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SEAPORT IN VIRGINIA
[Illustration: GEORGE WASHINGTON
By Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick. A painting in oil after a pastel by James
Sharples. (_Courtesy Mount Vernon Ladies' Association_)]
SEAPORT IN VIRGINIA
George Washington's Alexandria
by
GAY MONTAGUE MOORE
[Illustration]
Drawings by Worth Bailey
Photographs by Walter Wilcox
The University Press of Virginia
Charlottesville
The University Press of Virginia
Copyright (C) 1949 by The Rector and the Visitors of
the University of Virginia
Second printing 1972
ISBN: 0-8139-0183-9
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 73-188711
Printed in the United States of America
TO MY HUSBAND
CHARLES BEATTY MOORE
TOGETHER WE HAVE DELVED INTO WHAT RECORDS
WE COULD FIND THAT MIGHT THROW UPON THE
SCREEN SOME SHADOW OF THOSE WHO BUILT
AND LIVED IN THE OLD HOUSES IN
ALEXANDRIA
[Illustration]
PREFACE
Twenty years ago on a hot and sultry July afternoon, my husband and I
started to Mount Vernon to spend the day. On our return to Washington,
we lazily drove through the old and historic town of Alexandria--and
bought a house!
The town at once became of vital interest to us. We spent months and
years going through every vacant building into which we could force an
entrance. Our setter dogs could point an empty doorway as well as a
covey of quail, and seemed as curious about the interiors as we were
ourselves. I became obsessed with a desire to know the age of these
buildings and something of those early Alexandrians who had lived in
them.
Old maps and records littered my desk. Out of the past appeared clerks
on high stools wielding quill pens and inscribing beautiful script for
me to transpose into the story of one of America's most romantic and
historic towns. It has been impossible to write about every house in
Alexandria--even about every historic house. I tried to recall the old
town as a whole. A succession of hatters, joiners, ships' carpenters,
silversmiths, peruke makers, brewers, bakers, sea captains, merchants,
doctors and gentlemen, schoolteachers, dentists, artisans, artists and
actors, began to fill my empty houses. Ships, sail lofts, ropewalks,
horses, pigs, and fire engines took their proper places, and the town
lived again as of yore--in my imagination.
Everywhere I turned I found General Washington: as a little boy on his
brother Lawrence's barge bringing Mount Vernon tobacco to the Hunting
Creek warehouse; on horseback riding to the village of Belle Haven; as
an embryo surveyor carrying the chain to plot the streets and lots. He
was dancing at the balls, visiting the young ladies, drilling the
militia, racing horses, launching vessels, engaging workmen, dining at
this house or that, importing asses, horses, and dogs, running for
office, sitting as justice; sponsoring the Friendship Fire Company, a
free school, the Alexandria Canal, or other civic enterprises. He was
pewholder of Christ Church and master of the Masonic lodge. To town he
came to collect his mail, to cast his ballot, to have his silver or his
carriage repaired, to sell his tobacco or his wheat, to join the
citizenry in celebrating Independence. His closest friends and daily
companions were Alexandrians. The dwellings, wharves, and warehouses of
the town were as familiar to him as his Mount Vernon farm.
In Alexandria Washington took command of his first troops. From the
steps of Gadsby's Tavern he received his last military review, a display
of his neighbors' martial spirit in a salute from the town's militia. An
Alexandrian closed his eyes, and Alexandrians carried his pall.
Washington belongs to Alexandria as Alexandria belongs to him. This is
_George Washington's Alexandria_.
GAY MONTAGUE MOORE.
Alexandria, Virginia
September 1949
[Illustration]
CONTENTS
PREFACE vii
PART ONE: PROLOGUE
_AN ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST CENTURY OF THE
SEAPORT OF ALEXANDRIA_
PART TWO
THE PRESENCE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, 1749-1799
CHAPTER
1: William Ramsay: Romulus of Alexandria 52
2: John Carlyle and His House 62
3: The Married Houses 71
4: The Fairfaxes of Belvoir and Alexandria 77
5: The George William Fairfax House 87
6: John Gadsby and His Famous Tavern 99
7: The Michael Swope House 112
8: Dr. William Brown and His Dwelling 119
9: The Peruke Shop 127
10: Historic Christ Church 131
11: The Presbyterian Meetinghouse 139
12: Presenting The Sun Fire Company 147
13: Captain John Harper and His Houses 156
14: Dr. Elisha C. Dick and the Fawcett House 162
15: The Benjamin Dulany House 173
16: Dr. James Craik and His Dwelling 184
17: Alexandria's Old Apothecary Shop 195
18: Spring Gardens 197
19: William Fitzhugh and Robert E. Lee 202
20: George Washington's Tenements 210
21: The Georgian Cottage 217
22: The Vowell-Snowden House 222
23: The Edmund Jennings Lee House 225
EPILOGUE: Washington in Glory--America in Tears 230
PART THREE
_FIVE SKETCHES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY_
24: The Yeaton-Fairfax House 232
25: The Lafayette-Lawrason-Cazenove House 239
26: Enter the Quaker Pedagogue: Benjamin Hallowell 247
27: The Alexandria Lyceum 254
28: The Sea Captain's Daughter and Her House 259
Acknowledgments 263
Chapter References 265
Bibliography 272
Index 275
CHAPTER DRAWINGS
CHAPTER 1: Ramsay house. After restoration plans by Milton L. Grigg.
CHAPTER 2: Keystone from Carlyle House, basement level.
CHAPTER 3: John Dalton's frame house. Hypothetical restoration with false
front removed.
CHAPTER 4: Fairfax coat of arms. From Belvoir fireback. Preserved in the
Mount Vernon collection.
CHAPTER 5: George William Fairfax house, south facade.
CHAPTER 6: John Gadsby's famous hostelry and tavern sign, "Bunch of
Grapes."
CHAPTER 7: Michael Swope house, showing flounder type ells.
CHAPTER 8: Dr. William Brown house, west facade.
CHAPTER 9: Peruke shop. Hypothetical restoration with false front removed.
Showing an Alexandria alley house adjoining.
CHAPTER 10: Christ Church through open gates of churchyard.
CHAPTER 11: Presbyterian meetinghouse before fire of 1835 and subsequent
enlargement. _From an old print._
CHAPTER 12: Fire engine of Friendship Fire Company, said to have been
presented by George Washington. This old rotary type pumper is preserved
in the Maryland Building at Druid Hill Park, Baltimore.
CHAPTER 13: Ship model, believed to represent the _Lexington_ owned and
commanded by Captain James MacKenzie, who presented it to the Alexandria
Library Association.
CHAPTER 14: Fawcett house, south facade.
CHAPTER 15: Benjamin Dulany house, south facade.
CHAPTER 16: Dr. James Craik house, north facade.
CHAPTER 17: Old Apothecary Shop Museum and adjoining antique shop.
CHAPTER 18: Spring Gardens, north facade.
CHAPTER 19: Robert E. Lee house, south facade.
CHAPTER 20: George Washington's tenements, appearance before remodeling.
CHAPTER 21: Flounder house of the type said to have been the nucleus
of the Georgian Cottage. Example shown (demolished 1944) stood
on the grounds of the Alexandria Hospital.
CHAPTER 22: Vowell-Snowden house, east facade.
CHAPTER 23: Edmund I. Lee house, showing wisteria-covered gallery.
EPILOGUE MEMORIAL MOTIF, incorporating swords used on Washington's
casket, owned by Alexandria-Washington Lodge of Masons.
CHAPTER 24: Yeaton-Fairfax house, south facade.
CHAPTER 25: Lafayette-Lawrason-Cazenove house and doorway detail.
CHAPTER 26: Alexandria Boarding School (1834) of Professor Hallowell.
_From an old print._
CHAPTER 27: Alexandria Lyceum, classic portico.
CHAPTER 28: Wax flowers under glass dome, made by Melissa Hussey Wood.
[Illustration]
PART ONE: PROLOGUE
An Account of the First Century of The Seaport of Alexandria
[Illustration: A typical Alexandria shipping merchant's home: Bernard
Chequire, called the "count," built his dwelling and storeroom under the
same roof]
[Illustration]
SITE AND ANTECEDENTS
In the middle of the seventeenth century when the English King, Charles
II, was generously settling Virginia land upon loyal subjects, what is
now the port of Alexandria was part of six thousand acres granted by the
Royal Governor, Sir William Berkeley, in the name of His Majesty, to
Robert Howsing. The grant was made in 1669 as a reward for bringing into
the colony one hundred and twenty persons "to inhabit."
Howsing did not want this land but John Alexander did. He had surveyed
the tract and knew its worth. Howsing doubtless thought himself well out
of it when Alexander paid six hundredweight of tobacco and took it off
his hands within a month.[1]
The growth and development of the colony of Virginia into a great
agricultural population occupied in the cultivation of tobacco was not
at all what the London Company had in mind. It visualized a colony of
towns. But the possibilities offered by the great rivers emptying into
Chesapeake Bay and the development of the tobacco trade were responsible
for a civilization unique to Englishmen. True that the establishment of
towns as trading centers was a recognized need--generally agitated by
the Burgesses and planters from interested motives--but little came of
it. Planters whose lands and domiciles lined the Virginia waterways
found the direct trade with English ships a facile, if expensive,
convenience. It was so easy to dispose of a cargo of tobacco and receive
at one's door in return delivery of a neat London sofa, greatcoat, or a
coach and harness. So instead of towns, great tobacco warehouses were
built at convenient centers where tobacco was collected, inspected, and
shipped. Such a warehouse was established by act of Assembly in 1730 and
1732[2] at the mouth of Great Hunting Creek, where it empties into the
Potomac River, on the land of Hugh West, Sr. (a member of the Alexander
clan) and where there was already a ferry to the Maryland side of the
river. Almost immediately a little village grew up--a group of small
houses and a school--known then as Belle Haven.
Tobacco was currency in the colony, tendered as such, and it constituted
the first wealth. Salaries and fees were paid in tobacco, fines were
levied in tobacco; it was the medium of exchange in England as well as
in Virginia. When the colonists wrote the word, they used a capital T!
His Majesty's government of the New World was much occupied with the
cultivation, housing, and transportation of this natural weed. The
importance attached to tobacco is best illustrated by a most
extraordinary law. When Englishmen, whose homes are their castles,
permitted the right of search of citizens' private dwellings, some idea
of the value of this commodity may be realized. The Burgesses resolved
early "that any Justice of Peace who shall know or be informed of any
Package of Tobacco of less than----weight made up for shipping off,
shall have power to enter any suspected House, and by night or by day
and so search for, and finding any such Package, to seize and destroy
the same; and moreover the Person in whose Possession the same shall be
found, shall be liable to a Penalty."[3] Inspectors of tobacco held
their appointments under the King; theirs was the responsibility of
watching the crop, estimating its yield and weight, maintaining the
standard of quality and inspecting the packing. Moreover, no tobacco
could be "bought or sold, but by Inspector's Notes, under a Penalty both
upon the Buyer and Seller."[4]
In 1742 the Burgesses, lower house of Virginia's Parliament, in session
at Williamsburg, became exercised about the tobacco trade and "Resolved,
That an humble address of this house be presented to His Majesty, and a
Petition to the Parliament of Great Britain; representing the distressed
state and decay of our Tobacco Trade, occasioned by the Restraint on our
Export; which must, if not speedily remedied, destroy our Staple; and
there being no other expedient left for Preservation of this Valuable
Branch of the British Commerce, to beseech His Majesty and His
Parliament, to take the same into Consideration; and that His Majesty
may be graciously pleased to grant unto his subjects of this Colony, a
Free Export of their Tobacco to Foreign Markets directly, under such
Limitations, as to His Majesty's Wisdom, shall appear Necessary."[5]
From 1742 a series of petitions from the inhabitants of Prince William
and Fairfax[6] counties, asking authority from the Assembly at
Williamsburg to erect towns in the county, were presented to the
Burgesses. Several years passed before any notice was taken of these
requests.
At a General Assembly, begun and held at the College in Williamsburg on
Tuesday, November 1, 1748 (sixteen years after the establishment of the
warehouse at Hunting Creek) in the twenty-second year of the reign of
George II, a petition was presented from "the inhabitants of Fairfax in
Behalf of Themselves and others praying that a Town may be established
at Hunting Creek Ware House on Potomack River."[7] On Tuesday, April 11,
1749, a bill for establishing a town at Hunting Creek Warehouse, in
Fairfax County, was read for the first time.
The bill went through the regular proceedings and was referred to
Messrs. Ludwell, Woodbridge, Hedgeman, Lawrence Washington, Richard
Osborne, William Waller, and Thomas Harrison. On April 22, the ingrossed
bill was read the third time, and it was "resolved that the Bill do
pass. Ordered, that Mr. Washington do carry the Bill to the Council for
their concurrence."[8] On May 2, 1749 the bill came back from the
Council (the upper house) with additional amendments to which the
Council desired the house's concurrence. Washington was again sent up to
the Council with the approved amendments, and on Thursday, May 11, 1749,
Governor Gooch commanded the immediate attendance of the house in the
Council chamber. The Speaker, with the house, went up accordingly; and
the Governor was pleased to give his assent to the bill "for erecting a
town at Hunting Creek Ware House, in the County of Fairfax."[9]
The act stated that such a town "would be commodious for trade and
navigation, and tend greatly to the best advantage of frontier
inhabitants."[10] Within four months after passage of the act, sixty
acres of land belonging to Philip Alexander, John Alexander, and Hugh
West, "situate, lying and being on the South side of Potomac River,
about the mouth of Great Hunting Creek, and in the County of Fairfax,
shall be surveyed and laid out by the surveyor of the said County ...
and vested in the Right Honorable Thomas, Lord Fairfax, the Honorable
William Fairfax, Esq., George Fairfax, Richard Osborne, Lawrence
Washington, William Ramsay, John Carlyle, John Pagan, Gerard Alexander,
and Hugh West, of the said County of Fairfax, Gentlemen, and Philip
Alexander of the County of Stafford, Gentleman, and their successors in
trust for the several purposes hereinafter mentioned."[11]
These same gentlemen were "constituted and appointed directors and
trustees, for designing, building ... the town"[12] and the trustees and
directors or any six of them were to have the power to "Meet as often as
they shall think necessary, and shall lay out the said sixty acres into
lots and streets not exceeding half an acre of ground in each lot; and
also set apart such portions of the said land for a market place, and
public landing as to them shall seem convenient; and when the said town
shall be so laid out, the said directors and trustees shall have full
power and authority to sell all the said lots, by public sale or
auction, from time to time, to the highest bidder so as no person shall
have more than two lots."[13] The money arising from the sale was to be
paid to the two Alexanders and to Hugh West, the proprietors.
It was further enacted that purchasers of every lot or lots should
"within two years next after the date of the conveyance for the same,
erect, build and finish on each lot so conveyed, one house of brick,
stone or wood, well framed of the dimensions of twenty feet square, and
nine feet pitch, at the least or proportionably thereto if such grantee
shall have two lots contiguous, with a brick or stone chimney ... and if
the owner of any such lot shall fail to pursue and comply with the
directions herein prescribed for the building and finishing one or more
house or houses thereon, then such lots upon which such houses shall not
be so built and finished shall be revested in the said trustees, and
shall and may be sold and conveyed to any other persons whatsoever, in
the manner before directed, and shall revest and be sold as often as the
owner or owners shall fail to perform, obey and fulfill the directions
aforesaid, and the money arising from the sale of such lots as shall be
revested and sold applied to such public use for the common benefit of
the inhabitants of the said town as to them shall seem most proper; and
if the said inhabitants of said town shall fail to obey and pursue the
rules and orders of the said directors in repairing and mending the
streets, landing, and public wharfs, they shall be liable to the same
penalties as are inflicted for not repairing the highways in this
Colony."[14]
The county surveyor wrote on July 18, 1749:
By Virtue of an Act of the General Assembly ... I, the Subscriber did
Survey and lay off sixty acres of land to be for the said town, and
divided the same into lotts, streets, etc., as per the plan thereof
JOHN WEST, JR.
Dept. S.F.C.[15]
George Washington had been living with his half-brother, Lawrence, at
Mount Vernon for some time and studying engineering under Mrs. Lawrence
Washington's brother, Colonel George William Fairfax. It is a safe
assumption that the three young men sailed up the Potomac numerous times
to see the layout for the prospective new town; or, that wanting an
afternoon's ride, they set their horses towards Belle Haven. It was not
a strange journey. For years the Hunting Creek warehouse had handled
tobacco from Mount Vernon, Belvoir, Gunston Hall, and the neighboring
estates. Tradition has it in Alexandria that Washington aided John West
when he was struggling through the underbrush and tree stumps staking
out the lots. So familiar did the embryo engineer become with the future
town site that he drew a map, and added the names of lot purchasers to
the side of his drawing.[16]
News traveled throughout the colony, from the Tidewater to the
Shenandoah, of the town to be built near the Hunting Creek warehouses.
Advertisements were inserted in the colony's gazettes. Auction of lots
was to take place on the site, in the month of July, on the thirteenth
day.
On the morning of the sale people on horseback began pouring into the
village of Belle Haven from all the nearby plantations and estates.
Tidewater was represented by Ralph Wormley of Rosegill in Middlesex;
from Westmoreland came Augustine Washington; from Fredericksburg,
William Fitzhugh; from Gunston Hall, George Mason; from Belvoir, the two
Colonels Fairfax; and from Mount Vernon, young George Washington and his
half-brother, Augustine, up for the proceedings.
Lawrence Washington was not present, possibly away in England at the
time. His brother, Augustine, however, stood proxy and the letter in
which he reported the day's proceedings throws a new light upon the
sale. It is believed never to have been published; here is the portion
relating to the Alexandria auction:
Mount Vernon July 19th 1749
D^r Brother
I have this day returned from Goose Creek, and the Vessel by whom
this comes being under way alows one but a short time to write. As to
your family I need only to say that they are well as my Sister &c
wrote to you by the same ship whilst I was up the Country. You have a
very fine prospect for a Crop of Corn & I am in hopes you have made a
worse Crop of Tob^o than you'll make this year if the fall is
Seasonable, but that depends very much upon the fall. As to Belhaven
or Alexandria I understand my Brother George has left much to say
upon that head. I purchased you two lots near the water upon the
Main street, as every one along the rode will be trough that street.
I thought they would be as agreeable to you as any, as M^r Chapman
was determined upon having the Lot on the point. I had a Plan & a
Copy of the Sale of the Lots to send you, but as my Broth^r has
sent both & I am [torn] very exact, I need not trouble you with any
more; you will see by the amount of the Sale that your part cleared
three hundred & eighty three pistoles [torn] sensible if Alexander
had Stood to the sale of them he would not have made half the Sum by
th [torn] every one seem'd to encourage the thing, upon y^r and
M^r Chapman's account, as they were sensible what you did was
through a Publick Spirit & n [torn] of interest; the reason the lots
sold so high was River side ones being sett up first which were
purchased at a very extravagant price by the prop [illegible] Your
two, M^r Carlyles M^r Dortons M^r Ramseys [illegible] M^r
Chapmans sold at different prices, as you may se by the Sale, but we
agreed before the Sale to give any Price for them & to strike them
upon an average so that by adding them up & dividing them by five you
will se what your two lots Cost. M^r Chapman was obliged to pay
Phil Alexander the money for your & his bond last Stafford Court
(before the Sale) or other wise was to have George the Second upon
his back. M^r Chapman took into Partnership M^r Ramsey Carlyle &
Dorton, Ramsey has a fourth, Dorton & Carlyle the other fourth....
The price is L10 12_s._ 10_d._
Here assuredly are the circumstances surrounding the plan of the town in
the youthful George Washington's hand, still preserved among the
Washington papers in the Library of Congress, as indeed is the relevant
letter. If this was not the actual map sent by George to Lawrence, it
most certainly was the copy which he retained for his personal files of
the eighty-four lots divided by seven streets running east and west; and
three north and south, checkerboard fashion, which comprised the
contemplated town.
The bell was rung. Business got under way. John West was crier and
announced that the lots put up would be sold within five minutes. The
hot crowd pressed in to hear and see all that took place. The disturbed
dust blanketed man and beast.
Bidding was brisk; and twenty-four lots were sold in short order. Among
the first day's purchasers, besides those mentioned above, were William
Fitzhugh, the Honorable William Fairfax, and Colonel George Fairfax.
The trustees met again the next day, July 14, and wasted no time. At
once seventeen lots were sold. The trustees agreed to adjourn "till 20th
of September next,"[17] at which time the "deeds are to be executed for
the above lots and the remaining lots to be sold, and that the Clerk
prepare blank deeds for the same."[18]
As for the prices paid for the lots--it is surprising to find a foreign
coin, the Spanish _pistole_, as the basic unit of currency. This was due
to a situation where hard money was seriously lacking in colonial
Virginia. As early as 1714 a general act had been passed to attract
foreign specie, which was declared _current_ according to weight. Thus
the legal valuation of the _pistole_ was slightly in excess of 21s. or
approximately $4.34.[19] Its purchasing power in the eighteenth century
was about five times as great as today. Lots purchased at auction on the
first day brought from 16 to 56-1/2 _pistoles_. On the second day, they
went for as little as six _pistoles_, the highest bidder for that day
being Henry Salkeld, who purchased lots Nos. 38 and 39 for 23 _pistoles_
(present-day normal evaluation about $282.00).
[Illustration]
THE TOWN BUILT
For many months the trustees were primarily concerned with the disposal
of the lots and "advertisements were set up to that purpose,"[20] in the
gazettes. Sales were numerous, houses began to go up speedily. By
January 1750, eighty lots had been sold with two lots set apart for the
town house and market square. In August 1751, Colonel Carlyle was
"appointed to have a good road cleared down to Point Lumley and to see
the streets kept in repair."[21] On July 18, 1752, the trustees "Ordered
on Coll. George Fairfaxe's motion that all dwelling houses from this day
not begun or to be built hereafter shall be built on the front and be in
a line with the street as chief of the houses now are, and that no gable
or end of such house be on or next to the street, except an angle or
where two streets cross, otherwise to be pulled down."[22]
While the trustees were feverishly building the new port, the Assembly
at Williamsburg was discharging the purchasers of marsh lots from the
necessity of building on and improving them; approving the proposition
"for appointing fairs to be kept in the Town of Alexandria."[23] Fairs
and lotteries were the principal source of municipal income in early
years; the journals of the House of Burgesses contain frequent requests
for such from many of the Virginia towns.
[Illustration: Plan of the Town of Alexandria by George Washington.
(From the Washington Papers in the Library of Congress)]
On March 10, 1752, a committee reporting to the House of Burgesses
"Resolved That it is the opinion of the Committee that the Proposition
from the County of Fairfax, in opposition to the proposition from that
county, for appointing the Court of the said County to be held at the
Town of Belhaven, be rejected."[24] A somewhat complicated manner of
ordering the court to be held at Alexandria.
[Illustration: The good ship Metamora of Alexandria, John Hunter,
builder and owner. He was the founder of Hunter's Shipyard, "the most
complete private establishment of the kind in the country."]
Four days later the Burgesses rejected "the proposition from the Town of
Alexandria for altering the name of that town to Belhaven."[25] There
had been much talk about this, and for long "The Town at Hunting Creek"
was the only designation. The Alexander family, which was both numerous
and important (the head of the clan bearing the title Lord Stirling),
and the bulk of the land upon which the town was built having been a
part of its patent,[26] it was deemed appropriate to name the new town
Alexandria. Save for an occasional slip in some old letter (Washington
dated some letters Bellehaven) Alexandria is the name by which the town
was called since this time.
By 1753 a village had become a town with the market place located
exactly in the middle. The first courthouse of frame was built on the
east side of lot No. 43, at the intersection of Cameron and Fairfax
Streets. South of the Town House on Fairfax stood the jail, stocks, and
whipping post for the use of those who failed to keep the law. Directly
behind these buildings the market square, or green, occupied all of lot
No. 44. Here the town militia drilled, here were held the carnivals, and
public gatherings, and here was the larder of Alexandria. To this day
the market square caters to the appetites of hungry townsmen. Across
Royal Street, facing the square, stood the City Tavern or Coffee House;
southward on the same side of the street was the Royal George, after the
Revolution called George Tavern. Already substantial wharves and
warehouses appeared along the water front, and private houses and stores
were beginning to fill the empty lots.[27]
[Illustration]
HEADQUARTERS AND PORT OF SUPPLY
As the passage of four years marked physical growth in Alexandria, so it
made a difference between a lad barely seventeen and an officer in His
Majesty's Militia. Early in November 1753, Major George Washington, aged
twenty-one, and an Adjutant General of the Colony, was sent by the Royal
Governor to the Ohio to "visit" the commandant of the French forces and
deliver a letter asking him to withdraw from the lands "known to be the
property of the Crown of Great Britain." Up to town came Major
Washington to busy himself acquiring the "necessaries" for the
expedition. Once equipped, he set out from Alexandria and was gone about
two months, returning on January 11, 1754. January 16 found him in
Williamsburg making his report to the Governor. The report was of such a
nature that His Excellency alerted the Virginia troops; it was deemed of
such importance as to be published in both Williamsburg and London
gazettes.
When Washington returned he carried a commission from His Excellency of
a lieutenant colonelcy in the Virginia regiment "whereof Joshua Fry,
Esquire, was Colonel," and joined his command in Alexandria. The market
square took on a militant atmosphere. "Two Companies of Foot, commanded
by Captain Peter Hog and Lieutenant Jacob Van Braam, five subalterns,
two Sergeants, six Corporals, one Drummer and one hundred and twenty
Soldiers, one Surgeon, one Swedish Gentleman, who was a volunteer, two
wagons, guarded by one Lieutenant, Sergeant, Corporal and twenty-five
soldiers," were all under the command of Lieutenant Colonel
Washington.[28]
Many brave young men newly outfitted in the colorful uniforms of His
Majesty's Militia, short clothes and white wigs, drilling in the market
square, swaggering around the town, filling up the new City Tavern.
