The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1878-07-25
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.

teresting incident, and under such I'M
pulse we visited Lynchburg and Dan
vile, Virginia, recently, that we might
note the familiar ground of soldier days
during and subsequent to the war.
Taking a train on our alphabetical
railroad"-the Washington City, Vir-
ginia Midland and Great Southern-we
ran through that portion Of Virginia
which, during the whole war, was one
continued scene of marching and fight
ing, and there is hardly a station be-
tween here and Lynchbnrg but what
has many war "reminiscences connected
with it. At Manassas still appear some
Of the forts and earth-works thrown up
in 1861 and 1852, which, though dis
mantled and with broken and crumbled
faces and bitches, remind us of severe
exhausting marches in the mud aud
cold and wet of those winters, and re-
call, too, the inevitable hard-tack and
tough beef meted out to US by the Com
missary Department, as well as the
faces and voices Of many comrades Of
the eleventh corps, who long since
spread their silent tents on the eternal
camping-ground Of the other world. OF
those who were spared to life, Schurz is
Secretary Of the Interior, Devens At
torney-General, lie Due Commissioner
Of Agriculture. Sigel is in private
walks, making, we hope, his mark as
brightly as those who are wearing his
political honors, and there are many
others who are doing life's duty as
bravely and nobly as when battling for
their country with lives pinned to their
sleeves for an enemy's bullet to pluck
of. We could not help fervid "Thank
God The sword of civil war has been
beaten into the pruning-hook of peace"
Here, where grim-visaged war had one
vast slaughter-pen, the husbandman
has reappeared with all the parapher-
MALTA Of comfort and tranquility, and
the contrast between the present indica-
tiOns Of peace and amity and the ruin
and devastation Of war times is simply
sublime. Nothing then was spared.
The bullet, the fire, and the soldiers
stomach swept out OF existence every
thing which could be appropriated. a
rough board shanty constituted the only
building at Manassas at one time when
we were there, but now appears a town
whose numbers Of freshly-painted new
houses almost rouse the question Was
war ever here? Every rywhere from
Washington to GOrdonsville, houses,
fences, cattle, sheep, cultivated fields,
etc, have supplanted the tent, the cor
raj Of army wagons and mules, and the
wastes made by an army, and show us
with most undisputable signs that this
afflicted portion Of our country is now
entering upon an era of progress and
improvement which will make it event.
ually one of the grandest spots of the
nation. We predict that this railroad
will ere long be one Of the most favored
routes for tourists, because every portion
Of its surroundings will ever figure most
prominently in the historical annals of
our country. Starting from here, it,
touches old and ancient Alexandria,
whose Washington landmarks will
ever keep it alive. A few miles west of
that city it reaches Manassas, and from
there to Charlottesville it touches near
the great battle-fields Of Manassas, Bull
Run, Brandy and Bristow Stations, Ce-
dar Mountain, near Culpepper Court
house, Chantilly, Centreville, etc.
Every foot Of the country has been oc-
cupied by troops and for warfare, and no
one to whom the Rebellion has any in
terest can resist the inclination, at some
time or another, to visit these historical
places. 1t fianks the foothills of the
Blue Ridge Mountains and touches the
great Piedmont region, which, extend
ing from the Potomac River down
through Virginia, Tennessee and Ala
bama, will be eventually the greatest
agricultural center Of the United States.
From near Alexandria to Charlottesville
the road runs through an immense
plain, as susceptible of improvement
and grain and grass growing, as the IA
nous Genessee Valley of New York
State. Grass, the great desideratum of
the farmer, grows luxuriantly every
where. France does not surpass it for
wine purposes, while the mild winters
render stoek-growing an easy matter in
comparison with the rigorous climate Of
Northern latitudes. The fine markets Of
Washington and Baltimore will always
enable the farmer to dispose of his pro-
ducts, and we know of no place East or
West which offers so many induce
ments to the immigrant as this Pied
mont region. Charlottesville, with its
Monticello and University, the legaeies
Of the immortal Jefferson, must ever be
a place Of resort. Here the Chesapeake
and Ohio railroad debouches into the
plain from the mountains, and from
this point distributes its immense
freights of lumber and minerals north
ward and to Richmond. We feel as
} sured that Alexandria and Washington
; will yet become, through these inter
ests, great shipping-marts, and that
from here to Charlottesville will become
2 as thickly-settled, thrifty and wealthy
as that between Albany and Buffalo on
the New York Central, and that, too, in
very few years. Immigration once
: turned southwark will quickly sieze
e upon these plains and foothills, and en-
= JOY theirsu superior advantages Of soil and
olfnnata NVa snant naarlv fot,r ,-oo--