Chapter VI: Introduction: By W. P. Trent (4)

RICHMOND ON THE JAMES

BY WILLIAM WIRT HENRY

“And in regions far
Such heroes bring ye forth
As those from whom we come,
And plant our name
Under that star
Not known to our North.”

DRAYTON.

On the 11th of April, 1606, a patent was issued by James I. of England to Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers and others for the establishment of a colony in Virginia. The charter prescribed that it was to be managed by a council of thirteen persons, under the direction of a council of thirteen in England. On December the 19th of that year, one hundred and nine years after the discovery of North America by Cabot, three small vessels, the _Susan Constant_, the _God Speed_ and the _Discovery_, sailed for the New World, bearing one hundred and twelve passengers and a crew of thirty-nine men.

They encountered many perils by sea, having bad weather and losing their reckoning, but the 26th of April, 1607, brought them to the shores of Chesapeake Bay, and they soon entered a noble stream called by the natives the “Powhatan,” but renamed by them the James, in honor of their King. On the 13th of May, they landed on a spot which seemed suitable for a settlement, and called the place Jamestown. The colony previously planted at Roanoke Island by Sir Walter Raleigh having perished, this was the beginning of the permanent Anglo-Saxon occupation of North America. From it has developed English possession of the continent with free institutions based upon English representative government.

In 1619, a General Assembly was held, which was the first legislative body elected by the people to convene this side of the Atlantic. It was an English acorn germinating in American soil, and from it has sprung the tree of liberty which has filled the continent. Among the colonists who landed at Jamestown, was the celebrated Captain John Smith, who was destined later to be snatched from the jaws of death by the lovely Indian princess, Pocahontas. From the story of his life, told by himself, and the Rev. Samuel Purchas in his _Pilgrims_, we learn that he had already been the hero of many adventures. He had been robbed, had encountered pirates, and had been shipwrecked at sea. He had slain three Turks in single combat while serving under Sigismundus Báthori, the Prince of Transylvania. He had been beloved by the fair Turkish lady, Tragabigzanda, besides having had many other _affaires du cœur_--notably one with the good lady Calamata of Russia.

Nine days after the landing of the colony at Jamestown, and thirteen years before the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth, Captain Newport, with Smith and a party of men, ascended the James River, and discovered the site of the city of Richmond. In Smith’s _True Relation_, printed in London in 1608, he says:

“The two and twenty day of April [or rather May, 1607] Captain
Newport and myselfe with diuers others to the number of twenty-two
persons, set forward to discouer the Riuer some fiftie or sixtie
miles.... In the midway, staying to refresh ourselues in a little Ile
foure or fiue savages came vnto vs which described vnto vs the course
of the Riuer, and after, in our journey, they often met vs, trading
with vs for such provision as wee had, and arriuing at Arsatecke,
hee whom wee supposed to bee the Chiefe King of all the rest, moste
kindely entertained vs, giuing vs a guide to go with vs vp the riuer
Powhatan, of which place their Great Emperor taketh his name, where
he they honored for King used vs kindlly.

“But to finish this discouerie, we passed on further, where within
an ile [a mile] we were intercepted with great craggy stones in the
midst of the river, where the water falleth so rudely and with such
violence, as not any boat can possibly passe, and so broad disperseth
the streame as there is not past fiue or sixe foote at low water, and
to the shore scarce passage with a barge.”

This was the first view had by Englishmen of the situation where the city of Richmond was located.

In September, 1609, when Smith was president, he set out to find a more favorable spot for the colony than marshy Jamestown. He sailed again to the Indian village Powhatan, at the falls of the river, and bought of the natives some land near the present site of Richmond, where the landscape presented such charming features that he called the place “None Such.” On his way home he was wounded by the explosion of a bag of gunpowder, and the next month he left the colony and sailed for England, leaving only a small settlement to occupy the site he had purchased. In 1645, “Fforte Charles” was built below the falls of the James, but no permanent settlement was effected. In 1675, Colonel William Byrd was granted 7351 acres of land beginning at the mouth of Shockoe’s Creek, which joins the river at the falls, and again, in 1687, he had a patent of 956 acres on the east side of the creek, extending up and down the line of the James River. On a part of these two tracts the present city of Richmond was founded some years later by his son, Colonel William Evelyn Byrd, who gives this account in his journal:

“Sept. 19th, 1733. When we got home we laid the foundation of two
large cities,--One at Schocco’s, to be called Richmond, and the other
at the Point of Appamattuck River to be nam’d Petersburgh. These
Major Mayo offered to lay out into lots without fee or reward. The
truth of it is these two places being the uppermost landing of James
and Appamattuck Rivers, are naturally intended for Marts where the
traffick of the outer inhabitants must Center. Thus we did not build
Castles only, but also citys in the air.”

He also advertised in the Virginia _Gazette_ of April, 1737, “that on the north side of James River, near the uppermost landing and a little below the falls, is lately built by Major Mayo a town called Richmond with streets sixty feet wide in a pleasant and healthy situation, and well supplied with springs of good water.”

FROM A PAINTING BY SIR GODFREY KNELLER.]

