Historical collections of Virginia containing a collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, &c., relating to its history and antiquities, together with geographical and statistical descriptions : to which is appended, an historical and descriptive sketch of the District of Columbia : illustrated by over 100 engravings, giving views of the principal towns, seats of eminent men, public buildings, relics of antiquity, historic localities, natural scenery, etc., etc. |
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ALBEMARLE. |
 | Historical collections of Virginia |  |
ALBEMARLE.
Albemarle was formed, in 1744, from Goochland. Its length,
from SW. to NE., is 35 miles, and its mean width 20 miles. The
northern part is drained by the Rivanna and its branches; the
southern by the Hardware and its branches. The surface is generally
hilly or mountainous, the scenery picturesque, and much of
the soil highly productive in corn and tobacco. Pop. 1830, 22,618;
1840, whites 10,512, slaves 13,809; total 22,924.
Scottsville is on the N. bank of the James River canal, 20 miles
from Charlottesville, and 79 from Richmond. It is the largest and
most flourishing village on the canal, between Richmond and
Lynchburg, and does a heavy business; it contains 1 Presbyterian,
1 Methodist, and 1 Reformed Baptist church, and about 160
houses.
Charlottesville, the county seat, is 121 miles from Washington
City, and 85 northwesterly from Richmond. It is beautifully situated
in a fertile and well-watered valley, on the right bank of the Rivanna
River. It contains many mercantile and mechanical establishments,
The religious societies are Episcopal, Presbyterian, Baptist, and
Methodist. The population is not far from 2000: much of the
society of the town and county is highly refined. Albemarle has
given birth to several eminent men: among whom may be mentioned
Jefferson, the late Gov. Gilmer, Dr. Gilmer, author of
"Sketches and Essays of Public Characters," Meriwether Lewis,
and others.
The University of Virginia is one mile west of Charlottesville,
and although of a deservedly high reputation, it is an institution
of recent origin. The legislature of the state, at the session of
1817-18, adopted measures for establishing the university, which,
however, did not go into operation until 1825. The institution
was erected and endowed by the state; and it owes its origin and
peculiar organization to Mr. Jefferson. It has a fine collection of
buildings, consisting of four parallel ranges about 600 feet in
length, and 200 feet apart, suited to the accommodation of 9 professorships,
and upwards of 200 students; which, together with
the real estate, cost over $300,000. It possesses valuable libraries,
amounting to 16,000 vols., and is amply provided with philosophical
and chemical apparatus, together with a fine cabinet of minerals
and fossils, and an anatomical and miscellaneous museum.
The observatory, a short distance from the university, is furnished
with the requisite astronomical instruments. "The plan of the university
differs materially from that of other institutions in the
Union. The students are not divided into four classes, with a
course of studies embracing four years; but the different branches
are styled schools, and the student is at liberty to attend which he
pleases, and graduate in each when prepared. In order to attain
the title of "Master of Arts of the University of Virginia," the
student must graduate in the several schools of mathematics,
ancient languages, moral philosophy, natural philosophy, chemistry,
and in some two of the modern languages. The chairman of the
faculty is annually chosen from the faculty, by the board of visitors.
This board is appointed by the governor and council every
four years, and chooses its own rector. This institution is, in
every respect, organized and justly regarded as an university of
the first class. The number of students, including the law and
medical departments, is not far from 300."
The British and German prisoners taken at Saratoga, in the
revolution, and known as the "Convention troops," were sent to
Charlottesville in the beginning of the year 1779. On their first
arrival a momentary embarrassment was felt for the want of necessary
accommodations. A British officer by the name of Anbury,
whose travels have been published, was among the prisoners.
On this point he says:
But on our arrival at Charlottesville, no pen can describe the scene of misery and confusion that ensued;
the officers of the first and second brigades were in the town, and our arrival added to their distress;
this famous place we had heard so much of, consisted only of a court-house, one tavern, and
obliged to ride about the country, and entreat the inhabitants to take us in. As to the men, the situation
was truly horrible, after the hard shifts they had experienced in their march from the Potomack; they
were, instead of comfortable barracks, conducted into a wood, where a few log huts were just begun to
be built, the most part not covered over, and all of them full of snow; these the men were obliged to
clear out, and cover over to secure themselves from the inclemency of the weather, as quick as they
could, and in the course of two or three days, rendered them a habitable, but by no means a comfortable
retirement. What added greatly to the distresses of the men, was the want of provisions, as none had
as yet arrived for the troops, and for six days they subsisted on the meal of Indian corn made into cakes.
