fortunes had been made every year from the commencement of the war
out of the dead horses of the Army of the Potomac. The popular idea
is that when Rosinante yields up the ghost he is buried in some
field, or left to moulder into mother earth in the woods somewhere.
Not so. He has made his last charge, and gnawed his last fence rail,
but there is from $20.00 to $40.00 in the old fellow yet.
A contract for the purchase of dead horses in the Army of the
Potomac in the year 1864 was let for that year to the highest
bidder, at $1.67 per head, delivered at the factory of the
contractor. During 1863, $60,000.00 was cleared on the contract, and
that year it is thought $100,000.00 was made on it. The animals die
at the rate of about fifty per day at the lowest calculation.
At the contractor's establishment they are thoroughly dissected.
First the shoes are pulled off; they are usually worth fifty cents a
set. Then the hoofs are cut off; they bring two dollars a set. Then
comes the caudal appendage, worth half a dollar. Then the hide--I
don't know what that sells for. Then the tallow, if it is possible
to extract tallow from the army horse, which I think extremely
doubtful, unless he die immediately after entering the service. And
last, but not least, the shinbones are valuable, being convertible
into a variety of articles that many believe to be composed of pure
ivory, such as candle-heads, knife-handles, etc. By this time the
contractor gets through the "late-lamented" steed, there is hardly
enough of him left to feed a bull-pup on.
Hereafter, kind reader, when you see a dead "hoss", don't turn up
your nose at him, but regard him thoroughly, as the foundation for a
large fortune in a single year. He may, individually, be a nuisance,
but 'there is that within which passeth show'--$100,000.00 a year."
Horses, supplies, good fighting men and pickets were important to
the Confederates. So were spies. Mosby was aided greatly by two
young ladies who resided in Fairfax. One was Laura Ratcliffe and the
other was Antonia Ford.
[Illustration]
X. SPIES
Little is known of Laura Ratcliffe's activities but she was often
called "Mosby's pet" and was the heroine subject of many poems
dedicated to her by Mosby and J. E. B. Stuart. She was devotedly
attached to the Confederate cause and sought every opportunity to
become possessed of the secrets and movements of the Union Forces.
She is reported to have been a maiden lady of great intelligence and
high accomplishments and was very well spoken of by people who knew
her. She resided near Fairfax during the entire war, communicating
with Mosby whenever he came through this section, and it is a
mystery that she succeeded in eluding the vigilance of Union Scouts.
Not so fortunate was her contemporary, Antonia Ford, who spent many
months in Old Capitol Prison, as the result of a raid made on her
home after Mosby's successful capture of Stoughton. Union officers
felt so strongly that she had had a part in this affair that her
home was ordered searched and they found a commission from J. E. B.
Stuart which read as follows:
"TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
KNOW YE:
That reposing special confidence in the patriotism, fidelity and
ability of Antonia J. Ford, I, James E. B. Stuart, by virtue of the
power vested in me as brigadier general in the Provisional Army of
the Confederate States of America, do hereby appoint and commission
her my honorary aide-de-camp, to rank as such from this date.
She will be obeyed, respected and admired by all true lovers of a
---- nature. Given under my hand and seal at the headquarters of
the Cavalry Brigade at Camp Beverly the 7th October, A. D., 1861,
and the first year of our independence.
(signet ring seal) (signed) J. E. B. Stuart
(X true copy) (signed) L. L. Lomax"
Antonia was an attractive, young, dark-haired lady, charming to talk
with, witty, and well received in both Washington and Virginia
Society.
Extracts from a pamphlet written by Alice M. Coates read:
"In the advance of Federal Troops to Bull Run, some of the Federal
officers stopped overnight with Mr. Ford at Fairfax.
His daughter, Antonia, a heroic young lady of 22 intensely loyal to
the South, listened at the keyhole and heard the plans proposed.
Next morning she asked for a pass to visit a sick aunt, a few miles
South, which was granted.
She immediately reported these plans to the Southern troops."
Antonia aroused no suspicion on this venture in August of 1862, but
only after March 8, 1863, was she questioned and by March 17th,
Major Willard of the Union Army arrived to take Antonia to the Old
Capitol Prison.
Although Major Willard was quite a few years older than Antonia, he
had been to the Ford home quite frequently as a visitor and had
found Miss Ford most charming. She, in turn, had been attracted to
him.
How wretched this Union officer must have felt when he was given
the responsibility of personally arresting her and her father and
taking them to prison.
He fulfilled his duty, however, and then dedicated himself to
securing her release and before many months had passed Antonia and
her father were free again. Evidently they harboured no hard
feelings towards Col. Willard, for they, at a later date, smuggled
him through Confederate lines when they were taking him back to
Washington by wagon after one of his frequent visits to their home.
In March of 1864 Col. Willard and Antonia were married. Seven years
later Antonia died (some think due to malnutrition suffered from her
stay in prison) and left one son, Joseph.
This son lived with his grandmother at Fairfax until his marriage
when he built the beautiful large home on the original Willard
estate, which now includes Layton Hall Subdivision, University Drive
extended, the Belle Willard School, the Joseph Willard Health
Center. (His father before him owned the Willard Hotel in
Washington).
Joseph and his wife lived a life of luxury, traveling abroad and
entertaining in their large spacious home. The fireplace in their
dining room is framed with beautiful blue and white tiles which they
bought in Holland on their wedding trip abroad.
Many of the schools, churches, and private homes in this area are
landscaped with American and English boxwood which the Willards grew
as a hobby. When the land was bought for development, hundreds of
boxwood bushes became dispersed throughout the town and its
environs.
Joseph Willard became a lieutenant-governor of Virginia and an
Ambassador to Spain during the administration of Woodrow Wilson. He
had married Belle Layton Wyatt from Middlesex County who was a
distinguished hostess. Their home became the scene of many brilliant
affairs.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943 attended the wedding of Mrs.
Willard's grand-daughter, Belle Wyatt Roosevelt, to John Palfrey of
Boston. Secret service men swarmed around the Willard home and a
special ramp was built from the flag-stone walk at Truro Episcopal
Church onto the sill of the church door, so the President could
attend the wedding in his wheel-chair.
The United Daughters of the Confederacy (Fairfax Chapter) dedicated
the chimes in the cupola of the Fairfax Methodist Church to Antonia
Ford, commemorating a small Southern girl who left a heritage of
unselfish love and devotion to the South in general, and to the Town
of Fairfax, in particular.
[Illustration]
XI. STEALING OF IMPORTANT PAPERS
During the time that the Union Army occupied Fairfax a group of
Blenkers Dutch held the court house in the spring or autumn of 1862.
They had been recruited in Pennsylvania from the most ignorant and
reckless German characters and could not understand a word of
English.
Due to the Blenkers Dutch, many important papers at the court house
were stolen or destroyed. These men broke open the safe and used
wills, deeds, or anything that came into their hands to keep their
fires going. It was only by luck that the will of Martha Washington
was saved.
A Lt. Col. Thompson who was in command walked in on the men burning
papers and made them stop. Reaching down to see what they were
burning, he picked out a paper at random. Finding it to be the will
of Martha Washington, he put it in his pocket and either mailed it
to his daughter or gave it to her after he returned home.
[Illustration]
Years later the people of Fairfax learned that the will had been
sold by Miss Thompson to J. P. Morgan and they set out to recover
it. In the Fairfax County Historical Society Year Book, 1952-53, is
an interesting account of the correspondence between Mr. Morgan's
son and the citizens of the Town, the Governor of Virginia, and
others. The will now rests beside that of George Washington in a
glass enclosed case in the Clerk's Office of Fairfax Court House.
