THE PRESERVATION OF OUR SHRINES By J. A. C. Chandler
The 26th day of April is, in a sense, the natal day of English-
America. It is true that 22 years before a settlement had been made at
Roanoke Island, and in order to emphasize our Southern history we should not fail to stress the fact that the settlement made on Roanoke Island was the first English settlement made in America. After two years of existence this settlement perished. It had no further relation with the Mother Country and therefore English-America did not grow directly out of this settlement. Indirectly it did, however, in that tenacity that is so characteristic of the English is clearly seen and that British determination to have a settlement. In less than 15 years after the failure of the Roanoke colonies the English were still considering how they were to establish a colony in America. Then came the organization of the Virginia Company in the effort made in Maine for a settlement, and finally the sending to America of the three ships and 105 settlers.
On the 26th day of April, 1607, these ships having braved the ocean currents and having already reached the capes, decided to go ashore. From that landing on April 26, 1607, English-America has been in existence. It was on the 13th day of May, just 17 days later, that the first settlement was made at Jamestown, and Jamestown continued to exist as a town until 1698. In the meantime there were over 20,000 inhabitants in Virginia and the capital was moved to Williamsburg. It is true that in 1610 the settlers came very near to abandoning Virginia and had already embarked from Jamestown down the river, when a small boat came announcing that aid was on the way and thus Jamestown was saved and not abandoned until the colony had been well established. Therefore, the first statement that I want to emphasize clearly is that I regard that to-day we are really celebrating the 319th anniversary of the natal day of Virginia. While no settlement was made at Cape Henry and the settlers were only exploring, it was the first landing in order to finally pick out a place where their homes might
be built. I congratulate the Tidewater Assembly, therefore, upon hav-
ing selected the 26th day of April as their meeting day.
Tidewater Virginia then is, so far as our beginnings are concerned,
the most important spot in America. Why do I say that:
1. Because of the first permanent English settlement in America,
as we have already stressed.
2. Because, after a number of English colonies had been settled in America, the time came when a spirit grew up which emphasized the fact that we were not enjoying all those privileges which by rights belonged to an English born subject, and we began to protest against the English rule, the acts of Parliament, and the acts of the King. These protests were not altogether from Virginia. They came from other colonies, they came from Massachusetts, they came from North Caro-
lina, and they came from Maryland., Almost simultaneously Henry and
Otis were declaring that we did not have our English rights. While Henry was discussing the "Parson's Case" at Hanover Courthouse, Otis was debating the Writs of Assistance in Boston. It is to be remembered, however, that nearly 100 years before this certain Virginia citizens, led by Nathaniel Bacon, had protested against English rule as it was carried out in this colony by Sir William Berkeley. All along, therefore, Virginia was preparing the way for freedom. Then came the
This content downloaded from 128.239.99.103 on Tue, 31 Oct 2017 16:09:59 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
WILLIAM AND MARY QUARTERLY 301
Stamp Act protest and various resolves in which the most vigorous Royalists of Virginia entered. Virginia stood for the Committees of Safety and Correspondence and entered heartily into all the Continental Congresses; her convention passed the first formal resolution for independence. Virginia introduced the resolution for a general declara-
tion of independence by all of the colonies.
A Virginian drew the Declaration of Independence, and finally the Revolutionary War closed at Yorktown with the surrender of Cornwallis, which practically gave us our independence from Great Britain. Therefore, the second point to remember is that while English-America began in Virginia that the United States accomplished its independence
on Virginia soil and that in Tidewater.
I think it but right that here I should also mention that when the time came when dissentions arose within the United States and when our ancestors, because of the attitude of a number of the states and of the Federal Government felt constrained to establish a new country within these United States, that after a long and bitter war, remembered now by only a few from personal experience, but of which all of us know from our fathers, it was on Virginia soil that this new country, the Confederate States of America, lost its identity, and the division of this great United States was prevented. We suffered much in a cause which was just and right politically, though not economically, and as much as we honor our ancestors who clamored for their political rights under the Constitution of the United States, it is well that we are one great country and we are proud of these United States. Therefore, on an occasion of this kind it is but fitting that we should be a little boastful and a little proud that on Virginia soil has occurred the great events in our history which were crucial and which have made us the great nation that we are. In this I would not detract one minute from the glory that belongs to Philadelphia as the home of Independence Hall, as being the city in which the Declaration of Independence of the United States was adopted, and in which the Constitution of the United States was adopted, but I would not have you forget that Virginia was responsible for the Declaration of Independence and for the Constitution of the United States. Then on May 15, 1776, when she asked for a Declaration of Independence, she also instructed her people to enter into articles of agreement for the United States. Out of her suggestion grew the first Constitution of the United States-the Articles of Confederation-out of her further suggestions grew the movement which produced the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Therefore, I am claiming that not only the first settlement occurred in Virginia but that the crucial events of our country took place on our soil.
If these facts are so, then there are many spots in this State mad sacred by the history which occurred there. There are many spots t should be marked so that posterity for thousands of years to come m
know of these facts.
In England and Scotland battlefields of 500, 800, and 900 years ago are marked by some definite monument and any visitor who passes the spot can read an inscription which tells of the great event which took place there. Every one of the vital spots in eastern Virginia should be marked. We know, for example, of the battle of the Merrimac and Monitor in Hampton Roads, but there should be a good marker placed upon the shores, at the nearest point, which tells that at such a distance to the north or west, as the case might be, or south or east, as the case might be, there took place this battle and what it was. Every
This content downloaded from 128.239.99.103 on Tue, 31 Oct 2017 16:09:59 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
302 WILLIAM AND MARY QUARTERLY
historic point in Norfolk should be marked, every one in Suffolk, and Cape Henry. Some of these places have been marked and I am glad that you have the spirit to make pilgrimage to one of these to-dayCape Henry-where this first landing took place. It is a splendid endeavor that the D. A. R.'s, A. P. V. A.'s, S. A. R.'s, and women's clubs and other organizations are making to preserve our history and to mark these great spots. When you come north of the James River and east of Hampton Roads there are many places in Hampton, Old Point, Newport News, Elizabeth City County, and York County that should not be forgotten. Those who have worked faithfully should be encouraged by still more support, and particularly do I want to make a plea for the preservation of Yorktown, for the old fortifications, and for a survey to be made of the battlefield, and for more markers to be placed there to indicate the position of the troops and the headquarters. It will be only a short time before all the events of Yorktown will become tradition, but with proper markers the whole story of the battle of Yorktown can be told. Several of the important points in Williamsburg have been also noted, but there are a great many yet that have not anything to indicate their historic significance. For example, those who love the dramatic art could do a most handsome thing if a permanent marker were put on the site of the first theater in America. Only a little printed sign on a piece of plank indicates that site. The George Wythe home in Williamsburg ought to be permanently marked. As far as I know there is no marker in Williamsburg that brings out Washington's association with the place. There is no marker in the place that brings out the association of the French generals towards the place. The soldiers who were wounded at Yorktown were brought to Williamsburg and were treated in the Main Building of the College, which had been converted into a hospital. Many of them died and the old cemetery in which they were buried was never marked and is now an open field. No one in Williamsburg knows exactly where it is, though at least two persons have told me that as a child a certain place was pointed out to them as the Revolutionary cemetery. The old Colonial Record office,
the old jail in which Governor Hamilton, from Indiana, was confined,
the site of the Raleigh Tavern, and Bassett Hall are marked but not in a way as to tell the history of these places. Take our Powder Horn. A tablet should be there which would give more of the history so that all who pass might learn more of what has been done on our soil.
Why do we want all of these markers? Is it merely to boast of it,
merely to make the world think what great people the Virginians were? No. It is to teach patriotism, by placing before every citizen some knowledge of the greatness of his country, and to create within them a desire to do great things also. I believe that the English people owe their great perseverance and determination, not only to the economic condition under which they have had to live, where they have had to find a means by which they could gain a livelihood, for, as you know, in England naturally living conditions were very difficult and climate and isolation had to be overcome, whereas we have been favored with climate and natural resources as no country in the world, but I say while the English people have accomplished as much as they have in many ways because of these economic conditions, that is not the principal reason. Primarily the great spirit of patriotism, the spirit of confidence that they can do if they will do, created by what their ancestors have done-the exultation that they have in history. Even the peasant class of England know their history and their historic spots and can
This content downloaded from 128.239.99.103 on Tue, 31 Oct 2017 16:09:59 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
WILLIAM AND MARY QUARTERLY 303
tell of the romance and conditions of their own immediate community. Where a martyr was burned or a famous robber was executed, there is often a marker and over and over again these things have been handed down, not only by word of mouth but by inscriptions that every passer by can see, and I just believe that in the long run nothing will create
more patriotism and a greater incentive for and a full realization of
what our ancestors have accomplished. Moreover, the schools are endeavoring to emphasize patriotism and in their perseverance if they take the lessons from their own location and emphasize these historic points and make the proper appeal to the young it will send them out into life with a strong desire to accomplish even more than our ancestors did. It is from our history, therefore, that we are to draw great lessons for the future. It is not to be content with the past but to have knowledge of the past in order that we may apply it and use it for greater things in the future. Ancestor worship is of no avail unless we profit by the greatness of our ancestors. Many a boy and many a girl, for example, is deterred from doing things that are vicious because they do not wish to do things that will bring reproach upon the names of their mothers and fathers. We want them to have a high ideal. We want them to have the ideal of right living because it is right. We want them to have the ideal of doing something because
it is right that a man should do something and accomplish something,
and I do not know of anything that can give that ideal any better than the constant emphasis of what has been accomplished and that it is our duty to accomplish even more. We must add to that which has already been done. We are the heirs of the ages and must begin where our ancestors left off and add to the sum total of good already in the
world.
This content downloaded from 128.239.99.103 on Tue, 31 Oct 2017 16:09:59 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms