The War Clouds Gathering — Fredericksburg in the Confederacy — Troops Raised and Equipped — The Surrender of the
Town to the Federal Authorities — Arrested and Held as Hostages — Citizens Flee from their Homes — The Bombardment of the Town,
&c.
Notwithstanding the fact that Fredericksburg had been growing
for so many years, and the further fact that she had enjoyed the
prosperity which is claimed for her, and of which we have written, the town had attained at this time only to the moderate proportions of a population of about five thousand inhabitants. But it was a delightful place, nevertheless, with a salubrious climate, good water, charming society, picturesque surroundings and cheapness of living, and had about it a quiet and chastened dignity of age and respectability, both attractive and impressive. Such was Fredericksburg when the storm-cloud of war burst upon her in 1861.
FREDERICKSBURG IN THE CONFEDERACY.
We shall not attempt in these pages to fully portray the scenes
enacted in the town, or narrate the part played by Fredericksburg
in that terrible war. A true portrayal and narration of them is
beyond the power of the tongue of the finished orator, the pen of
the most gifted writer or the brush of the most skilled artist. No
one can know them save those who endured them and were a part
and parcel of them, and even they are unable to describe them with
all of their horrible, bloody and destructive realities. It would
take a pen almost inspired to truthfully describe the fiery scenes, the devastation, the trials, the privations, the sufferings of body and mind and the heroism of the inhabitants, who were then in town, in the terrible ordeal through which they passed, and the fortitude with which they stood the test. A great change was now about to take place. The quiet of the staid and sober town was about to be broken by the sound of the drum and the tramp of armed men. The activity of commerce had ceased, a spirit of patriotism prevailed; and this patriotism was not demonstrative only, it was deep and real, and was afterwards sealed by the best blood of the town.
TROOPS RAISED AND EQUIPPED.