Chapter 6
Ordered: That the Vestry do meet the third Monday in February next, at the Glebe house, in order to see what repairs are wanted to it and the New Church, and the Church Wardens are ordered to give notice to workmen to appear there to undertake the work and also to repair the Pohick Church and the Vestry House.
October 8, 1750:
John Wiber Danty, clk. Upper Church, 1,000 pounds of tobacco.
Mary Bennitt, sexton Upper Church, 460 pounds of tobacco.
October 14, 1751:
John Wiber Danty, clk. Upper Church for 7 months attendance, 581 pounds of tobacco.
Mary Bennitt, sexton, Upper Church, 560 pounds of tobacco.
October 2, 1752:
John Wiber Danty, clk. Upper Church, 1,000 pounds of tobacco.
Mary Bennitt, sexton, Upper Church, 560 pounds of tobacco.
Ordered: That the clerk of the Upper Church read prayers every intervening Sunday, and that he be allowed 1,200 pounds of tobacco per annum for his salary.
Mr. Cha. Broadwater and Mr. Abraham Barnes are appointed Church Wardens for this parish for the ensuing year.
October 22, 1753:
Mary Bennitt, sexton at the Upper Church, 560 pounds of tobacco.
John Wiber Danty, clerk at the Upper Church, 1,100 pounds of tobacco.
November 22, 1754:
Wm. Donaldson, Clk. Upper Church, 1,000 pounds of tobacco.
Mary Bennitt, sexton at the Upper Church, 560 pounds of tobacco.
September 17, 1755:
Ordered: That the several tracts of land that have their beginnings between Hunting Creek and the Potomac, the road that leads from Aubrey's Ferry to the Upper Church, and the road that leads from Cameron to the Upper Church, be processioned sometime in the month of December, next, and that John Dalton, Thos. Harrison, John Hunter and Nathan'l Smith attend to see the same performed, and that they take an account of their proceedings therein and return the same to the next Vestry after the same shall be performed.
November 27, 1755:
Wm. Donaldson, Clk. at Upper Church, 1,000 pounds of tobacco. James Palmer, sexton at Falls Church, 560 pounds of tobacco.
November 29, 1756:
Mr. Lumley, Clk. at Upper Church, 1,000 pounds of tobacco. James Palmer, sexton, Upper Church, 560 pounds of tobacco.
November 28, 1757:
Jas. Palmer, sexton at Falls Church, 560 pounds of tobacco.
November 27, 1758:
Jas. Palmer, sexton at Falls Church, 560 pounds of tobacco.
November 12, 1759:
Thos. Lewis, Clk. at Falls Church, 1,050 pounds of tobacco. Gerard Trammell, sexton, at Falls Church, 560 pounds of tobacco.
October 25, 1762:
Ordered that Geo. Washington, Esq., be chosen and appointed one of the Vestrymen of this parish in the room of Wm. Peake, gent., deceased.
Ordered that the sexton at Falls Church be allowed 560 pounds of tobacco.
October 3, 1763:
At a Vestry held for Truro Parish, October 3, 1763, present: Rev. Mr. Green, minister; Wm. Payne, jun'r., and Henry Gunnell, Ch. Wardens; Geo. Wm. Fairfax, Thos. Wren, Wm. Payne, Abra. Barnes, Cha. Broadwater, John West, and Geo. Mason, Vestrymen.
TRURO PARISH.
DR., Lbs. Tobacco. To Revd. Mr. Green, minister 17,280 Sexton at Pohick Church (Eliz Parce) 560 Sexton at Falls Church (Gerard Trammell) 560 Sexton at Alexandria (John Rhoads) 500 John Barry, Clk. 3,000 John West, Junr. Clk. Vestry 500 John West, Junr. Amt. for providing-Elem'ts etc. 1,200 Matthew Bradley, for support of his son 1,000 Jos. Wilson, towards support of himself and wife 500 Robt. Mills, towards his support 630 Elizabeth Palmer, for support of her idiot son, (to be laid up for her use by Church Wrdns.) 1,000 John Posey, for 11 parish levies overchd. last year 242 Edwd. Bates, for his levies the two last years, (Tho' a Patroller) 48 Gerard Trammell, constable, one levy overchd. last year 22 Philip Trammell, patroller, one levy overchd. last year 22 Saml. Russell, towards his support until October, 1764 1,000 Eliza. Young, for boarding Charlotte Lindsay 2 mo. 1 £. 10 s. Saml. Conner, for assistance to Saml. Russell 500 Hugh West, Deputy Atty. on acct. 913 Grafton Kirk, on acct. 600 Peter Waggner, Clk. Cur. on acct. 837 Tobacco levied towards building Falls Church, to be sold for cash by the Church Wardens for the best price they can get 30,000 £ s d.
Dr. Jas. Lawrie for Mason and Jane Evans 4 7 6 " " " " Eleanor Swallow 700 5 7 6 " " " " Sparrow 0 7 5 John Muir, on acct 3 17 4-1/2 _____________________ 61,614 15 9 10-1/2 To Acct. of Collection of 61,614 lbs. tobc. 3,696 ______ Total 65,310 To the fraction in collectors' hands 1,549 ______ 66,859 ______ Truro Parish Cr. by 1807 tithables at 37 lbs. tobc. on acct. poll 66,859 ______
Ordered: That the Clerk of the Vestry proportion the parish levy when he shall receive the list of tithables.
Ordered: That Geo. Wm. Fairfax, & Geo. Washington, Esqs., be appointed Church Wardens for the ensuing year.
Ordered: That the Vestry meet at Alexandria on the third Tuesday in March, next, in order to agree with workmen to undertake the building a church at or near the old Falls Church, and that the Church Wardens advertise the same in the Virginia and Maryland Gazettes, to be continued six weeks, and that it will be then expected of each workman to produce a plan and estimate of the expense.
CHA. GREEN, } G. W. FAIRFAX. }C. W.
Truly Recorded: Teste--John West, junr., Cl. Vestry.
March 28, 1763:
At a Vestry of Truro Parish held at the Falls Church March 28, 1763; present: Henry Gunnell, Wm. Payne, jr., Ch. Wardens; John West, Wm. Payne, Chas. Broadwater, Thos. Wren, Abra. Barnes, Dan'l McCarty, Robt. Boggers, and Geo. Washington; who being there met to examine into the state of the said church, greatly in decay and want of repair, and likewise whether the same shall be repaired or a new one built, and whether at the same place or removed to a more convenient one, and likewise to view the addition built by Mr. Chas. Broadwater, and what he hath been deficient in the work.
Resolved: It is the opinion of this Vestry that the Old Church is rotten and unfit for repair, but that a new church be built at the same place.
Resolved: That Jas. Wren and Owen Williams do view the work to be done by Mr. Broadwater on the new addition, that is, the price of glazing three windows, plaistering the said house, together with the materials necessary for the same, and make report to the next Vestry.
Ordered: That the Clerk of the Vestry advertise in the Virginia and Maryland Gazettes for workmen to meet at the church on the 29th day of August, next, if fair, if not the next fair day, to undertake the building of a brick church to contain 1,600 feet on the floor, with a suitable gallery & bring plan of the church and price, according to the same.
Ordered: That the Church Wardens employ workmen to repair the windows of the north side & the east end of the old church & repair the shutters of the new addition.
HENRY GUNNELL, WM. PAYNE.
(N. B.) This Vestry was held when I was sick and could not attend--above orders were sent as above, signed by Messrs. Gunnell and Payne, and I thought fit to record the same, tho in point of time it should have been before the last one.
JOHN WEST, junr.
April 26, 1765:
Vestry records of this date state that Truro Parish had been divided from Col. Washington's mill to John Monroe's and thence to Difficult Run, the upper parish called Fairfax.
February 3, 1766:
In the record of a Vestry meeting held for Truro Parish at Wm. Gardner's the 3rd and 4th of February, 1766, is the following: It appearing from an order of the Vestry bearing date the 25th day of March, 1763, that there was a deficiency in the work which ought to have been done on the Falls Church, by Mr. Chas. Broadwater, and that persons were appointed to view the same and report and no report appearing upon the records of this parish, it is ordered that the Church Wardens do inquire into the same and report accordingly. [Geo. Washington was present at this meeting. Ed.]
July 10, 1766:
At a Vestry held for Truro Parish July 10, 1766, Mr. Edward Payne, one of the Church Wardens, having reported to this Vestry that he had applied to the persons formally appointed to view the work which ought to have been done on the Falls Church by Mr. Chas. Broadwater, and that they denied having any order to view the same and refused to concern themselves;
Ordered: That Thos. Price do view the work done to the Falls Church and report what deficiency appears in the same, and that Mr. Edward Payne do apply to the Vestry of Fairfax Parish to appoint a workman to view the same and that the said do report as aforesaid, and that Mr. Edward Payne attend the viewing on behalf of this parish and to apply to the said Vestry to appoint one of their members to attend the same on behalf of their parish.
February 23, 1767:
At a Vestry held for Truro Parish at the Glebe the 23rd day of February, 1767, at which Geo. Washington was present, it was ordered: A report being made to this Vestry by Jas. Wren and Thos. Price, two workmen empowered by a formal order of this Vestry to view the work done to the Falls Church and to report what deficiency appeared in the same, etc., by which report there appears to be a deficiency of 9 £ 14 s. 6 p.
Ordered: That the Church Wardens of this parish apply to Maj. Chas. Broadwater, the undertaker of said work, for the said sum, and account with the Vestry of Fairfax Parish for their proportion of the same when it is received.
Ordered: That a Vestry House be built at the New Church of the dimensions and in manner following * * (Capt. Ed. Payne agreeing with the Vestry to build said house).
September 9, 1768:
At a Vestry held for Truro Parish September 9, 1768, at which Geo. Washington was present, the following entries appear:
That the Vestry being convened at the New Church in order to view and examine the work, and having done so do find the same completed and finished according to the articles of agreement between Capt. Ed. Payne, the undertaker * * *
Ordered: That Col. Geo. Mason pay him the sum of 193 pounds out of the money in his hands belonging to the parish the same being the last payment due to the said Payne, for the said church. (This was probably known as Payne's Church; the church near the Fairfax C. H.)
November 28, 1768:
At a Vestry held for Truro Parish November 28, 1768, at which Geo. Washington was present, it was ordered: That Geo. Washington, Esq., pay to Alex. Henderson the sum of £. 8, being the balance of £ 9 14 s., 6 p., received from Maj. Chas. Broadwater for a deficiency on the Falls Church.
February 24, 1784:
At a Vestry held for Truro Parish at Colchester, the 22nd day of February, 1784, John Gibson, gent., is elected for a member of this Parish in the room of his Excellency General Washington, who has signified his resignation in a letter to Dan'l McCarty, esq.
Falls Church in the Civil War.
In May, 1861, the Union troops moved into Virginia and occupied Arlington Heights and Alexandria. On June 1 an engagement at Fairfax Court House between a company of Union cavalry and Confederate troops resulted in the loss of six Union and twenty Confederate soldiers. The Union forces under General McDowell occupied the town of Fairfax about the middle of July, inaugurating the first Bull Run Campaign. The battle of Bull Run was fought July 21, 1861.
After the first battle of Bull Run, a systematic plan for the defense of the National Capital began to take shape. At that time the commanding heights four miles west of Alexandria and six miles from Washington were occupied by the Confederates, Falls Church being the headquarters of General Longstreet.
In October, 1861, the hills were again taken possession of by the Union troops. The system of works for the defense of Washington on the south began with Fort Willard below Alexandria, and terminated with Fort Smith opposite Georgetown, comprising in all twenty-nine forts and eleven supporting batteries, besides Forts Ethan Allen and Marcy at the Virginia end of Chain Bridge, with their five batteries of field guns.
