FREDERICKSBURG 



2323 



FREEMAN 



tories, and a $200,000 abattoir plant are lo- 

 cated here. Besides its public schools the city 

 has the Women's College (Reformed Church), 

 organized in 1893; Hood Seminary, Boyd 

 Academy, a convent and a library. 



Frederick was settled in 1745, was incor- 

 porated as a city in 1817 and named for Fred- 

 erick, Prince of Wales, son of George II. 



The remains of Francis Scott Key, author 

 of The Star Spangled Banner, lie in Mount 

 Olivet Cemetery, and the entrance bears a 

 striking monument erected to his memory. 

 Frederick is also the burial place of Roger B. 

 Taney, American jurist and statesman, and of 

 Barbara Frietchie. In the vicinity the "first 

 Methodist church in Maryland and in Amer- 

 ica" was organized in 1764 by Robert Straw- 

 bridge, o.c.w. 



FRED'ERICKSBURG, BATTLE OF, an im- 

 portant engagement of the War of Secession, 

 took place at Fredericksburg, Va., December 

 13, 1862, between the Federals under General 

 Burnside, numbering about 113,000 men, and 

 the Confederates, numbering about 78,000 men, 

 under General Lee, aided by Jackson and 

 Longstreet. After his retreat from the North 

 following his defeat at Antietam, Lee estab- 

 lished himself on the high bluffs overlooking 

 Fredericksburg, on the south side of the Rappa- 

 hannock River, a well-fortified position. Burn- 

 side was stationed at Falmouth, on the oppo- 

 site side of the river. On December 12 the 

 latter crossed the river with his army in three 

 divisions, and on the following day advanced 

 against Lee on Marye's Heights, withdrawing 

 after six ineffectual assaults. His loss was 

 12,500 men, against the Confederates' 5,400. 

 As a result of this defeat, Burnside was re- 

 moved from the command of the Army of 

 the Potomac. 



FRED'ERICTON, capital of the province of 

 New Brunswick, Canada, situated on the Saint 

 John River, eighty-four miles from its mouth 

 and sixty-seven miles northwest of the city 

 of Saint John. It is well located and is pro- 

 tected on three sides by a range of hills. 

 Large seagoing vessels navigate the river to 

 Fredericton, and smaller vessels penetrate 

 about seventy miles farther into the interior. 

 Lumbering is the chief industry, but the city 

 has important manufactures of boots and shoes, 

 especially the "shoepacks" of rough tanned 

 leather worn by lumbermen. Canoes and mo- 

 tor boats are also made and there are iron 

 foundries and tanneries. The town was founded 

 in 1740, when it was named Saint Anne. In 



1786 the name was changed to Fredericton, and 

 two years later it became the capital of the 

 province. Population in 1911, 7,208. R.H.S. 



FREE CITIES, the name applied to certain 

 cities of Germany, which gained complete in- 

 dependence in the twelfth century by assistance 

 given the emperors in repressing the arrogance 

 of the nobles. In return for this help they 

 received certain privileges and immunities and 

 became imperial cities. The most important 

 privileges were that they should enjoy free 

 government; should never be forced to swear 

 allegiance to any emperor or king, nor become 

 engaged in any expedition against the Romans, 

 or in any way to be reckoned among the cities 

 of the empire. The only free cities now exist- 

 ing are Hamburg, Liibeck and Bremen, each 

 sending members to the legislative body of 

 the German Empire. At the time of the 

 French Revolution there were fifty-one free 

 cities; but with the exception of the three 

 cities named they have all been deprived of 

 their privileges as a result of various political 

 changes. 



FREEDMEN'S BUREAU, a Bureau organ- 

 ized by an act of Congress March 3, 1865, for 

 the supervision, temporary maintenance and 

 employment of the emancipated negroes of the 

 South, who were left homeless and penniless 

 after the War of Secession. It was headed by 

 a commissioner, with assistant commissioners 

 in all the states that had been a part of the 

 Confederacy; these issued supplies to desti- 

 tute negroes, had charge of abandoned lands 

 to lease and ultimately to sell in forty-acre 

 plots, and they also controlled all matters re- 

 lating to refugee^ and freedmen. The Bureau 

 continued its work until 1870 and expended 

 over $15,000,000. It was one cause of continu- 

 ing the enmity of the South toward Congress, 

 for it led to the gathering of idle and worthless 

 negroes around the Bureau depots, and so 

 caused great hardship to the planters who 

 could not secure laborers to pick their cotton. 



FREEMAN, MARY E. WILKINS (1862- ), 

 an author of short stories and novels which 

 portray the humor and pathos of the everyday 

 life of the people of New England. Mrs. 

 Freeman was. born in the village of Randolph, 

 Mass., and has an intimate knowledge of and 

 deep sympathy with the lot of her characters. 

 The plot in her stories is not so important as 

 the strong delineation of character and the 

 pictures of bits of human nature; country 

 women in the grim routine of colorless days; 

 weather-worn farmers with their touches of 