The founder of Richmond was one of the worthiest and most intellectual men in the Colony of Virginia. His portrait, by Sir Godfrey Kneller, shows a face of remarkable beauty, framed in the curls of a flowing peruke of the time of Queen Anne. He was noted as “the Great Virginia wit,” and his writings are among the most valuable that have descended to us from that era. His library was the largest that had ever been brought over to the New World. A catalogue of it, in folio, is now in possession of the Franklin Library in Philadelphia. He was the father of the beautiful Evelyn Byrd, whose death of a broken heart because her father refused to give his consent to her marriage with her lover--said to have been Lord Peterborough--has furnished a theme for poet and novelist. He was buried at his family estate, Westover, and his tombstone, in the old flower garden there, not only gives a history of his life, but tells us also of several of his noble and illustrious friends and their good qualities.

Richmond was established as a town by the Assembly of Virginia in 1742. Originally built on seven hills, it has been called the “Modern Rome,” and one of Richmond’s gifted daughters once wrote:

“O Richmond! Richmond! Richmond!
Upon thy seven hills
Like one of old, we wot of well
Thy fame the wide world fills.”

In 1842, when Dickens visited Richmond, it already covered yet another hill, and he wrote of it as

“delightfully situated on eight hills overhanging James River, a
sparkling stream studded here and there with bright islands, or
brawling over broken rocks. There are pretty villas and cheerful
houses on its streets, and nature smiles upon the country ’round.”

The oldest house in Richmond, the “Old Stone House,” situated on Main Street, was built by Jacob Ege in 1737, and is now used as a museum filled with relics and curiosities.

St. John’s Episcopal Church, which was built in 1740, is in a state of excellent preservation, and religious services are held in it as they were in the days before the Revolution. It was built under the superintendence of Richard Randolph of Curls Neck, the son of William Randolph of Turkey Island and Jane Bolling, the great-great-granddaughter of Pocahontas. In its graveyard are many quaint old tombstones--the oldest, that of the Rev. Robert Rose, is dated 1751. The learned and accomplished George Wythe, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and many other famous sons of Virginia lie buried in the graveyard. The most interesting event in the history of the Church, and one with which its name will be forever linked, was the meeting within its walls of the famous Virginia Convention of March 20, 1775. A few months after the adjournment of the first Continental Congress, this convention met to hear a report of its proceedings, and to deliberate on the political situation. The bitter hostility to the patriots on the part of Lord Dunmore made it unsafe for them to meet in Williamsburg, the capital of the colony, and the importance and sacredness of the cause made it appropriate to meet in the sanctuary of God, to whom they humbly looked for guidance on their sea of troubles. The vestry recognized this, and offered to the convention this, the largest building in the town. It was during the session of this convention that Patrick Henry made his famous speech, in which he proclaimed the folly of longer expecting peace, and the necessity of arming for immediate war, ending with the words: “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.” The very spot where the orator stood is pointed out.

Some six years later, January 6, 1781, Benedict Arnold, the traitor, entered the city at the head of nine hundred British soldiers. That night part of his troops were quartered in the old church, desecrating it as far as they were able.

In 1779, the Legislature ordered the removal of the seat of government from Williamsburg to Richmond, then only a collection of disjointed villages placed amid the ragged ground at the falls of the James. Virginia had been settled largely by sons of country gentlemen, who brought from their far-off homes the love of country life. Her citizens preferred that life, and the title “Country Gentlemen” was the most desired. In consequence there were no large cities in the State.

In 1781, the Marquis Chastellux, who served with honor in the French army, thus described the city:

“Though Richmond be already an old town and well situated for trade,
being built on the spot where the James River begins to be navigable,
that is, just below the rapids. It was before the war one of the
least considerable in Virginia, where they are all in general very
small, but the seat of the government being removed from Williamsburg
it is become a real capital, and is augmenting every day.”

In 1782, Richmond was incorporated as a city, and three years later the foundations of the Capitol were laid. Especially beautiful in the summer months, when the grass is as green as emerald and the noble trees give grateful shade, is the Capitol Square. Squirrels play as if at home about the grounds, much to the delight of the children. The square, with its area of about twelve acres, includes the lot on which the Executive mansion stands, and is supposed to be a part of Nathaniel Bacon’s plantation, where his overseer was murdered by the Indians, whose punishment by him, without permission of the Governor, Sir William Berkeley, was the beginning of the famous Bacon’s rebellion.

Of the Capitol itself, Thomas Jefferson wrote:

“I was written to in 1785, being then in Paris, by Directors
appointed to superintend the building of a Capitol in Richmond, to
advise them as to a plan.

* * * * *

Thinking it a favorable opportunity of introducing into the State an
example of the classic style of antiquity, and the Maison Quarrée of
Nismes, an ancient Roman Temple, being considered as the most perfect
model existing of what may be called Cubic architecture, I applied
to M. Clerissault, who had published drawings of the antiquities
at Nismes to have me a model of the building made in stucco, only
changing the order from the Corinthian to Ionic on account of the
difficulty of Corinthian Capitals.”

The model sent by Jefferson is still preserved, and looks like a miniature of the Capitol with very slight variations. Jefferson says of it: “Here I am gazing whole hours at the Maison Quarrée like a lover at his mistress.”

The corner-stone was laid in 1785, and on October 19, 1789, eight years to the day after the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, the Legislature convened in it.

The Capitol is full of memories of bygone days. Here were debated and adopted the famous resolutions of 1798-99, drafted by James Madison as the true interpretation of the Federal compact. Here sat the convention of 1829-30, of which Marshall, Madison, Monroe and John Randolph of Roanoke were members, the convention of 1851, which enlarged the right of suffrage and, ten years later, the body which adopted the Act of Secession. Here, in 1862, met the congress of the Confederate States of America, which sat until April, 1865, when it adjourned--“Not _sine die_ indeed, yet never to meet again.”

In the rotunda of the Capitol is the most valuable marble in America, Houdon’s statue of Washington, modelled from life. Virginia had voted this statue to him May 15, 1784, and Madison penned the inscription which appears on the pedestal:

“The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia have caused
this statue to be erected as a monument of affection and gratitude
to George Washington, who uniting to the endowments of the hero,
the virtues of the patriot, and exercising both in establishing the
liberties of his country, has rendered his name dear to his fellow
citizens, and given to the world an immortal example of true glory.”

Mr. Jefferson, being then in Paris, engaged Houdon to come to Virginia to make the statue, saying of him: “He is without rivalship, the first statuary of his age, as proof of which he receives orders from every other country for things intended to be capital.”

It is a tradition that Houdon spent several days at Mount Vernon before he selected the attitude for the statue. One day Washington was summoned to inspect a pair of horses offered for sale. He asked their price, and was told “a thousand dollars.” At once he drew himself up, with an expression of indignation at the price, and Houdon, watching him, exclaimed, “Ah, I ’ave him, I ’ave him!” and immediately set to work to make the pose immortal.

In the Capitol grounds stands Crawford’s famous equestrian statue of the great hero.

Thomas Crawford, father of F. Marion Crawford, the distinguished novelist of our day, had received an order from the State of Virginia to make this statue of Washington and also to make effigies of Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry to stand at its base. He had just completed his work when he was afflicted with a mortal disease, and when an order came to add the figures of Mason, Marshall, Nelson and Lewis he was unable to fill it, and the monument was subsequently completed by Randolph Rogers. The statue was unveiled February 22, 1858, the one hundred and twenty-sixth anniversary of Washington’s birth, and a proud day it was in the history of Richmond. Henry A. Wise, Governor of the State, presided and delivered an eloquent address. Senator R. M. T. Hunter was the orator of the occasion, and John R. Thompson and James Barron Hope, who were then the “rose and expectancy of the State,” recited poems prepared by them. It is considered one of the best equestrian statues in the world.

A fine marble statue of Henry Clay, executed by Joel T. Hart and erected by the efforts of some patriotic ladies, stands near by. Contemporaries of Mr. Clay pronounced it lifelike. Virginia claims Mr. Clay for a son, as he was born in Hanover County, and did not move to Kentucky until he reached manhood.

On the Capitol grounds is an old building known as the Bell House which, though erected many years previous, is chiefly interesting for its association with the Civil War. The bell had been purchased in 1790, when the Directors of Public Buildings were authorized to “fit up a sufficient bell for the use of the Capitol.” Tradition says the bell rang an alarm at the time of the “Nat Turner” insurrection, but it is consecrated to the trying times of 1861 to 1865 as is no other object connected with the Civil War. When its well-known peal rang out three quick taps and an interval, soldiers and citizens, old men and young, rushed with common impulse to the rendezvous, with hearts and hands ready for the defence of the city.

There is also on the grounds a statue of the great soldier, Thomas J. Jackson, executed by Foley, the celebrated English sculptor, and presented to Virginia by some of his English admirers. Old soldiers say of this, that it is the best likeness extant of their great leader. “Look! there is Jackson, standing like a stone wall,” is inscribed on the pedestal.

One of the most interesting sites in the city is that now occupied by the Monumental Church, on Broad Street, on what was formerly known as Academy Square. Here a certain Chevalier Quesnay de Beaurepaire erected a large wooden building for an academy of fine arts. He was full of enthusiasm, and visited Paris to present his plan to the French Academy, which body gave their approval, but his scheme failed and the building was turned into a theatre. Here assembled in 1788 a brilliant coterie of statesmen--Marshall, Madison, Mason, Monroe, Randolph, Henry, Lee, Wythe, Pendleton and others, who met to discuss and finally ratify the Constitution of the United States as framed in Philadelphia.

Twenty-three years afterwards on a fatal December evening it was the scene of a dreadful disaster, when seventy-two persons, including the Governor of the State, who were attending a performance at the theatre, perished in the flames which destroyed the building. The portico of the church covers the tombs and charred remains of most of the victims of the fire, and a monument bears their names.

The house of Chief Justice Marshall stands on the street named in his honor. It was built in 1795, and is as simple and unpretentious as was its distinguished owner. Still in the possession of his descendants, the house has not been remodelled and but few changes have been made inside. By some mischance, in the absence of Judge Marshall, the house was built rear side front. The handsome hall and staircase, with their carved balusters of cherry, are at the back, opening towards the garden, the dining-room looks out on Marshall Street, and the entrance for visitors is by a small door on the side street. Here lived and loved, in the simple, good old fashion, the great lawyer and his lovely wife, Mary Willis Ambler. Their married life was a peaceful idyl lasting forty-two years. Folded in his will was a touching tribute to his wife, ending:

“She became at sixteen a most devoted wife. All my faults, and they
were too many, could never weaken this sentiment. It formed a part
of her existence. Her judgment was so sound and so deep that I often
relied upon it in situations of some perplexity. I do not recollect
once to have regretted the adoption of her opinion. I have sometimes
regretted its rejection.”

