...f iV.'- ' A'L^VL..4 CELEBRATION OF THE FIRST CENTENNIAL OF The Municipal Government OF THE CIT! OF ILEllOem. IGli, MARCH Q, 1880. JPuMisJiecZ hiy order of tTie Ctty Conncil, ALEXANDRIA, VA. PRINTED AT THE GAZETTE EOOK AND JOB OFFICE. 1880. j-t INTRODUCTION, The Municipal Government of Alexandria, Virginia, was organized on the 13th day of July, 1749, Avith jurisdiction over sixty six half acre lots, comprising nine squares, and two public landings. These had been laid off under an Act of the General Assembly of the Colony of Virginia, passed in 1748, and 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 Fairfax County, Gentlemen, and Philip Alexander of the County of Stafford, Gentleman, and their successors were appointed directors and trustees. This government continued in existence during a period of 30 years. The Council records from the organization of the town under this charter until 1794 are lost, other memoranda show that on the 9th of March, 1780, a new municipal Government went into operation, Robert Townsend Hooe being chosen Mayor; David Arell, John Fitzgerald, James Hendricks and Robert McRea, Aldermen ; Josiah Watson, Peter Wise, John Harper, Adam Lynn, William Hunter and William Bushby, Common Councilmen. At a regular meeting of the City Council held on Tuesday, evening, February 24, 1880, the following preamble, and resolution was adopted. ^'Whereas, the 9th day of March, proximo, will be the Centennial Anniversary of the formation of the municipal corporation of Alexandria, 4 And whereas, it seems meet and proper that some notice should be officially taken by the City Council of said anniversary ; therefore, be it Resolved, that a committee of two from each board be appointed to make suitable arrangements for a public meeting on March 9th, and that Wm. F. Carne, Esq., be invited to address the said meeting on the early history of the city," And a joint committee, consisting of Messrs. Thomas V. Risheill, and Henry Strauss of the Board of Aldermen, and Messrs. John P. Rice, and Malcolm McLean of the Common Council appointed to carry them into effect."' The committee was organized l)y tlie election of Mr. Risheill as Chairman, and Messrs. F. L. Brockett, Auditor, and M. B. Harlow, City Treasurer, were requested to act with them in makino- arrann^ements for the celebration. *T'he Chairman being directed to inform Mr. Cai'ne of the action of the Council, and request his acceptance of the invitation, the following correspondence took place: Alexandria, Ya., February 2Tth, 1880. William F. Carxe, Esq., Dear Sir : A resolution of the City Council of Alexandria directs a special Committee, of wliicli I am Cliairman, to invite you to deliver an address at tlie celebration of the first Centennial of our Municipal Govei-nment, whicli will take i)lace on the evening of Tuesday, the ninth day of March, 1880, and lam happy in being the meilium of communicating this invitation to you. Yours Respectfully, Thomas Y. Risheill. 5 Alexandria, Ya.. Feby. 28th, 1880. Thomas V. Risheill, Esq., Chairman, kc, Dear Sir : I esteem it an honor to accept tlic invitation which your note of this date communicates to me. For over a quarter of a century much of the little leisure I have been able to command, has been spent in accumulating materials to illustrate the history of Alexandria, and whatever may serve to entertain the City Council on the occasion of its Centennial, I will cheerfully put at its service. And remain Yours very truly, William F. Carnk. Henry B. Whittington, Esq., being previously invited, consented to read an original poem, composed by himself for the occasion. The arrangements comprised a torch light procession, which took place in accordance with the following programme : The Boards of Aldermen and Common Council met in regular session, at seven o'clock, on Tuesday evening, March 9, 1880, in their respective chambers. The Common Council appointed a committee to invite the Board of Aldermen to \inite with them in joint session and when in a body, proceed to tii^'ir position in the line of procession, on Washington street, and a joint meeting convened. Mr. James H. Reid, aid, took charge of the military and escorted the Mayor, City Council and other officials to Washino;ton street and formed the first division on the west side of Washington street. The following order was observed in 6 THE CENTENNIAL PROCESSION. TORCH BEARERS. POLICE. Jaracs F. AVebster, Captain. Patrick Hayes, James Smith, Matthew Lattin, B. F. Bettis, James P. Coleman. CHIEF MARSHAL, Major George Duffey. AIDS. R. W. Falls, J. H. Reid. ASSISTANT MARSHALS. S. 11. Lunt, R. S. Windsor, Chas. W. Summers, M. Ahern, P. W. Aitcheson, Thos. G. Brent, M. Schuler, W. H. Smith, II. P. Berkley, John Harlow, Isaac Rudd, R. Henry Simpson, MUSIC — ALEXANDRIA MUSICAL ASSOCIATION. Claironet, Prof. Baptisli, Washington, 1st Solo Bb Cornet, Prof. Seiner, W\ashington, 1st Cornet, Edward Winters, Alexandria, 2nd Bb Cornet, A. H. Agnew, Alexandria, Eb Cornet, N II. Shuman, Alexandria, Baritone, P. McKnight Baldwin, Alexandria, 1st Tenor, Sidney Douglas, Alexandria, 2nd Tenor, Albert Aitcheson, Alexandria, 1st Alto, Chas. W. Bell, Alexandria, 2nd Alto, Thos. Gibson, Alexandria, 1st Eb Bass, Alplionso Lucas, Alexandria, 2n(l Eb Bass, Walter Whittlesey, Alexandria, Bass Drum, James Mansfield, Alexandria, Small Drum, William French, Alexandria, Cymbals, Edward Burns, Alexandria. ALEXANDRIA LIGHT INFANTE Y. Commissioned Officers. G. McBurney, Jr., First Lieut. Commanding, F. F. Marbury, Second Lieutenant, J. W. Purington, Jr., Third Lieutenant. Non- Commissioned Officers. A. McBurney, Orderly Sergeant, G. S. Smith, 2nd Sergeant, R. W. Wheat, 3rd Sergeant, J. H. Neale, 5th Sergeant, J. F. Young, Color Sergeant. I. M. Kell, 1st Corporal, T. W. Robinson, 2nd Corporal, L. Marbury, 3rd Corporal, S. L. Monroe, 4th Corporal, A. Snowden, 5th Corporal, A. J. Harper, 6th Corporal, A. Bryan, Tth Corporal. Privates. Adam, B. P. Grimes, T. E. Adam, J. L. Grillbortzer, Geo. Crilley, Jno. Lee, T. A. Darley, Geo. I^unt, J. D. H. Deeton, A. Masters, W. H. M. Downey, J. T. McEwen, Jno. 8 Eklriage, E. E. McLean, D. Fisher, G. W. Monroe, G. O, Fowle, B. H. Perry, M. B. ST. John's cadet battalion. "Walter B. Dent, Major Commanding, "William R. Springer, 1st Lieut, and Adjutant, Robert Lee Hoy, Color Sergeant, J. 0. Posey, Drummer. Company A. Wilfrid C. Potter, Captain, John E. DeLea, 1st Lieutenant, G. Douglas Carpenter, 2nd Lieutenant, Charles F. Morgan, 1st Sergeant, Charles J. Deahl, 2d Sergeant, Thomas Lee Ilill, 3d Sergeant, William H. Partlow, 1st Corporal, George D. Hopkins, 2nd Corporal. Privates. Thomas P. Bayne, A\-,«lter C. Blackiock, James H. Birch, Raymond