Liberia House: Survivor of the War, Part I
We all remember seeing old films of crusty, gray-bearded civil war veterans meeting on their blood-stained battlefields. These survivors of the war often bridged their differences by shaking hands and reminiscing about how they beat "Johnny Reb" or "Billy Yank".
Unfortunately, these men long since answered their final muster call. A treasure trove of their letters, drawings, diaries and articles reside in archives and repositories. Reviewing them makes us wonder what those turbulent times during the war were really like.
A Present-Day Witness
There are other "survivors of the war", that remain among us and have a definite story to tell. One of these is a little known, seldom seen structure in Manassas, Virginia called Liberia House.
In 1724, a century before the house was built, the acreage belonged to land baron Robert "King" Carter. Liberia Plantation was eventually bequeathed to Harriet Bladen Mitchell (1793 - 1841), Carter's great-granddaughter, who married William James Weir (1792-1867). Harriet maintained title to the land after their marriage, somewhat unusual for the times.
William and Harriet built their two and one-half story brick home circa 1825 on 1,660 acres. The house's brick exterior and interior were built using on-site clay pits. The finest bricks were used for the front exterior of the house while the "klinkers", or glazed end bricks, were used in less prominent sections of the house. Still visible near the top of Liberia's north chimney are bricks forming "WI," supposedly William James Weir's initials (The letters I and J were written similarly in that time).
Prior to the civil war, there were 7 family members and 90 slaves living on the Weir plantation. As a working farm, wheat, corn, merino sheep, cattle and horses were raised.
War Comes to Liberia
While little is known about the home prior to the American Civil War, it has a rich but little known history during the Civil War era.
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