Chapter I: Preface

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

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 management 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.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Facing Page

Baptist Church 132

Butterfield Monument 288

Capt. S. J. Quinn _Frontispiece_

Catholic Church 272

Chancellorsville Tavern 82

Charity School 232

Christian Church 240

Church of God 304

City Hall 192

Com. M. F. Maury 320

Confederate Cemetery 122

Confederate Monument 264

Court House 22

Eagle Hotel 182

Entrance to Confederate Cemetery 222

Entrance to National Cemetery 256

Exchange Hotel 172

Federal Hill 32

Fire Department 232

First Mayor's Residence 182

Forsythe's Birthplace 102

Fredericksburg College 172

Fredericksburg from Marye's Heights 12

Fredericksburg from Stafford Heights 12

Free Bridge 22

Free Lance--Star Office 248

Hon. Montgomery Slaughter 72

Jackson Monument 202

Kenmore 212

Marye Mansion 328

Mary Washington House 32

Mary Washington Monument 52

Masonic Lodge 222

Meditation Rock 152

Mercer Monument 92

Methodist Church 162

M. W. M. Lodge 142

Old Planters' Hotel 296

Opera House 296

Postoffice 280

Power Dam 152

Presbyterian Church 162

Presbyterian Memorial Chapel 62

Public School 288

Remarkable Tombstone 264

R., F. & P. R. R. Bridge 312

Rising Sun Tavern 52

Section Stone Wall 112

Sentry Box 102

Shiloh Church, N. S. 304

Shiloh Church, O. S. 272

Stevens House 192

St. George's Church 62

Stone House 92

Sunken Road 82

Superintendent's Lodge 256

Trinity Church 240

Trustees' Office 112

Union House 212

View on Princess Anne St. 42

Wallace Library 142

Water Power Office 328

Wm. Paul's Gravestone 280

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
Captain John Smith Explores the Rappahannock River--The
Flight of Pocahontas--Major Lawrence Smith's Fort--Governor
Spotswood's Miners at Germanna, 11

CHAPTER II
The Knights of the Golden Horse Shoe--Governor Spotswood's
Expedition over the Blue Ridge Mountains, 27

CHAPTER III
Fredericksburg Incorporated by the House of Burgesses--Col.
Byrd Walks about Town--A Church Building Erected--Rev.
Patrick Henry Rector--Augustine Washington a Town Trustee--
Stock Fairs Inaugurated--Limits of the Town Extended, 37

CHAPTER IV
Encouraging Home Industries--Further Extension of the
Town--Tobacco Inspectors Appointed--Modes of Punishing
Criminals--Prosperity--Military Ardor--Under the United
States Government--A New Order of Things, 46

CHAPTER V
Lease of the Market-House Lots--The First Serious Fire--
Fredericksburg an Important Center--An Act Concerning
Elections--Half of the Town Destroyed by Fire--
Fredericksburg an Important Postal Point--How the Mails
were Carried--A Congressional Investigation--Amendatory
Acts of 1821--The Great Fire of 1822--The Trade of the
Town--Contagious Diseases--The Town in 1841--Acts of
Extension, 1851, 1852, 1858, 1861, 57

CHAPTER VI
The War Clouds Gather--Fredericksburg in the Southern
Confederacy--Troops Raised and Equipped--Town Surrendered
to Federal Authorities--Citizens Arrested and Held as
Hostages--Thrilling Evacuating Scenes--Citizens Flee from
their Homes--Bombardment of the Town, 71

CHAPTER VII
The Great Battle--The Town Sacked by Soldiers--The Federals
Recross the River--A Great Revival of Religion--The Battle
of Chancellorsville--Gen. Sedgwick Captures the Town--The
Wilderness Campaign--Many Noncombatant Citizens Arrested
and Imprisoned--A Statement by the Council--The Citizens
and Federal Soldiers Released, 90

CHAPTER VIII
The Armies Transferred to Richmond and Petersburg--Gen. Lee
Surrenders his Army--Citizens Return Home--Action of the
City Council--Fredericksburg Again Under the Old Flag--The
Assassination of President Lincoln Denounced--
Reconstruction Commenced--An Election Set Aside by the
Military--All Civil Offices Set Aside and Strangers
Appointed--The Financial Condition of the Town--The Town
Again in the Hands of its Citizens--Splendid Financial
Showing, 107

CHAPTER IX
The Courts of Fredericksburg--The Freedman's Bureau--Court
Orders and Incidents--First Night Watch Appointed--
Ministers Qualify to Perform Marriage Ceremony--First
Notary Public--Fixing the Value of Bank Notes--Prison
Bounds for Debtors--Church Buildings, 123

CHAPTER X
Public Buildings--Court House--The Jail--Town Hall--Fire
Department--School Buildings--Wallace Library--Normal
School--Government Building, 136

CHAPTER XI
Ancient and Historical Buildings--Mary Washington
Monument--General Mercer's Statue--Mary Washington's Will, 148

CHAPTER XII
Hotels of the Town, old and new--Agricultural Fairs and
Toll Bridges--Care of the Dependent Poor--City Water
Works--City Gas Works--Electric Light--Telephone Company--
Fire Department, 164

CHAPTER XIII
Volunteer Militia--The Confederate Cemetery--The National
Cemetery--The Confederate Veterans--The Sons of Confederate
Veterans--The Schools, Private and Public, 182

CHAPTER XIV
The Churches of Fredericksburg, 202

CHAPTER XV
Charitable and Benevolent Societies--Mary Washington
Hospital--Newspapers and Periodicals--Political
Excitement--Strong Resolutions Against the Administration--
An Address Approving the President's Foreign Policy--The
Names of Those who Signed the Address, 217

CHAPTER XVI
Distinguished Men Buried in Fredericksburg--A Remarkable
Grave Stone--Three Heroic Fredericksburgers, Wellford,
Herndon, Willis--The Old Liberty Bell Passes Through Town--
Great Demonstration in its Honor--What a Chinaman Thought
of it, 235

CHAPTER XVII
Visits of Heroes--Gala Days--The Army of the Society of the
Potomac Enters the Town, 251

CHAPTER XVIII
The Society of the Army of the Potomac Continued--Welcome
Address--Laying a Corner Stone, 263

CHAPTER XIX
Doctor Walker's Expedition--Bacon's Rebellion, so-called--
The Fredericksburg Declaration--The Great Orator--
Resolutions of Separation--The Virginia Bill of Rights, 280

CHAPTER XX
Declaration of Separation--The Declaration of
Independence--Washington Commander-in-Chief of the Armies--
John Paul Jones Raises the First Flag--First to Throw the
Stars and Stripes to the Breeze--Fredericksburg Furnishes
the Head of the Army and Navy--The Constitution of the
United States, 292

CHAPTER XXI
The First Proclamation for Public Thanksgiving--
Pennsylvania Whiskey Rebellion--John Marshall and the
Supreme Court--Religious Liberty--The Monroe Doctrine--
Seven Presidents--Clarke Saves the Great Northwest--The
Vast Western Territory Explored--The Louisiana Purchase--
The Florida Purchase--Texas Acquired--The War with Mexico
and its Rich Results--The Oceans Sounded, Measured and
Mapped--The Ladies' Memorial Association--The Mary
Washington Monument--General Mercer's Statue, 306

CHAPTER XXII
Fredericksburg at Present--The Health of the City--Its
Financial Solidity--Its Commercial Prosperity--Its Lines of
Transportation--Its Water Power--Its Official Calendar--
List of Mayors, 322

Official Calendar--September 1, 1908 333

Mayors of Fredericksburg in Their Chronological Order 336

HISTORY OF THE City of Fredericksburg, Virginia, FROM ITS Settlement to the Present Time