Chapter 4

Mosby's Rangers at this time were composed chiefly of young men from Fairfax and the adjoining counties, with some Marylanders. Among the men from Fairfax County were Franklin Williams, Richard Ratcliffe Farr, Capt. V. Beattie. The men had to arm, equip and supply themselves, so although they turned captured cattle and mules over to the Confederacy, they kept any horses they were able to find. They wore Confederate uniforms and through necessity on occasion captured overcoats. The "Jessie Scouts" of the Federal Army also wore the grey uniform in order to deceive the people and gain information.

An amusing illustration of the confusion and deception created by this occurred near Fairfax.

"A party of Federal soldiers dressed in grey, rode up to a worthy old farmer and after a short conversation asked him whether he was a 'Unionist' or a 'Secessionist'. The unsuspecting citizen told them he was a 'Secessionist', whereupon the Federals carried off all of his horses that were in sight.

A short while thereafter a party of Confederates rode up, wearing the blue overcoats which effectually (?) concealed their grey uniforms and propounded a similar question. Hoping by his protestations of loyalty to recover his lost property he told them he was a 'Union man', whereupon they too took such horses as they could find.

Finally a party came along dressed partly in blue and partly in grey, and asked the same question. Eyeing them critically for a moment and remembering his past unfortunate experience, he replied:

'Well, gentlemen, to tell you the truth, I am nothing at all and d----d little of that.'"

The fact that the Yankees had an abundance of horses is illustrated by the following article found in the Pictorial War Record (March 18, 1882).

"Some people will no doubt be astonished to learn that large fortunes had been made every year from the commencement of the war out of the dead horses of the Army of the Potomac. The popular idea is that when Rosinante yields up the ghost he is buried in some field, or left to moulder into mother earth in the woods somewhere. Not so. He has made his last charge, and gnawed his last fence rail, but there is from $20.00 to $40.00 in the old fellow yet.

A contract for the purchase of dead horses in the Army of the Potomac in the year 1864 was let for that year to the highest bidder, at $1.67 per head, delivered at the factory of the contractor. During 1863, $60,000.00 was cleared on the contract, and that year it is thought $100,000.00 was made on it. The animals die at the rate of about fifty per day at the lowest calculation.

At the contractor's establishment they are thoroughly dissected. First the shoes are pulled off; they are usually worth fifty cents a set. Then the hoofs are cut off; they bring two dollars a set. Then comes the caudal appendage, worth half a dollar. Then the hide--I don't know what that sells for. Then the tallow, if it is possible to extract tallow from the army horse, which I think extremely doubtful, unless he die immediately after entering the service. And last, but not least, the shinbones are valuable, being convertible into a variety of articles that many believe to be composed of pure ivory, such as candle-heads, knife-handles, etc. By this time the contractor gets through the "late-lamented" steed, there is hardly enough of him left to feed a bull-pup on.

Hereafter, kind reader, when you see a dead "hoss", don't turn up your nose at him, but regard him thoroughly, as the foundation for a large fortune in a single year. He may, individually, be a nuisance, but 'there is that within which passeth show'--$100,000.00 a year."

Horses, supplies, good fighting men and pickets were important to the Confederates. So were spies. Mosby was aided greatly by two young ladies who resided in Fairfax. One was Laura Ratcliffe and the other was Antonia Ford.

X. SPIES

Little is known of Laura Ratcliffe's activities but she was often called "Mosby's pet" and was the heroine subject of many poems dedicated to her by Mosby and J. E. B. Stuart. She was devotedly attached to the Confederate cause and sought every opportunity to become possessed of the secrets and movements of the Union Forces. She is reported to have been a maiden lady of great intelligence and high accomplishments and was very well spoken of by people who knew her. She resided near Fairfax during the entire war, communicating with Mosby whenever he came through this section, and it is a mystery that she succeeded in eluding the vigilance of Union Scouts.

