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diff --git a/17485.txt b/17485.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fcbaccb --- /dev/null +++ b/17485.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7891 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History and Comprehensive Description of +Loudoun County, Virginia, by James W. Head + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History and Comprehensive Description of Loudoun County, Virginia + +Author: James W. Head + +Release Date: January 9, 2006 [EBook #17485] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY AND COMPREHENSIVE *** + + + + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Sankar Viswanathan, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + [Illustration: James W. Head] + + HISTORY + + AND + + COMPREHENSIVE DESCRIPTION + + OF + + LOUDOUN COUNTY + + VIRGINIA + + + + BY + + JAMES W. HEAD + + + + PARK VIEW PRESS + + + + _Copyright 1908 + by JAMES W. HEAD_ + + + + +Dedication. + + * * * * * + +TO MY MOTHER, + + +WHOSE LOVE FOR LOUDOUN IS NOT LESS ARDENT + AND UNDYING THAN MY OWN, THIS VOLUME, + THE SINGLE AMBITION AND FONDEST + ACHIEVEMENT OF MY LIFE, + IS AFFECTIONATELY + DEDICATED. + + +"Loudoun County exemplifies country life in about the purest and +pleasantest form that I have yet found in the United States. Not that +it is a rural Utopia by any means, but the chief ideals of the life +there are practically identical with those that have made country life +in the English counties world-famous. As a type, this is, in fact, the +real thing. No sham, no artificiality, no suspicion of mushroom +growth, no evidence of exotic forcing are to be found in Loudoun, but +the culmination of a century's development." + + * * * * * + +"So much, then, to show briefly that Loudoun County life is a little +out of the ordinary, here in America, and hence worth talking about. +There are other communities in Virginia and elsewhere that are worthy +of eulogy, but I know of none that surpasses Loudoun in the dignity, +sincerity, naturalness, completeness and genuine success of its +country life."--WALTER A. DYER, in _Country Life in America_. + + + + +Table of Contents. + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +Descriptive Department. + +SITUATION + +BOUNDARIES + +TOPOGRAPHY + +COMPARATIVE ALTITUDES + +DRAINAGE + +CLIMATE + +GEOLOGY + + Summary + + Granite + + Loudoun Formation + + Weverton Sandstone + + Newark System + + Newark Diabase + + Catoctin Schist + + Rocks of the Piedmont Plain + + Lafayette Formation + + Metamorphism + +MINERAL AND KINDRED DEPOSITS + +SOILS + + Summary + + Loudoun Sandy Loam + Penn Clay + + Penn Stony Loam + + Iredell Clay Loam + + Penn Loam + + Cecil Loam + + Cecil Clay + + Cecil Silt Loam + + Cecil Mica Loam + + De Kalb Stony Loam + + Porters Clay + + Meadow + +FLORA AND FAUNA + + Flora + + Fauna + +TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES + +TOWNS AND VILLAGES + + Leesburg + + Round Hill + + Waterford + + Hamilton + + Purcellville + + Middleburg + + Ashburn + + Bluemont + + Smaller Towns + + +Statistical Department. + +AREA AND FARMING TABULATIONS + +POPULATION + +INDUSTRIES + +FARM VALUES + +LIVE STOCK + + Values + + Animals Sold and Slaughtered + + Neat cattle + + Dairy Products + + Steers + + Horses, Mules, etc. + + Sheep, Goats, and Swine + + Domestic Wool + + Poultry and Bees + +SOIL PRODUCTS + + Values + + Corn and Wheat + + Oats, Rye, and Buckwheat + + Hay and Forage Crops + + Miscellaneous Crops, etc. + + Orchard Fruits, etc. + + Small Fruits, etc. + + Flowers, Ornamental Plants, etc. + +FARM LABOR AND FERTILIZERS + + Labor + + Fertilizers + +EDUCATION AND RELIGION + + Education + + Religion + + +Historical Department. + +FORMATION + +DERIVATION OF NAME + +SETTLEMENT AND PERSONNEL + +EARLY HABITS, CUSTOMS, AND DRESS + + Habits + + Customs + + Dress + +FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR + +REPRESENTATION + + Colonial Assemblies + + State Conventions + +THE REVOLUTION + + Loudoun's Loyalty + + Resolutions of Loudoun County + + Revolutionary Committees + + Soldiery + + Quaker Non-Participation + + Loudoun's Revolutionary Hero + + Army Recommendations + + Court Orders and Reimbursements + + Close of the Struggle + +WAR OF 1812 + + The Compelling Cause + + State Archives at Leesburg + +THE MASON-MCCARTY DUEL + +HOME OF PRESIDENT MONROE + +GENERAL LAFAYETTE'S VISIT + +MEXICAN WAR + +SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR + + Loudoun County in the Secession Movement + + Loudoun's Participation in the War + + The Loudoun Rangers (Federal) + + Mosby's Command in its Relationship to Loudoun County + + Mosby at Hamilton (Poem) + + Battle of Leesburg ("Ball's Bluff") + + Munford's Fight at Leesburg + + Battle at Aldie + + Duffie at Middleburg + + The Sacking of Loudoun + + Home Life During the War + + Pierpont's Pretentious Administration + + Emancipation + + Close of the War + +RECONSTRUCTION + + After the Surrender + + Conduct of the Freedmen + +CONCLUSION + + + + +Introduction. + + +I know not when I first planned this work, so inextricably is the idea +interwoven with a fading recollection of my earliest aims and +ambitions. However, had I not been resolutely determined to conclude +it at any cost--mental, physical, or pecuniary--the difficulties that +I have experienced at every stage might have led to its early +abandonment. + +The greatest difficulty lay in procuring material which could not be +supplied by individual research and investigation. For this and other +valid reasons that will follow it may safely be said that more than +one-half the contents of this volume are in the strictest sense +original, the remarks and detail, for the most part, being the +products of my own personal observation and reflection. Correspondence +with individuals and the State and National authorities, though varied +and extensive, elicited not a half dozen important facts. I would +charge no one with discourtesy in this particular, and mention the +circumstance only because it will serve to emphasize what I shall +presently say _anent_ the scarcity of available material. + +Likewise, a painstaking perusal of more than two hundred volumes +yielded only meagre results, and in most of these illusory references +I found not a single fact worth recording. This comparatively +prodigious number included gazeteers, encyclopedias, geographies, +military histories, general histories, State and National reports, +journals of legislative proceedings, biographies, genealogies, +reminiscences, travels, romances--in short, any and all books that I +had thought calculated to shed even the faintest glimmer of light on +the County's history, topographical features, etc. + +But, contrary to my expectations, in many there appeared no manner of +allusion to Loudoun County. By this it will be seen that much time +that might have been more advantageously employed was necessarily +given to this form of fruitless research. + +That works of history and geography can be prepared in no other way, +no person at all acquainted with the nature of such writings need be +told. "As well might a traveler presume to claim the fee-simple of all +the country which he has surveyed, as a historian and geographer +expect to preclude those who come after him from making a proper use +of his labors. If the former writers have seen accurately and related +faithfully, the latter ought to have the resemblance of declaring the +same facts, with that variety only which nature has enstamped upon the +distinct elaborations of every individual mind.... As works of this +sort become multiplied, voluminous, and detailed, it becomes a duty to +literature to abstract, abridge, and give, in synoptical views, the +information that is spread through numerous volumes." + +Touching the matter gleaned from other books, I claim the sole merit +of being a laborious and faithful compiler. In some instances, where +the thoughts could not be better or more briefly expressed, the words +of the original authors may have been used. + +Where this has been done I have, whenever possible, made, in my +footnotes or text, frank and ample avowal of the sources from which I +have obtained the particular information presented. This has not +always been possible for the reason that I could not name, if +disposed, all the sources from which I have sought and obtained +information. Many of the references thus secured have undergone a +process of sifting and, if I may coin the couplet, confirmatory +handling which, at the last, rendered some unrecognizable and their +origin untraceable. + +The only publication of a strictly local color unearthed during my +research was Taylor's _Memoir of Loudoun_, a small book, or more +properly a pamphlet, of only 29 pages, dealing principally with the +County's geology, geography, and climate. It was written to accompany +the map of Loudoun County, drawn by Yardley Taylor, surveyor; and was +published by Thomas Reynolds, of Leesburg, in 1853. + +I wish to refer specially to the grateful acknowledgment that is due +Arthur Keith's _Geology of the Catoctin Belt_ and Carter's and Lyman's +_Soil Survey of the Leesburg Area_, two Government publications, +published respectively by the United States Geological Survey and +Department of Agriculture, and containing a fund of useful information +relating to the geology, soils, and geography of about two-thirds of +the area of Loudoun. Of course these works have been the sources to +which I have chiefly repaired for information relating to the two +first-named subjects. Without them the cost of this publication would +have been considerably augmented. As it is I have been spared the +expense and labor that would have attended an enforced personal +investigation of the County's soils and geology. + +And now a tardy and, perhaps, needless word or two in revealment of +the purpose of this volume. + +To rescue a valuable miscellany of facts and occurrences from an +impending oblivion; to gather and fix certain ephemeral incidents +before they had passed out of remembrance; to render some account of +the County's vast resources and capabilities; to trace its geography +and analyze its soils and geology; to follow the tortuous windings of +its numerous streams; to chronicle the multitudinous deeds of +sacrifice and daring performed by her citizens and soldiery--such has +been the purpose of this work, such its object and design. + +But the idea as originally evolved contemplated only a chronology of +events from the establishment of the County to the present day. Not +until the work was well under way was the matter appearing under the +several descriptive heads supplemented. + +From start to finish this self-appointed task has been prosecuted with +conscientious zeal and persistency of purpose, although with frequent +interruptions, and more often than not amid circumstances least +favorable to literary composition. At the same time my hands have been +filled with laborious avocations of another kind. + +What the philosopher Johnson said of his great _Dictionary_ and +himself could as well be said of this humble volume and its author: + +"In this work, when it shall be found that much is omitted, let it not +be forgotten that much likewise is performed; and though no book was +ever spared out of tenderness to the author, and the world is little +solicitous to know whence proceeded the faults of that which it +condemns; yet it may gratify curiosity to inform it, that the _English +Dictionary_ was written with little assistance of the learned, and +without any patronage of the great; not in the soft obscurities of +retirement, or under the shelter of academick bowers, but amidst +inconvenience and distraction, in sickness and in sorrow." + +If further digression be allowable I might say that in the preparation +of this work I have observed few of the restrictive rules of literary +sequence and have not infrequently gone beyond the prescribed limits +of conventional diction. To these transgressions I make willing +confession. I have striven to present these sketches in the most lucid +and concise form compatible with readableness; to compress the +greatest possible amount of useful information into the smallest +compass. Indeed, had I been competent, I doubt that I would have +attempted a more elaborate rendition, or drawn more freely upon the +language and the coloring of poetry and the imagination. I have +therefore to apprehend that the average reader will find them too +statistical and laconic, too much abbreviated and void of detail. + +However, a disinterested historian I have not been, and should such a +charge be preferred I shall look for speedy exculpation from the +discerning mass of my readers. + +In this connection and before proceeding further I desire to say that +my right to prosecute this work can not fairly be questioned; that a +familiar treatment of the subject I have regarded as my inalienable +prerogative. I was born in Loudoun County, of parents who in turn +could boast the same distinction, and, if not all, certainly the +happiest days of my life were passed within those sacred precincts. I +have viewed her housetops from every crowning eminence, her acres of +unmatched grain, her Arcadian pastures and browsing herds, her +sun-kissed hills and silvery, serpentine streams. I have known the +broad, ample playgrounds of her stately old Academy, and shared in the +wholesome, health-giving sports their breadth permitted. I have known +certain of her astute schoolmasters and felt the full rigor of their +discipline. Stern tutors they were, at times seemingly cruel, but what +retrospective mind will not now accord them unstinted praise and +gratitude? Something more than the mere awakening and development of +slumbering intellects was their province: raw, untamed spirits were +given into their hands for a brief spell--brief when measured in after +years--and were then sent forth to combat Life's problems with clean +hearts, healthy minds, robust bodies, and characters that might remain +unsullied though beset with every hellish device known to a sordid +world. God bless the dominies of our boyhood--the veteran +schoolmasters of old Loudoun! + +But to return to my theme. I have a distinct foresight of the views +which some will entertain and express in reference to this work, +though my least fears of criticism are from those whose experience and +ability best qualify them to judge. + +However, to the end that criticism may be disarmed even before +pronouncement, the reader, before condemning any statements made in +these sketches that do not agree with his preconceived opinions, is +requested to examine all the facts in connection therewith. In so +doing it is thought he will find these statements correct in the main. + +In such a variety of subjects there must of course be many omissions, +but I shall be greatly disappointed if actual errors are discovered. + +In substantiation of its accuracy and thoroughness I need only say +that the compilation of this work cost me three years of nocturnal +application--the three most ambitious and disquieting years of the +average life. During this period the entire book has been at least +three times rewritten. + +In the best form of which I am capable the fruits of these protracted +labors are now committed to the candid and, it is hoped, kindly +judgment of the people of Loudoun County. + +JAMES W. HEAD. +"ARCADIA," +BARCROFT, VA., _Feb. 1, 1909_. + + + + +Descriptive. + +SITUATION. + + +Loudoun County lies at the northern extremity of "Piedmont +Virginia,"[1] forming the apex of one of the most picturesquely +diversified regions on the American continent. Broad plains, numerous +groups and ranges of hills and forest-clad mountains, deep river +gorges, and valleys of practically every conceivable form are strewn +to the point of prodigality over this vast undulatory area. + +[Footnote 1: "Piedmont" means "foot of the mountain." "Piedmont +Virginia," with a length of 250 miles and an average width of about 25 +miles, and varying in altitude from 300 to 1,200 feet, lies just east +of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and comprises the counties of _Loudoun_, +Fauquier, Culpeper, Rappahannock, Madison, Greene, Orange, Albemarle, +Nelson, Amherst, Bedford, Franklin, Henry, and Patrick. It is a +portion of the belt that begins in New England and stretches thence +southward to Georgia and Alabama.] + +The particular geographic location of Loudoun has been most accurately +reckoned by Yardley Taylor, who in 1853 made a governmental survey of +the county. He placed it "between the latitudes of 38 deg. 52-1/2" and 39 deg. +21" north latitude, making 28-1/2" of latitude, or 33 statute miles, +and between 20" and 53-1/2" of longitude west from Washington, being +33-1/2" of longitude, or very near 35 statute miles." + +Loudoun was originally a part of the six million acres which, in 1661, +were granted by Charles II, King of England, to Lord Hopton, Earl of +St. Albans, Lord Culpeper, Lord Berkeley, Sir William Morton, Sir +Dudley Wyatt, and Thomas Culpeper. All the territory lying between the +Rappahannock and Potomac rivers to their sources was included in this +grant, afterwards known as the "Fairfax Patent," and still later as +the "Northern Neck of Virginia." + +"The only conditions attached to the conveyance of this domain, the +equivalent of a principality, were that one-fifth of all the gold and +one-tenth of all the silver discovered within its limits should be +reserved for the royal use, and that a nominal rent of a few pounds +sterling should be paid into the treasury at Jamestown each year. In +1669 the letters patent were surrendered by the existing holders and +in their stead new ones were issued.... The terms of these letters +required that the whole area included in this magnificent gift should +be planted and inhabited by the end of twenty-one years, but in 1688 +this provision was revoked by the King as imposing an impracticable +condition."[2] + +[Footnote 2: Bruce's _Economic History of Virginia_.] + +The patentees, some years afterward, sold the grant to the second Lord +Culpeper, to whom it was confirmed by letters patent of King James II, +in 1688. From Culpeper the rights and privileges conferred by the +original grant descended through his daughter, Catherine, to her son, +Lord Thomas Fairfax, Baron of Cameron--a princely heritage for a young +man of 20 years. + + +BOUNDARIES. + +The original boundaries of Loudoun County were changed by the +following act of the General Assembly, passed January 3, 1798, and +entitled "An Act for adding part of the county of Loudoun to the +county of Fairfax, and altering the place of holding courts in Fairfax +County." + + 1. _Be it enacted by the General Assembly_, That all that + part of the county of Loudoun lying between the lower + boundary thereof, and a line to be drawn from the mouth of + Sugar Land run, to Carter's mill, on Bull run, shall be, and + is hereby added to and made part of the county of Fairfax: + Provided always, That it shall be lawful for the sheriff of + the said county of Loudoun to collect and make distress for + any public dues or officers fees, which shall remain unpaid + by the inhabitants of that part of the said county hereby + added to the county of Fairfax, and shall be accountable for + the same in like manner as if this act had not been made. + + 2. _And be it further enacted_, That it shall be lawful for + a majority of the acting justices of the peace for the said + county of Fairfax, together with the justices of the county + of Loudoun included within the part thus added to the said + county of Fairfax, and they are hereby required at a court + to be held in the month of April or May next, to fix on a + place for holding courts therein at or as near the center + thereof (having regard to that part of the county of Loudoun + hereby added to the said county of Fairfax) as the situation + and convenience will admit of; and thenceforth proceed to + erect the necessary public buildings at such place, and + until such buildings be completed, to appoint any place for + holding courts as they shall think proper. + + 3. This act shall commence and be in force from and after + the passing thereof. + +As at present bounded, the old channel at the mouth of Sugar Land run, +at Lowe's Island,[3] is "the commencement of the line that separates +Loudoun from Fairfax County and runs directly across the country to a +point on the Bull Run branch of Occoquan River, about three eighths of +a mile above Sudley Springs, in Prince William County." The Bull Run +then forms the boundary between Loudoun and Prince William to its +highest spring head in the Bull Run mountain, just below the Cool +Spring Gap. The line then extends to the summit of the mountain, where +the counties of Fauquier and Prince William corner. From the summit of +this mountain, a direct line to a point[4] on the Blue Ridge, at +Ashby's Gap, marks the boundary between Loudoun and Fauquier counties. +A devious line, which follows in part the crests of the Blue Ridge +until reaching the Potomac below Harpers Ferry, separates Loudoun from +Clarke County, Virginia, and Jefferson County, West Virginia, on her +western border. The Potomac then becomes the dividing line between +Loudoun County, and Frederick and Montgomery counties, Maryland; "and +that State, claiming the whole of the river, exercises jurisdiction +over the islands as well as the river." + +[Footnote 3: "What is called Lowe's Island, at the mouth of Sugarland +Run, was formerly an island, and made so by that run separating and +part of it passing into the river by the present channel, while a part +of it entered the river by what is now called the old channel. This +old channel is now partially filled up, and only receives the waters +of Sugarland Run in times of freshets. Occasionally when there is high +water in the river the waters pass up the present channel of the run +to the old channel, and then follow that to the river again. This old +channel enters the river immediately west of the primordial range of +rocks, that impinge so closely upon the river from here to Georgetown, +forming as they do that series of falls known as Seneca Falls, the +Great, and the Little Falls, making altogether a fall of 188 feet in +less than 20 miles."--_Memoir of Loudoun_.] + +[Footnote 4: Designated in an old record as a "double-bodied poplar +tree standing in or near the middle of the thoroughfare of Ashby's Gap +on the top of the Blue Ridge." It succumbed to the ravages of time and +fire while this work was in course of preparation.] + +This completes an outline of 109 miles, viz: 19 miles in company with +Fairfax, 10 with Prince William, 17 with Fauquier, 26 with Clarke and +Jefferson, and 37 miles along the Potomac. + + +TOPOGRAPHY. + +Loudoun County is preeminently a diversified region; its surface +bearing many marked peculiarities, many grand distinctive features. +The broken ranges of hills and mountains, abounding in Piedmont +Virginia, here present themselves in softly rounded outline, gradually +sinking down into the plains, giving great diversity and +picturesqueness to the landscape. They are remarkable for their +parallelism, regularity, rectilineal direction and evenness of +outline, and constitute what is by far the most conspicuous feature in +the topography of Loudoun. Neither snow-capped nor barren, they are +clothed with vegetation from base to summit and afford fine range and +pasturage for sheep and cattle. + +The main valleys are longitudinal and those running transversely few +and comparatively unimportant. + +The far-famed Loudoun valley, reposing peacefully between the Blue +Ridge and Catoctin mountains, presents all the many varied topographic +aspects peculiar to a territory abounding in foothills. + +The Blue Ridge, the southeasternmost range of the Alleghanies or +Appalachian System presents here that uniformity and general +appearance which characterizes it throughout the State, having gaps +or depressions every eight or ten miles, through which the public +roads pass. The most important of these are the Potomac Gap at 500 +feet and Snickers and Ashby's Gap, both at 1,100 feet. The altitude of +this range in Loudoun varies from 1,000 to 1,600 feet above +tide-water, and from 300 to 900 feet above the adjacent country. It +falls from 1,100 to 1,000 feet in 4 miles south of the river, and +then, rising sharply to 1,600 feet, continues at the higher series of +elevations. The Blue Ridge borders the county on the west, its course +being about south southwest, or nearly parallel with the Atlantic +Coast-line, and divides Loudoun from Clarke County, Virginia, and +Jefferson County, West Virginia, the line running along the summit. + +Of nearly equal height and similar features are the Short Hills, +another range commencing at the Potomac River about four miles below +Harpers Ferry and extending parallel to the Blue Ridge, at a distance +of nearly four miles from summit to summit, for about twelve miles +into the County, where it is broken by a branch of Catoctin Creek. +Beyond this stream it immediately rises again and extends about three +miles further, at which point it abruptly terminates. + +A third range, called "Catoctin Mountain," has its inception in +Pennsylvania, traverses Maryland, is interrupted by the Potomac, +reappears in Virginia at the river margin, opposite Point of Rocks, +and extends through Loudoun County for a distance of twenty or more +miles, when it is again interrupted. + +Elevations on Catoctin Mountain progressively diminish southward from +the Potomac River to Aldie, although the rocks remain the same, and +the Tertiary drainage, which might be supposed to determine their +elevations, becomes less effective in that direction. + +Probably this mountain does not exceed an average of more than 300 +feet above the surrounding country, though at some stages it may +attain an altitude of 700 feet. Rising near the Potomac into one of +its highest peaks, in the same range it becomes alternately depressed +and elevated, until reaching the point of its divergence in the +neighborhood of Waterford. There it assumes the appearance of an +elevated and hilly region, deeply indented by the myriad streams that +rise in its bosom. + +On reaching the Leesburg and Snicker's Gap Turnpike road, a distance +of twelve miles, it expands to three miles in width and continues much +the same until broken by Goose Creek and its tributary, the North +Fork, when it gradually loses itself in the hills of Goose Creek and +Little River, before reaching the Ashby's Gap Turnpike. + +The Catoctin range throughout Loudoun pursues a course parallel to the +Blue Ridge, the two forming an intermediate valley or baselevel +plain, ranging in width from 8 to 12 miles, and in altitude from 350 +to 730 feet above sea level. Allusion to the physiography of this +valley--so called only by reason of its relation to the mountains on +either side--has been made elsewhere in this department. + +Immediately south of Aldie, on Little River, near the point of +interruption of Catoctin Mountain, another range commences and extends +into Fauquier County. It is known as "Bull Run Mountain," but might +rightly be considered an indirect continuation of the elevation of the +Catoctin, its course and some of its features corresponding very +nearly with that mountain save only that it is higher than any of the +ranges of the latter, excepting the western. + +East of the Catoctin the tumultuous continuity of mountains subsides +into gentle undulations, an almost unbroken succession of sloping +elevations and depressions presenting an as yet unimpaired variety and +charm of landscape. However, on the extreme eastern edge of this +section, level stretches of considerable extent are a conspicuous +feature of the topography. + +Three or four detached hills, rising to an elevation of 150 or 200 +feet above the adjacent country, are the only ones of consequence met +with in this section. + + +COMPARATIVE ALTITUDES. + +The hilly character of Loudoun is clearly shown by the following +exhibit of the elevation of points and places above tide-water. The +variations of altitude noted in this schedule are based upon +conflicting estimates and distinct measurements made at two or more +points within a given circumference and slightly removed one from the +other. + + Feet. +Sterling 415 +Ashburn 320 +Leesburg 321 to 337 +Clarke's Gap 578 to 634 +Hamilton 454 to 521 +Purcellville 546 to 553 +Round Hill 558 +Bluemont 680 to 730 +Snicker's Gap 1,085 +Neersville 626 +Hillsborough 550 +Waterford 360 +Mount Gilead 600 +Oatlands 270 +Little River, near Aldie 299 +Middleburg 480 +Potomac River, near Seneca Dam 188 +Potomac River, at Point of Rocks 200 +Potomac River, at Harper's Ferry 246 + +The whole of the county east of the Catoctin Mountain varies from 200 +to 350 feet. The eastern base of the Blue Ridge has an elevation of +about 730 feet, and the highest peak of that range in Loudoun rises +1,600 feet above tide-water. + +The Short Hills have an approximate altitude of 1,000 feet, while that +of the Catoctin Mountain varies from 300 to 700 feet. The valley +between the Blue Ridge and Catoctin Mountains varies from 350 to 730 +feet in elevation. + +From many vantage points along the Blue Ridge may be obtained +magnificent views of both the Loudoun and Shenandoah valleys. The eye +travels entirely across the fertile expanse of the latter to where, in +the far distance, the Alleghany and North Mountains rear their wooded +crests. A few of the summits offer even more extensive prospects. From +some nearly all of Loudoun, with a considerable area of Fairfax and +Fauquier, is in full view. Other more distant areas within visionary +range are portions of Prince William, Rappahannock, and Culpeper +counties, in Virginia, Frederick and Montgomery counties, in Maryland, +and even some of Prince George County, east of Washington City. +Westward, the view embraces Shenandoah, Frederick, Clarke and Warren +counties, in Virginia, Berkeley and Jefferson counties, in West +Virginia, Washington County, in Maryland, and some of the mountain +summits of Pennsylvania. + + +DRAINAGE. + +The drainage of Loudoun can be divided into two provinces. One is the +Potomac province, which is drained by a system of small tributaries of +that stream. Its elevations are quite uniform and are referable to +that master stream, whose grade is largely determined by its great +basin beyond the "Catoctin belt." The second province is the region +drained by smaller streams, chief of which is Goose Creek. In this +province the drainage lines head entirely within the "Catoctin belt," +and the elevations are variable according to the constitution of the +rocks in the belt itself. + +The tributaries by which the drainage of the two provinces is effected +are Catoctin Creek, North Fork Catoctin Creek, South Fork Catoctin +Creek, Little River, North Fork Goose Creek, Beaver-dam Creek, Piney +Run, Jeffries Branch, Cromwells Run, Hungry Run, Bull Run, Sycoline +Creek, Tuscarora Creek, Horse Pen Run, Broad Run, Sugarland Run, Elk +Lick, Limestone Branch, and as many lesser streams. + +The general slope of the county being to the northeast, the waters, +for the most part, naturally follow the same course, as may be readily +perceived by reference to maps of the section. The streams that rise +in the Blue Ridge mostly flow to the eastward until they approach the +Catoctin Mountain, where they are then deflected more toward either +the north or south to pass that range by the Northwest Fork and Goose +Creek, or by the Catoctin Creek which falls into the Potomac above +Point of Rocks. East of Catoctin Mountain the streams pursue a more or +less direct northern course. + +Goose Creek, a right-hand branch of the Potomac River, is a +considerable stream, pursuing a course of about fifty miles from its +source in Fauquier County to its junction with the Potomac four miles +northeast of Leesburg. It once bore the Indian name _Gohongarestaw_, +meaning "River of Swans." Flowing northeastward across Loudoun, it +receives many smaller streams until passing the first range of +Catoctin Mountain, when it claims a larger tributary, the North Fork. +Goose Creek represents subsequent drainage dependent on the syncline +of the Blue Ridge and dating back at least as far as Cretaceous time. +Its length in Loudoun is about thirty miles, and it has a fall of one +hundred feet in the last twenty-two miles of its course. It drains +nearly one-half the county and is about sixty yards wide at its mouth. + +Catoctin Creek is very crooked; its basin does not exceed twelve miles +as the crow flies, and includes the whole width of the valley between +the mountains except a small portion in the northeastern angle of the +County. Yet its entire course, measuring its meanders, would exceed +thirty-five miles. It has a fall of one hundred and eighty feet in the +last eighteen miles of its course, and is about twenty yards wide near +its mouth. + +The Northwest Fork rises in the Blue Ridge and flows southeastward, +mingling its waters with the Beaver Dam, coming from the southwest, +immediately above Catoctin Mountain, where their united waters pass +through a narrow valley to Goose Creek. + +Little River, a small affluent of Goose Creek, rises in Fauquier +County west of Bull Run mountain and enters Loudon a few miles +southwestward of Aldie. It pursues a northern and northeastern course +until it has passed that town, turning then more to the northward and +falling into Goose Creek. Before the Civil War it was rendered +navigable from its mouth to Aldie by means of dams. + +Broad Run, the next stream of consequence east of Goose Creek, rises +in Prince William County and pursues a northern course, with some +meanderings through Loudoun. It flows into the Potomac about four +miles below the mouth of Goose Creek. + +Sugarland Run, a still smaller stream, rises partly in Loudoun, though +its course is chiefly through Fairfax County, and empties into the +Potomac at the northeastern angle of the County. + +In its southeastern angle several streams rise and pursue a southern +and southeastern course, and constitute some of the upper branches of +Occoquan River. + +Perhaps no county in the State is better watered for all purposes, +except manufacturing in times of drought. Many of the farms might be +divided into fields of ten acres each and, in ordinary seasons, would +have water in each of them. + +There are several mineral springs in the county of the class called +chalybeate, some of which contain valuable medicinal properties, and +other springs and wells that are affected with lime. Indeed, in almost +every part of the County, there is an exhaustless supply of the purest +spring water. This is due, in great part, to the porosity of the soil +which allows the water to pass freely into the earth, and the slaty +character of the rocks which favors its descent into the bowels of the +hills, from whence it finds its way to the surface, at their base, in +numberless small springs. The purity of these waters is borrowed from +the silicious quality of the soil. + +The largest spring of any class in the county is Big Spring, a +comparatively broad expanse of water of unsurpassed quality, bordering +the Leesburg and Point of Rocks turnpike, about two miles north of +Leesburg. + +The springs, as has been stated, are generally small and very +numerous, and many of them are unfailing, though liable to be affected +by drought. In such cases, by absorption and evaporation, the small +streams are frequently exhausted before uniting and often render the +larger ones too light for manufacturing purposes. Nevertheless, water +power is abundant; the county's diversified elevation giving +considerable fall to its water courses, and many sites are occupied. + + +CLIMATE. + +Because responsible statistical data is usually accorded unqualified +credence, it is without undue hesitation that the following bit of +astonishing information, gleaned from a reliable source, is here set +down as positive proof of the excellence of Loudoun's climate: "It +(Leesburg) is located in a section the healthiest in the world, as +proven by statistics which place the death rate at 8-1/2 per 1,000, +the very lowest in the table of mortality gathered from all parts of +the habitable globe." + +The climate of Loudoun, like that of most other localities, is +governed mainly by the direction of the prevailing winds, and, to a +limited extent, is influenced by the county's diversified physical +features. + +Though the rainfall is abundant, amounting annually to forty or fifty +inches, ordinarily the air is dry and salubrious. This ample +precipitation is usually well distributed throughout the growing +season and is rarely insufficient or excessive. The summer rainfall +comes largely in the form of local showers, scarcely ever attended by +hail. Loudoun streams for the most part are pure and rapid, and there +appears to be no local cause to generate malaria. + +In common with the rest of Virginia the climate of Loudoun corresponds +very nearly with that of Cashmere and the best parts of China. The +mean annual temperature is 50 deg. to 55 deg.. + +Loudoun winters are not of long duration and are seldom marked by +protracted severity. Snow does not cover the ground for any +considerable period and the number of bright sunny days during these +seasons is unusually large. In their extremes of cold they are less +rigorous than the average winters of sections farther north or even of +western localities of the same latitude. Consequently the growing +season here is much more extended than in either of those sections. +The prevailing winds in winter are from the north and west, and from +these the mountains afford partial protection. + +The seasons are somewhat earlier even than in the Shenandoah Valley, +just over the western border of Loudoun, and the farmers here plant +and harvest their crops from one week to ten days earlier than the +farmers of that region. + +Loudoun summers, as a rule, are long and agreeably cool, while +occasional periods of extreme heat are not more oppressive than in +many portions of the North. The mountains of Loudoun have a delightful +summer climate coupled with inspiring scenery, and are well known as +the resort of hundreds seeking rest, recreation, or the restoration of +health. This region, owing to its low humidity, has little dew at +night, and accordingly has been found especially beneficial for +consumptives and those afflicted with pulmonary diseases. The genial +southwest trade winds, blowing through the long parallel valleys, +impart to them and the enclosing mountains moisture borne from the far +away Gulf of Mexico. + + +GEOLOGY. + +The geology of more than half the area of Loudoun County has received +thorough and intelligent treatment at the hands of Arthur Keith in his +most excellent work entitled "_Geology of the Catoctin Belt_," +authorized and published by the United States Geological Survey.[5] + +[Footnote 5: Credit for many important disclosures and much of the +detail appearing in this department is unreservedly accorded Mr. Keith +and his assistants.] + +Mr. Keith's analysis covered the whole of Bull Run Mountain, the +Catoctin in its course through Virginia and Maryland to its +termination in southern Pennsylvania, the Blue Ridge and South +Mountain for a corresponding distance, all intermediate ridges and +valleys and contiguous territory lying outside this zone and +paralleling the two flanking ranges.[6] + +[Footnote 6: The name "Catoctin Belt" is applied to this region +because it is separated by Catoctin Mountain from the Piedmont plain +as a geographic unit more distinctly than in any other area, and +because its geological unity is completed by Catoctin more fully and +compactly than elsewhere.] + +In this important work the Catoctin Belt is shown to be an epitome of +the leading events of geologic history in the Appalachian region. It +contains the earliest formations whose original character can be +certified; it contains almost the latest known formations; and the +record is unusually full, with the exception of the later Paleozoic +rocks. Its structures embrace nearly every known type of deformation. +It furnishes examples of every process of erosion, of topography +derived from rocks of nearly every variety of composition, and of +topography derived from all types of structure except the flat plateau +type. In the recurrence of its main geographic features from +pre-Cambrian time till the present day it furnishes a remarkable and +unique example of the permanence of continental form. + +With certain qualifications, a summary of the leading events that have +left their impress on the region is as follows: + +1. Surface eruption of diabase. + +2. Injection of granite. + +3. Erosion. + +4. Surface eruption of quartz-porphyry, rhyolite, and andesite. + +5. Surface eruption of diabase. + +6. Erosion. + +7. Submergence, deposition of Cambrian formations; slight oscillations +during their deposition; reduction of land to baselevel. + +8. Eastward tilting and deposition of Martinsburg shale; oscillations +during later Paleozoic time. + +9. Uplift, post-Carboniferous deformation and erosion. + +10. Depression and Newark deposition; diabase intrusion. + +11. Uplift, Newark deformation; and erosion to Catoctin baselevel. + +12. Depression and deposition of Potomac, Magothy, and Severn. + +13. Uplift southwestward and erosion to baselevel. + +14. Uplift, warping and degradation to Tertiary baselevel; deposition +of Pamunkey and Chesapeake. + +15. Depression and deposition of Lafayette. + +16. Uplift and erosion to lower Tertiary baselevel. + +17. Uplift, warping and erosion to Pleistocene baselevel; deposition +of high-level Columbia. + +18. Uplift and erosion to lower Pleistocene baselevel; deposition of +low-level Columbia. + +19. Uplift and present erosion. + +Along the Coastal plain reduction to baselevel was followed by +depression and deposition of Lafayette gravels; elevation followed and +erosion of minor baselevels; second depression followed and deposition +of Columbia gravels; again comes elevation and excavation of narrow +valleys; then depression and deposition of low-level Columbia; last, +elevation and channeling, which is proceeding at present. Along the +Catoctin Belt denudation to baselevel was followed by depression and +deposition of gravels; elevation followed and erosion of minor +baselevels among the softer rocks; second depression followed, with +possible gravel deposits; elevation came next with excavation of broad +bottoms; last, elevation and channeling, at present in progress. + +The general structure of the Catoctin Belt is anticlinal. On its core +appear the oldest rocks; on its borders, those of medium age; and in +adjacent provinces the younger rocks. In the location of its system of +faulting, also, it faithfully follows the Appalachian law that faults +lie upon the steep side of anticlines. + +After the initial location of the folds along these lines, compression +and deformation continued. Yielding took place in the different rocks +according to their constitution. + +Into this system of folds the drainage lines carved their way. On the +anticlines were developed the chief streams, and the synclines were +left till the last. The initial tendency to synclinal ridges was +obviated in places by the weakness of the rocks situated in the +synclines, but even then the tendency to retain elevation is apt to +cause low ridges. The drainage of the belt as a whole is anticlinal to +a marked degree, for the three main synclinal lines are lines of great +elevation, and the anticlines are invariably valleys. + +In order of solubility the rocks of the Catoctin Belt, within the +limits of Loudoun County, to which section all subsequent geologic +data will be confined, stand as follows: + +1. Newark limestone conglomerate; calcareous. + +2. Newark sandstone and shale; calcareous and feldspathic. + +3. Newark diabase; feldspathic. + +4. Granite; feldspathic. + +5. Loudoun formation; feldspathic. + +6. Granite and schist; feldspathic. + +7. Catoctin schist; epidotic and feldspathic. + +8. Weverton sandstone; siliceous. + +All of these formations are in places reduced to baselevel. The first +three invariably are, unless protected by a harder rock; the next +three usually are; the Catoctin schist only in small parts of its +area; the Weverton only along a small part of Catoctin Mountain. + +The Catoctin Belt itself may be described as a broad area of igneous +rocks bordered by two lines of Lower Cambrian sandstones and slates. +Over the surface of the igneous rocks are scattered occasional +outliers of the Lower Cambrian slate; but far the greater part of the +surface of the belt is covered by the igneous rocks. The belt as a +whole may be regarded as an anticline, the igneous rocks constituting +the core, the Lower Cambrian the flanks, and the Silurian and Newark +the adjoining zones. The outcrops of the Lower Cambrian rocks are in +synclines, as a rule, and are complicated by many faults. The igneous +rocks have also been much folded and crumpled, but on account of their +lack of distinctive beds the details of folds can not well be traced +among them. + +They are the oldest rocks in the Catoctin Belt and occupy most of its +area. They are also prominent from their unusual character and rarity. + +An important class of rocks occurring in the Catoctin Belt is the +sedimentary series. It is all included in the Cambrian period and +consists of limestone, shale, sandstone and conglomerate. The two +border zones of the Catoctin Belt, however, contain also rocks of the +Silurian and Juratrias periods. In general, the sediments are sandy +and calcareous in the Juratrias area, and sandy in the Catoctin Belt. +They have been the theme of considerable literature, owing to their +great extent and prominence in the topography. + + +_Granite._ + +The granite in the southern portion of the County is very important in +point of extent, almost as much so as the diabase in the same section. + +The areas of granite are, as a rule, long narrow belts, and vary +greatly in width. + +The mineralogical composition of the granite is quite constant over +large areas. Six varieties can be distinguished, however, each with a +considerable areal extent. The essential constituents are quartz, +orthoclase and plagioclase, and by the addition to these of biotite, +garnet, epidote, blue quartz, and hornblende, five types are formed. +All these types are holocrystalline, and range in texture from coarse +granite with augen an inch long down to a fine epidote granite with +scarcely visible crystals. + + +_Loudoun Formation._ + +Among the various Cambrian formations of the Catoctin Belt there are +wide differences in uniformity and composition. In none is it more +manifest than in the first or Loudoun formation. This was +theoretically to be expected, for first deposits upon a crystalline +foundation represent great changes and transition periods of +adjustment among new currents and sources of supply. The Loudoun +formation, indeed, runs the whole gamut of sedimentary possibilities, +and that within very short geographical limits. Five miles northwest +of Aldie the Loudoun formation comprises limestone, slate, sandy +slate, sandstone, and conglomerate with pebbles as large as hickory +nuts. These amount in thickness to fully 800 feet, while less than +three miles to the east the entire formation is represented by eight +or ten feet of black slate. + +The name of the Loudoun formation is given on account of the frequent +occurrence of all its variations in Loudoun County. Throughout the +entire extent of the Catoctin Belt, and especially through its central +portions, the Loudoun formation has frequent beds of sandstone, +conglomerate, and limestone. The limestones occur as lenses along two +lines; one immediately west of Catoctin Mountain, the other three or +four miles east of the Blue Ridge. Along the western range the +limestone lenses extend only to the Potomac. There they are shown on +both sides of the river, and have been worked in either place for +agricultural lime. Only the refuse of the limestone now remains, but +the outcrops have been extant until recent years. Along the eastern +line the limestone lenses extend across the Potomac and into Maryland +for about one mile, and it is along this belt that they are the most +persistent and valuable. As a rule they are altered from limestone +into marble, and at one point they have been worked for commercial +purposes. Nearly every outcrop has been opened, however, for +agricultural lime. Where Goose Creek crosses this belt a quarry has +been opened and good marble taken out, but want of transportation +facilities has prevented any considerable development. The relation +between marble and schist is very perfectly shown at an old quarry +west of Leesburg. The marble occupies two beds in schist, and between +the two rocks there is gradation of composition. In none of the +western belts are the calcareous beds recrystallized into marbles, +but all retain their original character of blue and dove-colored +limestone. None of them, however, is of great thickness and none of +great linear extent. + +The Loudoun formation, of course, followed a period of erosion of the +Catoctin Belt, since it is the first subaqueous deposit. It is +especially developed with respect to thickness and coarseness to the +west of Catoctin Mountain. Elsewhere the outcrops are almost entirely +black slate. This is true along the Blue Ridge, through almost its +entire length, and also through the entire length of the Catoctin +Mountain. On the latter range it is doubtful if this formation exceeds +200 feet in thickness at any point. Along the Blue Ridge it may, and +probably does, in places, reach 500 feet in thickness. + +The distribution of the coarse varieties coincides closely with the +areas of greatest thickness and also with the synclines in which no +Weverton sandstone appears. The conglomerates of the Loudoun formation +are composed of epidotic schist, andesite, quartz, granite, epidote, +and jasper pebbles embedded in a matrix of black slate and are very +limited in extent. + + +_Weverton Sandstone._ + +The formation next succeeding the Loudoun formation is the Weverton +sandstone. It is so named on account of its prominent outcrops in +South Mountain, near Weverton, Maryland, and consists entirely of +siliceous fragments, mainly quartz and feldspar. Its texture varies +from a very fine, pure sandstone to a moderately coarse conglomerate, +but, in general, it is a sandstone. As a whole, its color is white and +varies but little; the coarse beds have a grayish color in most +places. Frequent bands and streaks of bluish black and black are added +to the white sandstones, especially along the southern portion of the +Blue Ridge. The appearance of the rock is not modified by the amount +of feldspar which it contains. + +From the distribution of these various fragments, inconspicuous as +they are, considerable can be deduced in regard to the environment of +the Weverton sandstone. + +The submergence of the Catoctin Belt was practically complete, because +the Weverton sandstone nowhere touches the crystalline rocks. Perhaps +it were better stated that submergence was complete in the basins in +which Weverton sandstone now appears. Beyond these basins, however, it +is questionable if the submergence was complete, because in the +Weverton sandstone itself are numerous fragments which could have been +derived only from the granite masses. These fragments consist of blue +quartz, white quartz, and feldspar. The blue quartz fragments are +confined almost exclusively to the outcrops of the Weverton sandstone +in the Blue Ridge south of the Potomac, and are rarely found on +Catoctin. + +The general grouping of the Loudoun formation into two classes of +deposit (1), the fine slates associated with the Weverton sandstone, +and (2), the course sandstones occurring in deep synclines with no +Weverton, raises the question of the unity of that formation. The +evidence on this