MATURITY
When Patrick McIntyre published the one hundred and tenth number of _The
True American_ in Leesburg on Tuesday the 30th December, 1800, he,
following the tradition of his craft, probably left his office with a
lively sense of anticipation of the town's forthcoming celebration of
the advent of a new century; that he could have foreseen that a single
copy of that issue would be the sole available survivor of his journal
in 1937 is not to be presumed. Yet in the Library of Congress that
single copy begins its collection of Leesburg's newspapers and no copy
of the paper is known to survive today in Loudoun. Its four pages devote
themselves to the proceedings of Congress, to European affairs, to the
activities of the Virginia House of Delegates and to the new treaty with
France. The local news must be gleaned from the advertisements. The Rev.
Mr. Allen advertises religious services to be held in the
courthouse;[134] one W. C. Celden, a slavedealer, informs the public
that he "has some likely young NEGROES which he will dispose of
reasonably for cash;" and on the 4th page is found an item, obviously
inserted by a private individual protecting himself with a cloak of
anonymity, "For Sale. A likely NEGRO GIRL who has to serve for the term
of nineteen or twenty years. She is now about twelve years of age, and
very well grown, and will have to serve one year for every child which
she may have during the term of her servitude. The terms of sale may be
known by application to the Printer." The widow of Colonel Burgess Ball
asks that those having claims against his estate will send them to her
as the Administrators were anxious to make provision for their immediate
payment.
[134] See Chapter XIII ante.
The ultimate fate of _The True American_ is unknown. In 1808 there was
established in the town the _Washingtonian_ which became the recognized
organ of the Democratic party in Northern Virginia for many years. No
surviving copy of any issue of the first year of this paper has been
found by the present writer. Until 1841 it divided the Loudoun field
with Whig competitors; after that date its journalistic rivals appear
to have been of its own political faith, notably the _Loudoun Mirror_,
established in 1855. In its early years the _Washingtonian_ had a sturdy
competitor in the Whig _Genius of Liberty_, copies of which are now
rarely to be found. The most numerous available are in a broken file in
the Library of Congress, beginning with numbers issued in 1817 and owing
their conservation to the fact that they had been sent by the editor to
the Secretary of State. As with the earlier _True American_ these
newspapers contain much foreign news and correspondence with lengthy
reports of legislative activities in Richmond and Washington; and, in
addition, an acrimonious and undignified exchange of long-winded and
abusive letters in the Mason-McCarty-Mercer controversies. But that a
county paper should find its first duty in presenting local news was not
within the philosophy of the editor. Only here and there may one find a
paragraph recording some local incident--but patient search is
occasionally rewarded. A branch of the Bank of the Valley had been
opened in Leesburg in 1818 with local subscribers to its stock and T. R.
Mott acting as cashier. Then in the issue of the 31st March, 1818, we
read:
"Specie. Arrived on Wednesday last at this port after a pleasant passage
of two days from Alexandria, the waggon Perseverance--Grub, Master,
laden with SIXTY FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS IN SPECIE for the Branch Bank of
the Valley in this place. The Specie is deposited in the 'Strong box'
thus laying a foundation for the emission of a paper currency predicated
upon Specie Capital, which is the chief corner stone in all monied
institutions; without it they must eventually fail."
That Leesburg was provided with its first street pavements through the
proceeds of a public lottery has long been town gossip. By way of
confirmation, there is an advertisement in the 12th May, 1818, issue of
the _Genius of Liberty_: "By authority. Scheme of Lottery to raise $8000
for the purpose of paving the streets of the town of Leesburg, Va."
providing a first prize of $4000 and 2011 other prizes running from
$1000 down to $6 each, totalling $30,000. Against these 2012 prizes were
to be 3988 blanks, to be represented by 6000 tickets to be offered at
$5 each; but the astute managers stipulated that many of the larger
prizes were to be paid in part by other tickets and that each of the
prizes were to be "subject to a deduction of $15 to $100." To inspire
the confidence of the public, the notice was signed by the following
representative citizens as Commissioners: Prestley Cardell, C. F.
