Governor Henry Wise’s 1857 Letter Advocating Honor for the Fathers of Jamestown
February 15, 2007
For the 250th anniversary of America’s birthday at Jamestown, the following letter was read as an introduction to former United States President John Tyler. The letter was composed by then Governor (Virginia’s 33rd) Henry Wise. The last peacetime governor of Virginia before the Civil War, Wise was the man who signed the death warrant on John Brown. He served as a brigadier general in the Confederate Army and was with Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House, where he counseled Lee to surrender. As with so many of the leaders on both sides of the Civil War, Wise found himself at war with his own extended family, including his brother-in-law, federal General George Meade. But before the winds of war had become a reality for the Old Dominion, the last peacetime governor urged the people of their state to remember their fathers.
Washington City, April 20th, 1857
Dear Sir:
I beg you to present my acknowledgements to the Jamestown Society of Washington City, for their invitation to attend their Celebration on the 13th May next. I should be most happy to participate in the ceremonies intended to revive and perpetuate the memories of our early history; but I doubt whether I shall be able to attend, owing to the state of the health of both Mrs. Wise and myself. I cannot venture to touch upon my estimate of the event you propose to commemorate. Virginia, the American Revolution, the United States of North America, Arose from its foundation, and whether one brick remaineth upon another at Jamestown or not, the place can never be forgotten; and though the James River shall wash away the site into its waters, the monuments of history, the moral and mental beacons shall be preserved for the honour of our beloved Commonwealth and heroic fathers and founders. I have the most lively interest in the Society which would save from the ravages of Time the testimonials of the Past, to reanimate the present and secure the future of Virginia. To all this sacred theme full justice will be done by your honoured and illustrious orator, Ex-President Tyler. He is one of the proudest personages left, linking us to the Fathers, and I can well say: “Hear ye him.”
To you, individually, sir, I am grateful for the manner in which you have expressed the invitation of the Society, and far more for being a most worthy example of a true son of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Be pleased to accept my kindest regards, and believe me,
Yours truly,
Henry A. Wise
To Phillip R. Fendall, Esq., President, &c, &c.
