THE LEEDSTOWN RESOLUTIONS
The town of Leeds on the banks of the Rappahannock River was a thriving center of trade and shipping in colonial days. Here the big ships lay at anchor while their holds were filled with tobacco for the London market. Here the returning ships unloaded the English luxuries that were so dear to the hearts of the Northern Neck planter-families.
Leeds had been incorporated in 1742. When ten or twelve years later the English visitor, George Fisher, spent a night at "Leids Town" he was well pleased with the fine furnishings he found in the ordinary. There were other ordinaries in the village, comfortable homes with gardens and Leeds Church.
George Washington often visited Leedstown. With his wife he dined there in 1759. He spent the night there in 1763. Many times he crossed the nearby ferry as he traveled between Mount Vernon and Williamsburg.
On a winter's day in 1766 there was unusual activity at Leeds. The excitement came about because Thomas Ludwell Lee had written to his brother Richard Henry Lee as follows: "We propose to be in Leedstown in the afternoon of the 27th inst., Feb. 1766, where we expect to meet those who will come from your way. This would be a fine opportunity to effect the scheme of an association, and I should be glad if you would think of a plan."
It is easy to visualize the arrival of the planters in their coaches and on horseback—to hear the rattle of wheels, the thud of hoofs, the creaking of saddle-leather and the excited voices speaking with a London accent.
The "plan" that Richard Henry Lee had thought of and prepared in manuscript form and had brought to Leedstown that day could probably have hanged him, and the one hundred and fourteen others who signed it, if it had fallen into the wrong hands. But the Northern Neck was a remote fortress and its inhabitants were bold when their freedom was threatened.
Among those who signed Lee's document were six Lees, five Washingtons, and Spence Monroe, father of President James Monroe. The text of The Leedstown Resolutions follows:
"Rouzed by Danger and alarmed at Attempts foreign & domestic to reduce the People of this Country to a State of abject and detestable slavery by destroying that free and happy constitution of Government under which they have hitherto lived,—We who subscribe this Paper, have Associated, & do bind ourselves to each other, to God, and to our Country, by the Firmest Tyes that Religion & Virtue can frame, most sacredly and punctually to stand by, and with our Lives & Fortunes to support, maintain and defend each other, in the Observation and Execution of these following Articles.
"First, we declare all due Allegiance and Obedience to our lawful Sovereign George the Third King of Great Britain. And we determine to the utmost of our Power to preserve the Laws, the Peace and good Order of this Colony as far as is consistent with the Preservation of our Constitutional Rights and Liberty.
"2.dly As we know it to be the Birthright Privilege of every British Subject (and of the People of Virginia as being such) founded on Reason, Law and Compact, That he cannot be legally tryed but by his Peers, and that he cannot be taxed but by Consent of a Parliament in which he is represented by Persons chosen by the People and who themselves pay a part of the Tax they impose on others—If therefore any Person or Persons shall attempt by any Action or Proceeding to deprive this Colony of those fundamental Rights we will immediately regard him or them as the most dangerous Enemy of the Community and we will go to any Extremity not only to prevent the Success of such Attempts but to Stigmatize and punish the Offender.
"3.dly As the Stamp Act does absolutely direct the Property of the People to be taken from them without their Consent express'd by their Representatives, and as in many cases it deprives the British American Subject of his Right to Trial by Jury; we do determine at every hazard and paying no Regard to Danger or to Death; we will exert every Faculty to prevent the Execution of the said Stamp Act in any instance whatsoever within this Colony—And every abandoned Wretch who shall be so lost to Virtue and publick Good, as wickedly to contribute to the introduction or fixture of the Stamp Act in this Colony, by using Stampt Paper, or by any other Means; we will with the utmost Expedition convince all such Profligates, that immediate danger and disgrace shall attend their prostitute Purpose.
"4.thly That the last Article may most surely and effectually be execut'd, we engage to each other, that whenever it shall be known to any of this Association that any Person is so conducting himself as to favor the Introduction of the Stamp Act, that immediate Notice shall be given to as many of the Association as possible, and that every Individual so inform'd shall with expedition repair to a place of meeting to be appointed as near the Scene of Action as may be.
"5.thly Each Associator shall do his true endeavor to obtain as many Signers to this Association as he possibly can.
"6.thly If any attempt shall be made upon the Liberty or Property of any Associator for any Action or Thing to be done in Consequence of this Agreement, we do most solemnly bind ourselves by the sacred Engagements above enter'd into, at the utmost risk of our Lives and Fortunes to restore such Associate to his Liberty, and to protect him in the enjoyment of his Property.