Mercer, George Rust, Joseph Beard, Richd H. Henderson, Samuel Clapham,
John Humphreys, John I. Harding, Sampson Blincoe, Fleet Smith, Samuel
Carr, and John Gray. So successful was the lottery, avers tradition,
that with its profits not only was the town able to pave its principal
streets but also brought in, through wooden pipes, a much needed supply
of water from Rock Spring, the present home of Mrs. H. T. Harrison. To
the community that system of finance exerted an appeal so strong that
once again it was used in 1844, to raise the necessary money to build an
office for the County Clerk. The present County Office Building was
purchased from the trustees of the Leesburg Academy in 1879.[135]
[135] 6 Ns Deeds 272, Loudoun County records.
Always has Loudoun been a horse-loving country; but it may surprise some
of her people of today to know that in 1817 the county seat possessed a
"Jockey Club" which was sufficiently strong and well supported to
conduct a four day racing meet with more generous prizes than are now
offered. In the _Genius of Liberty_ of the 14th October 1817 there is
this advertisement:
"Leesburg Jockey Club. RACES will be run for on Wednesday the 15th
October, over a handsome course near the town. A Purse of 200 Dollars
three miles and repeat, and on Thursday the 16th day, two miles and
repeat a Purse of $100 Dollars, and on Friday the 17th and repeat, a
Towne's Purse of at least $150 and on Saturday the 18th an elegant
SADDLE, BRIDDLE and MARTINGALE, worth at least FIFTY DOLLARS. P.
SAUNDERS, sec'y & treas'r."
Thus, although the local reporting was definitely remiss in those days,
the advertising columns yield much treasure. The times were hard, land
sales forced by worried creditors were frequent and often in the sales
advertisements a note is made of log-houses on the land, shewing how
numerous that form of habitation still must have been in the Loudoun of
that time. With the land sales are many offerings of negroes, not
infrequently with a humanitarian undertone pleasant to read, for in
Loudoun then there was much anti-slavery sentiment not only among
Quakers and Germans but, more significantly, among the wealthy planters
and educated town folk. Thus in the issue of the 26th October 1818:
"Negroes for Sale. For Sale, a family of Negroes, consisting of a woman
and children. To a good master they will be sold a great bargain. They
will not be sold to a southern trader."
The financial stress of the day then, as later, bred much discontent if
we may judge from the frequent notices of runaway white apprentices and
negro slaves, the latter of both sexes; but while in the case of the
slaves rewards are offered for their return of varying amounts from $5
to $200, the masters of the white apprentices, apparently appraising
their services somewhat dubiously, offered but from one to six cents for
their apprehension and return!
Though times were hard and money scarce there was, in the community, a
healthy appreciation of the cultural side of life. George Carter of
Oatlands advertises the services of a professor of music, seemingly
brought into the county by him, who "now offers to teach the fundamental
rules of this science in 8 lessons so as to enable those who are taught
by him, to pursue their studies by themselves until they may obtain a
perfect practical knowledge of musick."[136] Music seemed to have been
in the air. Eighteen months later, there is notice given by Henry Krebs
that he has commenced teaching the piano and German flute and the French
language. He could be found at Mrs. Peers' boarding house.[137] Lectures
on English grammar are announced by E. Hazen at the house of Mrs.
McCabe[138] and Charles Weineder, a miniature painter, came to Leesburg
for two weeks to take orders in his art.[139]
[136] Issue of 12th October, 1818.
[137] 2nd Nov., 1819.
[138] 9th Nov., 1819.
[139] 26th Oct., 1818.
The profession of the law was followed in Leesburg by Richard Henderson,
Burr William Harrison, L. P. W. Balch (who was also secretary of the
school board) and John K. Mines. Dr. J. Clapper practiced medicine at
Hillsboro "where he may be found at Mr. Hough's tavern," we trust not
indicating undue conviviality of the gentleman's disposition. There was
ample accomodation for travellers, their servants and horses. Enos
Wildman announced that he had lately acquired the Eagle Tavern, formerly
run by W. Austen;[140] while Samuel M. Edwards presided at the "Leesburg
Hotel & Coffee House" which he had recently purchased from Mr. H. Peers
and which was "situated on the main street leading from Winchester to
Alexandria, George Town and the City of Washington." Yet another tavern
was operated by one "Mr. Foley" and, as we have seen, there were
boarding-houses as well. Their bars were stocked without difficulty, for
Lewis Mix & Co. had a distillery near the mouth of Sugar Land Run and
called for rye, corn and oats.
