Fredericksburg, Virginia

“ 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 ”

“ Fredericksburg, Virginia is one of the historic towns of America. Founded long before the Revolution, upon the Rappahannock River, at the head of tide-water, it commanded for many years the trade of the opulent planters of all that fertile region lying along the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Besides hundreds of invited guests from different parts of the United States, distinguished men and ladies, President Cleveland and nearly the entire cabinet and their wives, Vice-President Stevenson and Mrs. Stevenson, United States Senators, Representatives in Congress, Governor O’Ferrall and his staff, two members of the Supreme Court of the United States—Chief Justice Fuller and Justice Harlan—were present. The crowd was so immense that the ground seemed to tremble under their tread. It was the biggest day Fredericksburg ever had in the memory of man. ”

“ Fredericksburg has one peculiarity that tradition gives her, which is worthy of a place in this sketch, and that is, that in every city of any size in the civilized world a native of Fredericksburg, or some one who has lived in Fredericksburg, can be found. This is said to have been an old saying of tourists, sailors, marines and naval officers, who candidly declared that they were always able to find a Fredericksburger in every place of any size they had visited. ”

“ 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. ”

“ And yet, with all these advantages, pointing out Fredericksburg as a most desirable place for her educational, industrial, commercial and residential advantages, its prosperity is not what it should be; but with a full development of all her varied facilities which we trust will be done in the near future and which can be done if our people will work harmoniously, we may hope for more prosperous days ”

“ As time progressed population increased. The old citizens who had refugeed returned to their homes; young and middle-aged men, who had faithfully served their country in the army, exchanged their weapons of war for the implements of peace, and business began to assume its legitimate channels and the old town was well nigh restored to its wonted activity and prosperity. The census of 1870, very imperfectly taken, gave Fredericksburg at that time a population of about four thousand inhabitants. ”

“ About the year 1832 the religious movement, in which Alexander Campbell was the leader, began in Fredericksburg. A number of citizens, adopting the views held by Mr. Campbell, were organized into a Christian or Disciples church. With commendable energy and zeal they went to work, purchased a lot and erected quite a comfortable church building on Main street, between Amelia and Lewis streets. The church prospered until the breaking out of [Pg 214] the Civil war, when, like those of the other churches, its members were scattered and church services were suspended. ”

“ After the closing of the fair grounds, in 1860, Fredericksburg had no other fair for twenty-five years. In 1887 steps were taken by the citizens of the town to inaugurate annual fairs. A charter for a society was obtained, stock was subscribed for and the Amaret farm, on the Fall Hill road west of the town and bordering on the Rappahannock river, was purchased and converted into excellent fair grounds. ”

“ Soon after the citizens of Fredericksburg returned to their desolated homes at the close of the Civil war, and had gotten their dwellings in a condition to be occupied, the thoughts of the patriotic ladies were at once turned to the Confederate soldiers who had fallen and were buried in Fredericksburg and on the several adjacent battle-fields. ”

“ It is the first time that your society has held one of its annual reunions on southern soil, and, in making this new departure, it was preëminently fit that you should honor Fredericksburg with your choice.
A French philosopher has written, “Happy the people whose annals are tiresome,” but the far nobler and more inspiring thought of the Anglo-Saxon race is that “character constitutes the true strength of nations and historic glory their best inheritance.”
As American citizens you are proud of the grand traditions and heroic memories that crowd your country’s history ”

“ Fredericksburg, from its earliest days, possessed educational advantages, greatly in advance of many larger towns of the colonies. Soon after its establishment by the House of Burgesses, schools of a high order were established here by the best of educators and it is highly probable that the leading men of the State—those who conducted public affairs in colonial times, and who were the first to oppose and resist British tyranny and who inaugurated and conducted the movement for separation and independence—were educated in those schools. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Mercer’s Statue—Mary Washington’s Will, &c.
In stating that Fredericksburg has more ancient reminiscent and historical buildings than any other town of its size in this country, we do not fear successful contradiction. Fredericksburg is one of the oldest towns in the State and has from its settlement been the center of refinement and culture. Here the young men of this section of Virginia were taught and imbibed those principles of liberty and justice that made them leaders in the movement against oppression, which resulted in our constitutional rights and religious liberty. ”

