The History of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia

by S. J. Quinn

Gen. McDowell’s Forces Arrive.

On the 19th of April, 1862, the town first fell into the hands of the Federal Army. On that day a meeting of the Common Council was held, and a committee, consisting of Mayor Slaughter, Wm. A. Little, Esq., Thomas B. Barton, Esq., Dr. J. Gordon Wallace, Rev. William F. Broaddus, D. D., and Gov. John L. Marye, Jr., three members on the part of the Common Council and three representing the citizens, was appointed to confer with the commanding officer of the United States forces, relative to the surrender of the town. They were instructed to inform him that inasmuch as the forces of the Confederate States had evacuated the town no resistance would be made to its occupation by the United States troops, and to ask such protection for persons and property as was consistent with the rules of civilized warfare. They were also instructed to inform the Commanding General “that the population of this town have been in the past, and are now, in conviction and sentiment, loyal to the existing government of the State of Virginia and Confederate States.” This was an honest and frank statement, made by the Common Council of the threatened town to the Commanding General of the invading army, and there can be no doubt that this honest acknowledgment won the friendship and respect of the commandant of the post and saved much property from destruction and many of the inhabitants from indignities on the part of the garrison.

The United States forces took possession of the Stafford hills, which commanded the town, on the 19th day of April. The destruction of the bridges connecting the town with the Stafford shore delayed the actual presence of the troops in town for several days, and it was not until the morning of the 27th that General Marsena R. Patrick established his headquarters and took provost command of the town. Unlike many of the subordinate commanders Gen. Patrick was considered a generous man and a kind, humane officer, and many of the citizens who were at their homes, while he was here in command, unite in bearing testimony, that under his government military rule in Fredericksburg was kindly exercised and the people were not oppressed, and not a few of them conceived a sincere respect for his character, and to this day his acts of kindness and thoughtful consideration are gratefully referred to by them.

This state of things continued until after the disastrous result to General George B. McClellan’s army in the Seven Days’ battles around Richmond. After those engagements General McClellan was superseded in the command of the Army of the Potomac by General John Pope. General Pope was from the Western Army, and upon taking command of the army in Virginia issued a high-sounding, pompous order in which he belittled the valor of the Confederate soldiers of the west, asserting he had “only seen the backs of the enemy,” and his purpose in coming to this army was to lead it to victory and success. In that order he declared that he did not want to hear such phrases as “taking strong positions and holding them,” “lines of retreat” and “bases of supplies,” which he was told was common in the army. He declared that the glory of the soldier was in pushing the enemy and studying the lines of his retreat, which he then proposed to do.

He announced his purpose to subsist the invading army by enforced supplies from his enemies, and, in order to prepare the world and give it some idea of his rapid movements and brilliant feats, issued orders from “headquarters in the saddle.” This unique order, full as it was of boastings of what he had done and what he proposed to do, failed to frighten the Confederate commanders, as General Pope, no doubt, thought it would do. On the contrary, without loss of time they concentrated their forces, gave him battle and the Federal commander was ingloriously driven from the field, with great loss of men, arms and supplies. And so in less than sixty days from the time he took command of the army he was relieved by General McClellan, whom he superseded, having lost every engagement fought during the time. His advance through the counties of Fauquier and Culpeper to Fredericksburg, when he took command of the army, caused great consternation because of his unreasonable and cruel exactions. Many private citizens, who had never entered the Confederate service, were arrested upon their refusal to take the oath of allegiance to the United States government, and were ruthlessly dragged from their homes and confined in Northern prisons.

GEN. POPE TAKES POSSESSION OF THE TOWN—HELD AS HOSTAGES.

Finally the power of this pompous commander reached Fredericksburg, and many of her citizens shared the fate of the unfortunate citizens of Fauquier and Culpeper counties. By General Pope’s order nineteen of our most prominent and highly esteemed citizens were arrested and sent to Washington, where they were incarcerated in Old Capitol prison. These men were arrested in retaliation for the arrest of two Union men by the Confederate authorities—Major Charles Williams, of Fredericksburg, and Mr. Wardwell, of Richmond—and confined in prison at Richmond. Major Williams was a native of Fredericksburg and died here several years after the war, and Mr. Wardwell, we are informed was a northern man and was appointed superintendent of the penitentiary when Virginia was made “Military District No. 1, with headquarters at Richmond.”

These nineteen gentlemen were arrested in August, 1862, and confined in Old Capitol prison until the latter part of the following September, a period of about six weeks. It will be seen from the list of the names that they were the leading citizens of the town, exempt from military service by reason, either of age or official position, and were the natural guardians of the helpless women and children who were then in town. The list is as follows:[26] Rev. Wm. F. Broaddus, D. D., James McGuire, Charles C. Wellford, Thomas F. Knox, Beverley T. Gill, James H. Bradley, Thomas B. Barton, Benjamin Temple, Lewis Wrenn, Michael Ames, John Coakley, John H. Roberts, John J. Berrey, Dr. James Cooke, John F. Scott, Montgomery Slaughter, George H. C. Rowe, Wm. H. Norton, Abraham Cox.

The Christian Banner, then published in Fredericksburg by Rev. James W. Hunnicutt, of the Free Will Baptist denomination, himself a strong Union man, and who would not have written complimentary of these gentlemen beyond their respective merits, published the following short sketches of the “Fredericksburg prisoners”:

Thomas B. Barton is the oldest lawyer at the Fredericksburg bar and Attorney for the Commonwealth. He was originally an Old Line Whig and a member of the congregation of the Episcopal church.