[140] 20th Jan., 1818.
But perhaps the most impressive picture painted by these old
advertisements is that of the teeming industrial and commercial life of
the town. It was still, happily, the age of the handicraftsman; the
machinery age was yet to come. Transportation was uncertain and slow,
and country towns largely produced the furniture, tools, clothing and
other needed articles for their own inhabitants and those of their
surrounding communities. The variety of the activities of the artisans
and merchants of the Leesburg of that day paralleled those of other
similar towns throughout the nation. John Carney had a "Boot & Shoe
manufactory" which was conveniently located "on King street, next door
to Messrs. Humphreys and Conrad and immediately opposite the Court
House." In advertising his wares, he added that he wished to take on two
or three apprentices of from thirteen to fifteen years of age. He had a
business rival in William King, who conducted a similar activity and
confidently announced that he had "some of the first rate workmen in the
State."
Hats were made and sold by Jacob Martin "at his shop opposite the
market house" who duly proclaimed "a very large assortment of hats on
hand from the first quality to those of lowest prices; including a large
assortment of Good Wool Hats, likewise some Morocco Caps."
If the Loudoun citizen of President Monroe's day needed the services of
a tailor, they were made available by Thomas Russel whose business
apparently flourished; for he advertised for "one or two journeymen
taylors to whom constant employ and the best wages will be given." He
also sought one or two apprentices to learn his craft.
Jonathan C. May was opening a dry goods and clothing shop under charge
of D. Carter, next to the drug store of Robert R. Hough. As a competitor
he had Joseph Beard with his "General and Seasonable assortment of Dry
Goods" and Daniel P. Conrad who, "at the Stone House opposite the Court
House" offered "a seasonable supply of Fall Goods"; he and George
Richards meanwhile publishing notice of the dissolution of their former
partnership. In nearby Waterford, B. Williamson and C. Shawen also
dissolve their partnership in a general store, on account of Williamson
moving to Baltimore and Shawen carries on under the name of C. Shawen &
Co.
Samuel Tustin was engaged in a coachmaking business in Leesburg and
sought "good tough white ash plant and timber--also a quantity of poplar
half inch plank." He, too, wanted an apprentice, seeking one who was
fifteen to seventeen years old. There was no lack of opportunity to earn
a living offered to a steady lad with an inclination to work and a taste
for trade. To the more mature, Aaron Burson offered to rent his fulling
mill and dwelling house near Union, describing them as being in "an
elegant neighbourhood for the fulling business."[141] John B. Bell,
occupying a part of William Drish's house on King Street, was a
bookbinder. Not daunted by the slump in business, James G. Jones and
Company notify the Loudoun public that they have commenced the brush
making business "at Mr. Wetherby's stone house, King Street, nearly
opposite Mr. Murrays and that they want a large quantity of hog's
bristles" for which a liberal price will be given "IN CASH."
[141] i.e. the thickening and cleansing of woollen cloth.
S. B. T. Caldwell advertised for sale writing paper, wrapping paper and
medium printing paper.
The present day collectors of old furniture will note that David Ogden
had removed his business to the southeast corner of King and Cornwall
Streets where he had on hand and offered "some fashionable sideboards,
Eliptic Dining Tables, Secretary, Bureaus etc., etc., which I will
dispose of on moderate terms. Orders from the adjacent country will be
thankfully received." In the same year of 1818, Jacob and Isaac Thomas
of Waterford announced that they had on hand a general assortment of
Windsor and fancy chairs and were also prepared to do "house, sign and
fancy painting with neatness and dispatch."
The political dispute between Mason and McCarthy, mirrored in the pages
of _The Genius of Liberty_, was fated to resolve itself into a tragedy
that shook county and Commonwealth to their roots and caused no small
sensation throughout the youthful Republic. General Armistead Thomson
Mason of Selma,[142] a grandson of Thomson Mason, was a graduate of
William and Mary College, a veteran of the War of 1812 and a Senator of
the United States from Virginia as well as the leader of the Democratic
party in Loudoun. Opposed to him as a Federalist was his cousin, Colonel
John Mason McCarty, a grandson of George Mason of Gunston Hall, a
descendant of old Daniel McCarthy of Westmoreland[143] and who then
occupied Raspberry Plain. For a long time there had been political
rivalry and bickering between the two men and when Mason introduced a
bill in the Senate to permit Loudoun Quakers, when drafted for military
services in war-time, to furnish substitutes by the payment of $500
apiece, McCarthy seized upon its political possibilities and promptly
accused him of cowardice. The issue flared in the political campaign
then on and, to add to the fire, Mason challenged McCarty's vote at the
polls. Some accounts say that this so incensed McCarthy, described as
being generally a good-natured individual with a strong sense of humour
but also with a temper that upon occasion would break out beyond bounds,
that he thereupon, at the polling place, defied Mason to personal
combat, in his anger naming the weapons, contrary to a universally
recognized rule of the code. Mason decided to ignore the matter,
McCarthy taunted him in the public prints and although Mason's side had
been defeated at the election, the affair gradually might have blown
over and been forgotten had not Mason, returning from a journey to
Richmond, by evil chance found himself a fellow stagecoach passenger
with his old friend and superior officer, General Andrew Jackson. The
matter of the quarrel with McCarthy, in due course, came up for
discussion and Jackson, ever a fire-eater himself, is said to have told
Mason with some brusqueness that he should not let the matter drop. On
his return, therefore, Mason sent his cousin a letter in which he said
he has resigned his commission for the sole purpose of fighting McCarthy
and "I am now free to accept or send a challenge or to fight a duel. The
public mind has become tranquil, and all suspicion of the further
prosecution of our quarrel having subsided, we can now terminate it
without being arrested by the civil authority and without exciting alarm
among our friends." He informed his opponent that he had arranged his
family affairs and was "extreemly anxious to terminate once and forever
this quarrel." How recklessly eager was his wish was shewn by his
instructions to his seconds to agree to any terms at any distance--to
pistols, muskets or rifles "to three feet--his pretended favourite
distance, or to three inches, should his impetuous courage prefer it."
[142] See Chapter XIII ante.
[143] Chapter IV ante.
McCarthy, in the meanwhile, had cooled down and was inclined to turn
aside this new challenge in a humorous vein. He suggested to Mason's
seconds that the antagonists jump from the dome of the capitol; but the
matter had gone too far for joking and he was told his suggestion did
not comply with the code. Again and yet again he offered similar absurd
solutions and being rebuffed and in an effort to frighten Mason,
suggested shotguns loaded with buckshot at ten paces, suicidal terms
which were modified by the seconds to charging the weapons with a
single ball and the distance to twelve feet.
After the fatal outcome of the Hamilton-Burr duel in 1804, a wave of
hostility to the whole institution of duelling had swept the country. In
January, 1810, Virginia had passed an act making the death of a duellist
within three months of the encounter, murder, and providing that the
survivor should be hung. Moreover, it was provided that the mere act of
sending or accepting a challenge should make the offender incapable of
holding public office. Therefore it was expedient that the meeting
should not be held in Virginia and a field, along the side of which ran
a little brook, near Bladensburg in Maryland, was selected for the
affair. Principals, seconds and referee arrived at a nearby inn on the
night of the 5th February, 1819, and at 8:00 o'clock the next morning,
in the bitter cold and snow, the cousins confronted each other on the
field, standing so close to one another that their "barrels almost
touched." As the signal was given both fired and then fell to the
ground--Mason dying and McCarthy dangerously wounded. Mason's body was
brought back to Leesburg where it rested for a while in the old stone
house on Loudoun Street now owned by Mr. T. M. Fendall, before burial in
the St. James graveyard in Church Street with religious and Masonic
rites. There the grave is still to be seen. It is said that Mrs. Mason
locked the main entrance of Selma after the funeral and that no one
again used it until her only son came of age--a son destined to meet his
death, many years later, as an American officer, in the battle of Cerro
Gordo in our war with Mexico. Tradition has it that ever after the duel,
McCarthy was a morose and haunted man. A gruesome detail is added that
long after his death his marble gravestone was removed to the Purcell
drug store in Leesburg and there used for many years as a slab on which
prescriptions were compounded.
From such a sombre picture we may turn with relief to the spectacle of
Loudoun in gala attire indulging in the greatest and gayest county-wide
celebration her history affords.
Of all those who, from abroad, came to help the American Colonies in
their revolt, none so wholly captured the affections of her people as
the French Marquis de Lafayette and as the years after the war passed
by, that affection remained steadfast. In January, 1824, the American
Congress entertained the happy idea of authorizing the President to
officially invite the old general again to visit our shores, this time
as the guest of the whole nation. Lafayette sailed from France on an
American war ship in July, 1824, arriving in New York on the 14th
August. Then began the national welcome which, continuing for over a
year, stands by itself in our history.
In August, 1825, Lafayette, being in Washington, informed his hosts that
he wished, once again, to see his old friend James Monroe, then living
in retirement on his estate, Oak Hill. Arrangements were made
accordingly and on the 6th August the Marquis, accompanied by President
John Quincy Adams, left Washington in the latter's carriage for the long
drive to Oak Hill. On their arrival they were greeted by Monroe and a
number of his friends who had gathered to pay honour to the nation's
guest. For three days Lafayette tarried at Oak Hill, walking over the
farm with his host and reminiscing over the heroic days of nearly fifty
years before. Leesburg, determining to show its love and respect for the
general, sent a delegation to invite him to a celebration in his honour
in that town, to which Lafayette readily assented. On the morning of the
9th August, 1825, "Mr. Ball a member of the Committee of arrangements
and Mr. Henderson of the Town Council"[144] went to Oak Hill to escort
their guest to Leesburg. With them were two troops of cavalry commanded
by Captains Chichester and Bradfield. General Lafayette, President
Adams, former President Monroe and Mr. Henderson took their seats in the
carriage drawn by splendid bay horses which had been provided for the
occasion and the procession set out for the county seat. As it neared
the town, salvos of artillery greeted it and the roads and town itself
were so lined and filled with people that it was estimated that at least
10,000 (almost half of the county's population) were present. And now,
to quote the historian of the occasion:
"The guest of the nation, with his honoured friends, alighted in the
field of William M. McCarty, where in the shade of an oak, he was
introduced to Cuthbert Powell, Esq., chairman of the committee of
arrangements; who welcomed him in terms of respect and affection apt to
the occasion, and in a manner at once feeling and grateful; to which
General LaFayette replied, with the felicity which seems never to
forsake him. He was then introduced to the committee of arrangements and
to General Rust, the marshall of the day, and his aids. The General then
received the military, assembled to honour him, consisting of the
volunteer troops of cavalry, commanded by Captains Chichester and
Bradfield; the two rifle companies, commanded by Captains Henry and
Humphries; and the companies of light infantry, commanded by Captains
Moore and Cockerill, who, by their equipments and discipline did credit
to themselves and the county."[145]
[144] Presumably Fayette Ball of Springwood and Richard Henderson, a
prominent lawyer of Leesburg.
[145] _General Lafayette's Visit to Virginia_, by Robert D. Ward.
After being introduced to a few surviving soldiers of the Revolution,
the distinguished party was driven to Colonel Osburn's Hotel (the
present home of Mr. T. M. Fendall on Loudoun Street) the street in front
of which was filled with a great crowd of orderly and well-behaved
citizens. Here Lafayette was received by the Mayor of Leesburg, Dr. John
H. McCabe and the common council. The mayor made an address of welcome
and again Lafayette spoke in reply.
