Fredericksburg, Virginia 1608-1908/4

Encouraging Home Industries — Further Extension of the Town — Tobacco Inspectors — Modes of Punishment — Prosperity — Military Ardor — Under the United States — New Order of Things.

In 1759 an act was passed by the General Assembly to encourage the "Arts and Manufactures in the Colony," but wine and silk making seemed to have predominated all others, wine having the decided preference as will readily be seen. In the act it was set forth that five hundred pounds should be paid as a premiun to the person who should, in any one year, within eight years from the date of its passage, make the best wine in quantity not less than ten hogsheads, and one hundred pounds should be paid to the person making the second best. It was provided that the money for these premiums should be raised by the annual subscriptions of public-spirited gentlemen who were willing to encourage the undertaking; and it was further provided that, if the subscriptions would justify it, a handsome premium should be given for silk making. It was also stipulated that if there was an "overplus of money," after the premiums on wine and silk making were provided for, it was to "be given for the encouragement of such other articles as should appear to the committee most advantageous to the colony." Among those who contributed the first year for this purpose, who were then, or had been, citizens of Fredericksburg, were the following gentlemen who subscribed two pounds each: Robert Carter, Pressley Thornton, George Washington, James Mercer, William Bernard, David Ker, Philip Rootes, Thomas Reade Rootes, Alexander Ross, John Champ.

FURTHER EXTENSION OF THE TOWN.

In 1763 an act was passed by the General Assembly extending the corporate limits of the town, but to what extent we do not know, as we have been unable to find the act or any of its provisions.

REGULATING TOBACCO INSPECTORS.

In 1764 the General Assembly passed an act for "Amending the Staple of Tobacco and for Preventing Frauds in his Majesty's Customs." It was a very lengthy bill, having seventy-seven sections, ten more than any other act ever before passed by that body, and severe penalties were prescribed for its violation. The bill was necessarily long and severe penalties were prescribed because it had reference to the raising, curing, packing and sale of tobacco, which was one of the principal products of Virginia, and the duties and responsibilities of tobacco inspectors and their proper management of tobacco warehouses. Besides tobacco being one of the important crops raised in the colony, if not the most important one, large quantities of it were shipped to the old country and sold for good prices. In addition to this, tobacco was used in the colony as a substitute for money, as all debts between private individuals, as well as those due the colony, were paid in tobacco. The bill provided for public warehouses, for the proper inspection of tobacco and for public inspectors, appointed by the Governor and his Council, not less than two at each warehouse, who, besides taking an oath of office, were placed under heavy bonds with security, the penalty being five hundred pounds sterling for the faithful performance of their duties. One of these public warehouses was located in Fredericksburg, and may have been the old stone house on Water street, just below the free bridge. The oath required to be taken by these public inspectors was as follows:— "You shall swear that you will diligently and carefully view and examine all tobacco brought to any public warehouse or warehouses where you are appointed to be inspector, and that not separately and apart from your fellow, but in his presence; and that you will not receive any tobacco that is not in your judgment sound, well conditioned, merchantable and clear of trash, nor receive, pass or stamp any tobacco, hogshead or cask of tobacco, prohibited by one act of Assembly, entitled an act for amending the sample of tobacco, and preventing frauds in his Majesty's customs; and that you will not change, alter or give out any tobacco, other than such heads or casks for which the receipt to be taken was given; but that you will in all things well and faithfully discharge your duty in the office of inspector, according to the best of your skill and judgment and according to the directions of said act, without fear, favor, affection, malice or partiality. So help me God." The receipts given by the inspectors of the public warehouse in Fredericksburg, according to the provisions of the act, were to pass and be current in the town and county of Spotsylvania for the payment of all quit-rents, county and town levies and for officers' fees. As this provision of law made them current for public dues, the public also adopted them as currency and they were used for the payment of all obligations. These receipts were protected by severe penalties against counterfeiting and forgery, and each one represented so many hundred pounds of tobacco deposited at the public warehouse.

MILITARY ARDOR OF THE TOWN.