point is manifold and apparently conclusive. The +general composition of the two is the same--i. e., beds of +feldspathic, siliceous material derived from crystalline rocks. They +are similarly metamorphosed in different localities. The upper parts +of the thicker series are slates identical in appearance with the +slates under the Weverton, which presumably represent the upper +Loudoun. + +A marked change in the thickness of the Weverton sandstone occurs +along Catoctin Mountain, the formation diminishing from 1,000 to 200 +feet in a few miles. This plainly indicates shore conditions, and the +nature of the accompanying change of constituent material locates the +direction of the shore. This change is a decrease of the feldspar +amounting to elimination at the Potomac. As the feldspar, which is +granular at the shore, is soon reduced to fine clay and washed away, +the direction of its disappearance is the direction of deep water. +Thus the constitution and thickness of the Weverton sandstone unite in +showing the existence of land not far northeast of Catoctin Mountain +during Weverton deposition. + +Aside from this marked change in thickness, none of unusual extent +appears in the Weverton sandstone over the remainder of the Catoctin +Belt. While this is partly due to lack of complete sections, yet such +as are complete show a substantial uniformity. The sections of the +Blue Ridge outcrops range around 500 feet, and those of the Catoctin +line are in the vicinity of 300. This permanent difference in +thickness along the two lines can be attributed to an eastward +thinning of the formation, thus, however, implying a shore to the west +of the Blue Ridge line. It can also be attributed to the existence of +a barrier between the two, and this agrees with the deductions from +the constituent fragments. + + +_Newark System._ + +An epoch of which a sedimentary record remains in the region of the +Catoctin Belt is one of submergence and deposition, the Newark or +Juratrias. The formation, though developed in the Piedmont plain, +bears upon the history of the Catoctin Belt by throwing light on the +periods of degradation, deposition, igneous injection, and deformation +that have involved them both. + +At the Potomac River it is about 4 miles in width, at the latitude of +Leesburg about 10 miles in width, and thence it spreads towards the +east until its maximum width is, perhaps, 15 miles. The area of the +Newark formation is, of course, a feature of erosion, as far as its +present form is concerned. In regard to its former extent little can +be said, except what can be deduced from the materials of the +formation itself. Three miles southeast of Aldie and the end of Bull +Run Mountain a ridge of Newark sandstone rises to 500 feet. The same +ridge at its northern end, near Goose Creek, attains 500 feet and +carries a gravel cap. One mile south of the Potomac River a granite +ridge rises from the soluble Newark rocks to the same elevation. + +As a whole the formation is a large body of red calcareous and +argillaceous sandstone and shale. Into this, along the northern +portion of the Catoctin Belt, are intercalated considerable wedges or +lenses of limestone conglomerate. At many places also gray feldspathic +sandstones and basal conglomerates appear. + +The limestone conglomerate is best developed from the Potomac to +Leesburg, and from that region southward rapidly diminishes until it +is barely represented at the south end of Catoctin Mountain. + +The conglomerate is made up of pebbles of limestone of varying sizes, +reaching in some cases a foot in diameter, but, as a rule, averaging +about 2 or 3 inches. The pebbles are usually well rounded, but +sometimes show considerable angles. The pebbles of limestone range in +color from gray to blue and dark blue, and occasionally pebbles of a +fine white marble are seen; with rare exceptions also pebbles of +Catoctin schist and quartz occur. They are embedded in a red +calcareous matrix, sometimes with a slight admixture of sand. As a +rule the entire mass is calcareous. + +The conglomerate occurs, as has been said, in lenses or wedges in the +sandstone ranging from 1 foot to 500 feet in thickness, or possibly +even greater. They disappear through complete replacement by sandstone +at the same horizon. The wedge may thin out to a feather edge or may +be bodily replaced upon its strike by sandstone; one method is perhaps +as common as the other. The arrangement of the wedges is very +instructive indeed. The general strike of the Newark rocks is a little +to the west of north, while the strike of the Catoctin Belt is a +little to the east of north. The two series, therefore, if extended, +would cross each other at an angle of 20 to 30 degrees. The +conglomerate wedges are collected along the west side of the Newark +Belt and in contact usually with the Weverton sandstone. The thick +ends of the wedges along the line of contact usually touch each other. +Going south by east the proportion of the sandstone increases with +rapid extermination of the conglomerate. The thin ends of the wedges, +therefore, resemble a series of spines projecting outward from the +Catoctin Belt. + +The result of weathering upon the conglomerate is a very uneven and +rugged series of outcrops projecting above the rolling surface of the +soil. + +The ledges show little definite stratification and very little dip. +The topography of the conglomerate is inconspicuous and consists of a +slightly rolling valley without particular features. It approaches +nearer to the level of the present drainage than any other formation, +and decay by solution has gone on to a very considerable extent. Where +the draining streams have approached their baselevel, scarcely an +outcrop of conglomerate is seen. Where the areas of conglomerate lie +near faster falling streams, the irregular masses of unweathered rocks +appear. + +When but slightly weathered the conglomerate forms an effective +decorative stone and has been extensively used as a marble with the +name "Potomac marble," from the quarries on the Potomac east of Point +of Rocks, Maryland. While it is in no sense a marble, yet the +different reds and browns produced by unequal weathering of the +limestone pebbles have a very beautiful effect. + +The thickness of the Newark formation is most uncertain. The rocks dip +at a light angle to the west with hardly an exception, and the +sections all appear to be continuous. Even with liberal deductions for +frequent faults, nothing less than 3,000 feet will account for the +observed areas and dips. + + +_Newark Diabase._ + +Description of the lithified deposits would be far from complete +without reference to the later diabase which is associated with the +Newark rocks. + +These diabases, as they will be called generically, are usually +composed of plagioclase feldspar, and diallage or augite; additional +and rarer minerals are quartz, olivine, hypersthene, magnetite, +ilmenite, and hornblende. Their structure is ophitic in the finer +varieties, and to some extent in the coarser kinds as well. They are +holocrystalline in form and true glassy bases are rare, rendering the +term diabase more appropriate than basalt. + +There is greater variety in texture, from fine aphanitic traps up to +coarse grained dolerites with feldspars one-third of an inch long. The +coarser varieties are easily quarried and are often used for building +stone under the name of granite. + +These forms are retained to the present day with no material change +except that of immediate weathering, but to alterations of this kind +they are an easy prey, and yield the most characteristic forms. The +narrow dikes produce ridges between slight valleys of sandstone or +shale, the wide bodies produce broad flat hills or uplands. The rock +weathers into a fine gray and brown clay with numerous bowlders of +unaltered rock of a marked concentric shape. + +While the diabase dikes are most prominent in the Newark rocks, they +are also found occasionally in the other terraces. In the Catoctin +Belt they appear irregularly in the granite and schist. Rare cases +also occur in the rocks of the Piedmont plain. The diabase of the +Newark areas is almost exclusively confined to the red sandstone, and +the dike at Leesburg cutting the limestone conglomerate is almost the +only occurrence of that combination. + +The diabase occurs only as an intrusive rock in the vicinity of the +Catoctin Belt. Of this form of occurrence, however, there are two +types, dikes and massive sheets or masses. The dikes are parallel to +the strike of the inclosing sandstone as a rule, and appear to have +their courses controlled by it on account of their small bulk. The +large masses break at random across the sandstone in the most +eccentric fashion. No dislocation can be detected in the sandstones, +either in strike or dip, yet of course it must exist by at least the +thickness of the intrusive mass. That this thickness is considerable +is shown by the coarseness of the larger trap masses, which could +occur only in bodies of considerable size, and also by the width of +their outcrops in the westward dipping sandstones. The chief mass in +point of size is three miles wide. This mass fast decreases in width +as it goes north, without losing much of its coarseness, and ends in +Leesburg in a hooked curve. The outline of the diabase is suggestive +of the flexed trap sheets of more northern regions, but this +appearance is deceptive, since the diabase breaks directly across both +red sandstone and limestone conglomerate, which have a constant north +and south strike. An eastern branch of this mass crosses the Potomac +as a small dike and passes north into Pennsylvania. The diabase dikes +in the Catoctin Belt are always narrow, and, while many outcrops occur +along a given line, it is probable that they are not continuous. + +At Leesburg the limestone conglomerate next the diabase is indurated, +its iron oxide is driven off, and the limestone partly crystallized +into marble. + + +_Catoctin Schist._ + +The Catoctin schist is geographically the most important of the +volcanic rocks of Loudoun. + +Throughout its entire area the schist is singularly uniform in +appearance, so that only two divisions can be made with any certainty +at all. These are dependent upon a secondary characteristic, viz, the +presence of epidote in large or small quantities. The epidote occurs +in the form of lenses arranged parallel to the planes of schistosity, +reaching as high as five feet in thickness and grading from that down +to the size of minute grains. Accompanying this lenticular epidote is +a large development of quartz in lenses, which, however, do not attain +quite such a size as those of epidote. Both the quartz and epidote are +practically insoluble and lie scattered over the surface in blocks of +all sizes. In places they form an almost complete carpet and protect +the surface from removal. The resulting soil, where not too heavily +encumbered with the epidote blocks, is rich and well adapted to +farming, on account of the potash and calcium contained in the epidote +and feldspar. + +Except along the narrow canyons in the Tertiary baselevel the rock is +rarely seen unless badly weathered. The light bluish green color of +the fresh rock changes on exposure to a dull gray or yellow, and the +massive ledges and slabs split up into thin schistose layers. It is +quite compact in appearance, and as a rule very few macroscopic +crystals can be seen in it. + +A general separation can be made into an epidotic division +characterized by an abundance of macroscopic epidote and a +non-epidotic division with microscopic epidote. These divisions are +accented by the general finer texture of the epidotic schist. + +The schists can be definitely called volcanic in many cases, from +macroscopic characters, such as the component minerals and basaltic +arrangement. In most cases, the services of the microscope are +necessary to determine their nature. Many varieties have lost all of +their original character in the secondary schistosity. None the less, +its origin as diabase can definitely be asserted of the whole mass. In +view of the fact, however, that most of the formation has a well +defined schistosity destroying its diabasic characters, and now is not +a diabase but a schist, it seems advisable to speak of it as a schist. + +Sections of the finer schist in polarized light show many small areas +of quartz and plagioclase and numerous crystals of epidote, magnetite, +and chlorite, the whole having a marked parallel arrangement. Only in +the coarser varieties is the real nature of the rock apparent. In +these the ophitic arrangement of the coarse feldspars is well defined, +and in spite of their subsequent alteration the fragments retain the +crystal outlines and polarize together. Additional minerals found in +the coarse schists are calcite, ilmenite, skeleton oblivine, biotite, +and hematite. + + +_Rocks of the Piedmont Plain._ + +The Piedmont plain, where it borders upon the Catoctin Belt, is +composed in the main of the previously described Newark strata, red +sandstone, and limestone conglomerate. East of the Newark areas lies a +broad belt of old crystalline rocks, whose relations to the Catoctin +Belt are unknown. + +The rocks, in a transverse line, beginning a little to the east of +Dranesville, in Fairfax County, and extending to the Catoctin +Mountain, near Leesburg, occur in the following order, viz: Red +sandstone, red shale, greenstone, trap, reddish slate, and +conglomerate limestone. + +Heavy dykes of trap rock extend across the lower end of the County, +from near the mouth of Goose Creek to the Prince William line. "These, +being intrusive rocks, have in some places displaced the shale and +risen above it, while in other places a thin coat of shale remains +above the trappean matter, but much altered and changed in +character."[7] A large mass of trap rock presents itself boldly above +the shale at the eastern abutment of the Broad Run bridge, on the +Leesburg and Alexandria turnpike. Not far to the east the shale is +changed to a black or blackish brown color, while at the foot of the +next hill still farther eastward the red shale appears unchanged. The +summits of many of these dykes are "covered with a whitish or +yellowish compact shale, highly indurated and changed into a rock very +difficult to decompose."[8] + +[Footnote 7: Taylor's _Memoir_.] + +[Footnote 8: Ibid.] + + +_Lafayette Formation._ + +A great class of variations due to rock character are those of surface +form. The rocks have been exposed to the action of erosion during many +epochs, and have yielded differently according to their natures. +Different stages in the process of erosion can be distinguished and to +some extent correlated with the time scale of the rocks in other +regions. One such stage is particularly manifest in the Catoctin Belt +and furnishes the datum by which to place other stages. It is also +best adapted for study, because it is connected directly with the +usual time scale by its associated deposits. This stage is the +Tertiary baselevel, and the deposit is the Lafayette formation, a +deposit of coarse gravel and sand lying horizontally upon the edges of +the hard rocks. Over the Coastal plain and the eastern part of the +Piedmont plain it is conspicuously developed, and composes a large +proportion of their surfaces. As the formation is followed westward it +is more and more dissected by erosion and finally removed. Near the +area of the Catoctin Belt it occurs in several places, all of them +being small in area. One is three miles northeast of Aldie. Here, a +Newark sandstone hill is capped with gravel. This gravel is much +disturbed by recent erosion and consists rather of scattered fragments +than of a bedded deposit. + +The materials of the Lafayette gravel are chiefly pebbles and grains +of quartz, with a considerable admixture of quartzite and sandstone. +The large quartz pebbles were probably derived from the large lenses +of quartz in the Catoctin schist, for no other formation above water +at the time contained quartz in large enough masses to furnish such +pebbles. On the hypothesis that they were of local origin and merely +worked over during submergence, they might be connected with the +quartz veins of the Piedmont plain. That theory, however, with +difficulty accounts for their well-rounded condition, which shows +either beach action or long carriage. The quartz sand may well have +been derived from the granitic quartzes, but that is an uncertain +matter. The sandstones and quartzites are usually massive and pure +white, of the variety found along Catoctin and Bull Run mountains. +Other varieties of sandstone--the blue-banded type, for instance--are +derived from the Weverton sandstone on the Blue Ridge. The white +sandstone pebbles in the terraces along Bull Run Mountain can be +traced from the ledges to the deposits. In this region, therefore, an +absolute shore can be seen. In other areas along Catoctin Mountain a +shore can be inferred, because the mountain projects above the +baselevel plane and contains no gravel deposits. In fact, only a few +points at the stream gaps are cut down to the baselevel. + + +_Metamorphism._ + +Dynamic metamorphism has produced great rearrangement of the minerals +along the eastern side of the Catoctin Belt, and results at times in +complete obliteration of the characters of the granite. The first step +in the change was the cracking of the quartz and feldspar crystals and +development of muscovite and chlorite in the cracks. This was +accompanied by a growth of muscovite and quartz in the unbroken +feldspar. The aspect of the rock at this stage is that of a gneiss +with rather indefinite banding. Further action reduced the rock to a +collection of angular and rounded fragments of granite, quartz, and +feldspar in a matrix of quartz and mica, the mica lapping around the +fragments and rudely parallel to their surfaces. The last stage was +complete pulverization of the fragments and elongation into lenses, +the feldspathic material entirely recomposing into muscovite, +chlorite, and quartz, and the whole mass receiving a strong +schistosity, due to the arrangement of the mica plates parallel to the +elongation. This final stage is macroscopically nothing more than a +siliceous slate or schist, and is barely distinguishable from the end +products of similar metamorphism in the more feldspathic schists and +the Loudoun sandy slates. The different steps can readily be traced, +however, both in the hand specimen and under the microscope. + +The Weverton sandstone has suffered less from metamorphism than any of +the sediments. In the Blue Ridge it has undergone no greater change +than a slight elongation of its particles and development of a little +mica. Along Catoctin Mountain, from the Potomac River south, however, +increased alteration appears together with the diminution in +thickness. What little feldspar there was is reduced to quartz and +mica, and the quartz pebbles are drawn out into lenses. Deposition of +secondary quartz becomes prominent, amounting in the latitude of Goose +Creek to almost entire recrystallization of the mass. A marked +schistosity accompanies this alteration, and most of the schistose +planes are coated with silvery muscovite. Almost without exception +these planes are parallel to the dip of the formation. + +Metamorphism of the Loudoun formation is quite general. It commonly +appears in the production of phyllites from the argillaceous members +of the formation, but all of the fragmental varieties show some +elongation and production of secondary mica. The limestone beds are +often metamorphosed to marble, but only in the eastern belt. The +recrystallization is not very extensive, and none of the marbles are +coarse grained. + +The metamorphism of the igneous rocks is regional in nature and has +the same increase from west to east as the sediments. + +In the granite it consists of various stages of change in form, +attended by some chemical rearrangement. The process consisted of +progressive fracture and reduction of the crystals of quartz and +feldspar, and was facilitated by the frequent cleavage cracks of the +large feldspars. It produced effects varying from granite with a rude +gneissoid appearance, through a banded fine gneiss, into a fine quartz +schist or slate. These slaty and gneissoid planes are seen to be +parallel to the direction and attitude of the sediments, wherever they +are near enough for comparison. + +Dynamic alteration of the Catoctin diabase is pronounced and +wide-spread. Macroscopically it is evident in the strong schistosity, +which is parallel to the structural planes of the sediments when the +two are in contact. In most areas this alteration is mainly chemical +and has not affected the original proportions of the rock to a marked +extent. Its prevalence is due to the unstable composition of the +original minerals of the rock, such as olivine, hypersthene, and +pyroxene. Along Catoctin Mountain, however, both chemical and +mechanical deformation have taken place, so that the original rock +structure is completely merged into pronounced schistosity. This was +materially assisted by the weak lath shapes of the feldspar and the +mobility of the micas. + +The average dip of the schistose planes is about 60 deg.; from this they +vary up to 90 deg. and down to 20 deg.. In all cases they are closely parallel +to the planes on which the sediments moved in adjustment to folding, +namely, the bedding planes. In regions where no sediments occur, the +relation of the schistose planes to the folds can not be discovered. + +Parallel with the micas that cause the schistosity, the growth of the +quartz and epidote lenses took place. These, too, have been deformed +by crushing and stretching along Bull Run Mountain and the south part +of Catoctin Mountain. From this fact, taken in connection with the +folding of the schistose planes at Point of Rocks, it would appear +that the deformation was not a single continuous effort. + +The ratios of schistose deformation in the igneous rocks are as +follows: diabase, with unstable mineral composition and small +mechanical strength, has yielded to an extreme degree; granite, with +stable composition and moderate mechanical strength, has yielded to +the more pronounced compression. + + +MINERAL AND KINDRED DEPOSITS. + +In point of mineral wealth Loudoun ranks with the foremost counties of +the State. Iron, copper, silver, soapstone, asbestos, hydraulic +limestone, barytes, and marble are some of the deposits that have been +developed and worked with a greater or lesser degree of success. + +A large bed of compact red oxide of iron lies at the eastern base of +the Catoctin Mountain, on the margin of the Potomac River. Long before +the Civil War a furnace was erected here by Samuel Clapham, Sr., for +the reduction of this ore, and considerable quantities of it were +formerly transported moderate distances to supply other furnaces. The +Clapham furnace continued in operation until all the fuel at hand was +consumed and then went out of blast. Water power was supplied by the +Catoctin Creek, which flows into the river immediately above the +mountain. To obtain this a tunnel was cut through a spur of the +mountain projecting into a bend of the creek. This tunnel, about five +hundred feet long and sixty feet beneath the summit of the hill, was +cut through almost a solid wall of rock, and, at that day, was +considered a great work. + +Magnetic iron ore has been found in certain places, and this or a +similar substance has a disturbing effect upon the needle of the +surveyor's compass, rendering surveying extremely difficult where +great accuracy is required. In some instances the needle has been +drawn as much as seven degrees from its true course. This effect is +more or less observable nearly throughout the Catoctin Mountain, and +has been noted elsewhere in the County. + +Chromate of iron was long ago discovered along Broad Run, and, about +the same time, a bed of micaceous iron ore on Goose Creek below the +Leesburg turnpike. Copper ore is associated with the last-named +mineral. + +In 1860, the output of pig iron in Loudoun was 2,250 tons, and its +value $58,000. Rockbridge was the only Virginia County to exceed these +figures. + +In several localities small angular lumps of a yellowish substance, +supposed to contain sulphur, have been found, embedded in rocks. When +subjected to an intense heat, it gives forth a pungent sulphurous +odor. + +Small quantities of silver ore are discovered from time to time; but +the leads have never been extensively worked and many of the richest +veins are still untouched. + +Deposits of copper in the schists have long excited interest and led +to mining operations. The amount of ore, however, appears not to have +justified any considerable work. + +Near the base of the Catoctin Mountain, where it is first approached +by Goose Creek, marble of an excellent quality is found but has been +little worked. Among the varieties at the quarry are included pure +white, white and pink, blue and white, white and green, serpentinized +and chloritic serpentinized marble. These marbles are of great beauty +and susceptible of a good polish. The calcareous bed here is about +fifty feet thick and reaches southward for three miles with increasing +thickness. At its southern end it is not entirely metamorphosed into +marble, but retains its original character of fine blue limestone. +Northward along this range the thickness of the marble constantly +diminishes and rarely exceeds ten feet. Sometimes there are two beds, +sometimes only one. At Taylorstown, just south of the Potomac, the bed +is about three feet thick; on the north side of the Potomac about +four or five feet. Here, as elsewhere, the beds of marble are inclosed +in a bluish green micaceous schist, which has been thoroughly +transformed by mechanical pressure. + +In the vicinity of Leesburg and north of that town, and between the +Catoctin Mountain and the Potomac River, the conglomerate limestone or +brecciated marble is found in abundance, associated with red shale. It +is a calcareous rock, apparently formed in part of pebbles cemented +together and, when burned, produces an inferior lime. It is commonly +known as Potomac marble. Of this variegated marble were formed the +beautiful columns in the old Representatives' chamber of the Capitol +at Washington. The soil in which this rock occurs is extremely +productive and valuable. + +The exhibition at the World's Fair, at New Orleans, of the following +specimens of Loudoun minerals claimed much interest from visiting +mineraloguists: + +1. _Specular Iron Ore_, from near Leesburg, said to be in quantity. +From Professor Fontaine. + +2. _Chalcopyrite_, from near Leesburg, said to be a promising vein. +From Professor Fontaine. + +The following were contributed by the "Eagle Mining Company," of +Leesburg; F. A. Wise, general manager: + +1. _Carbonate of Copper_, from vein 3' wide, developed to 25' deep. +Assays by Oxford Copper Company of New York give 51 per cent of copper +and 27 ounces of silver per ton. + +2. _Sulphuret of Copper_, from vein 10" wide, developed to 50' deep. +Assays by Oxford Copper Company of New York give 12-1/2 per cent of +copper. + +3. _Iron Ore_, from vein 4' wide and 50' deep. Yields 55 per cent +metallic iron by assay of W. P. Lawver, of U. S. Mint. + +4. _Sulphuret of Copper_, from vein developed 50'. Yields 11 per cent +of copper and 1 ounce of silver per ton by assay of W. P. Lawver, U. +S. Mint. + +5. _Carbonate of Copper_, red oxide and glance, from vein 3' wide, +developed to 25' deep. Yields 50 per cent metallic copper and 27 +ounces silver per ton by assays. + +6. _Iron Ore_, from vein 2' to 4' wide, developed 50'. Yield 55 per +cent metallic iron. + +7. _Oxide of Copper_, from Carbonate vein, developed 60' on 4' wide +vein; 25' deep. + +8. _Sulphuret of Copper_, from vein 8" to 15" wide, developed 50'. + +9. _Iron Ore._ + +10. _Barytes_, heavy spar, vein undeveloped. + +11. _Iron Ore_, from 50' level of Eagle Mining Company's shaft. + +12. _Marble_, from quarry of "Virginia Marble Company," three miles +east from Middleburg. The deposit has been demonstrated to be of great +extent; the marble has been pronounced of a very superior quality. +Contributed by Major B. P. Noland. + +13. _Marble_, from same as above. + +14. " " " " " + + * * * * * + +17. _Copper Ore_, James Pinkham, from Virginia Department of +Agriculture. + +In the "_Handbook on the Minerals and Mineral Resources of Virginia_" +prepared by the Virginia Commission to the St. Louis Exposition, +Loudoun is credited with the three comparatively rare minerals given +below. The two first-named occur nowhere else in the State. + +"ACTINQLITE: _Calcium-magnesium-iron, Amphibole_, + +Ca (Mg Fe)_{3}(Si O{4}){3}. + +Specific Gravity, 3-3.2. Hardness, 5-6. Streak, uncolored.... Fine +radiated olive-green crystals are found ... at Taylorstown...." + +"TREMOLITE: _A variety of Amphibole. Calcium._ + +_Magnesium Amphibole._ Ca Mg{2}(Si O{4}){3}. + +Specific Gravity, 2.9-3.1. Hardness, 5.6. Long bladed crystals; also +columnar and fibrous. Color, white and grayish. Sometimes nearly +transparent. Found in the greenish talcose rocks at Taylorstown." + +_Chromite_, of which no occurrence of economic importance has yet been +discovered in the County or elsewhere in Virginia. + +"[9]On the eastern flank of the Catoctin rests a thin belt of mica +slate. This rock is composed of quartz and mica in varying +proportions, and this belt, on reaching the Bull Run Mountain, there +expands itself, and forms the whole base of that mountain, and where +the mica predominates, as it does there, it sometimes forms excellent +flagging stones." + +[Footnote 9: Taylor's _Memoir_.] + + * * * * * + +"Immediately at the western base of the Catoctin Mountain, a range of +magnesian or talcose slates occur traversing its whole length.... In +this range a vein of magnesian limestone is met with, and is exposed +in several places. It however is narrow, in some places only a few +feet in thickness, and being difficult to obtain is not much sought +after for burning." + + * * * * * + +"Along the eastern side of the valley (Loudoun) gneiss is frequently +met with on the surface, and where the larger streams have worn deep +valleys, it is sometimes exposed in high and precipitous cliffs. This +is more particularly the case along Goose Creek and Beaver Dam. +Associated with it, however, is clay slate, not so much in rock as in +soil, for it being more readily decomposed is seldom found on the +surface, except as soil. These two varieties are often met with side +by side in thin layers, and their combination at the surface forms a +peculiarly favorable soil for agricultural purposes. The gneiss from +the quartz it contains makes a sandy soil, while the clay slate gives +it tenacity. This happy combination is a prevailing feature of this +entire valley, and renders it one of the best farming sections in +Virginia. + +"Another rock that is a valuable acquisition is hornblende. This kind +when first taken from the ground, is always covered as with a coat of +rust. This is doubtless the fact, for the oxydasion of the iron it +contains gives it that appearance, and colors the soil a reddish hue +in its immediate vicinity. Wherever this rock abounds, the soil is +durable and the crops are usually heavy. It is sometimes met with +having a fine grain, and so very hard as to be almost brittle, though +generally very difficult to break, and when broken strongly resembling +cast-iron, and will sometimes ring, on being struck, almost as +clearly. It was used very much formerly for making journals to run +mill-gudgeons upon. When found on the surface, it is usually of a +rounded form...." + +However, much of the rock of the valley partakes of the nature of both +hornblend and gneiss, and has been aptly termed a "hornblend gneiss +rock." + +Beds of magnesian or talcose slate, sometimes containing crystals of +sulphuret of iron, are frequently met with in this section, and at the +base of Black Oak Ridge, which is composed chiefly of chlorite slate +and epidote, another bed of magnesian limestone is found. Containing +about 40 per cent of magnesia, it makes an excellent cement for walls, +but is of little or no value as a fertilizer. + + +SOILS.[10] + +The soils of Loudoun vary greatly in both geological character and +productiveness, every variety from a rich alluvial to an unproductive +clay occurring within her boundaries. In general the soils are deep +and rich and profitably cultivated. + +The heavy clay soils of Loudoun are recognized as being the strongest +wheat and grass soils. The more loamy soils are better for corn on +account of the possibility of more thorough cultivation. However, the +lands all have to be fertilized or limed to obtain the best results, +and with this added expense the profit in wheat growing is extremely +uncertain on any but the clay soils. The loamy soils are especially +adapted to corn, stock raising, and dairying, and they are largely +used for these purposes. The mountain sandstone soils, which are rough +and stony, are not adapted to any form of agriculture; but for some +lines of horticulture--as, for instance, the production of grapes, +peaches, apples and chestnuts--or forestry they seem to offer +excellent opportunities. The schist soil of the mountains, although +rough and stony, is productive, easily worked, and especially adapted +to apples, peaches, and potatoes. The shale and mica soils, although +thin and leachy, are especially adapted to grapes, vegetables, and +berries, and other small fruits. These soils should be managed very +carefully to obtain the best results. They are easily worked and very +quickly respond to fertilization and thorough cultivation. It is very +probable that market gardening and fruit raising on these types would +prove profitable. It seems, however, that peach trees are short lived +on these soils. The meadow lands are low and subject to overflow, +although otherwise well drained. They are best adapted to the +production of corn, grass, and vegetables. + +[Footnote 10: For the bulk of the information appearing under this +caption the author is indebted to Carter's and Lyman's _Soil Survey of +the Leesburg Area_, published in 1904 by the United States Department +of Agriculture.] + +That part of the County lying east of a line drawn from the Potomac +River near Leesburg, by Aldie to the Fauquier line, is much more +unproductive than the western portion, partly on account of an +inferior soil, and partly in consequence of an exhausting system of +cultivation, once so common in eastern Virginia, i. e., cropping with +corn and tobacco without attempting to improve the quality of the +soil. When impoverished, the lands were thrown out to the commons. + +Large tracts that formerly produced from thirty to forty bushels of +corn to the acre, still remain out of cultivation, though many of the +present proprietors are turning their attention to the improvement of +these soils and are being richly rewarded. + +In this section, particularly along Goose Creek, trap-rock occurs, +sometimes covering large surfaces, at other times partially covered +with indurated shale, formed from the red shale of this region which +has become hardened by the heat of the intruding trap. Where this rock +occurs covering large surfaces, nearly level, "the soil is a dark +brown colored clay, very retentive of moisture and better adapted to +grass than grain.... A deficiency of lime probably occurs here, and +there may be some obnoxious ingredient present. Minute grains of iron +sand are generally interspersed through this rock, and as it is not +acted upon by atmospheric influences, its combination may contain some +acid prejudicial to vegetation. Where this rock is thrown into more +irregular elevations, and is apparently more broken up, the soil is +better."[11] + +Near the Broad Run Bridge the soil is deplorably sterile. "In many +places it is but a few inches in thickness, and the rock below, being +compact, prevents the water from penetrating much below the surface, +thus causing an excess of water in rainy weather, and a scarcity of it +in fair weather. The red shale does not appear to decompose readily, +as it is found a short distance beneath the surface, and the strata +dipping at a low angle, prevents the water from freely descending into +this kind of soil."[12] + +[Footnote 11: Taylor's _Memoir_.] + +[Footnote 12: Ibid.] + +There is a huge belt of red land, known as "the red sandstone +formation," extending from the Potomac through a part of each of the +counties of _Loudoun_, Fairfax, Prince William, Fauquier, Culpeper, +and Orange, which, with judicious cultivation, might be rendered +liberally productive. Professor W. B. Rogers, in his report to the +legislature of Virginia, in 1840, described it under the head of the +"secondary formation in the northern district." "The general form of +this area," he wrote, "is that of a prolonged triangle, extending in a +direction from SSW. to NNE., having its apex at the southern +extremity, and gradually expanding until it reaches the Potomac. +Measured at a point on the Potomac between the mouths of Goose Creek +and Broad Run, its length is about 80 miles. Its greatest breadth, as +measured near the Potomac, and parallel to the road leading from +Leesburg to Dranesville, is about 15 miles. This, in round numbers, +gives 600 square miles for the area of this region." + +Bottom lands of inexhaustible fertility and rich upland loams are +commonly met with north and south of Leesburg for a considerable +distance on either side of the turnpike leading from Point of Rocks, +Md., at one extremity of the County to Middleburg at the other. + +Limestone occurs in vast quantities throughout this zone, and there +are present all the propitious elements that will be enumerated in the +treatment of the soils of other areas. + +The land here is in a high state of cultivation and, according to its +peculiarly varying and unalterable adaptability, produces enormous +crops of all the staple grains of the County. + +The soil in the vicinity of Oatlands, included in this zone, is stiff +and stony, except such as is adjacent to water courses, or the base of +hills, where it is enriched by liberal supplies of decayed matter, +which render it loamy and inexhaustible. In the main, it is of a +generous quality, so pertinaciously retaining fertilizers as to +withstand the washing of the heaviest rains. Still it is an anomaly +that some of the richest areas in this region will not produce wheat; +while, in the cultivation of rye, oats, and corn, satisfactory results +are almost invariably obtained. Likewise there are but a few parcels +whereon white clover does not grow spontaneously and in the greatest +abundance. Than these, better pasture lands are found nowhere east of +the Blue Ridge. Limestone occurs here in vast quantities. + +In the Valley of Loudoun, between the Catoctin and Blue Ridge +mountains, the soil is formed from gneiss, clay-slate, hornblend, +greenstone, and quartz. The happy combination of these materials +produces a most excellent and durable soil, containing, in fair +proportions, alumina, silex, potash, lime, and other fertilizing +minerals. Certain fertilizers have been successfully employed in +improving its natural fertility, and when it is partially exhausted by +excessive tillage, rest alone will restore it. + + +_Loudoun Sandy Loam._ + +The Loudoun sandy loam consists of from 8 to 12 inches of a heavy +brown or gray sandy loam, underlain by a heavy yellow or red loam or +clay loam. Often the subsoil contains a considerable quantity of +coarse sand, making the texture much the same as that of the soil. The +sand of the soil and subsoil is composed of very coarse rounded and +subangular quartz particles. The surface material is not a light sandy +loam, but is more like a loam containing considerable quantities of +very coarse quartz fragments. It is generally quite free from stones, +but small areas are occasionally covered with from 5 to 20 per cent of +angular quartz fragments several inches in diameter. + +The Loudoun sandy loam occurs in irregular areas of considerable size +in the intermediate valley between the Blue Ridge, Short Hill, and +Catoctin mountains. The largest area of the type is found in the +vicinity of Round Hill. + +The topography of this soil in the valley varies from gently rolling +to hilly, the slopes being long and gently undulating, while along the +valley walls and in the uplands it is ridgy. Owing to the position +which this type occupies, surface drainage is good. The light texture +of the soil admits of the easy percolation of water through it, and, +except where the subsoil contains considerable sand, the soil moisture +is well retained. In dry weather, if the ground is cultivated, a mulch +is formed, which prevents the evaporation of the soil moisture and +greatly assists the crops to withstand drought. + +Nearly the whole of this type is in cultivation. Where the forest +still stands the growth consists chiefly of oak. The soil is easy to +handle, and can be worked without regard to moisture content. It is +considered a good corn land, but is too light-textured for wheat, +although a considerable acreage is devoted to this crop. Corn yields +at the rate of 40 or 50 bushels per acre, wheat from 12 to 15 bushels +and occasionally more, and grass and clover at the rate of 1 or 2 tons +per acre. The productiveness of the soil depends greatly on the sand +content of the subsoil. If the quantity be large, the soil is porous +and requires considerable rain to produce good yields. If the clay +content predominates, a moderate amount of rain suffices and good +yields are obtained. Apples, pears, and small fruits do well on this +soil. + + +_Penn Clay._ + +The Penn clay consists of from 6 to 12 inches of a red or +reddish-brown loam, resting upon a subsoil of heavy red clay. The soil +and subsoil generally have the Indian-red color characteristic of the +Triassic red sandstone from which the soil is in part derived. From 1 +to 10 per cent of the soil mass is usually made up of small sandstone +fragments, while throughout the greater part of the type numerous +limestone conglomerate ledges, interbedded with Triassic red +sandstone, come to the surface. In other areas of the type numerous +limestone conglomerate bowlders, often of great size, cover from 10 to +25 per cent of the surface. + +This latter phase occurs in the vicinity of the Potomac River near +Point of Rocks, Md., and near the Potomac, 3 miles north of Leesburg, +and in these places the heavier phase of the type occurs, the clay +often being very near the surface. In other parts of the County, where +the limestone conglomerate is not so preponderant, or where it lies +deeper and is mostly unexposed, the surface soil is deeper, often +consisting of 18 inches of loam. The land is locally termed "limestone +land." Near Catoctin Mountain the rocks seem to have weathered to +considerable depth, there being no exposures or outcrops. Here the +soil has been washed away from some of the more elevated small areas, +and the heavy red clay subsoil is exposed. + +In a great many places along the base of the mountain the formation of +this type is somewhat complicated by the wash from the mountain, which +consists principally of subangular quartz fragments, from 1 to 4 +inches in diameter. This rock sometimes forms as much as 30 or 40 per +cent of the soil mass. This phase is called "gravelly land," and is +hard to cultivate on account of its heavy texture and stony condition, +although it is inherently productive. + +This type occurs in one irregular-shaped area, about 15 miles long, +varying from less than 1 mile to 3 or 4 miles in width, being cut by +the Potomac River just east of Point of Rocks, Md. It thus lies in the +central part of the County, in the Piedmont Plateau, extending from +immediately north of Leesburg, and skirting the eastern foot of +Catoctin Mountain. + +The general surface drainage is good, there being many small streams +flowing through the type and emptying into the Potomac River. The +stream beds are but little lower than the surface of the surrounding +land, while the slopes are long and gentle. Excessive erosion scarcely +ever occurs. The heavier phase of the type would undoubtedly be +improved by tile draining, as it is usually lower lying than the +lighter phase. The heavier phase bakes and cracks in dry weather much +the same as the heavy limestone soils of the Shenandoah Valley, but +with the lighter phases, where the soil covering is deeper, good tilth +is easily maintained throughout the growing season. + +Corn, wheat, clover, and grass are the crops grown, of which the +yields are as follows: Corn, from 40 to 60 bushels per acre; wheat, +from 15 to 25 bushels per acre, and clover and grass, from 1-1/2 to +2-1/2 tons of hay per acre. + +The Penn clay is the most highly prized soil of the Piedmont region of +Loudoun and brings the highest prices. + + +_Penn Stony Loam._ + +The Penn stony loam consists of from 8 to 12 inches of a red or +grayish heavy loam, somewhat silty, underlain by a heavier red loam. +From 10 to 60 per cent of gray and brown fragments of Triassic +sandstone, ranging from 1 to 6 inches in thickness, cover the surface +of the soil. The color is in general the dark Indian-red of the other +soils derived from Triassic sandstone, being particularly marked in +the subsoil. + +This type occurs in the southeastern part of Loudoun, on the Piedmont +Plateau. It occupies three small areas whose total extent probably +does not exceed two and one-half square miles. It is closely +associated with the Penn loam and grades gradually into that type. The +only great difference between the two is the presence of sandstone +fragments in the Penn stony loam. + +The topography varies from gently rolling to hilly and ridgy, with +slopes that are sometimes rather steep. However, the surface is not so +broken as to interfere with cultivation, and the slopes are usually +gentle. + +The type is well drained, the slopes allowing a rapid flow of water +from the surface, while the soil water passes readily through the soil +and subsoil. On the other hand, the texture is sufficiently heavy to +prevent undue leaching and drought. + +Little of the land is in cultivation, on account of its stony +character, which makes cultivation difficult. Where unimproved it is +covered with a heavy growth of chestnut, oak, and pine. The land is +locally called "chestnut land." In a few small areas the larger stones +have been removed and the land is cultivated, corn and wheat being the +principal crops. The yield of corn ranges from 20 to 35 bushels and of +wheat from 8 to 15 bushels per acre. Apples and small fruits and +vegetables do well. + + +_Iredell Clay Loam._ + +The soil of the Iredell clay loam consists of from 6 to 18 inches of +light loam, usually brown or gray, although sometimes of a yellowish +color, with an average depth of about twelve inches. The subsoil +consists of a heavy yellow to yellowish-brown waxy clay. This clay is +cold and sour, almost impervious to moisture and air, and protects the +underlying rock from decay to a great extent. Often the clay grades +into the rotten rock at from 24 to 36 inches. In the poorly drained +areas a few iron concretions occur on the surface. Numerous rounded +diabase bowlders, varying in size from a few inches to several feet in +diameter, are also scattered over the surface of the soil. Occasional +slopes of the type have had the soil covering entirely removed by +erosion, and here, where the clay appears on the surface, the soil is +very poor. In other places, where the soil covering is quite deep, as +from 12 to 18 inches, the type is fairly productive, and its +productiveness is generally proportional to the depth of the soil. + +The local name for the Iredell clay loam is "wax land," from the waxy +nature of the subsoil, or "black-oak land," from the timber growth. A +few small, isolated areas of this soil occur in the intermediate +valley of the Catoctin Belt, and here the texture is much the same as +that described above; but the soil usually consists of from 6 to 10 +inches of a drab or brown loam, underlain by a heavy mottled yellow +and drab silty clay. This phase has few stones on the surface or in +the soil. The local names for this phase are "cold, sour land" and +"white clay." + +The greater part of the Iredell clay loam occurs in the southern or +southeastern corner of the County and occupies one large, +irregular-shaped but generally connected area, extending from +Leesburg, in a southeasterly and southerly direction along Goose Creek +to the southern boundary of the County, the most typical development +of the soil being at Waxpool. The phase already described occurs in +small, disconnected areas, usually quite far apart, the general +relative direction of these areas being northeast and southwest. They +all lie in the intermediate valley of the Catoctin Belt, and are +usually near the foot of the Blue Ridge or Short Hills. The most +typical development of this phase occurs just southeast of Bluemont. + +Where rolling and sloping the surface drainage is good, the water +passing rapidly from the surface into the numerous small streams +flowing into Goose Creek, which is the main drainage way of this type. +In the low, flat lands the water stands or flows very slowly from the +surface. Owing to the impervious nature of the clay subsoil, +underdrainage is very slow, and the land is often cold and sour. + +Corn, wheat, and grass are the principal crops grown on this soil +type, the average yields per acre being as follows: Corn, from 20 to +40 bushels; wheat, from 8 to 15 bushels; and grass, from 1-1/2 to +2-1/2 tons. Apples do fairly well. + +The greater part of the type is tilled, while the uncultivated areas +are used for pasturage and wood lots, the forest growth being black +oak. In dry seasons, where the soil covering is not deep, the land +bakes and cracks, and in this condition it can not be cultivated. In +wet seasons the soil becomes too wet and sticky to work. + + +_Penn Loam._ + +The Penn loam consists of from 8 to 12 inches of a dark, Indian-red +loam, underlain by a heavier loam of the same color. This peculiar red +color is distinctive of the formation wherever found, and, +consequently, the type is one easily recognized. The texture of the +type is very uniform, with the exception of a few small areas where +the subsoil is a clay loam. The soil is locally termed "red-rock +land," on account of the numerous small red sandstone fragments which +occur in the soil and subsoil in quantities varying from 5 to 20 per +cent of the soil mass. The soil is free from large stones or other +obstructions to cultivation. + +This type occurs in several large, irregular areas on the Newark +formation of the Piedmont Plateau in the eastern part of the County. +The areas have a general northeast and southwest trend. A few small +areas occur in close proximity to the larger ones. One of the larger +areas is situated just south of Leesburg, while another occurs east of +Lucketts. + +The topography consists of a gently rolling to nearly level plain, and +there are no steep slopes or rough areas. Drainage in this type is +excellent, the easy slopes allowing a gradual flow of water from the +surface without undue erosion, except with very heavy rains on the +steeper slopes. The loamy subsoil allows a ready but not too rapid +percolation of surplus soil moisture, and never gets soggy or in a +cold, sour condition. Numerous small streams extend throughout the +area of this type, allowing a rapid removal of all surplus water into +the Potomac River, the chief drainageway of the County. Along these +streams, which in all cases have cut out beds some 10 to 30 feet below +the surrounding plain, the slopes are gradual. + +The original growth on the Penn loam was a forest of oak, hickory, and +walnut, but at the present time nearly all of the type is cleared and +farmed. The soil is not naturally