The person who had the management of every thing, informed us that we were not expected till
spring. Never was a country so destitute of every comfort; provisions were not to be purchased for ten
days: the officers subsisted upon salt pork and Indian corn made into cakes; not a drop of any kind of
spirit, what little there had been, was already consumed by the first and second brigades; many officers,
to comfort themselves, put red pepper into water, to drink by way of cordial.
Upon a representation of our situation, by Brigadier General Hamilton, to Colonel Bland, who commanded
the American troops, he promised to render the situation of the men as comfortable as possible,
and with all expedition. As to the officers, upon signing a parole, they might go to Richmond, and other
adjacent towns, to procure themselves quarters; accordingly, a parole was signed, which allowed a circuit
of near one hundred miles. And after the officers had drawn lots, as three were to remain in the
barracks with the men, or at Charlottesville, the principal part of them set off for Richmond, many of
them are at plantations, twenty or thirty miles from the barracks. I am quartered with Major Master
and four other officers of our regiment, at this plantation, about twenty miles from the barracks; the
owner has given up his house, and gone to reside at his overseer's, and for the use of his house, we pay
him two guineas a week. On the arrival of the troops at Charlottesville, the officers, what with vexation,
and to keep out the cold, drank rather freely of an abominable liquor, called peach brandy, which,
if drunk to excess, the fumes raise an absolute delirium, and in their cups, several were guilty of deeds
that would admit of no apology; the inhabitants must have actually thought us mad, for in the course
of three or four days, there were no less than six or seven duels fought.
The Baroness de Riedesel was also with the convention troops.
This gifted and heroic lady, also says, in her memoirs:
At first they suffered many privations; they were billeted in block houses without windows or doors,
and but poorly defended from the cold. But they went diligently to work to construct better dwellings,
and in a short time the place assumed the appearance of a next little town. In the rear of each house
they had trun gardens, and enclosed places for poultry. Afterwards, when the old provisions were consumed,
they received fresh meat, and flour to make bread; and as this latter was of wheat, they could
even make cakes and pies. They wanted nothing but money, of which the English sent but little; and
as it was difficult to purchase any thing on credit, the soldiers were in many perplexities on that account.
Mr. Jefferson, who then resided in the vicinity, did his utmost to
render the situation of the troops and officers as pleasant as possible.
To the latter, he offered the hospitalities of his mansion,
threw open his library for their inspection, and contributed, by
neighborly intercourse and attention, to render them happy. His
efforts in their behalf called forth the strongest expressions of
gratitude and esteem. These troops remained here until October,
1780, when the state being invaded by Leslie, the public safety demanded
the removal of the British portion of them to Fort Frederick,
in Maryland. The Germans, however, continued longer.
In May, 1781, when Cornwallis invaded Virginia, the legislature
adjourned from Richmond to Charlottesville, as a place of
greater safety. In June, the celebrated partisan officer, Tarleton,
was detached to Charlottesville, with 180 cavalry of his legion,
and 70 mounted infantry, with directions to surprise the General
Assembly, seize the person of Jefferson, then the governor, and to
do other mischief. He was then to join Simcoe, who had been
detached to the Point of Fork, in Fluvanna county. The subjoined
details of this event, are from Tucker's Life of Jefferson:
A gentleman who was in the neighborhood of the British army, and who suspected
Tarleton's object, was able, by means of a fleet horse, and a nearer road, to give two
hours notice of his approach.[1]
As it was, all the members of the Assembly, except
forty miles west of Charlottesville. Tarleton, hearing that there were many gentlemen
of the lower country then at the houses of Dr. Walker, and Mr. John Walker, which
lay near his route, for a moment lost sight of his principal object, and resolved to make
them prisoners. He accordingly divided his force, and sent a part to Mr. John Walker's,
while he himself stopped at the house of Dr. Walker. Several gentlemen were here
made captives.
