Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-01-21
CHRISTMAS In VIRGINIA.
Scenes and Incidents in the Old Con-
federate Capital.
Jasper, Who Said de Sun Do Move"-Jeff
Davis House -Washington's Head
Quarters-The James River.
RICHMOND, VA, January II, '92.

5 having come up the James from Norfoll
by steamer, and were driven to Ford:
5 Hotel amidst the din Of footing horns
the ringing of bells, firing of jackson crack
, ers and the shooting of cracker cannon
About everything that would make q
demonium had broken loose for sure, but
) everyb body seemed to be in good humoI
and to enjoy the fun of this occasion
) another Xmas eve. The noise subsidized
by morning, and Christmas was a quiet
!, day, like Sunday. Services were held in
many of the churches, and were attended
by large congregations. The writer at
tended st. Paul's church-the one JEFF
Davis left in hurry after receiving Lees
celebrated dispatch. The church is large
-old-fashiOned in style, but ornate in its
interior finish. In the service (EpiscopaD,
whilst the music was excellent, the read
ings and responses were tedious; the SER
mon was, however, short and pointed
Have spent the entire holidays here in this
quiet old Virginia town, resting up pre-
paratory to penetrating farther into the
Southland. Now first, as to what is to
see, in part, around the city of "Rich-
mond on the James" perhaps | can't do
better than to give some of the graphic
description of some of the places of in
terest given by our colored driver while
taking us around the city, oerbatim. He
started out by informing US -"innocence
abroad" Richmond hab popula-
tion OBJ one hundred thousand, and an,built
on seben hills. Now l takes you round
by st. Paurs church, whar jeff Davis was
asittin' when he received the 'spatch from
Lee, telling him his lines was broke, and
dat Richmond must be 'vacuated;" then
turning into Broad street, he said, "dis
am de Monumental church, built in 1911,
whar the Theater stood what was burnt
down, and burnt everybody up dat was in
it, and de Governor Smith and daughter
too"-(he was little off as to the burning
everybody up; 120 was the number, but
we said nothing)-"De names of all dem
are on dat stone you sees OIL de pOrticO."
He didn't forget to show us the colored
Baptist church, near by, having a mem
bership of 8OOC-think Of Jasper" he
said, "he was babtist, too, de man who
said de sun do move he breaches at an
oder church. Now takes you round to
Jeff Davis house; dar it is, ,whar he lived.
1t is now used as the central public
school," At this point colOred man,
made his appearance at the door and said,
let the gentleman lady come in, and l
killed" We declined with thanks, but
asked with great concern, if he was dead ?
"Oh, yes, sab" said the driver, 81 drives
you round to the window whar his little
son, years old, fell out and got killed,
and is buried in Hollywood cemetery"
(Sure enough, there was the window Il
now drives to old ST. Johns church" In
doing so, we passed over small stream,
on the borders of which, he said, "dar was
de slave market before de wah, whar dey
bought and sold slaves. Now dis am old
st. Johns, whar Patrick Henry made his
great speech, in which he said, Glib me
liberty or glib me death. He had it pat. |
Driving us to high point overlooking |
the river, called Church Hill, where we
could see several miles up and down the
rivera splendid view. Pointing to a
place called Powhatan, away down the
river bottom, he said, "Dar is whar PO
cahontas saved the life of Captain John
Smith. Dar is large stone dar whar
dey laid his head to cut it of, and Poca-
hontas saved him, she did" He was alittle
off here too, in several important partic
ulars. The rescue took place over on
Y York River, six miles, or more away.
Next we were driven to ChemboraZo and
Libby Hill Park, on which Confederate
monument to the soldiers and sailors is
under construction. The view from here
is grand, the finest, perhaps, of any near
the city. Oakwood National Cemetery
can be seen from here.
Coming down from the hill we enter the
city at the lower end of Main street, and
pass the Old Stone House, Washington's
headquarters, crude looking, one-stOry
building, 2O0years old. A little further
up the street, to the left, is the site of the
old Libby Prison. There is an ice manu-
factory now on the site. Tie building
that was used for prison was built by
Mr.. Libby for a tobacco warehouse. He
sold the building to Chicago parties, who
took it down brick by brick, and all
being numbered, so they could be placed
in the same relative position in Chicago.
While in the vicinity of Libby Hill our
driver showed us the residence of a Mrs.
VanlaW, and related an incident of her
life l never heard before He said, in
substance, that during the war she took
great interest in the Union soldiers con-
fined in Libby Prison, and tried in var:
GUS ways to alleviate their sufferings
The Confederates suspected her of being
a spy and put her in the prison, too, for
short time, but being woman, they re-
leased her. While there, he said, she
perforated projected the plan of dig .
ging the tunnel by which 109 prisoners
escaped, but about 60 were recaptured.
Her property was confiscated, but Gener-
al Grant secured her position in some
government department in Washington, I
and she is there yet, quite an old woman. 1
Her property was restored to her, and she
comes to it from time to time. Continu- I
ing up Main street, we were soon driven
to our hotel, and thus ended our first
days drive.
In a couple of days we started out
AGAIN, with the same team, to take i'll the
vest end of the city. He, however, was
not so voluble this time-seemed to be il
a quieter mood, or had to some extent
exhausted his vocabulary and powers OF
expatiation. General Lees residence was
l,,l, al ,t I'm, nd a ~ |