Both Washington and Lafayette visited the city in 1784, and were welcomed by the citizens and legislature then in session, who expressed their appreciation of the great services they had rendered the country. In response to an address made upon the occasion of this visit, Washington said: “That this growing city may enjoy the benefits which are to be derived from liberty, independence and peace--that it may improve such of its advantages as a bountiful nature has bestowed, and that it may soon be ranked first in the Union for population, commerce and wealth, is my sincere and fervent wish.” Lafayette visited Richmond again in 1824. Houdon had made a bust of him, which Virginia gave to France, and a copy of which she kept in the rotunda of the Capitol. By chance, just before his visit, the nose was broken off, and there was great concern lest he reach the city before it could be restored. Happily, however, the nose was finished in time.

The Swan tavern, still preserved on Broad Street, was an ancient place of entertainment kept by Major Moss, who was said to be “full of good feeding, breeding and fellowship.” His home was the Lincoln’s Inn or Doctors’ Commons of Richmond, for there assembled in term times the non-resident judges and lawyers. Though of unpretending exterior, the Swan was of highest repute for good fare, good wine and good company. An annex to the Swan was the house where Aaron Burr was kept prisoner during his trial for treason in 1807, the Federal Court having then no prison under its control. Chief Justice Marshall presided at the trial, and the Court sat in the Hall of Delegates in the Capitol.

Edgar Allan Poe spent many of his boyhood days in Richmond, with John Allan, a rich merchant of Scotch descent who adopted him. Until recently, the fine old residence of Mr. Allan was standing on Fifth Street, and near by was the residence of William Wirt, who loved the place and thus writes of it:

“I never met with such an assemblage of striking and interesting
objects as here, the town dispersed over hills of various shapes,
the river descending from west to east, and obstructed by a multitude
of small islands, clumps of trees and myriads of rocks--the same
river, at the lower end of the town, bending at right angles to the
south and winding many miles in that direction, its polished surface
caught here and there by the eye, but more frequently covered from
the view by trees, among which white sails exhibit a curious and
interesting spectacle; then again, on the opposite side, Manchester,
built on a hill, which, sloping quickly to the river, opens the whole
town to view, interspersed with flourishing poplars and surrounded
to a great distance by green plains and stately woods,--all these
objects falling at once under the eye constitute by far the most
finely varied and most animated landscape I have ever seen.”

The Valentine Museum, which was given to the city by one of its most valued citizens, the late Mann S. Valentine, contains archæological specimens numbering more than one hundred thousand, also an art collection and a number of original works donated by his brother, Edward V. Valentine, Virginia’s talented sculptor. A short walk brings you to the studio of this artist, where, among many beautiful and interesting figures, the chief interest centres in the model for the recumbent statue of General Robert E. Lee, the marble of which is in the annex to the Episcopal Church in Lexington. This statue has won for Valentine the admiration and love of the people of the South.

At once the capital and the citadel of the Confederacy, Richmond was the objective point of assault in the Civil War, and the greatest generalship on both sides was displayed in its attack and its defence. From May, 1862, to April, 1865, it may be said to have been in a state of siege, holding out steadily and grandly against great odds. During this period it is said that fifteen pitched battles and more than twenty skirmishes were fought in the effort to capture it. When its defenders were finally obliged to leave the city to its fate, they set on fire the warehouses to prevent the capture of the tobacco which they contained, burned the bridges behind them as the last soldier crossed the river, and left the business portion smoldering in flames--a barren trophy to the victors. It is in consequence of this that so few of the typical old buildings remain standing, for the flames leaped from house to house and destroyed many old landmarks. The city was not long in rising from its ashes and taking on new life, and there could be no greater contrast than that between the city of 1865 and the Richmond of to-day. Nevertheless it will always be remembered as the capital of the Lost Cause, and, as such, it will be invested with a pathetic interest. Its suburbs, attractive as they are from their natural beauty, derive their chief interest from having been the scenes of the conflict. In many places there remain the earthworks thrown up for the defence of the city, and every avenue out of the city for miles around leads to battlefields. Many monuments mark the love and veneration of the people for the heroes of the war. Foremost of these is the equestrian statue of General Robert E. Lee by Mercie, a French sculptor. It represents the great general riding slowly down the line, mounted on “Traveller,” his well-known war-horse. It is located in Lee Circle, one of the most beautiful parts of the city. A monument, the corner-stone of which has already been laid, will be erected to the memory of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States. His residence while occupying that office is a building imposing in appearance, with grounds beautifully laid out, and adorned with fountains and flowers. It is known as the “White House of the Confederacy,” and is kept in admirable condition by a band of devoted women, the Confederate Literary Memorial Society. The residence occupied by General Lee and his family is in the care of the Virginia Historical Society, and contains the extensive library of books, manuscripts and publications of that society.

A favorite drive is to Hollywood, silent city of the dead, which nature and art have united to beautify. Here sleep many of Virginia’s famous men; among them, Monroe and Tyler, Presidents of the United States, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, John R. Thompson, the poet, John Randolph, caustic Master of Roanoke, and Matthew F. Maury, “Pathfinder of the Seas.” A beautiful monument of granite, pyramidal in form, and covered with Virginia creeper and ivy, marks the graves of twelve hundred Confederate dead.

