S. J. Quinn

The Armies Transferred to Richmond and Petersburg—Gen. Lee’s surrender—Citizens Return Home—Action of the Council—Fredericksburg Again Under the Old Flag—The Assassination of President Lincoln Denounced and Deplored—Reconstruction Commenced—An Election Set Aside—The Iron-Clad Oath—All Offices Vacated and Strangers Appointed—The Financial Condition of the Town—The Town Again in the Hands of its Citizens—Splendid Financial Showing, &c.

At the conclusion of the battles around Spotsylvania, during which time Fredericksburg was the base of supplies for the Federal army, the two armies moved south and the scenes of war were transferred from Fredericksburg to Richmond and Petersburg. From the time the main armies moved south to the close of the war Fredericksburg was first in the Federal lines and then in the Confederate lines. After the base of supplies for the Union army was moved from Fredericksburg to City Point about the only troops that visited the town were scouting or raiding parties, and be it said to their credit very little damage to property was done by them. Communication was kept up all the time with Richmond and the citizens were not without hope that the Federal army would be driven back and the scenes of war transferred to other parts. But these hopes were delusive. General Grant was constantly receiving reinforcements, until he had over 200,000 men, by which he was enabled to extend his lines, while General Lee’s small army, not exceeding 45,000 men, was becoming smaller and his lines of battle thinner by reason of casualties, resulting from daily engagements with the enemy. In consequence of this he was unable to hold his long lines against the vigorous attacks of General Grant.

About the first of April General Lee suffered several reverses on his extreme right, which resulted in turning his right flank on the 2nd of April. On the morning of the 3rd he commenced the evacuation of Richmond, abandoned his entire line in front of Petersburg and retreated in the direction of Danville. The overwhelming numbers of Grant against him made his retreat very difficult and enabled the Federals to harass him on every side. When General Lee reached Burkeville he found the Federals between him and Danville, his objective point, and it became necessary for him to change the direction of his column. There was but one way open for him and that was the road to Lynchburg. But this road was soon closed. At the battle of Sailors’ Creek, near Farmville, on the 6th of April, the Confederates lost over six thousand men and several general officers. From the result of this engagement it was plainly seen that the end had come. By fighting in the day and marching at night General Lee reached Appomattox Courthouse on the 9th, with what few soldiers he had left, broken down from hunger and marching, his horses jaded and unable to do their work, and his artillery and wagon trains were falling an easy prey to the pursuing army. Although the men’s courage never failed them, in the condition in which Gen. Lee found himself, there was nothing to do but to surrender. General Grant had already communicated with him and demanded his surrender, upon the ground that he could not longer resist, but he had not felt a willingness to yield until the morning of the 9th.

On that eventful morning General Lee opened communication with General Grant and invited a conference, to discuss the terms of surrender. They met, it is said, under an apple tree and adjourned to the residence of Mr. Wilmer McLane,[40] where the terms were agreed upon, written out and signed. It was from this building that General Lee mounted old Traveller,[41] to return to his lines to announce the sad news to the remaining remnant of his once magnificent army. General Hooker declared the army of the Potomac, prior to his move to Chancellorsville, “the grandest army on the planet,” but more than one of the Federal generals of high rank, who served in the Army of the Potomac, have since the war declared “that for sacrifice, suffering and for fighting qualities the world could not surpass the Army of Northern Virginia.”

The terms of the surrender were liberal, even generous, and bore testimony to the affectionate consideration General Lee had for his men and the magnanimity of General Grant to those who had surrendered their arms. It was agreed that the officers were to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged, and each company or regimental commander was to sign a similar parole for their men. The arms, artillery and public property were to be stacked and packed and turned over to a United States officer. The officers and men were allowed to take their side arms, private horses and baggage and return to their homes unmolested and so remain as long as they observed their paroles. In addition to this, at the suggestion of General Lee, General Grant furnished the Confederate army with rations, which they had been without for several days. It is said that when it became known by the advanced lines of the Federal troops and those of the Confederate army that the terms of surrender had been signed and peace was at hand, their long pent-up feelings gave way in the loudest tumult of rejoicing.