Fredericksburg continued to grow in population and material prosperity, and also improve in the intelligence and public spirit of its inhabitants, until the year 1775, when the affairs between Great Britain and the American Colonies were verging to a crisis. Her leading citizens were among the very first in Virginia to adopt the principle that the American Colonies ought not only to be exempt from taxation by the Mother Country, but should be free and independent States. The battle of Lexington was fought on the 19th day of April, 1775, and on the 20th, the following day, Lord Dunmore secretly removed twenty barrels of gunpowder from the public magazine in Williamsburg to the Magdalen Man-of-war, which anchored off Yorktown. When the news of the battle of Lexington, and of the removal of the powder, reached Fredericksburg, great excitement prevailed. Over six hundred men armed themselves, from the town and surrounding country, assembled at the Courthouse in town and offered their services to George Washington, who was then in Williamsburg, to defend that city from Lord Dunmore's threatened attack, and the country from his tyranny. After assembling they dispatched delegates to Richmond and Williamsburg to ascertain the condition of affairs and to what point they should report for duty. In the meantime, those ardent patriots, George Washington, Peyton Randolph and Edmund Pendleton, transmitted their advice to the people of Fredericksburg, and especially those who had formed the military organization, to abstain for the present from hostilities until a congress, then called or soon to be called, should decide upon a general plan of resistance. On the receipt of this advice, these patriots held a council, consisting of more than one hundred men, representing fourteen companies, who, by a majority of one vote, decided to disperse for the present They were burning with indignation at the murderous attack made upon their brethren of Lexington, Mass., by the armed soldiers of Great Britian, and the unlawful arrests, and retention as prisoners, of some of the leading citizens of Massachusetts by British military officers. And this feeling of indignation was intensified when they saw that this outrage was followed the next day by another perpetrated in their own colony and by their own Governor; and when he threatened to return from Yorktown, whither he had fled for safety, and attack Williamsburg with a man-of-war they were convinced that the enemies of the Patriots, the British and Tories, understood each other and were acting in concert. Yet, upon the advice of those whose lead they were willing to follow, and whose commands they were ready to obey, they agreed to disband for the present. Before dispersing, however, they drafted an address, which was tantamount to a declaration of independence, in which they firmly resolved to resist all attempts against their rights and privileges, from whatever quarter they might be assailed. They went further than to just pass resolutions; they pledged themselves, solemnly and firmly one to the other, to be in readiness, at a moment's warning, to reassemble, and, by force of arms, to defend the laws, liberties and the rights of this or any sister colony,from unjust and wicked invasions. They then sent dispatches to patriots assembled in Caroline, Berkeley, Frederick and Dunmore counties, thanking them for their offer of service and acquainting them with the condition of public affairs and their determination to be ready at a moment's notice to respond to any call that might be made by the patriotic leaders, who were then holding a council in Williamsburg. The resolutions and pledges were read at the head of each company of patriots encamped at Fredericksburg, and unanimously approved and adopted. The address concluded with the impressive words,"God, save the Liberties of America," which were a substitute for oft-repeated words," God, save the King." These resolutions were passed twenty-one days before the celebrated Mecklenburg resolutions in North Carolina were, and more than a year before the Declaration of Independence by the American Congress, which showed the intense patriotic fervor of the people of Fredericksburg at that early period, many of whom bore a heroic part in the subsequent struggle of the Seven Years' war that followed. Among the number assembled with these lovers of liberty, and most prominent, were Gen. Geo. Weedon, who served on Gen. Washington's staff, commanded with distinction a division at the surrender of Yorktown, and afterwards for several terms served as mayor of the town; Gen. Hugh Mercer, who rose to the rank of Major-General and was killed at Princeton, New Jersey, on January 3, 1777, and Gen. Gustavus B. Wallace, who served gallantly through the war, attaining to the rank of Brigadier-General.

FREDERICKSBURG UNDER THE UNITED STATES.

The long tobacco act of the House of Burgesses was the last act passed by that body that affected the commercial interest of the town or the agricultural interest of the surrounding country that we have any knowledge of. The Revolutionary war soon followed and our independence and new government was the result. It is not considered necessary in this work to attempt to give the part Fredericksburg bore in that struggle—the generals she furnished to command the armies and navy of the country, the line officers and soldiers she sent forth to meet and repel the invader, the statesmen she gave to provide for the armies or to form the new government and to guide it to a successful, permanent and solid establishment. All of these things are told by the records and histories of the State and country more accurately and in a more pleasing style than we can narrate them. We therefore pass to the new order of things.

FREDERICKSBURG IN THE REPUBLIC.

The first act of the Legislature of Virginia in reference to Fredericksburg, after the establishment of the young republic, was to grant it a charter, which bill was passed in 1781. It provided for the town a Mayor, Recorder, Board of Aldermen and a Common Council, and required that all of them should be freeholders. They were made a body politic by the name and designation of Mayor and Commonalty of the town of Fredericksburg, and by that title were to have perpetual succession. The Mayor, Recorder and the four Aldermen were ex-officio Justices of the Peace, and had power to hold a court of hustings once a month, and to "hold pleas in all cases whatsoever originating within the limits" of the town and to "low water mark on the northwest side of the Rappahannock river and half a mile without and around the other limits of the said town." They were given the sole authority and power of "licensing tavern keepers and settling their rates," to appoint a sergeant with the powers of sheriffs, a "constable and other necessary officers of court and surveyors of the streets and highways." A surveyor of the streets was appointed at the first hustings court held by the Mayor and his fellow magistrates, but he was known as the "Geographer" of the town for more than half a century, and was often so entered upon the court records. In civil cases the hustings court was not to have jurisdiction where the amount in controversy exceeded one thousand pounds of leaf tobacco, or its value in money, unless both parties to the suit were citizens of the town when the suit was instituted. The corporate authorities were authorized to assess the inhabitants and all property within the actual bounds of the town for all the charges of repairing the streets, and other matters of municipal expense. They were empowered to erect workhouses, houses of correction, prisons and other public buildings, and to pass all necessary ordinances for the good government of the town. They were to have two market days in each week, and appoint a clerk of the market, "who shall have assize of bread, wine, wood and other things," and perform all the duties of Clerk of the Market. The market days were fixed by law on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It was also provided in the charter that if any person elected to an office failed or refused to serve, he was to be fined. The fines were regulated as follows: "For a Mayor-elect, fifty pounds; for the Recorder, forty pounds; for any Alderman, thirty pounds; for any Common Councilman, twenty-five pounds; for the City Sergeant, one hundred pounds; for the Constable, fifty pounds; for the Clerk of the Hustings Court and the Clerk of the Market, each fifty pounds; the Surveyor of Streets or Roads, each thirty pounds." These several fines were to be imposed by the hustings court, and "to be levied by execution against the goods and chatties of the offender." The charter also provided that in case of "misconduct in the office of Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen or Common Councilmen, or either of them, the others, being seven at least, shall have power to remove the offenders," and in case the other officers were guilty of misconduct, the power appointing them was clothed with the authority of revoking the appointment. It was provided that if the office of Mayor should become vacant, the Recorder was to succeed to the office, the oldest Alderman was to become Recorder, and "so on according to priority." It was further provided "that all the property, real and personal, now held and possessed by the trustees of the said town of Fredericksburg, in law or equity, or in trust, for the use and benefit of the inhabitants thereof, and particularly the charity donation of Archibald McPherson, deceased, now vested in the trustees of said town in trust, for the education of poor children, shall be and the same are hereby transferred and vested in the Mayor and Commonalty of said town, to and for the same uses, intents and purposes as the trustees of the town now hold the same." At the session of the Legislature in 1782 the charter of the town was amended and the jurisdiction of the hustings court was extended one mile without and around the former limits of the town on the south side of the Rappahannock river, and made a court of record and as such was authorized to receive probate of wills and deeds and grant administrations in as full and ample manner as the county courts could or might do. But no will was to be admitted to proof and no administration was to be granted unless the parties were citizens and residents of the town at the time of their death, and no deeds for conveyance of land were to be admitted to record unless the lands conveyed lay within the limits of the corporation. The court was empowered and authorized to appoint a person skilled in the law to prosecute for the Commonwealth and pay him a reasonable salary for his services, and when the Attorney for the Commonwealth was appointed for the town, it was to be exempt from paying any part of the salary of the Attorney for the Commonwealth of Spotsylvania county.

RAPID GROWTH OF THE TOWN.

On the petition of sixty-four of the leading citizens of the town, property owners and tax payers, complaining that certain provisions and requirements of the original charter of the town, granted in 1727, had not been enforced by the Council and complied with by lot owners, the Common Council, in 1782, passed an order which resulted in great benefit to the town in the way of improving vacant lots, erecting buildings and furnishing permanent homes for artisans, mechanics and laboring men. In the memorial submitted to the Council, these property owners complained of "being frequently subjected to the payment of many heavy Taxes and charges for the general benefit and improvement of the said Town of which many proprietors of unimproved Lotts pay no part, although their property is thereby daily rendered more valuable; That the proprietors of said Lotts, although wealthy, will neither build on them, nor sell to those who would, unless for exorbitant prices, by means whereof Rents are high and many useful tradesmen are prevented from residing in the said Town, to remedy which your petitioners pray that you, as Guardians of the said Corporation, will take into your consideration an Act of Assembly, passed in the year of our Lord One thousand, seven hundred and twenty seven, entitled an Act for erecting a Town in each of the counties of Spotsylvania and King George or so much of the said Act as may relate to the said Town of Fredericksburg. A due execution of said Law, your petitioners Conceive, will be productive of many real and very essential advantages to the said corporation; by encouraging the peopling of it and increasing its Trade and Navigation. Your petitioners do not wish that any immediate advantage may be taken of failures or defaults already heretofore suffered, by noncompliance with the above mentioned Act, but that Public notice may be given to the proprietors of such unimproved Lotts that a strict execution of the above mentioned Act of Assembly will be observed with all such as shall, in future, fail to perform, fulfil and comply with the rules and directions therein set forth." In consideration of the complaints of these citizens and the wise suggestions made in their communication, as well as the requirements of the act referred to, the Council ordered "that notice be given to the Proprietors of unimproved Lotts within this corporation, by advertisement in the Public News Papers, that they immediately pay up the Taxes due on said Lotts within this Town and that they be informed that they must build on their unimproved Lotts, agreeable to the Act of Assembly, passed in One thousand seven hundred and Twenty-seven, for establishing a Town in the County of Spotsylvania, otherwise the Lotts will be sold agreeble to the said Act." In consequence of the enforcement of this order of the Common Council, both the taxable values, and the inhabitants of the town, increased rapidly. Instead of an empty treasury, as the town then had, and the necessity it found itself under of appealing to the public for subscriptions for money with which to repair and enlarge the church, to repair the market house, the courthouse and jail, so they could be used, the town soon had money for ordinary purposes, and also for repairing the public buildings, many of which had been used during the war by the soldiers of General Washington's army, leaving a good balance in the treasury, after the work was done. Nor was that all; in 1791, under the "Domestic Loan Act" of Congress, the town loaned to the general government $3,500. This loan was evidenced by four certificates, issued by the "Loan office" of the Government in Washington and are duly recorded in the record book of the Common Council.

METHODS OF PUNISHMENT.

It may be interesting to note that in the olden times there were other methods resorted to for punishing criminals besides fines, jails and penitentiaries, which are not used in this day and time. The Common Council, in 1785, passed a resolution ordering Sergeant John Richards to "erect immediately a whipping post, stocks and ducking stool." The whipping post was used mainly for the slaves who were guilty of small infractions of the law, but for aggravated offences, the penalty was "thirty-nine lashes on his bare back, well laid on," to which was added "burning in the left hand, in the presence of the court." The whipping post is said to have been used for habitual persistent absence from church, but it was very seldom used for that purpose, and never in Fredericksburg so far as we have discovered from the records. The stocks were used to punish white persons for petty offences, such as vagrancy, trespassing and similar infractions of the law. The stocks consisted of a frame of timber, with holes in which the ankles and wrists of the offenders were confined. The stocks were erected in the public square and it is said the passers-by, and those who had gathered around them, through curiosity, would taunt and jeer at the criminals thus confined for punishment. The ducking stool was used for punishing common scolds, refractory women and dishonest tradesmen, especially brewers and bakers. The ducking stool for Fredericksburg was erected on the bank of the Rappahannock river, at the foot of Wolfe street, near where the old Stafford bridge spanned the river. There are several of our old citizens now living who remember when it was in use, and when it was dispensed with, nearly seventy years ago. A "ducking" always brought together a large crowd, most of whom were rude and disorderly, and jeers at and ridicule of the party "ducked" would rend the air, while the sentence of the court was being carried out. It is said that some of the "scolding women," as they would emerge from the water would send forth volumes of abuse at the disorderly crowd, while the officer waited for the next bath, and this was kept up until the order of the court was fully executed. It seemed to be the wish of the authorities that the whole population would turn out and witness these different modes of punishment, with the hope that it would deter others from committing similar offences.