Archive for the ‘Seminary Ridge’ tag
Colonel Arthur Herbert, C.S.A.
Mr. Arthur Herbert was born on July 27, 1829 in Alexandria. He was the last person to be born in the historic Carlyle House (built in 1752) and a fourth generation Alexandrian. During the American Civil War, he became a Colonel in the Confederate Army.
Link: http://www.burkeandherbertbank.com/history.cfm
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Arthur Herbert, Maj./Lt. Col./Col. Born in Carlyle House, Alexandria, 7/27/29; raised in Loudoun Co.; banker, Alexandria, 1852; Capt., Alexandria Riflemen, 1858; 1st Lt., Old Dominion Rifles, 1/61. Enl. 4/17/61, in Alexandria; Capt., Co. H. Elected Major, 17th Va. Inf., 4/27/62. Promoted to Lt. Col., 11/1/62. Detached to command 29th Regt. Va. Inf., 1863. Appointed Colonel, 17th Va. Inf., 7/8/64. Paroled at Appomattox C. H., 4/9/65, commanding Corse’s Brigade. Postwar occupation banker. Member R. E. Lee Camp No. 2, C. V., Alexandria. Active in affairs of Episcopal Theological Seminary, Alexandria, and Episcopal H. S. Died 2/23/19. Buried in Ivy Hill Cemetery. The neglected grave plot was beautifully restored in 1968 through the untiring efforts of Dr. Lon W. Keim, Omaha, Neb., and David M. Frantum, Falls Church, Va., with the aid of Burke and Herbert Bank and Trust, Alexandria.
Link: http://www.fairfaxrifles.org/fld_staff.html
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Jones’ Division – Brig. Gen. David R. Jones -> Kemper’s Brigade – Brig. Gen. James L. Kemper -> 7th Virginia Infantry: Maj. Arthur Herbert
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antietam_Confederate_order_of_battle
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History of the Seventeenth Virginia infantry, C. S. A.
By George Wise
COMPANY H.
(“old Dominion Rifles.”)
Arthur Herbert, Captain, elected Major, April, 1862; Lieutenant Colonel, November, 1862; Colonel, August, 1864.
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Early in February, 1861, the Alexandria Battalion having been organized, Captain Corse was elected its major, and First Lieut. A. Herbert succeeded to the ommand of the ” Old Dominion Rifles.” The quota of troops furnished by old Alexandria to the Battalion was composed of the following companies : Alexandria Riflemen, Captain Morton Marye; Old Dominion Rifles, Captain A. Herbert; Mount Vernon Guards, Captain S. H. Devauglm; Alexandria Artillery, Captain D. Kemper.
The 22d of February was properly commemorated by the general turnout of citizens, soldiers and fire companies, in honor to the “Father of his Country.” Much enthusiasm was evinced; addresses suitable to the occasion were delivered by Messrs. K. Kemper, H. Snowden and others to a large concourse of attentive listeners.
The fall of Fort Sumter, and the stirring events rapidly transpiring in the South, having occasioned great excitement and alarm, it was deemed expedient, (in order to allay somewhat these feelings in the people, and to strengthen the tone of military power for the protection of life and property,) to call out a guard. On the 18th April, 1861, the Battalion met at its armory and the first guard was detailed. This step was hailed by all with satisfaction. On the 23d, a picket detail in charge of Lieut. W. H. Fowle, Jr., of the Old Dominion Rifles, was sent out upon the Washington and Alexandria turnpike.
Leaving the city after dark, the detachment proceeded to the Little Bridge, and, posting the reserve at that point, continued the line along the pike to the intersection of the two roads south of the Long Bridge.
The post at this point was occupied by Sergeant K. and Corporal W. of Lieut. Fowle’s company, and was the only infantry post ever stationed by the Confederates so near to Washington city.
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The American Civil War

The American Civil War (1861–1865), also known as the War Between the States (among other names), was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America, also known as “the Confederacy.” Led by Jefferson Davis, the Confederacy fought against the United States (the Union), which was supported by all twenty free states (where slavery had been abolished) and by five slave states that became known as the border states.