"In Testimony of the good Faith with which we resolve to execute this Association, we have this 27 day of February 1766 in Virginia put our hands & Seals hereto
Richard Henry Lee Will Robinson Lewis Willis Thomas Lud. Lee Samuel Washington Charles Washington Moore Fauntleroy Francis Lightfoot Lee Thomas Jones Rodham Kenner Spencer Mottsom Ball Richard Mitchell Joseph Murdock Rich'd Parker Spence Monroe John Watts Robert Lovell John Blagge Charles Weeks William Booth Geo: Tuberville Alvin Moxley Wm. Flood John Ballantine Jun. William Lee Thomas Chilton Richard Buckner Will Chilton Joseph Peirce John Williams Jn. Blackwell Winder S. Kenner Wm. Bronaugh Will Peirce John Berryman Jn. Dickson John Browne Edward Sanford Charles Chilton Lau. Washington W. Roane Jr. William Sydnor John Monroe William Cocke William Grayson Wm. Brockenbrough Sam Selden Daniel McCarty Jer Rush Edwd. Ransdell Townshend Dade Laur. Washington John Ashton W. Brent Francis Foushee John Smith Jr. Will Balle Thomas Barnes Jos. Blackwell Reuben Meriwether Edw. Mountjoy Thomas Mountjoy William Mountjoy John Mountjoy Gilbt. Campbell Jos. Lane Richard Lee Daniel Tebbs Fran. Thornton Jun. Peter Rust Jun. John Lee Jun. Fran Waring John Upshaw Merriwether Smith Thomas Roane James Edmondson James Webb John Edmondson James Banks Smith Young Thomas Logan Jo. Milliken Rich Hodges James Upshaw James Booker A. Montague Richard Jeffries John Suggett Jn. L. Woodcock Robert Wormeley Carter John Beale Jun. John Newton Will B--le Jun. Chs. Mortimer John Edmondson Charles Beale Peter Grant Thomson Mason Jon. Beckwith James Samford John Belfield W. Smith John Aug. Washington Thomas Belfield Edgecomb Suggett Henry Francks John Bland Jun. Jas. Emerson John Richards Thos. Jett Thomas Douglas Max. Robinson John Orr Ebenezer Fisher Hancock Eustace."
Text and names have been copied from a photostatic copy of the original manuscript by Florienette Matter Knight, Organizing Regent, Leedstown Resolutions Chapter, N.S.D.A.R. The original manuscript, handwritten by Richard Henry Lee, is in the archives of the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Va.
FITHIAN
On an October day in the year 1773 a man on horseback rode down through Westmoreland County until he came to the entrance of a plantation known as Nomini Hall. The avenue leading to the great house was bordered with poplar trees, through which the white stuccoed house appeared "romantic" and "truly elegant."
Philip Vickers Fithian, lately graduated from Princeton, had been seven days on the road since he had left New Jersey. He had ridden two hundred and sixty miles and crossed a number of ferries.
Fithian was not sure that he was doing the right thing in coming to Virginia. His friends had tried to persuade him not to go to that "wicked colony" where he would be sure to fall in with evil companions and become a drunkard or a gambler. If his parents had lived Fithian would probably have stayed in the North, but they had recently passed away, and the salary as a plantation tutor was good. With a last prayer to the Lord that he would be strong enough to stick to his upright way of life, Fithian set off on his journey to the Northern Neck of Virginia.
Nomini Hall was the seat of one of King Carter's grandsons, Robert Carter, III. His holdings, amounting to seventy thousand acres, were scattered over a number of counties. He owned more than five hundred slaves and employed numerous white overseers, clerks, stewards, craftsmen and artisans. Tobacco was still the main crop of the plantation, but its profits were now waning and Councillor Carter sought other money crops to supplement this chief product. Carter also manufactured supplies for the use of his plantations and for his neighbors' needs. He operated grain mills, textile factories, salt works and bakeries.
Nomini Hall was laid off in the usual formal English style, with four dependencies—one equally distant from each corner of the manor. These were the large dependencies—there were many others, probably as many as thirty. In the square thus formed by the four buildings there was a bowling green, and gardens interspersed with oyster-shell walks.
In one of the large dependencies, Fithian was established. Here he and the Carter boys slept upstairs over the schoolroom. The five Carter girls who were to be his pupils—"all dressed in white"—slept in the great house. Fithian liked his room in the schoolhouse—"a neat chamber, a large Fire, Books, & Candle & my Liberty to stay in this room or to sit at the great house." In the household he held a delicate position—equi-distant between the master and his eldest son.
There was never a dull moment at Nomini Hall. There was the music teacher—and the traveling dancing teacher who followed a plan of rotation between the plantations. He spent about a week at each place, which ended with a small informal dance. The big balls were splendid affairs, lasting for days and nights. There was a continual procession of chariots, drawn by four or six horses, with coachman, and postillions, and attended by horseback riders, moving back and forth between Nomini Hall and its neighboring plantations. The Carters often dined and danced with the Lees at Stratford and Chantilly, the Washingtons at Bushfield, the Tubervilles at Hickory Hill, and with the Tayloes at Mount Airy, about twelve miles distant. Christenings, birthdays, house-warmings—anything served as an excuse for a celebration among these Northern Neckers! In no part of Virginia were there more great planters than in the Northern Neck.
Fithian observed everything and wrote it all down in his Journal. One of the first things that he noticed were the ladies with the white handkerchiefs: "Almost every Lady wears a red Cloak; and when they ride out they tye a white handkerchief over their Head and face, so that when I first came into Virginia, I was distress'd whenever I saw a Lady, for I thought she had the Tooth-Ache!"
