erals Joe Johnston, Stonewall Jackson, and Robert E. Lee,
placed there by the Yankee bride, who after three years in Alexandria
became an ardent champion of the Confederacy and never took the oath of
allegiance while Alexandria was under Union jurisdiction.

Acknowledgments

It would be impossible to write a book of this kind without a great deal
of help from many sources. This help was given by very busy people with
knowledge or documents, which inspired the historian to further
impositions upon their useful persons.

An expression of appreciation, always banal, is nevertheless an attempt
to express gratitude--and this is my only means of acknowledging my
obligations to friend and stranger. Without such help this book, such as
it is, would never have been written and so my lasting gratitude goes:

First, to my father, who said I would never finish it, and to my
husband, who said I would.

To Mr. Walter Wilcox, American Photographical Society, and Royal
Photographical Society, for his labors and beautiful photographs which
illustrate this book.

To Mrs. George Kirk, for endless and patient typing and sustained
enthusiasms.

To Miss Virgila Stephens, for intimating that I might be able to write
anything that anybody would ever care to read, and to Mrs. Worth Bailey,
who said I had.

To Mr. Worth Bailey, curator of Mount Vernon, for numerous historical
contributions, rare and authentic, for the finished seal of Alexandria,
the endpapers, the charming drawings, for editing; and lastly, for wise
and useful advice. Mr. Bailey's historical knowledge and artistic
training have been invaluable.

To Mrs. Louis Scott, for permission to see the scrapbook of her mother,
Mrs. Mary G. Powell, and family papers; for the Harper family records,
for her gracious assistance and advice, and for the use of her late
mother's _The History of Old Alexandria, Virginia_.

To Mrs. Robert M. Reese, for long and helpful hours and the generous use
of the Ramsay family records, and historical documents.

To the Lady Regents of Mount Vernon and to Mr. Wall, the superintendent,
for the use of the Mount Vernon library, the photograph of Lawrence
Washington, the choice bill of lading, and Dr. Dick's _George
Washington_.

To Miss Frances Herbert, for information about the Carlyle, Herbert and
Fairfax families, and for the photograph of John Carlyle's mother,
Rachel Carlyle.

To the late Mrs. Charles R. Hooff, for loan of the Carly