LEEDS OR BRAY'S CHURCH.
This church stood on the Rappahannock, at the outskirts of the
place called Leeds. It was of brick. The ruins of it are yet to
be seen, apparently hanging on the bank of the river. It has
undergone many changes of late years since it was deserted as a
house of worship, having been used as a tavern, stable or barn, and
been altered so as to suit the different purposes to which it has been
applied. Leeds was once a place of note in this part of Virginia.
It was doubtless named, either by the Fairfaxes or Washingtons,
after the town of Leeds, in Yorkshire, near which both of their
ancestral families lived. This in Virginia was a place of much
trade in tobacco and other things. Its shipping was very considerable
at one time, and it gave the promise of being a town of no
small importance, but, like many other such places in Virginia, as
Dumfries, Colchester, Warren, Warminster, it failed to fulfil the
expectations excited. For one thing it deserves to retain a lasting
place in the history of the American Revolution. As Boston was
the Northern, so Leeds may be called the Southern cradle of American
Independence. This was the place where, with Richard
Henry Lee as their leader, the patriots of Westmoreland met,
before any and all others, to enter their protest against the incipient
steps of English usurpation. At this place did they resolve
to oppose the Stamp Act, nor allow any citizen of Westmoreland
to deal in stamps. This is a true part of the American history.