“ John Smith Explores the Rappahannock River—The Flight of Pocahontas—Maj. Smith’s Fort—Gov. Spotswood’s Miners at Germanna.
In what year the white man first set his foot upon the present site of Fredericksburg is not certainly known. The mind of man, of the present generation, does not run back to that time, and if the first white visitor to the place thought it of sufficient importance to make a note of it that note was not preserved; or, if it was, it is unknown to the present inhabitants of the town, unless that visitor was Captain John Smith. ”

“ This shows that the village, afterwards called Fredericksburg, was the trading place of the country above the falls at that period.
The names of the twelve men who, with their families, settled Germanna, are John Kemper, John Huffman, Jacob Holtzclaw, Tillman Weaver, John Fishback, Harman Fishback, Harman Utterback, John Joseph Martin, Peter Hitt, Jacob Coons, —— Wayman and —— Hanback. The Rev. Henry Hagen was their minister.
These people were picked men for a special purpose, to do that which no one then in Virginia could do—manufacture iron. ”

“ It will be noticed—and the fact will no doubt be treasured with pride—that Washington, in his reply to the address on this occasion, alludes to Fredericksburg as the place of his “growing infancy,” [Pg 256] which shows that, history and tradition to the contrary notwithstanding, he grew up in this town, where he was educated, and where the hand of that revered mother led him to manhood, and the address of Robt. Lewis, nephew of Washington, to Gen. Lafayette makes the same claim. ”

“ To those who had a proper idea of the sacrifices made, the sufferings endured and the privations experienced by the inhabitants of Fredericksburg, up to this period, whether that idea was formed from observation, from reading the narratives or from their rehearsals by those who experienced them, it might appear that their cup of sorrow was full even to overflowing, and from further troubles and trials they might be exempted. ”

“ Fredericksburg continued to grow in population and material prosperity, and also improve in the intelligence and public spirit of its inhabitants, until the year 1775, when the affairs between Great Britain and the American Colonies were verging to a crisis. Her leading citizens were among the very first in Virginia to adopt the principle that the American Colonies ought not only to be exempt from taxation by the Mother Country, but should be free and independent States. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Fredericksburg enjoys considerable trade, chiefly in grain, flour, tobacco, maize, etc., and considerable quantities of gold are exported. Its exports have been computed at over four millions of dollars annually. The falls of the Rappahannock, in the vicinity, afford good water power. There were in 1840, by the United States statistics, seventy-three stores, with a capital of $376,961 ”

“ When the news of the battle of Lexington, and of the removal of the powder, reached Fredericksburg, great excitement prevailed. Over six hundred men armed themselves, from the town and surrounding country, assembled at the Courthouse in town and offered their services to George Washington, who was then in Williamsburg, to defend that city from Lord Dunmore’s threatened attack, and the country from his tyranny. ”

“ It is not stated in what part of the town the first poor house was located, but for many years before the Civil war it was located on the Lang property, near Gunnery spring, and afterwards the poor were quartered in a brick house near the western limit of Princess Elizabeth street, which was rented for the purpose and which is now owned by the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company.
After the war, for about eighteen years, the poor were maintained at the private houses, with such families as would agree to take them. ”

“ They were anxious that the remains of these brave men should be gathered up and interred in some place [Pg 186] where their dust would be preserved and the names of the known saved from oblivion.
As a result of a consultation, and a call published in the newspapers of Fredericksburg, the ladies of the town met in the basement of the Presbyterian church on the 10th day of May, 1865, one month after the surrender of Gen. Lee, and organized the Ladies’ Memorial Association of Fredericksburg, elected officers, appointed a board of directors, an executive committee and an advisory board. ”

“ How he came to be buried in Fredericksburg is not positively known. It has been claimed by some persons that he was here on a visit to his daughter Martha, who married Gen. Washington, and the weather was so hot that his body could not be taken back to New Kent county, but that cannot be true because he was buried here more than two years before his daughter married Washington. ”

“ As early as 1796 Fredericksburg was an important commercial center, and manufactories of various kinds were in operation. Iron works and mills and other industries were successfully prosecuted, and the trade of the town, in the general merchandise department, was in the hands of public-spirited, energetic merchants ”

“ And this we do, not in any spirit of vanity, but that there may be grouped together and brought to public attention, in permanent form, historical facts, if known to the public, long forgotten and unappreciated, that Fredericksburg may be placed, where it rightly belongs, as the most historical spot in the most historical State in this great nation, that will soon, if it does not now, dominate the nations of the earth and fully justify her sons in recounting their deeds, if it shall be termed bragging. ”

“ 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. ”