When Tarleton approached within ten miles of Charlottesville, he detached a party of
horse, under captain M`Leod, to Monticello, to seize Mr. Jefferson. But he had, about
sunrise, received the intelligence of Tarleton's approach. Several members of the legislature,
including the speakers of both houses, were then his guests, and they hastened
to Charlottesville, to adjourn the legislature. Mrs. Jefferson and her three children
hurried off in a carriage to Colonel Edward Carter's, about six miles to the south. Mr.
Jefferson followed afterwards on horseback, and had not left his house ten minutes before
the British entered it. His property, books, and papers, were all respected, with the
exception of the waste which was committed in his cellars, by a few of the men, without
the knowledge of the commanding officer. Tarleton entered Charlottesville on the
4th of June, four days after Mr Jefferson's term of office expired. He, on the next day,
rejoined Lord Cornwallis, who had established his head-quarters at Elk Hill, a plantation
near the Point of Fork, belonging to Mr. Jefferson. Here every sort of wanton
mischief was perpetrated. Besides making a free use of the cattle, and carrying off all
the horses fit for service, as was to be expected, the throats of the young horses were
cut, the growing crops of corn and tobacco were destroyed; those of the preceding year,
together with the barns which contained them, and all the fences on the plantation were
burnt. Other plantations shared a similar fate, though not to the same extent. Thirty
thousand slaves were taken from Virginia by the British in these invasions, of whom
twenty-seven thousand were computed to have died of the small-pox, or camp fever.
The whole amount of property carried off, and destroyed, during the six months preceding
Cornwallis's surrender, has been estimated at £3,000,000 sterling.
Monticello,[2]
the seat of Thomas Jefferson, is three miles southeast
of Charlottesville. The annexed glowing description, is from
Wirt's Eulogy upon Adams and Jefferson:
The Mansion House, at Monticello, was built and furnished in the days of his prosperity. In its dimensions,
its architecture, its arrangements and ornaments, it is such a one as became the character and
fortune of the man. It stands upon an elliptic plain, formed by cutting down the apex of a mountain;
and, to the west, stretching away to the north and the south, it commands a view of the Blue Ridge for
a hundred and fifty miles, and brings under the eye one of the boldest and most beautiful horizons in the
world: while on the east, it presents an extent of prospect bounded only by the spherical form of the
earth, in which nature seems to sleep in eternal repose, as if to form one of her finest contrasts with the
rude and rolling grandeur of the west. In the wide prospect, and scattered to the north and south, are
several detached mountains, which contribute to animate and diversify this enchanting landscape; and
among them, to the south Willis's mountain, which is so interestingly depicted in his Notes. From this
summit, the philosopher was wont to enjoy that spectacle, among the sunest of Nature's operations,
the looming of the distant mountains; and to watch the motions of the planets, and the greater revolution
of the celestial sphere. From this summit, too, the patriot could look down with uninterrupted vision,
upon the wide expanse of the world around, for which he considered himself born; and upward to
the open and vaulted heavens, which he seemed to approach, as if to keep him continually in mind of
his high responsibility. It is indeed a prospect in which you see and feel, at once, that nothing mean or
little could live. It is a scene fit to nourish those great and high-souled principles which formed the elements
of his character, and was a most noble and appropriate post for such a sentinel, over the rights
and liberties of men.
Approaching the house on the east, the visiter instinctively paused to cast around one thrilling glance
at this magnificent panorama: and then passed to the vestibule, where, if he had not been previously
spacious and lofty hall which opens before him, he marks no tawdry and unmeaning ornaments: but before,
on the right, on the left, all around, the eye is struck and gratified by objects of science and taste,
so classed and arranged, as to produce their finest effect. On the side, specimens of sculpture set out in
such order as to exhibit, at a coup the historical progress of that art, from the first rude attempts
of the aborigines of our country; up to that exquisite and finished bust of the great patriot himself, from
the master hand of Carrai. On the other side the visiter sees displayed a vast collection of specimens
of the Indian art, their paintings, weapons, ornaments, and manufactures; on another an array of the
fossil productions of our country, mineral and animal; the polished remains of those colossal monsters
that once trod our forests, and are no more; and a variegated display of the branching honors of those
"monarchs of the waste," that still people the wilds of the American continent.