After a few minutes for rest and refreshment in the hotel, the carriages
were resumed and
"the procession moved through Loudoun, Market, Back, Cornwall and King
Street. Between the gate of the Court house square and the portico of
the court-house an avenue had formed, by a line on the right, of the
young ladies of the Leesburg Female Academy under the care of Miss Helen
McCormick and Mrs. Lawrence ... dressed in white, with blue sashes, and
their heads were tastefully adorned with evergreens. They held sprigs of
laurel in their hands, which they strewed in the way as the General
passed them."
Another account discloses that the other side of the "avenue," facing
the evergreen-crowned girls, was formed by a line of boys from the
Leesburg Institute, whose costumes were embellished with red sashes and
white and black cockades. As Lafayette, smiling and bowing, mounted the
portico steps, he was greeted by Ludwell Lee on behalf of the people of
Loudoun with a patriotic speech and once again the cheerful Marquis
managed to make yet another appropriate response. After a full year of
the young Republic's exuberant enthusiasm, the delivery of a mere
half-dozen or so of speeches of grateful acknowledgment in a single day
has lost its earlier terrors. At 4:00 o'clock a great banquet was spread
on the tables set up in the courthouse square, the guests' table being
protected by an awning. Toasts were enthusiastically given and drunk to
Adams, Lafayette and Monroe, each in turn replying. With that auspicious
start and the stimulus of the potent beverages, it is recorded that as
the time passed, the "volunteer toasts" waxed in number and ecstacy.
Afterward, the distinguished guests visited the home of Mr. W. T. T.
Mason for the baptism of his two infant daughters, Lafayette acting as
godfather for one and Adams and Monroe in similar capacity for the
other. More gayety in Leesburg, then a drive through the summer night to
Belmont and participation in the merry-making there, before the
illustrious visitors sought their rooms for the night in that gracious
mansion.[146] As they returned to Washington the next day, it must have
been with a profound, if weary, appreciation of the county's enthusiasm,
affection and hospitality.
[146] See Chapter XIII.
In this second quarter of the nineteenth century, to which we have now
come, the name of Charles Fenton Mercer, soldier, statesman and
philanthropist, is writ large in Loudoun's records. Already we have read
of him in his country home and of his founding the town of Aldie in
1810;[147] but the brief reference there made is wholly inadequate to
the man and his accomplishments. Born in Fredericksburg on the 6th June,
1778, he was the son of James Mercer and grandson of that John Mercer of
Marlboro whom we have already met.[148] His father, after a
distinguished career, left at his death an estate so much involved that
the son had some difficulty in securing his education. He, however, was
able to graduate at Princeton in 1797 and the next year, at the time of
friction with France, was given a commission by Washington as a captain
of cavalry. When the danger of war passed, he studied law and, admitted
to the Bar, practiced his profession with great success. He served as
brigadier general in command of the defense of Norfolk in the War of
1812, removed to Loudoun, was a member of the Virginia Legislature from
1810 to 1817 and, as a Federalist, was elected a member of Congress, in
1816, over General A. T. Mason, the election being so close, however,
that it had to be decided by the House of Representatives. In Congress
he served until 1840, a longer continuous service "than that of any of
his contemporaries." Always deeply interested in the project of the
Chesapeake and Potomac Canal, he introduced the first successful bill
for its construction and it was in tribute to him that those interested
in the plan met in Leesburg on the 25th August, 1823. When the canal
company was organized taking over, in effect, much of the plant of
General Washington's cherished project the Potomac Company, Mercer
became its first president and continued in that position during the
period of Federal encouragement. Then came the Jackson administration
and its opposition and, as a final blow, the organization of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company. The day of the canals gave place to
that of the railroads; but that section of the canal in Maryland, across
the river from Loudoun, was completed and placed in successful
operation, affording to her people better and cheaper transportation to
Washington and Alexandria for their products than they before had known.
[147] See Chapter XIII.
[148] See Chapter VII.
Mercer was an ardent protectionist, intensely opposed to slavery and an
advocate of the settlement of freed slaves in Liberia. He died near
Alexandria on the 4th May, 1858, and was buried in the Leesburg
Cemetery. On his headstone it is justly reaffirmed that he was "A
Patriot, Statesman, Philanthropist and Christian."[149]
[149] _Charles Fenton Mercer_, by James M. Garnett.
