The History of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia

To Messrs. H. B. Lane, Wm. E. Bradley and Prof. S. W. Somerville, Committee on History of the Common Council: Gentlemen—When I was requested by your predecessors to write a history of Fredericksburg, I regarded it as quite an honor, and in the discharge of the duty I have found great pleasure. Not that the material needed was ready at hand and the task was easy, but because I found so many of the best of our citizens eager to assist in getting the material together, that had been laid away for ages, and placing it at my disposal. Moreover, their kind words very much encouraged me, and I wish I could here record their names, but as it might not be proper, I take much pleasure in extending to them my grateful thanks. The records concerning the town reach back only to the close of the Revolutionary war. If Major Lawrence Smith, who constructed the fort and governed the settlers by military law or “as a county court might do,” ever kept any records of his acts, we have been unable to find them, and the same is true of the Trustees who had the management of the town from the time it was “laid out by law,” until it was chartered by the Legislature of Virginia. Therefore, much that is found in the following pages in reference to “the olden time,” came from families who had preserved it in various forms for many generations. In presenting this history it is not claimed that all is said about Fredericksburg that could have been said or that incidents have not been related as others have heard them, but it is believed that all important events have been referred to and incidents given as they have been related to us by those well informed and who were regarded as authority on such matters. Nor is there any claim made for originality. The book is intended to be a history of Fredericksburg, and “history is a narration of facts and events which may be given chronologically or topically,” therefore we have written in the main what others have spoken and have disregarded chronology and even the arrangement of subjects. But it is believed that the arrangement herein is probably best adapted to impress the reader with the splendid history of the town and the magnificent achievements of her sons and those men of fame who sprang from her immediate vicinity.