![illustration](https://iiif.lib.virginia.edu/iiif/uva-lib:427166/full/!1600,1600/0/default.jpg")
Monticello, the seat of Thomas Jefferson.
From this hall he was ushered into a noble saloon, from which the glorious landscape of the west
again bursts upon his view; and which, within, is hung thick around with the finest productions of the
pencil—historical paintings of the most striking subjects, from all countries and all ages; the portraits
of distinguished men and patriots, both of Europe and America, and and engravings in endless
profusion.
While the visiter was yet lost in the contemplation of these treasures of the arts and sciences, he was
startled by the approach of a strong and sprightly step, and turning with instinctive reverence to the door
of entrance, he was met by the tall, and antd and stately igure of the patriot himself—his countenance
beaming with intelligence and nigts and his outstretched hand, with its strong and cordial
pressure confirming the courteous welcome of his 1 ps. And then came the charm of manner and conversation
that passes all description—so cheerful—so unassuming—so free, and easy, and frank, and
kind, and gay,—that even the young and overd and embarrassed visiter forgets his fears, and felt
himself by the side of an old and familiar friend.
The subjoined memoir of the author of the Declaration of American Independence
is abridged principally from the American Portrait Gallery.
![illustration](https://iiif.lib.virginia.edu/iiif/uva-lib:427167/full/!1600,1600/0/default.jpg")
Fac-simile of Thomas Jefferson's Signature
Thomas Jefferson was born
at Shadwell, in this county,
April 2d, 1713. His ancestors
were among the early settlers
of Virginia, and his father,
Peter Jefferson, was an influential
public man, who, at
his death, left his son an ample
fortune. Jefferson passed
through his collegiate course
at William and Mary, with distinction, and became a student of law under the celebrated
George Wythe. When of age, he was admitted to the bar, and was soon elected a
representive from Albemarle to the legislature. From youth his mind was imbued with
the most liberal political sentiments. On one of his seals, about this time, was engraved
the motto, "Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God." These feelings strengthened
with the position of public affairs.
In 1772 he married Miss Wayles, an label and accomplished lady. She died in
about ten years, leaving two infant daughters. In 1773, Jefferson devised and arranged
of correspondence in the different provinces. Its adoption was strikingly beneficial.
As the crisis of public affairs approached, not content with his constant labors as a
member of the legislature, he wrote and published "A Summary View of the Rights of
British America." For this publication Lord Dunmore threatened to prosecute him on
a charge of high treason, and dissolved the legislature who had sustained the same
doctrines. When the conciliatory propositions of the British ministry were sent out in
the following year, the committee of the legislature presented a reply from the pen of
Jefferson, which has ever been considered a state paper of the highest order. In June,
1775, he took his seat as a delegate to the General Congress. In the succeeding summer,
Jefferson was chairman of the committee, and drew up the Declaration of Independence,
which, after a few alterations, was adopted by Congress, July 4th, 1776.
In the autumn of this year, he was appointed one of the commissioners to the court of
France; but ill-health, and considerations of a public nature, prevented his acceptance.
He shortly after resigned his seat in Congress, and being elected to the first legislature
under the new constitution of Virginia, he introduced, and, with the aid of able coadjutors,
carried through important laws, founded on just and great principles of the social
compact. The first of these was a bill preventing the importation of slaves; this he
followed up by destroying entails and abolishing the rights of primogeniture, the overthrow
of the church establishment, which had been introduced in imitation of that of
England. Besides these, he reduced to a system the various irregular enactments of
the colonial government and mother country. It was a most severe labor. It consisted
of 126 bills, comprising and remodelling the whole statutory law; and though not all
enacted as he contemplated, they have formed the admirable basis of the jurisprudence
of Virginia.
In June, 1779, he was elected governor of Virginia, and re-elected the next year.
