History of Western Maryland. J. Thomas Scharf
"To The President of the United States:
" Sir, — The inhabitants of Frederick take the liberty of congratulating you upon your safe arrival at this place, and to assure you that it gives them sincere pleasure to have this opportunity of expressing that veneration and attachment which they have always felt, and still feel, for your person and character as a patriot, a statesman, a soldier, and a fellow-citizen. They have, sir, a lively sense of gratitude for that long series of services which you have so ably exhibited on the public stage."
In reply Washington said:
" Messrs. Murdoch, Beall, Potts, Thomas, and McPherson."
" Your ascription of my public services overrates their value; and it is justice to my fellow-citizens that I should assign the eminent advantages of our political condition to another cause, — to their valor, wisdom, and virtue. From the first they derive their freedom; the second has been proved by their independence in national prosperity; the last, I trust, will long protect their social rights and insure their individual happiness. That your participation of these advantages may realize your best wishes is my sincere prayer.
"George Washington.
After leaving Frederick Town, in July, 1791, on his way to Philadelphia, Gen. Washington passed through Woodsborough, Ladiesburg, and York Road Station to Middleburg and Taneytown, Hanover, etc. In passing through what is now known as Carroll County be remained part of the afternoon and overnight at " Terra Rubra," the hospitable mansion of Maj. John Ross Key, near Middleburg, where a large concourse of people had assembled to greet him. Many who had seen service with him in the days of '76, and who knew him personally, and admired his military and civil career, hastened to take him by the hand and bid him welcome. He was escorted from Frederick Town by ex-Governors Thomas Johnson and Thomas Sim Lee, Maj. Mountjoy Bayley, and others.
After breakfast on the morning after the night spent at Maj. Key's, ex-Governor Johnson announced that the general would say a few words to his friends before he left.
" My countrymen," said Washington, deeply affected, " I am about to leave your good land, your beautiful valleys, your refreshing streams, and the Blue Hills of Maryland, which stretch out before me. I cannot leave you, fellow-citizens, without thanking you again and again for your kind greeting; for the true and devoted friendship you have shown me. When in the darkest hours of the Revolution, of doubt and gloom, the succor and support I received from the people of Frederick County always cheered me. It always awoke a responsive echo in my breast. I feel the emotion of gratitude beating in my heart, — my heart is too full to say more. God bless you all."
Washington was a first-rate farmer and always took a lively interest in agricultural pursuits. At that time Frederick County (before it was divided) was the largest wheat-growing county in the United States, and its grain crop of 1791 was particularly fine. That and other facts which fell under his observation prompted Washington, in a letter written shortly after to Sir John Sinclair, of Great Britain, to state that " Frederick County was the Garden Spot of the United States."
A funeral tribute to Washington's memory was paid on the 22nd of February, 1800, at Frederick, in conformity with the military orders received from Maj. -Gen. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, of Charleston, S. C, addressed to Brig. Gen. Mountjoy Bayley, of Frederick Town, commanding the Federal troops in Western Maryland. There was an immense attendance from all parts of the county and from distant points of Frederick.
Gen. John Eager Howard, of Baltimore, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Col. William Washington, Maj. Paul Bentalou, and Sergt. Lawrence Everhart, were in the procession. Ex-Governor Thomas Sim Lee, Hon. Benjamin Ogle, Governor of Maryland, and Hon. George Baer, Jr., member of Congress, were seated with Thomas Johnson, orator of the day, in a carriage drawn by four white horses and draped in mourning.
The exercises began with the discharge of sixteen guns from the artillery, commanded by Capt. William Clements, and half-hour guns were fired until the procession moved. About eleven o'clock the line of procession was formed opposite Capt. Valentine Brother's, and moved in the following order:
An advance guard of four dragoons.
Capt. Nelson's cavalry, commanded by Cornet Daniel Planer, Jr.
The General's horse dressed in black.
Federal Troops under the command of Capt. Val. Brother.
Federal officers.
Music.
Military officers in uniform.
Physicians.
Clergy.
The Bier and Pall-Bearers.
Sixteen young ladies in mourning representing the sixteen
States in grief.
Committee of Arrangements.
Masonic Brethren,
The Rev. Samuel Knox, principal of the academy, followed
by the other tutors, and upwards of one hundred
pupils in mourning.
The procession moved down Market Street to the Square, and then up Patrick Street. When arrived in front of the German Presbyterian church the whole halted and opened to the right and left. The bier was then conveyed into the cemetery and three volleys fired over it by Capt. Brother's command. In the church Thomas Johnson delivered an eloquent oration upon the life and services of his friend and associate General Washington.
In the summer of 1824, Lafayette, with his son, George Washington Lafayette, and Mr. Le Vasseur, his private secretary, sailed from Havre in the ship " Cadmus," Capt. Allyn, and arrived in the city of New York on the 15th of August of that year. His advent was the signal for universal rejoicing. Party spirit was hushed, patriotic ardor alone prevailed, and an era of good feeling pervaded the entire land.
Frederick County was one of the foremost communities to do him honor, and among the citizens who were particularly active in urging an appropriate reception were Messrs. William P. Farquhar, Samuel Barnes, editor of the Frederick Examiner, Joshua Cockey, Henry Kemp, Joseph M. Cromwell, John Lee, Henry Ridgely Warfield, Stephen Steiner, and John Kunkel. John Kunkel and his son Hon. Jacob M. Kunkel were in their day conspicuous men in the history of Western Maryland.
Hon. Jacob M. Kunkel was born in Frederick, July 24, 1822, and in that city died, April 7, 1870. His great-grandfather, John Kunkel, was a colonel in the army of Frederick the Great, and about 1732 emigrated to America. Soon afterwards he purchased of Richard and Thomas Peon, proprietors of the province, a tract of land in Lancaster County, Pa. The letters patent and the land itself are still in the possession of his descendants. He was an old man when the war of the Revolution opened, and although he himself could not go, he sent six of his seven sons to the Continental army. One of them fell at the battle of the Brandywine. Jacob, the fifth son, was a dragoon, and while upon detached service on the banks of the Delaware was with a companion suddenly surprised by a small command of British horse. The young dragoon, however, was equal to the emergency; shooting the commanding officer of the enemy dead on the spot, he leaped upon the latter's horse, and before the men could recover from their surprise was pushing on across the river, and so luckily escaped. In the holsters of his equine prize he found two silver-mounted pistols marked " J. P." One of the weapons is yet in the possession of the Kunkel family. The eldest son, William (grandfather of Hon. J. M. Kunkel), served at the defense of Fort Mifflin, on Mud Island.
Jacob M. Kunkel's father, John Kunkel,