Fithian walked often in the evenings in the garden with Mrs. Carter when she was giving a last look at the poultry or the growing things. He had a great admiration for the beauty and elegance of Mrs. Carter. With Councillor Carter he attended the county courts and the horse-races in Richmond County. Around the stables he watched the cock-fights. There was skating on the "Mill-pond," and when warm weather came, the "fish-feasts" and barbecues. The latter, he wrote, were just like the "fish-feasts" except that they had roast pig instead of fish.
Fithian did not approve of Sunday in Virginia—"A Sunday in Virginia don't seem to wear the same Dress as our Sundays to the Northward. By five o'clock on Saturday every face looks festive and cheerful.... It is a general custom on Sundays here, with Gentlemen to invite one another home to dine, after Church; and to consult about, determine their common business, either before or after Service.... It is not the custom for Gentlemen to go into Church til Service is beginning, when they enter in a Body, in the same manner as they came out; I have known the Clerk to come out and call them into prayers.... They stay also after the Service is over, usually as long, or longer, than the Parson, was preaching."
Nomini Church stood on the banks of the River Nomini about six miles from the manor. The Carter family attended this church, traveling by both land and water. Councillor Carter had a boat built for the purpose "of carrying the young Ladies and others of the Family to Nominy Church. It is a light neat Battoe elegantly painted & is rowed with four Oars." On the way to church by boat, Fithian saw the river alive with people, in boats and canoes, fishing.
Whenever it was possible Fithian excused himself from the social gatherings and stayed in his room, writing in his Journal and working on his sermons, for he was to become a Presbyterian minister. He was happiest there alone because he could not fit in with these strange Northern Neckers. He felt a little sorry for himself because he was a somber "meagre" figure in his dark clothes among these gay people. His greatest handicap was that he had never learned to dance and—"blow high, blow low, Virginians will dance or die!" He wrote to a friend in the North: "Here we either strain on Horseback, from home to Church, or from house to house if we go out at all—or we walk alone into a dark meadow, or tall wood. But I love solitude, and these lonely recesses suit exactly the feeling of my mind."
In spite of his disapproval Fithian grew fond of the Northern Neck and its people. When he returned from a visit home he wrote: "I am much more pleased with the Face of the Country since my return than I have ever been before—It is indeed delightsome! How natural, how agreeable, how majestic the place seems! Supp'd on Crabs & an elegant dish of Strawberries & Cream!"
On Christmas morning Fithian was awakened by the guns being fired around the house. Then the boy who made the fire came in with a "Christmas Box," for a tip, and the other servants followed with their "Boxes." Mrs. Carter sent him over some spermaceti candles—"large clear & very elegant." The holidays were a round of balls and parties, which Fithian excused himself from as much as possible. He was glad when they were over—"We had a large Pye cut to-day to signify the conclusion of the Holidays."
It was so cold in January that "a cart and three pair of oxen which every day bring in four loads of wood, Sundays excepted." In the manor and other houses there were twenty-eight "steady fires & most of them are very large." It grew so cold that the cart went for wood on Sunday also.
Mail was gotten infrequently from the post-office at Hobb's Hole, which was the name of present-day Tappahannock. Newspapers from the North and The Virginia Gazette brought accounts of the Tea Party in Boston, and other rumblings in the colonies. These "Golden Days" in Virginia were not to last much longer—war was in the making.
Fithian left Nomini Hall late in 1774. He could no longer stay away from his Northern "dream-girl," the "fair Laura" of his Journal. He was married to her in October, 1775. He enlisted in the Revolutionary forces in 1776 as a chaplain, but his "meagre" body could not stand the life of the army. He died shortly after the battle of White Plains.
But Fithian had not lived in vain—his Journal was a legacy to posterity.
THE SCHOOL IN THE WILDWOOD
In colonial days a small school was conducted in the forest of Westmoreland County by a Scotch minister. His own sons were his pupils, and a few children who lived close enough to walk to school through the woodland lane which was cut for several straight miles through the woods and was known as the Parson's Road.
In 1755 the "Parson" had petitioned the Court of Westmoreland County to have a road from the "new Glebe opened to Round Hill Church." The petition was granted, for the Reverend Archibald Campbell was an influential man in the region.
Mr. Campbell came to Virginia from Scotland in October, 1741. The "new Glebe" was purchased, tradition says, from Thomas Marshall, "the surveyor," about 1753. The "Parson" moved to the "new Glebe" and lived there until his death in 1775. It was there that he conducted his school.
The "new Glebe" was situated on Mattox Creek, originally called Appamatox Creek after the Indians who had once lived there. This Glebe was located not far from the present village of Oak Grove.
The Reverend Archibald Campbell came from a distinguished and learned Scottish family—his nephew, Thomas Campbell, became one of Britain's greatest poets. The "Parson" himself was well equipped with "all the learning which the Scottish universities could give."
At the school in the forest it was all work and little play, for the "Parson" was a hard taskmaster. His pupils were said to have been "especially well grounded in mathematics and Latin ... and in their various subsequent careers they were noted for solidity of character." At least two of his pupils became historic figures.