In the presidential election of 1860, the Republican Party, led by Abraham Lincoln, had campaigned against the expansion of slavery beyond the states in which it already existed. In response to the Republican victory in that election, seven states declared their secession from the Union before Lincoln took office on March 4, 1861. Both the outgoing administration of President James Buchanan and Lincoln’s incoming administration rejected the legality of secession, considering it rebellion. Several other slave states rejected calls for secession at this point.
Hostilities began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces attacked a U.S. military installation at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Lincoln responded by calling for a volunteer army from each state to recapture federal property. This led to declarations of secession by four more slave states. Both sides raised armies as the Union assumed control of the border states early in the war and established a naval blockade. In September 1862, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation made ending slavery in the South a war goal, and dissuaded the British from intervening.
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Muckross Estate in Alexandria, Virginia

Ariel photograph of Muckross Estate circa 1936.
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In 1877, another partner was taken into the firm – Julian Thompson Burke, son of John W. Burke by his first wife. He was the first in a long line of sons, grandsons and great-grandsons to serve in the family and Alexandria institution.
During the succeeding years Burke and Herbert Bank continued to prosper and expand. Among its many assets was The Greenbrier Hotel at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.
In 1899, Col. Arthur Herbert decided it was time to retire, although at 77 he was four years younger than Burke and he had no sons to follow him into the firm. He and his wife, Alice, had five daughters.
On his decision to retire, he sold his interest in Burke and Herbert to the three Burke brothers who were then active in the bank. He lived for another 19 years at his family estate at Muckross near the Episcopal Seminary. John Burke continued on as president at age 81.
Link: http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=230462&paper=%2059&cat=104
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Documenting the American South, or, The Southern Experience in 19th-century America.
Recollections
Grave and Gay:
Electronic Edition
Harrison, Mrs. Burton, 1843-1920
Near Vaucluse lived our cousin Arthur Herbert, of Muckross (he was like the youngest son of grandmamma’s household), who was to go off to war as captain in the Seventeenth Regiment of Alexandria Volunteers, and after four years of hard fighting, through almost every battle of the army of northern Virginia, come back as colonel, with a record of many gallant deeds, and settle again in his old home. He found the crest of the hill on which his former house had stood bare of everything – dwelling, trees, fences, and outhouses all gone; but a United States fort built upon the site had left behind casemates of solid masonry, serving as fine cellars for the new house. Colonel Herbert married Miss Alice Gregory, of Petersburg, and, with their family, has continued to reside at Muckross – named for the original home of the Herberts near Killarney, in Ireland.
Link: http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/harrison/harrison.html
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The residence at 3908 Seminary Road was built as the original gatehouse for the Muckross Estate. The estate, later known as the Moss Estate, is the land upon which the current neighborhood of Seminary Ridge was built in the 1970’s. During the Civil War, the Muckross Estate was also the site of Fort Worth.
The land was originally developed in the mid 1800’s by Colonel Arthur Herbert of the Herbert Family, who came to be associated with Burke and Herbert Bank. He named the estate aft er Muckross Abbey of Killarney County, Ireland. The estate was guarded by the gatehouse at 3908 Seminary Road & the driveway into the main residence of the estate was St. Stephens Road.
It is writt en that Colonel Herbert assembled the property in fi ve parcels between 1856 and 1901. The lot occupied by 3908 Seminary Road is listed as the 3rd division of the Muckross tract. In fact, one of the pillars from the original gate is located among the boxwoods in the backyard. It is marked “Muckross”. Presumably, the “Gatehouse” was built by Colonel Herbert at the point that he acquired some or all of the land to complete Muckross in the late 1800’s.
Louis E. Jeff ries purchased Muckross from the Herbert family in 1923. Jeff ries had the garage that still stands at the back of “The Gatehouse” built for his Ford Model A car. Shortly aft er, in 1936, Jeff ries sold the estate to the gatehouse’s current owner’s grandfather, Fred A. Moss, making the Moss family (and current owners of The Gatehouse) the third family to own the main estate over its history. From this point until 1970 when the land was subdivided to create the current neighborhood of “Seminary Ridge”, the estate was referred to as The Moss Estate. In 1970 when the land was developed, Mrs. Moss, wife of Fred Moss, moved into “The Gatehouse”. The Gatehouse has remained in the same family from that time to present day. In 2000, the current owners undertook an extensive renovation and with all new systems, creating the stunning property that you see today.
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Virginia Cousins: a study of the ancestry and posterity of John Goode of Whitby, a Virginia colonist of the seventeenth century, with notes upon related families, a key to southern genealogy and a history of the English surname Gode, Goad, Goode or Good from 1148 to 1887 (Google eBook)
George Brown Goode – 1887 – Reference – 538 pages – Page ???
Col. ARTHUR HERBERT, of Alexandria, Va., son of William and Maria Dulany Herbert, married Alice Goode Gregory, daughter of William A. and Maria Harrison Gregory, granddaughter of William H. and Louisa Goode Harrison, No. 248, p. 120. Children:
4570, May Gregory. 4571, Alice. 4572, Marianne. 4573, Florence. 4574, Nora.
Col. Herbert is a descendant of the Fairfax family of Belvoir. and greatgreat-grand son of the first William Fairfax of “Belvoir,” President of the Council of Virginia, whose son, the Rev. Bryan Fairfax, succeeded to the title of Lord Fairfax, of Greenway Court, upon his death in 1781.* He was a gallant officer of the 17th Virginia Infantry, C. S. A., and since the war has been a banker in Alexandria. His home, ” Muckross,” occupies a commanding position on the heights back of Alexandria, about midway between “Arlington” and “Mount Vernon,” the house being picturesquely placed within the earthworks of an old fortification.
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Mr. Lincoln’s Forts: A Guide to the Civil War Defenses of Washington
Link: http://www.fortwortharchitecture.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=3358
http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Lincolns-Forts-Defenses-Washington/dp/0810860678/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1295736650&sr=8-1-catcorr
http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~2250~160116:—Surveys-For-Military-Defences—#
Fort Worth, Virginia

