Mary Washington College - Battlefield Yearbook (Fredericksburg, VA)

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C. O ' CONOR GOOLRICK Former Senator from the State of Virginia In 1908 a bill was presented to the General Assembly of the Virginia Legislature for the establish- ment of one or more State normal and industrial schools for women. After a sharp fight among numer- ous cities and towns over the location of the school, Fredericksburg, through the staunch advocacy of Senator Goolrick, was selected as the site for one, and its establishment was provided in the general appropriation bill approved March 14, Acts of Assembly, 1908. This school is now Mary Washington College of the University of Virginia.

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C K T E 7i T S A HISTORY OF MARY WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CAMPUS VIEWS ADMINISTRATION AND FACULTY CLASS HISTORIES, OFFICERS, AND CLASSES ORGANIZATIONS AND ACTIVITIES

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A HISTORY OF JMary Washington Ollegtj of the University of Virginia By C. O ' CONOR GOOLRICK fCCORDING both to history and tradition, this beautiful college, founded in Nineteen Hundred and Eight, occupies the ground upon which three hundred years before Captain John Smith discovered a village of the Seacobeck Indians and despite the difficulties attendant thereon engaged in friendly barter with their chief. This historic visit of the great English explorer to the then friendly Indian occupants of the village is recorded on an engraved cop- per plate which the visitor will note on the wall of Seacobeck Hall. Despite the lapse of all these years there may at times be unearthed in the grounds of the college mementoes of its aboriginal owners, consisting of exquisitely carved arrow-heads of crystal formation and even an occasional tommy-hawk, these furnishings proof of the fact that the Indian villagers were not only traders but warriors. Time passed and as civilization advanced the town of Fredericksburg was established on the banks of the Rap- pahannock River, which derives its picturesque name from the Indian language. Later, as the town grew. Betty Washington Lewis, daughter of Mary Washing- ton, became the mistress of what is now one of Virginia ' s historic shrines, in close proximity to and in view of the college. General Washington was a frequent guest in the home of his sister and doubtless in his ramblings often looked down on the little Colonial town from the heights on which the College stands. The War of the Revolution touched Fredericksburg lightly but the town was yet to experience the full fury of the warfare, and this came with the conflict between the States. Again history attaches itself to these grounds. At break of day on December 13, i86x, might have been found here, as General Lee extended his lines north from historic Marye ' s Heights, Confederate infantry and artillerymen, calmly awaiting the gallant attack of General Bumside ' s Union brigades. When evening came at long last, the battle of Fredericksburg was ended; the guns were silent and only the challenge of the sentries and the cries of the wounded disturbed the stillness of the night. The stars looked down upon a battlefield where the tragedy of warfare was made glorious by the