JAMES AND JOHN
On winter mornings it was still dark when the Monroe family breakfasted, but the "large living room" was cozy with its glowing hearth where pots and kettles bubbled and steamed on their cranes and trivets.
Around the breakfast table were seated Spence and Elizabeth Monroe and their children who, according to age, were—Elizabeth, James, Spence, Andrew and Joseph Jones.
Breakfast at the Monroe home was not as formal as breakfast at the homes of their neighbors at Stratford and Nomini Hall. Spence Monroe was not a wealthy planter, although he was a gentleman and a small landowner. His home in Westmoreland County was situated between Monroe Bay and Mattox Creek, not far from present-day Colonial Beach. The Monroes had been living in the Northern Neck since about 1650.
The Monroes lived in a plain frame two-storied house "within a stone's throw of ... a virgin forest." The Potomac flowed not far away.
After breakfast James would start for school with his books under one arm and his gun slung over his shoulder. The Monroe table never lacked for game while James was around.
James was tall for his fifteen years, and built like an athlete. He well knew the forest and river.
Somewhere along the woodland road James was joined by another tall well-built youth, who was dressed in a pale-blue hunting-shirt and trousers, fringed with white, and a black hat decorated with a buck's tail. He also had a gun and books. There was the look of the mountains about this lad. John Marshall's home was in Fauquier County and he was only visiting in the Northern Neck. He had learned his classics from his father in their frontier cabin, but now Thomas Marshall had sent his son back to his people in Westmoreland for more schooling.
John was three years older than James. He was dark—skin, eyes and hair—with rosy cheeks and a round face. His eyes twinkled, for he was as merry and fun-loving as James was solemn and serious. The two tall boys must have made a fine-looking pair as they walked down the Parson's Road, with gun and books, on a bright winter's morning in the year 1773. As they come within sight of the Glebe we will leave them—in the firm hands of the Reverend Archibald Campbell.
Little did these boys dream of the adventures that lay ahead for them. For these two backwoods boys were destined to become makers of history: John Marshall, the great Chief Justice, who "found a Constitution on paper and made it power"; and James Monroe who became the fifth President of the United States and who formulated and declared the Monroe Doctrine.
CAPTAIN DOBBY
Captains of the ships constantly lying at anchor in the rivers were often guests at Nomini Hall and the other Northern Neck plantations. Captain Dobby was a general favorite. Fithian described him in his Journal as "a Man of much Spirit and Humour: A great Mimick."
In the summer of 1774 Captain Dobby invited the Carters of Nomini and Fithian, the tutor, "on Board his Ship next Tuesday to Dine with him & wish them a pleasant Passage as the Ship is to Sail the day following." Fithian must have especially liked the Captain for he commented in his Journal: "If the Weather is not too burning hot I shall go, provided the Others go likewise."
On the appointed day, in August, Fithian and Ben Carter set out for the River. They had intended to breakfast at Colonel Tayloe's, twelve miles distant, "but the Servant who went with us was so slow in preparing that we breakfasted before we set out. We arrived at Colonel Tayloe's however half after nine."
Colonel John Tayloe was one of the wealthiest men in the Northern Neck. His manor house, Mount Airy, in Richmond County, was situated on an elevation, and overlooked the Rappahannock River, several miles distant. An interesting feature of the plantation was the deer park, located in a grove of oaks and cedars.
Fithian described Mount Airy as "an elegant Seat!—The House is about the Size of Mr. Carter's, built with stone, & finished curiously, & ornamented with various paintings, & rich Pictures. This Gentleman owns Yorick, who won the prize of 500 pounds last November, from Dr. Flood's Horse, Gift—In the Dining-Room, besides many other fine Pieces, are twenty four of the most celebrated among the English Race-Horses, Drawn masterly, & set in elegant gilt Frames. He has near the great House, two fine two Story stone Houses, the one is used as a Kitchen, & the other, for a nursery, & Lodging Rooms—He has also a large well-formed, beautiful Garden, as fine in every Respect as any I have seen in Virginia. In it stand four large beautiful Marble Statues."
Mount Airy was built after the style of an Italian villa. The main entrance was guarded by bronze dogs.
When Fithian and Ben arrived at Mount Airy they found "the young Ladies in the Hall playing the Harpsichord."
Joined by the Tayloes the party set out for the River. The "Colonel and his Lady" and daughters traveled in "their Great Coach," while Fithian and Ben and the servants were on horseback.
The land from Mount Airy to the ferry, opposite Hobb's Hole (Tappahannock), was level and the road lay between fields of corn and flax. As they neared the River the fields changed to marshes "covered with thick high Reed."
The Rappahannock River was about two miles wide here and they could see ships lying at anchor on the other side near the town. They counted six ships "riding in the Harbour, and a number of Schooners & smaller Vessels."
The party waited for half an hour in the burning sun. At last they saw the long-boat coming, covered with an awning and rowed by four oarsmen. It was past noon when they reached the ship, where they were warmly welcomed by Captain Dobby.
