ན་ Monroe, each of whom served two terms. Tyler was also from Virginia, and Harrison and Taylor were born in Virginia, though they were residents of other states when elected. Thus she has given to the Union more presidents than any other state. Burning of the Richmond Theater. - A domestic calamity that occurred on the night of December 26, 1811, claims a place in history. This was the burning of the Richmond. theater, when it was filled with a fashionable audience of about six hundred, who had assembled to witness a drama called the Bleeding Nun. During the performance a spark fell on the curtain of the stage, and from this the building was speedily enveloped in flames. A panic ensued, and seventy persons lost their lives, many of whom belonged to the most influential families in the state. This memorable disaster filled the city with mourning. Throughout the state, and indeed all over the country, it caused the deepest sorrow. The Assembly of Virginia by resolution requested its members to wear crape for thirty days, and the same action was taken by Congress. The next year, Monumental Church was erected where the theater had been. The church still stands, and at the door there is a marble monument, upon which are the names of a number of those who perished in this disaster. War of 1812.1- - In the war which the United States waged against Great Britain in 1812, volunteers enlisted from all parts of Virginia in the service of their country; and the state patriotically sustained the Federal government. Only once during the war was the territory of Virginia invaded. This was just a few months before the termination of hostilities, when Admiral Cockburn, who commanded a British fleet, entered the waters of the Chesapeake and laid waste its banks. He captured Hampton; 1 The cause of this war, briefly stated, was as follows: During the first years of the nineteenth century, England and France were at war, and each of these nations prohibited American ships from trading with the other. This nearly ruined the commerce of the United States, and brought on a quarrel with England. The feeling of hostility toward England, caused by the damage to trade, was further increased by a right she claimed of searching American vessels, and of taking from them English seamen, in order to force them into her navy. In exercising this right, she did not always stop with her own subjects, but compelled many American seamen to enter her service. Finally, the people decided that these outrages could be borne no longer; and, on June 18, 1812, the United States declared war against England. "Free trade and Sailors' Rights" was the popular cry that brought on the war. and, during the short time he occupied the place, rendered himself infamous by allowing his soldiers and negroes that followed them to commit outrages of every kind upon the defenseless inhabitants. During the first What Virginians did for the Union. half of the nineteenth century, the territory of the United States was nearly quadrupled; and Virginians were instrumental either directly or indirectly in bringing about the greater part of this tremendous increase of area. The territory of Louisiana was purchased by Thomas Jefferson while he was President. This province, which had been ceded by Spain to France, extended from the Gulf of Mexico on the south to Canada on the north, and from the Mississippi River on the east to the Rocky Mountains on the west; in securing this, Jefferson more than doubled the area of the United States. Nor was this all that he did to extend the dominion of the Union. In 1804 he sent Captains Lewis and Clark of Albemarle County, Virginia, with a party of men to explore the territory of Louisiana. They ascended the Missouri River as far as they could in boats, and proceeded on foot till they came to its source. After this, making their way across the Rocky Mountains, they explored the valley of the Columbia River, till they reached the Pacific Ocean. The discoveries which were made by Lewis and Clark proved to be important, as they aided the United States, at a later period, in establishing her title to Oregon. President Monroe, during his administration, purchased Florida from Spain, thus adding another large area to the public domain. General Sam Houston, a native of Rockbridge County, led the Texans to victory in their struggle for independence from Mexico; which resulted in the admission of Texas to the Union. In the war with Mexico which followed, two Virginians, Generals Taylor and Scott, commanded the United States armies, when they achieved that wonderful succession of victories, which led to the submission of Mexico and to the dismemberment of her territory, a large part of which came to the United States.1 "The Pathfinder of the Sea." - To the scientific investigations of a Virginian, Matthew Fontaine Maury, not only the United States but the whole civilized world is indebted. He entered the navy in 1825, and in 1842 was appointed Superintendent of the Depot of Charts and Instruments at Washington. At this time the sailing maps in use were very inaccurate, and but meager information had been obtained in regard to ocean currents. Maury soon published a chart, which he called a "Fair Way to Rio." This proved to be so accurate and valuable that Congress authorized him to make systematic observations of winds and currents. This he did, and as a result originated a system of "Wind and Current Charts," which was speedily adopted by mariners of all nations. By its use thousands of lives were annually saved and millions of dollars in the cost of voyages. Maury also instituted deep sea soundings,2 which convinced him that the bottom of the ocean between Newfoundland and Ireland was a plateau, the surface of which was not disturbed by either 1 This war broke out in 1846, as a result of a dispute between the United States and Mexico in regard to the western boundary of Texas. Mexico was defeated, and in 1848 signed a treaty by which she ceded to the United States all the territory claimed by Texas, and in addition the territory of California and New Mexico, out of which a number of states were made. Many Virginians fought in Mexico, and received there the training which rendered them so efficient as soldiers in 1861, when Virginia felt under the painful necessity of drawing the sword against the Union. 2 Colonel John M. Brooke of Virginia rendered Maury valuable aid in deep sea soundings by inventing an apparatus which brought up specimens from the bottom of the ocean. waves or currents. He suggested that the wires of a submarine telegraph could be safely laid upon this. His idea was followed up, and in 1858 Europe and America were connected by the first Atlantic cable. Upon Maury the principal nations of Europe conferred many honors in recognition of his services to mankind. His Physical Geography of the Sea, which has been translated into many languages, is an enduring monument to his genius. Virginia's Influence upon other States. The Old Dominion, whose hardy pioneers began at an early period to push their way out into the South and West, has done her full part in bringing about the settlement and development of the United States. As early as 1653, ten years before the profligate Charles II. granted North Carolina to "lord proprietors," Roger Greene, with one hundred men from Virginia, settled on the northern shore of Albemarle Sound, and thus laid the foundation of the colony that grew into North Carolina. In 1750, Dr. Thomas Walker and a company of Virginians explored a part of Tennessee and discovered the Cumberland River and Mountains, which they named after the Duke of Cumberland. John Sevier and James Robertson, both Virginians by birth, were the leaders in founding the earliest settlements in Tennessee, and Sevier was elected first governor of the state. In such enterprises as these Virginia has borne a prominent part. Her influence has been great in some states of the West, and the beginning of nearly all government in the South can be traced to her. Her University, which was founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819, and may justly be called the noblest work of his life, was for a long time the educational center of the whole South. Its halls are still filled with students from many states, and its alumni are to be found all over the country. |