The Government has lately finished a fine road, leading from Chimborazo Park to the National Cemetery, where lie buried 6547 of the Federal soldiers who fell in the attempts to capture the city.

Nature has done much for the city. The climate is pleasant and healthful; trees shade and flowers beautify the residences. The river glistens as it flows around wooded islands and rushes toward the sea over craggy rocks. Numerous lines of travel centre in its midst and there is a growing spirit of enterprise among its citizens. The water-power is very fine, and besides being utilized for many manufactories, is about to be used for the generation of electricity on a large scale. Richmond claims the honor of being among the first, if not the very first city, to be lighted with gas. A man named Henfrey visited the city early in the present century, and induced some of the prominent citizens to witness experiments made by him in which he poured flame instead of steam from the spout of a tea-kettle. Money was raised by subscription and a lighthouse was built. On a tower forty feet high was a large lantern with many jets, and gas was generated in the basement and conducted by a pipe to the burners. Not, however, until many years after were the gas-works erected, and though Henfrey’s light was short-lived, his tower remained a monument of the enterprise of the citizens.

The people of Richmond are refined and hospitable. “It is the merriest place and the most picturesque, I have seen in America,” wrote Thackeray.

The city is filled with the echoes of the past. She cherishes tender memories of brave men and gracious women. Rich in historic interest, progressive in her industries and in education, Richmond easily takes the lead in the State. Perhaps it is not too much to say that her great mental activity to-day, and her rapid advancement of late years in material concerns, gives her a position by no means insignificant among the cities of America, a fitting capital of the “Mother of States and of statesmen.”

WILLIAMSBURG

THE ANCIENT CAPITAL

BY LYON G. TYLER

Williamsburg is situated on the famous Peninsula of Virginia, between the James and York rivers. On this Peninsula have occurred some of the most important events in history. One thing alone entitles it to pre-eminence in American history.

At Jamestown, seven miles distant from Williamsburg, was established the first permanent English settlement on the North American continent. There at Jamestown English settlers planted English institutions, had the first jury trial, and summoned the first assembly of the people. There, too, was the first enunciation on this continent of the memorable principle that taxes must not be imposed except with consent of the people in their representative assembly. All subsequent English colonization in America had its chief inspiration in the successful upbuilding of the settlement at Jamestown. The Peninsula is in truth “the cradle of the Union.”

But the Peninsula has also its Yorktown, thirteen miles distant from Williamsburg. This place, which once had a very great trade with Glasgow and London, but which was never more than a village of a few hundred inhabitants, may, nevertheless, claim to be the beginning and ending of Colonial resistance. Towering on the river bank is the beautiful monument, erected in 1881, which tells that there Lord Cornwallis surrendered in 1781 the British power in America to George Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the American armies. But another monument might stand in close proximity, with this inscription, that there the first meeting of the people of Virginia was held in 1635 under the leadership of Nicholas Martian, an ancestor of Washington, to protest against the tyranny of the Governor, Sir John Harvey, who was shortly after deposed and sent a prisoner to England in the custody of two members of the Assembly. Nor, in referring to this neighborhood, must I omit mention of Hampton at the extreme end of the Peninsula, which is the oldest town in English America, which boasts the oldest free school, and which, twice a victim to the flames of war, gave its name to the great landlocked haven where the _Merrimac_ revolutionized naval warfare by its victory over the Federal wooden battle-ships in 1862.

Finally, six miles from Hampton is Newport News, where the first cotton was planted in America, and where there has suddenly sprung up a rushing, driving city, tremulous with the hopes of the future, and already realizing the dream of its first settlers, who relied on the magnificent opportunities which its situation at the conjunction of the James River with Hampton Roads afforded. The Peninsula has been traversed by British, French, and American armies, and in our own times is memorable as the scene of the tremendous struggle between the opposing armies of the Northern and Southern States, under the lead of McClellan and Johnston--a struggle sustained on both sides with conspicuous bravery and endurance, and culminating in the battles about Richmond in 1862.

Until 1630, the settlements of the English in Virginia were confined to the Accomac Peninsula, on the other side of Chesapeake Bay, and to the valley of the James. In that year the Governor and Council determined to make a settlement in the Indian district of Chiskiack in the neighborhood of Yorktown. Soon after one of the leading men, Dr. John Pott, from Harop, in Yorkshire, England, observed the advantages of a location on the ridge between Jamestown and Chiskiack, obtained a patent for a plantation there, and called it “Harop.” The authorities endorsed his judgment and in 1632 sent settlers thither for the purpose of establishing a town upon the spot. This was the beginning of Williamsburg, which was called at first the “Middle Plantation,” because of its location midway between the York and the James.

The Middle Plantation, though for many years a small village, was from the first a strategic point of much value. Two deep creeks, with wide morasses, penetrate to the spot from the James and York respectively, so that no hostile force can proceed up or down the Peninsula without passing through the place. The first settlement was walled in with palisades, and the corn-fields lay on the west of these. In the war with Opechancanough in 1644, the place was commanded by Captain Robert Higginson,[5] a soldier of credit and renown. When Bacon in 1676 drove Sir William Berkeley from Jamestown, here at Middle Plantation, just a hundred years before the American Revolution, the former, calling himself “General by consent of the People,” held his famous parliament of the leading men of the Colony, who published those papers which sound so much like the inspiring literature of the Revolution.[6]

In preparing an oath to be administered to the people, the three articles proposed were read by James Minge, Clerk of the House of Burgesses: First, that they should aid General Bacon in the Indian war; second, that they would oppose Sir William Berkeley’s endeavor to hinder the same; third, that _they would oppose any power sent out from England, till terms were agreed to_.

The overweening confidence of the people of Virginia in themselves was shown in the remark of Bacon that “one Virginian was equal to four red-coats.” Middle Plantation, however, witnessed a sad sight some months later. The hero of the people had succumbed to disease, and Sir William Berkeley was again in power. Among those who supported Bacon with their counsel and sympathy, though not with arms, was William Drummond, first Governor of North Carolina, and here at Middle Plantation he expiated his offence on the gallows. The circumstances surrounding the execution were unusually affecting. Tried by a drumhead court-martial, he was condemned, stripped, the ring torn from his finger, sentenced at one o’clock and hanged at four. Berkeley, however, did not long exult in his power, for the British Government recalled him to England, where he soon died.

Jamestown with all the public buildings had been destroyed during the course of the war. The suggestion was now offered to make Middle Plantation the capital, but was not adopted, and Jamestown was again restored.

In 1683, a handsome brick church was erected at Middle Plantation, and fifteen years later the “old fields” in front of the town were selected as the site for the “Royall Colledge” of William and Mary. Then in 1698, the State House at Jamestown falling again a victim to flames, Governor Francis Nicholson proposed to carry out the original suggestion of making the Middle Plantation the seat of government. The Legislature seconded him in this, stating in the preamble to their act that “the Middle Plantation had been found by constant experience to be healthy and agreeable to the constitutions of the inhabitants of this, his Majesty’s, colony and dominion;” that “its air was serene and temperate,” and that “its land was dry and champaign, and plentifully stored with wholesome springs.”

Soon there rose at Middle Plantation a building in the shape of an “H,” the first “Capitol” so called in the United States (the term “State House” being used in the other colonies), then a palace for the governor, a theatre, the first also in English America, for the enacting of tragedies and comedies, an armory for the care of the public arms and ammunition, a public prison, the first hospital for the insane in America, and other buildings--all of brick. In honor of the reigning monarch the name of the place was in 1699 changed to that of Williamsburg, for which a city charter, in 1722, was obtained in the name of King George I., and under the seal of the Colony.

Thenceforward, the history of Williamsburg became the history of Virginia--for here until 1779 resided the Governor of the Colony, and here were held the sessions of the Council and the House of Burgesses, and the sessions of the Supreme Court.

THE FOUNDER OF WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE.
]

But the life in Virginia was essentially a rural one, and Williamsburg never attained a population of over two thousand. During great public occasions, it assumed something of a real city character. On such occasions, the streets of Williamsburg were crowded with the chariots of the great planters, who rolled in great state from their plantations, carrying their families and attended by postilions and outriders.

In 1716, Governor Spotswood left Williamsburg on his memorable trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains, instituting on his return the order of “The Knights of the Horseshoe,” which has been celebrated in story and verse. This expedition was the beginning of that march of empire to the West which in our time has arrived at the far-distant Philippine Islands.

In 1754, from the same city of Williamsburg, went George Washington to demand of the French commander an explanation of his occupation of Virginia soil on the Ohio. This was the first act in the drama of the French and Indian War, which, by driving the French power from this continent, laid the foundation of the future American nation. Subsequently, in all the events that finally culminated in war with Great Britain, Williamsburg was not only the capital of Virginia, but in many ways the capital of the revolting colonies.

It was a memorable day in 1765, when Patrick Henry offered in Williamsburg his famous resolutions against the Stamp Act. Samuel Adams of Massachusetts led the way in 1764 in remonstrating against the passage of the Stamp Act, and Virginia and the other colonies had quickly followed along the same line; but protests and petitions were unavailing. Parliament enacted the stamp bill into law, and the alternatives presented were submission or resistance. There was a painful silence throughout the colonies. In the North “there was no declared purpose of action.” The usual and constitutional method of petition and remonstrance, often resorted to in the past history of the colonies against governmental action, had been tried. Otis advised submission, and was elected by Boston to a seat in the Legislature. When the Massachusetts Legislature met, Oliver, the stamp distributor, was elected councillor. Samuel Adams advised only a meeting of the colonies to confer on the condition of things. It was a supreme moment, but Virginia rose to the occasion. From the Capitol at Williamsburg rang out the clarion voice of Patrick Henry. He maintained by resolutions that the inhabitants of Virginia inherited from the first adventurers and settlers of that dominion equal franchises with the people of Great Britain; that royal charters had declared that equality; that taxation by themselves or by persons chosen by themselves to represent them was the distinguishing characteristic of British freedom; that the people of that most ancient Colony had uninterruptedly enjoyed the right of being thus governed by their own laws respecting their internal policy and taxation; that this right had never been forfeited or in any other way given up, but had been constantly recognized by the King and people of Great Britain; that the General Assembly of the whole Colony had the sole right and power to lay taxes on the inhabitants of the Colony; that any attempt to vest such power in any other person whatever tended to destroy British as well as American freedom; that the people of Virginia were not bound to give obedience to any law designed to impose taxation upon them other than the laws of their own General Assembly; and that any one who should, either by speaking or writing, maintain the contrary should be deemed an enemy to the Colony.

