Part 9 (2/2)

Mr. Foxall was a convert to Wesleyanism, and a lay minister. He was in the habit of entertaining the members of the Methodist Conference at this home, and was once good-humoredly twitted by one of them in regard to his inconsistent roles of ”proclaimer of the gospel of peace and forger of weapons of war.” To this he replied: ”If I do make guns to destroy men's bodies, I build churches to save their souls.”

At this foundry (then the only one south of Philadelphia), cannon were cast for the American troops during the War of 1812. The artillery and indeed all the military arms of this country were then very imperfect.

Foxall was the only founder in America who understood the proper mode of manufacture. Here began the first manufacture of bored cannon in this country, being vastly superior to the old ordnance. The abandonment and recasting of the old-style guns speedily followed.

Commodore Perry would have no others on the little fleet he built at Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie. The battle of Lake Erie was deferred until Foxall could fill an order from the government for guns, and transport them over the mountains on carts drawn by ten or twelve yoke of oxen to the scene of the engagement. From the deck of his flags.h.i.+p _The Lawrence_, manned by these guns from George Town, Perry sent his famous message, ”We have met the enemy and they are ours!”

[Ill.u.s.tration: HENRY FOXALL]

In 1814, when the British entered Was.h.i.+ngton and burned the Capitol and the White House, this foundry, upon which the country depended so largely for its supplies, was in imminent danger, and its owner vowed that, if G.o.d would spare it, he would build a church to His glory. The enemy had their face set in its direction when a sudden and violent storm turned them from their course. An old letter, written by George Bleig, afterwards Chaplain-General of the British Army, says: ”On the 25th a hurricane fell on the city which unroofed houses and upset our three-pound guns. It upset me also. It fairly lifted me out of the saddle, and the horse which I had been riding, I never saw again.”

True to his vow, Henry Foxall built the Foundry Methodist Church at the northeast corner of 14th and G Streets. It was sold some years later and the Colorado office building erected there. With the proceeds the very handsome grey stone church was built on 16th Street above Scott Circle.

The trustees of the Foundry Church were Isaac Owens, Leonard Mackall, John Eliason, William Doughty, Joel Brown, John Lutz, and Samuel McKenney.

Methodism at that time was in a struggling condition. The first visit by a Methodist preacher had been one by the tireless Francis Asbury. He was an old friend of Foxall, had visited him often in Philadelphia, and preached in George Town December 9, 1772. But it was twenty years before regular services were held, and then only by a preacher who came up from Alexandria. It was not until after the arrival of Henry Foxall that any Methodist preacher was stationed in the District. William Watters was so appointed in 1802.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HOME OF HENRY FOXALL]

Mr. Foxall was instrumental in the erection of no less than four churches, the old church at George Town on Rock Creek, one at the Navy Yard known as Ebenezer, a colored chapel, and later, the Foundry Church.

In 1814 was organized the first Bible society in the District of Columbia. Among its founders were Henry Foxall and Francis Scott Key, near neighbors.

Mr. Foxall was three times married, his first wife was Ann Harward, whom he married in England in 1780; his second was Margaret Smith, married in Philadelphia in 1799; his third, Catherine, whom he married in 1816 in England, while on a visit home. He had only two children and they were by his first marriage--a son who died when twenty-five years old and daughter, Mary Ann, who became the wife of Samuel McKenney, and for whom he built a lovely home.

In the summer of 1823 he went to England for a visit, and there in December of that same year he died, quite suddenly, in great peace. ”He served well his country, his generation, and his G.o.d.”

Mr. Foxall was said by one of his old employees to have been honest and just in his dealings, and although he did a large business, employing many people, he owed no man a dollar. He was prompt in paying off his workmen, usually making coin payments. He was a conscientious, earnest Christian, a real enthusiast in his religion. During his term of office as mayor in 1819 and 1820, the ordinances for the town which provided against profaning the Sabbath, were strictly enforced.

The old Sunday Laws (so-called Blue Laws), which George Town inherited from Maryland, were decidedly severe, and it took a man of Mr. Foxall's force of character to enforce them. A few of the offenses against which he waged relentless war may be mentioned. Five dollars was the penalty for gaming, hunting, and fis.h.i.+ng on the Sabbath. No trading was allowed on the Lord's Day, except the selling of ”fresh fish, milk, and other perishable goods.” c.o.c.k-fighting and drinking, when indulged in by free men, were punished by a fine of $5.00, but when a slave was the offender, he received thirty-nine stripes on the bare back in a public place.

The old gentleman was fond of buying slaves whom he would set free after teaching them a trade. Long years after, one of his old slaves boasted of having driven the Marquis de Lafayette to visit his old mistress, Mrs. Catherine Foxall, on his visit in 1824.

When the Potomac Ca.n.a.l was taken over and reorganized as the Chesapeake and Ohio Ca.n.a.l, a great celebration was made of the event.

On Friday, July 4, 1828, President John Quincy Adams, accompanied by heads of Federal Government Departments, members of the Diplomatic Corps, the president and directors of the Chesapeake and Ohio Ca.n.a.l Company and authorities of the three cities of the then District of Columbia: Was.h.i.+ngton, Alexandria, and Georgetown, a.s.sembled early at the Union Hotel. The procession formed and, to the music of the United States Marine Band, marched to the High Street (Wisconsin Avenue) wharf, where, on board the steamboat _Surprise_ and other boats, they moved up the Potomac, until they reached the termination of the old Potomac Ca.n.a.l, landed, and marched a few hundred yards to ca.n.a.l boats prepared to receive them. They glided along until they reached the point of destination where the old powder magazine stood. On landing, they formed a large circle. The president of the C. & O. Company addressed President Adams in a brief speech and handed him a spade. After making the speech, he attempted to run the spade into the ground, but struck a root. He tried it again, when a wag in the crowd cried out he had come across a ”hickory root,” (allusion to Andrew Jackson, ”Old Hickory,” and their political campaign).

He then threw down the spade, ripped off his coat, and went to work in earnest. People on the hills around raised loud cheers until their Chief Executive overcame the difficulty.

On July 4, 1831, water was let in the ca.n.a.l from the first feeder to the Columbia Foundry. The loan of $1,500,000 was obtained in Holland through Richard Rush on the credit of the citizens of Was.h.i.+ngton, Alexandria, and Georgetown.

It is said that, with the probable exception of General Was.h.i.+ngton, he took more interest in the affairs of the District of Columbia than any other president. He was largely identified with its material prosperity; he owned and operated a flouring mill on Rock Creek, but the project he was most zealously interested in was the Chesapeake and Ohio Ca.n.a.l. Of course, Mr. Adams had been here some during his father's presidency, though he was a man in his thirties then and was much abroad on diplomatic missions. He was also Secretary of State in Monroe's administration, and after his own term of office as President, served as a representative in Congress until his death.

A flouring mill which stood at the point where the ca.n.a.l of the old Potomac Company entered the river, was owned by the Edes family. The fish caught there were much larger than those caught elsewhere.

On the bank of the ca.n.a.l opposite the mill, lived Bull Frizzle, noted for his enormous strength. One time, after there was an accident at the Little Falls (Chain) Bridge, he crawled under a large beam and prized it up by the strength of his back, saving the life of the man pinned underneath.

Chapter VII

_Along Bridge (M) Street_

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