There was no demand made by General Grant for the surrender of General Lee’s sword, and there was no offer of the surrender of his sword on the part of General Lee. The officers were to retain their side arms which included the sword. “The number of men paroled was about twenty-six thousand, of whom not more than nine thousand had arms in their hands. About sixteen thousand small arms were surrendered, one hundred and fifty cannon, seventy-one colors, eleven hundred wagons and caissons and four thousand horses and mules. The Confederate troops, immediately upon receiving their paroles, separated and returned to their homes.”[42]The scene of separation of soldiers and commanders, who had served nearly four years together, and who were linked together by the strongest bonds of comradeship, not to say of genuine affection, was the saddest and most trying that had ever occurred in the past history of the army. Farewells, amid tears and audible sobbing of the brave, rough soldiers, were exchanged and they parted, never to meet as soldiers, in arms again! Before leaving for home, however, and as the last act of the closing drama, and the last act of General Lee as the Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, the day following the surrender he issued a farewell address.[43] The address was printed on slips of paper and distributed to the soldiers, who felt unwilling to leave for their homes until they received the parting blessing and loving benediction of their idolized commander.

FREDERICKSBURG AGAIN UNDER THE STARS AND STRIPES.

The first news of General Lee’s surrender received at Fredericksburg came from soldiers returning to their desolated homes, and with the sad tidings came also the feeling that the fate of the Confederacy was sealed. The population of Fredericksburg at this time had been increased by the presence of strangers and adventurers. The trade of the town was conducted, to a considerable extent, by those who were not permanent residents of the town, and there was but little population, business or general appearance to remind one of the Fredericksburg of other days.

But what a change in other respects had come over the town as to its character and condition! For four years it had been a part of the Southern Confederacy, and its devotion to the Southern cause had been demonstrated time and again by its sacrifices, sufferings for and contributions to that cause. Now the collapse of the Confederacy had come and the town was again a part of the United States and subject to its laws. The question was what shall be done to place the town in its proper position, and who shall take that action? That was the question.

After a conference of the leading citizens of the town it was decided that the Council was the only body that could represent the people, and that it should be convened to take such steps as might be suggested by the proper authorities. This step was deferred, however, until the 27th of April, when it was known the Confederate government had ceased to exist, on which day the Council was convened, the following members being present: M. Slaughter, Mayor; Wm. A. Little, Recorder; Charles Herndon, George Gravatt, Joseph W. Sener, Horace B. Hall, Wm. H. Cunningham, Charles S. Scott, Beverley T. Gill. John G. Hurkamp, James McGuire, John J. Young, Thomas F. Knox, Councilmen. The following paper was submitted and unanimously adopted:

This action of the Council was Fredericksburg’s declaration of her allegiance to the United States, and made her a part of the Union, so far as that action could make her. She had passed through the fiery furnace of suffering and sacrifice since Virginia had withdrawn from the Union, but she hesitated to take any action by which her loyalty and devotion to the Confederate States could be questioned, and declined to take any steps transferring her allegiance to the Union until she knew that the Confederate government had disbanded and ceased to exist.

Marye’s Heights and section of old Stone Wall. These heights were
crowded with artillery in the battle of December 13, 1862.
(See page 91)

Office of Trustees of the Town from 1727 to 1781; constructed into a residence.
(See page 153)

Fredericksburg had suffered as no other town in the South had suffered and had sacrificed her all, yet instead of complaining she showed herself grand in her sufferings and glorious in her sacrifices. There clustered around her hallowed memories, grand historic events, individual achievements, that, with her war record, imparted to her a beauty and nobility of character that made her sublime even in her desolation.

As time progressed population increased. The old citizens who had refugeed returned to their homes; young and middle-aged men, who had faithfully served their country in the army, exchanged their weapons of war for the implements of peace, and business began to assume its legitimate channels and the old town was well nigh restored to its wonted activity and prosperity. The census of 1870, very imperfectly taken, gave Fredericksburg at that time a population of about four thousand inhabitants.

RECONSTRUCTION COMMENCED.

