The New York Times for August 27, 1899 published a long recap of the life of Kate Chase titled: Mrs. Kate Chase Sprague: She Was One of the Most Romantic Characters at the Capital.I am captivated by the life of Kate Chase. She rose to great heights o…

Yesterday I was reading about Kate Chase again. I don’t like the biography I have – too much speculation, too many words like probably or undoubtedly. I want facts. I have asked the library to order for me through interlibrary loan a copy of Kate Chase…

It has been a long time since I’ve posted here, but I thought an excursion I made yesterday was worth mentioning.Yesterday I drove to Hanover Courthouse (about 20 miles north of Richmond) to attend a trial reenactment. The courthouse was built betwee…

Today I visited the headquarters of the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation at 1200 Caroline Street to look through their folder on the house at 214 Caroline Street, the house where Betty Herndon Maury lived for part of the time she was in Fredericksbur…

Andrew Jackson MonumentLafayette Square ParkWashington, DCSculptor: Clark MillsDedicated in 1853Created in bronze from cannons captured from the British in the War of 1812

The second oldest headstone in the cemetery, dating from 1704.Blandford ChurchPetersburg, VirginiaConstructed in 1735

Yesterday was a beautiful spring day, and I took advantage of the delightful weather to drive to Petersburg to look at an old church there, Blanford Church. Surrounding the church is a 300-acre cemetery, the second largest cemetery in Virginia, the lar…

Kate Chase and William SpraguePolitics and Gender in a Civil War Marriageby Peg A. LamphierUniversity of Nebraska Press, Lincoln Nebraska, 2003ISBN 0-8032-2947-XKate Chase was the beautiful and brilliant daughter of Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Tr…

They Called Stafford Home – The Development of Stafford County Virginia from 1600 until 1865by Jerrilyn EbyHeritage Books, Westminster MDcopyright 1997, published 2007ISBN 9780788406652The history of Fredericksburg, Virginia is inextricably linked to S…

The Virginia Magazine of History and BiographyVolume X – No. 4, April 1903, pages 438-440THE FOURTH JOHN MINORBy Charles M. Blackford, Lynchburg, Virginia Was the eldest son of General John Minor. He was born in 1797, at Hazel Hill, in Fr…