Virginia. For the duration of the Civil War, Alexandria,
under federal jurisdiction again, became the capital of that part of the
state (West Virginia) which refused to secede with the Richmond
government. To the old city came a governor and legislature with
Northern sympathies, making welcome any federal forces camping on the
outskirts of town. Old prints show the Union flag in the hands of
marching soldiers on King Street, and camps and cantonments, beginning
at the "Round House," extending for miles.

Even so, the best and noblest donned the gray, and Alexandria's own
marched out to become part of the 17th Virginia Infantry, C.S.A., upon
the bloody battlefields of the South.

With the close of the Civil War, prosperity departed. Fewer and fewer
ships came to anchor in the Potomac port, until finally nothing remained
to show the important part that Alexandria played for a century in the
sea commerce of the world save rotted piles that once supported wharves,
and a few grimy, scarred old warehouses whose collapsing roofs and loose
bricks threatened the very life of the pedestrian.

Other wars have come and gone and each has had a conspicuous effect upon
the town. The tragic era of 1861-65, binding our great nation into an
indissoluble union, began likewise the process of cementation which
steadfastly links Alexandria to the District of Columbia by bands that
are basically nonpolitical (maybe stronger for that same reason).
Paradoxically, Alexandria is a free city--part of Virginia, though not
characteristic of the State; allied to the District, but no part of it.

Alexandria's cultural heritage has appealed for many reasons to
Washington officialdom, and many persons prominent in national affairs
have crossed the river to settle and to restore the gracious old homes
of bygone days. George Washington's Alexandria is a city at once assured
and self-conscious. Confident in its background, its venerable
traditions, and its associations with the great in the country's
development, Alexandria ponders its destiny.

[Illustration: Adam Lynn, Silversmith. (By Saint Memin)]

All faithful sons and daughters, whether native or adopted, fondly hope
that this bicentennial year of the city's existence may bring closer to
fulfillment the famous toast voiced by La Fayette in 1824: "The City of
Alexandria: May her prosperity and happiness more and more realize the
fondest wishes of our venerated Washington!"

L'ENVOI

Where