FREDERICKSBURG
AND
ITS MANY POINTS OF INTEREST
“Proud of the marks and monuments it bears to testify that its association with thecountry is such that her history may not be written without the name of Fredericksburg.”
R. A. KISHPAUGH, Publisher
FREDERICKSBURG. VIRGINIA
Copyrighted 1912
BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF FREDERICKSBURG FROM STAFFORD HEIGHTS
FREDERICKSBURG.
Historical Sketch.
he visitor to Fredericksburg to-day finds, instead of the easy going townof ante-bellum days, an entirely new place risen from the ruins of war andtime, new buildings, up-to-date streets and other improvements making amodern city of the present generation. The object of this little book isto furnish to the traveler, facts in the history of Fredericksburg, itsmany places of interest as well as an up-to-date guide to the city, and toextend to all a “welcome to Fredericksburg.”
The exact time the site of what is now Fredericksburg was visited by whitemen is not known, but the general impression is that the first trip was in1608 (one year after the landing at Jamestown). Capt. John Smith, the truefounder and father of Virginia, with a crew of twelve men and an indian ofa Potomac tribe for a guide, came to the falls of the Rappahannock justabove where Fredericksburg was afterward located, and had a severe fightwith the Rappahannocks, whom he described as the most courageous andformidable savages he had yet encountered.
The early history of Fredericksburg is full of events[1] along the generalhistory of the country, it being a centre of trade, the river being widerand deeper than the present day, and that ocean going barges andschooners, laden with cargoes from the West Indies, Liverpool and otherports came to Fredericksburg, and took on for their return voyageconsignments of tobacco and wheat to English and Scotch merchants. A fortwas maintained near the falls of the Rappahannock, and with 250 men thetown was legally founded in 1727 and was named for Frederick, son ofGeorge the Second.
Before the introduction of railroads, trade was carried on by what wasknown as “Road Wagons.” These wagons were of huge dimensions, their curvedbodies being, before and behind, at least twelve feet from the ground.They had canvas covers and were drawn by four and often six horses. Duringthe period from 1800 to the civil war, as many as three hundred was oftenseen on the streets and in the wagon yards of Fredericksburg at one time.The country, to the Blue Ridge mountains, even to counties in the Valleyof Virginia, was thus supplied from Fredericksburg.
The part which Fredericksburg played in the civil war is so well known,that we will be cont