It is also well known that Washington's will barely escaped being
burned in the fire at Richmond, where it had been sent for safe
keeping. When Union forces took possession of Richmond, they went to
the state library and scattered papers all over the floor, taking
what they wanted. They overlooked Washington's will, however, and
Mr. Lewis, who was Secretary of the Commonwealth, picked it up and
kept it until after the war, when Mr. O. W. Huntt was sent by the
County of Fairfax to Richmond to retrieve the will.
Later on, at the Centennial, copies of Washington's will were
evidently sold amidst much criticism from a metropolitan newspaper,
for we find a letter from Mr. Richardson, Clerk of the Court,
explaining--
"Mr. Andrew Jackson some years ago being a resident of this place
made a complete copy of the will (Washington's) and had it certified
by the Clerk and published as such. He was assisted in this by the
Honorable W. W. Corcoran of Washington, D. C., and these are the
copies sold at the Centennial."
[Illustration]
XII. RECONSTRUCTION
As the reconstruction period came after the war, Fairfax found
herself in a very destitute position. Most of her churches had been
burned, her fields destroyed by constant skirmishes, her homes used
as headquarters or hospitals by Union soldiers. The Willcoxon
Tavern, Duncan's Chapel and doubtless other places had been used as
stables for Union horses. Deflation closed in; the people again
found themselves having to "pick up the pieces".
Zion Church had been used as a storehouse for munitions for a while
and had then been torn down by Union soldiers to provide material
for their winter quarters. In February, 1867, Rev. W. A. Alrich was
sent to undertake reorganizing the Church. He found eighteen
communicants for whom he held services in the court house. He
reported "a deep interest manifested in religious matters, and a
willingness to make every sacrifice for the sake of the Master and
his cause. The people, in their impoverished condition, are making
an earnest effort to rebuild their Churches."
Bishop Whittle visited on December 13th, 1869, and there were
fourteen persons attending services at the Court House. He reported
the new church as being under roof but completion delayed for lack
of funds. He wrote, "I think there is no congregation in the Diocese
more deserving of help than this, where the people have shown such a
determination to help themselves."
By 1872 the second Zion Church had been completed. By December of
1876 the church had been furnished and freed from debt. Its frame
building had been erected on the foundation of the original church
at a cost of about $2,000.00. In 1882 the present Rectory property
was purchased.
Among the families who formed the congregation after the war were
the Bakers, Balls, Chichesters, Fairfaxes, Fitzhughs, Fergusons,
Gunnells, Hunters, Mosses, Ratcliffes, Ryers, Stuarts, Terretts,
Towners, Burkes, Coopers, Loves, Rumseys, Moores, Fords, Bowmans,
Keiths, Thorntons, Bleights, Moncures, Ballards, and McWhorters.
The Methodist Church in the meantime found its strength in the
southern church's Fairfax Circuit and began to replace the first
Duncan's Chapel which had been used by both Confederate and Union
forces and was believed to have been finally burned and destroyed by
Union troops. In 1882 the local board purchased the lot adjoining
Duncan Chapel and built a nine room parsonage. Both of these
buildings are used today for official county business.
In 1882 the widely scattered rural membership was hampered by severe
winters, bad roads, severe epidemics (diphtheria) and in 1888 Rev.
O. C. Beak wrote of the general business depression in this area
which caused the church to suffer "from removals". (The Methodist
Church did not reach its "Golden Age" until the 1900's.)
The following map of the 1887's shows a black school located next to
the Fairfax Cemetery. Church services for the black people were
evidently held here too, for older residents of the town speak of
sitting on the opposite side of the road listening to the hymns
pouring forth from the little schoolhouse.
By 1882 the people began to look forward again throughout the entire
nation. The telephone had been invented in 1876. Better news
service of the papers followed the founding of the Associated Press.
The foundation for the fine art of American printing was being laid.
It was one of the most vigorous artistic and intellectual periods.
[Illustration]
In Fairfax telephone service was started in 1887. Offices were
located in Alexandria, Annandale, Fairfax Court House, Centreville,
Gainesville, Haymarket and Thoroughfare. The price of a message to
Alexandria was 15 cents, to any other point 10 cents; there was no
charge for the answer. Messages were limited to five minutes. The
first phone in Fairfax was installed in the Willcoxon Tavern. Here
the town people could go to make or receive calls.