BoAven, J. (Jook G. Broadus, William F. Carne, jr., William A. Chipman, P. Manly Clarke, G. W. Lee Cole, Frank F. DeLea, Ballard E. Dodd, Charles G. Giddings, jr., Marker^ John AV. Avery, Herman B. F. Heathy Frank S. Lucas, Edward ^L Laughlin, William E. Marks, Marshall J. Parker, Benjamin L. Partlow, James P. Quinn, Charles W. Seawell, Milton P. Townshend, John J. Walsh, Robert W. Wenzel, Elijah B. White, Charles Brager. Company B. Franklin J. L. Wcnzel, Captain, W. Frank Lambert, 1st' Lieutenant, Albert S. J. Price, 2nd liieutenant, Frederick H. Schneider, 1st Sergeant, Charles Bendheim, 2nd Sergeant, William J. Downey, 3d Sergeant, Charles F. Diedel, 1st Corporal, Cornelius J. Lally, 2nd Corporal. Vi'lvates. Solomon Blondheim, Landon C. Cole, Bernard J. Donnelly, Robert T. Lucas, jr. AYilliam H. Melchur, John T. Bafferty, Frederick Schuler, Westel W. Willoughby, Charles H. Yohe. Markers. Harry E. Lord. OFFICERS, SOLDIERS, SEAMEX AXD MARINES OF THE U. S. AND EX-C. S. ARMY AXD XAVY. Lewis Bendheim, James Callan, Thomas P. DeLea, Edward H. Kemper, David A. Makely, Frederick J. Paff, ^Villiara J. Schuler, J. Edward Waddey, Willie F. Willoughby SECOXD DIVISION. Carriages containing the chaplain, Rev. J. J. Bullock, D. D., chaplain of the United States Senate. Wm. F. Carne, esq., orator. H. B. Whittington, esa., poet. Judges A. W. Chilton and C, E. Stuart. 10 Ex-ofFiccrs of the city. Ex-Di embers of Council. Present city officers. Corporation Attorney, K, Kemper, esq. Attorneys of tlie Commonwealtli, S. G. Brent and Edmund Burke, esqs. City Sergeant R. T. Lucas and Deputy, A. \V. iVrmstrong. President and Clerk of the Board of Aldermen, E. E. Down ham, esq., and J. J. Jamieson, esq. A Idermen. C. C. Smoot, W. S. Moore, W. II. Marbury, II. Strauss, L. W. Keid. Thos. \. Kislieill, John B. Smoot. Messeniror of the Board of Aldermen, Richard 11. Rudd. President and Clerk of the Common Council, J. T. Beck- ham, esq., and James R. Caton. esq. CoiTDiion Council. Wm. S. Moore, Isaac Eicliberi^, George W. Rock, Isaac A. Smith, W. W. Herbert, James S. Douglas. Hugh Latham, Malcolm McLean, I'hcodore II. Ficklin, Paul R. Evans, John P. Rice, John D. Javins, Joseph Broders, H. Y. Daniel, John W. Peake. Messenger of Common CouniHl, V. M. 'raylor. TTTY SCHOOL BOARD. S. C. Neale, esq.. Chairman. K. L. Carne, es([.. Superintendent of Public Schools. 11 FIRE DEPARTMENT. E. S, Lcadbeatcr, Chief Engineer. Fire Wardens. Geo. E. FroncJi, F. E. Corbett^ J. R. S?noot, Stephen Green, FRIENDSHIP FIFE COMPANY. 0. C. Chicliester. Marshal. Joseph Clark. First Commander. Norman Jenkins, Second Commander. Orlando Ford, Third Commander. Organized in 1774, six years older than the day they were celebrating, and nearly the only landmark remaining to remind us of the days of our fathers. This company numbered 30 strong, drawing the old suction and hose carriage, which, atlhough now cast aside as things of the past, are looked upon still by the members that have stuck by the company in her days of humiliation, with pride and veneration. Oficers. Geo. W. Henry, President. Jas. A. Javins, 1st Vice President. Jas. W. Nails, 2nd Vice President. Thos. E. Grimes, Recording Secretary. William Murtaugh, Corresponding Secretary, Members. James A. Travers, James Moore, George W. Drowns, Norman Jenkins, Wni. Vernon, Frank Bell, Thomas Wilburn, Wm. Whitely, Nimrod Nowland, Grigsby Grady, Wm. C. Grady, Geo. Crump, Thomas Darley, John Reid Cross, C. C. Chichester, Orlando Ford, John Quinn, Harry S. Brown. 12 SUX FIRE ('O-MPANY. \Vitli tlicir cngiiie, ''Bi,2; 2" as she is called, with the picture of Grace ]ie3mol(ls, one of Alexandria's old time ladies and the company's idol, painted on one side. This company was organized in 177-"), and like the Friendship is out of service, but still has a large number of devoted folloAvers. About 50 members were out. and with the engine decorated with pictures and flowers presented a good appearance. George Bontz, Pioneer, led the company in the procession with the same axe that was used in the procession of 1832, George Sullivan and F. W. Deeton carrying the old solid silver torches, and on the fi^allerv of the Eno^ine was a member in Indian costume, an old costume of the company. The officers of the company are: Officers. Hugh Latham, President. John Sullivan, 1st Vice President. ^I. R. Norriss, 2nd Vice President. Wm. C. Markell, Secretary. George Bontz, Axeman. George Duffcy, Chief Marshal. Hiram AVebster, Assistant Marshal. Members. Ivobert ^Yilliams, Charles LoAvry, Robert Travers, Charles Elliott, Andrew Sullivan. Frank Price, George Sullivan, E. Davies, Wesley Davis, Frank 11 award, Frank Deeton, John Branwn, And registered, a.> Alexandria Town ! •21 "Ti.s meet that wo her sous thi.s \v»'rving fealty t.-> ^8 gallant spirits f\s e'er gazed upon The noble features of our Washington f For hither he in olden days would come, The jruest of many an Alexandria home. His chosen lodge, the sacred church wh«re he- In veneration bowed the suppliant knee, Are in our midst as landmarks to descry The immortal name that was not born to die. . But since that period many a blight has come To change the current of the city's hum ; Then on our thoroughfares from day to day Was heardHhe rumbling of the loaded dray, Bearing its precious burden to the shore, Where mid the music of th« stevedore, By nimble hands in stately ships 'twas stored And then, with hatches down and all aboard, Out in the stream, with flags and pennons gay They dropped, then speeded on their distant way- Now silence reigns where once tliat busy throng, Lightened their labors with both jest and song. And even Fishtown, with its classic name. Has lost the jDre^'tige of its ancient fame. Where now in UKxlern times do we behold Those staunch built wagons which were seen of old,- Freighted with the best products that prevail In Rockingham and Shenandoah's vale? AIhs! these splendid,- sturdy six horse teams Have yielded to the locomotive's screams. Nor will we ever in the years to come Hear Murray's tile or Peter Logan's drum, As the long columns^ ready for the fray, Came issuing forth on general muster day, Nor look on Joseph Williams, alias Goat, With galhmt Tim arrayed in martial coat, Or see Nick Kansall hindmost in the train, Whose like we ne'er shall look upon again. These,, with a thousand pictures we recall, Which mutely hang in memory's sacred hall. Awaken feelings in their brief review, Like Ossian's odes, pleasing yet mournful too- 23 Thv\s far we ve come yet not one single lino Povoted to the sex most like divine ; Then, with tlieir pardon we will reproduce, And thus adapt tiiem to our present use, Some lines, we had the pleasure once to send, In a familiar letter to a friend. For where in this world, seek the universe through, Where'er tljere's a mission of mercy to do, Or where the sad heart needs the tenderest care, To save from the fathomless gulf of despair, Can such exhibitions of pure love be found As those which in woman's kind nature abound ? O woman ! the pride and the glory of earth, What mortal would ventui"e to measure thy worth ? As well may we turn to the sands of the sea, In order to tell what their numbers may be ; W soaring aloft through the limitless air. Attempt to unravel the mysteries there — A-- with our restricted resources, to scan. Tills treasure, entrusted b^' heaven to man ! And now I imagine you laugh in your sleeve, And though not incredulous, scarce can perceive How one who so long has been struggling through life, Without the encouraging smiles of a wife, Can hold such exalted opinions, while he Still steers his lone Bark o'er celebacy's sea! Why bless you, the truth is I loved all so well, That it were a difficult matter to tell Which one of a very large number I' d choose, Provided they did not my offer refuse- Dear home of my youth, with what thrilling emotion, !^[y heart e'er responds at the sound of thy name : And 3'ieldingto none for an ardent devotion To aught that redounds to thy honor and fame May peace and prosperity ever attend thee, And long coming ages thy virtues record ; With love to adorn and stout hearts to defend thee, A lasting renown be thy glorious reward. 24 In introducing^ the orator the cliainaun aaiu'^It now affords me great pleasure to introduce to you tlie orator on this occasion, a gentleman who need< no introduction to Jin Alexandria audience, [as the name is an household \Yord in almost every Alexandria home, as is evidenced hy the presence of so goodly a number of the ''Cadets of St. John's Academy," of which R. L. Came, esq., is Principal.] I now introduce to you Wm. F. Came esq., the orator of the evening. Mr. Came, delivered an appropriate speech, which was listened to throughout with profound attention and elicited frequent applause. CENTENNIAL ORATION. I esteem it high honor to speak of my native town, between two of its centuries, in the presence of its chief officers, its councils, so many of my fellow townsmen, and these fair ladies, whose presence here to-night reminds us that though times may change and centuries pass, Alexandria will always be Bellehaven. Called by the City Council to recount the deeds of a hundred years, I assume the task the more willinglj^ because I am confident that all the demerit of the narration will be absorbed by the interest of the theme which I present ; that you will not expect from me tne flight nor the scream of the eagle, not even the wood-bird's notes, such as have just fallen from the poet; but will be content that I shall sit like a town sparrow on your window sill and twitter of home. It is now one hundred years ago, since on the 9th day of March, 1780, Robert Townsend flooe and eleven other burghers of Alexandria met together in the upper room of the building which stood formerly at the north east corner of the market 25 square, near the intersection of Fairfax a\v\ Cameron streets, and organized the government of which you, gentlemen of tlie City Councils, are the representatives to-day. Alexandria was then over thirty years old, and civilization had cultivated the fiekls and reaped the harvests here of over one hundred years. It is proper, then, that I review hriefly the circum- stances of the settlement, mark the transition of the land on which we stand from savage to civilized dominion ; trace, from the virgin forest, through the slave-planted tobacco fields, the rise and progress of that community that now amid marts and fiictories, schools and churches celebrates its Centennial. In July, 1^08, Capt. John Smith, and fourteen companions explored the Potomac. They, first of all the race of Japheth, looked upon the spot which we call home. The face of the river-side was exceedingly beautiful, as it reflected into the waters the shadows of summer's luxuriant foliage. Two hundred and fifty years of civilization and culture have wrought a mighty change upon the wild beauty that then entranced the voyager's eye. Dense forests, overtopping a vast undergrowth of wild vegetation, covered the land, and grew quite to the river's edge, giving way here to a lowland pocoson, and here yielding to a wide creek or smaller streamlet, whilst here and there an impenetrable swamp, rich in the bloom of water-loving flowers, and aftbrding habitation and food for the stately swan and the ungainly crane, intervened between the woodland heights. The forests were the abode of numberless birds, of difi-erent hues, and the melody from the leafy choir swelled in sweet but varied harmony. Some of the species of birds yet revisit us with summer ; others fled with the red men, before the falling forests, and will return no more. Beavers built their dams upon the running streams. 26 Otters and martens, mingled with minks, raccoons antl opossums, deer, bears and foxes, roamed the woods, whilst in the thicket the wolf made his den, and the savage panther found a lair. The running streams were alive with fish, and when the warmth of s})ring brought the schools of the sea up into the shallower waters of the land, the paddle of the canoe would kill numbers, as it struck the waters. The early history of all people are periods of adventure and of interest that are but feebly represented at later periods of their history, and Alexandria is no exception to the rule. Come, from the Senate chamber, in which the venerated voice you have just heard, is so often raised in invocation, and pass the* Rotunda in the direction of the House of Representatives. On the right you may see the painting in which the genius of an Alexandria artist, [Chapman] portrays the Baptism of Pocahontas. Observe the figure in the gallery just beside the pillar above the chancel. It is a boyish-looking man, scarce yet reached his manhood. It is Henry Spillman, the first guide of civilization over the region where we are now gathered. He had been, when a child, saved from massacre and protected by Pocahontas, and living with the Indians had learned their tracks by the river side, and in the latter por- tion of liis life commanded a Potomac vessel which carried on trade with tlie Indians of this neighborliood. whom Capt. John Smith had visited in 1608. Capt. Smith's history of Alexandria was a very short one ; it was contained in nine words, "At Toags they did their best to content us." Those Toags, whose names with the freedom of frontier orthography, are called "Toags, Doeggs, Boags and Dogues," were the first occupants