“I give to my good, affectionate, and faithful servant, Burwell, his freedom and the sum of three hundred dollars to buy the necessaries to commence his trade of painter and glazier, or to use otherwise as he pleases. I give also to my good servants, John Hemings and Joe Fosset, their freedom at the end of one year after my death, and to each of them respectively, all of the tools of their respective shops or callings, and it is my will that a comfortable log house be built for each of the three servants so emancipated, on some part of my lands convenient to them with respect to the residence of their wives, and to Charlottesville and the University, where they will mostly be employed.—I give the use of an acre of land to each during his life.—I humbly and earnestly request of the legislature of Virginia a confirmation of the bequest of freedom to these servants with permission to remain in this State where their families and connections are, as an additional instance of favor, of which I have received so many manifestations in the course of my life, and for which I now give them my last solemn and dutiful thanks.” (Two boys were to receive their freedom upon coming of age.)
COURT HOUSE VOTING
Until towards the middle of the 1800’s this court house was the sole voting place in Albemarle County. Elections were held on court days. Only “Freeholders”—white, adult males owning at least twenty-five acres of land with a building on it—had the franchise. The secret ballot was unknown. Candidates were required to be present throughout the election, and by popular custom they were expected to furnish a “treat” for their followers. These supplies of food, and especially of drink, became an expense which friends sometimes had to share. Rum punch was the usual drink, although cider was also offered.
The procedure was as follows: the voting was by voice. A long table was placed in the court room. At the center of this sat the High Sheriff; on either side of him were a few of the county Justices; then at the two extreme ends were the respective candidates, each with a clerk who recorded his party’s votes. The room was open to the crowd. Singly, each voter advanced before the bench. If unchallenged, the Sheriff asked his choice and the man named his candidate. The candidate then usually rose, bowed, and expressed his thanks: “I thank you, Sir”; “You honor me, Sir.” The crowd at the same time expressed its feelings in cheers or sharp retorts. (See The Freeholder, Charles S. Sydnor, Chapel Hill Press.)
It is interesting to know that Jefferson and Monroe both voted in such elections many times. This method continued until after the death of both men.
On one occasion, April 1810, Mr. Jefferson came down hurriedly from Monticello and lobbied on this green for Monroe, who at that time was undergoing a brief decline in popular favor. The contest was for the State Assembly. The local party had gone so far as to decide to nominate another man; Mr. Jefferson’s intervention, however, nipped this in the bud; the proposed candidate withdrew at Jefferson’s solicitation; Monroe was substituted and elected.
JOHN S. MOSBY.
Coming momentarily down to the War-Between-the-States era, Virginia’s famous cavalry officer, Col. John S. Mosby, is doubly connected with this building. Mosby came to Albemarle as a small boy, grew up near town, and attended the University. While a student, he—in an altercation—shot and seriously wounded a man. He was tried in this building and sentenced to a year in prison; but he was pardoned after serving seven months.
During the war, as “Ranger Mosby,” he had a brilliant guerrilla career. In March, 1865, about a month before the surrender, he happened to be in Charlottesville at the time of Sheridan’s raid through the town. He was warned that Sheridan would enter from the West. He obtained civilian dress. Believing he had time, he entered a Main Street shop. However, the Union troops had spread out and a small company was entering from the North, down Park Street, at that very time. A running colored boy warned Mosby of his danger; hearing the words ‘Park Street,’ he supposed he was to escape in that direction. Rushing for his horse, he entered Fifth Street on the dead run. Reaching Jefferson Street he found the company was already at the court house and disbanding. Dashing through unrecognized he cleared High Street at one jump, ‘with mud splashing to Heaven,’ and escaped down Park Street after all.