Not so fortunate was her contemporary, Antonia Ford, who spent many months in Old Capitol Prison, as the result of a raid made on her home after Mosby's successful capture of Stoughton. Union officers felt so strongly that she had had a part in this affair that her home was ordered searched and they found a commission from J. E. B. Stuart which read as follows:

"TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

KNOW YE:

That reposing special confidence in the patriotism, fidelity and ability of Antonia J. Ford, I, James E. B. Stuart, by virtue of the power vested in me as brigadier general in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States of America, do hereby appoint and commission her my honorary aide-de-camp, to rank as such from this date.

She will be obeyed, respected and admired by all true lovers of a ---- nature. Given under my hand and seal at the headquarters of the Cavalry Brigade at Camp Beverly the 7th October, A. D., 1861, and the first year of our independence.

(signet ring seal) (signed) J. E. B. Stuart

(X true copy) (signed) L. L. Lomax"

Antonia was an attractive, young, dark-haired lady, charming to talk with, witty, and well received in both Washington and Virginia Society.

Extracts from a pamphlet written by Alice M. Coates read:

"In the advance of Federal Troops to Bull Run, some of the Federal officers stopped overnight with Mr. Ford at Fairfax.

His daughter, Antonia, a heroic young lady of 22 intensely loyal to the South, listened at the keyhole and heard the plans proposed. Next morning she asked for a pass to visit a sick aunt, a few miles South, which was granted.

She immediately reported these plans to the Southern troops."

Antonia aroused no suspicion on this venture in August of 1862, but only after March 8, 1863, was she questioned and by March 17th, Major Willard of the Union Army arrived to take Antonia to the Old Capitol Prison.

Although Major Willard was quite a few years older than Antonia, he had been to the Ford home quite frequently as a visitor and had found Miss Ford most charming. She, in turn, had been attracted to him.

How wretched this Union officer must have felt when he was given the responsibility of personally arresting her and her father and taking them to prison.

He fulfilled his duty, however, and then dedicated himself to securing her release and before many months had passed Antonia and her father were free again. Evidently they harboured no hard feelings towards Col. Willard, for they, at a later date, smuggled him through Confederate lines when they were taking him back to Washington by wagon after one of his frequent visits to their home.

In March of 1864 Col. Willard and Antonia were married. Seven years later Antonia died (some think due to malnutrition suffered from her stay in prison) and left one son, Joseph.

This son lived with his grandmother at Fairfax until his marriage when he built the beautiful large home on the original Willard estate, which now includes Layton Hall Subdivision, University Drive extended, the Belle Willard School, the Joseph Willard Health Center. (His father before him owned the Willard Hotel in Washington).

Joseph and his wife lived a life of luxury, traveling abroad and entertaining in their large spacious home. The fireplace in their dining room is framed with beautiful blue and white tiles which they bought in Holland on their wedding trip abroad.

Many of the schools, churches, and private homes in this area are landscaped with American and English boxwood which the Willards grew as a hobby. When the land was bought for development, hundreds of boxwood bushes became dispersed throughout the town and its environs.

Joseph Willard became a lieutenant-governor of Virginia and an Ambassador to Spain during the administration of Woodrow Wilson. He had married Belle Layton Wyatt from Middlesex County who was a distinguished hostess. Their home became the scene of many brilliant affairs.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943 attended the wedding of Mrs. Willard's grand-daughter, Belle Wyatt Roosevelt, to John Palfrey of Boston. Secret service men swarmed around the Willard home and a special ramp was built from the flag-stone walk at Truro Episcopal Church onto the sill of the church door, so the President could attend the wedding in his wheel-chair.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy (Fairfax Chapter) dedicated the chimes in the cupola of the Fairfax Methodist Church to Antonia Ford, commemorating a small Southern girl who left a heritage of unselfish love and devotion to the South in general, and to the Town of Fairfax, in particular.

XI. STEALING OF IMPORTANT PAPERS

During the time that the Union Army occupied Fairfax a group of Blenkers Dutch held the court house in the spring or autumn of 1862. They had been recruited in Pennsylvania from the most ignorant and reckless German characters and could not understand a word of English.

