The History of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia Part 24

Was.h.i.+ngton, of Stafford, and Col. Henry Lee, of Westmoreland county--Gen.

Robert E. Lee's father and known as "Light Horse Harry." With these brave men Green succeeded in driving the British before him and subduing the Tories, thus restoring peace and quiet to that panic-stricken people, and greatly endearing him to all patriots. In grateful recognition of his services the State of Georgia gave him a magnificent farm and residence, and on his return from the South to his home, in New Hamps.h.i.+re, he met with grand ovations all along the route. He pa.s.sed through Fredericksburg on the 12th of September, 1783. A public meeting of the citizens was called, which adopted and presented an address to the war-scarred hero.

The ma.s.ses gathered to greet him, and the old soldiers, who had just returned home from victorious fields, went into ecstasy over him. The following is the address of the people of Fredericksburg:

_To the Honorable Major-General Green, Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the United States of America, in the Southern Department_:

SIR--We, the inhabitants of the town of Fredericksburg, impressed with just sentiments of the importance of your singular services rendered our country, as Commander of the Armies of the United States in the Southern Department, cannot omit rendering you our acknowledgements as a grateful, though small, tribute, so justly due to your distinguished character as a soldier, a gentleman and friend to American liberty. We lament that the absence of the Mayor, and other officers of the corporation, deprives us of the opportunity of rendering you this token of grat.i.tude in the style of a corporation, but we trust, sir, that your own conscious merit will give us credit, when we a.s.sure you that we now present you the united thanks of this city for your zealous, important and successful services in recovering the Southern States from our cruel enemy, and restoring peace, liberty and safety to so great a part of our country. We cannot express, sir, our great joy in seeing you once more among us, and language is too faint to paint the contrast in the cause of liberty since you pa.s.sed us to take the command of the Southern Army. Permit us, therefore, to pa.s.s over the then gloomy moment and to partic.i.p.ate 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 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 n.o.bly fought and greatly conquered. We have the honor to be with every sentiment of respect, your most obedient and very humble servants. Signed by order of the inhabitants.

CHARLES MORTIMER, _Chairman_.

Sept. 12, 1783.

To this address Gen. Green responded as follows:

_To the Inhabitants of the City of Fredericksburg_:

GENTLEMEN--Highly flattered by your address, and no less honored by your sentiments, how shall I acknowledge fully your generosity in either! From your hearty welcome to this city and your good wishes for my future welfare I feel the overflowings of a grateful mind. The n.o.blest reward for the best services is the favorable opinion of our fellow citizens. Happy in your a.s.surances, I shall feel myself amply rewarded, if I have but the good wishes of my country. I have the honor to be, gentlemen, your most obedient, humble servant,

NATHANIEL GREEN.

Sept. 12, 1783.

GEN. WAs.h.i.+NGTON VISITS HIS MOTHER.

In December, 1783, General Was.h.i.+ngton visited Fredericksburg. He had just resigned his commission of Commander-in-Chief of the American Armies, and as a private citizen had come to visit his mother and friends at his old home. He was the uncrowned King of America, and was uncrowned only because he refused to be crowned. He came with victory upon his brow, and peace and liberty for the American people. From mouth to mouth went the message--"the great and good Was.h.i.+ngton is coming." From town and country the ma.s.ses gathered to give him welcome and do him honor. The military turned out, the civic societies paraded, the cannon boomed and everybody went into raptures over his coming. The City Council was called together and the following address was adopted, amid the wildest enthusiasm, and presented to the grand American:

_To his Excellency, General Was.h.i.+ngton, late Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of America_:

SIR--While applauding millions were offering you their warmest congratulations of the blessings of peace and your safe return from the hazards of the field, we, the Mayor and Commonalty of the corporation of Fredericksburg, were not wanting in attachment and wishes to have joined in public testimonies of our warmest grat.i.tude and affection for your long and meritorious services in the cause of liberty; a cause, sir, in which, by your examples and exertions, with the aid of your gallant army, the virtuous citizens of this western world are secured in freedom and independence, and although you have laid aside your official character, we cannot omit this first opportunity you have given us of presenting, with unfeigned hearts, our sincere congratulations on your returning in safety from the noisy clas.h.i.+ng of arms to the walks of domestic ease. And it affords us great joy to see you once more at a place that claims the honor of your growing infancy, the seat of your venerable and amiable parent and worthy relatives. We want language to express the happiness we feel on this occasion, which cannot be expressed but by superior acts (if possible) of the divine favor. May the great and omnipotent Ruler of all human events, who, in blessing America, has conducted you through so many dangers, continue his favor and protection through the remainder of your life in the happy society of an affectionate and grateful people. I have the honor to be, in behalf of the corporation, with every sentiment of esteem and respect, your Excellency's most humble servant,

WILLIAM MCWILLIAMS, _Mayor_.

To this beautiful and appropriate address, the n.o.ble Was.h.i.+ngton responded as follows:

_To the Wors.h.i.+pful, the Mayor and Commonalty of the Corporation of Fredericksburg_:--

GENTLEMEN--With the greatest pleasure I receive in the character of a private citizen, the honor of your address. To a benevolent Providence and the fort.i.tude of a Brave and Virtuous army, supported by the general exertion of our common country, I stand indebted for the plaudits you now bestow. The reflection, however, of having met the congratulating smiles and approbation of my fellow citizens for the part I have acted in the cause of Liberty and Independence cannot fail of adding pleasure to the other sweets of domestic life; and my sensibility of them is heightened by their coming from the respectable inhabitants of the place of my growing infancy[83] and the honorable mention which is made of my revered mother, by whose maternal hand (early deprived of a Father,) I was led to manhood. For the expressions of personal affection and attachment, and for your kind wishes for my future welfare, I offer grateful thanks and my sincere prayers for the happiness and prosperity of the corporate town of Fredericksburg.

GO. WAs.h.i.+NGTON.

The ceremonies of this gala day were closed with a ball at the market-house at night, which is known in history as the "peace ball." At the special request of the citizens, Mary, the mother of Was.h.i.+ngton, attended this ball and held a reception in company with her ill.u.s.trious son. She "occupied a slightly elevated position, from which she could overlook the floor and see the dancers, and among them the kingly figure of the Commander-in-Chief, who led a Fredericksburg matron through a minuet."[84]

It will be noticed--and the fact will no doubt be treasured with pride--that Was.h.i.+ngton, in his reply to the address on this occasion, alludes to Fredericksburg as the place of his "growing infancy," 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 Was.h.i.+ngton, to Gen. Lafayette makes the same claim.

GEN. LAFAYETTE'S LAST VISIT.

On the 27th day of November, 1824, Gen. Lafayette visited the town and remained two days. He was Was.h.i.+ngton's right arm in the Revolutionary war, and was visiting for the last time the early home of Was.h.i.+ngton, where he took affectionate farewell of Was.h.i.+ngton's mother, in the early part of the year 1783, as he returned to France. The General's coming was known some days beforehand and a splendid mounted guard of honor was organized in town and country, who met him just above the "Wilderness Tavern." At that place hundreds of others joined the procession, including the volunteer companies from Fredericksburg, and thus he and his party--his son George Was.h.i.+ngton and Colonel La Va.s.seur--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 Was.h.i.+ngton, because the liberty, so highly prized and gratefully enjoyed by them, was not achieved by Green and Was.h.i.+ngton without the aid of Lafayette. A public reception was held during the day, when he was welcomed by Mayor Robert Lewis, Was.h.i.+ngton's nephew, and Lafayette's intimate friend, and thousands shook him by the hand and wished him a safe voyage home to his own beloved France.

At night a ball was given in his honor over the present market-house, where hundreds gathered to do him honor and contribute to his pleasure.

The next day being Sunday he visited the Masonic Lodge, which was the mother lodge of his "bosom friend," Was.h.i.+ngton, enrolled his name as an honorary member, eulogized Was.h.i.+ngton and attended services at St.

George's Episcopal church.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Entrance to National Cemetery, erected on Willis's Hill, a portion of the Marye Heights. (See page 190)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Superintendent's Lodge at the National Cemetery, constructed of the stone taken from the famous "stone wall." (See page 191)]

On the following morning, with the same mounted escort, with music and the booming of cannon, he departed for the Potomac river, on his way to the city of Was.h.i.+ngton, with the best wishes and earnest prayers of all the good people of Fredericksburg.

At the reception at the town hall were Mr. Lafayette Johnston and his good wife, Mrs. Eliza Johnston. Mr. Johnston was named for Lafayette, and having a son born to them during Lafayette's visit in this country, concluded to add a further honor to the General by naming their son for him, which they did and notified the General of it. Lafayette responded with the following letter, which is now framed and in possession of Mr. H.

Stuart Johnston, a great-grandson:

WAs.h.i.+NGTON, _January 6, 1825_.

DEAR SIR--I am much obliged to the remembrance of my brother soldier when he gave you my name, and am now to thank you for an act of kindness of the same nature conferred upon me by his son. I beg your consort and yourself to accept my acknowledgement to you, my blessing upon the boy, and my good wishes to the family.

Most truly, yours, LAFAYETTE.

_To Fayette Johnston, Esq._

GEN. ANDREW JACKSON'S VISIT.

The next hero to visit the town, that we mention, was the "Hero of New Orleans," Andrew Jackson, President of the United States, who, with most of his cabinet, came on the 7th of May, 1833. The occasion was the laying of the corner-stone of the Mary Was.h.i.+ngton monument, which Mr. Silas Burrows proposed to erect to her memory. The civic and military display was very imposing and the crowd was well up into the thousands.

Military companies from Was.h.i.+ngton, Alexandria, Fauquier county, and United States marines, and our own military companies, were in line, under the command of Col. John Bankhead, of White Plains, chief marshal. Col.

John B. Hill was chief architect of the monument. It was a great day in Fredericksburg.

DEDICATION OF MARY WAs.h.i.+NGTON MONUMENT.

The next occasion was the dedication of the Mary Was.h.i.+ngton monument, erected by the Ladies' Mary Was.h.i.+ngton Monument a.s.sociations, national and local, on the 10th of May, 1894, sixty-one years and three days after the laying of the corner-stone of the Burrows monument. A more beautiful day could not have dawned upon the city, and everything had been well planned and faithfully executed for the grand event of the day.

The streets and houses were beautifully decorated all along the route of the march, and the private residences were adorned and made gay with national and State flags. It was a general holiday for town and country, and it appeared that everybody was present and intent upon seeing the dignitaries who were to be here and hearing the addresses and ceremonies.

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.

FREDERICKSBURGERS EVERYWHERE.

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.

Capt. George Minor, who was born and raised in Fredericksburg, and who was a captain in the United States navy, and afterwards in the Confederate navy, often related this curious fact, and stated that it was positively true as to him in all his travels both by land and sea. In connection with this singular fact he related this incident: Before the Civil war he sailed into the harbor of the city of Honolulu, on the Hawaii islands, which have recently become a part of the United States. He thought of this peculiarity of his old home town, but felt confident that no Fredericksburger could be found in Honolulu, situated as it was away out in the Pacific ocean. He made his way to the city, and, after some delay, procured a guide to conduct him about the place, who could speak English.

As they progressed on their rounds from place to place, the guide pointing out places of note, giving an interesting history of the place and people, their customs, habits and peculiarities, he found himself very much interested in his guide and his narratives, and wished to know something of his history. So he asked him: "Are you a native of Honolulu!" "No, sir," was the response of the guide. "Well," continued the Captain, "where are you from?" "I am from Fredericksburg, Virginia," answered the guide.

"I learned my trade of printer under Timothy Green, in the Virginia Herald office." "I am from Fredericksburg, too, and know Mr. Green well," said Capt. Minor, and the two Fredericksburgers had a real love feast. After that experience Capt. Minor said he never expected to land anywhere that he did not find a Fredericksburg man.

THE SOCIETY OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC ENTERS TOWN.