The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1881-11-05
A ItighIy-Iuteresting Open Letter
from Colonel Thomas III. Ellis.

" Wtdm Il. Sheppard, Esq, IL lreSf Grace
street, Richmond, w.:
My Dear Sir,-I have read with n great
deal Of interest the accounts i'm the Dis
patch and State OF the celebrations at
Yorktown and Richmond OF the Centennial
anniversary OF the 18th OF October, and
am gratified at the compliments paid 10
yourself, especially in connection with the
street and other decorations designed by
YOU TO give Ecldt 10 the reception OF The
French and German guests in Richmond.
My brother Charles mentions in q letter
that YOU selected the corner OF Franklin
and Second streets as the site for the
erection OF the Rochambeau" arch
because you had heard as coming from me
that the Count de ROchambeau had been
entertained in my fathers nd house at
that corner; and he said YOU would be
glad to receive any particulars might have
OF the incident. There is some mistake
somewhere, as do not remember ever TO
have made such a statement as that attri-
buted to me. Indeed, doubt whether the
house was built aS early as the Counts sup
posed visit TO Richmond, which must have
been in or about the year 1881. 1t was in
the winter Of 17S1-'S2, think, that he made
an excursion into the upper parts OF Virgil
mia. Richmond at that day, you know,
was located chiefly on Church Hill
and the region below, without extend
ing rs far west as the present line OF
Second street. l do not know when or by
whom the old house was built. The earliest
information | have OF il is that Mr.. Thomas
II. Drew told me that when he came 70
Richmond to live, in 1900, there was work
going on at the house, but whether OF
building or repair j cannot say, and that
the first time he ever saw the late venerable
DIR. John Dove. who i'm his youth was a
iournevman carpenter, was on the roof OF
that house, shingling it. At later day
DIR. John BrockenbrOugh, who had mar
ried a daughter of Mrs. Margaret Ilar-
vie. the owner of the house, and who
| had a decided taste for architecture,
planned and superintended an enlarge
ment and improvement of the house,
| i'm which Mrs. Haryic continued TO
reside; but after the loss Of her son Edwin
and her daughter Juliana in the burning OF
the Richmond Theatre the associations
connected with it in her mind became so
melancholy she determined TO sell 1t, and
nv father, i'm contemplation Of his mar
riape. bought it in the year 1913. 1t has
continued from that time to the present In
his family. and is now occupied by my
/ brother-in-law, Colonel George W. Num-
ford, and his son-in-law, Mr. Charles ii.
1 Talbot, my brother Charles also living
with them.
The mistake above referred to may posi-
I bly have grown out Of the circumstance
| that the Marquis de ChastelluX was at one
| time entertained in the house in which l was
/ born. but that was not in Richmond. The
/ MARQUIS, after serving with honor aS ma
/ ior-general in the army Of Rochambeau,
/ before returning to France made visit,
accompanied by two Of his aids and an OIL
Ger of engineers, on horseback lhis cara
van, as hs called it, consisting OF four mas
! ters, six servants, and eleven horses, 10
| the Natural Bridge and Peaks OF otter, and
/ on his way back TO Williamsburg arrived al
/ the house Of Mr.. Robert Hunter, in Camp
I bell county NOW AppomattoX). Mr.. Hun
/ ter married one Of my fathers sisters, ana
NV father, who was i'm camp with the mill
| fla at Fairfield when Richmond was threat
cned by the British in the summer OF 1914,
/ having obtained leave OF absence Tor
I the purpose, carried my mother up
TO Mr.. Hunters and left her there, and
| | was born in that house. The Marquis
has marked it upon the map which accom-
panied the published volumes OF hlS " ira
/ yels i'm North America" Oh the house ne
saws: cit was not q tavern, but the pro-
prietOr, Mr.. Hunter, received strangers
/ with pleasure" And he adds: "The dlI-
| ference between q real tavern and hospi-
| table house Of reception is greatly 10 the
advantage of the traveller, for in America,
as in England, publcans pay heavy taxes
and indemnify themselves by their eXorbi-
] In
well. and in a very clean house." 1t is
still standing-within Il few miles OF the
historic field Of General Lees surrender to
I General Grant.
The MARQUIS de ChastelluX was not only
a distinguished military officer, but also
one of the forty members OF the French
Academy. William and Mary College con-
felred upon him the honorary degree OF
IL. ID. after his return TO Williamsburg,
at the same time that similar degrees were
conferred upon Mr.. Jefferson and upon Dr.
John +. Coste, first physician IN the allled
French army. DIR. Franklin was the only
person upon whom this honor had been
previously conferred by the college--more
than twenty-five years before.
You may not be aware that Count de
Rochambeau was the reputed iather OF
Commodore Lewis Warrington, OF the
American navy. Warrington was Dorn at
Williamsburg in 1882, and was a student
at William and Mary before entering the
navy as a midshiplnan in 1900. lie proved
himself. through an honorable career Wnicn
was terminated thirty years ago, gallant
and accomplished officer and gentleman.
Before attaining his lieutenancy, IN 1897,
he was i'm Paris, and the story goes that
Rochambeau, who was then marquis,
made overtures 10 him to be recognized as
his father, with the offer OF liberal proVi-
sion for his wants. This Warrington IN
dignantly rejected, declaring that he would
contemn as long as he lived the author OF
his mothers alleged wong. 1t is said
there was strong personal resemblance
between the two. do not remember ever
10 have seen portrait OF the Marquis.
The first time i ever saw the Commodore
was at the close OF the year 1885, or per-
hans early in 1887. He was then COM
mandant OF the Gosport nayy-yard. Ihe
Delaware IA had Just arrived from three
years cruise in the Mediterranean. she
was commanded by Captain John B. Nicol-
SON. but was the flagship OF Commodore
Daniel n. Patterson, who had his family
with him ON board. They had, while III
the Mediterranean, occasionally visited
places inland, and glowing accounts hao
come back, and had found their way into
newspapers, OF the "splendid times =" the
three Young ladies, his daughters, had
had among the officers OF the Ameri-
can and other squadrons out there. The
oldest Of these daughters died of the
Canes OF Virginia, and her body was
brought into Norfolk. j happened to be