Liberia House in Manassas, Virginia

Liberia House stands in the middle of a beautiful green pasture, a flower garden, a cemetery, a walking trail with a brook surrounded by woods and an apiary, with buzzing busy bees covered in pollen. The locust trees are just blooming and greening.

The Weir cemetery at the bottom of the hill is shaded by a lugubrious tree in the corner, leaning at a 45-degree angle and exposing its roots like a trailing mantle, delivering the nutrients of plant life. Not even sunshine can make this tree look inviting in this symphony of early spring colors.

If Liberia House could talk, it would enumerate an endless list of famous and ordinary Americans who have walked through its doors: Jefferson Davis, Abraham Lincoln, Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, Gen. Irvin McDowell, and countless unknown soldiers who were wounded in the Civil War and sought refuge and care in Liberia.

The house was built in 1925 by W. J. Weir on land formerly owned by “King” Carter. It was Gen. Beauregard’s headquarters from May 1861 until after the First Battle of Manassas, July 21, 1861.

According to archives, Jefferson Davis “watched the First Battle of Manassas on July 21, 1861, and then came here to Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard’s headquarters to meet with him and Gen. Joseph E. Johnston before returning to Richmond on July 23. Lincoln came here with his Secretary of War on June 19, 1862, to visit Gen. Irvin McDowell, who was recovering after his horse fell on him.”

During restoration of Liberia, numerous signatures were found on the walls on the second floor, written by Union soldiers stationed here. They wanted to be remembered; that they were alive in that moment in time. A graffiti from March or August 1862, written by Pvt. Adam McKelvey, Co. G. 12^th Pennsylvania Infantry Reserve Regiment, can be found among others who signed their names for posterity, knowing that death was stalking them.

Liberia was the place where the Weir family raised their children and grandchildren. The plantation was so vast, it encompassed most of the land of Manassas today. There were slaves in bondage here, and “a beer baron from Alexandria operated a dairy farm on the property.”

An archive photograph from 1862 shows Liberia with an intact kitchen wing on the right. The museum curators believe that it was probably destroyed during the war and never rebuilt.

Liberia’s owners, William James Weir, and Harriet had planted daffodils alongside the front walk of the house. A photograph from March 1862 shows the yellow blooms when the house was occupied by Union troops. The daffodils somehow survived the encampment of two armies amid the Civil War.

The Turberville Memorial Garden today is planted with common plants in Virginia that are supporting pollinators of the current apiary.

William J. Weir complained to Confederate soldiers early in the war about the loss of his fruit trees. In 1863, an edition of Harpers New Monthly Magazine reported that Weir was said to have been ‘shut up in the guardhouse for saying, as he witnessed his fruit trees being made into firewood, that he didn’t know as he would be used any worse by the Yankees than he had been by those who professed to be his friends’.

Private George Bagby of Virginia’s 11^th Infantry wrote in 1861 during his time in Liberia: “At night I would walk out in the garden and brood over the possible result of this slow way of making war. The garden looked toward the battlefield. At times I thought I detected the odor of the carcasses, lightly buried there; at others I fancied I heard weird and doleful cries borne on the night wind.” (Museum Archives)

The Weir family owned 2,000 acres of farmland and forest so far from settled areas that it required barns, a dairy, a gristmill, a laundry, a kitchen, slave quarters, a school, a general store, and a post office. The labor to maintain such a vast plantation was provided by “enslaved and white laborers and skilled craftsmen, alongside members of the Weir family.” They lived here for thirty-six years.

During the Civil War, the family was divided. William did not want secession, but his three sons served in the Confederate Army. The family moved to Fluvanna County. Walter inherited the property after his father’s death in 1867 but the farm never returned to its pre-war wealth.

Before the City of Manassas acquired the property in 1986, records show that:

1.      The property owned by William Weir encompassed most of modern-day Manassas (1825-1888) – Library of Congress

2.      Liberia was a dairy farm when owned by Alexandria businessman Robert Portner (1888-1947); the Portners never lived on the property  – Manassas Museum Collection

3.      Liberia was owned by the Breeden family (1947-1986) – Manassas Museum Collection

There is evidence from an ad placed in 1847 in the Alexandria Gazette that William Weir operated the Liberia Mathematical and Classical School on the premises.  A donation to the museum of a math exam with the words at the top of the page, ‘Liberia School,’ became further evidence of the school’s existence.

Walter Weir 

The Weir Cemetery appears too close to the house; that is because it was moved here in 1989 from its original site, Point of Woods East/Lakeside. With the family’s permission, 24 graves and headstones were moved by specialists at the Smithsonian Institution according to the original burial plans and plots. The exhumation revealed that only Walter’s remains were well preserved because he was buried in a cast iron coffin with a glass viewing pane. Walter’s body was so well preserved that forensic analysis revealed that “he died from an infection, likely caused by an abscessed tooth.”

Note:  Museum archive photos are black and white, color photographs: Ileana Johnson April 2023

 

 

A Disconnect between National Preparedness for Potential Ebola Outbreak and What the Public is Told

Photo source: the web

Michael Snyder asked the obvious question, “How in the world is it possible that more than 170 health workers have been infected by the Ebola virus?” The World Health Organization does not seem to have the answer even though health workers are dressed “head to toe in suits that are specifically designed to prevent the spread of the virus.” http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-08-12/one-question-about-ebola-nobody-can-seem-answer

The World Health Organization released the information that West Africa has tallied 1,711 Ebola diagnoses and 932 deaths. Ken Isaacs of the Samaritan’s Purse said, “We believe that these numbers represent just 25 to 50 percent of what is happening.” The CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden has estimated that the total number of those killed or infected in this outbreak is higher than all the other outbreaks in the last 32 years.” www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/07/ebola-experts-describe-atmosphere-in-west-africa-as-apocalyptic.html

Isaacs stated that the “disease is uncontained and out of control” in three of the “poorest nations in the world,” Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. He continued, “Is the world willing to let the public health of the world be in their hands?” And it has now spread to Nigeria, a country with more resources to handle patient cases in better hospitals.

Dr. Frank Glover, a missionary, testified at a hearing in D.C. how the affected countries lack personal protective gear (PPG). The Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations Subcommittee hearing on “Combating the Ebola Threat” was held on August 7, 2014 at the Rayburn House.

Since international air travel has not been suspended to, from, or via the affected countries (the countries have not been quarantined because it would negatively affect their poor economies), the virus was brought on uninfected U.S. soil by way of two contaminated Americans at Emory Hospital in Atlanta, and since our borders are wide-open, the possibility that one small mistake can trigger an outbreak in the U.S. is real.

The CDC Director does not know how many Ebola serums are available, similar to those administered to Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol. “I don’t have definitive information,” he said. “Whatever happens with these individuals… we still do not know from their experience whether these drugs work… It’s too soon to know.”

Dr. Vliet, MD and Dr. Steven Hatfill, MD, virologist, microbiologist, former researcher of Ebola at USMRIID, former weapons inspector, and board member of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness explain the new drug therapies for Ebola and emerging viral diseases.

One such serum is ZMapp, a mixture of three monoclonal antibodies obtained from tobacco plants by Mapp Biopharmaceuticals in San Diego and Kentucky BioProcessing in Owensboro, Kentucky. The drug could potentially save the two infected missionaries but the drug is experimental and as such, it was not tested on humans before.

According to Dr. Vliet, the drug is “not manufactured but grown and derived from genetically modified tobacco plants. The tobacco plants are infected with the protein and the plants reproduce it like a photocopier, the desired proteins are extracted from the tobacco plant, and purified into a serum.”

The results of the USMRIID 2013 study showed that when the serum was used on non-human primates, 43 percent of them recovered after intravenous treatment, even when the serum was administered 104-120 hours after infection or after symptoms appeared. http://youtu.be/X4TrmvhNLH4

In an interview on Conservative Commandos Radio show, August 5, 2014, Dr. Elizabeth Lee Vliet, described her concern about the “uncontrolled border crisis creating dangers of disease epidemics, including the potential of Ebola.”  According to a leaked intelligence report from the Border and Customs Protection, individuals from 75 different countries have crossed through the southern border illegally.  

This unclassified report with “sensitive data” indicated that “71 individuals from the three nations affected by the current Ebola outbreak either turned themselves in or have been caught attempting to illegally enter the U.S. between January and July 2014.” The Border Patrol is detaining only 3-5 percent of the border crossers.  She continued, “The odds are very good that Ebola could have already come across the border. No one knows for sure because information is being suppressed.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO7PZ1AVf5U

Dr. Lee Vliet said that several very sick individuals caught at the Texas border were transported to an undisclosed location, “all in respiratory distress, high fever, shaking, chills, and coughing up blood. Two weeks later, NBC news broke the story that several very sick individuals were flown to Ventura Air Force Base. These individuals were so sick, they were taken to an intensive care unit with the same symptoms.” Dr. Vliet considered this incident significant because these could be symptoms of Ebola, dengue fever, and hemorrhagic fever. They are not symptoms of early phase tuberculosis. Medical personnel are forced to suppress medical information, keeping the public in the dark.

The Inspector General for DHS released a report on July 31, 2014 in which he documented the spread of viral illnesses, previously eradicated and controlled, among the Border Patrol agents and their families. Dispersing these illegal aliens with unknown infections into the general population was a bad idea.

The “unclassified report” leaked to Breitbart Texas showed that 250 individuals from Pakistan, numerous Egyptians, Yemenis, Somalis, known sponsors of terrorism, and 3,200 people from China were caught sneaking across the border, “ a totally different pattern of previous illegal border crossings.” Dr. Vliet mentioned  89 cases last week of illegal aliens with TB at the border in Texas.

She believed that bringing in two patients infected with Ebola into the U.S. was a great risk to the patients and to the public. The safe transportation in hazmat suits and the special flight came at great expense, millions and millions of dollars when they could have been treated on site with the portable decontamination units, without risking the lives of the flight crews, the patients themselves, and the American public.

“We don’t know with certainty how Ebola is transmitted. There are studies from Canada that suggest that there is the possibility of aerosol (airborne) transmission.” She continued that medical personnel in protected hazmat suits, including a doctor, have died of Ebola. Lung fluids and other bodily excretions are highly contagious.

There is a stark disconnect between the government’s preparation to contain potential Ebola, going on around the country quietly, such as quarantine locations, requisitions for bio hazmat suits for the National Guard, and what people are being told publicly, not to worry about the spread of Ebola.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Politics, Ebola, and Our National Health Safety

Rep. Nancy Pelosi walked across the House floor and, lacking any decorum, waved her finger at Rep. Tom Marino who was discussing the bill to fund the border invasion and the future chain migration that is sure to follow.

“Under the leadership of the former Speaker [Pelosi], and under the leadership of their former leader [Rep. Steny Hoyer], when in 2009 and 2010, they had the House, the Senate and the White House, and they knew this problem existed. They didn’t have the strength to go after it back then. But now are trying to make a political issue out of it now.” http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/08/pelosi-chases-republican-tom-marino-across-house-chamber/

The Dream Act, which was passed conveniently around election time 2012 and was presented disingenuously as a “courageous move and the will of the people,” and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), passed on June 15, 2012, are responsible for emboldening the current flood of illegal alien minors into the United States. Our government has prepared since January 2014 to receive such a flood by seeking employees to help with the dispersion around the country of adolescents with communicable diseases among our unsuspecting American citizens.

According to the inspector general’s report, [border] “agents have contracted everything from scabies and lice to chickenpox, including bringing the disease home to their own children, as they care for the unaccompanied minors.” The report said some illegal immigrants’ “unfamiliarity with bathroom facilities caused unsanitary conditions and exposure to human waste.”  http://nation.foxnews.com/2014/08/01/illegals-‘unfamiliarity-bathroom-facilities’-causing-problems

Besides TB, other respiratory diseases, and a potential Ebola outbreak, unscreened and non- quarantined illegal aliens can bring in diseases that can be spread through contact with unvaccinated children and infected individuals who do not wash their hands after using the bathroom or who discard used toilet tissue with fecal matter into waste baskets instead of flushing them.

-          Poliomyelitis (viral infection spread through the fecal-oral route)

-          Norovirus acute gastroenteritis (spread through food and water contaminated by fecal matter)

-          Giardiasis (a parasite transmitted via the fecal-oral route)

-          Hepatitis A (a virus spread by eating or drinking water contaminated with infected feces)

-          Hepatitis E (fecal oral transmission route)

-          Rotavirus (vaccination can prevent it in infants; it is contagious especially in infants and children)

-          Typhoid fever (caused by bacteria Salmonella; sick people and carriers have the bacteria in the digestive tract and in their feces; travelers are advised to be careful when going abroad)

-          Shigellosis or bacillary dysentery (caused by the Shigella bacteria spread through the fecal-oral route)

-          Cholera (an infection of the bacterium vibrio cholera which is transmitted through food and water contaminated with feces)

-          Cryptosporidiosis (a protozoan parasite spread through the fecal-oral route)

-          Ascariasis (round worm infection in young children, prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions where sanitation and hygiene are poor; not common in the U.S.)

Dr. Margaret Chan, the director-general of The World Health Organization (WHO) described the spread of Ebola as ‘catastrophic’ in Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and now in Nigeria, carried by an individual on a flight. "If the situation continues to deteriorate, the consequences can be catastrophic in terms of lost lives but also severe socio-economic disruption and a high risk of spread to other countries."  The $100 million response plan will deploy hundreds more health care workers.  http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/ebola-who-spread-fast/2014/08/02/id/586440#ixzz39GWowJI4

Although the Ebola virus was generally thought of as being spread through direct contact with bodily fluids, a 2012 experiment, which reported that macaques (primates) contracted Ebola from piglets inoculated oro-nasally with the Zaire strain of the Ebola virus (EBOV), while caged in the same room without physical contact, cannot be explained. http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/121115/srep00811/full/srep00811.html

In the middle of this serious Ebola outbreak, the U.S.-African Leaders Summit will be held August 4-6 in Washington, D.C.  Judi McLeod wrote, “While Obama is bringing African leaders into D.C. for a summit that can be scheduled any time, the Centers for Disease Control has issued a travel advisory warning travelers to avoid nonessential travel to affected countries.” http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/65007

Democrats are manipulating our political system and the law, posturing and bending the truth, in order to increase future voter rolls through family integration and chain migration, using illegal alien minors, bussed or flown from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras into the U.S. at taxpayer expense in order to spare the unpleasant coyote trek through Mexico of those crashing our borders illegally.

Our country is overwhelmed by manufactured crisis after manufactured crisis and by a depressed economy, an anemic GDP, almost 100 million Americans unemployed or on welfare, and now the potential threat to our national health safety. Veterans die from VA hospital neglect and we are rolling out the red carpet for the next wave of unscreened border jumpers from unknown locales, claiming real or fabricated refugee status.