Due to the Blenkers Dutch, many important papers at the court house were stolen or destroyed. These men broke open the safe and used wills, deeds, or anything that came into their hands to keep their fires going. It was only by luck that the will of Martha Washington was saved.

A Lt. Col. Thompson who was in command walked in on the men burning papers and made them stop. Reaching down to see what they were burning, he picked out a paper at random. Finding it to be the will of Martha Washington, he put it in his pocket and either mailed it to his daughter or gave it to her after he returned home.

Years later the people of Fairfax learned that the will had been sold by Miss Thompson to J. P. Morgan and they set out to recover it. In the Fairfax County Historical Society Year Book, 1952-53, is an interesting account of the correspondence between Mr. Morgan's son and the citizens of the Town, the Governor of Virginia, and others. The will now rests beside that of George Washington in a glass enclosed case in the Clerk's Office of Fairfax Court House.

It is also well known that Washington's will barely escaped being burned in the fire at Richmond, where it had been sent for safe keeping. When Union forces took possession of Richmond, they went to the state library and scattered papers all over the floor, taking what they wanted. They overlooked Washington's will, however, and Mr. Lewis, who was Secretary of the Commonwealth, picked it up and kept it until after the war, when Mr. O. W. Huntt was sent by the County of Fairfax to Richmond to retrieve the will.

Later on, at the Centennial, copies of Washington's will were evidently sold amidst much criticism from a metropolitan newspaper, for we find a letter from Mr. Richardson, Clerk of the Court, explaining--

"Mr. Andrew Jackson some years ago being a resident of this place made a complete copy of the will (Washington's) and had it certified by the Clerk and published as such. He was assisted in this by the Honorable W. W. Corcoran of Washington, D. C., and these are the copies sold at the Centennial."

XII. RECONSTRUCTION

As the reconstruction period came after the war, Fairfax found herself in a very destitute position. Most of her churches had been burned, her fields destroyed by constant skirmishes, her homes used as headquarters or hospitals by Union soldiers. The Willcoxon Tavern, Duncan's Chapel and doubtless other places had been used as stables for Union horses. Deflation closed in; the people again found themselves having to "pick up the pieces".

Zion Church had been used as a storehouse for munitions for a while and had then been torn down by Union soldiers to provide material for their winter quarters. In February, 1867, Rev. W. A. Alrich was sent to undertake reorganizing the Church. He found eighteen communicants for whom he held services in the court house. He reported "a deep interest manifested in religious matters, and a willingness to make every sacrifice for the sake of the Master and his cause. The people, in their impoverished condition, are making an earnest effort to rebuild their Churches."

Bishop Whittle visited on December 13th, 1869, and there were fourteen persons attending services at the Court House. He reported the new church as being under roof but completion delayed for lack of funds. He wrote, "I think there is no congregation in the Diocese more deserving of help than this, where the people have shown such a determination to help themselves."

By 1872 the second Zion Church had been completed. By December of 1876 the church had been furnished and freed from debt. Its frame building had been erected on the foundation of the original church at a cost of about $2,000.00. In 1882 the present Rectory property was purchased.

Among the families who formed the congregation after the war were the Bakers, Balls, Chichesters, Fairfaxes, Fitzhughs, Fergusons, Gunnells, Hunters, Mosses, Ratcliffes, Ryers, Stuarts, Terretts, Towners, Burkes, Coopers, Loves, Rumseys, Moores, Fords, Bowmans, Keiths, Thorntons, Bleights, Moncures, Ballards, and McWhorters.

The Methodist Church in the meantime found its strength in the southern church's Fairfax Circuit and began to replace the first Duncan's Chapel which had been used by both Confederate and Union forces and was believed to have been finally burned and destroyed by Union troops. In 1882 the local board purchased the lot adjoining Duncan Chapel and built a nine room parsonage. Both of these buildings are used today for official county business.

In 1882 the widely scattered rural membership was hampered by severe winters, bad roads, severe epidemics (diphtheria) and in 1888 Rev. O. C. Beak wrote of the general business depression in this area which caused the church to suffer "from removals". (The Methodist Church did not reach its "Golden Age" until the 1900's.)

The following map of the 1887's shows a black school located next to the Fairfax Cemetery. Church services for the black people were evidently held here too, for older residents of the town speak of sitting on the opposite side of the road listening to the hymns pouring forth from the little schoolhouse.

By 1882 the people began to look forward again throughout the entire nation. The telephone had been invented in 1876. Better news service of the papers followed the founding of the Associated Press. The foundation for the fine art of American printing was being laid. It was one of the most vigorous artistic and intellectual periods.

In Fairfax telephone service was started in 1887. Offices were located in Alexandria, Annandale, Fairfax Court House, Centreville, Gainesville, Haymarket and Thoroughfare. The price of a message to Alexandria was 15 cents, to any other point 10 cents; there was no charge for the answer. Messages were limited to five minutes. The first phone in Fairfax was installed in the Willcoxon Tavern. Here the town people could go to make or receive calls.

Captain S. R. Donohue set up a newspaper office at the west corner of Sager Avenue and Payne Street. He had operated a paper of his own in Alexandria called "The Alexandria Times". When he moved to Fairfax, he brought his printing press with him. This press, which was the first in Fairfax, had to be hand-operated by two men and can still be seen today in the present Fairfax Herald Building.

On Oct. 1, 1890, the people of Fairfax held one of the most spectacular affairs that the town has seen. The occasion was the erecting of the Confederate monument at the town cemetery. As Captain Ballard who headed up the affair proclaimed, the "purpose was to collect together the remains of the Confederate soldiers who, in defense of a common cause, found sepulchre upon Fairfax soil, and to erect a monument to the memory of the Confederate dead."

Two thousand people were to come in all types of conveyances--from the best Washington had to offer down to the backwoods ox cart. Some were even to walk as far as thirty miles to pay tribute to their fellow man.

The town was appropriately decorated for the occasion. Large American flags hung suspended across the streets. Red, white, and blue buntings were artistically draped across the fronts of houses, archways, and gates.

R. E. Lee Camp, Confederate Veterans of Alexandria, turned out with a long line of men, bringing with them Lee Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans. They were the two principal organizations present along with Marr Camp of Fairfax County. Members of other Confederate Veterans Camps came from all over the state--some singly and some in groups. The soldier organizations made their headquarters with Marr Camp just south of the Court House. Here the column was formed for the parade.

At the top of the hill on the Fairfax Station Road, Schroeder's full brass band, dressed in colorful uniforms with the bright yellow instruments reflecting the sun, waited for the columns of soldiers to form. The hundreds of people who had come to witness this historic occasion, in their enthusiasm to view everything, delayed the parade for one and a half hours.

Finally, the people were persuaded to make room for the lines to form and the proud procession began. First came the vivid brass band playing its lively military music. Next came Judge D. M. Chichester as Chief Marshal. He was assisted by Capt. J. O. Berry, Dr. W. D. McWhorter, and Benjamin Simpson, Esquire. Then followed the columns of veterans. The procession led from the top of the hill at the court house, turned left up The Little River Turnpike and then proceeded to the town cemetery.

Here on a crest stood the monument made of Richmond granite. It covered the remains of two hundred heroes. As the people gathered respectfully near the monument, the Rev. J. Cleveland Hall opened the service with a prayer. Capt. Ballard then gave the presentation speech. Gov. William Fitzhugh Lee made appropriate response on behalf of the Ladies' Memorial Association. The Honorable James L. Gordon, who was poet of the day, rendered an "eloquent poem".

The assemblage then returned to the court house which had been decorated with flags and flowers. Here they heard Senator John W. Daniel, General Eppa Hunton, Gen. M. D. Corse, Col. Arthur Herbert, and Col. Berkley. Afterwards, they were served a delicious dinner by the ladies, who also held a fair inside the court house to help raise money for the monument. (It cost $1200.00).

