As early as 1762, General Washington was chosen vestryman for Truro Parish and at the first election held in March 1765, for the newly created Fairfax Parish (including Alexandria) he was elected to that office. This development stemmed from the terms of an act of the Virginia Assembly which set the boundaries in such a way that Mount Vernon lay within the new parish. As repealed and revised four months later, legislation returned Mount Vernon to Truro. Technically, then, Washington was vestryman-elect in the new parish for less than three months, yet his association with the Alexandria church was always close. Even before the new church (later to be known as Christ) was finished and delivered to the vestry, he had purchased pew No. 15, for which he paid L36 10_s._, thought to be the highest price paid for any pew. Pohick Church in Truro Parish was completed about the same time as Christ Church in Alexandria. It was Washington's home church until after the Revolution, when it was practically abandoned by the Episcopal congregation. The General's habitual attendance at Christ Church apparently dates from about April 1785, when he bound himself to pay an annual pew rent of "five pounds, Virginia money."[125] An anecdote told in Alexandria of how a group of girls tried to save the silver marker from the Washington pew during the War Between the States is worth repeating. The town was under Union jurisdiction. A group of half-grown girls of whom the leaders were Molly Gregory (Mrs. Robert Powell) and Connie [Constance] Lee (Mrs. George E. Peterkin, wife of Bishop Peterkin) banded together to help the Confederate cause in any way they could. One of their ideas was to go to Christ Church and remove the silver plate marking Washington's pew and take it home for safekeeping. No one was taken into their confidence. In very short order the Yankee provost marshal arrived at Cassius Lee's house and demanded the return the plate. Of course, Lee knew nothing whatever of the removal, but he summoned his children, lined them up, and demanded if any of them had any knowledge of the plate. There was silence for some time. The provost marshal became threatening before admission was made that the removal of the plate was not a theft, but had been taken for safekeeping. The plate was returned to the church. The next day it disappeared and nothing has ever been known of it since. [Illustration: The Holy Interior of the old church] Interesting and distinguished men have occupied the pulpit of Christ Church, beginning with the Reverend Townsend Dade, rector (1765 to 1778); and including such men as David Griffith (1780-1789), Bryan Fairfax (1790-1792), and Thomas Davis (1792-1802). The last named officiated at General Washington's funeral. But in the second year of Davis' ministry, President Washington had received the following solicitation: Alexandria. 22^d Feb^y 1793 Sir