Virginia Military District No. 1

The period in Virginia known as Reconstruction, extending from the cessation of hostilities, in 1865, to the first day of July, 1870, when the officers, elected under the new constitution, assumed their places and performed their duties, free of military restraint, was one of deep humiliation to the people of Virginia, and especially to the citizens of Fredericksburg. Just after the close of the war Virginia appears to have been neither a State nor a territory, but was declared to be Military District No. 1, and United States army officers were placed in authority over her affairs, civil as well as military. It is true that soon after the order proclaiming Virginia a military district a provisional governor was appointed by the authorities, but he was dominated by the military in his administration of affairs of State, and was powerless, it appears, to do anything in his office as Governor not sanctioned and approved by the commanding military officer.

While the town was in the hands of the civil authorities—the Mayor and Common Council, elected at the last election held before the close of the war—it was only nominally so. They were powerless to do anything unless it met the approval of the military authority. This was plainly shown by a communication received from Brigadier-General T. M. Harris, commanding, on the first day of August, 1865, addressed to the Mayor. In that communication General Harris said:

Of course, under the condition of things, a suggestion from the General commanding was virtually an order, and it was so understood. Accordingly, on the 8th of August, the Common Council was convened by the Mayor, when General Harris’s communication was laid before it, considered and the following tax levied:

“On all real and personal property, fifty cents on the one hundred dollars value; on moneys, solvent bonds and securities, except the bonds of the corporation, forty cents on the one hundred dollars value; on all capital invested or used in any manufacturing business or investment, used or employed in any trade or business, twenty-five cents on every one hundred dollars; on the moneys and personal property of joint-stock companies, forty cents on every one hundred dollars; on every white and colored male above twenty-one years of age, two dollars.” The same tax was levied for 1867.

AN ELECTION SET ASIDE.

The municipal government that found itself in possession of the town at the close of the war continued without any election, or any attempt to hold an election, until the Spring of 1867. At that time it seemed to be the opinion and desire of the Mayor and Common Council that an election should be held and that a full corps of officers for the town should be chosen. The only law under which the Council could act and order an election was the charter which was in force prior to the war and which prescribed that elections for Mayor and Common Council should be held on the third Monday in March of each year.

In accordance with this provision of the charter the Council ordered an election to be held on the 18th of March, 1867, for the election of a Mayor and Common Council, but the question of the qualification of voters having arisen, and the Council being unable to decide who were entitled to vote under the new order of things, referred the question to General John M. Scofield, who was then in command of Military District, No. 1.

General Scofield suspended the election “until the necessary preparations can be made to fully and fairly carry out the provisions of the act of Congress of March 3rd, 1867, concerning the elective franchise and the qualification of officers.” On receipt of this order of suspension the Council passed the following resolution:

“That in pursuance of said order, the election heretofore advertised to be held on Monday, the 18th instant, for Mayor and Common Councilmen, be and it is hereby suspended until further orders. And whereas, further, under General Orders No. 1, issued from the same headquarters, all officers under the existing provisional government of Virginia are continued in office for the present, this Council, in accordance with said orders, do hereby resolve that the persons at present, discharging the duties required by the charter of this corporation, be and they are hereby continued in their respective offices until further orders.” And there was a peculiar significance in the word orders!

THE IRON-CLAD OATH.

In April, 1867, the famous order was issued from “Headquarters, Military District, No. 1, of the State of Virginia,” requiring every officer in the Commonwealth, State, municipal and county, to take the oath adopted by Congress in 1862, commonly called the test oath, and which was known through the South after the close of the war as the Iron-clad oath. This order affected every officer in the State, from the Governor down to the smallest officer, and it created quite a sensation. The oath was as follows:

Fredericksburg had no officer serving at that time who could take such an oath. Some of the officers had, at some time during the war, been active participants on the Confederate side, and those who were too far advanced in age to enter the army had sympathized with the Confederate cause and had otherwise aided it, therefore every officer, from Mayor down to policeman, was removed and their places supplied, in some few instances, by residents who took the required oath, but in most instances the appointees were strangers and citizens of Northern States, who had floated down South in search of some office at the hands of the military commander.

The venerable and efficient clerk of the courts, Mr. John James Chew, who had held the office for forty years, was removed and an inexperienced and inefficient stranger was installed in his place and given the keeping and custody of our court papers and records. Many of the appointees of the Common Council were men of that class, and were therefore unable to conduct the affairs of the town, provide a revenue to meet the running expenses and pay the interest on the city bonds.