It was a season of imminent peril; the state was invaded by Tarleton and Arnold, and
he himself made the object of particular pursuit. At the expiration of his term, the
legislature passed a unanimous resolution expressive of their high opinion of his ability
and integrity. In June, 1783, he was again elected to Congress, and there prepared the
beautiful address, made by Congress to Washington, on taking leave of public life. He
was, also, the chairman of a committee appointed to form a plan for temporary government
in the vast and then unsettled western territory. He introduced a clause forbidding
the existence of slavery in it after the year 1800. In the summer of 1781, he
was sent as a minister plenipotentiary to France. He remained in Europe until Nov.,
1789, during which time he visited England, and, in concert with Mr. Adams, ineffectually
endeavored to effect a commercial treaty with Britain. While in France, he was
engaged in many diplomatic negotiations of considerable importance to his country.
Among men of letters, and high political distinction, he was received with marked kindness,
and he graced the most brilliant social circles of Paris. When he returned to the
United States, he occupied the office of secretary of state under Washington, instead
of resuming, as he had intended, the post of minister to France. Of the great mass of
the constitution, which had been formed during his absence, he approved, though there
were points in it, in which he thought there was no adequate security for political rights.
In its practical interpretations, he adopted the more popular view; and he became the
head of the party which sustained it. While in the department of state, he laid down
the great, and ever since approved, maxims relative to our foreign intercourse. Among
other negotiations, he became especially engaged in one with the ministers from the
French republic, which seriously involved the political rights of the United States as a
neutral nation, and led to the adoption of that policy of preserving peace, commerce,
and friendship with all nations, but entering into entangling alliances with none. His
report on an uniform system of currency, weights, and measures, was one of those
measures of domestic policy appropriate to his office, and is said to have abounded with
the most enlightened views. He also presented to Congress a valuable memoir on the
subject of the cod and whale fisheries. His last act as secretary of state, was a report on
the nature and extent of the privileges and restrictions of the commercial intercourse
of the United States with other countries, and on the best means of counteracting them.
It attracted much attention, and was a document of great ability. It was the foundation
of a series of resolutions proposed by Mr. Madison, sanctioning the views it embraced,
and it became, in fact, the ostensible subject on which the federal and republican
parties distinctly arrayed themselves against each other.
In Dec., 1793, Jefferson resigned his office and retired to Monticello. The Duke de
Liancourt, a French traveller, has given in his work a pleasing narrative of the manner
in which the life of the retired statesman was passed. "His conversation," he says,
other man. In Europe he would hold a distinguished rank among men of letters, and
as such he has already appeared there. At present, he is employed with activity and
perseverance in the management of his farms and buildings; and he orders, directs, and
pursues, in the minutest detail, every branch of business relating to them. I found him
in the midst of harvest, from which the scorching heat of the sun does not prevent his
attendance. His negroes are nourished, clothed, and treated as well as white servants
could be. Every article is made on his farm; his negroes being cabinet-makers, carpenters,
and masons. The children he employs in a nail factory; and the young and
old negresses spin for the clothing of the rest. He animates them all by rewards and
distinctions. In fine, his superior mind directs the management of his domestic concerns
with the same abilities, activity, and regularity, which he evinced in the conduct
of public affairs, and which he is calculated to display in every situation of life." It
was at this period of retirement that he was unanimously elected president of the
American Philosophical Society.
Jefferson was not, however, long permitted to enjoy the tranquillity of private life.
On the retirement of Washington from the presidency, Mr. Jefferson was selected by the
democratic party as their candidate for that office, and Mr. Adams by the federal party.
The highest number of votes appearing for the latter, he was declared president and
Jefferson vice-president. For the succeeding four years most of his time was passed
tranquilly at Monticello. When the period for another election arrived he was again
a candidate for the presidential chair. On canvassing the votes of the electors, it was
found that Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Burr had each seventy-three votes, Mr. Adams sixty-five,
and C. C. Pinckney sixty-four. As the constitution provided that the person
having the greatest number of votes should be president, and Mr. Jefferson and Mr.
Burr, having an equal number, it became the duty of the House of Representatives, voting
by states, to decide between these two gentlemen. The ballot was taken several days
in succession. The federal party, generally, supported Mr. Burr; the democratic party
Mr. Jefferson. On the thirty-sixth ballot Mr. Jefferson was elected president, and Mr.
Burr vice-president.
On the 4th of March, 1801, Mr. Jefferson entered on his first presidential term. In
his inaugural address, he stated, with great eloquence of language and admirable
clearness and precision, the political principles by which he intended to be governed in
the administration of public affairs.
His administration embraces a long and interesting period in the history of our country,
and measures of lasting importance were carried through. The aggressions of the
Tripolitans were promptly chastised; the encroachments of the agents of the Spanish
government to deprive us of the right of navigating the Mississippi, were repelled;
Louisiana was purchased; the internal policy of the Union underwent important
changes; measures were adopted for the speedy discharge of the public debt; the judiciary
was restored to the original plan; strict economy was observed in carrying on the
government, and useless offices suppressed.
So much was his administration approved, that when his term of service expired, he
was again elected by a very large majority. He had scarcely entered on his office when
the conspiracy of Burr was discovered. The foreign relations of the Union, however,
assumed an importance exceeding all domestic affairs. The aggressions of Great Britain
and France upon our commerce left no honorable course but that of retaliation. On
the 22d of December, 1807, the Embargo Act was passed, on the recommendation of
Mr. Jefferson. In January, 1809, overtures were made by the British government indicative
of a disposition to recede from the ground they had assumed; and these were
preceded by a repeal of their most objectionable measures. In this situation were the
foreign relations of the United States when Mr. Jefferson's second term of office expired,
on the 3d of March, 1809, and his political career closed.
He had been engaged, almost without interruption, for forty years, in the most arduous
public duties. From this time, until his death, he resided at Monticello. His home
was the abode of hospitality, and the seat of dignified retirement; he forgot the busy
times of his political existence, in the calm and congenial pleasures of science, and his
mind, clear and penetrating, wandered with fresh activity and delight through all the
regions of thought. Among the plans for the public welfare in which he was engaged,
the establishment of the University of Virginia was with him a favorite scheme. The
legislature approved of his plan, and appointed him rector. Until the time of his death,
his most cherished hopes and endeavors were for its success.
Mr. Jefferson died July 4th, 1826, at the age of 83 years. His family and servants
were called around his dying bed. After declaring himself gratified by their affectionate
and my child to my country," he expired without a groan.
The neighborhood of Monticello affords innumerable monuments of the benevolence
and liberality of Mr. Jefferson; and on his own estate, such was the condition of his
slaves, that in their comfort, his own interest was too often entirely forgotten. His attachment
to his friends was unvarying, and few public men have had warmer. His domestic
habits were simple, his application was excessive, and he conducted all his business
with great exactness and method. His correspondence was wonderfully extensive.
In person, Mr. Jefferson was six feet two inches in height, erect and well formed,
though thin; his eyes were light, and full of intelligence; his hair, originally of a yellowish
red, was in his latter years silvered with age; his complexion was fair, his forehead
broad, and the whole face square and expressive of deep thinking; his countenance
was remarkably intelligent, and open as day, its general expression full of good will and
kindness, and when the occasion excited it, beaming with enthusiasm; his address was
cordial, confirming the good will of his lips; his motions were flexible and easy, his step
firm and sprightly; and such were his strength and agility, that he was accustomed in
the society of children, of which he was fond, to practise feats that few could imitate.
His manner was simple, mingled with native dignity, but cheerful, unassuming, frank,
and kind; his language was remarkable for vivacity and correctness; and in his conversation,
which was without apparent effort, he poured forth knowledge, the most various,
from an exhaustless fountain, yet so modestly and engagingly that he seemed
rather to seek than to impart information.
He lies buried in a small burying, near the road, which winds around it to Monticello.
It has a slight enclosure, and is surrounded by the native wood. In it lie the
remains of members of the family, some two or three of whom have tablets of marble.
On his own grave, his executor has erected a granite obelisk, eight feet high, and on a
piece of marble, inserted on its southern face, are inscribed the three acts for which he
thought he best deserved to be remembered by posterity. This inscription was found
among his papers after his death, in his own handwriting, and it is in these words:
HERE LIES BURIED
THOMAS JEFFERSON,
Author of the Declaration of American Independence,
Of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom,
And Father of the University of Virginia.
"Mr. Jefferson's religious creed," says Tucker, "as described in his correspondence,
cannot perhaps be classed with that of any particular sect, but was nearer the Socinian
than any other. In the last years of his life, when questioned by any friends on this
subject, he used to say he was a Unitarian."
