The recent order of Mr. Secretary Stanton changing the name of the important work at the Rip Raps calls to mind the fact that an excellent one was suggested long ago by a citizen of Virginia, and for reasons so good that it is worth while to quote the following passage from Joseph Martin’s description of Virginia, published in 1834 or 1835:
It is a circumstance worth notice that the material for the structure of the Castle of the Rip Raps is drawn from most of the commercial States of the Union. In walking over the piles you behold the dark grey granite of Maine, the whitish blue and black speckled granite of Connecticut, the red freestone of the same State, the pied granite of the Susquehanna, the deep blue of the Little Falls of Potomac, and the ash-colored of the James river.
In this edifice, which is to form a stronghold in a central position, defend our great naval depot, and to protect our naval power over the ocean, and especially to afford a place of refuge to the commerce of the nation, each commercial State may point to a portion of the blended strength which it has contributed to the common structure. The Castle at the Rip Raps should then be called, as well from its use as from its origin, The Castle of the Federal Union; and when attacked by foreign or domestic assailants, it should run up with the ensign of ‘the Federal Union’ the watchword, “it must be preserved.’”
– Published in the Burlington Daily Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, April, 9, 1862
It is a circumstance worth notice that the material for the structure of the Castle of the Rip Raps is drawn from most of the commercial States of the Union. In walking over the piles you behold the dark grey granite of Maine, the whitish blue and black speckled granite of Connecticut, the red freestone of the same State, the pied granite of the Susquehanna, the deep blue of the Little Falls of Potomac, and the ash-colored of the James river.
In this edifice, which is to form a stronghold in a central position, defend our great naval depot, and to protect our naval power over the ocean, and especially to afford a place of refuge to the commerce of the nation, each commercial State may point to a portion of the blended strength which it has contributed to the common structure. The Castle at the Rip Raps should then be called, as well from its use as from its origin, The Castle of the Federal Union; and when attacked by foreign or domestic assailants, it should run up with the ensign of ‘the Federal Union’ the watchword, “it must be preserved.’”
– Published in the Burlington Daily Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, April, 9, 1862
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