of the land where Alexandria stands. Above on the other side of tl\e Potomac were the Nocostins, and 27 below Neabsco, the Potowomekes. These tribes have long disappeared, but they have left their baptisms on our streams, while "Amid the forest where they roamed, There rings no hunter's shout; There name is on your waters, And ye may not wash it out." The Necostins have a memorial above in the Anacostia river, and in Analostan Island ; the mighty stream at our feet compels us to commemorate the Potowomekes, and below Mount Vernon, Dogue run keeps its historic trust for the red race beside the tomb of Washington. These Indians were driven away in 1676, by the fierce onslaught made upon the red-men, which originated to protect the settlements against savage inroads, culminated in the war against Governor Berkley, and expired as Bacon's Rebellion. A few years before, in 1669, Robert Howison had obtained a patent for the land on which Alexandria stands, and had sold the patent to John Alexander, a Stafford planter, for six thousand pounds of tobacco. The first known settlement on this patent was made in 1695, by Thomas Pearson * upon Pearson's Island. The staple proJuct of the time was tobacco, and fields of this comforting weed soon succeeded the primeval forests ; there is not an acre within town-limits that has not produced its hundred weight of good Oronoko. Tobacco required a tobacco warehouse, and in 1031 the Hunt- ing Creek warehouse was built by the county authorities of Prince William County on the high bluff that then overlooked *The fine Ph3^sique and brilliant imagination of his descendant, "Chiisseur," our late representative in the General Assembly, represents the blood of the pioneer settler. "28 the river near where the eity gas- works now stand, "on the first branch above Hunting Creek." Around this' warehouse gathered the hamlet of Belhaven. At this hamlet in 1749, "Wra. Ramsay, John Carlyle and their associates found- ed the town of Alexandria. The descendants of these gen- tlemen now among us show thut Alexandria has every reason to be proud of the men who laid the foundations of the town. Their names are synonyms of integrity. The town thus originated grew around the tobacco warehouse and was laid out amid old fields from which tobacco had sucked the virgin fertility. The town plat was the very picture of colonial loyalty, — the Hoi/al and Fairfax family names ran side by side in its two long streets which were crossed by the short streets bearing the Fairfax title: — Cameron and those of King and Queen, Prince and Princess, Duke and Dutchess. The town grew up amid restrictions on commerce and fetters on manufactures which it seems now incredible that any community schooled in Magna Oharta could have borne, but the colonists in Alexandria like Anglo Saxons everywhere, had a profound respect for law. They submitted to these restrictions because they were accustomed to them, and as they were pressed by French power, and in constant dread of the Indians, who still lingered near, they expected British aid, and thought the profits, which England made by a monopoly of their trade, was a high price to pay for such assistance, — but it was at least a price paid for something. But when Braddoek came, and the British troops instead of protecting the colonists had been compelled to rely on the Colonial troops to protect them, the feeling changed. Braddoek had come and gone — the town folks and country people having relied upon themselves for defence against the Indians and 29 J'reneli, feit able, in a just cause, to meet the world in arms on their own soil. Hence these restrictions on navigation and manufactures annoyed them. They felt that tor a nation to be free it would be sufficient that she willed it. They bore the load because they were accustomed to it, but one straw to which they were not used would break the carael's back. That straw came in the stamp act, and we may look with just pride at Alexandria's part in that day. The stamp act was to be put in operation on the 1st of November, 1765. Alexandria was then represented in the House of Burgesses by George Johnston, he was one of the town trustees, and at his home on the corner of Prince and Lee streets he prepared resolutions for nullifying that act of Parliament. It is the tradition of his family that the habitual gravity of liis demeanor seemed, after the news of the stamp act reached Alexandria, to grow yet more intense, and that after a lon^ examination uf the En^rlish law, he wrote the resolutions which Patrick Henry, shortly afterwards, iiitro- duced into the House of Burgesses. It is said that on com- pleting the resolutions he showed the paper to his Avife, say- ing: — ''This paper may cost me my life, yet it is the truth dnd whether or not any one sustain me I will not turn back." He wont with Washington, who was also a delegate, to Wil- liamsburg in May. Mr. Wirt narrates, and he is universally fallowed, that Henry drew his resolutions upon the blank leaf of a volume of ''Coke upon Littleton." Therecan be no doubt v/hatcver that Johnston came from Alexandria to the House determined to offer such resolutions and thoroughly prepared with copious argument and authorities to support them. Cer- tain it is that wdien Henry's vehement voice was raised on that memorable occasion, fmd "Treason! Treason!" resounded so amid the excited crowd, Johnston took liis st-.md ahjngside of Patrick Henry, — When Henry stepped to the front, John- ston stood beside him. When Henry spoke the startling words, whose echoes are yet unspent, Johnston chimed cahnly \ii — as lo^ncal as clear, identical in spirit, one in tone, not as brilliant, but more practical, as when— ''After the tocsin's alarum — Distinctly the clock strikes/' This Avas Alexandria's share on that momentous day. George Johnston died the year following. Had he lived he would have been one of the leading statesmen of the Revolu- tion. He was succeeded in your Councils, Mr. President of the Board of Aldermen, Mr. President of the Common Coun- cil, by Georye Wasliington. There was for awhile a lull in town— -a lull in the British Eaipire. But a few circling years, and again the omnipotence of Parliament was asserted— the tea was overboard, the port of Boston closed, and the gale whicli swept from the north- ward brouo^ht the ''clash of resounding arras. Amid the tumult of anxiety, a calm Sabbatli dawned on Alexandria. The hot July sky was fair overhead, and tlie grass was green in Christ Church yard. The sermon was just over, and men loitered to listen to what Colonel Washington would say. He was known to be an ardent patriot, but it was known, too, that he was opposed to the re-election of Colonel Broadwater ■who was in favor of resistance, and he was inclined to support his friend, Bryan Fairfax, who counselled submission. He loitered awhile and talked, as he loitered, to a party of gentle- men upon the green. He was chairman of the committee appointed at the last June court to draft a platform on which Fairfax and Alexandria should stand. "What does he say ?" .