SKETCHES IN VIRGINIA BY RICHARD HOLLAND, 9TH MASSACHUSETTS LIGHT ARTILLERY – “THE BAILEY HOUSE”, SEPTEMBER, 1863

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Item Code: 955-16

Here is an original sketch completed by Richard Holland, who created outstanding sketchbooks of locations and battle scenes that he experienced while a soldier in the 9th Massachusetts Artillery. This page was removed from the book he titled, “SKETCHES IN VIRGINIA”. Page is signed and dated, “R. HOLLAND, DEL. SEPR. 14TH 1863”. Sketch is titled, “THE BAILEY HOUSE- BAILEY’S CROSS ROADS, VA – LOOKING SOUTH EAST”. It shows a view of the Bailey House surrounded by trees and rolling grassy fields. A soldier stands in the lower right corner, looking across the grounds.

Bailey's Crossroads draws its name from the Bailey family of circus fame. Hachaliah Bailey, one of Americas first circus showmen, purchased what is believed to be the first elephant to reach this land's shores. Seeking a place to winter his circus animals, he moved to Virginia from New York and on December 19, 1837, he bought a tract of land on the outskirts of Falls Church including what is now the intersection of Leesburg Pike and Columbia Pike. On this tract he built a large house known as "Bailey's Mansion" or "Moray". It was reputed to have contained 100 rooms. The mansion was destroyed by fire in 1942, but sat at a location now known as Durbin Place. All that remains of the estate is Moray Lane, which led directly to the house.

The war wrote a new chapter to the area's history. Moray was used to quarter officers alternately by Confederate and Union troops. A Confederate fort was built atop Munson Mill, which overlooked Bailey’s Crossroads, and was prized for its prime view all the way into Washington where Union troops could be seen drilling on the Mall. From these commanding heights, Bailey's Crossroads was turned into a "killing field". Southern sharpshooters killed numerous Union soldiers. Violence arose whenever Confederate and Union pickets, or scouts, engaged one another in firefights. It was now impossible to walk the Leesburg Pike without being shot and killed. There was a minor engagement between the sides on Tuesday, September 3, 1861, with the Union suffering 8 casualties and the Confederates none. Further, the official reports on the “War of the Rebellion” indicate that during August 28-30 of 1861 a series of skirmishes took place at a location scrawled as "Balley's Cross Roads".

J.E.B. Stuart commanded Fort Munson for a time and made general while there. Union troops, who occupied everything for miles on three sides of the fort (Alexandria, Bailey's Crossroads, Arlington, Seven Corners, and Falls Church) never tried to overrun the fort because they thought it was so heavily barricaded by cannons. Only after the Confederate troops slipped away one night and retreated to the safety of Fairfax City, did the Union troops discover that those fearsome cannons were really just tree trunks, blackened with bootblack and charcoal and propped up with carriage wheels. They called them "Quaker guns" because the pacifist Quakers don't fight and these "guns" don't shoot.

Following the first Battle of Manassas, President Lincoln called for a huge massing of the troops to build flagging troop morale. The parade route stretched along Leesburg Pike from Bailey's Crossroads to Munson Hill on November 20, 1861. Hundreds of soldiers bivouacked at Camp Bailey's Crossroads. Lincoln and his entire cabinet came out from Washington to review the parade of 60,000 troops with their horses, carts, wagons, and cannons which took all day and into the evening. The president and his party had dinner at the Crossroads Inn.

When the war ended, Mariah Bailey turned the old circus ring into a riding ring, and dismantled the Crossroad Inn. In 1870, she gave the land (where the Malibu Grill is now located) for the first Bailey's School. The elementary was leased, in 1957, to the University of Virginia for the new University College. In 1960 this became George Mason College (now University).

Page measures 6 ½” x 9 ¾”. Paper has yellowed with age. Shows light surface dirt. Page has a 2 ½’ vertical tear at the bottom center.

Also included with sketch is a facsimile copy of the cover to Holland’s sketchbook which reads, “SKETCHES OF VIRGINIA – SKETCHES AROUND WASHINGTON D.C., ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, UPTON’S HILL & CENTREVILLE. BY R. HOLLAND, MEMBER OF THE 9TH MASS. BATTERY”. Colorful flags flank the wording.

Richard Holland was born to Michael and Joanna Holland in Ireland on March 15, 1842. He came to the United States with his family at age 12 and settled in North Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Eventually Holland became an apprentice to Captain Lucius Richmond and learned the trade of a painter in which profession he was engaged when the Civil War began.

The now 21 year old Holland enlisted in the office of the selectman of North Bridgewater on July 29, 1862 and was assigned to the 9th Massachusetts Light Battery. At the time of his enlistment Holland was described as being 5’ 6 ½” tall with blue eyes, black hair and a dark complexion.

The 9th Massachusetts Battery served with the 5th and 9th Corps of the Army of the Potomac. Private Holland served as the #4 crewman on a gun in the left section of the battery and was responsible for priming and firing the gun on command. He was present with the battery throughout its service being engaged at Gettysburg, Mine Run, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Bethesda Church, Totopotomoy, Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, Hatcher’s Run and the pursuit of Lee. The batteries heaviest loss occurred at Gettysburg where they were very heavily engaged on July 2nd on the Trostle farm. During that action they lost 8 men killed, 19 wounded and 1 missing. Holland was mustered out at the close of the war on June 6, 1865 and brought home with him a sketchbook in which he had kept drawings of people and places related to his service.

He was married twice. The first time to Miss Cecilia Pray in May of 1866. Sadly she died at age 36 of heart disease in April of 1880. The couple had two children, Charles born August 9, 1870 and Mary Cecilia born October 3, 1872.    Mr. Holland married for the second time on July 1, 1882 to Marietta M. Monk. The couple had no children.

After the war Holland resumed his trade as a painter. He became known for his skill graining and later in frescos. His paintings were found in churches throughout the area of his hometown as well as in the Brockton City Hall in Brockton, Massachusetts. His work in the town hall was considered “handsome and spirited.” The frescos depict the battle between the USS KEARSARGE and the CSS ALABAMA, Fort Sumter, the Monitor and the Merrimack, the 12th Massachusetts Battery going into action at Antietam, a Union drummer boy and a mounted cavalry scouting party led by his former employer Lucius Richmond.

Aside from the Brockton Town Hall, Holland also became known for smaller canvas paintings of still life, landscapes etc... However he avoided portraiture in which he felt he did not excel.

In 1884 he returned to Gettysburg as part of a commission to look into the placement of a memorial to the 9th Massachusetts Battery. While there he added to his wartime sketchbook numerous views of the Gettysburg battlefield.

Holland was a member of the Fletcher Webster Post #13 of the GAR and Appomattox Regiment of the Union Veteran’s Union. He was known for lending his artistic talents to any organization he was a member of and without payment.

When he died of pneumonia on January 12, 1906 he was remembered as a helpful, modest, unassuming and kind person. He is buried in Union Cemetery in Brockton, Massachusetts.

Holland’s military records accompany this item.  [SL]

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