Captain S. R. Donohue set up a newspaper office at the west corner
of Sager Avenue and Payne Street. He had operated a paper of his own
in Alexandria called "The Alexandria Times". When he moved to
Fairfax, he brought his printing press with him. This press, which
was the first in Fairfax, had to be hand-operated by two men and can
still be seen today in the present Fairfax Herald Building.
On Oct. 1, 1890, the people of Fairfax held one of the most
spectacular affairs that the town has seen. The occasion was the
erecting of the Confederate monument at the town cemetery. As
Captain Ballard who headed up the affair proclaimed, the "purpose
was to collect together the remains of the Confederate soldiers who,
in defense of a common cause, found sepulchre upon Fairfax soil, and
to erect a monument to the memory of the Confederate dead."
Two thousand people were to come in all types of conveyances--from
the best Washington had to offer down to the backwoods ox cart. Some
were even to walk as far as thirty miles to pay tribute to their
fellow man.
The town was appropriately decorated for the occasion. Large
American flags hung suspended across the streets. Red, white, and
blue buntings were artistically draped across the fronts of houses,
archways, and gates.
R. E. Lee Camp, Confederate Veterans of Alexandria, turned out with
a long line of men, bringing with them Lee Camp, Sons of Confederate
Veterans. They were the two principal organizations present along
with Marr Camp of Fairfax County. Members of other Confederate
Veterans Camps came from all over the state--some singly and some
in groups. The soldier organizations made their headquarters with
Marr Camp just south of the Court House. Here the column was formed
for the parade.
At the top of the hill on the Fairfax Station Road, Schroeder's full
brass band, dressed in colorful uniforms with the bright yellow
instruments reflecting the sun, waited for the columns of soldiers
to form. The hundreds of people who had come to witness this
historic occasion, in their enthusiasm to view everything, delayed
the parade for one and a half hours.
Finally, the people were persuaded to make room for the lines to
form and the proud procession began. First came the vivid brass band
playing its lively military music. Next came Judge D. M. Chichester
as Chief Marshal. He was assisted by Capt. J. O. Berry, Dr. W. D.
McWhorter, and Benjamin Simpson, Esquire. Then followed the columns
of veterans. The procession led from the top of the hill at the
court house, turned left up The Little River Turnpike and then
proceeded to the town cemetery.
Here on a crest stood the monument made of Richmond granite. It
covered the remains of two hundred heroes. As the people gathered
respectfully near the monument, the Rev. J. Cleveland Hall opened
the service with a prayer. Capt. Ballard then gave the presentation
speech. Gov. William Fitzhugh Lee made appropriate response on
behalf of the Ladies' Memorial Association. The Honorable James L.
Gordon, who was poet of the day, rendered an "eloquent poem".
The assemblage then returned to the court house which had been
decorated with flags and flowers. Here they heard Senator John W.
Daniel, General Eppa Hunton, Gen. M. D. Corse, Col. Arthur Herbert,
and Col. Berkley. Afterwards, they were served a delicious dinner by
the ladies, who also held a fair inside the court house to help
raise money for the monument. (It cost $1200.00).
Although we do not have a picture of this occasion, through the
courtesy of The Honorable Paul E. Brown, Judge of the Circuit Court
of Fairfax County, we are able to show a picture of the
commemoration of the Marr monument, which took place in June of 1904
and was probably similar in many ways.
[Illustration]
Social life continued and in 1891 a Phantom Ball was given by
Messrs. Joseph E. Willard, C. Vernon Ford, Charles and Fay
Kilbourne, and Dr. W. P. Malone. Miss Helen Moore was listed among
the guests.
In 1892 when the town was chartered, there were two hundred people
living at Fairfax Court House. There were three white churches--one
Episcopal, one north and one south Methodist. There were two black
churches. There was a school for white and a school for black, three
or four stores, a newspaper office, a number of comfortable old
homes, an old-fashioned tavern, and an undertaker's shop. The bell
at the Court House called three to four hundred people to business,
to law, and to religion.
_Today, approximately 14,000 people live at Fairfax Court House.
There are seven white churches--Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian,
Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, and Christian Science. There are two
black churches. There are three schools for elementary students, one
junior high school, and one senior high school, and construction
will begin soon for a college. There are three shopping centers,
several apartment buildings, a medical center, two large telephone
buildings, a library, and a bank. Extensive additions have been made
to the original court house and an eight acre tract of land has been
purchased on South Payne Street for the future Town Hall._
_Fairfax is just one small example of the results of colonization.
Through the trials and tribulations endured by the Jamestown and
Maryland colonists, a community was carved out of a wilderness.
Through perseverance and courage the colonists built and held on to
a civilization. They created homes, schools, churches, and
established an independent stronghold on a new continent. It was not
easy. Neither will the conquest of a new planet be easy but
certainly a wonderful heritage has been left by those who went
before._
_As a visitor to Fairfax County in 1798 wrote--_
_"There is a compound of virtue and vice in every human character;
no man was ever yet faultless; but whatever may be advanced against
Virginians, their good qualities will outweigh their defects; and
when the effervescence of youth has abated, when reason asserts her
empire, there is no man on earth who discovers more exalted
sentiment, more contempt of baseness, more love of justice, more
sensibility of feeling, than a Virginian."_
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bull Run Remembers _by Joseph Mills Hanson_
Deed Books and Will Books in Clerk's Office of the Circuit Court of
Fairfax County, Virginia
Fairfax County, Virginia--1907
Fairfax County, Virginia, Yesterday ... Today ... Tomorrow--1952.
Flags of America _by W. H. Waldron_
Gentlemen's Magazine
Historic Fairfax County _by Columbus D. Choate_
Historic, Progressive Fairfax County in Old Virginia--1928
Historical Society of Fairfax County, Va., Inc. Yearbook--1951
Historical Society of Fairfax County, Va., Inc. Yearbook--1952-1953
Historical Society of Fairfax County, Va., Inc. Yearbook--1954
Historical Society of Fairfax County, Va., Inc. Yearbook--1955
Historical Society of Fairfax County, Va., Inc. Yearbook--1956-1957.
History of Fairfax County _by Elizabeth Burke_
History of Truro Parish in Virginia, _by Rev. Philip Slaughter,
D.D., and edited by the late Rev. Edward L. Goodwin_.
Landmarks of Old Prince William _by Fairfax Harrison_--Vol. I, II
Manassas (Bull Run)--1953
Memorials of Virginia Clerks (1888). _Compiled by F. Johnston_,
former clerk of Roanoke County.
Mosby and His Men _by Crawford_
Mosby's Rangers _by Williamson_
Pictorial War Record
The Alexandria Gazette
The Fairfax Herald
The Falls Church Echo
The March of Democracy _by James Truslow Adams_, Vol. I, II, III.
The Memoirs of Col. John S. Mosby, _edited by Charles Wells
Russell_.
Townsmen Brochure--1945
Virginia Cavalcade
Willards of Washington by _Garnett Laidlaw Eskew_
_The author is indebted to the following people for their help in
compiling the foregoing information_:
Mr. Ollie Atkins
The Honorable Paul E. Brown
Mr. W. Lindsay Carne
Mrs. Thomas Casey
Mr. Thomas P. Chapman, Jr.
Mrs. H. N. Clark
Mr. Courtland H. Davis
The Rev. Raymond W. Davis
Miss Barbara Duras
Mrs. H. John Elliott, Jr.
Mrs. Earl W. Emerson
Mr. Wilson M. Farr (deceased)
Mr. W. Franklin Gooding
Mr. Alex Haight
Mr. Charles Patton Henry
History Committee of the Fairfax Methodist Church
Mr. F. Wilmer Holbrook
Mr. J. Kenneth Klinge
Mrs. Doreen H. LaFalce
Mrs. Thomas B. Love
Mrs. F. S. McCandlish, Sr.
Mr. and Mrs. F. S. McCandlish, Jr.
Mrs. Douglas Murray
Mrs. Charles H. Pozer
Mrs. Barbara Ritchie
Mr. John W. Rust (deceased)
Mr. Glenn W. Saunders
Mr. Roy A. Swayze
Mr. Byron E. Wales
INDEX
by
John H. Gano
A
Adams, Francy, 34
Alabama, 47
Alexandria, 4, 21, 27, 28, 30, 64
_Alexandria Times_, 64
Alexandria-Winchester Stage Coach Line, 23
Allison, Gordon, 31
Allison, Robert, 23
Alrich, Rev. W. A., 61
Annandale, 30, 51, 64
Aquia, 10
"Artillery Hill", 48
Ashby's Gap, 18
"Ash Grove", 41
Associated Press, 63
Ayers, John, 19
B
Bacon, Nathaniel, 11
Baker family, 62
Baker, Dr. & Mrs., 36
Ball family, 62
Ball, S. M., 35
Ball, WM. W., 34, 41
Ballard family, 62
Ballard, Capt., 64, 65
Baptists, 20, 39, 67
Jerusalem Baptist Church, 20
Barbour, Mrs. John, 37
Baxter family, 9
Beak, Rev. O. C., 62
Beattie, Capt. V., 50
Beauregard, Gen., 47, 48
Belvoir, 14
Berkeley, Sir Wm., 11
Berkley, Col., 65
Berry, Capt. J. O., 65
Beverly, Maj. Robt., 11, 16
Bill of Rights, 27
Bland, Richard, 27
Bleight family, 62
Blenheim, 4, 24
Blenkers Dutch, 57
Blue Ridge, 18
Bolling, Girard, 31
Bolling, Lucian, 31
Boston Port Act, 27
Bowman family, 62
Bowman, Gen., 21
Braddock, Gen., 21
Braddock Road, 21
Brecon Ridge, 19
Brent family, 9
Bristoe, John, 31
Bristow Station, 43
Broadwater, Chas., 29, 37
Brooks, Henry T., 35, 42
Brown, Judge Paul E., 65
Brown, Rev. R. J., 38
Bull Run, 18, 54
Burke, 62
Burke, Levi, 41
Burke, Minnan, 34
Burke, Silas, 34
C
Camp Beverly, 54
Canfield, Bleeker, 39
Carlyle, John, 29
Carper, Thos. E., 34
Carter, Robert, 15, 17, 18
Carys, Misses Constance, Hetty, Jennie, 48
Catholic Church, 67
Centennial, 60
Centreville, 21, 43, 48, 64
Chain Bridge, 28
Chain Bridge Road, 23
Chantilly, 17
Chapman, Mrs. Thos. P., 45
Chapman, William, 38
Charles County, MD, 31
Chichester family, 62
Chichester, Judge D. M., 65
Christian Scientist Church, 67
Circuit Court of Fairfax, 65
Civil War, 22, 24, 36, 37, 39, 41, 43-54
Clark, Thos., 31
Coates, Alice M., 54
Coffer, Thos. W., 19
Colchester, 11, 29
Coleman, James, 34
Coleman, Richard, 31, 34
Coomb's Cottage, 4, 36, 37, 38
Confederate Monument, 4, 64
Conrad, Thos. Nelson, 34, 38
Continental Army, 28
Cooper family 37, 62
Cooper Carriage House, 4, 37, 45
Corcoran, W. W., 60
Cornwall, England, 19
Corse, Gen. M. D., 65
Country Club Hills, 24
Courthouse Road, 30
Cross, John D., 34
Culpeper, 13, 41, 49
Culpeper, Thomas Lord, 11, 12
D
Daniel, Sen. John W., 65
Daniel, Stephen, 31
D'Astre Place, 4, 37
Davis, Jefferson, 48