The History of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia

by S. J. Quinn

Prior to the Civil war there also lived in Fredericksburg Mr. John Eubank, who was a soldier under the Duke of Wellington at the battle of Waterloo and who stood guard over Napoleon on the Island of St. Helena. Notwithstanding the many years that had passed from their parting at Waterloo to their meeting again in Fredericksburg, Mr. Frieze and Mr. Eubank had not forgotten the sword and the spear and had not forgotten to dislike each other.

It was amusing to the bystanders to see these old soldiers meet on the streets, as they would invariably shake their fists at each other and grind their teeth and pass on without uttering a word.

Many of the citizens of the town still remember the willow baskets, of variegated colors, which Mr. Frieze made and peddled about town for a livelihood, as long as he was able to appear on the streets. Mr. Eubank moved to Charlottesville, where he died and was buried in that city.

A GRAND-NIECE OF WASHINGTON AND NAPOLEON.

The defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo sent into exile, among others, his grand-nephew, Prince Charles Louis Napoleon Achille Murat, a colonel in the defeated army, son of the exiled King of Naples and Charlotte Bonaparte. He settled in Tallahassee, Florida. Soon Col. Byrd C. Willis, of Willis Hill, moved to the same city, carrying with him his wife, Mary, daughter of Col. Fielding Lewis and Bettie Washington, and also his daughter, Catherine, who married a Mr. Grey and was left a widow at sixteen. She was beautiful, accomplished, winsome and a leader in society. She attracted the attention of the young prince, who laid siege to her affections and was victorious. The marriage soon followed. By this union Catherine, who was a grand-niece of Gen. Washington, became also a grand-niece of the great soldier, Napoleon Bonaparte. She was born where the National cemetery now stands and died in Florida August 6, 1867, in the 64th year of her age.

WELLFORD—HERNDON—WILLIS.

In the City cemetery lie the remains of Doctor Francis Preston Wellford. Dr. Wellford was a native of Fredericksburg, where he was held in the highest esteem by all who knew him for his gentle and kind disposition, his upright life, his abounding charity and his deep piety. In 1871 he left his native town and settled in Jacksonville, Florida, where he commenced the practice of medicine and established a high reputation as a skillful physician. His brethren of the profession were not slow in recognizing his ability and great worth, and made him president of the Medical Association of the State. He was holding that honorable position when the yellow fever scourge visited Fernandina, in 1877, which almost depopulated the town. For weeks it raged in the doomed city, and all of the physicians were either down with the disease or had become worn out with serving day and night. A call was made for assistance and volunteer physicians. Dr. Wellford, forgetting self, not fearing his personal danger, responded to the call and went to the sick and dying of the panic-stricken Fernandina. It was while ministering to those people he was stricken down and died of the disease. Thus went down to his grave, amidst the tears of thousands of people, the noble physician and Christian gentleman, who sacrificed his life for the good of others. Dr. Wellford’s remains, some years after his death, were brought to Fredericksburg for final interment, and now repose in our beautiful cemetery.

In response to the call for physicians made by the people of Fernandina, another physician, born and raised in Fredericksburg, Dr. James C. Herndon, made his way to that city, and like Dr. Wellford, was stricken down and died from the disease. It is peculiarly appropriate that his sacrifice to professional duty should be acknowledged in connection with that of his brother physician’s.

To the honor of these noble men a memorial window has been placed in St. Peter’s Episcopal church in Fernandina by Dr. J. H. Upham, of Boston, who felt that they had honored the profession by the sacrifices they made, and he wanted their heroism to be placed upon a lasting record. In describing the window the Fernandina Mirror says: