Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1911-12-22

oy the Civil War broaght com p,e,s
eaange to the national capital, vet In
sp''e OF the breaking and shattering, 40
70 speak, OF the vase Of old southern
civilization, there still remsins sona
perfume from the Polk, Pierce and
buchanan regimes when that section
was aii-infuential at Washington and
when, according to the books of Mrs.
noger "A. Pryor, there was maintained
s'yie aud extravsgance uuspproach-
cd even in these later days of millien-
are occupation OF the United States
Senate.
rms secret of he cid south is elusive
YET The discerning one may now and
'neh catch hint of il behind the close
ura"h shutters of some decayiug, old
Georgian home, in the soft speech OF
some transplanted Richmond woman
or In some eloquent ruin such as NAV
oe found, for instance, in Rladensburg.
Washington has many histories
memorials, but il one would be thor.
oughiy stepped in its past he could not
90 better than pay a visit to Bladens-
burg, now practically a suburb OF
washington. Grass-grown, dusty, de.
cayiny, forgotten, Bladensburg has
slept peacefully in the bright Mary.
land sunshine, decade upon decade.
Yet here the lords Of Baltimore often
appeared In stste, here the great Wash.
ington once danced, and here Lafay-
cite was proud to be entertained. Its
desolation and oblivion is further em /.
phaslzed by the fact that just across
the bridge from it lies Hyattsburg, a
new, clean, prosperous town-the lat.
ter belonging to the future, the former
to the past. Not even those features
boosted by the poorest of modern
townsville drugstore, the ice cream
stand and the rnoving picture show
are to be found in Bladensburg. Yet
touch OF modernity has Just been
given it 10y the extension of Il WASH
lngton street car line to il and the
building of small auto factory in the
woods adjoining.
1t is now practically a hundred years
since the glory of Bladensburg began
to wane AS early as 1900 the place
was known as Garrison's Landing aud
in The centuries following masted ships
I from Liverpool and the Indies came
up its river for tobacco. Then Bladens-
burg was a rival of Alexandra ana
Georgetown, while on the knoll where
now stands our national capital may
have yet remained the Indian capital
1T was to supersede.
| Not for hundred years, however,
has vessel been seen there and its
once sufficient eastern branch of the
Potomac has dwindled TO creek
its bed filled lfrom the washedout to.
bacco fields along its banks.
Bladensburg's fame lies chiefly in
the fact that here was fought the bat
tie which gave the British possession
of the national capital in 1914 aud here
the dashing Decatur was six years
later to fall in due! on ground redden.
ed before and thereafter in affairs Of
honor!
1t has other distinctions as well. A
halt century ago 1t was a famous wa
tering place and the proprietor of one
o. its ancient hotels will today produce
long clippings to show that the i'm
mortal Manhattan cocktail was invent
ed in his hosiery by dlstraughl
southerner there on mission of honor
Later the place became celebrated
racing center and then degeneiated in
to vertiable Sodom, Its name banned
in polite society, Perhaps this may
account for its desertion by 4 large
pa TT of its white people and the taking
over of the town to a large extent by
the negroes, now seemingly the bull
of its population.
In going to Bladensburg by trolley
one should first get off at the duellins
ground, just over the district line
Here in pretty little hollow Comma
dore Stephen Decatur, the "Bayard O
the seas" the idol of the navy, the ia
vorile of Washington society, at thu
very zenilh of his fame and just pas
forty, fell in duel with Commodore
James Barron, March %, 1920.
Passing down the road one comes
next to the bridge where occurred thu
battle with the British. A picturesque
ruined grist-miIl, built long before TIL
battle, still stands in an adjoining fielt
one can still pick up fragments o
bricks from the old tobacco warehous
behind which the American soldier
fought. In front half mile ava,
rises Lowndes hill over which the Brit
ish soldiery came.
This battle, fought ninety-sevei
J ,,oo., opo an inOlOrious defeat TO