Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-12-10

| ing simple paragraph, on Monday morn
| ing, December 18th: 1t Is our painful duty
| first to announce TO our country and TO
! the world the death Of General George
Washington. This mournful event occur
red last Saturday evening about IL
! o'clock On the previous night he was at
| tackled with violent inhammatory af-
! lection in his throat. which in less than
| twenty-four hours put a period to his
! life.
| The New York papers did not get the
news until December 18th. and 1t was
| four days later before the Boston papers
appeared with borders of black One OF
the New York papers published an ex-
| tract from a letter received by sub
scriber from friend in Alexandria, writ
ten Sunday, December 18th, saying:
| This is a day of mourning to US, and
will be so TO the United States when the
cause is known. General Washington Is
no more. He died last night about II
o'clock.
Most of the towns in Vermont, New
Hampshire, and Maine did not learn the
tidngs until after Christmas, and, indeed,
it was well into the new year before all
the inhabitants went into mourning for
Washington.
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT.
On the morning OF December 18th, John
Marshall, then a member from Virginia,
and afterward Chief Justice Of the United
States, announced the death of Washing
ton in Congress. and an adjournment
was Immediately taken. The resolutions
adopted by the House and the Senate a
day or two later were quickly followed
by similar expressions Of sorrow from
every State in the Union and from scores
of military and social organizations. The
members of the Cincinnati Society went
into mourning for six months. the Senate
Chamber in Philadelphia was draped in
black, and Mrs. Adamss presidential
levee was postponed one week. Notices
were then sent out requesting the women
TO attend in white gowns trimmed with
black ribbon and wearing black gloves.
President Adams issued a proclamation
advising all citizens TO wear Grape on the
left arm for thirty days, and setting
apart February %, 1900, as a day when
special services in honor Of Washington
should be held. These instructions were
faithfully carried out, but the people did
not wait for February to show their re-
spect to the memory of Washington.
James McHenryy then Secretary of War,
ordered funeral honors to be paid at all
military stations, and this paved the way
for large number of professions, In
which civilians Joined with the soldiers.
THE BURIAL OF WASHINGTON.
Washington was buried in his tomb at
Mount Vernon with simple and impress
sive services on Wednesday, December
18th.
1t was a solemn day far beyond the con-
fines of Mount Vernon. a resident OF
Alexandria wrote:
We are all to close our houses and act
as we should do If one OF our family had
departed. The bells are TO toll daily I'M
til he is buried.
Between 3 and 4 o'clock in the after
noon a sloOp belonging to Robert Ham,
ilton. Of Alexandria, began firing minute |
guns for its anchorage in the Potomac !
and soon after the funeral procession !
started, led by troop of cavalry. Four |
clergymen, who had been Washington's |
friends, marched behind the military |,
band, and then came the Generals fav- |
orite horse led by two negro grooms The |
bier followed, attended by the pallbear- |
ers and Masonic brethren. The bier was |
made or oak and Is still preserved in the |,
museum at Alexandria An account 1
which was widely copied at the time WAS
published by the Georgetown paper on |
December 10Th, and it thus describes the ,
closing exercises:
When the procession had arrived at the |
bottom Of the elevated lawn on the banks
or the Potomac where the family vault J
Is placed, the cavalry halted, the infantry
marched toward the mount and formed 1
their lines, the clergy the Masonic breth- /
rem and the citizens descended TO the /
vault and the funeral service of the l
Church was performed. The firing was
repeated from the vessel in the river. and
the sounds echoed from the woods ana /
nils around. Three general discharges
by the infantry and the cavalry and the !
eleven pieces Of artillery which lined the
banks OF the Potomac back Of the vault 4
paid the last tribute to the entombed
Commander-in-Chief of the armies OF the
united states and To the venerable de-
parted hero. The sun was now setting.
Alas! the Sun OF Glory was set forever
NO. the name Of Washington. the Ameri-
can President and general. will triumph
oyer eeath; the unclouded brightness OF
his glory will illuminate future aess