The Military Council was placed in possession of the city government in 1867, and conducted public affairs on the revenues brought in by the tax bill levied by their predecessors by permission of the commanding general. In the latter part of 1867 the creditors of the town were demanding their money, and no money was in the treasury. They threatened suits to enforce payment of their dues, and in order to meet these obligations, on the 23rd of May, 1868, the Military Council passed a tax bill levying a tax of one dollar and a quarter on the one hundred dollars value of all real and personal property, and on all males over twenty-one years of age a capitation tax of three dollars, but the Commissioner of Revenue never made up his tax books and the tax was never collected. This state of things continued through the year 1869; therefore, when the Common Council of the people’s own choosing took charge of the city government on the first of July, 1870, under the provisions of the new State constitution, they found municipal affairs in a wretched condition.

THE NEW CHARTER FOR THE CITY.

The new charter for the town, granted under the new State constitution, was passed by the Legislature and approved by the Governor on the 23rd of March, 1871. It differed very much from the charter under which the town was governed before the war, both as to new offices provided for and the term of officers. The officers to be elected by the people were one Mayor, who should hold his office for two years; twelve Councilmen, who should hold for one year; but this was subsequently changed so that six Councilmen should be elected from each ward—the town having been divided into two wards—and they were to hold office for two years; one City Sergeant for a term of two years; one Commissioner of the Revenue for two years, which has since been changed to four years, and one City Treasurer for three years. Any person who was a qualified voter was eligible to any one of the offices named above, and when they were elected and qualified they were to “have the powers, perform the duties and be subject to the liabilities and responsibilities prescribed by the general laws” of the State.

They were not to enter upon their respective duties until they qualified before some person authorized to administer oaths, and, in addition to the oath of fidelity and the anti-duelling oath, each one had also to swear “that I recognize and accept the civil and political equality of all men before the law.” This was another reminder to us that the “negroes were free,” and was “intended as the lash to compel Southern courts to administer to them justice and to election officers to accord them all the privileges at the polls they were allowed.”The Mayor was to preside at the meetings of the Council, give the casting vote on questions before that body in case of a tie and act as a justice of the peace in civil and criminal matters arising in the corporation. He was to have control of the police of the town and appoint special police officers when he deemed it necessary; and, in addition to these duties, he was empowered to try all offences and controversies arising under the ordinances of the town, to impose fines and collect the same, saving to the parties the right of appeal when the matter in controversy exceeded the sum of ten dollars.

The Council was authorized to establish and regulate markets, to alter or improve streets, alleys, sidewalks and bridges, and keep the same in order; to provide for the lighting of streets, against accidents by fire; to establish fire companies, purchase engines, and to provide wells or cisterns for supplying water. It was authorized to prevent and punish, by reasonable fines, the practice of discharging fire-arms and running horses in the town; to license and regulate shows and other exhibitions, and tax them in such manner as may be expedient and lawful; to lay off public grounds and provide for and take care of public buildings, grounds and cemeteries; to conduct and distribute water into and through the town; to adopt rules for its own government and the transaction of its business. It was also to define the powers, prescribe the duties and fix the term of service and compensation of its own appointees, necessary for conducting the affairs of the town, not otherwise provided; to fix the salary of the Mayor and all other officers, but no compensation was to be allowed to any member of the Council unless he should act as clerk of the body. The Council was to make all such by-laws and regulations as it might deem necessary, consistent with the constitution and laws of the State, for the good government of the town, and to enforce the same by reasonable fines and penalties, not exceeding for any one offence the sum of ten dollars.

The Council was authorized to provide a revenue for the town and appropriate the same, and for that purpose it was made the duty of the Commissioner of the Revenue to make an annual assessment of taxable persons and property within the town, such as should be taxable under the revenue laws of the State, including dogs and other animals running at large.

This was the release of the liberty-loving people of Fredericksburg from military bondage and misrule, signed, sealed and delivered, for which they rejoiced as did the captive Israelite of old as he again returned from bondage to his beloved native land.

CITIZENS AGAIN IN CONTROL.

The Ante Bellum Debt of the Town.

