Fredericksburg, Virginia 1608-1908. Author:Sylvanius Jackson Quinn

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       Author:Sylvanius Jackson Quinn

      Fredericksburg, Virginia 1608-1908

      Published by Good Press, 2021

       [email protected]

      EAN 4064066453824

Table of Contents

       To Messrs. H. B. Lane, Wm. E. Bradley and Prof. S. W. Somerville, Committee on History of the Common Council

       "I, — — —, of the county of — — — and State of — — —, do solemnly. swear that I have never voluntarily borne arms against the United States. since I have been a citizen thereof; that I have voluntarily given no aid,. countenance, counsel or encouragement to persons engaged in hostility. thereto; that I have neither sought nor accepted, nor attempted to. exercise the functions of any office whatsoever under any authority or. pretended authority in hostility to the United States; that I have yielded. no voluntary support to any authority, pretended authority or constitution. within the United States inimical thereto. So help me God!"

       Fredericksburg had no officer serving at that time who could take. such an oath! Some of the officers had, at some time during the war,. been active participants on the Confederate side, and those who. were too far advanced in age to enter the army had sympathized. with the Confederate cause and had otherwise aided it, therefore. every officer, from Mayor down to policeman, was removed and. their places supplied, in some few instances, by residents who took. the required oath, but in most instances the appointees were strangers. and citizens of Northern States, who had floated down South in. search of some office at the hands of the military commander.

       Making the total bonded debt of the town $804,400

       THE HISTORY

       OF

       FREDERICKSBURG

       VIRGINIA

      Prepared and printed by authority of the

       Common Council Thereof, under the

       direction of its Committee on Publication,

       consisting of the following Councilmen:

       H. B. LANE, WM. E. BRADLEY and

       S. W. SOMERVILLE

       BY Sylvanius Jackson Quinn

      1908

      The Hermitage Press Inc.

      Richmond, Virginia.

       Copyright 1908.

       On all original matter herein,

       H. B. LANS,

       Chairman of History Committee, for the City of Fredericksburg, Va.

      DEDICATION

      TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE WHO BRAVED THE DANGERS OF LAND AND WATER IN 1606, AND DISCOVERED THE SPOT UPON WHICH THE CITY OF FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA, NOW STANDS, AND TO THOSE WHO WROUGHT SO HEROICALLY AND SUCCESSFULLY THE SETTLEMENT AND PROSPERITY OF THE SAID CITY TO THE PRESENT TIME, 1908, A PERIOD OF THREE HUNDRED YEARS, THESE PAGES ARE RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY THE PRESENT COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FREDERICKSBURG

       PREFACE

To Messrs. H. B. Lane, Wm. E. Bradley and Prof. S. W. Somerville, Committee on History of the Common Council:

       Table of Contents

      Gentlemen—When I was requested by your predecessors to write a history of Fredericksburg, I regarded it as quite an honor, and in the discharge of the duty I have found great pleasure. Not that the material needed was ready at hand and the task was easy, but because I found so many of the best of our citizens eager to assist in getting the material together, that had been laid away for ages, and placing it at my disposal. Moreover, their kind words very much encouraged me, and I wish I could here record their names, but as it might not be proper, I take much pleasure in extending to them my grateful thanks.

      The records concerning the town reach back only to the close of the Revolutionary war. If Major Lawrence Smith, who constructed the fort and governed the settlers by military law or "as a county court might do," ever kept any records of his acts, we have been unable to find them, and the same is true of the Trustees who had the managment of the town from the time it was "laid out by law," until it was chartered by the Legislature of Virginia. Therefore, much that is found in the following pages in reference to "the olden time," came from families who had preserved it in various forms for many generations.

      In presenting this history it is not claimed that all is said about Fredericksburg that could have been said or that incidents have not been related as others have heard them, but it is believed that all important events have been referred to and incidents given as they have been related to us by those well informed and who were regarded as authority on such matters. Nor is there any claim made for originality. The book is intended to be a history of Fredericksburg, and "history is a narration of facts and events which may be given chronologically or topically," therefore we have written in the main what others have spoken and have disregarded chronology and even the arrangement of subjects. But it is believed that the arrangement herein is probably best adapted to impress the reader with the splendid history of the town and the magnificent achievements of her sons and those men of fame who sprang from her immediate vicinity.

      It is believed this book will be welcomed by all citizens and their friends, whether those friends be former residents or descendants of such, or those veteran soldiers on either side of the late Civil Contest who performed such gallant deeds upon our hills and within our valleys. No soldier of either army—the Army of the Potomac or the Army of Northern Virginia can ever forget Fredericksburg. It was in the four great battles fought in and around Fredericksburg that he won imperishable glory as an American soldier, that name which to-day is written on the highest pinnacle of military fame.

      No living citizen, or the descendant of such noble sires, wheresoever dispersed, can ever forget the town or lineage from which he sprang. None such can ever fail to appreciate those citizens, who, in the most trying times, and under the most adverse circumstances, were conspicuous for their love' and loyalty, suffering and sacrifice, daring and doing for home and country. Let their deeds and sacrifices be preserved for imitation of future generations, which is one of the objects of this book.

       Very respectfully,

       S. J. Quinn.

       CHAPTERS

      CHAPTER I.

      Captain John Smith Explores the Rappahannock River — The Flight of Pocahontas — Major Lawrence Smith's Fort — Governor Spotswood's Miners at Germanna.

      CHAPTER II.

      The Knights of the Golden Horse Shoe — Governor Spotswood's Expedition over the Blue Ridge Mountains.

      CHAPTER III.

      Fredericksburg