Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-10-15

In the trenches of Yorktown a nation was
born. When the fate of the colonies-wearied
and impoverished by long-continued and
almost hopeless struggle against a powerful
people, -trembled in the balance in that event.
full October, 17S1,-had some inspired seer
spread out a panorama of the new century, and
pictured the great republic Of 1884, with its fifty
millions Of people, its splendid cities marking
each advance in the peaceful conquest of a con-
tinent, spreading from ocean to ocean, with
golden harvest fields; towns noisy with the hum
Of workshops and OF busy traffic; harbors filed
with white sailed fleets, bearing the rich pro-
ducts of the land to every quarter of the globe
nation mighty among the people Of the earth,
in Its influences for good, and its possibilities for
evii-the dreams of the most sanguine patriot
would have been more than surpassed. But the
century has rolled by and left Yorktown to
slumber and crumble-unnOticed, unvisited-
known only as an abstraction in history.
AN HISTORIC REGION.
No region in America is more full Of historic
and poetic interest than that which lies about
the mouths Of the York and the James. The
adventures Of the first daring explorers whose
shallOps breasted the tides of the James, the
York and the Potomac the savage royalty of
Powhatan and the lovely princess POcahOntas, the
early chronicles of the cOlOnists for whom the
earth teemed with plenty, would inspire an epic
as grand and tuneful as ever poet sang. The
events Of succeeding years even, if its earlier
poetic history were forgotten, would give to York
town marked distinction in the annals of our
country. In one century three wars have swept
this region, fretted and stormed about this an
clent town and left it now neglected. battle
worn, struggling hamlet, whose wretchedness
seems in strange contrast with the pOmp and
gayety and splendor of the old colonial seaport,
recalled now only by few Wondering ruins. In
rambling about the place, where the last scenes
OF the struggle for independence were enacted,
one cannot help thinking of some ancient walled
town, only instead of solid masonry and chan
neled meats, natures own high ramparts and
deep passes environ the hamlet. Its Importance
as base OF military operations were recognized
In three wars The spot that witnessed the final
scenes In 17S1 eighty years later witnessed the
opening operations Of the great civil war, and
the eminences where CORVALLIS built his re-
doubts were crowned in 1851 with the earth
works of Mcclellan and Magruder.
SCOTCH TON NELSON.
Little York" or Yorktown was founded It's
years ago by Thomas Nelson-sScotch Tom"
as he was known among the gentry for miles
around. His house, built strong with narrow
windows like some old feudal castle still stands
and the memories that cluster about it form a
most interesting chapter in the Evolutionary lore
OF virginia. George Mason, George Washing
ton, Thomas jefferson and the Marquis de La
fayette have slept under the hospitable roof
and CORVALLIS. an unbidden guest, made his
headquarters there during the last days of the
siege that ended so disastrouslY for the British
arms. The name Of Nelson is conspicuous in
Yirgnia's history The descendants Of ''Scotch
Tom became great both in war and council,
and belonged to that company of noble men
who have made Vrginia's name venerated.
Scotch Toms tomb can still be seen in the en-
closed common near the old church on the bluff
at Yorktown, and is pointed out among the
reyered antiquities of the place.
THE OLD CUsToM-HoUsE,
(said to be the first custom-house erected in
America. still stands as sad reminder of de-
parted greatness, for in olden days Yorktown
was the chief seaport town of the Virginia colo
nists until it was reduced in Importance by the
competition OF the growing towns of Baltimore
and Norfolk. Here, at the custom house, the
stately burghers and young beaux of the town
used to assemble and discuss the politics of the
day, circulate the last news from the Old coun-
try-old enough when it reached them-and ex-
change neighborly courtesies. Yorktown was
one OF eight boroughs in which Virginia was
originally divided, and typical old colonial
quarters of a mile back from the line of the old
British redOubts, is Governor Spottswood's
house, an old weatherboarded mansion. At the
time of the siege this house was occupied by
Aunt Moore. and in it's sitting-room the articles
of capitulation were drawn up. Old Governor
Spottswood won his spurs at Blenheim. and
came to Virginia as a cOlOnist. The tradition
that he here erected a temple of worship has
given the plantation the name of the Temple
farm. The foundations of what is said to have
oeen the temple still remain and encircle an old
grave, whose slab bears the name of Major Will
liam Gooch, who died October 80, 1855 Across
York river, beyond Gloucester point, few miles
away, is Roosevelt, a grand old mansion, the
family seat, in good old colonial times. of the
Pages. The broad acres of the Page estate cover
the very ground where
POwHATAN HELD HIS COURT
with savage pageantry, and the huge mounds of
oyster shells testify to the savage appetite and
the savage love for the bivalves. Near at hand
is Powhatan's chimney erected by Capt. John
Smith on the requisition of the forest king.
which remains as an enduring monument to
the wisdom and success Of Capt. Smiths Indian
policy. The stately old Page mansion, which
still stands, though it has suffered greatly at
the hands OF vandals, was built in 1725 by Mann
Page, the grandson of Col. John Page. who
came from England in 1856. 1t was then the
largest mansion in Virginia, and it's size and
elegance are seldom exceeded even in this day
The notifications ofthe late civil strife are still
standing about Yorktown, but the revolutionary
earth-works have almost entirely disappeared
except on Secretary's Hill, where Secretary
Nelson's fine house stood, and where Corvallis
and his staff entrenched themselves until the
house became conspicuous mark for American
anu freHcn CannOneefS, when they sought safer
quarters in Scotch Toms old mansion Before
the revolution as has been stated, Yorktown
was quite an emporium. With the revolution
began the era of decay, and when Virginia be-
came state Yorktown had but 500 inhabitants.
a large majority then, as now, being negroes
Now it is but a fOIl0rn and struggling village.
with barely 800 Inhabitants. The march of time
has been unfelt and unknown, except in the
signs OF increasing age. Primitive customs still
prevail. The grist is brought to the miller in
heavy carts, drawn by bullocks. The tourist
seldom sets foot in that region, and even the
people OF the neighboring towns have hardly
been aware Of the existence of yorktown Now
the town, which seems to have slept for a CEN
tury, has been awakened.
THE CLOSE OF CENTURY
of unprecedented growth and prosperity, has
brought the people to this old place. as to a
shrine, where they will offer Thanksgiving and
erect a monument to the heroes who won the
fruitful victory. The quiet of ages that has
hung about the old town, has been rudely dis
turbed by noisy railroad. and steamboats, are
moOred where the wharves of the Colonial mer-
chants long ago rotted away. The boom of the
revolutionary guns is echoed after hundred
years of sleep and decay to old Yorktown. in
which the very spot where the British lay down
their arms has been forgotten-by patriotic