The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-06-08
RAMBlEs IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA.
warrenton springs-The Place as 1T
Was and as it Is-Gay and Glorious
Reminfscences-Perso Notes.
rFRoM AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT


forgotten, Warrenton Springs. Of all the Vir-
ginian relics, the ruins Of this Saratoga OF the
South show the devastating and unsparing
hand of war, sweeping away the pride of the
land and the palaces thereof in the storm of
battle, or by the incendiary torch. Before the
war there was an annual migration of the gen.
try of Virginia and the farther South to this
spring. A line of stages connected with the
railroad at Warrenton for the accommodation
of distant visitors, though most of the people
from the surrounding counties preferred to
come with their own equpages, driving in
from their mansions among the grassy hills Of
the Piedmont region or down on the rich allu-
vial bottoms of the Rappahannock. The Fred
ericksburgers would often make an excursion
in their old family carriages over the interven-
ing ten leagues Of poor roads, starting in the
gray of the morning and arriving in the late
afternoon In time for the dance. Unhappy
people; they have smelt enough sulphur since
1861, and without the trouble of coming away
up into Fauquier for it.
When these pleasure seekers or health seek
ers had passed through the forests and valleys
of this rich and rural country, they were put
down before grand hotel, towering up by the
wayside, massive in construction, vast In ca
pacity, and graceful in architecture. This
great building, with its accessory outbudings,
arose over the surrounding landscape like The
temple Of Jupiter Amm0n In the silent oasis of
Lydia, a towering temple independent of the
little world about, self-existeht and selfsus-
taining-only this temple was not dedicated to
the father of the gods, but to Hygeia and Terp-
schore, inasmuch as the magnlloquent and
domineering Jupiter has not yet been natural
lied an American, We have Sumner, and he
outherods Herod. The Grecian god and the
Massachusetts, demig0d would repeat the old
contest Of the Devil and Tom Walker, and per-
haps attain the same result. In the tranquil
depths of this beautiful valley Of the Hegeman
nestled the innermost shrine to which pilgrim
ages innumerable We're made. A little Octag-
onal building, upheld BY chaste Dorlc columns,
with spring of medicinal waters bubbllng up
through an open square in It's flooring, and
classic statue, in whitesr marble, Of the
goddess Of health and vigor-such Is the
Mecca of the old time, where Virginlans, aye,
and many from remoter and less favored lands,
tuous. The water which fell on far distant
hills was trapped in great reservoir, and car
ried through many flirlOng of iron aqueduct,
to supply its needs. A gasOmeter supplied its
hundreds of rooms with light. Great gardens
on the outlying Springs estate yielded freshest
vegetables and fairest flowers, and the river
flowing at the edge of the grounds furnished
ments to the disciples Of Izaak Walton.
Through all the summer, the velvet lawns Of
the park were haunted by the fairest Of women
and the cream Of the youth OF the Old DOmin-
nlOn, and in the cool evenings the band dis
coursed sweet music to the merry dancers In
the great hall of the hotel. The reverend
seigniors" of the State Legislature were some
times won by these Sybarltc enticements, and
adj burned from sun-scOrched Richmond to
hold their deliberations under the calm shadow
Of the great trees, and supplement- their learn
ed labors by the relaxation Of the quadrlle and
cotillion.
But the serpent entered even this Eden. The
summer of 1861 was not so lively as the pre-
ceding ones, for the young men were march,
Ing In the Virginia line. The Warrenton Rifle
Company and the Black Horse Troop were re-
cruited in the vicinity, and moved away to-
wards the North, and henceforward took their
sulphur from before Federal cannon, rather
than from this Castalian spring. The hotel
and cabins were perverted into barracks and
headquarters; the spurred heel of the trooper
replaced the delicate dancing slipper; the clank
of the sabre-sheath was heard for the fiutter of
the silken fan, until one day that proclamatory
hero who had previously ''seen only the backs
of rebels came down from Culpeper with his
beaten army-most evidently having seen
their faces at last, and without being specially
pleased at the view. Posting his troops on
Of the Rappahannock, he fought a long
artillery duel, while his rains were
hurrying towards Washington, end in his
retreat, the houses about the spflngs were
brought between the lines just long enough for
a hot shot to turn the great palace, which
neither Saratoga nor Newport could outshine,
into mass of surging flame. On the long
1T 49, fha .tyyan fha
took position, and hammered away at Pope,
especially along by Beverly's Crossing, where
the bombardment was terrific. Jackson got
a bridge across and snapped up the strong
guard at the Springs, then let his indomitable
"Foot Cavalry" rest for a time on the fields
and lowlands hereabouts, the 14th South Caro-
liua getting Its brief respite from labor on
sunny slope near the river, where they got
ready for that superb charge on the Bull Run
field. An eyewitness Of that charge said that
they saved two brigades by dashing right on
the bayonets of heavy mass of Federals, who
were splitting through Gregg and Thomas and
doubling up Jackson's left.
Old Stonewal, with Characteristic unees-
ness, soon left this pleasant valley of the
rings, and the "blast OF battle echoed no
more through their groves. Deserted and
desolate, the estate lapsed into wilderness,
until Major Boyle, eX-pr0vost marshal OF the
Army of Northern Virginia, took charge thereof
in 1868. How eclipsed the glorles of the water
ing place of 1860! The grand hotel lifted only
its lofty columns like monumental chroRiclers
of departed splendor, towering over vast
mass of chaotic ruins. The Warrenton House
was burnt; so, too, the Williamsburg House.
and the cabins were stripped of floors and
windows and doors. The aqueduct had
yielded its metal to feed the "dogs of war;"
and poor Hygeia, dethroned and desecrated,
with ears and nose, fingers and feet ampl-
tated, was prostrated in @ dense mating of
bristly grass. Every path was obliterated. the
lawns were oyerspread by legions of sturdy
young trees, the Elysian fields had become
chapparal But since the arrival Of the new
proprietor, commodious buildings have been
erected, and other improvements reclaimed,
so that last summer, with gOodly company
of guests, Fauluier Springs came into line
with the Spas of Virginia. The country
about the river bottoms is smiling,
with advancing crops, betokening rich soil
and skilful husbandry. One Of the fairest Of
estates is that OF Captain North, an old Charles
tonian, once of the United States Navy, and at
a later day Confederate agent in London and
Paris. After rendering invaluable services to
the Southern cause, and moving in the gay So
ciety of the European cities, he has quietly re-
tired to his rural mansion, and transferred his
energies to its administration. Here, also, is
Mr.. Atkin, an English gentleman and former
resident Of Charleston, who made his entrance
there by swimming from captured blockade
runner, through the darkness, to Suivan's
Island. There are others who have come