The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1899-03-11

Will Alm OUT Leuuer nand, gHlded INC
childhood and nodded the character OF
the greatest Of our countrymen; and
of the civil war contest, where men of
equally indomitable courage, with
equally strong convictions of the sa-
credness OF their cause, met in one of
the most bloody battles of modern
days. It is said that within a radius
of twelve square miles around Fred
ericksburg more battles have been
fought than in any other spot of the
size in the whole world Yet on a
bright spring day, when the gardens
are. abloom and the air is musical with
bird notes it is hard to realize that
peace has not always been the portion
OF this quiet, quaint town.
Mary Washington had many homes.
The beautiful country house Of the
Balls was her birthplace, and tradition
still connects her name with the man
sion of her girlhood's title of 1'the Rose
of Epping Forest" The Balls and
Washingtons had both fed to America
from England after the death of Char
les l., but singularly enough it was in
the mother country that Augustine
Washington and Mary Ball, both Vir-
glnia born, met and were married. On
their, return they lived for time in
Wakefield, noble house long since
burned, where their children were born.
After the death Of Augustine Wash
ington his wife moved with her five
children to Ferry farm, small house
still standing upon the heights above
magnificent view Of river, hills and
town. The mother was a strict dis
ciplinarian, requiring absolute obedi-
ence from her children, and, as is we'll
known, her great son, who adored her,
said in after years: can that I am I
owe to my mother"
When the revolution broke out Mrs.
Washington was induced to move into
the town. Her quaint little house
stands on the corner of Charles and
Lewis streets, with hospitable porch,
two large low rooms on either side of
the hall, and gay little garden at the
back, where the sun shines today on
the same kinds of old fashioned flow-
ers which Mary Washington tended.
Her life in Fredericksburg was quiet
and simple, but it's impress still re-
mains. Daily she drove in her little
two-wheeled chaise across the river to
her farm, which she continued to su-
perintend for many years. Her kind
ness and charity to the poor were
boundless. To the last she preserved
her independence of character. Her
daughter. Mrs. Lewis, begged her to
move to her house, that she might
watch more closely over her mothers s
declining years, but she said: "My
wants are few in this life, and I feel
perfectly competent to take care of
myself"
A street and some houses now divide
her little garden from the grounds of
Kenmore, the house which Col. Field
ing Lewis built for his bride, "that ma
jestic woman" Betty Washington, in
1749. It is a noble mansion of yellow
brick, with handsome logia on one
side and four great chimneys. Beau
tiful old trees shade the lawn. and the
two long rows of daffodils make such
an artistic color effect that we are fain
to cry with the old poet:
Fair daffodils, we weep to see
You fade away so soon.''
The Washingtons, the Lewises the
Gordons and many others of their kind
have lived and died, been happy and
sorrowed within it's rooms. It is said
that the very intricate design over the
mantel in the banquet hall was made
by Washington himself, an illustration
of some Aesop's fables.
The visitor to Fredericksburg is
shown two rooms in different houses
where Mary Washington died. The
very corner of the room, in her own
house, is pointed out where her bed
stood at the time of her death; while
at Kenmore one is told that at last,
yielding to the entreaties of Mrs. Lewis,
the old lady moved to the little front
room on the second floor of her daugh-
ter's house for the closing weeks of her
life and here breathed her last.
The Fredericksburg hills rise steep
ly from the river on either side and
are crowned by large and attractive
houses. At Chatham, the Lee family
kept open house in the old days. In
1862 Burnside made it his headquarters
and from this elevated position he
could look across to Lees strongly in
trenched lines on Maryes Heights. For
weeks the two armies glowered at each
other over the poor little town and the
rushing river. Small wonder that the
negroes declare today that on any
bright night troop of headless caval-
ry may be seen galloping around the
old house. If grim specters are ever
allowed to haunt the scenes of their
earthly sufferings and death surely
the battlefelds of Fredericksburg could
furnish many such a ghostly caval-
cade. s-.-:s
For miles the lines of the two forces
extended and shot and shell passed
over the devoted town. But Lee could
not be persuaded to shell Chatham. and
to this sentiment many northern Off
GERS probably owed their lives.
The village of Falmouth. which
climbs up the cliffs almost to the gates
Of Chatham, is >singularly picturesque.
The houses are very old and have the