^1 asks a bystander, '^Hc is for resist nice ! Tliat means figiit." And then, tliere on Clirist Churcli green a nation was conceived. As the nniiruet draws the iron, anotlier scene in Christ Church Yard leaps the barrier of a hundred yenrs, and demands that I speak of it. ft is another Sabbath morn, the same sky is overhead : tlic fields are fresh with tlie flowers of May ; tlie grass is still i^reen. A jrrave, revered commander who has sheathed his sword that he may have time to think, time to consider, time to pray, comes out of the hallowed edifice. A party of gentlemen approach him ; they press upon him the peril of the time; they urge upon him that when all other swords are drawn his must leap out, and lead the people. There on the same Christ Church green, Robert E. Lee gave his tacit acceptance of the command, which he afterwards put into words before the General Assembly of the Commonwealth. "Trusting in Almighty God, an approving conscience, and tlie aid of my fellow citizens, I devote myself to the service of my native State, in whose behalf alone will I ever again draw my sword." And there, on Christ Church green, where Washington pronounced for resistance to British arms, Robert B. Lee accepted the command of the armies of the Common- wealth. Come, Paszeant Kings, with thy Field of the Clotli of Gold, and this field of grass that waves above our dead beside Christ Church shall give us nobler lessons,— stirring the heart as the field of Marathon— full of freedom as the plain of Runny- mede. It is a hallowed ground. Not because Washington in victory founded a nation — not because Lee in defeat left — only a grave, but because two honest men, lifted by Providence as guides to their people, each here, saw duty demand personal sacrifice, and threw themselves into the fire that burned on the altar of tlieir country. ( Applause.) Not cktser docs the ivy cling to the walls of that venei'ated pile than hangs around it the memories of Washington and Lee. (Applause.) It is the heart of the town. Its lesson is the lesson of the century.' Alexandria sent to the Continental Army many of her sons to die on the field of battle. Washington was honorary captain of the Volunteer company formed in 1 775, which offered to follow him to Cambridge when he was chosen Commander in Chief of ihe United Colonies, and, later amid the darkest days of the war, there marched away to the Jerseys a company, wdiose flag, red with a yellow centre, inscribed with black, ''IX Virginia Ri-:GrMENT, — Alexan- dria Company," was burned at the conflagration of the Market house in 1871. 8uch, (addressing the military) citizen soldiers, were the men ^vho were trained into soldiers on the streets which liave been 3^our drill ground. Your town's military record was begun when Stewai-t's troop went intoBraddock's twenty nine strong and left twentv-flve dead on the fleld of battle. Among tliose who died with Braddock was Thomas Longden, ancestor of the editors of the Gazette. Their epitaph is in the bulletin of the day : "the Virginia oflBcers and troops behaved like men and died like soldiers." Sparta had no worthier one. Alexandria soldiers died at Quebec with Wolfe, at Princeton under Mercer, and during the war with Mexico, home they brought our soldier dead to lay in the council chamber of the city. If words were tears I would speak of our dead on the field of battle in later days. No centennial of the town would be complete that did not reverently mention the names of W. T. Morrill, Wash. M. Harper, A. J. Humphreys, John J. Addison, Ad. Saunders, Wm. E. Gray, Frank II. Abbot, R. 33 H. Green, Hugh S. Ilite, Eph. W. Hartley, Ludwell L. Hutchison, Conny Johnson, Dan'l M. Lee, Sam'l McMurran, Theo. A. Partlow, Sam'l B. Paul, Thos. Sangster, J. H. L. Sangster, John M. Swann, Thomas B. Turner, E. V. Fairfax, John S. Hart, Wilson Turner, W. H. Dulany, James A. Proctor, James E. Molair, John Allison, Joseph Bushby, Joseph Calmes, John T. Cook, Benj. F. Emmerson, Hezekiah Kidwell, Wm. T. Padgett, Jos. B. Penn, Andrew F. Skid- more, George T. Warfield, Albert Wools, John Greenwood, W. Duncan, J. W. Ivors, Patrick Doyle, Daniel Dohony, John Honnigan, Patrick Harrigan, James Keating, John Murphy, William Purcell, William Haywood, Thomas V. Fitzhugh, Edwin G. Barbour, Jonah W. Baldwin Ed. S. Beachara, Robert Buchanan, Charles Burgess, Wra. H. Boyer, Clinton Ballenger, Frank Ballenger, Wm. A. Castleman, Wm. J. Higdon, Chas. E. Hunter, Wm. A. Loveless, Wm. H. Lunt, Patrick Lannon, John T. Mills, John S. Murray, Benj. Padgett, James R. Sowers, Wm. Terrett, Hayden Fewell, Rhody Whittington, S. W. Pressman, G. C. Adie, andRich'd Owens. I return to my narrative: Before the Revolution closed the new principles demanded new political organizations, and after Saratoga and before Yorktown, while Clinton was beating at the gates of Charles- ton, the present municipal government was organized. On the 9th of March, 1780, the new government went into operation, with Robert Townshend Hooe as Mayor, David Arell as Recorder, John Fitzgerald, James Hendricks, William Bushby, Robert McCrae, Aldermen ; Wm. Hunter, John Harper, Josiah Watson, Peter Wise, Adam Lynn and Robert Conway, Common Council. The town at that time stood on a level from ten to fifteen feet higher than at present. It was laid out on a hill top, 34 which extended in a nearly unbroken phiin from Oronoko creek and marsh, on the north and northwest to the river shore on the east, and to what was called ''White Oak Swamp," that ran along the southwest and south. Very low meadows and swampy lands separated this hill top from another beyond the marshy grounds. To the east the contour of the hill, on which the town was built, corresponded with the river beach, to which it had originally ascended precipitously, but which had, by 1776, been cut away for all of the streets between Wolfe and Oronoko, to run down an inclined plain to the river. The river then formed a cove in front of the hill, similar to those it yet makes north and south of it. It curved in from Fishtown to Lee street at the foot of the Mansion House hill, and then away in a curve southwest to the Long Wharf. On this hill top lay the scattered houses which made up the town. All the shipping business was done at the two points at the end of the coves, where warehouses and wharves