Dances and dinners for the officers were the order of the day. Then came
the command for Washington to join Fry in defending British possessions
against the French, who had continued their depredations despite the
earlier diplomatic parley, and had not removed from the lands claimed as
the property of Great Britain.
Came April 2, and from the market place crowded with citizens, "Every
thing being ready," the commander, aged twenty-two, gave the order and
the company set forth to the strident beats of one drummer.[29] As the
creaking wheels of the two wagons and the tramp of marching feet faded
out of hearing, Alexandria had sent her sons off to her first war.
While Lieutenant Colonel Washington was occupied in so spectacular a
fashion, the town trustees were not without their troubles, also. People
were delinquent about complying with the Assembly laws. In June 1754,
the trustees ordered that various lots not built upon be put up at
auction and sold to the highest bidder. They were in earnest about this
dereliction on the part of purchasers, and seven lots were forfeited at
this time. Among those paying such a penalty was George Washington's
half-brother, Augustine Washington.
By December 1754, public buildings were well under way, the courthouse
lot was ordered "paled in with Posts and Rails in a workman-like
manner," and John Carlyle, John Dalton, George Johnston and William
Ramsay were appointed to see what was necessary to be done to the
finishing of the courthouse.
Within the year, his expedition defeated, Washington was back at Mount
Vernon, and very irritated by army orders demoting colonials of the same
grade and rank below the British regulars. Despite a vote of
commendation by the Burgesses and the sum of L50 voted for his services,
he threw up his commission.
The French continued hostilities, stirring up the Indians and causing no
end of trouble. His Majesty's government became sufficiently exercised
to dispatch an officer of the line, Major General Edward Braddock, two
warships in which were stowed a fine arsenal of powder, rifles, and
cannon, and two regiments of regulars. Word reached Alexandria in
February of Braddock's arrival in Williamsburg and that he and the
Governor were in conference. The first result of this conference was a
letter to "Mr. George Washington" written on March 2, 1755, and
dispatched in the person of General Braddock's aide-de-camp, Lieutenant
Robert Orme, requesting the presence of _Mr._ Washington as a member of
the General's military family. This, thought the Governor and the
General, would do away with any unpleasantness due to difference in
rank. A second decision reached in Williamsburg was one that resounded
along the Atlantic seaboard--to call a conference of the colonial
governors to consider ways, and especially means, of waging the coming
campaign. Alexandria was chosen as a meeting place and the day set was
April 14, 1755.
In the meantime, the English warships _Sea Horse_ and _Nightingale_
under command of Admiral Keppel arrived in Alexandria. Two of His
Majesty's regiments disembarked from the sea-grimed ships and the
Redcoats in formation marched to the "northwest of the town" led by
Colonel Sir Peter Halket and Colonel Dunbar. The humbler citizens had
never seen such a sight; neither had the Redcoats, and up went British
noses for all things Colonial. The regulars promptly dubbed the militia
"Bobtails."
After the exchange of several letters, Colonel Washington "volunteered"
to go unpaid with General Braddock on the campaign, and he came to
Alexandria to attend the governors' conference and whip his militia into
shape. Again he occupied the City Tavern as headquarters.
All at once the town was overrun with governors, His Majesty's royal
representatives. From Williamsburg came Dinwiddie; from Maryland,
Governor Sharpe; from Massachusetts, Governor Shirley; from New York,
Governor De Lancey; and from Pennsylvania, Governor Morris. Neither
dress nor ceremony had yet been curtailed by the drabness of Democracy.
Each governor arrived with a retinue of secretaries, attendants, and
aides; each by coach, decorated in gilded scrolls and colorful arms,
drawn by four to six horses; each governor resplendent in wig and
powder, silken hose, coats of brocade, velvet or broadcloth, waistcoats
of satin or damask, embroidered and braided, shirts of finest linen,
betucked and belaced, and attended by servants in livery as colorful as
their masters. The town was packed. Taverns were full, and private
houses were put at the disposal of these visitors. Dinners and balls
followed the serious councils of the day, which lasted until eleven or
twelve o'clock at night. The market place rang with the continuous
drilling of the Bobtails. Redcoats were everywhere. The ladies of the
town vied with one another in presents of potted woodcock and delicious
cake to the distinguished guests.
It has been one hundred and ninety-four years since the citizens of
Alexandria were treated to the panoply of five of His Majesty's royal
governors, two warships, and the presence of Major General Edward
Braddock with Mr. George Washington as part of his military family.
These days established the little seaport in history and furnished
sights and subjects resulting in tales and traditions more firmly
established than the printed word. Amid the scratching of quills and the
dipping of snuff, the destiny, not only of this hemisphere but of the
world, was changed, for the five governors assembled decided to tax the
colonies to support Braddock's expedition. It was not a popular
decision, and great difficulties arose in collecting the allotted sums.
It was a fateful step which led eventually to revolt by the colonies.
The conference over, pomp and pageantry departed, but not before Mr.
Washington and General Braddock had disagreed heartily on the fashion of
waging warfare. The heavy cannon brought by the British were dumped
overboard, notwithstanding, or were otherwise abandoned as too
cumbersome for the long trek west. General Braddock purchased from
Governor Sharpe of Maryland "an old English chariot and six horses" for
the march.
On April 20 the Redcoats and Bobtails (six companies, two from
Alexandria and the nearby countryside) set out. To Sir Peter Halket's
regiment were assigned Captain Stephens', Captain Peyronny's and Captain
Cock's Company of Rangers, and Captain Polson's Company of Artificers.
The heavy coach lumbered over the rough country roads, shaking poor
General Braddock almost to pieces and "greatly increased his
discomfort." Mr. Washington, desiring time to arrange his private
affairs at Mount Vernon, was unable to depart with his military family
for eight days after they left.
This tragically ill-fated expedition resulted in heavy casualties. On
July 9, Braddock was attacked unexpectedly near Fort Du Quesne by a body
of French and Indians, some three hundred strong, which so surprised the
British regulars they were struck with a "deadly panic" and
ignominiously fled. "The officers behaved with incomparable bravery ...
there being near 60 killed and wounded. The Virginian Companies behaved
like men and died like Soldiers ... scarce 30 were left alive ... The
General was wounded behind in the shoulder and into the Breast, of which
he died three days after."[30] George Washington miraculously saved the
army from complete rout. He afterwards collected his decimated
Virginians and marched them back to the market square in Alexandria. The
reception was a sad one.
[Illustration]
EARLY GROWTH
The minutes of the trustees for 1755 announced that by this time the
first frame courthouse was fenced--it had taken two years--and the
gentlemen justices of Fairfax County, sitting on November 17, 1756,
ordered John West, John Carlyle, and William Ramsay, Gentlemen, to be
paid five thousand pounds of tobacco; John Doonas, Alexandria's first
policeman, was to receive 120 pounds for patrolling twelve days.
For the next hundred years the great municipal interests were to be
tobacco, wheat, and ships; the rapid and proper dispatching of the
produce stored in the great warehouses occupying the river front; the
housing and sale of the vast diversity of goods coming to anchor with
each new sail. But in these earliest days, tobacco and ships to
transport it were the motivating forces of the town.
Turning the pages of a journal of long ago, one gets this glimpse of the
fit setting:
In the evening we returned down the river about fifteen miles to
Alexandria or Belhaven, a small trading place in one of the finest
situations imaginable. The Potomac above and below the town is not
more than a mile broad, but it here opens into a large circular bay
of at least twice that diameter. The town is built upon an arc of
this bay; at one extremity of which is a wharf; at the other a dock
for building ships; with water sufficiently deep to launch a vessel
of any rate or magnitude.[31]
On May 19, 1760, George Washington "went to Alexandria to see Captn.
Litterdale's ship launched, wch. went off extreamely well."[32] Again on
October 5, 1768, he "went up to Alexandria after an early dinner to see
a ship [the _Jenny_] launched, but was disappointed and came home."[33]
Next day, the 6th, he "went up again, saw the ship launched; stayd all
night to a Ball and set up all Night."[34] His expense account shows a
loss of 19 shillings at cards for the evening.
Alexandria's importance as a seaport was phenomenal and after a few
years it was ranking third in the New World--greater than New York, the
rival of Boston. Master shipbuilders turned out vessels to sail any
sea--manned, owned, and operated by Alexandrians. Down the ways of
Alexandria shipyards glided as good vessels as could be built. From her
ropewalks came the rope to hoist the sails made in her sail lofts.
Chemists' shops specialized in fitting out ships' medicine boxes for the
long voyages, and bakeshops packed daily thousands of ships' biscuits.
Ship chandlers forsook older ports for the new one; planters rolled in
tobacco in ever increasing bulk to fill the vessels crowding the harbor.
With greater wealth came the means to fill the need and desire of
Alexandrians for good clothes and fine furnishings. And so back to
England with each cargo went orders for the newest taste and the latest
fashion.
It took months, sometimes longer than a year, to complete an order for
goods. Each voyage was a stupendous adventure. Ships with full cargoes
often disappeared and were neither seen nor heard of again. George
Washington's writings serve as a good history of Alexandria. His
voluminous letters reveal what our first citizens needed, bought, and
used, what various articles cost, and how business details were handled:
November 30, 1759
To Robert Cary & Company
Gentn: By the George and Captns Richardson and Nicks who saild with
the Fleet in September last I sent invoices of such Goods as were
wanting for myself Estate etc, but knowing that the latter
unfortunately foundered at Sea soon after her departure from Virginia
and that the former may probably have suffered by that Storm or some
other accident, by which means my Letters &c would miscarry I take
this oppertunity by way of Bristol of addressing Copies of them, and
over and above the things there wrote for to desire the favour of you
to send me a neat Grait (for Coal or small Faggots) in the newest
taste and of a size to fit a Chimney abt. 3 feet wide and two Deep,
and a fender suited to Ditto. Steel I believe are most used at
present; also send me a New Market Great Coat with a loose hood to be
made of Blew Drab or broad cloth with Straps before according to the
present taste, let it be made of such cloth as will turn a good
shower of Rain and made long, and fit in other respects for a Man
full 6 feet high and proportionately made, possibly the Measure sent
for my other cloths may be a good direction to these. Please to add
also to the things ordered for Mrs. Dandridge 12 yds of Silver cold
Armozeen or Ducape and cause it to be packed up with the Rest of her
things charged with them. &ca.
Five days ago I dropt a letter at Williamsburg, to take the first
Conveyance to you, desiring Insurance on 50 Hhds Tobo pr. the Cary
since then I have got 4 more Inspected and all on Float ready to
deliver at the Ships side. You will therefore Insure that Quantity
and dispose of them in the best manner for Our Interest. If Captn.
Talman uses that Dispatch in Loading of his Vessell, which I am sure
he now has in his power to do this Tobo. wl come to a very good
market, I hope.
It is almost as much trouble and expense getting Goods from any of
the Rivers round to Potomack as the Original Charges of Shipping them
amount to, unless they are committed to the charge of very careful
Captains who has an Interest in forwarding. I should be glad
therefore if you would take the oppertunity of some Ship to that
River of sending my Goods for the Future.
Your favour of the 6th Augt. I have had the pleasure of receiving,
and acknowledge myself particularly obliged to you for your polite
Congratulations on my Marriage, as I likewise am for your Dispatch of
my Goods.
I am Gentn.[35]
[Illustration: A Suffer to Pass of the ship Polly and Nancy of
Alexandria; John McKnight, Master. Signed by George Washington.
(Courtesy Mount Vernon Ladies' Association)]
An invoice of goods of earlier date sent by the same firm for the use of
George Washington contained 194 items. Wearing garments, ornaments for
the chimney place, busts, drugs, sugar, carpenter's and plowman's tools,
candy, a case of pickles containing anchovies, capers, olives, "salid
oyl" and a bottle of India mangoes; tea, harness, saddles, corks, six
pounds of perfumed powder, three pounds of the best Scotch snuff,
ribbons, gloves, sword belt, nine dozen packages of playing cards, paint
and brushes, one and one-half dozen bell glasses for the garden; one
mahogany closet stool case in the newest taste, with place for chamber
pot, etc.; soap, garden seeds, nuts and condiments, locks and two dozen
H&L hinges and three pounds of bird lime, were but a few of the items
listed.
In addition to his own orders, the General supervised the shopping for
the two Custis children and his mother-in-law, Mrs. Dandridge. Not only
were clothes and materials ordered, fine ivory combs, stockings, etc.,
but toys. Here is a selection made by the Cary firm--a child's fiddle, a
coach and six in a box, a stable with six horses, a toy whip, a filigree
watch, a neat enameled watch box, a corner cupboard and a child's huzzit
[housewife].
General Washington was a Virginia gentleman who lived in a fashion
similar to his neighbors; like orders, we may be sure, went from
Alexandria, and like articles were bought and received into its homes.
Perhaps the system was not always so direct, for the average townsman
doubtless relied more upon local merchants as agents. Washington
followed this course at various times, but until the American
Revolution he rather steadfastly depended upon Robert Cary & Company of
London.
With the growth of trade and population came the necessity for expansion
of the town, and we see the Assembly approving the petition of the
trustees and sundry inhabitants of the town of Alexandria in 1762,
"Praying that an Act may pass to enlarge the Bounds of the said
Town."[36] All lots save those in the marsh were then built upon.
On May 9, 1763, the trustees proceeded to sell the new lots, which had
been added by act of Assembly. The town property was enhancing in value
and for that reason the lots were sold with a twelve-month credit,
hoping to increase the sale value. Forty-six lots were disposed of,
among the purchasers being George Johnston, Robert Adam, Francis Lee,
John Dalton, John Carlyle, and George Washington, who at thirty-one
years of age became a _bona fide_ citizen of Alexandria. The town which
he had honored returned the compliment four years later when the city
fathers meeting on December 16, 1766, "proceeded to elect as Trustee in
the room of George Johnston, decd, and have unanimously chosen George
Washington, Esq., as Trustee for the town aforesaid."[37]
Fifteen years after the laying out of the town, at a session of the
House of Burgesses, November 5, 1764, in the fifth year of the reign of
George III it was "Resolved, That it is the Opinion of this Committee
that the Petition of divers Proprietors of Lots, and other Inhabitants
of the Town of Alexandria, in the County of Fairfax, praying that so
much of the Act of Assembly for establishing the said Town as obliges
the Purchasers of Lots therein to build and improve the same in a
limited Time, may be repealed, and the Purchasers left at Liberty to
build thereon when convenient to them, is reasonable."[38] George
Washington found it convenient to build a house on one of his lots in
1769; the other was not built upon until almost thirty years later.
The prodigious development of the new port was accompanied by a growing
civic pride and the demand for better public buildings. A
story-and-a-half brick town hall was erected in 1759 by funds raised by
lottery, tickets selling at ten shillings each, the trustees making
themselves responsible for a sum adequate for the purpose. At the
trustees' meeting of April 1767, John Dalton and John Carlyle produced
an account of moving the courthouse amounting to L52 7_s._ 5-1/2_d._;
while William Ramsay presented his account for a "scheme of a lottery to
build a Church and Market house" in the amount of L11 12_s._[39] The new
town house with its clerk's office and assembly room stood on the
northeast corner of the square; nearby on Cameron Street stood the
Fairfax Court House, which town promotion had brought to Alexandria. The
church and market did not materialize so early.
[Illustration: The addition to the town in 1763 and 1767. (Library of
Congress)]
EARLY EDUCATION
Space in the lower floor of the town hall was provided for a grammar
school soon after the completion of this building in 1760. Seven years
later the town fathers found that the schoolhouse was so misused that
repairs were urgent and minutes for the meeting of February 2, 1767,
record how they considered it necessary to put it in better condition,
"also to make some additions in order to make the upper room usefull not
only for meeting of the Trustees but for such other purposes as may be
thought necessary." Apparently a separate entrance for the schoolroom
dates from this time; other improvements included the raising of the
roof for greater utility upstairs. The trustees further resolved: "As it
appears to us that the House has been very much injured by the
negligence of the School Masters it is now determined that each Master
give security to repair any injury that the House may sustain during the
time they have it." Robert Adam and Thomas Fleming were appointed
overseers of the property for a term of twelve months.
[Illustration: Corner mantel at 211-1/2 Prince Street in the house built
about 1786 by William Hickman. The builder was trying to cram into a
given space every motif in the _Builder's Handbook_: Greek entablature
at the top of the pediment, crowded center panel, broken pediment, and
the top of the pediment jammed into the cap fretwork. The whole is very
amusing but interesting and altogether charming.]
A grammar school reputed to have been supported by public funds was in
existence at Belhaven in 1739, just ten years before Alexandria was
founded. Presumably the Alexandria school of 1760 was put into operation
under identical conditions and it may be that special classes beyond the
mere rudiments of education were conducted for children whose families
could pay extra tuition. Such a plan would closely approximate the
tutorial arrangement prevailing on outlying plantations. For orphaned
children and the very poor who had to earn while they learned, provision
was usually made for a little schooling within the framework of the
apprenticeship system, and church wardens were charged with
responsibility for placing orphans with individuals to learn a useful
occupation. At a court held March 18, 1770, "James Gameron, five years
old the last of this month and Sarah Gameron three years old" were bound
out "to William Wren who is to learn them to read and write, and the
said James the trade of a shoe maker."[40]
After the Revolution, the town's educational system centered in the
Alexandria academy, which stood on the east side of Washington Street
between Wolfe and Wilkes, where now stands the present Washington Public
School. The old Marsteller house, acquired by the public school system
in 1882, when the present school building was erected, has by many been
confused with the old academy building. The Alexandria academy was a
one-story brick structure. Its cornerstone was laid September 7, 1785,
by the Alexandria Lodge of Freemasons, Robert Adam, Esquire, Worshipful
Master of the Lodge. Mrs. Powell, in her _History of Old Alexandria_,
states that after the stone was laid "a gratuity was distributed among
the workmen." The school was incorporated in 1786 by act of the Virginia
Assembly and the trustees were to be chosen by those gentlemen who had
contributed five or more dollars for the use of the academy, thirteen
fit and able men to serve beginning in 1788. In the meantime,
Washington, Dr. Brown, and twelve other generous public-spirited
citizens were appointed by law as trustees until the annual elections
should begin. The letter asking Washington to serve is extant.
General Washington, always a believer and a patron of learning,
contributed for many years prior to his death, L50 annually toward a
free department for poor students. In his will he left one thousand
dollars or "20 shares of stock which I hold in the Bank of Alexandria,
towards the support of a free school established at and annexed to the
said Academy, for the purpose of educating such orphans or children of
such poor and indigent persons as are unable to accomplish it with their
own means, and who in the judgment of the trustees of the said Seminary
are best entitled to the benefit of this donation."
[Illustration: A Mantel in the home of the late Miss Saidee M. Field,
316 Duke Street, in the Adam-McIntyre manner. The house was built prior
to 1795, at which time a trust to secure William Stoggett of
Carnelsford, County Cornwall, England for L253.16.9 is cited. Note the
large brick in the worn hearth and bit of original pine flooring. The
fireback has been rebuilt.]
By 1791 the school established by his bounty was caring for thirteen boy
and seven girl pupils. One graduate, John Weylie, wrote to thank the
General for his benevolence. This same young man later became tutor for
the children of Dr. David Stuart. In January 1800, following
Washington's death the month previous, the Alexandria council voted to
provide a suit of mourning for each of the poor scholars educated at his
expense that they might join in the memorial exercises scheduled for
February 22.
George Steptoe Washington and Lawrence Augustine, sons of the General's
deceased brother, Samuel, were both sent to the academy. They were
boarded by Washington with one of the trustees, Samuel Hansen, who
frequently reported to their uncle on their interests and behavior. In
1789, Hansen wrote to the General recommending for George one Cleon
Moore as teacher of the violin at L12 per year.
These gentlemen were not as circumspect when students as was Lorenzo
Lewis, who was cited in 1819 for "general deportment and propriety of
conduct." Young Lewis was the son of Nelly Custis and Lawrence Lewis,
the former Mrs. Washington's granddaughter and the General's ward, the
latter the General's nephew. Robert E. Lee perchance might be included
in this Washington family circle, by virtue of his subsequent marriage
to the daughter of George Washington Parke Custis, brother of Nelly. Lee
attended the academy from about 1820 until 1824, and was remembered by
his teachers as an exemplary scholar.
Education for the opposite sex was not overlooked. Through the interest
and encouragement of Washington, Mrs. Eliza Harriot O'Conner opened an
academy for young ladies as early as 1788. Quaintly worded announcements
appearing in local gazettes early in the nineteenth century reveal an
ever-increasing number of girls' schools.
Female scholars clad in blue worsted dresses, black aprons, muslin
handkerchiefs, leather shoes and colored hose, capes, blue lined straw
bonnets, sporting crimson ribbons, studied the exotic subjects of
"Painting in inks and colors on 'tiffany.' Embroidered landscapes both
plain and fanciful in chenile, gold and silver, wrought maps in
'ditto'--printed work in Tambour and needlework--made fringe and
netting."
EARLY AMUSEMENTS
Alexandrians were not without their lighter side. There were plays in
town at least as early as 1768, for on September 20 of that year George
Washington took Mrs. Washington and the Custis children to Alexandria to
see "The Inconstant, or, Way to Win." They remained overnight and the
next day attended the theatre again to see "The Tragedy of Douglas." The
cost of the two entertainments was given as L3 12_s._ 6_d._
In 1789 the _Virginia Journal and Alexandria Advertiser_ announced the
presentation of the "Tragedy of Jane Shore, with the musical farce of
the Virgin Unmasked." Mr. McGrath opened the Alexandria Theatre for four
seasons beginning in 1791. On November 6 he presented Garrick's comedy,
"The Lying Valet" and on November 19, 1793, the American comedy, "The
Contrast: or, the True Born Yankee." The theatre doors opened at six,
and the curtain was raised promptly at half-past six--or so the
announcement read, and it continued, "no money to be received by the
Door-Keepers."
In 1797, Thomas Wade West, Manager of "The Virginia and South Carolina
Comedians Companies" and Margaret, his wife, came to Alexandria for the
purpose of erecting a theatre. A lot on the north side of Cameron
Street, fronting thereon fifty-four feet, was purchased on July 8, 1797,
from Thomas and Sarah Porter, the ground rental of which was 108 silver
dollars yearly.
The patrons of this enterprise, some twenty-nine of the first citizens
of Alexandria--among them Edmund I. Lee, William Herbert, Josiah Watson,
Ludwell Lee, Elisha Cullen Dick, Joseph Riddle and Jonah
Thompson--agreed with one another to contribute the sum of two hundred
dollars each to be laid out and expended for the erection of a theatre
upon the aforesaid piece of ground. The subscribers had free tickets of
admission to every performance with the exception of benefits and
charities. This was to continue in effect for one season after
reimbursement at six per cent interest. Thomas Wade West agreed to
furnish all the decorations, scenery and furniture to the value of L500.
This was the New Theatre as shown on the early maps of the town.
Cockfights and horse racing, too, were popular, the latter attended by
women and children. But in 1816 the council forbade these activities
taking place within the town limits, and ruled that "every person who
shall trim, heel, or pit any cock so fought and every owner of such cock
consenting thereto and every person who shall bet on such a match or
main shall severally forfeit and pay for every offense the sum of twenty
dollars."[41] Since horse racing could not be easily secreted in cellars
and walled gardens, no such drastic penalties accompanied that
pertinent part of the act. Blooded horses were imported by John Carlyle
as early as 1762. Alexandria races attracted the best horses in the Old
Dominion. Famous Maryland and Tidewater stables participated in the
Jockey Club races. George Washington was steward of the Alexandria
Jockey Club. The gazettes were full of notices concerning the races and
frequently gave pedigrees of certain horses advertised for sale or stud.
[Illustration: Doorway of the supposed Jockey Club of which Washington
and Dulany were stewards. (814 Franklin Street)]
After the races, especially those of the Jockey Club, there was sure to
be an Assembly Ball at one of the larger taverns, followed by a fine
supper. In Gadsby's time the Jockey Club used his tavern as
headquarters. After dining, the members were frequently entertained by
"The Players" or "Jugglers and Tumblers." Maryland neighbors as well as
nearby Virginians turned out for these festivities.
[Illustration: Mantel in the home of the late Mr. and Mrs. Norman H.
Davis, 804 Prince Street. Late 18th and early 19th Century reeded
carving, typical of the Federal House. The decoration is achieved by the
returns around the pilasters, the reeded trim and diamond motif in the
center panel.]
Fox hunting was indulged in frequently by Alexandria gentlemen who went
often to Mount Vernon, Belvoir and to other estates near Alexandria for
the sport.
Fairs and circuses from time to time filled the town with excitement.
Feats of horsemanship, vaulting and dancing were performed every Fair
Day during the visitation of Messrs. Pepin and Breschard in April 1810.
The doors opened at half-past three and the performance commenced at
half-past four; beginning with a Grand Military Manoeuvre by eight
persons well mounted, and ending with the admired "Scene of the Domestic
Horse" (by the famous Conqueror) who brought chairs and baskets when
commanded, and the "Ladies Fireworks," composed by Mr. Condit.
Of course, there was much wining and dining out, followed by cards
rendered more spicy when played for stakes. Taverns and oyster houses
furnished recreation for those less affluent. Fields and streams
furnished rare sport for fishermen; the successful fisherman or hunter
could always dispose of his excess catch at the market. Fish fries were
common entertainment.
