. : Wm. R. Babcock Number of Pages: 1148

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893. cn
Publication date: 1856
Publisher: Charleston, S. C. : Wm. R. Babcock
Number of Pages: 1148