extending to deep water had been built Cameron street was the principal street, the Court House and Market were upon it, and crossing Oronoko Creek at Pitt street, by a bridge, it extended to Christ Church, then twenty years old. On the same street, opposite the market, at the northwest corner of its intersection with Royal street, stood the Royal George Hotel, a frame hostelry, then used as a recruiting station for the Army of Independence. To the east of the market the large stone Herbert House, dominated the smaller frames that lay around and overtopped the modest Court House and Jail that stood on the market square opposite. King, Queen, Princess, Prince, Duke and Wolfe and Wilkes streets in one direction, and Fairfax, Royal and Pitt and St. A^aph streets in the other, were the only streets. There was not a pave- ment on any of them. The town thus founded was designed to be a commercial town ; to make far off shores and distant people, the ministers of its prosperity. A ship was deemed its proper device, and in selecting an emblem to be placed upon its seal, the council depicted there the good sliip Alexandria, — every sail set and every pennon flying, with an even balance at her mainmast- head, setting out to cruise for fortune. The first business of tlie new government concerned the grading of streets, so that the river might be reached on easv grades through all of them ; for, in 1780, except the roadways by which Oronoko street reached Point West and Duke street sloped to point Lumley, tiiere was no way to reach the river shore except the rough and precipitous inclines cut through the high bluff which overtopped the river side. The earth cut from the hills was used in filling up the cove in front of the town; ''banking out" the process was called. While this grading was in progress, before porches could be completed, and while temporary steps and ladders furnished access to the doors, a number of the fast young men says Parson Weems, in the ''Drunkard's Looking Glass," got upon a spree. The carts employed to haul the dirt and fill out the ground between Water and Union streets, were at rest by the river side, and the wells from which with windlass and buckets the inhabitants drew their supply of water, quiet as they had been, at mid- night in a respectable, thrifty, law loving town. The young men took the ladders and steps and threw them into the wells, and ran the carts so far into the river, that, when high tide came with morning, no vestige of them could be seen. There was early falling, as well as early rising the next morning, for the first comer to the door generally pitched out. The ropes broke at the clogged wells, and there was no coffee at breakfast, because no water could be procured. Thecartmen 36 swore that the devil had made way with their carts, and a town so bewildered and worried might well set the old Parson wondering with Shakspeare, that "men should put an enemy into their mouths to steal away their brains." The matter was soon discovered, the cartmen recovered their carts, and the young men lost their characters. They were heavily fined. I heard, years since, one of the sufferers say that it cost him two months' salary, and that, for months afterwards most of the young men of the city were short of funds, and as a rule the young ladies in town that year received no Christmas gifts. The town having been graded and the streets to the west of St. Asaph, south of Wilkes and north of Oronoko, having been laid off by the proprietors, John Alexander, and his executors, the paving of streets was begun in 1795. This work of grading and paving is still going on. Let us hope that better times will soon enable the City Council to grade and pave every street within the city limits. Our commerce grew apace after the close of the Revolution. The Federal Constitution by establishing a uniform tariff of duties, relieved the town from the annoying competition of Georgetown and Bladensburg under the low state-tariff of Maryland and placed the foreign trade of the town on what our fathers believed to be a firm basis. Soon came the war with France in 1799, and many of our finest vessels were captured by the cruisers of the republic. This was the first blow at our ocean commerce. France afterwards paid the United States for these vessels, but the money was never paid to our shipowners. Had this capital been restored to our shipping interest, Alexandria might have continued with some hope of success its competition with Baltimore, then its commercial rival. Then came the terrible yellow fever of 1803 which made a lazar house of the river front, and carried off one in ten of the Alexandrians that dwelt between Fairfax street and the river. The shipping business had scarcely recovered from this, when in 1809 the embargo of President Jefferson tied up the laden ships to the wharves, whence business had ceased, — "As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean." In a few few years more the war waged with Great Britain for free trade and sailor's rights, made the port and its commerce a prey to the British Frigates Euryalus and Sea- Horse, which in August, 1814, sailed up the Potomac with bomb ketches and captured the town. This surrender was censured at the time by the heedless who are more disposed to blame than to examine. President Madison gave his official sanction to the groundless imputation upon the Municipal Government, but a committee of the Common Council presented the public an array of facts which silenced calumniators of our people. It was shown that the town relied upon its defence against an attack by water, upon Fort Warburton, situated where Fort Washint^ton now stands, and that the militia of the town and neighborhood had, days before, been called out by a levy en masse, and marched away ; that the United States officer in charge of the fort blew up the works and carried off the garrison, on the approach of the British frigates, giving the fleet free access to the front of the town, in which there were only women, children and a few old men. The capture was in fact made when the fort was blown up. All that remained for the Common Council was to ascertain what disposition the British commander proposed to make of the captured town, and the negotiations undertaken for this purpose were magnified without reason into a formal surrender. 38 The captors seized the vessels in the harbor and plundered the warehouses of all the tobacco, flour, cotton and liquor thej found there. Two ships, two barques and a number of smaller vessels were loaded with the booty, which was estimated at 2,000 barrels of flour, 1,000 hogsheads of tobacco, 250 bales of cotton and $5,000 worth of wines, &c. The whole of this capture is yet at the bottom of the ocean for the vessels were sunk soon after leaving the capes of the Chesapeake. When peace came in 1815, Alexandria had lost all chance of competition with Baltimore ; for the war which weakened Alexandria strengthened the Monumental city. Its Battle Monument, reared to commemorate the successful defence made by its citizens against a foreign foe at North Point marks, too, an event which lies at the foundation of Baltimore's pre-eminence. The lyric of Key, born, when at Fort McHenry, " The rockets red glare and bombs bursting in air Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there," vivified the bunting, and thenceforth the patriotic music of the star spangled banner shook out from the folds of the American flag wherever it was unfurled. American vessels thenceforward hung not a flag only, but a lyric at their mastheads. And wherever the flag waved, — wherever the star spangled banner was sung, it told, as it still tells, of Baltimore — and of what men esteem, the pearl of great price — of success. Backed by this favorable condition of public opinion, the enterprise of Baltimore grew in a buoyant atmosphere to colossal proportions, and soon distanced Alexandria in the race of material progress. But if when Key and his companions looked out ''in the dawn's early light," they had seen Fort McHenry a heap of ruins, dismantled and abandoned by its defenders, and the city militia ordered not 39 to North Point, but to Frederick, the sack of Baltimore might have been but the beginning of misfortunes, that would have transferred commerce and future greatness to Annapolis. Alexandria had now too an overwhelming rival nearer at hand. Washington city was already drawing population and trade from the Virginia side, and taking from Alexandria the little chance of prosperity still left. Against this rival the town was absolutely without defence. The wealth of the Union was used to build up the Federal Capital, but few and far between were the dollars spent in the Virginia portion of the District of Columbia. Deprived of the powerful aid which connection with Virginia would have afforded, the town remained in a corner of the District a useless adjunct to the Federal territory. Whatever favors Congress conferred were given to Washington, and Alexandria beheld the growth of other cities without power to imitate them. Under these circum- stances the city authorities did all that was within their power. Streets were extended and improved, the town lighted in the manner then usual, with oil lamps, and 1817 the market building with the cupola and town clock was erected. Long the graceful steeple towered, '-a heart of iron beating within," and the clock told the hours of birth and death, of joy and sorrow as they passed over Alexandria. At seven and at ONE its clangor awoke other bells which morning and afternoon called men to labor ; while stroke of twelve or chime of six, bade the trowel drop, and the hammer rest beside the anvil. Nightly as it struck ten the sonorous horns of the outgoing watch heralded silence and sleep. Many pleasant associations grew up around the old clock, and when in 1871 it was burned, the public spirit of a private citizen, quietly renewed the tower and clock as symetrical and graceful as before. The town thanks him no less because he has refused to allow his name to be made public. m In 1817 the first town debt was created by a small loan to the Corporation from one of the banks, and this debt had in 1819 swelled to $74,710.20. On the 31st of May, 1875 it had grown to ?1, 079,014.77. I have been requested to announce that the funding scheme, which has been on foot for some time was completed this afternoon and that hereafter the interest on the bonds of the city will be reduced to three per cent. [This called up Aldermen H. Strauss who in a neat address congratulated the community upon the funding, and was warmly applauded.] The Great Fire of 1827 began at Green's cabinet factory on Royal street, a few yards south of King, on the morning of January 18th. There was a strong gale from the North West and the weather was intensely cold, the thermometer ranging from 10 to 20 degrees above zero. Cinders weighing half a pound were swept from the place of fire into the river and the flames burned through the town to the foot of Duke street destroying 53 houses and occasioning a loss of $103,000. There w^as no hose in use then, no hydrants ; but long lines of men stood ranged from the pumps passing along leather fire buckets that were emptied into engines that stood close to the fire and played upon the flames from elevations upon the engine called galleries. But, [addressing the fire companies present] volunteer firemen, notwithstanding all the disadvan- tages under which your fathers labored for want of applian- ces such as you possess they were firemen whose devotion to duty you may well emulate. So long as the names of John A. Roach, J. Carson Green, Geo. Plain, David Appich, Robert J. Taylor, Wm. Evans and James Keene, who died at the fire of 1855, in the path of public duty, remain to be cherished, your promptiture and courage in that path of duty, transmitted, as time rolls on, to be repeated in your successors, 4.i Till be a monument for them more enduring than the marble at Ivy Hill that bears their names. It is your unique boast, Firemen of Alexandria, which cannot be gainsaid, that the toremost man in all, the files of time, after having led in war, a continent to freedom and ruled in peace as first President of the United States, performed his last act of public duty, as a fireman, in Alexandria. But I have digressed, and I return to my narrative. The Old Potomac Company, formed under the auspices of Gen. Washington in 1784, to improve the navigation of the river above tide water, by which it had been designed to lock boats around the falls and rapids and to pass them on to Alexandria by a channel on the Virginia side of Analostan Island and then by a canal made between Alexander's Island and the main shore crossing by what is now Roach's Spring and Fort Runyon, had been shown incapable of competing with the gigantic canal which was crossing New York ; so in 1820 the Chesapeake and Chio Canal was designed, and in 1829, '30, the plan of the Alexandria Aqueduct crossing the Potomac on granite piers based on the rocky bed of the river and thus connecting the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal with Alexandria by a lateral canal, was begun. The ten or twelve years which were required to complete it were years of hope for Alexan- dria. Indeed the town had nothing left but hope. After the first decade of its entrance into the District, of Columbia, its population, which from 1790 to 1800 had grown from 2,746 to 4,971 or nearly doubled, had from 1820 to 1830, increased but 25 souls and from 1830 to 1840 only 196 souls. The town had in 1820, 8,218 inhabitants and in 1840 only 8,459. The hopes excited by the canal proved vain. It was completed, but Georgetown, nine miles nearer the sources of its commerce reaped the harvest. It was then Alexandria, isolated in one 42 corner of the District of Columbia, was about to decrease instead of increasing her population ; an earnest appeal was made to the State of Virginia, and in 1846 the General Assembly opened the arms of the Commonwealth to her long estranged child; the Federal Government consented, and the voters of the town approved, and in September, 1846, with processions, bon-fires and illumi- nations, and a celebration extending over three days, Alexandria became a Virginia town. At once the heart and hand of Virginia were opened to our relief. The movements in relation to retrocession were much promoted by Francis L. Smith, Robert Brockettand Charles T. Stuart, the son of the first is our Mayor, vigilant and active, the son of the second, our capable Auditor, and the grandson of the third our late Judge. The state by purchasijig at par valueless bonds of the Alexandria Canal held by the town, at once took off three fifths of the Corporation debt. Thencefor- ward, with a lavish hand, the resources of the Commonwealth were expended in the gigantic effort to make the town, which had gone prospering into the District, but had come back decaying and a beggar, a growing Virginia city. Thanks to state aid the Orange and Alexandria railroad with its exten- sions, the Manassas Gap Railroad, and the Alexandria, Loudoun & Hampshire Railroad were begun, and hundreds of miles constructed. An era of prosperity began. Over one hundred houses were built in a single year. Many exceed- ingly large and fine one? including the Pioneer Mills, the Cotton Factory and lar^i^e warehouses alonoj the river front were erected. In June, 1860 there were seventy seven manufacturing establishments in operation, employing 785 hands and producing from raw material valued at $91,000 manufactured articles worth $860,000. This was a good beginning. 43 During the same year there came to this port direct from foreign pans seventy vessels with a tonna^re of 18,743 tons. We sent direct to foreign parts $258,889 and imported goods worth $273,924 at custom houses values. The actual value was over a million and a half dollars, guano for instance was rated at $1 per ton when it was worth $45 per ton. In the two years, 1856 — 1857, the town exported direct $1,226,095. This with the coastwise trade in coal and other articles made the port husy. In the first decade of our return to Virginia the population of the town, a sure meter of its progress, increased from 8,795 to 11,206, being an increase of 2,411, or over twelve times the increase made in the last full decade spent in the District of Columbia. The future was full of promise. Our main reliance for commercial prosperity was upon the Valley of Virginia. Alexandria is the natural outlet of its trade. The waters which "the mountains milk from the clouds" to fill the springs that feed the Shenandoah, the Cacapons, the Opequan and the myriad highland aflluents of the Potomac, all flow past our wharves. It was once a law of trade to follow the waters. But the artifice of man creates channels of communication, beside which natural channels become valueless, and the contest for the trade of the Valley became a contest of railway enterprise. To reach Harrisonburg or Staunton was thought to be all that was needed to put our commerce beyond the reach of chance. Holding the door, throu^^h which the World must reach an immense region that might be the granary of a continent, Alexandria would be assured of a business, which added to the coal trade, would draw capital, and enable us to assure prosperity to those who cast their lot with us. Holding food and fire for millions in its hands, Alexandria might well expect to renew its commercial importance. It was a just ^4 hope. It was more than a hope. It was a wellfounded expectation. Baltimore, it is true, with one of her iron arms grasping the Northern edge of her state and holding fast to the Ohio, waited at Winchester the opportunity to push her road to Strasburg and intercept the Valley trade. Alex- andria strong in the favor of the Commonwealth, which her trade would help to build up, was sure of protection until the Manassas road was complete to Harrisonburg and commercial connections formed, that would never be broken. This was the outlook of the town in 1860. The iron-rails to make the connection with Harrisonburg complete, were piled on our wharves, where stood, on the 2oth of May, 1861, the Virginia pickets, whose warning guns announced the movement in force of the troops of the United States, who occupied the town. Alexandria become, as it had been during the Revolutionary War, a hospital-town. Its churches and larger buildings were turned into '* Wards, with whitewashed walls, Where the dead and the dying lay." Agonies unspeakable here racked many a gallant spirit. Thousands came to depart no more, and on the green hillside that looks out upon the heights their forts once crowned, they sleep their last sleep. Thenceforward commerce was ended. A blockade was declared, and the iron rails bought to finish the Manassas road, seized and sent off to make a military railroad near Bethel and Fortress Monroe. VV^hen the war ended, all chance of Alexandria's exclusive connexion with the Valley of Virginia was ended too. Baltimore helped to rebuild the road, and controlled it. The connection between Winchester and Strasburg was made, and managed for the interest of that great city whose enterprise, capital and favorable situation at 46 the close of the war, gave her a pre-eminence which, as it is vain to contest, we may rejoice, has fallen to a people so nearly allied to us in sympathies and sentiment. When the war was over the census of 1870 found that our white population had 0, on Prince Street, nearly opposite the Old Farmers Bank of Virginia formerly the Bank of the Potomac '•Nick Ransall." A simple fellow wht) dressed in the most Aintastic style, invanably brought up the rear of all military processions. He was pertectly harmless and being a great favorite, was frequently allowed to {lecomprtny serenading i)arties, and upon one occasion— it being the 4tli ot July— he was given a glass of punch (of which he was very fond) his toast wa.< '«May the 4th July come every day." 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