[Illustration]
DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND A NEW MONEY CROP
As the population grew, the markets were abundantly supplied. Great
vessels packed with ice for sale in the town tied up at the wharves;
open spaces devoted to gardens and outbuildings gave way to dwelling
houses, and the town became more compact. Twelve or more servants were
necessary for the maintenance of large establishments, varying in number
according to the size of the family and the house. There was generally a
butler, who acted as major-domo, a cook and kitchenmaid, body servants
or valets for the head of the house and the young gentlemen, a ladies'
maid, chambermaid, nurse and nursemaids, a coachman, stable boy,
gardener, yard boy and laundress.
During the first twenty years of the city's development, an entire block
might contain not more than four homes. Each of these units functioned
as a miniature and self-supporting estate, surrounded by flower and
vegetable gardens and the usual outbuildings--necessaries, kitchen,
dairy, ice house, smokehouse, fowl house, servant quarters and stable.
The following advertisement appearing as late as 1828 illustrates the
traditional layout:
TO LET
An elegant two story Brick House, with kitchen, wash house, bath
house, stable and carriage houses, an elegant garden, and a well of
excellent water, a pump in the middle or centre of the square, a
cistern for wash water and every convenience, equalled by few and
exceeded by none of its size in Alexandria and suited only to a
genteel family.
It stands on Prince Street. It will be let for one or more years as
best suits the tenant and possession given at once.
Apply to ROBERT BROCKETT
In spring the gardens were prepared, the herring salted and packed. In
summer great quantities of preserves, jellies, and pickles were put up
for the long winter. At the first frost the smokehouses were filled with
hams and great sides of bacon. Game was plentiful, and during the season
venison, duck, partridge, wild turkey, and woodcock appeared in market
and graced the tables of the well-to-do. With tea from China and India,
coffee from Brazil, oil and condiments from Spain, sugar and fruits from
the West Indies, Alexandrians fared sumptuously.
By 1770 Alexandria's tobacco trade had largely given way to wheat, and
the local shipping merchants were finding their supplies farther and
farther west in the valley of the Shenandoah. George Washington was one
of the first planters on the upper Potomac to change his money crop from
tobacco to wheat. He enlarged his mill and took advantage of the latest
mechanical advances of his time. However successful he became as a wheat
farmer, he never escaped the trials and grief caused by those middlemen,
his agents. In 1767 he wrote a nine-page letter roundly berating Carlyle
and Adam for the destruction of his bags and for delay in paying him for
his wheat.
A list of merchants and factors doing business in Alexandria in 1775
emphasizes the transition from tobacco to wheat. Of twenty-one firms
enumerated, fourteen were purchasers of wheat:
1. Hooe and Harrison--_wheat_ purchasers.
2. Steward and Hubard--_wheat_ purchasers.
3. Fitzgerald and Reis--_wheat_ purchasers.
4. Harper and Hartshorne--_wheat_ purchasers.
5. John Allison--_wheat_ purchaser.
6. William Sadler--_wheat_ purchaser.
7. Robert Adam and Co.--_wheat_ purchasers.
8. Henby and Calder--_wheat_ purchasers.
9. William Hayburne--_wheat_ purchaser.
10. James Kirk--_wheat_ purchaser.
11. George Gilpin--_wheat_ purchaser, inspector of flour.
12. Thomas Kilpatrick--_wheat_ purchaser, inspector of flour.
13. McCawlay and Mayes--import British goods which they sell
wholesale.
14. William Wilson--seller of British goods who buys tobacco.
15. John Locke--seller of British goods who buys tobacco.
16. John Muir--seller of British goods who buys tobacco.
17. Brown and Finley--they import goods from Philadelphia and
purchase tobacco and _wheat_.
18. Josiah Watson--he imports goods from Philadelphia and purchases
tobacco and _wheat_.
19. Robert Dove and Co.--distillers.
20. Carlyle and Dalton--import Rum and Sugar.
21. Andrew Wales--brewer.[42]
It is said that Virginia wheat was the best to be procured and all
Europe was a market for Alexandria flour. It was not long before the
great wagons that had formerly carried wheat from Tidewater to
Philadelphia and the Delaware found the Potomac port as good a market
and a shorter journey. Numerous bakehouses appeared and Alexandria
packed and shipped large quantities of bread and crackers along with
flour to Europe and the Indies.
Alexandria had been a port of entry since 1779 and time was when the
Potomac from mouth to port was so crowded with vessels that navigation
was difficult. The early gazettes constantly referred to the crowded
condition of the river. The water front seethed with activity. One finds
the notice in a newspaper of 1786 of the arrival from St. Petersburg,
Russia, of the ship _Hunter_ of Alexandria. She was advertised to ply
her trade between these two places. This ship was built, owned, and
sailed by an Alexandrian, and was but one of many claiming Alexandria as
home port. Far corners of the earth were united in this ancient harbor
for a hundred years or more. "Commerce and Shipping" columns in the
local journals were as well read then as are our "classifieds" today.
Ships from China lay beside ships from Spain; flags from Holland,
Jamaica, Portugal, Germany, France and Russia flaunted their gay colors.
Private as well as public wharves were built. Large and rich shipping
firms were numerous. Great warehouses of brick lined the river front. A
kinsman of President Washington wrote him in 1792 that the "port of
Alexandria has seldom less than 20 square-rigged vessels in it and often
many more. The streets are crowded with wagons and the people all seem
busy."[43]
Sloops, brigs, barques and schooners unloaded osnaburgs, wild boars,
moreens, brocades and damasks, bombazines, Russian and Belgian linens,
Scottish wools, French and Italian silk, caster hats, morocco leather
slippers, pipes of Madeira wine, casks of rum and port from Spain,
spices, fruits, and muscovado sugar from the West Indies, chests of
Hyson tea from China, neat sofas, bureaus, sideboards, harpsichords and
spinets from London, along with other things "too tedious to mention."
By 1816 decline in the importance of the port had set in, but no less
than 992 vessels entered and cleared the customs that year. This number
did not include the "vast number of inland packets, coal traders, lumber
vessells, wood d^o, grain d^o, etc." Of these 992 vessels, 195 were
foreign--ships, brigs, schooners, sloops--while coastwise entrances and
clearances reached 797. On January 22, 1817, the account of vessels in
the port of Alexandria stood:
Ships 9
Barques 1
Brigs 11
Schooners 30
Sloops 15
---
Total 66
These figures do not include a number of small craft in the port or the
steamboats _Washington_ and _Camdon_.
[Illustration]
AFTERMATH OF REVOLUTION
Participants in the Revolution made more impress upon Alexandria's
history than the war itself. The town was divided in its sentiments.
Many of the Scottish people remained loyal in their sympathies to the
mother country. Old Lord Fairfax, a Tory of Tories, became incensed with
young Washington, whom he had practically brought up, and 'tis said,
refused ever to see or speak to him again. His heir, Parson Bryan
Fairfax, of Mount Eagle, afterward Eighth Lord, remained on the
friendliest terms with the household at Mount Vernon, while holding the
strongest of Loyalist convictions. Tradition has it that Washington
personally saved him from molestation by the American troops.
[Illustration: An early cartoon representing John Bull collecting
indemnity from Alexandrians during the War of 1812. By Wm. Charles.
(_Library of Congress_)]
The Alexandria Committee of Safety obtained and outfitted fifteen
vessels for the protection of the town and the Potomac. On two occasions
the people became much excited and badly frightened. Rumor was rife in
1775 that Governor Dunmore had dispatched an expedition of warships up
the Potomac to "lay waste the towns and the country, capture Mrs.
Washington, and burn Mount Vernon."[44] Martha Washington remained calm,
and though finally persuaded by Colonel Mason to leave home, she stayed
away one night only.
The second scare is revealed in a letter from the General's manager,
Lund Washington, written in January 1776. "Alexandria is much alarmed
and indeed the whole neighborhood," he wrote. "The women and children
are leaving the town and stowing themselves in every hut they can find,
out of reach of the enemy's cannon. Every wagon, cart and pack horse
they can get is employed. The militia are all up, but not in arms, for
indeed they have none, or at least very few."[45]
[Illustration: Mantel in the house of the late Mrs. Davidson Maigne, 220
South Royal Street, dates about 1800 and is a good example of the
period, showing grace and restraint. Attention is drawn to the center
panel in an interesting way.]
La Fayette, De Kalb, Rochambeau, John Paul Jones, and "Light Horse
Harry" Lee, were in and out of Alexandria many times. On May 4, 1781,
the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army recorded in his diary: "A
letter from the Marq^s de la Fayette, dated at Alexandria on the 23rd,
mentioned his having commenced his march that day for Fredericksburg"--that
desertion had ceased, and that his detachment was in good spirits.[46]
High morale and grand strategy brought victory for the Continental cause
that October. Something like thirty-odd officers of the Revolution lived
in or near Alexandria, or came to live here after the war. Sixteen of them
became members of the Society of the Cincinnati, of which Washington was
President General.
The Peace of 1783 revived strangulated commerce and construction. The
harbor came to life. The brickmason and the carpenter took up their
tools. Wheat and tobacco rolled in to fill again the empty warehouses.
The citizens were gay and indulged themselves in festivities, as witness
an old letter written from Alexandria on February 13, 1787:
Last Evening there was an elegant Ball in this Town, being the
anniversary of General Washington's birth. No less than fifty Ladies
elegantly dressed graced the Ball Room, tho the mud in our
intolerable Streets was up to the Knees in Shoes (rather Boots) &
Stockings.
Mr. Jenckes attended--says the Ball was agreeable for one so
numerous. He has formed considerable acquaintances with the ladies,
who are very agreeable but in general they talk rather too broad
Irish for him.[47]
Brissot de Warville, who visited America in 1788, was impressed by the
possibilities of Alexandria:
... where thirty or forty years ago there were only one or two
houses, is now indeed smaller than Baltimore, but plans to surpass
her. She is already quite as irregular in construction and as muddy.
But there is more luxury evident at Alexandria, if a miserable
luxury; you see servants in silk stockings, and their masters in
boots.
At the end of the war the people of Alexandria imagined that the
natural advantages of their situation, the salubrity of the air, the
depth of the river channel and the safety of the harbour which can
accomodate the largest ships and permit them to anchor close to the
wharves, must unite with the richness of the back country to make
their town the center of a large commerce. In consequence they are
building on all sides, they have set up superb wharves and raised
vast warehouses.
At the moment the expected commerce languishes. This is attributed to
the heavy taxes. Whatever may be the cause many citizens are
emigrating or planning to emigrate. Some ships of Alexandria are now
trading regularly with the West Indies and at New Orleans.[48]
[Illustration: Classical Revival in mantel and doorway]
THE FEDERAL PERIOD
It was not long after the Revolution that the seat of the new federal
government was selected near Alexandria. In fact, one old story has it
that Alexandria was chosen as the site, and the patriot Washington was
twitted with the advantages that would accrue to him, with such vast
holdings of land so near the new capital. The tales go on that
Washington waxed very angry and replied that never, if he could help it,
should a public building be put south of the Potomac.
Be this as it may, the Virginia Assembly ceded to the federal government
on December 3, 1789, a generous slice of Fairfax County to be
incorporated with the State of Maryland's larger portion into a district
for the federal capital, ten miles square. The Congress of the United
States was pleased to accept this, and later an additional act of
Congress of March 3, 1791, amended and repealed a part of the first act,
naming Alexandria part of the ceded territory. And so for the next
fifty-six years we have no longer Alexandria in Virginia, but Alexandria
in the District of Columbia.
The Federal City (afterward Washington) which did not officially become
the nation's capital until 1800, was an undrained marsh in 1790.
Travelers visiting Alexandria about that time described it as having
"upwards of three hundred houses," many "handsomely built."[49] In 1795
Thomas Twining passed through Alexandria and commented: "What struck me
most was the vast number of houses which I saw building ... the hammer
and the trowel were at work everywhere, a cheering sight."[50] The Duc
de la Rochefoucauld in the following year stated: "Alexandria is beyond
all comparison the handsomest town in Virginia and indeed is among the
finest in the United States."[51] That same year, 1796, Isaac Weld
remarked, "Alexandria is one of the neatest towns in the United States.
The houses are mostly of brick."[52]
Virginians were largely their own architects. Thomas Jefferson designed
Monticello, the University of Virginia, and the Capitol at Richmond;
George Mason built Gunston Hall; and George Washington directed the
transformation of Mount Vernon from a simple villa into the famous
mansion it is. Alexandria "Undertakers," or contractors, did the
work--James Patterson in 1758 and Going Lamphire from 1773 onward for a
number of years. One Mr. Sanders, was called in about roof troubles and
afterwards dismissed. John Carlyle was the great gentleman architect and
builder of Alexandria. He built his own fine house, he took over Christ
Church in 1773 when James Parsons failed to complete his contract, and
he also superintended the erection of the Presbyterian meetinghouse.
James Wren, Gentleman, is remembered as the designer of Christ Church in
1767. Thomas Fleming is referred to as a ship's carpenter and "one who
is inclined to serve the Town." A story goes that George Coryell built a
gate in Philadelphia which so pleased the first President that he
persuaded him to move to Alexandria. True or not, the local _Gazette_
carried Coryell's advertisements of building materials and he is known
to have built a number of houses. Robert Brockett was building in 1785
the Presbyterian Manse. Benjamin Hallowell, William Fowle, and William
Yeaton at a later time proved themselves able architects.
The designs of Alexandria houses derived from the Old Country, and
follow the type of eighteenth century architecture found in the British
Isles, especially Scotland. The general floor plans of Alexandria's
homes are similar. With the _Builder's Companion and Workman's General
Assistant_, it was well-nigh impossible to go wrong. This series of
pamphlets, reprinted in 1762 by William Pain of London, offered the
purest and best of classical designs. The Scottish founders adapted them
to their needs, with the result that Alexandria differs from other
Colonial towns in Virginia, as Scotland differs from England. The
spiritual and physical variations are keenly sensed.
The interior trim of Alexandria's houses is simple and severe compared
to the plantation houses lining the Virginia rivers; to the elaborate
carving of the fine eighteenth century Charleston homes it seems plain
and austere. Nonetheless, there is a substantial dignity about these
houses that produces an atmosphere of calm, gracious peace not unlike
the interiors of meetinghouses. Even the little brick-and-frame cottages
partake of this same feeling and are remarkable for the charm of their
inviting and harmonious rooms. The simple overmantels, chair rails, wide
and low six-paneled doors hung on the proverbial H&L hinges, well
proportioned rooms and large, hospitable fireplaces, all done in
miniature, form interiors rare in scale, surprising in elegance, perfect
in balance.
For the better part of ten years after the Revolution, buildings
continued going up as rapidly as bricks could be made and artisans found
to put them together. As the town grew, the gaps along the streets were
filled. Alexandria assumed the character, not of Williamsburg or
Annapolis, but rather of Philadelphia or some Old World town. By 1795 it
wore an air of stability as row after row of fine brick buildings went
up. Alexandria houses were city dwellings and homes of merchants.
Comfortable and inviting they were, too, with a wealth of detail in
finish and appearance. Doorways and cornices for the outside; arches,
mantels and paneling within. Very sad it is to relate how much of this
has found its way into the museums of the country, and sadder still to
tell how much has been wantonly destroyed. The New York Metropolitan
Museum of Art houses one of the great rooms from Alexandria; the St.
Louis Museum another; and some interior woodwork has found its way to
Williamsburg.
[Illustration: Varied were the designs and never were the twain alike]
Conceived and built as a trading center, by 1796, almost without
exception, the first floor of every building was used as a place of
business while the upper floors served as the family dwelling. This
accounts for the more elaborate woodwork found on second floors. The
Mutual Assurance Society archives reveal many instances of a store,
countinghouse, office or shop located in a wing or attached building;
likewise warehouses on the premises as well as along the water front.
ARTISANS AND TRADESMEN
Alexandrians owned and operated shipyards, sail lofts, ropewalks, lumber
yards, brick kilns; print and apothecary shops; manufactories of
harness, saddles, boots, shoes, mattresses, and cloth. And of course
there were the taverns and hotels, inns and oyster houses, markets,
stables, ferries, and fish wharves (where millions of herring were
packed for export). Its citizens maintained churches, schools,
academies, banks, fire companies, counting houses, and newspapers. They
supported ministers, lawyers, doctors, dentists, oculists,
cabinetmakers, artists, musicians, actors, merchants and a town militia.
Mention has already been made of the important building professions--to
the activities of house and ship carpenters, and the "undertakers," or
contractors of the day.
Among the tradesmen and artisans of the town were watchmakers and
clockmakers, jewelers, goldsmiths, coppersmiths, gunsmiths, blacksmiths,
and ironmongers; confectioners, bakers and brewers; hatters, and
wig-makers. Cottom & Stewart was a firm of publishers and vendors of the
latest in literature. Joshua Delacour was a bookbinder who carried on
his business in all its branches, not only supplying ladies with
bandboxes, trunks, pasteboard stays and stomachers, but he also papered
rooms in the neatest fashion. Books and stationery were imported by
Joshua Merryman, who also advertised blotting paper, quills, ink powder,
inkpots, sealing wax and wafers--in fact, all the adjuncts of polite
correspondence.
Margaret Greetner set great store by her newly imported mangle, by which
"silk, linen and cotton stockings, and other articles were smoothed and
glossed in the most expeditious manner." She took in washing at
"moderate terms" and apparently was the eighteenth century counterpart
of our modern laundry. Joseph Delarue was her competitor in the
dry-cleaning field, offering his services to ladies and gentlemen of the
town and adjacent country as a scourer of silks, chintzes, and woolen
clothes. Coachmaking was carried on by E.P. Taylor and Charles Jones.
Unfortunately, records relating to Alexandria's early artisans are
pathetically scanty or altogether lacking.
Alexandria in its heyday boasted as fine silver as could be found in the
colony, and while there is a quantity of English silver thereabouts,
much was made by her own craftsmen. It exists today in families who,
while cherishing it for generations, have used it commonly for a century
or more.
A partial list of silversmiths includes some nineteen or twenty names,
for the earliest of whom there is any record, we must thank "the
General," for it is in his ledgers that these first five names are
found, noting some work done for Mount Vernon, usually of a repair
nature. Salt spoons and ladles evidently saw hard service, or were kept
so spick and span they had to go to the silversmith for frequent
mending. In 1773 the Washington silver chest was the richer for a punch
ladle made by William Dowdney. While this was in the making, one Edward
Sandford was restoring a salt and mending a punch ladle. He also
repaired Mrs. Washington's watch and made her a silver seal. The salt
spoons were in the hands of one Charles Turner in 1775; and Mrs.
Washington had a gold locket from one Philip Dawe. The punch ladle was
out of order again in 1781 and had a new handle made by "Mr. Kanat."
[Illustration: The Federal Period interpreted in iron]
About this time the Adam family of silversmiths began to attract
attention. The first of that name in Alexandria was James Adam
(1755-1798). He was working in Alexandria as early as 1771, and he who
has an original Adam piece is either one of an ancient family in the
town or a fortunate collector. The work of his son, John Adam
(1780-1843), is more frequently found, and of the best type. The Adam
grandson, William W. (1817-1877), followed the trade of his
progenitors, turning out good work certainly but in the Victorian idiom.
Charles Burnett, working in Alexandria in 1793, and probably as early as
1785, produced sauceboats, urns, tea sets, tankards, and so on. His
flatware is usually distinguished by a shell motif, and gadroon edges
finish and decorate many of his pieces. His work is very similar to his
Philadelphia contemporaries.
Adam Lynn (1775-1836) was born in Alexandria, of Alexandria parents, the
son of Colonel Adam Lynn, a Revolutionary officer and a member of the
Society of the Cincinnati. He inherited property from his father, two
lots of land on King and St. Asaph Streets. At the age of twenty-five,
in 1800, he advertised himself as:
ADAM LYNN
Jeweler, Silver and Goldsmith, Silver Tea sets may be had to any
pattern at short notice, warranted to equal any in America.
It is noted that in 1801 he "respectfully informs the public that he has
commenced the clock and watchmaking business, in addition to that of
jewelry. He has laid in a large assortment of the best materials in that
line and is determined to give general satisfaction." Lynn's work is
delicate and fine. Strangely, very little remains but what there is is
satisfactory. He frequently decorated his flatware with a refined
etching or gravure, his hollow ware with reeding. To the jewelry
business Lynn combined another. In 1810 his advertisement read:
New Hardware Store Adam Lynn & Co.
Have received by the Ship "Dumphries" from Liverpool, via Baltimore A
Large and General Assortment ... which they now offer for sale at
their store corner King and Royal Streets--late occupied by Peter
Sherron.
Lynn held several offices in the Masonic lodge and served for years as
vestryman of St. Paul's Church. He had the added distinction of being
drawn by M. de St. Memin.
A few spoons and ladles survive Mordecai Miller, 1790; John Duffey,
1793; George Duffey (1845-1880); James Ganet (1820-1830); William Cohen,
1833; Benjamin Barton, 1833; R.C. Acton, 1840; William A. Williams
(1787-1846). The last-named craftsmen made the famous silver cup
presented by the "grateful City Council" to the lovely Mrs. Lawrason for
entertaining La Fayette in her home. John Pittman is listed in a deed
in 1801 as a goldsmith and silversmith, while the census for 1790 gives
the names of Thomas Bird, William Galt, John Piper and John Lawrason. In
addition, from other deeds and advertisements, the names of John Short
(1784); James Galt (1801); Josiah Coryton, "late of this town" (1801)
are gleaned as watchmakers and clockmakers.
[Illustration: _Top_: Creamer, sugar and bowl by Charles Burnett.
_Center_: Sauceboat and sugar urn by Charles Burnett, creamer by I.
Adam. Owned by Mrs. John Howard Joynt. _Bottom_: Service by I. Adam.
Owned by the Misses Snowden.]
Slate roofing seems to have made its initial appearance around 1800. In
1805 Joseph Riddle's dwelling house was "covered in copper" and John
Janney's warehouse in slate, and at least one building in "composition."
At this date an insurance plat shows a tinsmith and coppersmith's shop.
The early roofs were covered in wood (_i.e._, wooden shingles).
[Illustration]
DECLINE AND RESURGENCE
With the death of George Washington in 1799, which emphasized the close
of the eighteenth century, the city whose prosperity seemed in some
mystic fashion to have developed and grown with him began a decline.
In 1803 came yellow fever, leaving desolation and mourning in its wake.
An English traveler wrote in 1807:
Alexandria was about eight years ago a very flourishing place, but
the losses sustained from the capture of American vessels by the
French in the West Indies, occasioned many failures. In the year
1803, the yellow fever, which broke out there for the first time,
carried off a number of its inhabitants. These shocks have so deeply
affected the mercantile interest, that the town has but two or three
ships in the trade with Great Britain; and there is little prospect
of its ever attaining to its former prosperity.[53]
Alexandria was further subjected to plagues. Cholera broke out in 1832,
and people dropped dead in the streets while the population shuddered.
Illness, death, and burial was the fearsome sequence of only a few
hours. There was a Board of Health and a Quarantine Officer, but
ignorance of sanitation laws and preventive medicine resulted in
appalling epidemics brought in by visiting vessels.
Fire, too, ravaged the town. There were two major conflagrations in the
early nineteenth century, one in 1810 and another in 1824, in each of
which at least fifty buildings were consumed. The fire in the latter
year all but demolished the west side of Fairfax Street between King
and Prince Streets. George Washington is credited with having founded
the first fire company and giving to the city what was then the finest
of modern hand pumpers--a magnificent affair of red paint, brass
trimmings, and leather buckets. A law of the town made it mandatory for
each householder or proprietor of a dwelling or storehouse to furnish
leather buckets of at least two-and-one-half-gallon capacity at "his or
her expense"--in quantity equal to the stories of his house; no
proprietor was expected, however, to provide more than three buckets.
The buckets were numbered and lettered with the names of the owners,
whose duty it was to send or carry them to any place where a fire broke
out, or to "throw them into the street so that they may be taken
there."[54]
The fire companies at the first alarm, in scarlet shirts, turned out on
shortest notice, at a dead run on "shanks' mare." Woe betide the member
who was late, for he was fined right heavily. Pumping by hand to put out
a fire was a laborious affair and slackers were not tolerated. Even with
the best of will and the most earnest of pumpers, the fires got out of
hand and took a terrible toll of the early buildings. While insides were
gutted, the walls often remained to contain again an interior of beauty
and dignity.
Alexandria suffered more from the War of 1812 than from the Revolution.
Before Washington fell to the British in 1814, Alexandria was forced to
capitulate and had to pay a high indemnity for physical protection. This
disaster, coupled with the failure of the canal which was to open up the
vast Ohio country, all but wrecked the best financial hopes and plans of
the city.
The opening of the Potomac River for navigation, to connect with the
Ohio, was a project close to General Washington's heart. He had
entertained this dream from the time of his first western venture in
1754. He calculated, plotted, and surveyed distances, and from 1770
onward his mind was set upon the accomplishment. In July of that year he
was in correspondence with Thomas Johnson, to whom he wrote: "Till now I
have not been able to enquire into the sentiments of any of the
Gentlemen of this side in respect to the Scheme of opening inland
navigation of the Potomac by private subscription."[55] Washington's
trips to the Ohio, in October 1770 and again in September 1784--on both
occasions accompanied by Dr. Craik--while in the interest of his western
land holdings were also to forward this canal business.
All of this resulted in the founding of the Potomac Navigation Company
in 1785, and Alexandria subscribed heavily to the bond issue. By 1829
the first steam locomotive was operating in America and the coming of
the steam engine was followed by the collapse of the canal project.
Thousands of local dollars were thus lost. When the deflation was
complete, financial stagnation followed, from which Alexandria never
entirely recovered. During these trying 1830s and 1840s many of her
younger men departed for the west hoping to better their fortunes.
