Dr. James Craik and His Dwelling
[210 Duke Street. Owner: Mr. Merle Colby.]
Of the many quaint, historical figures whose memories haunt the old
streets and houses of Alexandria, none is more interesting than Dr.
Craik.
He is remembered as a "stout, hale, cheery old man, perfectly erect,
fond of company and children, and amusing himself with gardening work."
But this was when the sands were running out. The good Doctor had passed
fourscore years, and his share of history-making was over. Let us turn
back some two hundred years and begin.
There is a little village near Dumfries in Scotland called Arbigland or
Obigland. In the year 1730 on a cold December day a baby boy began an
eventful life. He was destined to bring to the New World the skill to
heal and succor the wounded, to ease the dying, to administer the
primitive hospitals of the American Revolution, and to move for a span
of forty-five years as the close and intimate friend of George
Washington.
The names of his parents have been lost in the Scottish fogs. A story
that his father employed a gardener by the name of John Paul, sire of
another young Scotsman who distinguished himself in our naval history
under the patronymic of John Paul Jones, is all we can glean of our
Craik's paternal parent.[154]
The Scottish baby, christened James Craik, grew to young manhood in his
native country, going in proper time to the University of Edinburgh and
there was educated in medicine for service in the British Army. After
leaving the university he set sail for the West Indies; from there he
came to Virginia in 1750 and settled in or near Winchester.
We pick up his trail four years later on an April morning in the town of
Alexandria. The occasion is both historic and dramatic. The market
square was filled with "two companies of foot," a hundred and twenty
soldiers; a drummer wielding his sticks fiercely; two wagons, loaded
with provisions, and well guarded by officers and soldiers; a captain, a
lieutenant, five subalterns and a "Swedish Gentleman" going along as a
volunteer, and one _surgeon_. This military assembly under the command
of Lieutenant Colonel George Washington was marching out of Alexandria
for points west "to the Ohio" to fight the Indians and the French, to
build forts, and to defend the possessions of His Majesty. The commander
of the purposeful outfit was twenty-two years old, and the surgeon, Dr.
James Craik, twenty-four.
Did the two meet in the City Tavern, in the market square, or upon that
first day's march of six miles when the troops bivouacked for the night?
Wherever the acquaintance was made, the beginning of a friendship that
was to last the lives of both men was cemented on this expedition. From
the battles of Great Meadows and Fort Necessity, our warriors returned
to accompany Braddock to the Monongahela and Fort DuQuesne where Dr.
Craik nursed Washington through an illness and was with Braddock from
the time he was wounded until his death.
In August 1755 Dr. Craik was back from two unsuccessful expeditions. He
was one of a group of officers addressing the august assembly sitting at
Williamsburg, by letter, who informed the Burgesses that they had lost
horses, furniture, tents, marquees, clothes, linens--in short, all their
field equipage--and asking that body to compensate in some measure for
their misfortunes, reminding the House that it was customary among
British troops by way of a contingent bill, and suggesting that the
colonial troops were equally deserving. The letter was ordered tabled,
but later L30 was voted as compensation.
After this second disastrous campaign, Dr. Craik was lured into
domesticity by Miss Marianne Ewell, whom he married in 1760. This young
lady drew the ties closer to Mount Vernon. Her mother, first cousin to
George Washington, was Sarah Ball Conway, who married Charles Ewell.
After his marriage, Dr. Craik moved across the Potomac to Port Tobacco,
Maryland, where he built a house and proceeded to raise a family of six
sons and three daughters.
In 1754 Governor Dinwiddie offered as bait to officers who would enlist
for service in the French and Indian Wars, two hundred thousand acres of
land in the Ohio country. Sixteen years later this land had not been
distributed. Washington was selected as agent to represent the officers
of the First Virginia Regiment, and at their request, he left early in
October 1770 to inspect and locate lands to be patented in their names.
He was accompanied by Dr. Craik. The two set off on horseback with three
Negro servants, two of the General's and one of Dr. Craik's, and a pack
horse, spending two months in surveying and plotting these wild lands.
Despite bad weather, cold, and early snow, it was a journey enjoyed by
both men.
The route was charged with memories of Fry and Braddock's campaign.
Washington wished to retrace these rivers and streams. The possibility
of connecting the Potomac with the west by canals, opening up the
country for settlement and trade had come to the engineer even while the
soldier was fighting. As they rode he dreamed of tilled fields and
settled communities in the path of his horse and used his instruments to
measure distances and to plumb the depth of streams. That he revealed
his plans to this congenial friend of his travels seems certain.
Fourteen years later, in 1784, he took Dr. Craik over the same terrain
when these dreams appeared to attain realization in the contemplated
canal to connect the Potomac with the Ohio.
During his entire life, Dr. Craik was a steady visitor at Mount Vernon,
on social occasions or on professional calls. He could be counted on for
a visit at least once a month; sometimes he remained four or five days
at a time, but more frequently he only passed the night. It is rather
strange that the good Doctor is never mentioned as a companion of
Washington's favorite sport. That he was an able horseman, covering the
roughest terrain in arduous campaigns, a seasoned sportsman, a hardened
athlete but no fox-hunter, seems borne out by the fact that he is never
mentioned as sharing in the chase, although the gentleman to whom it
meant so much noted almost every hunt and rider in his daily journals.
Politically the two friends were united. When Virginians were becoming
dissatisfied and impatient with England, Dr. Craik and Washington
thought alike, attending county meetings and councils, acting together.
When the colony was disrupted by revolt and Washington appointed
commander in chief of the Continental forces, he at once had Dr. Craik
appointed Surgeon-General in the Continental Army. In 1777 he was made
Assistant Director General of the Hospital of the Middle Department of
the Army. Throughout the war he was part of Washington's military
family.
At Cornwallis' surrender, Dr. Craik was in command of the hospital corps
at Yorktown and present on that occasion. It was his painful duty to
attend the fatally injured Hugh Mercer at Princeton, to dress the wounds
of La Fayette at Brandywine, to nurse during his last hours young Jacky
Custis, only surviving child of Martha Washington. It was Dr. Craik who
learned of the Conway Cabal in 1777 and warned Washington of the
conspiracy to remove him from command. To him we also owe the Indian
legend of Washington's immortality. When Braddock was defeated and
killed at Monongahela, Washington, with four bullets through his coat
and two horses shot from under him, the chosen target of the Indian
chief and his braves, was unharmed, and the Indians believed him immune
to poisoned arrow or blunderbuss.
It is said that Washington persuaded Dr. Craik to move to Alexandria
after the Revolution. We find him renting a house on Fairfax Street from
one Robert Lyles in 1788 for L45. In 1789 he rented a house on Prince
Street from John Harper for L25, and in 1790 one on the same street for
L35. He rented and occupied a house belonging to John Harper from 1793
to, or through, 1795, for L60, a residence which has been so closely
associated with Dr. Dick that it bears a memorial tablet in his memory.
In October 1795, Dr. Craik bought the property on Duke and Water (now
Lee) Street, which he occupied for several years, and owned until 1810.
Tradition, in this case false, says the house was built by George
Coryell, and the story of how he came to Alexandria as a builder is a
very interesting anecdote. On one of Washington's trips to Philadelphia
after the Revolution, the story goes, he admired a well designed and
constructed gate at the house of Benjamin Franklin, and inquired the
name of the artisan. It was the work of one George Coryell of Coryell's
Ferry. The young man's father, Cornelius Coryell, had acted as guide
during the New Jersey campaign and the family had rowed Washington
across the Delaware in that surprise attack upon the Hessians on
Christmas Night, 1776. The General, interested in building, and
something of an architect himself, with an eye to securing competent
workmen near home, is said to have persuaded George Coryell to move to
Alexandria. Here Coryell bought a lot on Duke Street in 1794 where he
lived for many years. That Coryell set up in the building and lumber
business and was very active is better documented, for this
advertisement appeared in the _Gazette_ for October 23, 1793:
George Coryell
Has for Sale
At His Board Yard on Mr. Mease's Wharf and
at his Dwelling House on Duke Street
Two-inch, Inch, and Half-Inch and
etc. Plank. House frames of different
sizes, Cypress shingles
Locust and Red Cedar Post
Scantling
Many houses in the town are perhaps his handiwork, but the statement
that he built Dr. Craik's house or the frame cottage next door, which
tradition says was his Alexandria home, is open to grave doubt. Recorded
deeds at Fairfax Court House testify that the house and lot east of Dr.
Craik were owned by Joseph Robinson, a sailmaker, in 1783, and used
descriptively in a deed dated 1795. Coryell's lot was two doors below
Dr. Craik's house (the lot now in possession of General Carl Spaatz)
which Coryell purchased from William and Sarah Lyles of Prince Georges
County, Maryland.
Coryell served for a time as clerk of the market and sealer of weights
and measures. He did some repair jobs on Washington's town house. At the
General's funeral, when Lieutenant Moss was unable to carry the heavy
weight of the casket, George Coryell took his place as one of the
pallbearers. He remained in Alexandria some fifty-odd years, returning
to Coryell's Ferry a few years previous to his death in 1850, at the
advanced age of ninety-one.
At the first auction of lots in Alexandria town in 1749, the lots
numbered 80 and 81 were sold to Anne West. The trustees upset this sale
in 1754, reselling lot No. 80 to George Mercer for L9 13_s._ 10_d._ and
lot No. 81 going to Daniel Wilson for L10 10_s._ By devious transactions
these parcels of land were divided and sold. The property of Dr. Craik
was in the ownership of John Short, a watchmaker, in 1783. Due to
inability to repay John Harper money advanced, Short, then of the
borough of Norfolk, sold his house and lot at auction on November 30,
1789 to John Murry for L234. This same property was sold by John B.
Murry and Patty, his wife, of the city and state of New York on October
26, 1795, along with another lot belonging to Murry, to Dr. James Craik
for L1,500. Allowing for the additional lot, for which Murry had paid
L71 10_s._ 1_d._ in 1787, and on which Dr. Craik's stable stood, for
inflation and increase in value of property in Alexandria following the
Revolution, this price of approximately $7,500 indicates beyond question
that John Murry made very substantial improvements upon this property.
It was subject to a ground rent of L11 forever, and it is only within
the last few years that the present owners have satisfied this rent.
[Illustration: Rear of house and courtyard built by John B. Murray and
bought by Dr. James Craik. The leanto at right replaces the frame
building of Joseph Robinson, sailmaker]
The house is a typical Alexandria town mansion. With three stories,
dormer widows, of salmon brick, laid in Flemish bond, it faces the
street as sturdily as when first built.
All the chimneys in Dr. Craik's house are handsomely paneled, as well as
the window frames. Cornices, chair rails, stairway, six-panel doors, old
pine floors, H&L hinges are part of its attractions. It is believed that
Dr. Craik used the front rooms on the first floor of his house as his
office. Washington was a visitor in this house. He frequently mentions
in his journal dining or supping with his friend. The last time seems to
have been in July 1798, when he "went up to Alexa. with Mrs. W. and Miss
Cus[tis] dined at Doct^r Craik's, ret^d in y^e aft^n."
One of the Craik boys was named after George Washington. In September
1785, Washington makes this entry in his diary: "Wed. 31st.... This day
I told Dr. Craik that I would contribute one hundred dollars pr. ann. as
long as it was necessary towards the education of his son, George
Washington, either in this country or in Scotland."
* * * * *
George Washington Craik studied medicine, and was, for a time during
Washington's second administration, his private secretary. He was one of
the young people of the town who was a constant visitor at Mount Vernon
up to Washington's death. In 1807 and 1808 he was postmaster at
Alexandria. He married Maria D. Tucker, daughter of Captain John Tucker,
and their son, James Craik, was an Episcopal clergyman. Another son,
William, married the daughter of William Fitzhugh and became the
brother-in-law to George Washington Parke Custis. William Craik was a
member of Congress, judge of the District Court of the United States,
and chief justice of the Fifth Maryland Judicial Circuit Court. Craik
lost two sons, James and Adam. James Craik Jr. set up in the drug
business in Alexandria, dissolving his current business of James Craik &
Company in 1787, but continued "the drug business at his store next door
to Col. Ramsays'." At the time of this announcement he advertised for a
young man well recommended as an apprentice for the druggist profession.
He died, poor young man, without attaining any great success. The Doctor
was appointed administrator and failed to give any accounting of the
estate. As a result Dr. Craik was haled before the court to show the
cause of his failure to comply with the order. He was somewhat riled as
appears from the following:
James Craik this day appeared at the Register office and being duly
sworn, gave the following statement: That when the said James Craik,
Jr., departed this life all the personal estate he had consisted of
a Medical Shop furniture, and medicine, to what amount or value he
cannot ascertain, nor did he ever think it necessary he should render
any appraisement of them, as he was security for the payment of the
money they were purchased for, and since the deceased death has paid
the same, and every debt he owed; in speaking of the said shop
furniture and medicine being all the personal estate of the deceased
his cloathes are excepted of which the said administrator saith he
considered it unnecessary to render any account for the reasons above
mentioned. Sworn to before me at the Register office on Tuesday, the
26th day of April, 1803.
CLEM MOORE
James Craik Adms.[155]
[Illustration: "To my compatriot in arms, and old intimate friend, Dr.
Craik I give my Bureau, (or as the cabinet makers call it, Tambour
Secretary) and the circular chair--an appendage of my study." (_Mount
Vernon Ladies' Association_)]
Of the three daughters, one married a Mr. Harrison, one Daniel of St.
Thomas Jenifer, and the third married Colonel Roger West of West Grove.
The daughter of this union married John Douglas Simms, son of Colonel
Charles Simms of Revolutionary fame. Mrs. James Craik Jr., was Sarah
Harrison, daughter of Robert Hanson Harrison, one of Washington's
military secretaries.
On November 27, a little over two weeks before Washington's death, Dr.
Craik delivered Nellie Custis, wife of Washington's nephew and private
secretary, Lawrence Lewis, of a daughter, her first child.
December 12, 1799, was a bad day. General Washington, making the usual
rounds of his farms, was not deterred by snow, sleet, nor the cold rain
that followed. Coming in late to dinner, which was awaiting him, his
clothes soaked, snow clinging to his hair, he did not take time to
change his wet things. The next day he had a sore throat and was very
hoarse. During the night he felt ill and awoke his wife. As soon as it
was daylight, Mrs. Washington sent a messenger posthaste for Dr. Craik.
Before he arrived, Washington insisted upon being bled, and his
secretary, Tobias Lear, sent across the river to Port Tobacco for Dr.
Gustavus Brown. When Dr. Craik arrived he was alarmed at the condition
of his friend, bled him twice, and asked to have Dr. Dick called for
consultation. The three doctors battled with their primitive knowledge
as best they knew how. Dr. Craik rarely left the room, sitting by the
fire, his hand cupped over his eyes. Mrs. Washington sat at the foot of
the bed, while Tobias Lear noted every passing moment for posterity and
gave what aid he could to make the patient comfortable. About five
o'clock Washington said to Craik, "Doctor, I die hard but I am not
afraid to go. I believed from my first attack that I should not survive
it. My breath cannot last long." Life dragged five hours more, and when
the end came Dr. Craik closed the eyes of him who was his best
friend.[156] The watch which ticked off these awful moments is
preserved in the Museum at Mount Vernon. When the General's will was
opened one of the clauses read:
To my compatriot in arms, and old & intimate friend, Doct^r Craik, I
give my Bureau (or as the Cabinet makers call it, Tambour Secretary)
and the circular chair--an appendage of my Study.[157]
[Illustration: Mantel in the house at 209 Prince Street which John
Harper rented to Dr. Craik from 1790 to 1795 at L60 per annum and which
bears a plate erroneously marking the domicile of Dr. Dick, who lived
next door]
This desk and chair migrated with a later generation of Craiks to
Kentucky and afterward the heirloom chair was presented as a token of
esteem to General Andrew Jackson. Happy to relate, both pieces are again
united in the library at Mount Vernon.
There remained for Dr. Craik one more duty to perform at Mount Vernon.
In May 1802, two and a half years after the death of her husband, Martha
Washington fell ill. This old friend of her married life of forty years
watched over her for the seventeen days that remained and was with her,
too, when she breathed her last.
Doctor Craik lived for fifteen years after the death of his friend and
patron, hale and hearty to the end. In 1810 he put up his Alexandria
house as security for a loan and it was sold at public auction March 23,
1810, to Rebecca Taylor.
Doctor Craik died on February 6, 1814, in his eighty-fourth year at his
country estate, Vauclause, near Alexandria. He lies in the graveyard of
the old Presbyterian meetinghouse.
His house in Alexandria, at 210 Duke Street, was fittingly enough in
1943 made habitable once again by another physician, Dr. Laurence A.
Thompson, and Mrs. Thompson.
[Illustration: Dr. James Craik and Dr. Elisha Dick]
[Illustration]