Mercer's day well may be cited as the most active and, perhaps, the most
ambitiously progressive in business affairs in the county's history.
Space precludes enumeration and extensive description of all the
enterprises then undertaken but passing mention may be made of a few.
The improvement of transportation was a dominant motive. Canals,
railroads, turnpikes all were instruments to that end. An early railroad
was projected by the men of Waterford and incorporated in 1831 as the
Loudoun Railroad Company to run from the mouth of Ketoctin Creek on the
Potomac "passing Ketoctin mountain to the waters of Goose creek so as to
intercept the Ashby's Gap turnpike road"; a curious and impractical
route it may seem to us in the light of present conditions and that it
was just as well that the project died in birth. In 1832 another
railroad but sponsored in Leesburg, to be known as the Leesburg Railroad
and to run from that town to the Potomac, also came to naught. At length
in 1849 the Alexandria, Loudoun and Hampshire Railroad was incorporated
and built, and under various names has been since continuously operated,
thus giving the county its only railroad communication within its
boundaries.
In 1832 there was incorporated the Goose Creek and Little River
Navigation Company to make those streams available as highways of
traffic. Locks, dams, ponds, feeders, and other appurtenant works were
ambitiously undertaken. With assistance from the State and the proceeds
of the company's sales of stock much construction was accomplished; but
during the Civil War the works were destroyed by the Federal armies and
they never have been restored.
The Catoctin Furnace Company was another ambitious project. Iron ore was
mined in Furnace Mountain, opposite the Point of Rocks, and for a time
shipped away for smelting. In 1838 a furnace for treatment of the ore
was completed on the property and the ore smelted at first with
charcoal made at the plant and later, as operations increased, with coke
brought from a distance. The business was highly successful and
profitable until ruined by the Civil War. It was this activity that
caused the construction, in 1850, of the original Point of Rocks bridge
across the Potomac.[150]
[150] See Briscoe Goodheart in 4 Balch Clippings 33.
Reference to some of the many turnpike companies of the period already
has been made. Undertaken for the profit of the shareholders as well as
the convenience of the people they, for the first time in her history,
gave the county roads fit to bear heavy traffic and were another
exemplification of the energy of the time.
When the church was disestablished after the Revolution it was agreed
that it would be left in possession of her property. As time went on
there arose a clamour among those of other beliefs that her property and
particularly her glebe lands should be sold by the Overseers of the
Poor, to whom the proceeds should go, their argument being that having
been acquired by taxes laid on the whole community, the taxpayers as a
body should benefit therefrom. Bishop Mead describes what took place in
Loudoun concerning Shelburne's glebe:
"About the year 1772, a tract of land containing 465 acres, on the North
Fork of Goose Creek was purchased and soon after, a house put upon it.
When Mr. Dunn became minister in 1801 an effort was made by the
overseers of the poor to sell it, but it was effectually resisted at
law. At the death of Mr. Dunn, in 1827, the overseers of the poor again
proceeded to sell it. The vestry was divided in opinion as to the course
to be pursued. Four of them--Dr. W. C. Selden, Dr. Henry Claggett, Mr.
Fayette Ball and George M. Chichester--were in favour of resisting it;
the other eight thought it best to let it share the fate of all the
others. It was accordingly sold. The purchaser lived in Maryland; and,
of course the matter might be brought before the Supreme Court as a last
resort, should the courts of Virginia decide against the church's claim.
The minority of four, encouraged by the decision in the case of the
Fairfax Glebe, determined to engage in a lawsuit for it. It was first
brought in Winchester and decided against the Church. It was then
carried to the Court of Appeals in Richmond, and during its lingering
progress there, three of four of the vestrymen who engaged in it died,
and the fourth was persuaded to withdraw it."[151]
[151] Bishop Mead's _Old Churches of Virginia_, II, 274. Also see
_Landmarks_ 306 and Selden vs. Overseers, XI Leigh 127.