Fort Worth Part of the Civil War defenses of Washington, D.C.
Alexandria, Virginia, Type Earthwork fort
Coordinates 38°48′54″N 77°05′56″W / 38.815°N 77.099°W / 38.815; -77.099
Built 1861
Built by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Construction materials Earth, timber
In use 1861–1865
Demolished 1865
Current condition Dismantled
Controlled by Union Army
Battles/wars American Civil War

Author’s Notes: As a child in the 1970′s, I played with my friends all around this Seminary Ridge, Alexandria neighborhood, and I do believe this is how the Fort was positioned in Seminary Ridge, Alexandria, Virginia. As noted in many books the developer (Pulte Homes sub contractors) destroyed what was reported as a well preserved Fort in the old Seminary Hill/ Ridge neighborhood pre 1970.
- Fort Worth is reported to have been 450 yards in diameter. link:
- The current Harris Place culdesac and the old Fort Worth share the same entrance off present day St. Stephens road.
- Home is – was in corner of Fort.
- And where having been a 5+year old running around this Seminary Ridge neighborhood; Harris Place is still on a sort of perch. In other words the homes that run along the back edge, along Fort Worth Avenue have steep hills leading up to Harris Place.
- As I continue to investigate and uncover facts, I will update them here. For Example, whether this Muckross home was in fact a hospital during the Civil War.


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Outer Defense
Resource Area 9
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Fort Worth was a timber and earthwork fortification constructed west of Alexandria, Virginia as part of the defenses of Washington, D.C. during the American Civil War. Built in the weeks following the Union defeat at Bull Run, Fort Worth was situated on a hill north of Hunting Creek, and Cameron Run, (which feeds into it). From its position on one of the highest points west of Alexandria, the fort overlooked the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, the Little River Turnpike, and the southern approaches to the city of Alexandria, the largest settlement in Union-occupied Northern Virginia. In modern times, the site of Fort Worth sits within the boundaries the City of Alexandria (the land west of Quaker Lane, was annexed from Fairfax County in the 1950s) just off Seminary Road. Fort Worth Ave, a residential street approximates Fort Worth’s Civil War location.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Worth,_Virginia
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The following information was found in Mr. Lincoln’s Forts: A Guide to the Civil War Defenses of Washington. Benjamin Franklin Cooling III and Walton H. Owen II. (c) 1988 Friends of Fort Ward. White Mane Publishing Company, Inc., Shippensburg. ISBN: 0942597060 (pbk)
Although Fort Worth was reportedly still in an excellent state of preservation, the site was destroyed in 1970 for the development of the area. One home was reportedly built upon the solid masonry walls of the south powder magazine by Colonel Arthur Herbert, CSA, whose pre-war home of Muckross had been erased by the construction of Fort Worth. Construction of Fort Worth began on September 1, 1861 The fort was reportedly garrisoned at various times by the following units: 3rd Battalion New York Artillery; 2d New York Heavy Artillery 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery; 2d Connecticut Heavy Artillery; and Independent Battery I, Pennsylvania Light Artillery.
There is reportedly a unit history of the 2nd Connecticut Heavy Artillery (reportedly formed as the 19th Connecticut Infantry) written in 1868 by First Lieutenant and Adjutant Theodore Vaill that includes discussion of his unit’s service there.
Vaill, Theodore F. History of the Second Connecticut Volunteer Heavy Artillery. 1868, Winstead Printing Company, Winstead, Connecticut.