Meriwether Lewis, the son of a wealthy farmer, was born near Charlottesville, in
1774. At 18 years of age, he relinquished his academic studies and engaged in agriculture.
Two years after, he acted as a volunteer, to suppress the whiskey insurrection,
from which situation he was removed to the regular service. From about 1801 to 1803,
he was the private secretary of Mr. Jefferson, when he, with Wm. Clarke, went in their
celebrated exploring expedition to the Rocky Mountains. Mr. Jefferson, in recommending
him to this duty, gave him a high character, as possessing courage, inflexible perseverance,
intimate knowledge of the Indian character, fidelity, intelligence, and all those
peculiar combinations of qualities that eminently fitted him for so arduous an undertaking.
They were absent three years, and were highly successful in the accomplishment
of their duties. When, shortly after his return, in 1806, he was appointed governor of
the territory of Louisiana, and finding it the seat of internal dissensions, he by his moderation,
firmness, and impartiality, brought matters into a systematic train. He was subject
to constitutional hypochondria, and while under the influence of a severe attack shot
himself on the borders of Tennessee, in 1809, at the age of 35. This event was ascribed
to the protest of some bills, which he drew on the public account. The account of his
expedition, which he wrote, was published in 1814. The mother of Mr. Lewis died in
this county, only a few years since. She possessed very strong powers of mind.
William Wirt, the distinguished author of the British Spy, who was born at Bladensburg,
for a time resided in this county. In 1792, when 20 years of age, he commenced
the practice of law at Fairfax, in the neighboring county of Culpeper.
"In 1795, he married the eldest daughter of Dr. George Gilmer, a distinguished physician,
and took up his residence at Pen Park, the seat of his father-in-law, near Charlottesville;
and here he was introduced to the acquaintance of Jefferson, Madison,
Monroe, and other persons of celebrity.
"In 1799 his wife died, and he was soon after elected clerk of the House of Delegates.
Having performed the duties of his office two years, he was in 1802 appointed chancellor of
the Eastern District of Virginia, and then took up his residence at Williamsburg; and the
same year he married the daughter of Col. Gamble, of Richmond. He soon after resigned
his chancellorship, and at the close of the year 1803 removed to Norfolk, and entered
upon the assiduous practice of his profession. Just before he removed to Norfolk, he
wrote the letters published in the Richmond Argus, under the title of `the British Spy,'
which were afterwards collected in a small volume, and have passed through many
editions. In 1806 he took up his residence in Richmond, and in the following year he
greatly distinguished himself in the trial of Col. Burr. In 1812 he wrote the greater
part of a series of essays, which were originally published in the Richmond Enquirer,
under the title of `The Old Bachelor,' and have since, in a collected form, passed through
several editions. The `Life of Patrick Henry,' his largest literary production, was first
published in 1817. In 1816 he was appointed, by Mr. Madison, the U. S. Attorney for
Virginia; and in 1817, by Mr. Monroe, attorney-general of the United States, a post
which he occupied with distinguished reputation until 1829, through the entire administrations
of Monroe and Adams. In 1830, he took up his residence in Baltimore for the
remainder of his life. He died Feb. 18th, 1834, at Washington City, in his 62d year.
As a public and professional man, Mr. Wirt ranked among the first of his time; and in
all the relations of private life, as a man and a Christian, he was most exemplary, and
was regarded with singular affection and veneration."
Another incident contributed to defeat Colonel Tarleton's purpose. The following
facts are stated on the authority of a gentleman who received them from Dr. Walker
himself. On Tarleton's arrival at his house, he had ordered breakfast to be prepared
for the colonel and the officers; but the operations of the cook appearing to be unusually
tardy, and his guest manifesting great impatience, he went to the kitchen himself to
inquire the cause of the delay; and was there told by the cook that he was then engaged
in preparing the third breakfast, the two first having been taken from him by some of
Colonel Tarleton's men; on which the doctor told his guest, that if he wished for breakfast,
he must place a guard of soldiers to protect the cook, which was accordingly done.
The time that was thus lost, it appeared, on comparing notes afterwards, saved the delegates
from capture.
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