September 22, 2011
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/22/2011
Group of three pieces of printed Americana pertaining to Colonel William Fitzhugh (1741-1809) who was an American planter and statesman who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress for Virginia in 1779. Includes pamphlet "Correspondence Between General Washington and Colonel William Fitzhugh, of Calvert County, Maryland, 22pp. quarto, printed 1870's with good content. Fine condition...plus; Two broadsides "Memoir of Col. William Fitzhugh of Clavert County" 10-1/2"x17", mid to late 1800's, with good biography of Colonel Fitzhugh and reprinted letter by George Washington to Colonel Fitzhugh pertaining to Nathaniel Greene and the war. Fine condition. (3 items) Colonel William Fitzhugh and his wife, Ann Bolling Randolph Fitzhugh (1747-1805), built Chatham Manor on property across the Rappahannock River from Fredericksburg, Virginia, between 1768 and 1771. It still stands today as the National Park Service Headquarters for the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. The Fitzhughs lived a lavish life there that included experimental farming and horse racing. After the Revolutionary War, as the economy floundered, Fitzhugh sold Chatham Manor and 1,288 acres to Churchill Jones for $20,000. About 1799, William Fitzhugh bought the house in 607 Oronoco St., Alexandria, Virginia, that has become known as "The Boyhood Home of Robert E. Lee." The house was built in 1795 by John Potts, Jr. After William Fitzhugh's death, it then passed to William Henry Fitzhugh, his only son, and was rented to the Lee family. William Fitzhugh and George Washington visited one another frequently until Washington's death in 1799, with Washington mentioning Fitzhugh in his diary and the two serving together on the Pohick Church vestry. Fitzhugh was the last person that Washington visited outside of Mount Vernon before his death.
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