Although we do not have a picture of this occasion, through the courtesy of The Honorable Paul E. Brown, Judge of the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, we are able to show a picture of the commemoration of the Marr monument, which took place in June of 1904 and was probably similar in many ways.

Social life continued and in 1891 a Phantom Ball was given by Messrs. Joseph E. Willard, C. Vernon Ford, Charles and Fay Kilbourne, and Dr. W. P. Malone. Miss Helen Moore was listed among the guests.

In 1892 when the town was chartered, there were two hundred people living at Fairfax Court House. There were three white churches--one Episcopal, one north and one south Methodist. There were two black churches. There was a school for white and a school for black, three or four stores, a newspaper office, a number of comfortable old homes, an old-fashioned tavern, and an undertaker's shop. The bell at the Court House called three to four hundred people to business, to law, and to religion.

_Today, approximately 14,000 people live at Fairfax Court House. There are seven white churches--Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, and Christian Science. There are two black churches. There are three schools for elementary students, one junior high school, and one senior high school, and construction will begin soon for a college. There are three shopping centers, several apartment buildings, a medical center, two large telephone buildings, a library, and a bank. Extensive additions have been made to the original court house and an eight acre tract of land has been purchased on South Payne Street for the future Town Hall._

_Fairfax is just one small example of the results of colonization. Through the trials and tribulations endured by the Jamestown and Maryland colonists, a community was carved out of a wilderness. Through perseverance and courage the colonists built and held on to a civilization. They created homes, schools, churches, and established an independent stronghold on a new continent. It was not easy. Neither will the conquest of a new planet be easy but certainly a wonderful heritage has been left by those who went before._

_As a visitor to Fairfax County in 1798 wrote--_

_"There is a compound of virtue and vice in every human character; no man was ever yet faultless; but whatever may be advanced against Virginians, their good qualities will outweigh their defects; and when the effervescence of youth has abated, when reason asserts her empire, there is no man on earth who discovers more exalted sentiment, more contempt of baseness, more love of justice, more sensibility of feeling, than a Virginian."_

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bull Run Remembers _by Joseph Mills Hanson_

Deed Books and Will Books in Clerk's Office of the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, Virginia

Fairfax County, Virginia--1907

Fairfax County, Virginia, Yesterday ... Today ... Tomorrow--1952.

Flags of America _by W. H. Waldron_

Gentlemen's Magazine

Historic Fairfax County _by Columbus D. Choate_

Historic, Progressive Fairfax County in Old Virginia--1928

Historical Society of Fairfax County, Va., Inc. Yearbook--1951

Historical Society of Fairfax County, Va., Inc. Yearbook--1952-1953

Historical Society of Fairfax County, Va., Inc. Yearbook--1954

Historical Society of Fairfax County, Va., Inc. Yearbook--1955

Historical Society of Fairfax County, Va., Inc. Yearbook--1956-1957.

History of Fairfax County _by Elizabeth Burke_

History of Truro Parish in Virginia, _by Rev. Philip Slaughter, D.D., and edited by the late Rev. Edward L. Goodwin_.

Landmarks of Old Prince William _by Fairfax Harrison_--Vol. I, II

Manassas (Bull Run)--1953

Memorials of Virginia Clerks (1888). _Compiled by F. Johnston_, former clerk of Roanoke County.

Mosby and His Men _by Crawford_

Mosby's Rangers _by Williamson_

Pictorial War Record

The Alexandria Gazette

The Fairfax Herald

The Falls Church Echo

The March of Democracy _by James Truslow Adams_, Vol. I, II, III.

The Memoirs of Col. John S. Mosby, _edited by Charles Wells Russell_.

Townsmen Brochure--1945

Virginia Cavalcade

Willards of Washington by _Garnett Laidlaw Eskew_

_The author is indebted to the following people for their help in compiling the foregoing information_: