S. J. Quinn

“ And what nobler work for the hearts and hands of Southern women, than upon its summit to rear a monument to the unrecorded Confederate dead, which, through all time shall testify to the gratitude of the people for whom they so gloriously died? As no State, and scarcely a town or county throughout the limits of the late Confederacy, is unrepresented on these battle-fields, may we not hope that the coöperation required in order to accomplish our holy work will be as universal? ”

“ To those who believe in freedom of thought and action; in the sovereignty of the people; in the equality of all men before the law, based upon constitutional rights, restrictions and limitations, made by the wisdom of the greatest men this world has ever produced; in opening the door to promotion to all men whose talents, integrity and general high characters entitle them to such honors, the Declaration of Independence must forever commend itself ”

“ On the night of December the 10th the armies prepared for action. Two hundred and fifty thousand armed men, like crouched lions ready to spring upon their adversary, were ready for the bloody conflict. It was the most restless, anxious night ever passed by the citizens of Fredericksburg. It was the night of terror! The dread of to-morrow hung like a pall over the devoted city, and everybody was hurriedly preparing for the awful destruction that was at hand and could not be averted. The threatened bombardment had long been delayed, and many citizens had returned from their flight. ”

“ Some years before the Revolutionary war, the colony of Virginia had become restless under British dominion. There had been, here and there, open expressions of discontent, and a growing resentment, if not positive hostility, against the mother country. In fact, nowhere more than in Virginia, and especially in this section, had the spirit of independence more steadily grown; and when the time came for decision and concert of action by the colonies, public opinion here was ripe to break down the old barriers, and to resist, with force, the power of England. ”

“ General Burnside did not overrate the magnificent courage and sublime self-sacrifice of his army, whose contempt of death that day on the open plains about Fredericksburg seemed to strike the electric chain wherewith we all are bound, and a thrill of admiration swept down the line of Lee’s army for four miles whilst yet the battle raged; but General Burnside did underrate the strength of the positions which, without inspection or information, he rashly assailed, and he did underrate the valor of the men who held those positions. ”

“ No grander, no more beautiful, no more splendid expression of the very highest type of manhood could be found than was found in the life of the private soldier of both or either army; and when the war ended, with them verily it ended, and they all joined hands in a fraternity of comradeship which was well exhibited by that private soldier of your army who ministered to my necessities and cheered me in my sadness as I sat under the very shadow of defeat and amidst the gloom of surrender at Appomattox. ”

“ And members of the Society of the Army of the Potomac, to which that private belonged, and to which we of the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered, I meet and greet you on your first reunion south of the river whose name you bear. We of the South will ever cherish, ever pay the homage of our hearts’ best devotion to the memory of our great cause and its champions, we will ever keep them hallowed and sacred, but with us the war is over. ”

“ There was no music, no drum, no voice, but the command of the officers’ forward, march!
The ladies, standing in groups along the streets, found it difficult to repress their exultation. Glad to be relieved of the presence of the enemy, and to be freed from the restraints of their power; glad to be once more within Southern lines, and to be brought into communication with their own dear people; but the great gladness was that the evacuation of Fredericksburg showed that the enemy had been defeated on the upper line and could no longer hold the line of the Rappahannock river. ”

“ We are glad that our children may see it to learn from its presence and history that the dearest heritage left them by their fathers is that liberty and independence once proclaimed by this bell. And so we bid God speed to the bell which once “rang redress to all mankind,” as it goes through the land proclaiming to all the nations of the world that a “government by the people, of the people and for the people” has not perished from off the face of the earth, [Pg 250] but “still lives the home of liberty and the birth-right of every American citizen.” ”

“ We recognize in our President the pure patriot and the stainless statesman, whose wise and courageous administration, in both war and peace, has endeared him to the hearts of his countrymen and has shed new lustre upon the exalted office which he fills.
Our people also welcome with much pride and warmth his eminent official family, and the brilliant commander of our invincible army, and all these distinguished men before me, who are guests of the Society of the Army of the Potomac and of our city. ”

“ Some Distinguished Men Buried in Fredericksburg—A Remarkable Grave Stone—Three Heroic Fredericksburgers, Wellford, Herndon, Willis—The Old Liberty Bell Passes Through Town—Great Demonstrations in its Honor—What a Chinaman Thought of it.
A town is not less renowned for the noble, heroic dead who sleep within its borders than it is for its gallant soldiers, Statesmen and others who are yet on the stage of action. Indeed its renown may be more enduring because of its dead than of its living. ”

“ Here, and within fifteen miles of this city, in Spotsylvania county, more great armies manœuvred, more great battles were fought, more men were engaged in mortal combat and more officers and privates were killed and wounded than in any similar territory in the world. More men fell in the battles of this one small county during the Civil war than Great Britain has lost in all her wars of a century; and more men were killed and wounded in four hours at the battle of Fredericksburg than Great Britain had lost in killed, wounded and prisoners in her eight months’ war in South Africa. ”

“ As to the esteem in which Washington is held all over the world, Senator Lodge says: “Even Englishmen, the most unsparing critics of us, have done homage to Washington from the time of Byron and Fox to the present day. France has always revered his name. In distant lands, people who have hardly heard of the United States know the name of Washington. Nothing could better show the regard of the world for this great giver of liberty to the people than the way in which contributions came from all nations to his monument in Washington. ”

“ It is with feelings of heartfelt delight that we welcome it within the corporate limits of Fredericksburg, connected inseparably, as she is, like your own great and proud city of Philadelphia, with the events proclaimed in that glorious past by that sacred bell; for it was in Fredericksburg, on the 29th of April, 1775, that the first resolutions breathing the spirit of the Declaration of Independence were offered; it was in Fredericksburg that Hugh Mercer lived, whose ashes rest in your beloved soil, in whose defence he died ”

“ At that place hundreds of others joined the procession, including the volunteer companies from Fredericksburg, and thus he and his party—his son George Washington and Colonel La Vasseur—were escorted to town by hundreds of mounted men and men on foot, with martial music, amid the grandest display and wildest enthusiasm on the part of the people. He received a welcome to the town no less cordial and sincere than was accorded to Green and Washington, because the liberty, so highly prized and gratefully enjoyed by them, was not achieved by Green and Washington without the aid of Lafayette. ”

“ Trusting that as the community and State is in no way responsible for the causes which led to the revolution and have already suffered so seriously during its progress, a magnanimous government will be satisfied with the restoration of its authority, and adopt towards us the policy of leniency and reconciliation which will tend with the people of Virginia to restore friendly relations, soften the asperities and heal the wounds of the past, and enable us to resume our former position as peaceful and prosperous citizens of Virginia and the United States. ”

“ Traveller was General Lee’s war horse. Every soldier in the army knew him. At the death of this faithful old horse, that had carried General Lee through the war, he was turned over to the taxidermist, who prepared and mounted him. He is now at the Soldiers’ Home in Richmond, looking as natural and life-like as when he bore the Confederate Chieftain into battle, or when he moved in General Lee’s funeral procession, fully equipped for the march, but without his accustomed rider. ”

“ Some one writing of our water-power some years ago said: “The water-power of the Rappahannock river at Fredericksburg, made available by the erection of a magnificent dam, has been harnessed for work to some extent, but not yet to its full capacity.” That this is true is a pity, but that it will not long be true is a blessing. The old dam, which gave us only five thousand horse-power, is rapidly yielding to the touch of time, and already another is in course of construction that will be more substantial and give us more power than the present dam gives at its best. ”

“ Resolved, As the opinion of this meeting that the administration of these States received the government of a happy and united people, in peace abroad and prosperity at home; that under their guidance, we have been led, oppressed with public, heavy debts, enormous taxes, a ruined commerce and depreciated produce, into hostility with a nation who aided to secure our independence by their own blood and treasure, with a republic the most powerful and successful that has appeared on earth for eighteen centuries, armed with every weapon to injure us, but whom we can in no wise injure ”

“ If the South was, by a wise providence, denied in that grand struggle the honor of final triumph, her people to-day share equally with the victors of that day the glorious fruits of their victory in a more perfect and indissoluble union of indestructible States, under that superlative symbol of a world-power—the glorious Stars and Stripes. ”

“ Here was the home and birthplace of men who commanded armies, controlled navies, swayed statesmen, electrified assemblies, and many of those homes and birth-houses are still standing, and it will appear but natural if they shall be pointed out and written about by the inhabitants of Fredericksburg with patriotic pride. Notwithstanding the quaint architecture of many of them, and the ravages of time upon them, they are dear to us and are regarded as heirlooms of the town which have witnessed the advent and exit of many generations. ”

“ If the morals and correct lives of the people of a town are to be judged by the number of churches within its borders, giving due consideration to the number of inhabitants, the people of Fredericksburg would be rated with the best. One of the first things that received the attention of the founders of the town, under the charter granted by the House of Burgesses in 1727, was the building of a house of worship and its dedication to the service of the Almighty, and since that time Fredericksburg has been blessed with regular divine services. ”

“ It is the very poetry of his great science, analyzing and tabulating millions of observations of the sea—its currents and its climates, its winds and rains and storms, its myriads of animal life, and marvellous formations of shore-lines and bottoms—he found his way to the heart of nature and laid before us, like an open book, her majestic laws. And never did scientific man touch nature in more devout spirit. ”

“ It is true that those who estimate a place solely by the number of industrial enterprises which it encourages, or the amount of traffic which comes to it, would not rank Fredericksburg as highly as some of the more busy or bustling towns of other parts of the country, but those who recognize other agencies besides water wheels and steam engines, and other earthly products, besides dry goods, groceries and general merchandise, will find much here to admire and interest them. ”

“ Permit us, therefore, to pass over the then gloomy moment and to participate in the pleasure you now enjoy in the possession of the American Laurel, a crown as splendid as all the honors of a Roman Triumph. We also beg leave to follow [Pg 253] you with our best wishes into domestic life. May you long enjoy uninterrupted, under your vine, all the happiness of that Peace, Liberty and Safety, for which you and your gallant officers and soldiers have so nobly fought and greatly conquered. We have the honor to be with every sentiment of respect, your most obedient and very humble servants. ”

“ For those who would derive comfort from inhaling the pure, fresh air of the morning or evening in a drive, on horse-back or on a bicycle, can find on the avenue and boulevard beautifully graded drives, and a variety of scenes which are ever pleasing to the eye, while the beautiful sun risings and settings, and the deep blue sky above rival in grandeur and sublimity those of far-off Italy. ”

“ Jefferson’s best and most vigorous style, is as follows: “That no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be inforced, restrained, molested or burthened, in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge or affect their civil capacities.” ”

“ This is an epitome of the Constitution of the United States, by virtue of which the government has been maintained to the present time; and the principles laid down therein were, to a very large extent, the suggestions of the men we have mentioned from the locality of Fredericksburg. The Republic based upon this Constitution was an experiment, but it has, for more than a century, withstood the most terrific shocks of the most troublous times. It has waged foreign wars successfully; wild party spirit has always been foiled in efforts to undermine it ”

“ With a climate unsurpassed, an immunity from epidemics, a situation enviable because of its surroundings, water as pure as ever came from mountain springs, with all the advantages as we have before said [Pg 331] of tidewater, without its malaria, with all the benefits of the mountains, without the mountain fevers, together with a refined and elevated society—if these, with the additions of home virtues and home joys, be regarded as valuable in life, then Fredericksburg must rank much higher than many a place that has more outward show of prosperity. ”

“ In those unhappy times no man sacrificed more than Maury. He not only resigned his high position at Washington, but turned his back upon tempting offers from Russia and France, in order to suffer affliction with his own people. In the Civil war he rendered most valuable service by introducing submarine torpedo warfare, and inventing a sure method of explosion by electricity. Much of his time was spent in England purchasing navy supplies and perfecting inventions in navy warfare. ”

“ All of these advantages belong to Fredericksburg, with many others that we have probably inadvertently omitted, that make it one of the most desirable residential cities in the country; and we can readily agree with Captain John Smith, the great explorer, “that Heaven and earth never agreed better to frame a place for man’s habitation,” than the beautiful valley of the Rappahannock, and Fredericksburg is located on the most beautiful, picturesque and healthy spot of that far-famed valley. ”

“ The Common Council that took charge of municipal affairs in 1870 had many grave and difficult questions to meet and determine. Debts had accumulated against the city, while the taxable values had greatly diminished by the destruction of property during the war and the emancipation of the slaves. A large portion of the inhabitants had recently returned home—the women and children from refugeeing and the men from the army—almost penniless, to find their homes in ruins or badly damaged and despoiled of what had been left in them. Nearly everybody had to commence life anew. ”