In the maintenance of these resolutions Henry, lifted out of self, shouted those immortal words, “Tarquin and Cæsar had each his Brutus, Charles I. his Cromwell, and George III.”--and here he was interrupted by the cry of “Treason!”--“may profit by their example; if this be treason, make the most of it.” “This is the way,” says Bancroft, “that the fire began. Virginia rang the alarm bell for the continent.”

After this, with each of the great epochs in the constitutional development following the Stamp Act, Williamsburg, either through the men born and raised in the place, or educated at its famous college of William and Mary, had an imperishable connection. It was Richard Bland, an alumnus of the college, who first announced, in a pamphlet entitled _An Enquiry into the Rights of the British Colonies_, the startling doctrine that America was no part of the kingdom of England, and had never been united with it except by the common tie of the crown. Dabney Carr, another alumnus of the college, was the patron of the resolutions in 1773 for appointment of intercolonial committees of correspondence,--the first step taken towards united action on the part of the colonies. Then it was Peyton Randolph, born in Williamsburg and educated at its college, who when the first Congress came together in 1774, offered himself as the conspicuous mark of British resentment in consenting to act as first President of the Continental Congress. In 1776, it was another alumnus of the college, Thomas Jefferson, who, in the language of Ezra Stiles, President of Yale, “poured the soul of the continent into the monumental act of Independence.” In 1786, John Tyler, Sr., born in the country near Williamsburg, and another alumnus, carried through the Virginia Legislature the proposition for a convention of the States at Annapolis. In 1787, Edmund Randolph, a native of Williamsburg and an alumnus of the college, opened the proceedings of the convention at Philadelphia by submitting “the Virginia plan” of a constitution which gave direction to its proceedings.

A sketch of Williamsburg, however, would not be complete without some details of the famous Convention which met in the city on May 6, 1776. Edmund Pendleton of Caroline County was elected President, and John Tazewell of Williamsburg, Secretary. On the day after the Convention met they fixed on the 13th to go into the Committee of the Whole to consider the state of the Colony. Colonel Archibald Cary, an alumnus of William and Mary College, presided over this committee. The question of independence was introduced at once, and was debated on that and the next day, and the committee rose and reported the following resolutions, drawn by Edmund Pendleton, which were _unanimously_ agreed to by the Convention, 112 members being present:

“Forasmuch as all the endeavors of the United Colonies, by the most
decent representations and petitions to the King and Parliament of
Great Britain, to restore peace and security to America under the
British government, and a reunion with that people upon just and
liberal terms, instead of a redress of grievances, have produced,
from an imperious and vindictive adminstration increased insult,
oppression, and a vigorous attempt to effect our total destruction.
By a late act all these Colonies are declared to be in rebellion,
and out of the protection of the British Crown; our people, when
captivated, compelled to join in the murder and plunder of their
relations and countrymen; and all former rapine and oppression of
Americans declared legal and just. Fleets and armies are raised
and the aid of foreign troops engaged to assist these destructive
purposes. The King’s representative in this Colony hath not only
withheld all the powers of government from operating for our
safety, but, having retired on board an armed ship, is carrying on
a piratical and savage war against us, tempting our slaves by every
artifice to resort to him, and training and employing them against
their masters. In this state of extreme danger we have no alternative
left but an abject submission to the will of those overbearing
tyrants, or a total separation from the Crown and Government of
Great Britain, uniting and exerting the strength of all America for
defence and forming alliances with foreign powers for commerce and
aid in war: Wherefore, appealing to the Searcher of Hearts for the
sincerity of former declarations, expressing a desire to preserve
the connection with that nation, and that we are driven from that
inclination by their wicked councils, and the eternal laws of self
preservation;

“Resolved unanimously, that the delegates appointed to represent
this Colony in General Congress, be instructed to propose to that
respectable body to declare the United Colonies FREE AND INDEPENDENT
STATES, absolved from all allegiance to or dependence upon the Crown
or Parliament of Great Britain, and that they give the assent of this
Colony to such declaration, and to whatever measures may be thought
proper and necessary by the Congress for forming foreign alliances,
and a confederation of the Colonies, at such time, and in the manner,
as to them shall seem best; Provided, that the power of forming
government for, and the regulations of the internal concerns of, each
Colony be left to the respective Colonial Legislatures.

“Resolved unanimously, that a committee be appointed to prepare a
declaration of Rights, and such a plan of government as will be
most likely to maintain peace and order in this Colony, and secure
substantial and equal liberty to the people.”

On June 11, 1776, a committee, at the head of which was Thomas Jefferson, was appointed by Congress in Philadelphia to prepare a “Declaration of Independence”; and on July 1st, R. H. Lee’s resolution of independence was adopted, and on July 4th the immortal Declaration by Thomas Jefferson. Nor was this all that Virginia did. It having been determined to procure a Declaration of Rights and a written constitution for the State, the Convention, on May 15th, appointed a committee of thirty-one, at the head of which was Archibald Cary, to do the work. Many projects were submitted, but the Declaration of Rights and the State constitution prepared by the master-hand of George Mason, “swallowed up all the rest.” The former document, adopted June 12, 1776, contained all that was valuable in Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights of 1689, and much more; for it stands without a rival as a summary of the rights of man and also of the principles of free government. The latter document,--the constitution,--adopted on June 29, 1776, unlike the similar constitutions established by South Carolina and other colonies, declared the connection with Great Britain “totally dissolved,” furnishing in this way the first example in this country of a written constitution of a free and independent State.

Thus, in the language of John Adams of Massachusetts, Virginia “has the glory with posterity of beginning with the resolutions against the Stamp Act, and of concluding with the acts of the Convention of May, 1776, the great American Revolution”; and Williamsburg was the scene of these great proceedings in the annals of the world.

Williamsburg lost its metropolitan honors in 1779, when Richmond became the capital of Virginia. The effect was disastrous, and its population decreased from two thousand in 1776 to twelve hundred in 1795. Many of the houses became tenantless, and the population of the place never rose above sixteen hundred in after years.

But the old city still retained its college, which, despite many vicissitudes, continued to maintain its influence in the Union. Indeed, William and Mary College holds a unique position in the history of the United States. In its antecedents, it is the oldest of American colleges; in actual operation, it is second only to Harvard. It is the only college that received its charter direct from the Crown under the seal of the Privy Council in England. It was the first college to have a full faculty of professors. It was the first to abandon the Oxford curriculum and adopt the “elective system,” which it did in 1779. It was the first to adopt the “honor system,” which discountenances the custom prevailing at some colleges even now of spying and informing on students. It was the first college in America to widen its curriculum into the scope of a university by establishing chairs of law and medicine, in addition to the classics and the sciences. It was the first to establish schools of modern languages, history, political economy and constitutional and political law. It was the first to establish, in the Phi Beta Kappa Society, an intercollegiate fraternity, having for its object purely literary improvement; and it was the first to award strictly collegiate prizes, as manifested in the gold medals donated by Lord Botetourt in 1771.

Of the seven Presidents born in Virginia, three--Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe and John Tyler--were educated at William and Mary. To these men is to be ascribed the annexation of Louisiana, Florida, Texas and most of the Western territory, thus trebling the original area of the Union. Four out of five judges contributed by Virginia to the Supreme Bench of the United States were educated at William and Mary. The most illustrious commander of the Federal armies down to 1861, General Winfield Scott, was a William and Mary man. Of twenty-seven Senators from Virginia (1789-1861), sixteen, and of the four Speakers of the House of Representatives from Virginia, three, of three ministers plenipotentiary to England, two, and of six ministers to France, four, were alumni; and John James Beckly, first Librarian of Congress and first Clerk of the House of Representatives, was a William and Mary man.

Of forty-three members of the Supreme Court of Virginia, down to 1861, twenty-one, and of thirty-three governors of Virginia, fifteen, were alumni. Out of a numerical total of seventy-six judges and governors of Virginia, William and Mary contributed thirty-six; Princeton, two; Hampden-Sidney, two; University of Virginia, three; Dickinson College, one; University of Pennsylvania, one; College of South Carolina, one; Randolph-Macon, one; Yale, one; Washington College, Pennsylvania, one; European colleges, five, and the rest obtained their education at private schools.

The society of Williamsburg has had its attractions from the earliest times. The Rev. Hugh Jones, Chaplain of Governor Spotswood and Professor of Mathematics in the college, thus wrote of the town in 1722:

“At the Capitol, at publick times, may be seen a great number of
handsome, well dress’d, compleat Gentlemen. And at the Governor’s
House upon Birth Nights, and at Balls and Assemblies, I have seen as
fine an Appearance, as good Divertion, and as splendid Entertainments
in Governor Spotswood’s time, as I have seen any where else.

“These buildings here described are justly reputed the best in all
English America, and are exceeded by few of their Kind in England.

“In every part of this Town are excellent Springs of good Water, or
else may be made good Wells; and the Ground falling on both Sides
conveys the Water and Rain by small Channels into the Creeks; but to
make the main Street exactly level, the Assembly gave a considerable
Sum, which was expended in removing Earth in some places, and
building a Bridge over a low Channel; so that it is now a pleasant,
long, dry Walk, broad, and almost level from the College to the
Capitol. Williamsburg is now incorporated and made a Market Town,
and governed by a Mayor and Aldermen; and it is well stocked with
rich Stores, of all Sorts of Goods, and well furnished with the best
Provisions and Liquors.

“Here dwell several good Families, and more reside here in their own
Houses at publick times. They live in the same neat Manner, dress
after the same Modes, and behave themselves exactly as the Gentry in
London; most Families of any note having a Coach, Chariot, Berlin or
Chaise.

“The Number of Artificers is here daily augmented; as are the
convenient Ordinaries or Inns for the Accomdation of Strangers.

“The Servants here, as in other parts of the country, are English,
Scotch, Irish, or Negroes.

“The Town is laid out regularly in Lots or square Portions,
sufficient each for a House and Garden; so that they don’t build
contiguous, whereby may be prevented the spreading Danger of Fire;
and thus also afford a free Passage of Air, which is very grateful in
violent hot Weather.

“Here, as in other Parts, they build with Bricks, but most commonly
with Timber lined with Cieling, and cased with feather-edged Plank,
painted with white Lead and Oil, covered with Shingles of Cedar,
etc., tarred over at first, with a Passage generally through the
Middle of the House for an Air-Draught in Summer.

“Thus their Houses are lasting, dry, and warm in Winter, and cool in
Summer; especially if there be Windows enough to draw the Air.

“Thus they dwell comfortably, genteely, pleasantly, and plentifully
in this delightful, healthful, and (I hope) thriving City of
Williamsburg.”