Evening star., 1938-05-22
Bv John Clageff Proctor.


District of Columbia, and for this
4 reason there are many people who
do not know that our sister city, a
few miles away, was for more than
half century a part Of the original
10 miles square as provided for by
the acts of Congress of July is. 1870,
and March 3, 1891. Indeed. the in
clusion of Alexandria in the territory
to be taken by the Government was
made possible by the passage of the
latter act, which was passed at the
suggestion of President Washington.
who knew this early Virginia city
from boyhood up, admired its people,
and up to the time of his death,
retained many fond recollections of
his visits there in Colonial Revolu-
tionary, and the more peaceful days
of his presidency. and the few de-
clining years that followed
AS young man Washington trav-
eled extensively over this part of
Virginia and had attended meetings
in Alexandria of a religious, civic and
military nature. No one knew the
climatic and geological conditions of
this part of the country better than
did he, and when he expressed a de-
sire to extend the area to be acquired
for public purposes beyond Maryland
and into the State of Virginia, there
was not the same opposition that
manifested itself in the passage of
the original act
And so, to Alexandria, Washington
was more than visitor or neighbor,
and in many respects he was actually
a felloW-toWnsman
So closely was he tied up with the
place that his recollections could well
have included the village of Belhaven,
founded sometime between 1892 and
l748, and which superseded the earlier
settlement of Hunting Creek Ware
house.
WASHINGTON'S personal contact
with Alexandria began at an early
date. when he made frequent horse
back trips to this busy settlement, then
one of the principal tobacco ports in
the Colonies. and tradition even tells
us that upon one occasion he came
to the town 10 times in one week, each
time on different mount, every one
such an animal as any Southern gen.
tleman would have delighted to ride
Shortly after 1892 a school was found
ed at Belhaven. it being one of the
earliest in this country.
When the new town was laid out
in l749 and the municipal government
of Alexandria organized on July 13
of that year, it assumed jurisdiction
over 66 half-acre lots. two of which
had been set apart for market space.
These lots sold for SIS to $3.50 each
and a quarter century later George
Washington bought two corner lots on
Pitt street, one at the intersection of
Pitt and the other at Cameron street,
and it was on the latter corner that
Washington built his town office.
Washington's activities in this old
Virginia city were manySided. 1t was
from here, IN 1854, that he set out to
cross the wilderness to deliver Gov
DinWiddie's message to the French
commander at Fort Duquesne, and it
was here, in the Market House Square,
that he marched at the head of $50
soldiers on dress parade, when he was
but % years of age. Soon afterWard
these same men turned their faces to-
ward the Ohio River. and after meet
ing the French in battle, capitulated
to them at Fort Necessity, on the date
of the month that was later to be cele-
brated as Americas Independence Day
Soon afterward he met another de-
feat-if we shall believe Parson
Weems It was during one of Alex
andrias early elections when Wash
ington's overzealous partisanship
brought on a fight between him and
a "Wiry little fellow named Payne,
who knocked the subsequent chief
tain to the ground But George was
a sport, and instead of Offering to
fight a duel with swords, suggested
that his antagonist partake with him
glass of wine. And naturally this
ended the bad feeling
Al S WE would say nowadays, the
coming to Alexandria on April
3, 1855, of Braddock's army gave
Washington a break. The army,
which included the 44th and 48th
British Regiments, came here in two
vessels, the frigates Nightingale and
the Sea-Horse, and 16 transports, all
under Commodore Kepel, and, Of
course, Gen. Edward Braddock had
command of the army. The latter
made his headquarters at the Carlyle
mansion, and here he made George
Washington an aide de camp on
his staff. fortunate move for the
young Virginian and an even more
fortunate one for Braddock's army,
for it was due to the ability and
strategy of his celebrated assistant
that anything was saved from the
rout of the British and Americans
in the battle of the Monongahela
July 9, l755.
Here the Virginia troops alone
sprang into the forest and fought the
savages in Indian style. Washing
ton. it is recorded. seemed every
where present. and though an Indian
chief with his braves specially singled
him out, yet the most they could do
was to send four balls through his
clothes and to shoot two horses under
him. Braddock was mortally
wounded.
About ITO this same Indian chief
came "a long way" to see the Vir-
gania officer at whom he fired his
musket Is times without hitting him
during the Monongahela fight, for
Washington was never wounded in
battle.
WAsH1NeToN believed in in ai fair
wv play for every one and nat
uraNy would have believed in fair
play for the people of the District of
Columbia if he were alive today. and
as proof of this we quote resolution
passed by the Alexandrians who met
in July, 1774, at the stone mansion
opposite the courthouse, with WASH
ington presiding, and where they,
among other things, resolved: