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  Chapter XVII Visits of Heroes—Gala Days—The Army of the Society of the Potomac Enters the Town,   251   Chapter XVIII The Society of the Army of the Potomac Continued—Welcome Address—Laying a Corner Stone,   263   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,   280   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,   292   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 Mercer’s Statue,   306   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—List of Mayors,   322   Official Calendar—September 1, 1908   333   Mayors of Fredericksburg in Their Chronological Order   336

 

 

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HISTORY
OF THE
City of Fredericksburg, Virginia,
FROM ITS
Settlement to the Present Time

 

CHAPTER I

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:[1] “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 by industrious people. Here are mountains, hills, plains, valleys, rivers and brooks, all running most pleasantly to a fair bay, compassed, but for the mouth, with fruitful and delightsome land. In the bay and rivers are many isles, both great and small, some woody, some plain, most of them low and not inhabited. This bay lies north and south, in which the water flows near two hundred miles