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Subject: Re: [MDCHARLE] Thomas A. Digges of Prince George's Co., MD 1808
Date: Wed, 06 Jun 2007 21:18:50 -0400
References: <000a01c7a8a0$d71ffce0$6500a8c0@Shirley>
In-Reply-To: <000a01c7a8a0$d71ffce0$6500a8c0@Shirley>

During this same period colonial events moved more rapidly.  A large tract of land (about 1200 acres) on the North shore of Piscataway Bay was granted to Dr. Luke Barber by Oliver Cromwell in 1654, essentially as a reward for his support.  Later, in return for Dr. Barber's support in the little war between Maryland and Virginia, Cromwell gave him an additional 1000 acres, taking his track up to the Southern part of Swan Creek.  This tract included what is now the subdivisions of Piscataway Hills, Baytomic Woods, Landings of Piscataway, Warburton Manor, Tantallon Hills, Fort Washington Estates, Fort Washington, and the southern portion of Tantallon on the Potomac.  It also included the still undeveloped land of Hampton Park Corp., Piscataway Bay Partnership, and Mrs. Edith Schraeder.  Dr. Barber had his land surveyed in the late 1650's and "patented" it under the name of "Barberton".  This name was changed by later owners to "Warburton Manor



Warburton Manor on the North shore was purchased in 1717 by Charles Diggs, whose family had it for the following century or so.  Thus Warburton Manor and Mt. Vernon became close neighbors, as rivers still were the easiest means of travel.  Because of this, George Washington considered the Diggs family, just across the river, his closest neighbors.  A signal system was setup at both Mt. Vernon and the mansion house of Warburton Manor (the remains of which are in the Fort Washington Park) so that when visitors were exchanged, the boats could be met.  Washington often came over to Warburton Manor to hunt in the woods with William Diggs and his sons, and even spent one of his birthdays there.

After our revolutionary war, it was decided that our Nation's Capital would be built in the swampland between the Potomac and the Anacostia Rivers.  Washington selected a young French Major, Pierre L'Enfant to lay out the city.  Later, L'Enfant was also to design and supervise the building of a major fort, Fort Washington, to protect the new city.  George Washington had a major interest in the building of Washington, and brought L'Enfant to Warburton Manor, where he stayed and worked for six years as a guest of the Diggs family

Source:  Excerpt "Our Grand Heritage" from Piscataway Bay/Creek:  A Prince George's County Jewel/Report 1/October 1982

Description: The history of Fort Washington is intricately tied to its namesake, the man affectionately referred to as the ‘father of our country.’ Shortly after the founding of the nation’s capital, George Washington suggested that a defensive fortification be established downstream on the Potomac. The first fort on the site was not named after Washington but was rather called Fort Warburton, after Warburton Manor, the estate of Washington’s friend and neighbor William Digges. General Washington was a frequent dinner guest at the Manor, and a very ceremonial method was established for retrieving the General. Warburton was situated directly across the Potomac from Mount Vernon, and when Washington was ready for supper, he would stand upon a mound by the water and wave a flag. Seeing this, Digges would dispatch a barge, rowed by 6 negroes outfitted with uniforms of check shirts and black velvet caps. This rather pretentious manner of transport was evidently not uncommon amongst the wealthy planters of the time.

In 1798, Washington called again for the erection of a fort near Warburton Manor, noting that, “Should proper works be erected here it would not be in the power of all the navies of Europe to pass this place.” After Britain and France threatened hostilities against the fledgling America, four acres were promptly purchased from the Digges family. Work on Fort Warburton began in the spring of 1808 and was completed by the end of the following year.

The fort received its first test during the War of 1812, and failed to live up to Washington’s prophecy. In August of 1814 British ships sailed up the Potomac for Alexandria, Virginia, shortly after the English army had taken control of the American capital. The warships shelled the fort from their anchor point near Mount Vernon itself. While this was happening, the garrison’s commander Captain Samuel T. Dyson ordered his men to retreat and blow up the fort by detonating the ammunition and explosives in the storehouse. This was evidently not the correct strategy, as the Captain was later court-martialed for abandoning his post and destroying government property.

After the war, the capital’s architect, Pierre L’Enfant, and later Colonel Walker K. Armistead were employed to construct a new fort, which was finally finished in 1824. It wasn’t until 1856, however, that the first communication occurred about establishing a lighthouse at this important point located near the junction of the Piscataway and Swan creeks with the Potomac River. The man who authorized the lighthouse was none other than Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, soon to be president of the Confederacy. As the lighthouse would be on military grounds, Davis imposed the following conditions: “the light shall be placed upon the wharf and not within any of the fortifications, and that the light keeper shall be subordinate to the military command of the post and public ground in all that relates to police and discipline.” In addition, it was noted that it would be convenient if the Ordnance Sergeant, who was already in charge of other public property, could care for the light



June

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