The morning accommodation train on the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad is, you may say, somewhat unique, since among its regular passengers or commuters from Ashland may be found almost every kind of human industry represented. For instance, there is the lawyer, and there the judge as well. The representative of the steam and marine navigation insurance. Also a representative of agricultural implements. The interests of the tiller of the soil are likewise well represented, and last, though not least, the grain and feed business has its agent here, with various other lines of commercial life well represented, all forming a most pleasant company of genial and sociable men. The conversation abounds in honest interchange of ideas, which are both instructive and entertaining. In these cases there are but little or no egotism indulged in, only a clear-cut discussion of questions and topics which are daily presented to everybody at this time. The daily morning and evening newspapers, which are full of all the stirring events of the day, being perused by all, and thus each and every man obtains therefrom plenty of information as food for a general diffusion of thoughts and ideas. Hence this train may be truly a unique one.
An interesting incident was that of the independent fire department of Richmond in the days before the war. This consisted of several companies, between which there existed a considerable degree of rivalry. The engine and the reel, or hose carriage, were drawn by the men. Captain John Fry commanded number three engine. Captain Bargamin was chief of number one. As a matter of course where there was so much rivalry among them, at every fire there arose a contention as to which company was entitled to attach its hose to the nearest plug, and it generally resulted in a free fight between the two companies. Then fighting was only regarded as a sort of recreation or a manly sport. But time and the experience in the late war taught them to look upon it in an entirely different light. Such is the change of sentiment and morals produced by time and trouble.
Our present splendid fire department, under the pay system, is one of the city’s best assets, presents quite a contrast to the old days. With the new automobile fire engines, carrying hose, ladders, chemical apparatus and everything needed at a big fire, capable of throwing powerful streams of water, the fires of today do not reach often to conflagrations of the size as of yore. The whole system now works like a clock. And the employment of the best mechanical skill, in addition to the use of the motor power to supersede horse power, proves the rapid and great advance of modern conveniences as contrasted with the old-fashioned, hand-power machines.
The people of the United States of North America at this time are confronted with many important and intricate problems of government for their solution. Indeed, we have reached a crisis in the political and commercial life of the country. At this writing, the fall of the year 1912, the country is on the eve of an important presidential election. Governor Woodrow Wilson, of New Jersey, and Governor Thomas R. Marshall, of Indiana, head the Democratic ticket. Mr. Wm. H. Taft, the incumbent, is the nominee of the regular Republican Protection party; while Colonel Theodore Roosevelt is the leader of the third party of high tariffites, commonly termed the Bull Moose or National Progressives.
CHAPTER XXXII.
The letter of acceptance of each of the candidates gives to some extent the policy of the administration that is advocated by them. There are some wrongs to remedy and some new measures to adjust and policies to inaugurate. In the meantime the people are looking with eager eyes at the contest and are anxious to know the final result in November as to which party will be successful and the kind of government that will rule them after, the 4th of March, 1913.
An interesting history of by-gone days was that of the old James River and Kanawha Canal, which was in its day a very important means of transportation to all points situated in the valley of the James above Richmond to the westward. The State of Virginia, which built and owned it at the beginning of the war, sold it to the Richmond and Alleghany Railroad Company, which constructed a railroad on its bank known as the Richmond and and Alleghany Railroad. This road finally fell to the control of the Chesapeake and Ohio Company by purchase of its stock and bonds, and thus the use of that fine work as a means of transport became a thing of the past—too slow for the age of steam and electricity.
A striking feature of Richmond during the war were the levees or social receptions held at the Governor’s Mansion every Thursday night. They were largely attended by the citizens as well as by the soldiers that were passing through the city, affording a pleasant opportunity to the boys in grey to and from the front, to meet the fair ladies of the Confederacy, who lent their charming presence and society for the enjoyment of the officers and men, affording a very delightful recreation and change from the hardships and many privations of field duty.
Colonel William Smith, nick-named Extra Billy while in Congress, was one of the bravest and most popular officers in the Army of Northern Virginia. His regiment had won distinction on many fields of battle. An election was held in the army and every man in all the Virginia regiments voted for him to be the Governor of Virginia, and it proved a wise selection, for his intense devotion to the cause of the Confederacy, as well as his conspicuous gallantry, endeared him to every one who wore the gray. Very well do I recall the occasion when the guests at the Mansion passed in review and gave him the compliments of the evening. His genial manners to all will long be remembered.
Doctor Hunter McGuire, the medical director of Stonewall Jackson’s corps, by his sympathetic manner and great skill as a surgeon, saved many a poor Confederate’s life and also soothed his suffering body when tortured by wounds received in battle. He was the physician who attended his mortally wounded chief, after he was stricken down at Chancellorsville, by the accidental fire of his own men. All that could be done, he did to save his valuable life, but all was in vain, as pneumonia set in and the great soldier passed away, to the deepest sorrow and grief of the whole South. Doctor McGuire, after the war, settled in Richmond and established a very large and lucrative practice, gaining a national reputation as an eminent surgeon, his operations in the line of surgery being quoted all over the country for their skillful application of the principles of that great art.