The Elbert County tribune., 1906-02-15

many other members of the Washing
ton family. There is Wakefield, on
the lower Potomac, where Washing
ton was born, where many of his an
cestors are buried, and not far from
it is Epping Forest, the girlhood home
of Mary Ball, his mother. There is
Winchester, where he passed much
time during the French and Indian
war, from where he was elected to
the house of bourgesses. and near
where lived his great and influential
friend, Lord Fairfax. There Is Alex
andrla, where he long voted and wor-
shipped. Then there is Fredericksburg,
which was the real home of his boy
hood. where he attended school.
where he performed some of those
apocryphal feats attributed to him,
such as throwing a silver dollar across
the Rappahannock, etc. where he was
initiated into Masonry. where he took
hnal leave of his mother before as
suming the Office of president at New
York, and where Mrs. Washington.
successfully known in that city and
the country round about as the Rose
of Epping Forest" Belle of Lancas-
ter" "the Roman Matron" and "Old
Madame" died August 25, 1883.
In the minds of the people of this
and the preceding generations lie
civil war memories OF Fredericksburg
overshadow the colonial, revolution
airy and early republican associations
of the old town. 1t was at Fredericks-
burg that Gen. Burnside, in command.
of the Army of the Potomac, crossed
the Rappahannock river in the face
of a destructive fire and sought to
take the heights behind the city,
which had been skillfully fortified and
defended by the army of northern
Virginia.
The world knows the price paid in
blood by the Union Army for this
disastrous attempt. A few miles in
the rear of Fredericksburg are Chan
cellorsville, where Stonewall Jackson
fell. the Wilderness and Spottsylvania
Court House. fields exceeded in glory
and gore only by Gettysburg.
1t was four months before the death
OF Mary Washington that George
washington bade her farewell. The
ing took place still stands at the cor
ner of Charles and Lewis streets. The
house is now owned by the Society
for the Preservation of Virginia An
tiquities, and 1t is furnished much as
it was when Mrs. Washington lived
there. The room in which she died
and her bed are preserved intact.
Washington. after his final meeting
with his mother, proceeded to New
York for his Inauguration. He never
saw her again.
Three days after her death Mrs.
Washington was buried. The grave
was dug in the grounds of her daugh
ter, Betty Washington-Lewis, who
lived on the southwest edge of Fred
ericksburg and about the distance oil
five or six squares from Mrs. Wash
ington's house. The site of the grave
was near a group of rocks jutting out
of hillside and overlooking tran
quill little valley that lies between.
Fredericksburg and Mary's Heights.
one of the bloodiest ridges of the Civil
War. This little group of gray rocks
was a favorite spot with Mrs. Wash
ington. She retired there in fair
rYeather to knit, read her bible and
pray. At those rocks some of the
most fervent prayers for the safety
and success of Washington in war
were sent to heaven. Because of
the association these rocks are now.
and for more than a century have
Z, en-, called Oratory rocks. They are