Prior to the war the Council, by direction of the people, given through the ballot, had made large appropriations to public improvements, with a view of building up the town by retaining the trade of the surrounding country, which was threatened by other cities, and by drawing trade from other sections of the country that found markets elsewhere. From these improvements the hopes of the town were not realized. Some of them remained in an unfinished condition, while others had been rendered worthless by new lines of railroad that had diverted their business and rendered them worthless; yet, the debt owed by the town, by reason of these appropriations and other expenditures, amounted to $244,521.48.[46] All this debt was hanging over the desolated town and not a dollar’s worth of property to show for it.

In addition to this loss no provision had been made by former Councils to meet the interest on these bonds for the past four or five years, and suits had been brought and judgments obtained to enforce payment and other suits were threatened. Under judgments and executions obtained against the corporation, all property belonging to the town, available, was sold at public auction by the officer of the law. Even the chairs in the council chamber, in which the members of the Council sat to conduct the public business of the town, were sold by the constable at public outcry under execution. The members of the Council attended this sale and each one purchased his chair, and thereafter the members furnished their own seats at the council board, while they legislated for the public good, without fee or reward, other than the consciousness of duty nobly done.

The Common Council that took charge of municipal affairs in 1870 had many grave and difficult questions to meet and determine. Debts had accumulated against the city, while the taxable values had greatly diminished by the destruction of property during the war and the emancipation of the slaves. A large portion of the inhabitants had recently returned home—the women and children from refugeeing and the men from the army—almost penniless, to find their homes in ruins or badly damaged and despoiled of what had been left in them. Nearly everybody had to commence life anew.

The Council, therefore, had to provide for these debts, and, at the same time, not place a burden upon an impoverished people, in the form of taxation that they could not bear. It was a trying ordeal, but the members were equal to the emergency. That Council was composed of Walker Peyton Conway, J. Gordon Wallace, Hugh S. Doggett, George W. Eve, Patrick McCracken, Wm. C. Morrison, Joseph W. Sener, John T. Knight, John H. Myer, George Gravatt, Thomas Harrison and John James Young.

The finance committee of that Council, which was expected to provide for the finances and bring before the Council, for its consideration and adoption, such measures as would meet the emergency and not oppress the tax-payers, consisted of W. P. Conway, J. Gordon Wallace and Hugh S. Doggett. With great diligence they applied themselves to their task. A tax bill was formulated and brought before the Council levying a tax, which was adopted, and in a short time money was raised, the debts were paid in installments until all creditors were paid or satisfactory arrangements made with them.

In 1876 the old bonds of the city were funded, by mutual agreement of the Council and the bond holders, at sixty-six and two-third cents on the dollar, the new bonds to bear seven per cent. interest and run thirty years. This was a wise arrangement of the Council, notwithstanding there was considerable opposition to it, the opponents of the measure claiming that the rate of interest of the new bonds should not exceed six per cent., although money was then bringing from ten to twelve per cent., and sometimes more than twelve. The amount of bonds issued under this funding act amounted to $125,000.

By this arrangement of funding one-third of the principal of the bonds was eliminated, the threatened suits for past-due interest were averted, and it put the Council in a position to provide for the interest as it should fall due, take care of the floating debt, and at the same time reduce the rate of taxation, which the tax-payer hailed with delight. Thus the delinquencies of the former years were met and provided for, the rate of taxation was not oppressive, and the town, being under the control of its own citizens, untrammelled by military authority, rapidly moved forward, public confidence in its ability to meet its obligations was restored and thus municipal affairs were placed in a satisfactory condition. The credit of the city is as good at present as any city of the State, and no bonds have been funded or sold in the last twelve years at a greater rate of interest than four per cent., or at any figure below their face value.

PRESENT INDEBTEDNESS, INCLUDING ANTE AND POST BELLUM BONDS.

The bonded indebtedness of the city, and the improvements for which said bonds were issued is a matter that concerns every citizen, and for their information are here given as of 1908:

Many of these public improvements were constructed by the authority of the freeholders of the town, by a majority vote cast at special elections appointed and held for that purpose; others were constructed by action of the City Council under authority granted them by the new constitution enlarging the powers and duties of city councils, and appeared to have the sanction of a large majority of the tax-payers of the town.

Confederate Cemetery at Fredericksburg. The pyramid of stones marks
the battle-field at Hamilton’s Crossing, between Jackson and Meade.
(See page 185)