SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS.
The organization of Maury Camp of Confederate Veterans was followed in a few years by the organization of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. This camp came into existence on the 10th day of May, 1890. It was organized, mainly, if not entirely, through the efforts of Mr. James A. Turner, who was its first commander, and, by annual reëlections, without opposition, he was continued until he retired and Mr. Wm. H. Hurkamp was elected and is commander at this time.
This camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans was named in honor of Colonel Robert S. Chew, who was, at the close of the war, Colonel of the Thirtieth Virginia regiment of infantry, a native of Fredericksburg and was honored and beloved by all who knew him. The camp has done a noble work in the way of looking after the comfort and supplying the needs of the destitute Confederate veterans, who are rapidly passing “over the river to rest under the shade of the trees,” and providing for them a decent Christian burial when they shall have “answered the last roll call.”
As an organization the R. S. Chew Camp has attended nearly all the reunions of Confederate veterans in the State, and has taken as much interest in them as if they had been veterans instead of the sons of veterans. In all of these visitations the camp, by the discipline and military bearing of its members soon won for itself a position in the front rank of Sons of Confederate Veterans in the South. About thirty of its members volunteered in the United States army in the War with Spain, some of whom are now in the regular army, holding important commissions. The camp has flourished from its organization, and has now nearly one hundred members on its rolls, who are earnest in their work and faithful to the memories of their fathers.
“Stevens House,” on “Sunken Road”; the Confederate line of battle, 1862 and 1863,
in front of fence. Gen. Thos. R. R. Cobb killed where gate swings to right.
(See [page 91])
City Hall, in which are Mayor’s Office, Council Chamber, etc., and where
a ball was given in honor of Gen. Lafayette on his visit here in 1824.
(See [page 144])
THE SCHOOLS OF FREDERICKSBURG.
Fredericksburg, from its earliest days, possessed educational advantages, greatly in advance of many larger towns of the colonies. Soon after its establishment by the House of Burgesses, schools of a high order were established here by the best of educators and it is highly probable that the leading men of the State—those who conducted public affairs in colonial times, and who were the first to oppose and resist British tyranny and who inaugurated and conducted the movement for separation and independence—were educated in those schools. And it can be safely said that from that time to the present Fredericksburg has not been without schools that would be creditable to any town.