Merci, Sinclair, What was not known when the Union forces decided to
move down the Rappahannock was that it was extremely marshy. They got
bogged down in the mud and had to retreat a ways to higher ground. Then
of course the requisite barges were slow in coming. When the attack on
Fredericksburg got started, the bombardment was from the high ground,
down into the city. There was another Scotsman, who was the postmaster
of the town (Reubin Tripplet Thom) who after the postoffice and his home
above the post office was destroyed, sat out the rest of the bombardment
sitting in front of the building behind a board fence where he and his
family could not be seen. The Thom family and the Sinclair family would
intermarry a generation later. Another cousin's home was the Marye's on
the heights of the city to the west. The last American consulate at St.
Petersburg, Russia, was of the same family.
Also for Ian Newman, I am happy to find there is a source to look up the
Sinclairs of Herdmanston, but I do not find a connection in the places
suggested in the site. Can you help me - I feel inordinately stupid
today. Sally esdemio@att.net
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