The History of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia

by S. J. Quinn

In stating that Fredericksburg has more ancient reminiscent and historical buildings than any other town of its size in this country, we do not fear successful contradiction. Fredericksburg is one of the oldest towns in the State and has from its settlement been the center of refinement and culture. Here the young men of this section of Virginia were taught and imbibed those principles of liberty and justice that made them leaders in the movement against oppression, which resulted in our constitutional rights and religious liberty. Here they were equipped for all the duties of life in whatever station they might be placed. Here was the home and birthplace of men who commanded armies, controlled navies, swayed statesmen, electrified assemblies, and many of those homes and birth-houses are still standing, and it will appear but natural if they shall be pointed out and written about by the inhabitants of Fredericksburg with patriotic pride. Notwithstanding the quaint architecture of many of them, and the ravages of time upon them, they are dear to us and are regarded as heirlooms of the town which have witnessed the advent and exit of many generations.

Among the oldest houses now in Fredericksburg are the residence of the late William A. Little, the Mary Washington House and the Rising Sun Hotel. It is impossible to give the order of seniority of these buildings, because we have no way of ascertaining when they were built. Mr. Little, several years ago, so renewed and extended his residence and adorned it as to almost destroy its ancient identity. This old mansion has recently passed to Mr. John C. Melville.

The Rising Sun Hotel, located on the west side of Main street, just above Fauquier, is one of the oldest buildings now standing. It is of the old style of architecture of wooden buildings that prevailed in the first settlement of the country, which, notwithstanding its hoary age and frequent necessary repairs, has never been changed. In the first of the eighteenth century, and even before the Revolutionary war, it was one of the leading hotels of the town, and was the stopping place of many of the Southern senators, representatives and other dignitaries as they journey to and from Washington city.

It is claimed that the eccentric John Randolph, of Roanoke, has more than once addressed the people of the town from the steps of this building. General George Weedon, long years before he entered the Colonial Army for American Independence, kept hotel in this house. Just prior to that war it became the property of General Gustavus B. Wallace, a Revolutionary patriot, and it has remained in the Wallace family until the death of Capt. C. Wistar Wallace, a public spirited citizen, a little over one year ago. At his death, May 20, 1907, it became the property of the Society for the Preservation of the Antiquities of Virginia, by the provisions of his will. The Fredericksburg branch of the society has charge of the building, a one and a half story wooden structure, and now has it in good condition and open for the inspection of those who would like to live for a short time in the far distant past, when Mrs. Livingston was the “doctress and coffee-woman” of the town. That society has renovated the building and it is now in good repair. It has not been kept as a hotel since the Civil war.

The handsome residence erected by Mr. Stannard, on the lot now occupied by Mr. George W. Shepherd, was destroyed by fire in the great conflagration that occurred here in 1807, which is mentioned elsewhere. The fire originated in that house and had made considerable headway before it was discovered. In the year 1815 the large, brick residence now standing on that lot was erected by Mr. Robert Mackay, a merchant of the town and Mayor for two years, from 1817 to 1819. It is said that the cost of erecting that building, and beautifying the grounds, was thirty thousand dollars, and it so embarassed Mr. Mackay that he never recovered from it.

For a number of years this place was the residence and home of Thomas Seddon, a wealthy gentleman, who died there in 1831. As is said elsewhere herein, he was the father of James A. Seddon, secretary of War of the Confederate States, who, it is claimed by some persons, was born there, although his biographers say, and it is substantiated by his relatives, that he was born in Falmouth, in Stafford county. It is not disputed, however, that Secretary Seddon spent his boyhood days in that building, having moved there when he was quite young, but his birthplace is beyond doubt as his biographers and relatives state it, as he was born the same year this residence was built, and Mr. Mackay occupied it for some years before Mr. Seddon moved there.

The old, one and a half story frame house, which stands on the east side of Princess Ann street, between Prussia and Wolfe streets, just below Shiloh Baptist church (new site), was at one time owned by James Monroe. He was elected to a seat in the Legislature, and the law required that members of the General Assembly should be owners of real estate. In order to make him eligible his uncle gave him a pocket deed to this house and lot. This was the first civil office, except that of Common Councilman of Fredericksburg, Mr. Monroe ever held. The house at the time stood on a lot in the upper part of the town and was without the wings it has at present. Mr. Monroe’s boarding place was located on the same lot on which now stands the handsome residence of Mrs. James H. Bradley. His law office was in the row of low, brick buildings, formerly known as the “City Lunch,” on Charles street, in rear of Colonel E. D. Cole’s store.

The “Sentry Box,” at the lower end of Main street, was the residence of General George Weedon, of Revolutionary fame, and was afterwards owned and occupied by Colonel Hugh Mercer, a son of General Hugh Mercer, who was killed at the battle of Princeton, and a nephew of General Weedon, to whom it was devised by General Weedon. We are unable to state when this house was erected or who built it. It is doubtless one of the oldest buildings in town. It is a large two-story frame house, with a wide hall through the center and overlooks the Rappahannock river. It has been known as the “Sentry Box” as far back as the mind of our oldest inhabitant goes, and the past generations knew it by that name. Tradition has brought the name down to us and we need not stretch our imaginations as to the “why it was so called.” From the upper story of the southeast end of this stately building is a beautiful and unobstructed view of the river for some distance, and there sentinels were placed at various times during the Revolutionary war, to watch and give the alarm of the approach of the enemy. It was thus used for three wars to much advantage to the side with which Fredericksburg was in sympathy—the Revolution, as above mentioned, the war of 1812 and the Civil war, or the War between the States. Another thing that gives the “Sentry Box” additional historical interest is the claim that has been made, which may need verification, that in this house has been received and entertained every President of the United States from George Washington to James Buchanan. The property is now owned and occupied by Mr. O. D. Foster, a veteran of the Confederate army.

The splendid two-story brick residence, owned and occupied by Gen. Daniel D. Wheeler, of the United States army, on the east side of lower Main street, was built by Roger Dixon, a gentleman of means, who owned most of the land in the lower end of the town about 1764. A few years after its construction Mr. Dixon died, and most, if not all of his property, was purchased by Dr. Charles Mortimer. Dr. Mortimer was one of Mary Washington’s physicians, and tradition has it that the last visit she made was to her much-loved physician; that upon her return home she was taken down with cancer and after that never left her home.

Of one of the many delightful dinings and balls at this splendid mansion, so frequent in that day with the “well to do folks” of Virginia, Mrs. Roger A. Prior, in “the Mother of Washington and Her Times” says, “Little Maria Mortimer, aged sixteen, was at the Fredericksburg ball. Her father, Dr. Charles Mortimer, issued invitations at the ball for a great dinner to the distinguished strangers the next day but one, and his wife (Sarah Griffin Fauntleroy), being too ill to preside, that honor fell to the daughter of the house. The house, an immense pile of English brick, (?) still stands on the lower edge of the town, facing Main street, with a garden sloping to the river, where Dr. Mortimer’s own tobacco ships used to run up to discharge their return English cargoes, by a channel long since disused and filled up. * * * The table, as little Maria described it in after years, groaned with every delicacy of land and water, served in massive pewter dishes, polished until they shone again. The chief sat beside the master of the house at the long table, although at his own house his place was always at the side of the table among his guests. Little Maria, ‘with her hair cruped high,’ was taken in by the Marquis Lafayette, or Count d’Estaing, or Count Rochambeau—they were all present—and the little lady’s heart was in her mouth, she said, although she danced with every one of them at the ball—nay, with Bettie Lewis’s uncle George himself!”