The Beaufort was a "Stately Ship." For the comfort of his guests the Captain had arranged an awning from the "Stern ... to the Mizen-Mast," which kept off the sun but was open on the sides.
By three o'clock the guests had arrived, forty-five ladies and sixty gentlemen, and besides them the ship's crew, waiters and servants. Dinner was served and "we were not throng'd at all, & dined all at twice."
The guests were then entertained by a boat race—"A Boat was anchored down the River at a Mile Distance—Captain Dobby and Captain Benson steer'd the Boats in the Race—Captain Benson had 5 Oarsmen; Captain Dobby had 6—It was Ebb-Tide—The Betts were small—& chiefly given to the Negroes who rowed—Captain Benson won the first Race—Captain Purchace offered to bett ten Dollars that with the same Boat & same Hands, only having Liberty to put a small Weight in the Stern, he would beat Captain Benson—He was taken, & came out best only half the Boat's Length—About Sunset we left the Ship, & went all to Hobb's Hole, where a Ball was agreed on."
After the ball was over the guests spent the remainder of the night at Hobb's Hole. At half-past eight the next morning they were called to breakfast—"we all look'd dull, pale & haggard!"
After breakfast the party was entertained by the young ladies on the harpsichord. At eleven o'clock they all went down to the River, where the long-boat was waiting to take them back home to the Northern Neck.
PEDLARS
Probably the first pedlars in the Northern Neck were the Indians of Cascarawaske, a merchant tribe that manufactured their products and sold them up and down the Potomac—Patowmeke—meaning "traveling traders," or pedlars.
During colonial days the itinerant pedlar traveled from plantation to plantation. He was welcome everywhere because he brought news and gossip as well as merchandise. Children were always watching out for the pedlar at certain seasons when he usually arrived.
He was not hard to identify for he bore on his back, by means of a harness of strong hempen webbing, two oblong trunks of thin metal, probably tin. He carried a stout staff to help him to walk with his burden and also for a weapon to ward off dogs and wild animals. He was usually called the "trunk pedlar."
His pack contained everything from dress materials and jewelry to "plumpers." The latter were thin, round, light balls used to put in the mouth and fill up hollow cheeks!
The "indigo-pedlars" had a specialized trade. Blue, in all shades, was the favorite color in colonial days, and indigo was used to dye this color. It was especially in demand for dyeing wool. Pedlars traveled all over the country selling indigo.
Pedlars continued to travel through the Northern Neck until the early part of the twentieth century.
SEVEN SATIN PETTICOATS
Settlers in the Northern Neck sometimes received boxes containing luxuries from relatives in England. These boxes were received even until a late date.
In one family there were seven sisters. In probably the last box they received from "home," as England was called for many years, there were seven satin petticoats, some pink and some blue. They were made of heavy satin and trimmed with lace.
Needless to say, these petticoats were treasured and passed on for several generations. When nothing was left of them except faded shreds, the tradition of the "seven satin petticoats" was then handed down from mother to daughter.
PHI BETA KAPPA
In Williamsburg, Virginia, on December 5, 1776, was founded the first scholastic Greek letter fraternity—Phi Beta Kappa. That a native of the Northern Neck had a part in this is shown by the minutes of that first meeting:
"On Thursday, the 5th of December in the year of our Lord God one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six and the first of the Commonwealth, a happy spirit and resolution of attaining the important ends of Society entering the minds of John Heath, Thomas Smith, Richard Booker, Armistead Smith, and John Jones, and afterwards seconded by others, prevailed, and was accordingly ratified."
".... Officers were elected—John Heath as President, Richard Booker as Treasurer, and Thomas Smith as Clerk, the society esteeming them as necessary persons for the functions of their several duties accordingly selected them."
These young gentlemen were students of William and Mary College. The Apollo Room of the Raleigh Tavern is believed to be the birthplace of the distinguished Phi Beta Kappa Society.
John Heath was a native of Northumberland County. Heathsville, the county seat, was named for his family.
John Heath owned an estate called Black Point, on the outskirts of Heathsville. Black Point was later known as Springfield.
LIGHT-HORSE HARRY
He rode into battle fast—with his sabre drawn and his three hundred screaming troopers following close behind. Under him was his own horse which he had ridden north from Virginia, one of those "fleet steeds" for which his home country was noted. From his tall leather helmet the horse-hair plumes streamed out behind and his jacket was a blur of green.
His white lambskin breeches and knee-high boots were perfection. His troopers were brilliant and shining—that was because Henry Lee would have his Virginians no other way. His detachment of cavalry stood out like a torch amid the ragged forces of Washington's army.
Henry Lee, lately graduated from Princeton, had been nominated by Patrick Henry in 1776, to command a cavalry company raised in Virginia for service in the Continental Army, under the command of Colonel Bland. In 1777, Lee's Corps was placed under Washington's immediate control. It was the "flower of Washington's troop."
In Harry Lee's "flying detachment" there was one who was a neighbor of his back in Northern Virginia, John Marshall.
Light-Horse Harry Lee received his nickname because his outfit traveled light. He never had more than three hundred men and they were as lightly equipped as possible. Speed was necessary if they were to survive, for to them fell the hard and dangerous assignments.
It fell to them to spy on the enemy's movements, to harass them, to destroy them and capture their supplies. They hunted for food for Washington's hungry army. Their jobs were the lonesome ones, carried out in the still of the night, while Death stalked them—waiting for them to make just one sound, one slip, one mistake. But Light-Horse Harry and his men were like foxes, and Luck traveled with them.
General Washington was fond of Harry; he remembered him as a blond child who had come with his father and mother on neighborly visits to Mt. Vernon. He invited Harry to become one of his aides.
It was a tempting offer. Washington had been Harry's hero since childhood days and this was an opportunity to be near him. After a struggle with this great temptation, Harry won and sent his answer to General Washington: "I am wedded to my sword."
In 1779, Light-Horse Harry decided to do the impossible. He and his men would capture Paulus (Powles) Hook, a fort occupied by the British on a point of land on the west side of the Hudson, opposite the town of New York. The enemy had made the Hook an island by digging a deep ditch through which the river flowed. It was strongly guarded on all sides by British ships, troops or natural defenses.
For three weeks Harry's scouting expedition had been watching the enemy, moving among the ravines, hills and marshes, always in close touch with the British. In this detachment of Lee's was Captain John Marshall.
Lee laid his plans before General Washington, who approved, and made sure that there were lines of retreat.
On a hot day in August Light-Horse Harry and his men started on the adventure. It was rough going—a long march through marsh land that was doubtless swarming with mosquitoes. They had to make bridges in some places and at other places they waded or swam. They sank deep into the marshes.
On the night of August the eighteenth they crept among the hills and passed the main body of the British army, who were sleeping. At three o'clock in the morning they crossed the ditch. From then on it was a fast movement resulting in the capture of one hundred and fifty-nine prisoners, which was all except a few men in the blockhouse.
After the enemy's stores and supplies had been destroyed Light-Horse Harry and his men returned to Headquarters with their captives.
For this daring feat Lee received compliments from both Washington and Lafayette. But his glory was not to last long. Some of the older officers preferred charges against him for his conduct of the campaign. He was court-martialed, but exonerated from the charges, and Congress soon gave him a gold medal.
But the happiness of it all had fled from the heart of Henry Lee. He had fought four years with Washington in the North. Now he went South and joined General Greene for the remainder of the war. His fame continued to increase. Tradition says that he planned the final strategy at Yorktown.
At the surrender Light-Horse Harry stood in the line of officers as the British army marched out and Cornwallis surrendered his sword to General Washington. Lee was dressed in his usual brilliant perfection with his hair powdered and queued in the back, but in his heart he felt old and sad. At twenty-six he felt so old that he wanted to withdraw from the world and sink into obscurity.
After the war was over Light-Horse Harry turned his horse toward home. That was where he wanted to go—home to Leesylvania on the Potomac.
A BAND OF BROTHERS
King Carter once wrote: "Pray God send in the next generation ... a set of better-polished patriots."
An example of the kind of "polished patriots" that King Carter probably had in mind were the Lee brothers of Stratford: Thomas Ludwell, Richard Henry, Francis Lightfoot, William and Arthur. They were the sons of Thomas and Hannah Lee, and they were all born in the same southeast bedroom at Stratford.
Richard Henry and Francis Lightfoot were signers of the Declaration of Independence. All five brothers worked in various ways to win freedom from Great Britain for the colonies in America and to shape a government that would stand.
President John Adams described the Lee sons of Stratford as "that band of brothers, intrepid and unchangeable, who, like the Greeks at Thermopylae, stood in the gap, in defense of their country, from the first glimmering of the Revolution in the horizon, through all its rising light, to its perfect day."
THE DIVINE MATILDA
Light-horse Harry Lee soon tired of his isolation and decided one day to ride down to Stratford and call on the family of his cousin. It was a long ride, but Virginians of that day thought nothing of traveling long distances on horseback.
Thomas Lee had left Stratford to his oldest son, Philip Ludwell, who had lived there in great style. In his stables were a score or more of blooded horses, including the imported stallion Dotterel, which was said to be the "swiftest horse in all England (Eclipse excepted)." His imported coaches were the finest that could be had.
Philip had kept an open house, as Harry Lee well remembered, and he had entertained on a lavish scale. A whole ox could be roasted for guests in the kitchen fireplace. He had kept a band of musicians to whose airs his daughters, Matilda and Flora, with their companions danced in the Great Hall. But Philip Ludwell was now dead, Harry had heard, and Stratford had passed on to his oldest child, Matilda.
As Harry came up the oak and poplar lined road to Stratford, Matilda and Flora recognized him "as he rode past the grove of maples" and they "welcomed him with joy."
Flora was described by a contemporary as being haughty in manner, "very genteel and wears monstrous bustles." In describing Matilda the only word used by her contemporaries was "divine."
Harry was not prepared for this new Matilda. When he had last seen her she was at the awkward age of thirteen. Now she was nineteen and his first sight of her took his breath away.
There was tea-drinking in the garden with laughter and talk of the good old times before the war. Perhaps Matilda and Harry walked in the garden and "sat under a butiful shade tree" or climbed to one of the summer-houses on the roof from which they could see "Potomac's sea-like billows."
In less than a month Matilda was married to her cousin, Light-Horse Harry Lee. And what was Matilda like? There are no portraits or miniatures to tell us how she looked, no letters to unlock her personality. Only the word "divine" bequeathed by her contempories.
Matilda was expensive. Inventories tell us that her side-saddle cost 1,200 pounds of tobacco, and music lessons on the harpsichord cost 3,043 pounds of tobacco. "1 pc. fine Chintz in Pocket Money for Mis Matilda," whatever that meant, was 1,500 pounds, and another ninety pounds of tobacco went for dental care. Listed among her belongings were a cap, a pair of silk shoes and stays for her slender waist.
Matilda could afford to have expensive tastes. She had inherited Stratford and its six thousand acres of rich tobacco soil, with enough slaves to tend it, and other lands scattered all over northern Virginia.
Harry took Matilda to New York where for three years he represented Virginia in Congress. They were gay and happy years, but it was over all too soon.
When Matilda died, Harry wrote: "Something always happens to mar my happiness."
At the foot of the garden at Stratford, Harry built a vault for Thomas Lee's granddaughter, Matilda, who was called "divine."
Matilda was twenty-six years old when she died. She left three children, Philip Ludwell, Lucy Grymes and Henry.
MADAM WASHINGTON
Augustine Washington had left his wife, Mary: "the current crops on three plantations and the right of working Bridges Creek Quarter for five years, during which time she could establish a quarter on Deep Run."
Mary stayed on at Ferry Farm for twenty-nine years after her husband's death. It is possible that she spent part of this time on some of her adjoining property. Meanwhile her children had married—Betty Washington Lewis was living in Fredericksburg, and George was established at Mount Vernon, which he had inherited after Lawrence's death.
By 1772 George had persuaded his mother to move to a house which he owned in Fredericksburg where she would be close to Betty, at Kenmore.
When Mary Ball Washington moved to Fredericksburg, her property in the Northern Neck included: "43 Hoggs, Shoats and Pigs, 16 sheep, 24 head of cattle, 2 horses; and at the Quarters (her dower land of 400 acres, some miles down the river), 4 horses, 6 oxen, 8 cows and calves, 39 hogs." On the two farms there were ten slaves. The "Quarters" was bringing her an income of 30 pounds per year.
After Mary was installed in Fredericksburg, she had her coachman, Stephen, drive her almost every day to Ferry Farm. Mary's favorite carriage in her old age was a light open phaeton. She was respectfully greeted by everyone she passed on the streets of Fredericksburg.
In her later years Mary is said to have worn a mobcap and kerchief. A mobcap was a frilly white cap introduced from France. In summer she probably waved a fan made from the bronze feathers of wild turkeys.
During these years George Washington frequently visited his mother, and other relatives in the Northern Neck. In August, 1768, he "hauled the Sein for sheepsheads" off Hollis Marsh in Westmoreland County. In 1771, he dined at the Glebe in Cople Parish, and "returned to my brother's in the evening." George enjoyed the social life in Fredericksburg. He liked to play cards, and he liked to dance—the minuet and cotillions and country-dances. It was said that he liked beautiful women, punch, horses and hunting, and that he could be gay or dignified, whenever the occasion demanded. During Revolutionary days Washington and the Northern Neck patriots often gathered at the Rising Sun Tavern in Fredericksburg.
In 1784, while visiting Mount Vernon, Marquis de Lafayette rode to Fredericksburg to pay a visit to Madam Washington before he returned to France. When he returned to Mount Vernon after calling upon Mary Ball Washington he made this comment about her: "I have seen the only Roman Matron living at this day."
George Washington traveled to Fredericksburg in March, 1789, to tell his mother good-bye before leaving Mount Vernon to go to New York for his first inauguration. She did not live to see him again.
Mary Washington was buried in Fredericksburg, near Meditation Rock, a spot near her home where she often went to read her Bible, pray and meditate. It was her request that she be buried there. Many years later a monument to her was erected there.
The modest house where she spent her last years became a national shrine in 1890. A college in Fredericksburg was later named for Mary Washington.
"All that I am I owe to my honored Mother," is the tribute that the great George Washington paid to Mary Ball Washington.
AFTER THE REVOLUTION
The Northern Neck, like the rest of Tidewater Virginia, changed after the Revolution. War had taken its toll of manpower and money.
The tobacco lands had become exhausted, therefore the culture of tobacco had been almost abandoned. Wheat and corn were now the main crops.
The once thriving tobacco river ports fell into decay. Foreign ships no longer tied up at the plantation landings. The tobacco rolling-roads were no longer needed for their original use.
After the war the English clergy was withdrawn and the churches were unused and deserted for years. Some fell into ruins or were used for other purposes. The glebes became "bones of contention" between the Episcopal Church and the "people." In 1802 the General Assembly passed an act by which the glebes were sold for the benefit of the public.
After the Revolution other religious denominations gained a foothold in the Northern Neck.
People now turned away from anything British, even in architecture and dress. Before the Revolution boys and girls dressed precisely like their parents in miniature. After the war they wore a special dress of their own.
In 1789, there were still few conveniences of life in the Neck, or elsewhere in the country. All cloth was woven by hand. Most of the farm implements were made of wood. Wheat was cut with a scythe, raked with a wooden rake and beaten out with sticks or "trodden out" by oxen.
There were as yet no matches with which to make a fire. Flint and tinder box were used instead and live coals were kept as a basis for the next day's fire. Wood was the chief fuel and candles were used for light.
Bananas and oranges were rarely seen in the Northern Neck then, for sailboats were too slow to bring these fruits any distance in good condition. Communication was slow. By 1790 there were fifteen post-offices in Virginia. The postal service was crude. Mails were carried by post-riders and stages.
People of the Northern Neck lived comfortably but the great prosperity was gone, and although eventually it was recovered in part, the pattern of living was never on such a grand scale again as it was before the Revolution. The large estates were broken up by division or sale. New families took the places of the old. Many of the old names passed into oblivion. The old order of social aristocracy declined, but the people still clung to their old customs, traditions and family life.
MANTUA
"Chicacony" was selected as a townsite by the Burgesses some time after John Mottrom and his friends had settled there. Mottrom had built a wharf and a warehouse at Coan and he had plans for a "Brew-House." If he had lived, the town might have matured. But Colonel Mottrom died and the plans for a town seem to have been abandoned. Plantation life did not encourage the growth of towns.
The Coan Hall property passed on to the descendants of John Mottrom. Coan Hall and the other early homes in the vicinity either burned or fell into ruins. Toward the close of the eighteenth century, when the Coan Hall property went out of the Mottrom family, there appears to have been few traces left of the once thriving settlement at Coan.
James Smith, a wealthy Baltimore merchant and shipowner, purchased a portion of the Coan Hall estate from a Mottrom heir and erected a brick mansion on a slope there, about 1785. He called his new home Mantua.
Mantua was built along the traditional lines of a Virginia house—a central hall, two rooms on each side and large end chimneys. From the outside it appeared to have three stories but there were really six floor levels. Later, identical wings were added on each side by Smith's sons. Still later, Smith's grandson added an imposing front portico. Before this addition coaches were driven, tradition says, right up to the front steps and ladies could step from coach to marble steps without soiling their dainty slippers. The conveyance could then continue around to the stables on the west side, or follow the driveway on to Coan Stage Road, which ran back of the plantation.
The marble steps, marble window-sills and paneled inside blinds were handsome details of Mantua which may have been the outcome of Smith's residence in Baltimore. Originally he was a native of County Derry, Ireland.
In the rear of the house there were five terraces, planted with flowers and, perhaps, vegetables and herbs. Brick slave quarters were ranged in a semi-circle beyond the terraces.
The second story front windows of Mantua overlooked both the Coan and the Potomac. Before government lighthouses and buoys marked the waterman's course in this section, he had only the stars, landmarks and a lighted window here and there to guide him. Mantua was a help to the watermen for they could always be sure of a lighted window there, a lamp purposely placed by members of the Smith family, and by day the towering poplar trees were familiar landmarks.
PART III
Nineteenth Century
ROBERT E. LEE
In 1791, Light-Horse Harry Lee became Governor of Virginia. While he was in Richmond he had the opportunity to visit the plantations along the James River.
When Harry rolled up before Shirley in all the trappings of a Virginia governor, it is not surprising that the young daughter of the house saw in him her "heart's desire."
But Charles Carter did not see Harry through his daughter's rosy vision. He saw him as a widower who was seventeen years older than Ann, and as a soldier who had been disillusioned by war and had not adjusted to peace.
However, Harry won his suit and carried the happy Ann back with him to Stratford. Ann was a brunette of medium height and twenty years old. Little else is known about her except that she was good.
Ann's first impression of the Lee mansion must have been a gloomy one. Gayety had left Stratford with Matilda. The musicians had long since been gone, and the blooded horses. The windows once so brightly lighted were dark, and with no voices and laughter to fill the house, one could hear the wolves howling at night in the forest. This remote fortress in the fastness of the Northern Neck was different from anything that this great-granddaughter of King Carter had ever known. Shirley had been warm and happy.
Harry had no taste or ability as a farmer, and even if he had, Westmoreland County was now losing ground as a tobacco country. At first Ann may have traveled to Richmond with her husband and visited Shirley, for Harry was thrice elected to the governorship of Virginia. But as the years went by, Ann and her small children were more and more alone at Stratford. As his political career waned, Harry stayed away from home more and more, chasing various "will o' the wisps" which he believed would recoup his fortune.
Sometimes Ann stayed at Stratford as long as six months at a time without going anywhere to visit, or without seeing her social equals. Still, Ann wrote a friend that she was too busy to be bored. We can imagine her moving about the house, sometimes carrying a charcoal brazier with her into the living room, to warm her frail body or to give the illusion of warmth.