Falls Church was the most advanced post of General McDowell's corps, when on August 3, 1861, a correspondent of Harper's Weekly writing from here to that paper described the old Church as it appeared at the beginning of the Civil war as follows:
"On this page we illustrate Fall's Church, Fairfax County, Virginia, from a sketch by our special artist with General McDowell's 'corps d'armee.' This is the most advanced post of our army in Fairfax County, and has been the scene of several picket skirmishes. Falls Church was built in 1709, and rebuilt, as an inscription on the wall informs us, by the late "Lord" Fairfax, whose son, the present "Lord" Fairfax, is supposed to be serving in the rebel army. The title of "Lord," we may observe, is still given to the representative of the family. The inscription on the old church reads as follows:
'Henry Fairfax, an accomplished gentlemen, an upright magistrate, a sincere Christian, died in command of the Fairfax Volunteers at Saltillo, Mexico, 1847. But for his munificence this church might still have been a ruin.'
Service was held in the old church two Sundays since, Rev. Dr. Mines, Chaplain of Second Maine Regiment, officiating, and most of the troops in the neighborhood being present."
Captain Henry Fairfax, to whose memory the tablet alluded to was placed in the old church, was a graduate of West Point. At the outbreak of the Mexican War, he organized a company called the Fairfax Volunteers sailing to Mexico with the regiment of Virginia volunteers under command of Colonel John F. Hamtramck. Upon arriving in Mexico, Captain Fairfax fell a victim to the climate and died at Saltillo, August 16, 1847. His body was brought home and buried near the church he loved so well, and it is thought that the grave which may be seen in the foreground of the war-time picture of the church on page 62 may be his. The tablet to his memory has long since been destroyed, and every vestige of his tombstone has disappeared, but nature, not forgetting his generous gifts to the old church, has sent up a spire-shaped cedar to mark his grave. Colonel Hamtramck died April 21, 1858, at Shepardstown, Va.
The damage to the old church, according to one of the oldest citizens of the town, Mr. George B. Ives, was done by a company of Union cavalry on picket duty under command of a captain of the regular army. He permitted his men to tear out the floor of the church and use it for a stable. The building might have been damaged beyond repair had it not been for Mr. Ives and the late Mr. John Bartlett, who reported the matter to General Augur, the Military Governor of this district, by whose orders the captain was arrested and further desecration prevented.
About three miles from Falls Church, on the Alexandria turnpike, is Bailey's Cross Roads, where in November, 1861, President Lincoln reviewed the Union forces preparatory to the Peninsular Campaign.
The story of the most important events occurring during those stormy times around the old Colonial church is best told by the "Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies," extracts from reports therein following:
SKIRMISH AT MUNSON'S HILL AUGUST 31, 1861.
Report of Colonel Geo. W. Taylor, 3rd N. J. Infantry, dated September 2, 1861.
GENERAL: The pickets of the enemy having for some time been extremely annoying to outposts on Little River Turnpike and on the road leading from thence to Chestnut Hill, I decided on making a reconnaissance in person with a small force with the view of cutting them off. Accordingly I marched with 40 men, volunteers from 2 companies of my regiment, on the morning of Aug. 31, at 3 a. m., and keeping to the woods arrived soon after daylight at or near the point, a little beyond, at which I desired to strike the road and cut them off.
Here we were obliged to cross a fence and a narrow corn field where the enemy, who had doubtless dogged our approach through the woods, lay in considerable force.
While in the corn we were suddenly opened upon by a rapid and sharp fire which our men, whenever they got sight of the enemy, returned with much spirit. Scarce two minutes elapsed when I found 3 men close to me had been shot down. The enemy being mostly hid, I deemed it prudent to order my men to fall back to the woods, distant about 30 yards, which I did.
