She’ll Love It
John Hennessy A historian’s gifts to our community By Collette Caprara recounting of a scene in 11-year-old John's small sleeping quarters when his mother came to see him one final time after it was announced that she and his siblings would be hired out to work in a distant plantation. With clarity and the power of moral authority, Hennessy recited this heart-wrenching passage in Washington's diary: "She laid down on my bed by me and begged me for her own sake, try and be a good boy, say my prayers every night, remember all she tried to teach me and always think of her. Her tears mingled with mine amid the kisses and heart-felt sorrow. She tucked the bed clothes around me and bade me good night."
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As might be expected of a historian with his depth of passion for his subjects, John Hennessy viewed his retirement after 40 years with the National Park Service not as a period of winding down, but as an opportunity for expanding the breadth of the venues where he could offer his expertise and writing skills (which have the emotive quality of poetry) to an even larger audience of grateful listeners and learners. Fredericksburg Area The Museum's (FAM) walking tour that he guided in November provides an example of the thought-provoking, powerful presentations that he will be providing. The narrative of the tour chronicled the life of John Washington, an enslaved person in Fredericksburg who escaped to freedom during the Civil War. As the tour group walked from historic Market Square behind the FAM to what is now the Foode restaurant, Hennessy revealed the history and life stories that took place more than 160 years ago at sites that are familiar to us today and are part of our daily lives. The restaurant was the site of the former Farmer's Bank, which not only served as a hub where generations of locals did business but became a building of iconic significance when Abraham Lincoln spoke from its steps in May 1862.
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As Hennessy explained, in the decade preceding that historic presidential visit, another figure might have also been spotted in that building, the small form of a light-skinned young black boy named John Washington who was born into slavery and served in the household of Mrs. Taliaferro who lived in the upper story of the bank building. Though John Washington was his mistress's favorite servant, this was not necessarily a good thing and resulted in her keeping a constantly watchful eye on his whereabouts and limiting his time beyond her doors for fear that he would run away.
So that young boy might have often been seen behind the curtains of a window, looking out wistfully on his peers playing in the streets. Though Taliaferro allowed Washington to attend Sunday services at the Baptist church (now known as Shiloh Old Site) she required that he report to her regarding the text of the preacher's service. Young Washington knew an opportunity when it came his way. He stopped by the church just long enough to hear and memorize what the text was, before running down to the river to share the delight with whatever the boys there might be doing. Hennessy explained that such details of Washington's life are available to us today, because his mother Sarah Tucker, who was also a slave, had courageously flouted the law and taught him to spell when he was just four and, later, to read and write. Though John Washington's memoirs may contain a few mistakes in grammar or spelling, they are told with powerful heart and emotion that are perfectly conveyed in Hennessy's empathetic presentations. The epitome of the emotive experience of this walking tour was his
The tour folks walked from the site of that tragic scene to the site where the Shakespeare Hotel once stood (now the site of a Taco restaurant), in which 24year-old Washington was serving as a bartender and steward in 1862 when the Union troops were about to come into Fredericksburg. The city had been abandoned by the Confederate army and was vacated by residents and business owners. After pouring his fellow black servants a celebratory drink at the bar, Washington and his brother and another free black walked to the Rappahannock River at what is now Old Mill Park to listen to the music of the Union band. When the union troops called out asking if anyone wanted to come over, while others hesitated, Washington stepped forward announcing "Yes! I want to come." John Hennessy's tour ended at that site with his hallmark dramatic and thought-provoking comments, as he pondered aloud about how that courageous crossing would precede the subsequent journey to freedom of as many as 10,000 slaves who crossed the river that spring and summer and how it would ultimately impact our lives today. John Hennessy's presentations have been and will continue to be a gift to us all. Collette Caprara is a local writer &artist
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December 2021
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