Alexandrians did not take kindly to federal jurisdiction of their
affairs, and within half a century from 1800--on February 3, 1846--a
petition was presented from the citizens of the county and town of
Alexandria to the Virginia General Assembly, stating that they had
pending before Congress an application for recession to the Commonwealth
of Virginia. They asked the Assembly for a law to accept them back into
the fold should their request be granted. By act of Congress, dated July
9, 1846, it was provided that: "With the assent of the people of the
County and Town of Alexandria, that portion of the territory of the
District of Columbia ceded to the United States by the State of Virginia
... receded and forever relinquished to the State of Virginia ..."[56]
Virginia welcomed the recession as a mother would welcome home a
maltreated and divorced daughter. Alexandria County (later Arlington
County) and the City of Alexandria were accepted on March 13, 1847, just
two years short of the latter's centenary.
Fourteen years later the first blood of dreadful civil war was spilled
in Alexandria and the city found itself a pawn to arbitrament by the
sword. When General Robert E. Lee accepted the command of Confederate
forces, a host of Alexandrians followed him into battle. To the
citizenry with Southern sympathies, war meant bitter severance once
again from Virginia. For the duration of the Civil War, Alexandria,
under federal jurisdiction again, became the capital of that part of the
state (West Virginia) which refused to secede with the Richmond
government. To the old city came a governor and legislature with
Northern sympathies, making welcome any federal forces camping on the
outskirts of town. Old prints show the Union flag in the hands of
marching soldiers on King Street, and camps and cantonments, beginning
at the "Round House," extending for miles.
Even so, the best and noblest donned the gray, and Alexandria's own
marched out to become part of the 17th Virginia Infantry, C.S.A., upon
the bloody battlefields of the South.
With the close of the Civil War, prosperity departed. Fewer and fewer
ships came to anchor in the Potomac port, until finally nothing remained
to show the important part that Alexandria played for a century in the
sea commerce of the world save rotted piles that once supported wharves,
and a few grimy, scarred old warehouses whose collapsing roofs and loose
bricks threatened the very life of the pedestrian.
Other wars have come and gone and each has had a conspicuous effect upon
the town. The tragic era of 1861-65, binding our great nation into an
indissoluble union, began likewise the process of cementation which
steadfastly links Alexandria to the District of Columbia by bands that
are basically nonpolitical (maybe stronger for that same reason).
Paradoxically, Alexandria is a free city--part of Virginia, though not
characteristic of the State; allied to the District, but no part of it.
Alexandria's cultural heritage has appealed for many reasons to
Washington officialdom, and many persons prominent in national affairs
have crossed the river to settle and to restore the gracious old homes
of bygone days. George Washington's Alexandria is a city at once assured
and self-conscious. Confident in its background, its venerable
traditions, and its associations with the great in the country's
development, Alexandria ponders its destiny.
[Illustration: Adam Lynn, Silversmith. (By Saint Memin)]
All faithful sons and daughters, whether native or adopted, fondly hope
that this bicentennial year of the city's existence may bring closer to
fulfillment the famous toast voiced by La Fayette in 1824: "The City of
Alexandria: May her prosperity and happiness more and more realize the
fondest wishes of our venerated Washington!"
L'ENVOI
Where is the great seaport that was Alexandria? Where are the ships that
plied their trade to the four corners of the earth, built, outfitted,
loaded from this port, officered and manned by the men of this town?
Where the great shipyards down whose ways slipped vessels of any
magnitude; the ropewalks where black slaves trod the weary miles
twisting the hemp to lift the sails made in Alexandria sail lofts? Where
the great docks, wharves and warehouses that lined the water front?
Only phantom vessels, locked in the eternal secrets of the deep, float
at anchor and crowd the harbor with a pale tracery of masts and rigging.
Only the voices of sailors long silent float ashore on the breezes in a
polyglot of languages, while ghostly laughter and oaths of those held in
taverns by rum and sugar at three pence ha'penny disturbs the sobriety
of the water front.
Gone are the shipyards. Upon ways destroyed by rot will rise no more the
skeleton ribs of sloop nor barque nor brig.
Silent are the sail lofts. Long ago the last workman at day's end put
down the canvas and the thread.
Empty are the ropewalks of docile slave and pungent hemp.
Cold are the bake ovens--crumbled the last biscuit....
The worn and polished cobbles are destitute of coach and four, of
chariot and chair. Nor does the mail arrive by stage.
No more will hoops and wigs add allure to the progress of beauty--nor
peruke nor smallclothes invest the beau with grandeur.
The factor and the sea captains have departed. The weary clerk has put
up the last shutter; empty stools and blunted quills abandoned. Only the
ledgers remain, free of blot and blemish to attest the skill and
patience of the forgotten scribe.
An autumn moon lights the old town, turning to silver the tiny waves
lapping the old sea wall, shimmering on the panes of dormer windows,
silhouetting the high brick facades against the white night, outlining
trim and cornice. Lighted transoms dimly reveal the white paneled
doorways.... Let us enter....
[Illustration]
PART TWO
The Presence of George Washington 1749-1799
[Illustration]
Chapter 1
William Ramsay: Romulus of Alexandria
[Historic Ramsay House, once the home of Alexandria's first mayor and
oldest building standing in the city, miraculously escaped destruction
by fire in 1942. Later threatened by the "wheels of progress," it was
saved by heroic efforts of Alexandria antiquarians who persuaded the
city fathers to purchase the structure as a gesture to the 1949
anniversary. As this book goes to press an active campaign is under way
by Alexandria historical societies to raise funds for restoration.]
Some two hundred years ago a sturdy-bottomed little sailing ship riding
at anchor in the port of Dumfries in Scotland, and bound for the port of
Dumfries in Virginia, was boarded by a young Scotsman. No _parvenu_
voyager he, but a young man of settled background and promising future,
educated for his calling and going out to take his place in one of the
Scottish firms trading in Virginia.
Our adventurer belonged to the Ramsay family of the noble house of
Dalhousie, which goes back into Scottish history of the thirteenth
century. King Edward I, in July 1298, spent the night at Dalhousie on
his way to battle with William Wallace; and in 1400 Sir Alexander Ramsay
defended the walls of Dalhousie against Henry IV. In 1633 William,
Second Lord Ramsay, was created First Earl of Dalhousie. This young
adventurer bore the name of the Second Lord, William. He was born in
1716 in Kirkendbrightshire in the Galloway district of Scotland, and he
was destined to play no small part in his own particular sphere. He
brought the integrity and industry of his native land to the new world
shores, and was one of that band of Scotsmen of whom President Madison
said, "Their commercial edicts served the colony as substantial
legislation for many years."[57] These traits, added to vision, wisdom,
sound morality and a tender nature, formed the character of the future
first citizen of Alexandria.
The year 1744 found William Ramsay settled in business with John
Carlyle, trading under the name of Carlyle & Ramsay in the village of
Belle Haven. This little settlement lay on the banks of the upper
Potomac behind the Great Hunting Creek warehouse.
Ramsay early sensed that the large harbor of Belle Haven with its deep
water and fine approach was a better situation for a town than many then
being agitated before the Burgesses. Forming friendships with Colonel
Fairfax, Lawrence Washington, George Mason, George Johnston, and other
large planters, he impressed them with the importance of this situation
as a site of great promise for a city and a port.[58]
When this dream became an accomplished fact it was a natural conclusion
that William Ramsay was one of the seven men chosen by the Virginia
Assembly for the purpose of laying out the town at Hunting Creek
warehouse.[59]
His faith in Alexandria was supported by his pocketbook. At the first
auction of lots on July 13, 1749, he bought lots Nos. 46 and 47; and he
never lost an opportunity to invest his hard and dangerously earned
money in the soil of his begotten city.
At the outbreak of the French and Indian War he was appointed (on George
Washington's recommendation) Commissary in 1756. Many letters dealing
with commissary affairs, and more interesting, the movement of troops,
written from Rays Town are among the Washington papers.
His partnership with Carlyle was followed by one with John Dixon which
was dissolved in 1757, when Dixon returned to England and his native
Whitehaven. Ramsay incurred a large debt by buying Dixon's interests. He
wrote to Washington in July 1757, saying he had been extremely
unfortunate in all his affairs, and asking for a loan of L250, saying,
"I have made application to the monied ones--My L^d Fx, M^r Speaker, M^r
Corbin, M^r Cary and many others with^t success wch I put to the Acco^t
of my perverse fortune, not to the want of ability to serve me." These
gentlemen were among the richest and most influential men in the colony,
but George, a young colonel of militia, scraped up L80 in August and
another L70 in September, to lend his good friend and mentor.
William Ramsay had given Washington some sound advice in September 1756,
when the young Colonel was somewhat upset by criticism of militia
officers and not too happy in his official duties. Ramsay wrote, "...
Know sir, that Ev'ry Gent^n in an exalted Station raises envy & Ev'ry
person takes the Liberty of judging or rather determining (with judging)
from appearances (or information) without weighing circumstances, or the
proper causes, on wch their judgem^t ought to be founded.... Upon the
whole, S^r, triumph in your innocency, your disinterestedness, your
unwearied Application & Zeal for your country's good, determine you to
continue in its service at a time there may be the greatest call for
you, & when probably some signal Day may mark you the bravest (as
hitherto you have been) of persons ..."[60]
Ramsay served Alexandria some thirty-six years as a public servant. He
was town overseer, census taker, postmaster, member of the Committee of
Safety, colonel of the militia regiment, adjuster of weights and seals
with John Carlyle at Hunting Creek warehouse in 1754, town trustee,
mayor, and did his duty as gentleman justice for many years, beginning
that service prior to the settlement of Alexandria. Tradition has it
that he was the most beloved citizen of Alexandria, which is certainly
confirmed. In 1761 he was elected by his fellow townsmen their first and
only Lord Mayor. The enthusiastic inhabitants decorated him with a
golden chain bearing a medal. "Upon one side was represented the infant
state of Alexandria and its commodious harbour, with these words in the
legend, '_Alexandria Translate et Renate Auspice Deo_,' and in the
exerque, '_Condita Reg^o Geo. II. An. Dom. 1649_.' The reverse has this
inscription: '_Dig^mo Dom^no Guilielmo Ramsay. Romulo Alexandriae
Urbisque Patri, Consuli Primo. Bene Merenti. An. Dom. 1761_.'"[61]
The election and investment over, the _Maryland Gazette_ tells us, "the
Lord Mayor and Common Council preceded by officers of State Sword and
Mace bearers and accompanied by many gentlemen of the town and county,
wearing blue sashes under crosses, made a grand procession ... with
drums, trumpets and a band of music, colors flying." The shipping in the
harbor displayed "flags and banners while guns fired during the
afternoon." A "very elegant entertainment was prepared at the Coffee
House," where the new Lord Mayor and his entourage sat down to a
sumptuous repast. This was followed by a ball given by the Scottish
gentlemen "at which a numerous and brilliant company of ladies danced."
Ceremonies ended with fireworks, bonfires, and "other demonstrations."
Perhaps this enthusiasm may be somewhat explained by the fact that this
celebration took place on St. Andrew's Day.[62]
In 1765 Ramsay went back to Scotland, whether to see again his family or
on business is not revealed. But that he had a most remarkable reception
cannot be questioned. Dumfries and Kirkendbright conferred
extraordinary honor upon him. Yellowed by age, two pieces of engraved
parchment are treasured by his descendants. These towns each made him a
"Burgess," the most signal distinction to be conferred upon a visitor.
Besides the original lots which William Ramsay purchased on July 13,
1749 (Nos. 46 and 47 for forty-six _pistoles_), he later purchased lot
No. 34. Augustine Washington forfeited his lots, Nos. 64 and 65, for
neglecting to build within the required time, and Ramsay bought this
property. When William Seawell, the peruke-maker, lost his holdings for
indebtedness, Ramsay also acquired lot No. 61. He owned the Royal
George, a tavern of importance, and had numbers of slaves and indentured
workmen. In 1749 he paid taxes on seven blacks and seven whites. In 1782
he owned twenty-one blacks, four horses and a coach. His will, dated the
month before his death, enumerated seven slaves by name, specifying
special considerations for two, _viz_: "that they may be better cloathed
both in Winter and Summer than is common for slaves, and that they be
particularly taken good care of as a reward for their long and faithful
services."
William Ramsay married Ann McCarty, daughter of Dennis McCarty Sr. and
his wife Sarah Ball, who was a kinswoman of George Washington and sister
of Mrs. George Johnston. Ann McCarty Ramsay was one of those women of
the day who by the laws of the land lost their property and identity
with marriage. Yet, when this retiring, gentle person was called upon to
raise funds in Alexandria and Fairfax County, no modern matron working
for bond drive or Red Cross ever did a more successful work. Thomas
Jefferson, as Governor of Virginia, in a letter from Richmond written on
August 4, 1780, to General Edward Stevens, attached a list of "female
Contributions, in aid of the War, Probably in 1780." Among the thirteen
ladies who gave their watch chains, diamond drops and rings is the name
of "Mrs. Anne Ramsay (for Fairfax), one halfjoe, three guineas, three
pistareens, one bit. Do. for do. paper money, bundle No. 1, twenty
thousand dollars, No. 2, twenty-seven thousand dollars, No. 3, fifteen
thousand dollars, No. 4, thirteen thousand five hundred and eighteen
dollars and one third."[63]
This excellent wife took her Presbyterian husband into the Established
Church and we find Washington crediting him with L33 for pew No. 20 in
Alexandria (Christ) Church in January 1773. But the Presbyterian citadel
of learning was the choice over William and Mary College when time came
for the eldest son, William Jr., to prepare for a professional career.
The strict discipline of Old Nassau was more to the liking of Scottish
conservatism than the laxness reported among students and faculty at the
Williamsburg institution. At Princeton young William studied medicine
under Dr. Benjamin Rush. In 1775, after joining the General in winter
headquarters at Cambridge, Mrs. Washington wrote the family that she had
seen young Ramsay as she passed through Princeton and that "he was very
well but did not talk of comeing home soon."[64] Maybe this was a
woman's subtle way of breaking the news of young William's plans to
follow the Continental cause wherever it might lead. As surgeon in the
army, he served throughout the Revolutionary War.
Following the custom, the elder William Ramsay placed his second son in
trade with the firm of Jennifer & Hooe in Dumfries. From Alexandria, on
December 5, 1774, he sent young Dennis, then a lad of eighteen years,
the following letter brimming with sound parental advice and Scottish
business acumen:
Dear Dennis
Tho' you have been but a short time from us, I cannot help informing
you that we are all well--But as a Parent, I must say more but I hope
you are so well grounded in the principals I would inculcate, that it
need only put you in mind of the duties we owe to the supreme Being &
our fellow Men--your first duty my dear Son, is to your God, do not
by any means neglect your duty in paying your adorations &
supplications to him for a blessing on your endeavors, & your
gratefull acknowledgements for every benefit and money you receive,
which you & I every day experience--Your next duty is to your
Parents, who, I hope you will pay that respect to, you always have
done, & continue to listen to their advice with proper attention,
because you must be assured, it flows from the parental and
affectionate regard they have for you and your welfare here &
hereafter. Your next duty is to your fellow Men, more especialy to
your employer, his interest demands your justice, your diligence and
utmost attention to his business and interest, your secrets & his
relating to your affairs you must religiously keep, mind his business
only, do not intermedle with that of other peoples, and avoid
entering into any dispute with them: you may gain much observation &
society, but nothing by disputetation. Let your intimates be few and
those well chosen, for the formation of youth depends on the
companions they chuse, therefore in this be very cautious. I will not
say any more to you on this head but hope that you will conduct
yourself as hitherto you have done & shun even the Appearance of
evil. When y^o lodge by yourself be cautious in securing your Windows
and doors, and if you cou'd, as probably you may, get some agreeable
young fellow to sleep with you if not always, very often; he wou'd be
company to you, and made your time less lonesome, but your own
prudence will suggest to you these things better than I can--When
your Bed and Chest comes down, I will send Anthony down to you, he
can make your fire, clean your Shoes, fetch you water &c.... As I
mentioned to you, that what you now get from your industry shall be
your own, besides, I will help you all that I can 'till you are of
age, please God to bless me & you with the sight of that day, I will
strain every nerve to set you forward in the World, your behavior I
hope will entitle you to it, and give your Mother and me the highest
pleasure we can hope for here, that is, your doing well--If you want
a Waistcoat and Breeches you may get them in town yourself. Mr. Hooe
says that he will immediately send you some Rum & Sugar on their
Acco^t to dispose off in the Wholesale way, that you may take your
choice out of it to retain on your own Account--Be cautious and do
not trust. I do not know my dear Dennis anything I can say more to
you at this time. I expect to hear from you next Post and that you
will be particular with regard to your situation &c. Your Mother
gives her blessing to y^o, all your sisters,
I am, my dear Dennis, your most Affectionate Father,
WM RAMSAY[65]
[Illustration: Bill of Lading to William Ramsay at Bellehaven, dated
1751. (Ramsay Papers)]
When war came, Denny Ramsay, like his brother, threw his lot with the
cause of liberty and served with distinction in the army, reaching the
rank of colonel.
Dennis Ramsay closely followed in the footsteps of his father. Both
served as mayor of the town and it was the official duty of both to
address General Washington upon commemorative occasions--William in 1781
after Yorktown, and Dennis in 1789 when the General paused in Alexandria
on his way to be inaugurated as President of the new republic. Both
father and son were Freemasons and members of the Sun Fire Company.
After the death of Martha Washington's little daughter, Patsy Custis,
her empty heart sought solace in association with the young daughters of
her friends. The girls of Alexandria kept the carriage wheels rolling
to Mount Vernon, where they were joyfully received, and where they were
nearly always numerous enough to make a gay evening. The young ladies
from the houses of Carlyle, Dalton and Ramsay were near neighbors in
Alexandria and frequenters of Mount Vernon, as were the Misses Craik,
Herbert, Fitzhugh, Lee, and Fendall, whose presence brightened the
mansion house with girlish laughter and confidences. At these gatherings
none was held in more affection than the young daughter of William and
Ann McCarty Ramsay. Where could a more charming letter be found than
this written by the hand of Martha Washington one hundred and
seventy-four years ago, within the sounds of the guns of Bunker Hill, to
Mistress Betty Ramsay:
Cambridge December the 30th 1775
Dear Miss
I now set down to tell you that I arrived hear safe, and our party
all well--we were fortunate in our time of setting out as the weather
proved fine all the time we were on the road--I did not reach Phila^d
till the tuesday after I left home, we were so attended and the
gentlemen so kind, that I am lade under obligations to them that I
shall not for get soon. I dont dout but you have seen the Figuer our
arrival made in the Philadelphia paper--and I left it in as great
pomp as if I had been a very great some body.
I have waited some days to collect something to tell, but allass
there is nothing but what you will find in the papers--every person
seems to be chearfull and happy hear--some days we hear a number of
Cannon and shells from Boston and Bunkers Hill, but it does not seem
to surprise any one but me; I confess I shuder everytime I hear the
sound of a gun--I have been to dinner with two of the Generals, Lee &
Putnam and I just took a look at pore Boston--& Charlestown--from
prospect Hill Charlestown has only a few chimneys standing in it,
there seems to be a number of very fine Buildings in Boston but God
knows how long they will stand; they are pulling up all the warfs for
fire wood--to me that never see any thing of war, the preparations
are very terable indead, but I endevor to keep my fears to my self as
well as I can.
Your Friends Mr Harrison & Henly are boath very well, and I think
they are fatter than they were when they came to the Camp--and Capt.
Baylor is a lusty man to what he was when you see him. The girls may
rest satisfied on Mr. Harrisons account for he seems two fond of his
country to give his heart to any but one of his Virginia Friends,
there are but two Young Laidis in Cambridge, and a very great number
of Gentlemen so you may guess how much is made of them--but neither
of them is pritty I think.
This is a beautyfull Country, and we had a very pleasant journey
through New england, and had the pleasure to find the G[eneral] very
well--we came within the month from home to the Camp.
I see your Brother at princeton he was very well but did not talk of
comeing home soon.
Plese to give my love and good wishes to your mamma & grand mamma,
Mr. Ramsay and Family, my compliments to all enquiring Freinds, the
good gentlemen that came with me up to Baltimore, and Mrs.
Herbert--in which the general and Mr. and Mrs. Custis join, please to
remember us to Mr. and Mrs. McCarty and Family.
I am Dear miss your most affectionate Friend and Well &C
MARTHA WASHINGTON.[66]
Ramsay did not wait for death to close his eyes ere he provided for his
children. As early as 1777, and probably before, he divided his original
purchase of lots Nos. 46 and 47 among his eight children. There is a
much-worn old plat still in the hands of his descendants showing this
division; on file at Fairfax Court House there is a deed to his youngest
son, Dennis, for that part of his lot No. 47 fronting on Fairfax and
King Streets, "Beginning at the S.W. corner of said lot extending north
up Fairfax 90 feet more or less to Ramsay's Alley, then east down said
alley 75 feet more or less, then South 90 feet to King Street, and then
West with King 75 feet to the beginning with all houses warehouses
Buildings, etc."
To his eldest son and namesake he gave his dwelling house and lot lying
to the north of the alley. As the custom of primogeniture prevailed it
was but natural that William Jr. fell heir to the dwelling house of his
father. At the time of this gift in December 1784, William reserved to
himself an "absolute right and title to take away as much earth or dirt
from said ground even up to my Dwelling House, if necessary without
prejudice to the said House to be applied towards filling up my wharf
and Peers until they are finished ..."[67] After the death of his
father, William Jr., bachelor, "farm let" to his brother, the married
Dennis, for the full term of ten years from the 10th day of May last
[1785], "the rent to be fixed by Robert McCrea, John Allison, or any
other person whom they shall choose--the lot lying and being on the
north side of King Street and the east side of Fairfax, beginning upon
Fairfax Street ten feet south of the south end of the Kitchen, which
stands upon the said street belonging to William Ramsay, then running
east sixty-six feet parallel to King, then north parallel with Fairfax
twenty-five feet, then with a line parallel to King West twenty-two
feet, including a Brick Smoke House, then with a line parallel to
Fairfax north to a four-foot alley lately laid out in the said lott by
William Ramsay, Esq., deceased, then East with the line of the alley 84
feet, then south to Ramsays Alley then West parallel to King until it
reaches Fairfax Street, then with Fairfax and binding there upon to the
beginning and all Buildings, Houses, Yards, Gardens, Stables, to the
said premises belonging or in any wise pertaining. Furthermore Dennis
Ramsay may erect upon the premises a Kitchen in such part as will be
most convenient, and at the expiration of the lease Dennis Ramsay has
Liberty to remove the same from the premises."[68] Ten years later, on
July 6, 1795, William Ramsay Jr. sold this property to Guy Atkinson.
This gentleman owned the property until his death in 1835 and requested
in his will, probated July 14 of that year, that his children reside "in
my present mansion."
This is the house standing today at 113 North Fairfax Street,[Owner:
Miss Frona Matthews.] and unless other research at a later day denies
the assumption that this brick mansion was the last home of the Romulus
of Alexandria, it is so declared.
The little white frame clapboard house with the Dutch roof, standing on
the northeast corner of King and Fairfax Streets was certainly the
property of William Ramsay--probably his office or kitchen, and later
occupied by the descendants of his son, Dennis, after additions and
improvements. The architect who is restoring this ancient and quaint
house thinks that it is far older than the town of Alexandria, and that
it is not now established upon the original foundation, but has been
moved over from another location. It is interesting to think that it
might have been part of Carlyle & Ramsay's original office in Belle
Haven in 1744.
On February 12, 1795, George Washington was at Mount Vernon happily
engaged in planning his garden and planting his shrubs when he "Received
an Invitation to the Funeral of Willm. Ramsay, Esqr., of Alexandria, the
oldest Inhabitt. of the Town; and went up. Walked in a procession as a
free mason, Mr. Ramsay in his life being one, and now buried with the
ceremonies and honors due to one."[69]
A few days later the town's newspaper carried the following tribute:
MEMORIAL
On the 10th, instand departed this Life, in the 69th year of his age,
WILLIAM RAMSAY, Esq., a Gentleman generally esteemed for the humane
and generous sentiments of his heart, as well as for his uprightness
and integrity, throughout a long and active life.
This Gentleman first proposed and promoted the establishment of the
town of Alexandria, and was its first inhabitant. He was consoled on
the verge of life, with the reflection of having acted his part well,
and of having reared and leaving to represent him a numerous and
amiable family, in possession of as much happiness as generally falls
to the lot of humanity. Thus he met the lingering, but certain
approach of death with a composure and resignation of mind very
remarkable and truly exemplary.
His remains were interred on the 12th, in the Episcopal Church Yard,
and attended by a very numerous and respectable company, preceeded by
the Brotherhood of Free Masons in procession with the solemnities
usual on such occasions.[70]
Within less than two months, Washington, still at work upon his garden,
grafting cherry trees, was interrupted to go to Alexandria to "attend
the Funeral of Mrs. Ramsay who died (after a lingering illness) on
Friday last.... Dined at Mr. Muir's and after the funer^l obseques
were ended, returned home."[71] Again was spread upon the sheets of the
town paper an obituary:
MEMORIAL
On Saturday last departed this life, Mrs. ANN RAMSAY, relect of the
late WM. RAMSAY, Esq., in the 55th years of her age.
The amiable character of this lady, exemplified in her conduct as a
wife, a mother, and a neighbour, as it procured her through life the
general esteem and affection of all who knew her, will render her
loss long regretted not only by her nearer relations, but by the
inhabitants of this town, and neighbourhood of every rank and
description, to whom her benevolence and humanity displayed in
numberless good offices, and her agreeable deportment have heretofore
been a social blessing and comfort.
On Monday her remains were interred with every mark of respect,
contiguous to the grave of her late deceased husband.[72]
[Illustration: Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Ramsay]
The General had seen the "Romulus of Alexandria" to the grave. Fourteen
years later the latter's son served as honorary pallbearer for the
Father of His Country at Mount Vernon, on that fateful December 18,
1799.
[Illustration]