During the time that the Union Army occupied Fairfax a group of Blenkers Dutch held the court house in the spring or autumn of 1862. They had been recruited in Pennsylvania from the most ignorant and reckless German characters and could not understand a word of English. Due to the Blenkers Dutch, many important papers at the court house were stolen or destroyed. These men broke open the safe and used wills, deeds, or anything that came into their hands to keep their fires going. It was only by luck that the will of Martha Washington was saved. A Lt. Col. Thompson who was in command walked in on the men burning papers and made them stop. Reaching down to see what they were burning, he picked out a paper at random. Finding it to be the will of Martha Washington, he put it in his pocket and either mailed it to his daughter or gave it to her after he returned home. [Illustration] Years later the people of Fairfax learned that the will had been sold by Miss Thompson to J. P. Morgan and they set out to recover it. In the Fairfax County Historical Society Year Book, 1952-53, is an interesting account of the correspondence between Mr. Morgan's son and the citizens of the Town, the Governor of Virginia, and others. The will now rests beside that of George Washington in a glass enclosed case in the Clerk's Office of Fairfax Court House. It is also well known that Washington's will barely escaped being burned in the fire at Richmond, where it had been sent for safe keeping. When Union forces took possession of Richmond, they went to the state library and scattered papers all over the floor, taking what they wanted. They overlooked Washington's will, however, and Mr. Lewis, who was Secretary of the Commonwealth, picked it up and kept it until after the war, when Mr. O. W. Huntt was sent by the County of Fairfax to Richmond to retrieve the will. Later on, at the Centennial, copies of Washington's will were evidently sold amidst much criticism from a metropolitan newspaper, for we find a letter from Mr. Richardson, Clerk of the Court, explaining-- "Mr. Andrew Jackson some years ago being a resident of this place made a complete copy of the will (Washington's) and had it certified by the Clerk and published as such. He was assisted in this by the Honorable W. W. Corcoran of Washington, D. C., and these are the copies sold at the Centennial." [Illustration] XII. RECONSTRUCTION As the reconstruction period came after the war, Fairfax found herself in a very destitute position. Most of her churches had been burned, her fields destroyed by constant skirmishes, her homes used as headquarters or hospitals by Union soldiers. The Willcoxon Tavern, Duncan's Chapel and doubtless other places had been used as stables for Union horses. Deflation closed in; the people again found themselves having to "pick up the pieces".