At the same time I ordered enough to remain with me to carry off the wounded, but they did not hear or heed my order except two. With these we got all off, as I supposed, the corn being thick, but Corporal Hand, Co. 1, who, when I turned him over, appeared to be dying. I took his musket, also the musket of one of the wounded and returned to the woods to rally the men. I regret to say that none of them could be found, nor did I meet them until I reached the blacksmith shop, three-quarters of a mile distant.
Here I found Capt. Regur, Company I, with his command. Re-enforcing him with 25 men of the picket, then in charge of Capt. Vickers, 3rd regiment N. J. volunteers, with the latter he immediately marched back to bring in Corporal Hand, and any others still missing. He reports that on reaching the ground, he found the enemy in increased force, and did not re-enter the corn field, in which I think he was justified. I should have stated that quite a number of the enemy were in full view in the road when we jumped the fence and charged them, and that each man in the charge, Capt. Regur leading by my side, seemed eager to be foremost; nor did one to my knowledge flinch from the contest until my order to fall back to the woods, which fortunately they misconstrued into a continuous retreat to our pickets. The enemy seemed to have retreated very soon after, as the firing had ceased before I left.
The 3 wounded men are doing well except one. As near as I can ascertain there were 3 of the enemy shot down.
The whole affair did not last 10 minutes.
The officers with me were Capt. Regur, Co. I, 1st Lieut. Taylor and 2d Lieut. Spencer, both of the same company.
All of which I have the honor, respectfully to report.
GEO. W. TAYLOR, Colonel, 3rd Regiment N. J. Volunteers
BRIG. GEN. P. KEARNY, Commanding Brigade.
Sept. 12, 1861: Longstreet states that Colonel Stuart has been at Munson Hill since its occupation by the Confederate troops; that he had driven the enemy from Mason's, Munson's and Upton's Hills.
Sept. 25, 1861: Reconnaissance at Lewinsville and skirmish near that place with Stuart's cavalry. Union force 5,100 infantry, 16 pieces of artillery and 150 cavalry, under Brig. Gen. Wm. F. Smith, commanding at Chain Bridge.
Sept. 25, 1861: Report of General J. E. Johnston, Headquarters Army of Potomac to Secretary of War, Richmond, states that an advance guard of 11 regiments of infantry and Colonel Stuart's calvary is stationed at Falls Church, Munson's and Mason's Hills, at Padgett's and at Springfield Station on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad in a strong defensive position.
Sept. 28, 1861: Affair at Munson's Hill, near Vanderburg's House. Union force attacked at night on march to Poolesville. Lieut. Col. Isaac J. Wistar, Commanding California Regiment, reported 4 killed and 14 wounded.
Nov. 16, 1861: In General Orders No. 45, Headquarters Army of Potomac, Major General McClellan gave Fort on Upton's Hill name of Fort Ramsay.
Nov. 18, 1861: Skirmish on road from Falls Church to Fairfax Court House, about a mile south of Falls Church, between a detachment of 1st Va. Cavalry under Lieut. Col. Fitz Lee, and 14th N. Y. S. M., under Lt. Col. E. B. Fowler. Union loss 2 killed, 1 wounded, 10 missing. Confederate loss, Private Tucker killed and John C. Chichester, Lee's guide, mortally wounded; 2 slightly wounded. Col. Lee's horse killed under him during action.
Sept. 2, 1862: Skirmish near Falls Church. F. J. Porter, Major General Commanding, Headquarters Army Corps, Hall's Hill, in his report to General Marcy states that a battery supported by cavalry suddenly appeared on Barnett's Hill and opened fire upon Pleasanton at Falls Church, while dismounted cavalry fired upon and killed 3 of his mounted pickets, who, armed only with sabers and pistols, could not contend with the enemy protected by timber. Pleasanton replied with his battery but the shots fell very short. The enemy supposed to have come from direction of Hunter's Mill returned toward Vienna. He states that the country beyond his picket lines affords every facility for such attacks, and that the commanding general must expect them to be frequent so long as the enemy continues in large force in his front and wishes to divert attention from other movements, that from the opposite hills his camp and movements are open to view of the enemy.