Fredericksburg, Virginia 1608-1908. Author:Sylvanius Jackson Quinn
CHAPTER IV.
Encouraging Home Industries — Further Extension of the Town — Tobacco Inspectors Appointed — Modes of Punishing Criminals — Prosperity — Military Ardor — Under the United States Government — A New Order of Things
CHAPTER V. Lease of the Market-House Lots — The First Serious Fire — Fredericksburg an Important Center — An Act Concerning Elections — Half of the Town Destroyed by Fire — Fredericksburg an Important Postal Point — How the Mails were Carried — A Congressional Investigation — Amendatory Acts of 1821 — The Great Fire of 1822 — TheTrade of the Town — Contagious Diseases — The Town in 1841 — Acts of
Extension, 1851, 1852, 1858, 1861
CHAPTER VI.
The War Clouds Gather — Fredericksburg in the Southern Confederacy — Troops Raised and Equipped — Town Surrendered to Federal Authorities — Citizens Arrested and Held as Hostages — Thrilling Evacuating Scenes — Citizens' Flee from their Homes — Bombardment of the Town
CHAPTER VII.
The Great Battle — The Town Sacked by Soldiers — The Federals Recross the River — A Great Revival of Religion — The Battle of Chancellorsville — Gen. Sedgewick Captures the Town — The Wilderness Campaign — Many Noncombatant Citizens Arrested and Imprisoned — A Statement by the Council — The Citizens and Federal Soldiers Released
CHAPTER VIII.
The Armies Transferred to Richmond and Petersburg — Gen. Lee Surrenders his Army — Citizens Return Home — Action of the City Council — Fredericksburg Again Under the Old Flag — The Assassination of President Lincoln Denounced — Reconstruction Commenced — An Election Set Aside by the Military — All Civil Offices Set Aside and Strangers Appointed — The Financial Condition of the Town — The Town Again in the Hands of its Citizens — Splendid Financial Showing.
CHAPTER IX.
The Courts of Fredericksburg —The Freedman's Bureau — Court Orders and Incidents — First Night Watch Appointed — Ministers Qualify to Perform Marriage Ceremony — First Notary Public — Fixing the Value of Bank Notes — Prison Bounds for Debtors — Church Buildings.
CHAPTER X.
Public Buildings — Court House — The Jail — Town Hall — Fire Department — School Buildings — Wallace Library — Normal School —Government Building.
CHAPTER XI.
Ancient and Historical Buildings — Mary Washington Monument — General Mercer's Statute — Mary Washington's Will.
CHAPTER XII.
Hotels of the Town, old and new — Agricultural Fairs and Toll Bridges — Care of the Dependent Poor — City Water Works — City Gas Works — Electric Light — Telephone Company — Fire Department.
CHAPTER XIII.
Volunteer Militia — The Confederate Cemetery — The National Cemetery — The Confederate Veterans — The Sons of Confederate Veterans — The Schools, Private and Public.
CHAPTER XIV.
The Churches of Fredericksburg.
CHAPTER XV.
Charitable and Benevolent Societies — Mary Washington Hospital — Newspapers and Periodicals — Political Excitement — Strong Resolutions Against the Administration — An Address Approving the President's Foreign Policy — The Names of Those who Signed the Address.
CHAPTER XVI.
Distinguished Men Buried in Fredericksburg — A Remarkable Grave Stone — Three Heroic Fredericksburg citizens, Wellford, Herndon, Willis — The Old Liberty Bell Passes Through Town — Great Demonstration in its Honor — What a Chinaman Thought of it.
CHAPTER XVII.
Visits of Heroes — Gala Days — The Army of the Society of the Potomac Enters the Town.
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Society of the Army of the Potomac Continued — Welcome Address — Laying a Corner Stone.
CHAPTER XIX.
Doctor Walker's Expedition — Bacon's Rebellion, so-called — The Fredericksburg Declaration — The Great Orator — Resolutions of Separation — The Virginia Bill of Rights.
CHAPTER XX.
Declaration of Separation — The Declaration of Independence — Washington Commander-in-Chief of the Armies — John Paul Jones Raises the First Flag — First to Throw the Stars and Stripes to the Breeze — Fredericksburg Furnishes the Head of the Army and Navy — The Constitution of the United States.
CHAPTER XXI.
The First Proclamation for Public Thanksgiving — Pennsylvania Whiskey Rebellion — John Marshall and the Supreme Court — Religious Liberty — The Monroe Doctrine — Seven Presidents — Clarke Saves the Great Northwest — The Vast Western Territory Explored — The Louisiana Purchase — The Florida Purchase — Texas Acquired — The War with Mexico and its Rich Results — The Oceans Sounded, Measured and Mapped — The Ladies' Memorial Association — The Mary Washington Monument — General Hugh Mercer's Statue.
CHAPTER XXII.
Fredericksburg at Present — The Health of the City — its Financial Solidity — Its Commercial Prosperity — Its Lines of Transportation — Its Water Power — Its Official Calendar — Chronological List of Mayors.
CHAPTER I.
Capt. John Smith Explores the Rappahannock River — The Flight of Pocahontas —Major Smith's Fort — Governor Spotswood's Miners at Germanna.
In what year the white man first set his foot upon the present site of Fredericksburg is not certainly known. The mind of man, of the present generation, does not run back to that time, and if the first white visitor to the place thought it of sufficient importance to make a note of it that note was not preserved; or, if it was, it is unknown to the present inhabitants of the town, unless that visitor was Captain John Smith.
It is stated that after John Smith was captured by the Indians, while on his trip exploring the Chickahominy, his captors marched him through the country, amid great rejoicing, visiting the Indian towns on the Pamunkey, Mattapony, Piankitank, Rappahannock and Potomac rivers, but it is not stated that he was taken as high up the Rappahannock as the falls. This trip through the country, however, while it was attended with hideous yells, cheers and all sorts of mournful noises by the excited throng, gave John Smith some idea of the rich and fertile valleys, the beautiful rivers that flowed from the mountains, and a desire to explore them if he should be fortunate enough to get back to the English settlement alive.
For soon after his release, in writing of the discoveries, having already explored the Chesapeake bay, he says:[spelling modernised] "There is but one entrance by sea into this country, and that is at the mouth of a very goodly bay, the wideness whereof is near eighteen or twenty miles. The cape on the south is called Cape Henry, in honor of our most noble Prince. The show of the land there is a white hilly sand like unto the Downes, and along the shores great plenty of pines and firs. The north cape is called Cape Charles, in honor of the worthy Duke of York.
"Within is a country that may have the prerogative over the most pleasant places of Europe, Asia, Africa or America and for large and pleasant navigable rivers, heaven and earth never agreed better to frame a place for man's habitation, being of our constitutions, were it fully manured and inhabited