de his formal entry into the District
of Columbia, having come by way of Baltimore, he was escorted by a troop
of cavalry from Montgomery County commanded by my grandfather, Captain
Henry Dunlop, a Georgetonian, then farming the family plantation, Hayes,
seven miles north of town.

Tradition says that number 3337 had a tunnel leading to the river. Some
such large opening was discovered when the owner excavated recently to
make a pool in the garden. In 1860 this house was the home of William A.
Gordon, for many years chief of the quartermaster's department. It was
from here that his eldest son of the same name left to enter the
Confederate Army. William A. Gordon, senior, born in Baltimore, had gone
to the Military Academy at West Point, and while there a terrible cry
arose about the poor quality of food furnished for the cadets. Mr.
Gordon was one of the three young men selected by the corps to go to
Washington to interview the President on the subject. The answer he gave
them was that he would see that conditions at the Academy were remedied,
but his advice to them was to send in their resignations immediately, as
there would be no career there for them after this.

From about 1865 to 1892 Mr. and Mrs. William Laird, Jr., made this
house their home. Mr. Laird was for forty years cashier of the Farmers'
and Mechanics' Bank, and was greatly respected. When he resigned he was
presented by the officials with a very handsome silver punch bowl, ladle
and tray and a large silver loving cup. He died suddenly a month or two
after giving up his business and his widow did not survive him long.
Mrs. Laird was Anna Key Ridgely, a charming person. They had no
children, nor had his brother, who never married, so this name, long so
honored here, has disappeared from Georgetown.

To return to the corner house. It was for several years the home of
Commodore Charles Morris, one of the eminent officers of the early U. S.
Navy. He made a remarkable record in the War with Tripoli, his earliest
achievement being on the occasion of the recapture and destruction of
the frigate _Philadelphia_ in the harbor of Tripoli in 1804. Midshipman
Morris, then nineteen years old, volunteered for the service and was the
first to stand on the deck of the _Philadelphia_ and commence the work
of destruction. At the beginning of the War of 1812 he held the rank of
lieutenant--and became executive officer of the _Constitution_, Captain
Isaac Hull being in com