The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-08-29

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WEDNESDAY MORNING. AUG ~ 1865.
m. DrspArea ron THE SPRINes, &c.-Psrsoas
roiag tetAe watering places caa kacs fAe DAHL Y
DISPATCH nahtied 10 them fer aas ieseh q
tins bs ieacinw their orders the eow~tsss sses,
and rayias IN adcane. for the rive ~esaed
- $500 - -.
The Old Bladensburg Dueiiins Ground.
There 10 mcurnfni interest connected with
this spot, which has made it the subject of FIRE.
quens newspaper communications. These,
for the most part, have been singnlarly full of
errors. arising from the careiessness OF wri-
tiers, who do not take the pains to investigate
the subject they write on, before they suffer
their genias to hurry them into print. We re-
published one of these comm unications a few
weeks ago, In which occurred several notable
measurements with regard , the melancholy
affair in which Gen. ARNrsTEAp MASON lost
his life. They are rendered the more sin
cular from the fact that the parties were SO
well known. and that full and quite aceu-
rate account of the matter was puoiished
in Harperss Magaa fat very few years ago
The trausactioa will he used by future histo-
rian. 10 eiaeida;e the manners OF the day
There can, therefore, be no Improperly In al
luding to 1t here. 49,, Is 90 ss- 10. $50, go
Gen, ARmssTRAp MASON and Colonel JOHN
Mason MAcARry were FIRST cousins, both
having been grandsons of the celebrated G1o.
MASON, one of the most distinguished of our
Virginia revolutionary patriots, whose statue
stands between those OF HENRY and JErFER-
SON on the WASHINGTON Monument. Our
respected townsman, Col WILLIAM MAcAR-
rY, who represented the Loadoun district in
the State Senate for many years, is brother
OF Col. JOHN MASON MACARTY. lie married
a sister Of Gen. MASON, and hence arose. no
doubt, the mistake with resard to the wife of
Col JOHN MAcARTy, whose maiden name, we
believe was LEE, and who, so far as we know,
was not related by blood td(ien. MASON at all
Gen ARMIsrEAp MASON was an ardent Re-
publican Of the Jeffersonian school. He was
elected Senator of the United States about
the year 1915 or 10, and served during several
sessions. Col. JOHN MAcARTY, on the other
hand. was Federalist of the old school, hav-
Jog imbibed his political principles from his
father who had been a reyolu tionary officer
and was deyotedly attached-personally and
politically--to Gen. WASHINGTON. In the
year ISL 1--WE presume il must have beeu,)
Gen. Nj SON offered for Congress against the
late CRAs. FgNToN MERCER. Col. MACARTY,
at that time I'VE believed a student of law at
The University of William and Mary, and not
more than twenty-one years old, came up to
vote for MERCER; for the contest was very
animated, and every man who had vote
went TO the polls Out of the circums tances
attending the election, which we are not cer-
tain that We know we'll enough to attempt to
Detail grew the quarrel which terminated
two years after (iSl9) in the death Of Gen.
MASON. The duel was fought with muskets
HI the distance of ten feet $50 we always heard,
and so it was stated in the papers al the time. }
Gen MASON was killed on the spot, and Col.
MACARTY had his right arm severely LAGER
aled by his adversary's ball, which struck the
breach of his gun, and was thereby diverted
from his body.
The statement that MACARTY's head grew
white in single night, is pure fiction. We
knew him very we'll, and saw him as late as
1915 in Philadelphia So far from his head
being white, be had no, grey hair in it. A
lock taken from it after his death, is still pre-
served by his nearest rslatiye-his only daugh-
ter-now living in this city. We never saw
IT, but we learn ftom gentleman who has
seen il, that it is as clear Of grey hairs as
though il had belonged to q child five years
old. He never, We understand, resided in
Georgetown, though he did reside short time
in Alexandria. During the greater part of his
life, his place of residence was Leesburg. He
represented his native county (Loudoun) in
the lower branch Of the Virginia Legislature
during the session of 1895, and, probably,
afterwards. During that session, however.
we became well acquainted with him, and
found him to be man of uncommonly fine
miud-indeed, of very decided talents. Had
he chosen il, he might have risen high in the
political world but he appeared to us to have
little ambition. and no taste whatever for the
crooked paths of politics. Many absurd tales
were cire ulated with regard to his fighting
&c during his life, and they have been re-
peated with additions since his death. Hap
pening 10 fall in with one of these, published
in Northern paper, while he was member
of the Legislature he published card i'll the
Richmond Whig, in which he most en-
phatically and Indignantly gave it the lie
Unquestionably, he was very brave man,
but save in the one instance allnded to- he
was never called to the field. In the mean
time, il is proper to say that, probably, no man
OF his day made up so many quarrels between
others or honorable terms, thereby preventing
blood shed in cases where but tor his media
ton. it must inevitably have occurred.