very productive, but is prized on +account of its great susceptibility to improvement, its quick +responsiveness to fertilization, and its easy cultivation and +management. The surface is smooth and regular, and the absence of +stones, together with the loamy texture of the soil, makes it easy to +maintain good tilth. Any addition of fertilizers or lime is +immediately effective, and by judicious management the type may be +kept in a high state of productiveness. Many fine farms with good +buildings are to be seen on this type. The crops grown are corn, +wheat, grass, clover, apples, and small fruits. Grazing, stock +raising, and dairying are practiced to some extent. The land yields +from 40 to 60 bushels of corn, from 10 to 15 or more bushels of wheat, +and from 1 to 2 tons of hay per acre. + + +_Cecil Loam._ + +The soil of the Cecil loam consists of from 8 to 12 inches of a brown +or yellow loam. The subsoil consists of a heavy yellow or red loam, or +occasionally clay loam. The soil and subsoil are usually free from +stones, but occasional areas have from 5 to 30 per cent of angular +quartz or schist fragments on the surface. Often a mica-schist enters +into the composition of the subsoil, giving it a soft and greasy feel. + +The greater part of the intermediate valley or baselevel plain of the +Catoctin Belt consists of the Cecil loam, and it occurs here as one +large, connected area, inside of which are small areas of Cecil clay, +Loudoun sandy loam, and Iredell clay loam. A considerable portion of +the Catoctin Mountain also consists of the Cecil loam. In extent this +is the most important soil type in Loudoun, covering about 33 per cent +of the total area. + +The Cecil loam, owing to its rolling character, is well drained +throughout. Many small streams traverse it, affording ample outlets +for surface water. The gently rolling areas are not generally subject +to excessive erosion, but the steeper slopes wash badly, deep gullies +and ditches being formed on the hillsides. Especially subject to +erosion are the areas in which the subsoil contains a relatively large +proportion of mica fragments. The soil and subsoil, though quite +loamy, retain enough moisture in seasons of moderate rainfall to +supply all growing crops. + +The Cecil loam is devoted entirely to general farming. The crops grown +are corn, wheat, grass, clover, vegetables, apples, and pears. The +agricultural interests are further diversified by the practice of +dairying and stock raising. The land is one of the best corn soils of +Loudoun, being loamy and easily cultivated throughout the growing +season. The average yield per acre ranges from 40 to 60 bushels. Wheat +does very well, producing from 12 to 20 bushels per acre, and more in +favorable seasons. Grass and clover yield at the rate of from 1 to 2 +tons of hay per acre and form good grazing during a considerable part +of the year. Apples and pears are grown everywhere on the type, +usually in small orchards, and good yields of these fruits are +obtained. Oats were at one time grown, and can be produced at the rate +of from 35 to 50 bushels per acre, but the present acreage is small, +the farmers claiming that this crop rapidly reduces the productiveness +of the soil. + +Nearly all of the type is in cultivated crops or pasture. The original +timber growth was oak, hickory, and walnut; but little of this stands +now, except on occasional woodlots. The Cecil loam is a soil which +with careful treatment makes a fine farming land; but carelessly +managed it very quickly deteriorates. + + +_Cecil Clay._ + +The soil of the Cecil clay consists of a heavy loam, red or brown in +color, and having an average depth of 8 inches. The subsoil generally +consists of a red clay, although it is sometimes a heavy clay loam. +The surface is generally free from stones, though occasional small +areas have a few quartz and granite or schist fragments. In the +Piedmont areas small rounded diabase fragments occur on the surface. +Occasionally on steep slopes or high knobs the soil covering has been +washed away, leaving the heavy red clay exposed on the surface. These +areas, however, are small. + +The type occurs principally in the intermediate valley of the Catoctin +Belt, between the Blue Ridge and the Catoctin Mountain, and on the +west slopes of the Catoctin Mountain. In the valley it occupies +several small, disconnected areas scattered throughout this region, +while on the west slope of the mountain it is found in one of two +long, broad areas, extending in a northeast and southwest direction. +Three small areas occur near the southeastern corner of the County, +and the type is here closely related to the Iredell clay loam. + +The most typical areas of this soil occur in the Piedmont Plateau and +on the gentle slopes at the foot of the Blue Ridge in the vicinity of +Bluemont. + +This soil type has excellent surface drainage and is well watered and +drained throughout by small streams. Few of the slopes are so steep as +to wash badly. The heavy clay subsoil retains ample moisture for plant +growth and the soil is rarely so wet as to necessitate tile draining, +although this would undoubtedly be very beneficial in the case of the +heavier phases. + +The whole of this soil is under cultivation and it is highly esteemed +wherever found, being naturally a strong soil and susceptible of +improvement. The original forest growth consisted of oak, hickory, and +walnut. The land is easily improved, retentive of moisture and manure, +and with careful management makes an excellent soil for general +farming. Owing to its tendency to bake, crops are liable to suffer +during drought. + +The land produces wheat, corn, grass, clover, apples, and pears. It is +a strong wheat soil, and yields from 15 to 25 bushels per acre and +occasionally more. Grass and clover hay yield at the rate of 1-1/2 to +2-1/2 tons per acre, while from 40 to 60 bushels of corn per acre are +usually produced in good seasons. + +All things considered, the Cecil clay is best adapted to the +production of wheat and grass. The more loamy phases are adapted to +corn, but the type as a whole is a much better wheat land than corn +land. The soil is also well adapted to apples and pears. Bluegrass +grows well and makes fine pasturage, and stock raising and dairy +farming are other industries to which the Cecil clay is well suited. +Care has to be used in the cultivation of this soil, for if worked +when too wet it dries in large, hard clods that give trouble +throughout the season and interfere with cultivation for a long time +afterwards. + + +_Cecil Silt Loam._ + +The surface soil of the Cecil silt loam consists of 12 inches of a +light gray or white silt loam. This material is underlain by a subsoil +of yellow silt loam slightly heavier than the soil. The type is +locally termed "white land," and is closely related to the Penn loam +and the Iredell clay loam, these types surrounding and grading +gradually into it. In some areas the soil is quite free from stones, +while in others from 10 to 30 per cent of the soil mass is composed of +small rock fragments. + +The type occupies several small areas in the Piedmont region, in the +southeastern part of the County. The largest of these areas lies about +2 miles east of Leesburg, and a considerable part of the type is +adjacent to the Potomac River. It occupies high, rolling, ridgy, or +hilly lands, and has some rather steep slopes, though in general the +surface is only gently sloping. + +The drainage is good, but wherever the slopes are steep erosion +proceeds rapidly, making gullies and washed-out places that hinder or +entirely prevent cultivation. The type is well watered by small +streams which flow the year round. + +Probably one-half of this type is cultivated. The remainder is +covered with a growth of scrub oak, pine, and some cedar. The soil is +thin and only fairly productive, and consequently is not greatly +desired for agriculture. It is very easy to work, but has to be +cultivated carefully to avoid washing. The crops raised are corn, +wheat, grass, and some apples. Corn yields from 25 to 35 bushels, +wheat from 12 to 15 bushels, and clover and timothy hay from 1 to 2 +tons per acre. Small fruits and vegetables do well. + +Although naturally a thin soil, the Cecil silt loam is fairly well +adapted to the production of the crops just named. Of the small +fruits, peaches, plums, and berries do best. On the whole the type is +considered much better adapted to wheat than to corn. It is limed and +fertilized to a considerable extent, and responds well to such +applications. + + +_Cecil Mica Loam._ + +The Cecil mica loam consists of 12 inches of a friable, micaceous +yellow or yellowish red loam, underlain by a yellow or yellowish-red +loam, whose mica content increases with the depth until at 24 to 30 +inches the subsoil is little more than a mass of small mica flakes +which gives it a loose texture. Occasionally the subsoil is a clay +loam for several inches before grading into the unweathered mica +particles. + +On the surface there is from 5 to 40 per cent of angular quartz +fragments, ranging from 1 to 6 inches in diameter, some being much +larger. + +The Cecil mica loam occurs as one long, narrow strip, occupying the +lower, gentle eastern slopes of the Catoctin Mountain. The southern +end of the strip begins a short distance north of Leesburg, and +extends in a northeasterly direction to the Potomac River, opposite +Point of Rocks, Md. + +The topographic features of the Cecil mica loam consist of gentle and +occasionally steep rolling slopes. The surface is well drained and on +the steeper slopes the soil washes badly and deep gullies are formed. +In a season of moderate rainfall the soil and subsoil retain +considerable moisture, but in dry weather crops suffer from drought. + +No farms are found entirely on the Cecil mica loam, but those farms of +the Piedmont, extending up the mountain slopes, generally include some +of this soil. Such areas are often farmed, but more generally used as +woodlots. Where cultivated the yields are scant, except where the soil +is heavily fertilized. Corn yields from 10 to 30 bushels per acre and +sometimes more, and wheat from 6 to 12 bushels per acre. The type is +best adapted to forestry, chestnut orcharding, and grape growing. + + +_De Kalb Stony Loam._ + +The soil of the De Kalb stony loam consists of a yellow or gray sandy +loam of coarse texture, having an average depth of 12 inches. The +subsoil consists of a heavy yellow sandy loam to a depth of 24 inches +or more, where it rests upon a mass of sandstone fragments. These +sandstone fragments and bowlders occur in varying quantities +throughout the soil and subsoil. Where the fewer stones are found the +soil is not so sandy, but a light loam, yellow or brown in color, +underlain by a deep yellow loam subsoil. + +The De Kalb stony loam is a mountain soil, occurring in long, parallel +bands of varying width, extending in a general northeast and southwest +direction, and mainly occupies the crests and slopes of the Blue Ridge +and Short Hill mountains. It also occurs in smaller areas on the crest +and east slope of Catoctin Mountain. + +On the Blue Ridge and Short Hills the De Kalb stony loam covers the +whole of the mountains, and here the physiography consists of long, +sharp, rock-crested ridges, with steep, rugged slopes and occasional +cliffs and huge ledges. There are occasional benches on the mountain +sides, and here there is an accumulation of two or three inches of a +black mold, resting on the broken sandstone fragments, and covered +with a growth of locust, oak, and berry vines. + +Owing to the steep and rugged surface of this soil, together with its +stony character, superficial drainage is rapid and thorough, the water +rushing in torrents from the mountain slopes, while as a result of +the loose texture and the large number of stone fragments in the soil +the water passes rapidly through it, and there is never an excess of +moisture in the soil or subsoil. + +On account of the steep and stony nature of the De Kalb stony loam +little of the type can possibly be cultivated. The soil is naturally a +very thin one, and is not capable of producing fair yields except in +its less stony phases. + +The principal growth on the type is chestnut, oak, and some pine. +Probably 95 per cent of the type is uncultivated, and is valuable only +for the timber growth it supports. Where cultivated the average yields +per acre are as follows: Corn, from 10 to 20 bushels; wheat, from 6 to +10 bushels. Apples and especially peaches do fairly well on the +mountain phase where not too stony. + +The greater part of the De Kalb stony loam is not adapted to +agricultural purposes at all, and it is not likely that the land will +ever be valuable except for forestry. It is locally termed "mountain +land," and is the poorest agricultural soil of the County. + + +_Porters Clay._ + +The Porters clay consists of from 6 to 12 inches of a brown or +reddish-brown loam, underlain by a heavy red loam or clay loam. The +type consists of fairly rough mountain land, and is very stony, having +from 15 to 60 percent of small and large schist fragments on the +surface, some of which are several feet in diameter. The soil is light +and easy to work wherever it is not so stony as to interfere with +cultivation. + +This soil is a strictly mountain type and not of great extent. It +follows the crest and part of the east slope of the Blue Ridge +Mountains for several miles, extending in a northeasterly direction +and ending at the areas of sandstone formation. + +The type is well drained throughout, while the texture of the subsoil +is sufficiently heavy to retain considerable moisture through quite +extended dry spells. The steeper slopes are uncultivated, and hence +are not subject to erosion. + +A considerable proportion of this soil type is under cultivation, +especially on the broad mountain top. Those areas not cultivated are +covered with a heavy growth of oak, hickory, locust, and walnut. Corn +and wheat can be grown on the type with fair yields, but little of the +latter is grown on account of the stony nature of the land. Corn +yields from 20 to 35 bushels, wheat from 8 to 15 bushels, and grass +and clover from 1 to 2 tons per acre. Irish and sweet potatoes give +good yields, and fine apples and peaches are produced. Peaches are +liable to winterkill, and the crop is uncertain for this reason. This +type is peculiarly adapted to fruit growing, and especially to the +production of apples. + + +_Meadow._ + +The Meadow of Loudoun is usually a brown silty or sandy loam, with a +depth of several feet. The type occurs in narrow bands along the +larger streams, forming a bottom or low terrace a few feet above the +mean water level. The nature of the soil depends greatly on the +surrounding soils, as it is formed from sediment of the wash from +these types and partakes of their textural characteristics to some +extent. + +The type, while low and flat, is generally well enough drained for +cultivation, although this is somewhat hindered by overflows; +consequently the land is chiefly used for grazing. The soil is +alluvial in origin, being built up by successive overflows of the +streams. Little of the type is forested. Where cultivated it is +generally used for corn, which yields from 50 to 75 bushels an acre. +Little wheat is grown, although the soil is capable of producing fair +yields of this crop. It also produces from 2 to 3 tons of hay per +acre, and affords excellent pasturage. The crops are somewhat +uncertain, however, on account of overflows which sometimes occur +after the planting season, though in the case of the River the danger +from flood is usually past before the time for corn planting. Where +the areas are in grass the floods usually do little damage. +Productiveness is in a great measure maintained by the addition of the +sediments left by the overflow waters. + + +FLORA AND FAUNA. + +FLORA.--Records of the days of early settlement point to a +scarcity and an inferiority of large timber in Loudoun (then Prince +William) and contiguous counties. The responsibility for this +condition has been traced to the hunters who frequented this region +prior to its settlement and wantonly set fire to the forests in order +to destroy underbrush, the better to secure their quarries. A +comparatively dense and vigorous new growth followed the +discontinuance of this pernicious practice. + +At the present time, after the encroachment of field and pasture for +nearly two centuries, a large portion of the county's area is still +under forest cover. The stand, in the main, is somewhat above average +size and quality. + +The total value of forest products cut or produced on farms in 1899 +was $51,351. This includes only the wood, lumber, railroad ties, etc., +which the farmers cut in connection with their ordinary farming +operations. The reports of persons making lumbering or wood cutting +their principal business are not included. + +The trees common to Loudoun are four varieties of the white oak, i. +e., common, swamp, box, and chestnut-leaved, the latter, however, +appearing only along the margin of the Potomac River; black, Spanish, +and red oak, chestnut oak, peach or willow oak, pin oak; and in the +eastern parts of the county, black jack, or barren oak, and dwarf oak, +hickory, black and white walnut, white and yellow poplar, chestnut, +locust, ash, sycamore, wild cherry, red flowering maple, gum, +sassafras, persimmon, dogwood, red and slippery elm, black and white +mulberry, aspin (rare), beech, birch, linn, honey-locust, sugar maple, +sugar nut, yellow and white pine, hemlock, and red cedar. + +Among the smaller trees and shrubs are the white thorn, maple-leaved +or Virginia thorn (suitable for hedging), hawthorn, wild May cherry, +or service berry, water beech, fringe tree, red bud, black alder, +common alder, sumach, elder, laurel, witch-hazel, hazel-nut, papaw, +chinkapin, burnish bush, nine bark, button-bush, honeysuckle, several +varieties of the whortleberry or huckleberry, and wild gooseberry. + +A few of the brambles met with are the greenbrier, high blackberry, +dewberry, or low blackberry, and raspberry. + +A list of the vines and creepers would comprise the fox grape, three +varieties; pigeon, or raccoon grape, chicken grape, a wild bitter +grape, sarsaparilla, yellow parilla, poison-vine, or poison-oak, +clematis, trumpet-flower, and wild potato vine. + +The medicinal herbs found in Loudoun are the rattlesnake root, Seneca +snakeroot (also called Virginia snakeroot), many varieties of mint, +liverwort, red-root, May apple, butterfly-weed, milk weed, +thorough-stem, trumpet-weed, Indian-physic, _lobelia inflata_, and +_lobelia cardinalis_, golden-rod, skunk-cabbage, frost-weed, +hoar-hound, and catnip. + +The injurious plants with which the careful farmer must contend are +the wild garlic, tribby weed, dog fennel, two varieties of the common +daisy, oxeye daisy, St. John's wort, blue thistle, common thistle, +pigeon-weed, burdock, broad and narrow-leaved dock, poke-weed, +clot-bur, three-thorned bur, supposed to have been introduced from +Spain by the Merino sheep, Jamestown or "jimson" weed, sorrel, and, in +favorable seasons, a heavy growth of lambs quarter and rag-weed. + +Of introduced grasses, Loudoun has red clover, timothy, herd's-grass, +orchard-grass, and Lucerne to which last little attention is now +given. Native grasses are the white clover, spear grass, blue grass, +fox-tail and crab grass, the two last-named being summer or annual +grasses. Several varieties of swamp or marsh grass flourish under +certain conditions, but soon disappear with proper drainage and +tillage. + +Although some of the wild flowers of Loudoun merit the attention of +the florist, as a whole they have no commercial value or significance +and, for this reason, an enumeration of the many varieties has not +been thought expedient. + + +FAUNA.--Wild ducks, geese, and turkeys, pheasants (English +and Mongolian), partridges and woodcock are among the game fowls of +Loudoun, and eagles, crows, buzzards, owls, and hawks among the +predatory. The usual list of songbirds frequent this region in great +numbers and receive some protection under the stringent fish and game +laws in force here. + +Red and gray foxes, raccoons, opossums, woodchucks, squirrels, hares +and smaller animals are quite general. + +In pioneer days the county abounded in the larger species of game +common to the forests of North America. Among these were the beaver +and otter, buffalo, deer, wolf, wild-cat, panther, bear, fox, and elk +or wapiti (_Cervus canadensis_), noble herds of which ranged the +mountain sides and valleys of this section. + + +TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES.[13] + +Good roads, always of immeasurable importance to the farmer, were +early made necessary by the tremendous crops of marketable products +harvested from Loudoun lands. Though this need, in time, became +imperative the roads were never hastily and imperfectly constructed; +they were built with an eye single to permanence and with due +allowance for generations of unintermittent and augmentative traffic. + +These roads yielded their promoters modest dividends, but with the +completion in 1832 of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, bordering the +county just across the Potomac, transportation to and from Washington +(Georgetown) and Alexandria was materially cheapened and the earnings +of the turnpike companies suffered a corresponding decrease, the +income, in many cases, being barely sufficient to defray the expense +of maintenance. Tolls are now collected at only two points, in the +County. + +[Footnote 13: No apology is offered for the omission of vital +statistics that might and would have been included in this department +had earnest appeals addressed to State officers and the State +Corporation Commission met with more courteous and, I might add, +dutiful consideration. Not the least assistance was vouchsafed by any +of them.--THE AUTHOR.] + +The turnpike craze spread to Loudoun not long after the War of +Independence and culminated about forty years later. It wrought a +revolution in public travel, relatively nearly as great as that +brought about by the railway craze in more recent years. The corporate +names of some of the roads constructed through Loudoun before its +subsidence were, the Goose Creek and Little River Turnpike, Loudoun +and Berlin (now Brunswick, Md.) Turnpike, Ashby's Gap Turnpike, +Leesburg Turnpike, Leesburg and Snicker's Gap Turnpike, Little River +Turnpike and Snicker's Gap Turnpike. Their combined authorized capital +stock was $637,325, of which amount more than two-thirds was +subscribed by individuals, the State assuming the balance. + +The system did not originate solely in a local want or demand along +the lines contemplated. Other causes were also at the bottom of the +movement. The settlement of the County was necessarily by progressive +though, at times, apparently simultaneous steps. First came the +settlement and location of one or two towns, and the opening of +communication between them; then the advent of the trapper, hunter, +and scout into the unsettled portion; then came the land grants and +the settlement in isolated localities; then the blazed trail to the +parent towns and to the cabin of the pioneer or the outposts; then the +drift-ways, cart-ways, and the local roads winding from cabin to +cabin; then the town-ways and county roads, with here and there the +"provincial" highways. + +Today, the public roads and turnpikes of Loudoun are unquestionably +better than those of most counties and, in obedience to a popular +demand, are kept in a fair state of repair. One or two of the +main-traveled thoroughfares would compare favorably with the best +rural roads in the country. + +Long before the Civil War, Little River was rendered navigable from +its mouth to Aldie by means of a lock and dam system, this and more +far-reaching improvements having been undertaken by the "Goose Creek +and Little River Navigation Company" capitalized at $100,000. The dams +were destroyed by Federal invaders and never reconstructed. + +Loudoun is traversed by the Washington and Ohio Division of the +Southern Railway, which penetrates the County centrally from east to +west and furnishes an outlet for her immense shipments of cattle, +grain and miscellaneous products. No less than twelve stopping points +are recognized within her limits, at all but three of which commodious +stations have been erected. + +The original purpose of the promoters was to extend this road to the +coal-fields of Hampshire County, West Virginia (then in Virginia). The +name under which it was incorporated was the "Alexandria, Loudoun and +Hampshire Railroad." During the Civil War its bridges and tracks were +destroyed by order of General Lee and for some years afterward Loudoun +was without adequate railway communication with the outside world. + +The cost of construction between Alexandria and Leesburg, the first +division of the work, was $1,538,744. The line, many years afterward, +was extended to Round Hill and still later to Bluemont, at present the +Westernmost terminal. Stages, affording communication with Winchester +and intermediate towns of the Shenandoah Valley, are operated from +this point and between Leesburg and Middleburg and Point of Rocks. +Liveries are conducted in all the important towns. + +The northern edge of the County is in easy communication with the main +line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Chesapeake and Ohio +canal just across the Potomac. + +Large steel bridges, spanning the Potomac at Harpers Ferry, Brunswick +and Point of Rocks, afford convenient ingress into West Virginia, +Maryland and the not far-distant state of Pennsylvania. + +Further communication with the north is made possible by a ferry +(White's) in constant operation between Loudoun and the Maryland +shore. + + +TOWNS AND VILLAGES. + +_Leesburg._ + +Leesburg, a fine old town, the county-seat of Loudoun, lies at the +eastern base of Catoctin Mountain, 2-1/2 miles from the Potomac River +at Balls Bluff, and 3-7/8 miles west of Goose Creek. It is in the +northern part of the County, 40 miles northwest of Washington, 153 +miles in a like direction from Richmond, the State capital, within a +few miles of the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains and the celebrated +Valley of Virginia, 12 miles from Point of Rocks, Md., and about 22 +miles from historic Harpers Ferry, W. Va. It occupies a high and +healthy plain, the environs of which are waving and well cultivated +and delightfully variegated by hill and dale. + +The town derives its name from the Lees, who were among the early +settlers of the County, and was established by act of the General +Assembly, in September, 1758, in the thirty-second year of the reign +of George II. Nicholas Minor, who owned sixty acres of land about the +court-house, had subdivided this tract and some of the lots had been +built upon prior to the passage of the act. This instrument +constituted "the Hon. Philip Ludwell Lee, Esq., Thomas Mason, Esq., +Francis Lightfoot Lee (father of 'Light Horse Harry' of subsequent +Revolutionary fame), James Hamilton, Nicholas Minor, Josias Clapham, +AEneas Campbell, John Hugh, Francis Hague, and William West, +gentlemen," trustees for the newly established town. Prior to its +establishment it had borne the name Georgetown, bestowed in honor of +the then reigning English monarch. + +[14]"In its birth and infancy the town was destined to win renown, for +it was first founded as a fort or outpost of the then struggling +colony of Virginia, as its narrow streets and close, little red brick +houses still testify, and for many years was the most westerly post of +the colony. At one time the entire town was enclosed by stockades...." + +"Following its establishment the little fort became the principal +outfitting post for the British and colonial forces in the French and +Indian war. Tradition still fondly points to the stone house, famous +as the headquarters of General Braddock, who, it is claimed, passed +through the place on his last fatal march to the wilderness; but in +the light of thorough investigation this claim is found to be +unsubstantiated. While a division of his army, under command of the +eccentric old Sir Peter Halkett, did undoubtedly spend the night at +the plantation of Nicholas Minor, the principal founder of the town, +General Braddock is found to have gone in another direction." + +[Footnote 14: Mrs. A. H. Throckmorton in the Richmond _Times_.] + +Leesburg is governed by a mayor and common council and had at the time +of the last government census (1900) a population of 1,513. An unusual +percentage of its people are well educated, and all proverbially +hospitable. + +The houses, many of which are of brick and stone construction, are +built in a compact and substantial manner. In the town and its +environs are many of the most palatial residences to be seen in +Virginia. There are several well-kept public roads leading from the +town to the surrounding country seats and stock farms, nearly all of +which are modernized reminders of the old plantation days. + +With an elevation less than most points in the County, Leesburg, +nevertheless, shares with them the distinction of being unsurpassed +for healthfulness and picturesqueness of surroundings. + +Crossing at right angles, its streets are regular and spacious and +lighted by electricity. Many of its dwellings and business houses are +also equipped with electric lighting facilities, power for which is +generated at a plant located near Belmont, on Goose Creek, and +controlled by Leesburg capitalists. In almost every quarter of the +town are brick and granolithic sidewalks, fringed with the usual +varieties of shade trees. + +Some of the municipal advantages not already enumerated are a sewerage +system, a fire department, a public library, police protection and a +thoroughly modern system of water-works of a capacity sufficient to +supply the entire corporation with absolutely pure water from a noted +spring issuing near the base of Catoctin Mountain. + +Some of the public buildings are a town hall, one of the largest brick +edifices in Northern Virginia; a comparatively new court-house and a +clerk's office,[15] both venerable structures with imposing facades +lending them an exquisite air of Colonialism, the two liberally +disposed over a fenced area with sloping lawns and umbrageous shade; a +brick jail (County) containing eight steel cells, commodious +residential quarters for the jailer and his family and having, as an +humanitarian feature, a sunny court with towering walls; a remodelled +brick academy and a colored school, both comprising primary, +intermediate, and high school divisions, and provided with ample +educational facilities and extensive playgrounds. + +[Footnote 15: Prior to 1873, the Leesburg Academy.] + +The town has 7 churches representing all the leading denominations, a +Young Men's Christian Association branch, 5 fraternal orders and a +weekly newspaper. Eight trains arrive at and depart from Leesburg +daily. + +Among the local enterprises are two handsome banking houses (the +"Loudoun National Bank" and "Peoples National Bank"), 2 large hotels +affording accommodations for 130 guests, several boarding houses, +stores handling every class and grade of merchandise, an artificial +ice plant with a daily capacity of 5 tons, a large race course on the +outskirts of the town where are held annually a horse show, races and +other like events, a confectionery and bakery, an ice cream factory, a +pop factory, two harness factories, a lumber and planing mill, 2 +private schools, 3 cobblers' establishments, 2 livery stables, 3 +blacksmith shops, 2 furniture houses, 2 undertaking establishments, 2 +grain elevators, a lime quarry, 3 wheelwright shops, 2 tinning +establishments, a concrete construction plant, monument works, wood +and coal yard, Standard Oil Company's branch and packing house. + +Leesburg probably has more than the usual number of resident +physicians, lawyers, and mechanics to be found in towns of a +corresponding size. + + +_Round Hill._ + +Round Hill, a thriving railway town in the western part of the County, +lies 3 miles east of Bluemont, 3 miles west of Purcellville, and 53 +miles from the city of Washington. It is the second largest town in +Loudoun, has an elevation of about 600 feet above mean tide and is in +the midst of a rich farming region abounding with streams of pure +water from mountain water-courses. The town's name is derived from a +conical hill projecting from the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, 2 +miles away. It has a population of 450, 20 of which number are +merchants and mechanics, and a newly established bank. + + +_Waterford._ + +Waterford, a thriving Quaker settlement, is situated on Catoctin Creek +in the northern part of the County, 6 miles south of Taylorstown, 7 +miles northwest of Leesburg, 47 miles in a like direction from +Washington and 159 miles north of Richmond. It was named after the +town of Waterford, in Ireland, where some of its founders had formerly +resided. The first house within the town limits was built by one Asa +Moore, and remains standing at the present day. In common with the +other towns and villages of the famous Loudoun Valley, Waterford is +noted for its numerous and inexhaustible wells of the purest and best +water, bracing air and low mortality rate. It has 383 inhabitants, 14 +of whom are merchants and mechanics. + + +_Hamilton._ + +Hamilton, one of the prettiest towns in the County, is spread over a +considerable area and occupies one of the highest points in the +beautiful Loudoun Valley. It is about 46 miles by rail from +Washington, 3 miles from Purcellville and only a few miles from both +the Catoctin and Blue Ridge mountains, walling the valley to the east +and west, and is the center of a group of seven towns and villages +within a radius of 5 miles. It has 364 inhabitants, of which number 18 +are merchants and mechanics. + + +_Purcellville._ + +Purcellville, in the western part of the County with an approximate +elevation of 500 feet, is about 50 miles from Washington, 3 miles +from both Round Hill and Hamilton, and 2-1/2 miles from Lincoln. It is +delightfully situated in the center of one of the finest agricultural +districts in the Loudoun Valley and has a population of 300, 17 +merchants and mechanics and a national bank. + + +_Middleburg._ + +Middleburg, situated on Goose Creek in the southwestern part of +Loudoun, is 12 miles from the summit of the Blue Ridge at Ashby's Gap, +5 miles west of Aldie, 1/4 of a mile from the Fauquier line, and 16 +miles by stage from Leesburg, the seat of government. It is a growing +and prosperous community, elevated and airy and overlooking a broad +expanse of rich territory. Fourteen of its 296 inhabitants are +merchants and mechanics. + + +_Ashburn._ + +Ashburn, a railway town in lower Loudoun, formerly known as +_Farmwell_, is 34 miles from Washington, 31 miles from Alexandria, 4 +miles northwest of Sterling, and 6 miles from Leesburg. It is in the +heart of one of the richest and most extensive dairying sections of +the State, and has become somewhat famous as a resort for anglers, the +bass fishing in Goose Creek, near by, being eminently satisfying and +attracting many devotees of the sport from Washington and other more +distant points. + + +_Bluemont._ + +Bluemont, formerly known as _Snickersville_, is an attractive village, +snugly and advantageously situated at the southeastern base of the +Blue Ridge Mountains, about 3 miles from Round Hill, 54 miles by rail +from Washington, and 165 miles from Richmond. It is on the western +edge of the most densely populated section of Loudoun, and boasts +modern hotels and boarding houses, two liveries, a grain elevator, and +many handsome dwellings. Two turnpikes, leading from Washington and +Alexandria to Winchester, intersect at this point. Bluemont is a +popular summer resort, and lies within a very short distance of both +the "Bears' Den" and "Raven Rocks," jutting points on the western +slope of the Blue Ridge, from which magnificent views may be had of +the Shenandoah valley and river and the Alleghany and North mountains. +The town has a population of 200, 14 of which number are merchants and +mechanics. + + +_Smaller Towns._ + +Other towns, post villages and settlements in the County are: +_Airmont_, 2-1/2 miles from Bluemont, population 25; _Aldie_, on +Little River, 5 miles from both Middleburg and Oatlands and 12 miles +from Leesburg, the County seat, population 155, 7 merchants and +mechanics; _Arcola_, 6 miles from Sterling and 12 miles from Leesburg, +population 100, 4 merchants and mechanics; _Belmont Park_, a small +railway station on the east bank of Goose Creek about 4 miles east of +Leesburg, formerly a picturesque resort and popular excursion point +managed by the old Richmond and Danville Railroad Company, attracting, +during the few years of its operation, many thousands of visitors; +_Bloomfield_, 7 miles from Round Hill, population 50; _Britain_, 8 +miles from Purcellville, population 15; _Clarkes Gap_, one of the +highest and healthiest points in the County and an important shipping +point, draining a large extent of fertile country, 4 miles west of +Leesburg, population 25; _Conklin_, 10 miles from Sterling, population +10; _Daysville_, 2 miles from Sterling, population 20; _Elvan_, 1 mile +from Lovettsville, population 18; _Evergreen Mills_, 7 miles from +Leesburg, population 10; _Georges Mill_, in the extreme northwestern +part of the County; _Hillsboro_, 5 miles by stage from Purcellville, +population 131, 9 merchants and mechanics; _Hughesville_, 7 miles from +Leesburg, population 12; _Irene_, on the Southern Railway one mile +from Hamilton and the railroad station for that town, population 20; +_Leithton_, 8 miles from Purcellville and Round Hill, population 25; +_Lenah_, 3 miles west of Arcola, population 25; _Levy_, on Bull Run, +3 miles south of Aldie; _Lincoln_, 2-1/2 miles southeast of +Purcellville, in the heart of the "Quaker Settlement," population 200, +3 merchants and mechanics; _Lovettsville_, 2-1/2 or 3 miles south of +Brunswick, Md., and 7 miles from both Waterford and Harpers Ferry, W. +Va., in an industrious and progressive German neighborhood, population +97, 16 merchants and mechanics; _Luckets_, 5 miles from Point of +Rocks, Maryland, and 7 miles from Leesburg, population 50, 8 merchants +and mechanics; _Lunette_, 4 miles south of Arcola, population 10; +_Mahala_, 2 miles from Ashburn, population 15; _Mechanicsville_; +_Mountain Gap_, 4-1/2 miles by stage from Leesburg, population 25; +_Mount Gilead_, a centrally and charmingly situated village on +Catoctin Mountain about 8 miles respectively from the towns of +Leesburg, Middleburg and Aldie, population 50; _Mountville_, a small +settlement in a neighborhood abounding with best quality lime and +other minerals, 2-1/2 miles southeast of Philomont and about 1-1/2 +miles from both the waters of Goose Creek and Beaver Dam, population +25; _Morrisonville_, 6 miles by stage from Brunswick, Maryland, and 4 +miles from Lovettsville, population 20; _Neersville_, 5 miles by stage +from Harpers Ferry, W. Va., population 25; _North Fork_, 6 miles from +Purcellville, population 26; _Oatlands_, bordering on Catoctin +Mountain 7 miles southwest of Leesburg and 5 miles north of Aldie, +population 20; _Paeonian Springs_, 1 mile northwest of Clarke's Gap, +population 112, 6 merchants and mechanics; _Paxson_, an exceptionally +healthy community 2 miles east of Bluemont, population 15; +_Philomont_, a Quaker settlement lying 3 miles southeast of Silcott +Springs in a fertile and wealthy wheat-growing neighborhood, +population 161; _Royville_, 2 miles north of Arcola; _Ryan_, 2 miles +south of Ashburn, population 50; _Silcott Springs_, a one-time noted +resort 3-1/2 miles southwest of Purcellville, population 25; Sycoline, +between 4 and 5 miles south of Leesburg; _Stumptown_, 2 miles from +Luckets, population 20; _Taylorstown_, 3 miles southwest of Point of +Rocks, Md., population 50; _Trapp_, 5 miles from Bluemont, population +36; _Unison_, 6 miles from Bluemont and 9 miles from Purcellville, +population 100, 3 merchants and mechanics; _Watson_, 9 miles from +Leesburg, population 10; _Waxpool_, 2-1/2 miles north of Royville and +8 miles from Leesburg, population 25; _Welbourne_, about 5 miles +northeast of Upperville, in Fauquier county; _Wheatland_, 5 miles from +both Hamilton and Purcellville, population 25; _Willard_, 5 miles +southwest of Herndon, in Fairfax county, and _Woodburn_, 3 miles from +Leesburg, population 15. [Blank Page] + + + + +Statistical. + +AREA AND FARMING TABULATIONS. + + +The area of Loudoun County is variously reckoned at 460, 468, 495, +504, 510, 519, 520, and 525 square miles. The approximate accuracy of +any single estimate in this confused assortment can not easily be +determined, none, so far as is known, having been officially +confirmed. Yardley Taylor, who, in 1853, made a most careful survey of +the County, fixed its area at 525 square miles. By far the most +trustworthy authority in this and certain other connections, his +findings have been adopted with little uncertainty or hesitation. + +Of this number, 207 square miles lie east of Catoctin Mountain and are +of the upper secondary formation, while the remaining 318 square miles +to the westward are of primitive formation. + +The longest line across the County is 35 miles, and extends from the +lower end of Lowe's Island at the old mouth of Sugarland Run, to the +summit of the Blue Ridge at Ashby's Gap; the second longest, 34 miles, +extends from the corner of Jefferson County, West Virginia, at the +margin of the Potomac River below Harpers Ferry, to the corner of +Fairfax County on Bull Run, within half a mile of Sudley Springs in +Prince William County. + +Within the limits of Loudoun are included 313,902[16] acres of the +finest farm land to be found in any county of the State. The farms +number 1,948, the average size being 162 acres. They are smallest in +the northwestern portion of the county and of moderate size in the +central portions, the largest occurring in the southern and eastern +portions. In 1900, 1,754, or 90 per cent, were operated by white +farmers, and 194, or 10 per cent, operated by colored farmers. + +[Footnote 16: It will be understood that the total land in farms by no +means equals the total area of the County.] + +TABLE I.--_Summary by Decades of the Improved and Unimproved +Land in Farms, with per cent of Increase and Decrease._ + +-------+-----------------------------------+--------------------------------- + | Acres of Land in Farms. | Per cent of Increase. + |---------+-----------+-------------+---------+----------+------------ +Census | | | | Total | Improved | Unimproved + Year. | Total. | Improved. | Unimproved. | Land. | Land. | Land. +-------+---------+-----------+-------------+---------+----------+------------ + 1900 | 313,902 | 251,874 | 62,028 | 6.4 | 6.9 | 4.8 + 1890 | 294,896 | 235,703 | 59,193 | [*]1.3 | 1.4 | [*]11. + 1880 | 298,869 | 232,391 | 66,478 | 8.2 | 15.1 | [*]10.7 + 1870 | 276,291 | 201,888 | 74,403 | [*]6.7 | [*]8.3 | [*] 1.9 + 1860 | 296,142 | 220,266 | 75,876 | .5 | 5.7 | [*] 1.2 + 1850 | 294,675 | 208,454 | 86,221 | - | - | - +-------+---------+-----------+-------------+---------+----------+------------ + +[* - Decrease.] + +The most striking fact to be noted concerning the reported farm areas +is the comparatively great decrease in the decade 1860 to 1870. This +was, of course, one of the disastrous effects of the Civil War, from +which the South, in general, after more than forty-five years, has not +yet fully recovered, as is shown by the fact that in some of the South +Atlantic states the reported acreage of farm land in 1900 was less +than it was in 1860. + +A continuous increase is shown in the area of improved farm land +except in the decade 1860-1870. The decrease in the amount under +cultivation, reported in the census of 1870, was due to conditions +growing out of the change in the system of labor which prevented a +complete rehabilitation of agricultural industry. + +Only three other of the 100 Virginia counties reported larger improved +areas in 1900, viz: Fauquier, 291,734 acres; Pittsylvania, 280,456 and +Augusta, 276,459. + +TABLE II.--_Number of Farms by Decades: Summary, 1850 to +1900._ + +1900 1,948 +1890 1,818 +1880 1,841 +1870 1,238 +1860 1,207 +1850 1,256 + +Comparison of the number of farms reported in 1850 with the number at +the last census shows an addition in fifty years of 692 farms. + +The great increase between 1870 and 1880 is seen at a glance. During +this period the large plantations were steadily undergoing partition, +in consequence of the social and industrial changes in progress after +the Civil War. + +TABLE III.--_Farms Classified by Area--1900._ + +Under 3 acres 22 +3 and under 10 acres 155 +10 and under 20 acres 171 +20 and under 50 acres 246 +50 and under 100 acres 264 +100 and under 175 acres 396 +175 and under 260 acres 324 +260 and under 500 acres 274 +500 and under 1,000 acres 88 +1,000 acres and over 8 + +TABLE IV.--_Number of Farms of Specified Tenures, June 1, +1900._ + +Owners 1,116 +Part owners 173 +Owners and tenants 18 +Managers 48 +Cash tenants 232 +Share tenants 361 + ----- + Total 1,948 + + +POPULATION. + +The persistent high price of Loudoun lands has discouraged increase of +population by immigration. Indeed, in more than eighty-five years, +except for the slight fluctuations of certain decades, there has been +no increase through any medium. + +The last census (1900) fixed Loudoun's population at 21,948, of which +number 16,079 were whites, 5,869 negroes, and the remaining 101 +foreign born. This aggregate is even less than that shown by the +census of 1820, which gave the county a population of 22,702, or 754 +more than in 1900. + +The succeeding schedules, giving complete statistics of population for +Loudoun County by the latest and highest authority, were taken from +United States Census reports, collected in 1900 and published in 1902. + + +_Population, Dwellings, and Families:_ + + _1900._ _Private Families._ +Population 21,948 Number 4,195 +Dwellings 4,157 Population 21,690 +Families 4,231 Average size 5.2 + + +_Private Families Occupying Owned and Hired and Free and Encumbered +Homes, 1900._ + +Total private families 4,195 + +_Farm Homes Owned._ _Other Homes Owned._ + Free 959 Free 622 + Encumbered 257 Encumbered 147 + Unknown 120 Unknown 81 +Hired 648 Hired 1,169 +Unknown 7 Unknown 185 + ----- ----- + Total 1,991 Total 2,204 + + +_Native and Foreign Born and White and Colored Population, Classified +by Sex, 1900._ + + _Native born._ _Native White--Foreign Parents._ +Male 10,634 Male 114 +Female 11,213 Female 121 + + _Foreign born._ _Foreign White._ +Male 59 Male 58 +Female 42 Female 42 + +_Native White--Native Parents._ _Total Colored._ +Male 7,583 Male 2,938 +Female 8,161 Female 2,931 + +In 1860, one year before the outbreak of the Civil War, the County +held within its boundaries 21,774 souls: 15,021 white, 5,501 slave, +and 1,252 free colored. In number of slaves at this period Loudoun +ranked thirty-sixth in the list of Virginia counties which then also +included the counties now in West Virginia. This number was +distributed amongst 670 slave-holders in the following proportions: + + 1 slave 124 + 2 slaves 84 + 3 slaves 61 + 4 slaves 83 + 5 slaves 46 + 6 slaves 39 + 7 slaves 35 + 8 slaves 27 + 9 slaves 22 + 10 and under 15 slaves 80 + 15 and under 20 slaves 36 + 20 and under 30 slaves 23 + 30 and under 40 slaves 4 + 40 and under 50 slaves 4 + 50 and under 70 slaves 1 +100 and under 200 slaves 1 + +The following table gives the population of Loudoun County +decennially, from and including the first official census of 1790: + +1900 21,948 +1890 23,274 +1880 23,634 +1870 20,929 +1860 21,774 +1850 22,079 +1840 20,431 +1830 21,939 +1820 22,702 +1810 21,338 +1800 20,523 +1790 18,952 + +The reports of population by magisterial districts given below, with a +single exception, show an appreciable decrease between the years 1890 +and 1900: + +----------------------+-------+------- + | 1900. | 1890. +----------------------+-------+------- +Broad Run district | 3,309 | 3,463 +Jefferson district | 3,106 | 3,307 +Leesburg district | 4,299 | 4,246 +Lovettsville district | 3,104 | 3,210 +Mercer district | 4,010 | 4,570 +Mt. Gilead district | 4,120 | 4,478 +----------------------+-------+------- + +The following incorporated towns for the same period are charged with +a corresponding decrease in the number of their inhabitants: + +-------------+-------+------- + | 1900. | 1890. +-------------+-------+------- +Hamilton | 364 | 407 +Hillsboro | 131 | 156 +Leesburg | 1,513 | 1,650 +Lovettsville | 97 | +Middleburg | 296 | 429 +Waterford | 383 | 385 +-------------+-------+------- + +These circumstances of fluctuation and actual decrease might appear +singular if it could not be shown that practically the same conditions +obtain elsewhere in the State and Union, or wherever agriculture is +the dominant industry. Especially is this true of the counties of +Clarke, Fauquier, Prince William, and Fairfax, in Virginia, and +Jefferson, in West Virginia. All these farming communities adjoin +Loudoun and exhibit what might be called corresponding fluctuations of +population between the above-named periods. + +A decrease then in the population of any of these districts is +obviously due, in a large measure, to the partial or total failure of +the crops which causes the migration of a portion of the population to +large cities or other parts of the country. If the failure occurs +immediately preceding a census, the decrease shown will, of course, be +large. + +As another contributing cause, it can be positively stated that the +disfavor in which agriculture is held by the young men of Loudoun, who +seek less arduous and more lucrative employment in the great cities of +the East, is, in part, responsible, if not for the depletion, +certainly for the stagnation of the county's population. + +The white population of Loudoun County in 1880, 1890, and 1900 was as +follows: + +_Census._ _Population._ + + 1880 16,391 + 1890 16,696--305 increase. + 1900 16,079--617 decrease. + +The negro population of Loudoun County for the same periods was: + +_Census._ _Population._ + + 1880 7,243 + 1890 6,578--665 decrease. + 1900 5,869--709 decrease. + +The figures show that the negro population has steadily decreased, +while the white population increased from 1880 to 1890, and decreased +from 1890 to 1900. The proportion of decrease for the negroes was much +greater than for the whites. As the occupations of the negroes are +almost entirely farming and domestic services, crop failures +necessarily cause migration to other localities, and as Washington and +Baltimore are not far distant and offer higher wages and sometimes +more attractive occupations, there can be no doubt that the decrease +is principally due to the migration to those cities. + + +INDUSTRIES. + +Agriculture, in many of its important branches, is by far Loudoun's +leading industry, and is being annually benefited by the application +of new methods in cultivation and harvesting. The farmers are thrifty +and happy and many of them prosperous. + +During the Civil War agriculture received a serious set-back, as the +County was devastated by the contending armies, but by hard work and +intelligent management of the people the section has again been put +upon a prosperous footing. + +The agricultural methods in use throughout the County are very +uniform, notwithstanding the fact that there are a comparatively large +number of soil types in the area. + +A system of general farming, with few variations, is practiced, +although some of the soils are much better adapted to the purpose than +are other soils of the area. The system of rotation practiced consists +of drilling in wheat and timothy seed together on the corn stubble in +the fall, and sowing clover in the following spring. The wheat is +harvested in the early summer, leaving the timothy and clover, which, +after obtaining a good growth, is grazed or cut the next year for hay. +This land is then plowed, and the following spring corn is planted, to +be followed by wheat again the next fall, thus completing the +rotation. + +Loudoun's gently sweeping hills and broad valleys support great herds +of cattle and flocks of sheep, and yield immense crops of corn, wheat, +oats, and other cereals. More corn is produced and probably more live +stock marketed by Loudoun than by any other of the 100 counties of +Virginia. + +The wheat is either sold for shipment or ground into flour by the many +mills of the County, which mainly supply the home demand. The surplus +is shipped chiefly to Washington and Baltimore. The major portion of +the corn is used locally for feeding beef cattle, dairy stock, and +work animals. Hay is shipped in large quantities and the rye, oats, +and buckwheat are mostly consumed at home. Considerable pork is +fattened in the County and many hundred head of cattle are annually +grazed to supply the Washington and Baltimore markets. + +A Government statistician was responsible for the following statement, +based, no doubt, on the creditable showing made by Loudoun in the +census of 1880: "Taken as a whole, probably the best farming in the +State is now done in this (Loudoun) County." Of Virginia counties, it +stood, at that time, first in the production of corn, butter, eggs, +and wool, and in numbers of milch cows and sheep, and second only to +Fauquier in the number of its stock cattle. + +The breeding of superior stock and horses is an important branch of +the County's agricultural activities. A contributor to _Country Life +in America_, in an article entitled "Country Life in Loudoun County," +says of it: "And the raising of animals is here not the fad of men of +wealth who would play at country life. It is a serious business, +productive of actual profit and a deep-seated satisfaction as +continuous and well grounded as I have ever seen taken by men in their +vocation." + +The wealthier class of citizens of course specialize, each according +to his personal choice. One, with 1,500 acres, all told, does a large +dairying business and raises registered Dorset horn sheep, large white +Yorkshire swine, registered Guernsey cattle, and Percheron horses. +Another, with a like acreage, specializes in hackneys. A third, on his +300 or more acres, raises thoroughbreds and Irish hunters. A fourth, +with 1,000 acres, fattens cattle for market and breeds Percheron +horses, thoroughbreds, hackneys, and cattle. A fifth, owning several +thousand acres, fattens cattle for export. A half dozen others, on +farms ranging from 200 to 1,000 acres, raise thoroughbreds or draft +animals. These are the specialties; on all the farms mentioned the +owners have their secondary interests. + +Some of the farmers whose capital will not permit the purchasing of +high-priced breeding stock, have long been engaged in the business of +finishing cattle for the market, animals being shipped from Tennessee, +West Virginia, and elsewhere to be fattened on the wonderful grasses +of Loudoun County. These steers are pastured from several months to +two years, or according to their condition and the rapidity with which +they fatten. + +Sheep are to be found on most every large farm and are kept for both +wool and mutton. Buyers visit these farms early in the winter and +contract to take the lambs at a certain time in the spring, paying a +price based on their live weight. When far enough advanced they are +collected and shipped to eastern markets. + +The rapid growth of near-by cities and the development of +transportation facilities have exerted a great influence in the +progress of the dairy industry in Loudoun County, increasing the +demand for dairy produce, making possible the delivery of such +produce in said cities at a profit to the farmer, and thereby inducing +many to adopt dairy farming as a specialty instead of following it as +incidental to general agriculture. + +The dairy cows in Loudoun, June 1, 1900, numbered 8,563, of which +7,882, or 92 per cent were on farms, and 681, or 8 per cent, were in +barns and enclosures elsewhere. + +If the number of dairy cows, June 1, 1900, be taken as a basis, the +five most important Virginia counties arranged in order of rank are as +follows: _Loudoun_, 8,563; Augusta, 7,898; Rockingham, 7,312; Bedford, +6,951; and Washington, 6,792. + +If prime consideration be given to the gallons of milk produced on +farms only in 1899, the counties rank in the following order: +_Loudoun_, 3,736,382; Fairfax, 3,310,990; Bedford, 3,244,800; +Rockingham, 3,141,906; and Augusta, 2,993,928. + +If greatest weight be given to the farm value of dairy produce, the +order is as follows: Fairfax, $301,007; Henrico, $247,428; _Loudoun_, +$242,221; Pittsylvania, $200,174, and Bedford, $194,560. + +From every point of view but the last, Loudoun ranked as the leading +dairy county of Virginia. The relative rank of other near competitors +varied according to the basis of arrangement. The value of dairy +produce is materially influenced by nearness to markets and also by +the average production per farm, and these factors assisted in +modifying the rank of Loudoun with reference to farm values of dairy +produce. + +The good prices obtained for apples during recent years have led some +to plant this fruit on a larger scale than heretofore, and the result +is so far quite gratifying. Apples do well on most of the soils of +Loudoun. The best are sold to buyers who ship to large markets. The +poorer qualities are kept for home consumption, used for cider and fed +to hogs. Pears are grown in small quantities throughout the County. +Peaches do well on most of the soils, but yield irregularly on account +of frosts. All indigenous vegetables succeed well, but are mostly +grown for home consumption, market gardens being conspicuously scarce. + +Hosts of summer boarders give to Loudoun a large transient population +requiring for its accommodation numerous hotels and countless boarding +houses. This trade brings considerable money into the County and is a +factor in its prosperity not to be ignored. + +Scattered over Loudoun may be found great numbers of small industries, +many of them employing steam, water, or motor power. These comprise +grist mills, grain elevators, quarries, canneries, packing houses, saw +mills, an artificial ice plant, and miscellaneous enterprises. Though +comparatively insignificant taken singly, viewed collectively they +show an aggregate of energy and thrift wholly commendable. + +Several of Loudoun's more important enterprises were launched +subsequent to the last general census and this circumstance renders +its reports of manufactures, at no time complete or entirely reliable, +of uncertain value as a symposium of the County's manufacturing +interests at the present time. However, they are the latest reports +obtainable and constitute the only official statistical exhibit of +this subordinate source of wealth. They afford at least a partial +insight into the present status of the manufacturing interests of +Loudoun and, to this end, are reprinted below: + +Number of establishments 164 +Number of proprietors and firm members 197 + +Capital: Expenses: + Land $25,957 Fuel and rent of power + Buildings 79,350 and heat $8,811 + Machinery, etc 104,402 Miscellaneous 12,935 + Cash and sundries 141,548 Cost of materials used 424,538 + -------- -------- + Total $351,257 Total $446,284 + + Value of products $638,136 + + +FARM VALUES. + +The tables appearing under this and the two succeeding kindred +headings were constructed from the latest general census reports, and +are a most complete and trustworthy statistical exhibit of the +agricultural resources and products of Loudoun County. TABLE +I.--_Value of all farm property, including implements and +machinery and live stock, with increase and decrease, and per cent of +increase and decrease, by decades: Summary 1850 to 1900._ + +--------+----------------+-----------------+------------+------------ +Census | Value of | Increase in | Per cent | Average +year. | all farm | decade. | of | value per + | property. | | increase. | farm. +--------+----------------+-----------------+------------+------------ +1900 | $11,056,109 00 | $971,459 00 | 9.6 | $5,675 62 +1890 | 10,084,650 00 | [#]729,731 00 | [#]6.7 | 5,547 11 +1880 | 10,814,381 00 | [#]1,437,636 00 | [#]11.7 | 5,874 19 +1870[##]| 12,252,017 00 | 323,187 00 | 2.7 | 9,896 62 +1860 | 11,928,830 00 | 2,446,073 00 | 25.7 | 9,883 04 +1850 | 9,482,757 00 | | | 7,549 97 +--------+----------------+-----------------+------------+------------ + +[##: Values in gold.] + +[#: Decrease.] + +An especially great increase in the total value of farm property will +be noted in the decade from 1850 to 1860. Then followed the Civil War +with its great destruction of farm property, and from this disaster +the County did not fully recover before 1890. + +The average value per acre of all farm property in Loudoun increased +from $32.18 in 1850 to $35.22 in 1890. + +TABLE II.--_Value of farms with improvements, including +buildings, with increase and per cent of increase, by decades: Summary +1850 to 1900._ + +--------+----------------+-----------------+------------+------------+--------- +Census | Value of | Increase in | Per cent | Average | Average +year. | farms. | decade. | of | value per | value + | | | increase. | farm. |per Acre. +--------+----------------+-----------------+------------+------------+--------- +1900 | $9,138,560 00 | $518,830 00 | 6.0 | $4,691 25 | $29 11 +1890 | 8,619,730 00 | [#]911,524 00 | [#]9.6 | 4,741 33 | 29 23 +1880 | 9,531,254 00 | [#]1,345,752 00 | [#]12.4 | 5,177 22 | 31 89 +1870[##]| 10,877,006 00 | 368,795 00 | 3.5 | 8,785 95 | 39 37 +1860 | 10,508,211 00 | 2,158,840 00 | 25.9 | 8,706 06 | 35 48 +1850 | 8,349,371 00 | | | 6,647 59 | 28 33 +--------+----------------+-----------------+------------+------------+---------- + +[##: Values in gold.] + +[#: Decrease.] + +In 1900 there were only two counties of Virginia with higher farm +values than Loudoun. They were Rockingham, with $11,984,440, and +Augusta, with $11,464,120. + +TABLE III.--_Value of land and buildings, with the per cent +of the total represented by the value of buildings, June 1, 1900._ + +Land and improvements (except buildings) $6,649,690 00 +Buildings 2,488,870 00 + ------------- + Total $9,138,560 00 +Per cent in buildings 37.4 + +TABLE IV.--_Number of farms and number and per cent of those +with buildings, June 1, 1900, with average values of land and +buildings._ + +Number of farms: + Total 1,948 + With buildings 1,933 + Per cent with buildings 99.2 +Average value of-- + Land, per farm $3,414 00 + Land, per acre 21 18 + Buildings, per farm 1,278 00 + Buildings, per farm with buildings 1,288 00 + +TABLE V.--_Total and average value per farm of farm +implements and machinery, with increase and decrease and per cent of +increase and decrease in the total value, by decades: Summary 1850 to +1900._ + +--------+---------------+--------------+-------------+----------- + | Value of farm | | | + | implements | Increase | Per cent | Average + Census | and | by | of | value per + year. | machinery. | decade. | increase. | farm. +--------+---------------+--------------+-------------+----------- +1900 | $295,910 00 | $103,000 00 | 53.4 | $151 90 +1890 | 192,910 00 | 9,683 00 | 5.3 | 106 11 +1880 | 183,227 00 | [#]23,473 00 | [#]11.4 | 99 53 +1870[##]| 206,700 00 | [#]31,564 00 | [#]13.2 | 166 96 +1860 | 238,264 00 | 42,470 00 | 21.7 | 197 40 +1850 | 195,794 00 | | | 155 89 +--------+---------------+--------------+-------------+----------- + +[##: Values in gold.] + +[#: Decrease.] + +The percentage of increase was least for the decade 1880 to 1890. +After 1870 the farmers did not, until 1900, report as large +investments in machinery as they did prior to the war. + +Only two other Virginia counties reported higher values of farming +implements and machinery in 1900. They were Augusta, with $439,090, +and Rockingham, with $436,340. + + +LIVE STOCK. + +_Values_. + +The total value of the live stock _on farms_ only, June 1, 1900, was +$1,621,639, or 14.7 per cent of $11,056,109, the reported value of all +farm property. Of the live stock value, domestic animals, worth +$1,556,935, constituted 96 per cent; poultry, worth $58,276, 3.6 per +cent; and bees, worth $6,428, .4 per cent. + +TABLE I.--_Reported value of live stock on farms with +increase and decrease and per cent of increase and decrease, by +decades, and average values per farm and acre._ + +--------+---------------+-------------+-----------+-----------+---------- +Census | Value. | Increase of | Per cent | Average | Average +year. | | value. | of | value per | value + | | | increase. | farm. | per Acre. +--------+---------------+-------------+-----------+-----------+---------- +1900 | $1,621,639 00 | $349,629 00 | 27.5 | $832 46 | $5 17 +1890 | 1,272,010 00 | 172,110 00 | 15.6 | 699 68 | 4 31 +1880 | 1,099,900 00 |[#]68,411 00 | [#] 5.9 | 597 45 | 3 68 +1870[##]| 1,168,311 00 |[#]14,044 00 | [#] 1.2 | 943 71 | 4 23 +1860 | 1,182,355 00 | 244,763 00 | 26.1 | 979 58 | 3 99 +1850 | 937,592 00 | - | - | 746 49 | 3.18 +--------+---------------+-------------+-----------+-----------+---------- +[##: Values in gold.] + +[#: Decrease.] + + +_Animals Sold and Slaughtered._ + +The census enumerators and special agents secured reports of the +amounts received from the sale of live animals in 1899, and of the +value of animals slaughtered on farms. With reference to reports of +sales, they were instructed to deduct from the amount received from +sales the amount paid for animals purchased. + +TABLE II.--_Receipts from sales of live animals and value of +animals slaughtered on farms, in 1899, with averages and number of +farms reporting._ + +Farms reporting domestic animals 1,911 +Amount of sales $392,852 00 +Average amount of sales per farm 205 57 +Value of animals slaughtered 109,618 00 +Average value of animals slaughtered per farm 57 36 + + +_Neat Cattle._ + +The total number of neat cattle in Loudoun County reported June 1, +1900, was 30,277, of which 29,432 or 97.2 per cent were on farms, and +845 or 2.8 per cent in barns and inclosures elsewhere. + +Fauquier, with 34,098, led all counties in the number of neat cattle, +Loudoun ranking second, with 30,277. In the number of dairy cows, +Loudoun headed the list of Virginia counties with 8,563, or 665 more +than its nearest competitor, Augusta county. + +Of calves, Augusta reported 5,476; Rockingham, 5,416; Washington, +4,177, and _Loudoun_, 4,090. + +TABLE III.--_Number of Heifers and Cows on Farms, June 1, +1900, with Percentages._ + +Heifers 1 and under 2 years 1,917 +Dairy cows 2 years and over 7,882 +Other cows 2 years and over 588 + ------ + Total 10,387 + ====== +Per cent: + Heifers 18.5 + Dairy cows 75.9 + Other cows 5.6 + + +_Dairy Products._ + +TABLE IV.--_Gallons of milk produced on farms in 1899, and +gallons sold and estimated gallons consumed on the farm for specified +purposes._ + +Produced 3,736,382 +Sold 875,780 +Utilized in the production of-- + Butter 2,198,542 + Cream sold 181,566 +Consumed on farms: + Total 2,380,108 + Per farm reporting milk 1,321 +Uses not reported 480,494 + +The reported quantity of butter produced on farms in 1899 was 628,155 +pounds, an average of 349 pounds per farm reporting, and an increase +of 12.4 per cent over the production in 1889. 330,785 pounds were sold +during the year 1899. + +The four counties of Virginia which produced the greatest quantity of +butter on farms were, in the order named, Bedford, 727,680 pounds; +Rockingham, 658,063; Augusta, 633,360, and _Loudoun_, 628,155. + + +_Steers._ + +Of the 26,187 neat cattle 1 year old and over in Loudoun June 1, 1900, +14,597, or 55.7 per cent, were steers. Of this number a few only were +working oxen, as the great majority were kept exclusively for beef. + + +_Horses, Mules, Etc._ + +The number of horses reported on Loudoun farms in 1900 comprised 797 +colts under 1 year old; 1,048 horses 1 and under 2 years, and 7,722 +horses 2 years and over. The numbers not on farms were, for the three +classes named, 22, 13, and 684, respectively. There was, therefore, a +total for Loudoun County of 8,406 work horses, and 1,880 too young for +work, making a grand total of 10,286 horses, of which 93 per cent were +on farms and 7 per cent in barns and inclosures elsewhere. + +Only two counties of Virginia, _i. e._, Augusta and Rockingham, +reported more horses than Loudoun, and the last-named County led all +in number of colts. + +The total number of mules of all ages in the County in 1900 was 109. + + +_Sheep, Goats, and Swine._ + +There were reported in Loudoun June 1, 1900, 31,092 sheep, of which +15,319 were lambs under one year, 15,040 ewes one year and over, and +733 rams and wethers one year and over. All but 0.2 per cent of that +number were on farms. + +Loudoun headed the list of Virginia counties in number of lambs under +one year and ranked second in number of ewes one year and over. + +The total number of goats of all ages in Loudoun June 1, 1900, was +20. + +The total number of swine of all ages June 1, 1900, was 17,351, of +which 15,554, or 89.6 per cent, were on farms and 1,797, or 10.4 +per cent, in barns and inclosures elsewhere. + + +_Domestic Wool._ + +Tazewell headed the list of Virginia counties in 1900 in both number +and weight of fleeces shorn, and was followed by Loudoun with a total +of 15,893 fleeces, weighing, unwashed, 87,410 pounds. Almost double +this amount in pounds was sheared in the fall of 1879 and spring of +1880. + + +_Poultry and Bees._ + +The total value of all the poultry raised on Loudoun farms in 1899 was +$114,313, an average value per farm of $58.68. + +The number of chickens three months old and over, including guinea +fowls, on farms in Loudoun County June 1, 1900, was 132,627; turkeys, +7,218; ducks, 2,171, and geese, 1,036. + +The total value of all poultry on hand, including the value of all +young chicks unreported, as well as that of the older fowls, was +$58,276, an average of $29.92 per farm reporting. + +Shenandoah was the banner county of Virginia in egg production, +reporting 1,159,000 dozens; Rockingham ranked second, with 1,150,500 +dozens, and _Loudoun_ third, with 771,780 dozens, the fourth highest +competitor, Augusta county, lacking 60,580 dozens of this last number. + +Of Virginia counties at the last census Loudoun ranked third in the +number of chickens on farms, third in number of turkeys, third in +value of poultry products in 1899, and second in value of poultry on +hand June 1, 1900. + +There were in the County June 1, 1900, 2,225 swarms of bees, valued at +$6,428. They produced the same year 24,970 pounds of honey and 1,110 +pounds of wax. + + +SOIL PRODUCTS. + +The total and average values of Loudoun's farm products of 1899, with +percentages, are set forth in the following table: + +Value of products: + Fed to live stock $1,018,434 00 + Not fed to live stock 1,817,414 00 + -------------- + Total $2,835,848 00 + Per cent not fed to value of farm property 16.4 +Average value per farm: + Fed to live stock $523 00 + Not fed to live stock 933 00 + --------- + Total $1,456 00 +Average value per acre: + Products fed $3 24 + Products not fed 5 79 +Average value per acre of improved land: + Products fed $4 04 + Products not fed 7 22 + + +_Corn and Wheat._ + +Of the 100 counties in Virginia, Loudoun ranked third in corn acreage +in 1899, reporting 46,248 acres, and, the same year, headed the list +in the production of corn with 1,538,860 bushels, an excess of 350,830 +bushels over its nearest competitor, Fauquier county, which had +planted in corn 981 more acres. + +Loudoun ranked third in wheat area in 1899, Augusta taking the lead in +area as well as in production. The next three counties in the order of +production were Rockingham, Shenandoah, and _Loudoun_, the product of +the last-named being 447,660 bushels. The same order prevailed in +1890. + + +_Oats, Rye, and Buckwheat._ + +The area reported under oats in 1900 was 765 acres and the product +13,070 bushels. In 1890, 4,504 acres were planted in this crop and +produced 69,380 bushels. No barley was reported in 1899. + +The reported area under rye in 1900 was 597 acres and the yield 5,560 +bushels. The preceding census reported 1,830 acres and a product of +13,137 bushels. + +Loudoun reported but two acres of buckwheat under cultivation in 1899, +as against 232 acres in 1879. The yield at the last census was only 12 +bushels, and in 1879, 2,338 bushels. + + +_Hay and Forage Crops._ + +The total area in clover in 1899 was 1,555 acres and the yield 1,598 +tons. Loudoun reported only 2 acres planted in alfalfa or Lucern and a +corresponding number of tons. The total area sown in millet and +Hungarian grasses was 70 acres and the product 86 tons. Twelve +thousand four hundred and ninety-five acres were planted in other tame +and cultivated grasses in 1899, and 11,364 tons cut therefrom. The +principal grass included under this designation is timothy. In grains +cut green for hay Loudoun reported 1,342 acres under cultivation in +1899 and a product of 1,503 tons. + +The reported acreage in forage crops in 1899 was 867 and the product +2,473 tons. The principal crops included under this head are corn and +sorghum cane cut green for forage. The production of Loudoun exceeded +the tonnage of every other county in the State. The report of the +tonnage of the cornstalks cut where the crop had been allowed to +mature for the grain was 21,614 tons. + + +_Miscellaneous Crops, Etc._ + +Four hundred and eighty-four acres planted in miscellaneous crops in +1900 produced 33,312 bushels. + +Seven hundred and twenty-nine acres were devoted to miscellaneous +vegetables (exclusive of Irish and sweet potatoes, and onions), and +the product valued at $41,136. + +From the 11 acres devoted to sorghum cane, 7 tons were sold and 789 +gallons of syrup produced. + +The number of square feet of land under glass used for agricultural +purposes June 1, 1900, was 48,310. + + +_Orchard Fruits, Etc._ + +The reported value of the orchard products of 1899 was $51,363. + +The following table shows the number of each class of orchard trees of +bearing age, June 1, 1900, with products by bushels: + +----------------------------+-----------+---------------- + | Number of | Number of + Trees. | trees. | bushels grown. +----------------------------+-----------+---------------- +Apple | 83,027 | 195,406 +Peach and Nectarine | 22,446 | 3,900 +Pear | 4,983 | 2,828 +Cherry | 4,179 | 3,930 +Plum | 1,589 | 534 +Apricot | 117 | 30 +Unclassified orchard fruits | 42 | 20 +----------------------------+-----------+---------------- + +The farms of Loudoun produced in 1899 2,304 barrels of cider, 388 +barrels of vinegar, and 13,530 pounds of dried and evaporated fruits. + + +_Small Fruits, Etc._ + +The total value of small fruits was $3,574, the number of acres under +cultivation 40, and the product 62,280 quarts. + +There were in Loudoun June 1, 1900, 9,742 grapevines of bearing age. +They produced in 1899, 171,921 pounds of grapes, from part of which +yield were made 766 gallons of wine. + +The number of pecan, Persian or English walnut and other nut trees of +bearing age reported was 35. + + +_Flowers, Ornamental Plants, Etc._ + +The total area devoted to flowers and ornamental plants for commercial +purposes in 1899 was eight acres, the amount of sales therefrom +$15,400, and the square feet of glass surface reported by florists' +establishments 53,300. Of Virginia counties Loudoun ranked fourth in +amount of sales and third in area of glass surface. + +The total area devoted to nursery products in 1899 was 10-1/4 acres +and the amount of sales therefrom $2,225. + + +FARM LABOR AND FERTILIZERS. + +LABOR. + +The scarcity of efficient labor is one of the most serious troubles +with which the farmers of this County have to cope. In the northern +portion the labor is principally white, while in the southern part +there is a greater proportion of the negro race. + +Some farmers employ men by the month, paying from $15 to $18 and +board, but at a distance from centers of population this transient +labor is hard to secure, and even fancy wages sometimes fail to +attract a sufficient supply. In other cases a laborer and his family +are allowed to live on the farm, and he is paid by the day for such +work as is required of him, the usual wage being 75 cents or $1, with +the opportunity of working throughout a considerable part of the year. +The laborer usually pays a small rent for his cottage, but is allowed +a piece of ground free for a garden. Where the farms are small the +greater part of the work is done by the farmer and his family, and the +situation is less difficult; but with the large farms it is often +impossible to secure sufficient labor, especially during harvesting. + +The total and average expenditures for labor on farms in 1899, +including the value of the board furnished, was $292,150, an average +of $149.97 per farm and 93 cents per acre. + + +FERTILIZERS. + +Commercial fertilizers are used extensively throughout Loudoun. These +consist chiefly of phosphatic fertilizers, although some nitrogenous +mixtures are used. Barnyard and green manures are employed to a +considerable extent. Lime is applied freely to many of the soils. It +is brought into the area in cars, hauled from there to the farms by +wagon, and thrown in small piles over the land, the usual application +being twenty-five or thirty bushels to the acre. It is almost always +put on the land in the fall, and after becoming thoroughly slaked by +air and rain, is spread over the land as evenly as possible. +Applications are made every fifth or sixth year. Where farms are +situated at considerable distances from the railroads but little lime +is used on account of the difficulty of transportation. + +The total amount expended for fertilizers in 1900 was $107,490, an +average of $55.18 per farm and 34 cents per acre and amounted to 3.8 +per cent of the total value of the products. In 1879, only one other +county in the State, i. e., Norfolk, spent as much for the enrichment +of its soils. The amount expended for fertilizers in that year was +$133,349. + + +EDUCATION AND RELIGION. + +_Education_. + +Few of the early settlers of Loudoun enjoyed any other advantages of +education than a few months' attendance at primary schools as they +existed in Virginia previous to the Revolution. But these advantages +had been so well improved that nearly all of them were able to read +and write a legible hand, and had acquired sufficient knowledge of +arithmetic for the transaction of ordinary business. They were, in +general, men of strong and penetrating minds and, clearly perceiving +the numerous advantages which education confers, they early directed +their attention to the establishment of schools. But for many years +there were obstacles in addition to those incident to all new +settlements, which prevented much being done for the cause of +education. The controversies in which they were involved and the war +of the Revolution employed nearly all their thoughts and all their +energies previous to the State's admission into the Federal Union. + +Of the real efficiency of the Colonial schools of Loudoun but little +can be learned. Teachers, as a rule, were on a par with their +surroundings. If they could read, write and cipher to the "single rule +of three" their educational qualifications were deemed sufficient. +They generally canvassed the neighborhood with a subscription paper, +forming the schools themselves and furnishing the few necessary books. +The rates were from $1 to $2.50 per scholar by the month, and lower +when the schoolmaster "boarded around." But he was most likely to +succeed in forming a school who contracted to take his pay in produce. + +Few schools were taught by women in Colonial times and female teachers +were still rare until a comparatively recent period. + +The salaries of regularly appointed tutors varied according to the +nature of the schools and the ability of the district to meet the +expense. + +After the Revolution, with increasing prosperity, came a spirit of +general improvement and a new interest in the cause of education. + +The present condition of education in Loudoun is hopeful, public +instruction being now popular with all classes. Intelligence is more +generally diffused than at any previous period of the County's +history, and happily, the progress of moral education has, on the +whole, fully kept pace with intellectual culture. Our boys and girls +are reared in a home atmosphere of purity, of active thought, and +intelligent cultivation; all their powers are keenly stimulated by +local and national prosperity and unrestricted freedom in all honest +endeavor. + +With the improvement in the school system has come a better style of +school-houses. The "little red school-house on the hill" has given +place to buildings of tasteful architecture, with modern improvements +conducive to the comfort and health of the scholars, and the refining +influences of neat surroundings is beginning to be understood. +Separate schools are maintained for colored pupils and graded schools +sustained at populous places. + +With free schools, able teachers consecrated to their calling, and +fair courses of instruction; with a people generous in expenditures +for educational purposes, and a cooperation of parents and teachers; +with the many educational periodicals, the pedagogical books, and +teachers' institutes to broaden and stimulate the teacher, the friends +of education in Loudoun may labor on, assured that the new century +will give abundant fruitage to the work which has so marvelously +prospered in the old. + +_Total Receipts of School Funds for the Year Ending July 31, 1908._ +(From report of Division Superintendent of Schools.) + +From State funds $13,968 92 + " County school tax 12,355 38 + " District school tax 14,640 82 + " All other sources 322 30 + " Balance on hand August 1, 1907 6,644 60 + ---------- + Total $47,931 97 +_Total expenditures_ 42,788 58 + ---------- +_Balance on hand August 1, 1908_ $5,143 39 + +_School population, Number of Schools, Enrollment and Attendance by +Races and Districts, 1906-1907._ (From report of State Superintendent +of Schools.) + +----------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+------ + | School | No. of | Whole number | + | Population. |Schools opened.| enrolled. | + Districts. +------+--------+------+--------+------+--------+Total. + |White.|Colored.|White.|Colored.|White.|Colored.| +----------------+------+--------+------+--------+------+--------+------ +Broad Run | 748 | 228 | 19 | 4 | 538 | 131 | 669 +Jefferson | 619 | 216 | 15 | 4 | 446 | 196 | 642 +Leesburg | 381 | 143 | 9 | 3 | 358 | 107 | 465 +Lovettsville | 614 | 34 | 13 | 1 | 498 | 24 | 522 +Mercer | 628 | 482 | 15 | 7 | 467 | 277 | 744 +Mt. Gilead | 695 | 457 | 16 | 6 | 493 | 231 | 724 +Town of Leesburg| 255 | 130 | 6 | 3 | 196 | 121 | 317 + |------+--------+------+--------+------+--------+------ + Total |3,940 | 1,690 | 93 | 28 |2,996 | 1,087 |4,083 +----------------+------+--------+------+--------+------+--------+------ + + +_Religion._ + +The Church, with her faiths, her sacraments, and a part of her +ministry, was an integral part of the colonization of the County from +the beginning and continuously. Everywhere, with the spreading +population, substantial edifices for public worship were erected and +competent provision made for the maintenance of all the decencies and +proprieties of Christian religion. The influence of these +institutions, and of the faith which they embodied, was most benign +and salutary. They gave to the age of the Revolution its noble +character and its deep-seated principles, the force and momentum of +which have come down, with gradually decreasing power, to our own day. +But with these institutions and with their proper effect and influence +was mingled the fatal leaven of secularity. + + * * * * * + +All the leading denominations are represented in Loudoun by churches +and congregations to the extent shown by the following table of +statistics, representing conditions as they existed at the close of +the calendar year 1906, and based upon the returns of individual +church organizations so far as received by the Census Office, through +which Bureau they were obtained for initial publication in this work. + +=========================================+==============+============ + | Total |Communicants + | number of | or members. + Denomination. |organizations.|------------ + | |Total number + | |reported. +-----------------------------------------+--------------+------------ +All denominations | 97 | 7,606 + _Baptist bodies_: | | + Baptists-- | | + Southern Baptist Convention | 11 | 1,199 + National Baptist Convention | | + (colored) | 15 | 1,235 + Free Baptists | 2 | 55 + Primitive Baptists | 6 | 171 + _Friends_: | | + Society of Friends (Orthodox) | 2 | 122 + Religious Society of Friends | | + (Hicksite) | 3 | 278 + _Lutheran bodies_: | | + General Synod of the Evangelical | | + Lutheran Church in the United | | + States of America | 4 | 645 + _Methodist bodies_:[17] | | + Methodist Episcopal Church | 19 | 1,179 + Methodist Episcopal Church (South) | 21 | 1,716 + Colored Methodist Episcopal Church | 1 | 45 + _Presbyterian bodies_: | | + Presbyterian Church in the United | | + States (South) | 4 | 345 + _Protestant Episcopal Church_ | 7 | 416 + _Reformed bodies_: | | + Reformed Church in the United States | 1 | 140 + _Roman Catholic Church_ | 1 | 60 +-----------------------------------------+--------------+------------- + +[Footnote 17: Leesburg had, until a year or so ago when it was razed, +one of the oldest Methodist churches in America. The building, a large +stone structure, long abandoned, with galleries around three sides, +stood in the midst of an old Methodist graveyard in which are +tombstones more than a century old. It was built, according to report, +in 1780. + +Leesburg is the oldest Methodist territory in the bounds of the Baltimore +Conference in Virginia, and it was here that the first Methodist +Conference held in the State convened May 19, 1778.] + + + + +Historical. + +FORMATION. + + +In 1742, Prince William County, a part of the stupendous +Culpeper grant, was divided and the county of Fairfax created +and named in honor of its titled proprietor. Commencing at +the confluence of the Potomac and Occoquan rivers, the line +of demarcation followed the latter stream and its tributary, +Bull Run, to its ultimate source in the mountain of that name, +from which point it was continued to the summit of said +mountain, pursuing thereafter a direct course to the thoroughfare +in the Blue Ridge, known as "Ashby's Gap." + +In 1757, Fairfax was divided and the territory west of its altered +boundary christened "Loudoun County." The new line followed the stream +called Difficult Run, from its junction with the Potomac to its +highest spring-head, and from that point was continued in a direct +line to the northeast border of Prince William County. This boundary +was afterwards changed and the present line between Loudoun and +Fairfax substituted (see "Boundaries," page 17). + +The following are excerpts from the proceedings of the Virginia House +of Burgesses that led to the creation of Loudoun County in May, 1757. +The act authorizing the division of Fairfax and establishment of +Loudoun is given intact: + + On April 20, 1757, a "petition of sundry Inhabitants of + _Fairfax_ County, praying a Division of the said County, was + presented to the House and read, and referred to the + Consideration of the next Session of Assembly." + + On Friday, April 22, 1757, "Mr. _Charles Carter_, from the + Committee on Propositions and Grievances, reported, that the + Committee had had under their Consideration divers + Propositions, from several Counties, to them referred, and + had come to several Resolutions thereupon, which he read in + in Place, and then delivered in at the Table, where the same + were again twice read, and agreed to by the House, as + follow:" + + "_Resolved_, That the Petition of sundry Back-Inhabitants of + the said County of _Fairfax_, praying the same may be divided + into two distinct Counties, by a Line from the Mouth up the + main Branch of _Difficult_-Run to the Head thereof, and + thence by a streight Line to the Mouth of _Rocky_-Run, is + reasonable." + +The following Monday the bill was again presented to the +House by Charles Carter, of the Committee of Propositions +and Grievances, and Friday, April 29, 1757, was ordered +engrossed and read a third time. + +Monday, May 2, 1757, the engrossed Bill, entitled, "An Act for +dividing the county of Fairfax," was read a third time, passed by the +House, and sent to the Council for their "concurrence." It received +the assent of the governor Wednesday, June 8, 1757. + + _An Act for Dividing the County of Fairfax._ (Passed May 2, + 1757.) + + I. WHEREAS, Many inconveniences attend the upper + inhabitants of the county of Fairfax, by reason of the large + extent of the said county, and their remote situation from + the court-house, and the said inhabitants have petitioned + this present general assembly that the said county may be + divided: Be it, therefore, enacted, by the + Lieutenant-Governor, Council, and Burgesses of this present + General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted, by the authority + of the same, That from and after the 1st day of July next + ensuing the said county of Fairfax be divided into two + counties, that is to say: All that part thereof, lying above + Difficult-run, which falls into Patowmack river, and by a + line to be run from the head of the same run, a straight + course, to the mouth of Rocky run, shall be one distinct + county, and called and known by the name of Loudoun: And all + that part thereof below the said run and course, shall be one + other distinct county, and retain the name of Fairfax. + + II. And for the due administration of justice in the said + county of Loudoun, after the same shall take place: Be it + further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That after the + first day of July a court for the said county of Loudoun be + constantly held by the justices thereof, upon the second + Tuesday in every month, in such manner as by the laws of this + colony is provided, and shall be by their commission + directed. + + III. Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall be + constructed to hinder the sheriff or collector of the said + county of Fairfax, as the same now stands entire and + undivided, from collecting and making distress for any public + dues, or officers fees, which shall remain unpaid by the + inhabitants of the said county of Loudoun at the time of its + taking place; but such sheriff or collector shall have the + same power to collect or distrain for such dues and fees, and + shall be answerable for them in the same manner as if this + act had never been made, any law, usage, or custom to the + contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding. + + IV. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, + That the court of the said county of Fairfax shall have + jurisdiction of all actions and suits, both in law and + equity, which shall be depending before them at the time the + said division shall take place; and shall and may try and + determine all such actions and suits, and issue process and + award execution in any such action or suit in the same manner + as if this act had never been made, any law, usage, or custom + to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding. + + V. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, + That out of every hundred pounds of tobacco, paid in + discharge of quit rents, secretary's, clerk's, sheriff's, + surveyor's, or other officers fees, and so proportionably for + a greater or lesser quantity, there shall be made the + following abatements or allowances to the payer, that is to + say: For tobacco due in the county of Fairfax ten pounds of + tobacco, and for tobacco due in the county of Loudoun twenty + pounds of tobacco; and that so much of the act of the + assembly, intituled, An Act for amending the Staple of + Tobacco, and preventing frauds in his Majesty's customs, as + relates to anything within the purview of this act, shall be, + and is hereby repealed and made void. + + +DERIVATION OF NAME. + +Loudoun County was named in honor of Lord Loudoun, a representative peer +of Scotland, who, the year before its establishment, and during the +French and Indian war, had been appointed captain-general and +governor-in-chief of the province of Virginia, and commander-in-chief of +the British military forces in the Colonies. + +His military avocations, however, prevented him from entering upon the +duties of the gubernatorial office, and it is believed that he never +visited the colony of Virginia. Dinwiddie continued in the control of +its affairs, while Loudoun turned his attention to military matters, +in which his indolence, indecision, and general inefficiency were most +conspicuous and disastrous. Franklin said of him: "He is like little +St. George on the sign-boards; always on horseback, but never goes +forward." + +Until his early recall to England, contemporaneous writers and brother +officers mercilessly criticised Loudoun "whom a child might outwit, or +terrify with a pop-gun." + +Hardesty's Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia contains the +following succinct account of the public services rendered by this +noted Scotchman: + + "John Campbell, son of Hugh, Earl of Loudoun, was born in + 1705, and succeeded his father in the title in November, + 1731. In July, 1756, he arrived in New York with the + appointment of governor-in-chief of Virginia, and also with + the commission of commander-in-chief of the British forces in + America, but, proving inefficient, returned to England in + 1757. He was made Lieutenant-General in 1758, and General in + 1770. He died April 27, 1782, and was succeeded by Norborne + Berkeley, Baron de Botetourt, as governor of Virginia, in + 1768." + + +SETTLEMENT AND PERSONNEL. + +The permanent settlement of Loudoun began between the years 1725 and +1730 while the County was yet a part of Prince William and the +property of Lord Fairfax, the immigrants securing ninety-nine-year +leases on the land at the rate of two shillings sterling per 100 +acres. The above-noted interim saw a steady influx of the fine old +English Cavalier[18] stock, the settlers occupying large tracts of +land in the eastern and southern portions of the County or most of the +territory extending from the Potomac River southward to Middleburg and +from the Catoctin and Bull Run mountains eastward to the eastern +border of the County. It is more to this noble and chivalric strain +than to any other that Loudoun owes her present unrivalled social +eminence. + +[Footnote 18: This stock was the first to introduce and foster slavery +in the County.--Goodhart's _History of the Loudoun Rangers_.] + +John Esten Cooke's faithful and eloquent delineation of Virginia +character is peculiarly applicable to this Cavalier element of Loudoun +society. Some conception of that author's grandiose style and intimate +knowledge of his subject may be gained from the following passage: + + "The Virginian of the present time has ingrained in his + character the cordial instincts and spirit of courtesy and + hospitality which marked his ancestors. He has the English + preference for the life of the country to the life of the + city; is more at home among green fields and rural scenes + than in streets; loves horses and dogs, breeds of cattle, the + sport of fox-hunting, wood-fires, Christmas festivities, the + society of old neighbors, political discussions, traditions + of this or that local celebrity, and to entertain everybody + to the extent of, and even beyond, his limited means. Many of + these proclivities have been laughed at, and the people have + been criticised as provincial and narrow-minded; but after + all it is good to love one's native soil, and to cherish the + home traditions which give character to a race. Of the + Virginians it may be said that they have objected in all + times to being rubbed down to a uniformity with all the rest + of the world, and that they have generally retained the + traits which characterized their ancestors." + +The northwestern part of the County, known as the "German Settlement," +a section of about 125 square miles, extending from Catoctin Mountain +westward to the Short Hill Mountains and from the Potomac River +southward to near Wheatland, was originally settled by a sturdy and +vigorous race of Germans,[19] principally from Pennsylvania, but a few +from New York, in which two colonies they had settled on their +arrival, only a few years before, from the Palatine states of Germany. +They came to Loudoun between the years 1730 and 1735,[20] about the +time of the Cavalier settlements. + +These German settlers were a patient, God-fearing people, naturally +rugged, and very tenacious in the preservation of their language, +religion, customs and habits. Every stage in their development has +been marked by a peaceable and orderly deportment--a perfect +submission to the restraints of civil authority. + +[Footnote 19: The first sheep were brought to the County by these +settlers.--_History of the Loudoun Rangers._] + +[Footnote 20: 1732 was most likely the year in which the earliest of +these German settlers arrived in Loudoun.] + +The earliest of these German arrivals, with native foresight and a +proper appreciation of the dangers incident to border settlement in +that day of bloody Indian atrocities, came to Loudoun in an organized +body, embracing sixty or more families. + +Many of the males were artisans of no mean ability, and plied +their respective trades as conscientiously and assiduously as +others, in the rude manner of the times, tilled their newly-acquired +acres. + +In this way, a congenial, stable, and self-sustaining colony, founded +on considerations of common safety and economic expediency, was +established amongst these storied hills of frontier Virginia. + +Almost simultaneously with these settlements came other emigrants from +Pennsylvania and the then neighboring colonies, among them many +members of the Society of Friends or Quakers.[21] Not a few of this +faith came direct from England and Ireland, attracted by the genial +climate, fertile soils and bountiful harvests, accounts of which had +early gained wide-spread circulation. They chose homes in the central +portion of the County, southwest of Waterford and west of Lessburg, +that section being generally known as the "Quaker Settlement." + +Each summer brought them new accessions of prosperity and devout +brethren to swell their numbers; and soon they had caused the +wilderness to blossom as the rose. Here they found freedom of +religious and moral thought, a temperate climate, and the wholesome +society of earnest compatriots. + +Then, as now, a plain, serious people, they have left the +impress of their character--thrifty, industrious, and conspicuously +honest--upon the whole of the surrounding district. + +[Footnote 21: The term Quaker, originally given in reproach, has been +so often used, by friend as well as foe, that it is no longer a term +of derision, but is the generally accepted designation of a member of +the Society of Friends.--_Loudoun Rangers._] + +No concerted violence, it is believed, was offered these settlers by +the Indians who seem to have accredited them with the same qualities +of honesty, virtue, and benevolence, by the exercise of which William +Penn, the founder of the faith in Pennsylvania, had won their lasting +confidence and esteem. + +The Quaker is a type with which all the world is familiar and needs no +particular portrayal in this work. The Quakers of Loudoun have at all +times remained faithful adherents of the creed, their peculiar +character, manners, and tenets differing to no considerable extent +from those of other like colonies, wherever implanted. + +It is doubtful if any race has done more to stimulate and direct real +progress, and to develop the vast resources of Loudoun, than that +portion of our earlier population known as the Scotch-Irish. Their +remarkable energy, thrift, staidness, and fixed religious views made +their settlements the centers of civilization and improvement in +Colonial times; that their descendants proved sturdy props of the +great cause that culminated in the independence of the United States +is a matter of history. + + +EARLY HABITS, CUSTOMS, AND DRESS. + +HABITS. + +The earliest permanent settlements of Loudoun having been separately +noted in the foregoing paragraphs a generalized description of the +habits, customs, and dress of these settlers, as well as their +unorganized pioneer predecessors and the steady promiscuous stream of +home-seekers that poured into the County until long after the +Revolution, will now be attempted. + +The early settlers, with but one class exception, had no costly tastes +to gratify, no expensive habits to indulge, and neither possessed nor +cared for luxuries. Their subsistence, such as they required, cost but +little of either time or labor. The corn from which they made their +bread came forth from the prolific soil almost at the touch of their +rude plows. Their cattle and hogs found abundant sustenance in the +broad pastures which, in the summer, yielded the richest grass, and in +the woods where, in the fall, the ground was strewn with acorns and +other like provender. + +The pioneer lived roughly; the German from the Palatinate kept house +like the true peasant that he was; the planter lived somewhat more +sumptuously and luxuriously; but, in nearly every case, the table was +liberally supplied. Hominy, milk, corn-bread, and smoked or jerked +meats seem to have been most popular with the humbler classes. + +Ice was not stored for summer use, fruits were few and not choice, and +the vegetables limited; our ancestors, at that time, having no +acquaintance with the tomato, cauliflower, egg-plant, red-pepper, +okra, and certain other staple vegetables of today. The Indians had +schooled them in the preparation of succotash with the beans grown +among the corn, and they raised melons, squashes, and pumpkins in +abundance. + +Corn for bread was broken in a mortar and ground in a grater or +hand-mill. Mills, in the early days, were few and far apart, some of +the back-settlers being compelled to travel many miles for their +grist. This condition gave origin to the adage "first come first +served," and frequently carried the late arrivals over night and, at +times, prolonged the trip to procure a few bushels of meal three or +four days. "Band-mills," run by horses, and small water mills, where +the situation permitted, came into use to supply the demand of larger +ones. The building of a good mill, it must be confessed, was hailed +with greater satisfaction than the erection of a church. + +The more primitive of these peoples ate from wooden trenchers and +platters; sat upon three-legged stools or wooden blocks; used bear's +grease in lieu of lard and butter, and cut their foods with the same +sheath-knives used in disembowelling and skinning the deer killed by +their rifles. They had no money and their scant furniture was +essentially crude, sometimes including a few pewter dishes and plates +and spoons, but usually nothing beyond wooden bowls, trenchers, and +noggins, with gourds and squashes daintily cut. The horse trough +served as a wash-basin, and water buckets were seldom seen. The family +owning an iron pot and a kitchen table were esteemed rich and +extravagant, and china and crockery ware were at once practically +unknown and uncraved. Feather-beds and bedsteads were equally +eschewed, these hardy men who had conquered the wilderness not +disdaining, when night came, to sleep upon a dirt floor with a +bear-skin for covering. + +With muscles of iron and hearts of oak, they united a tenderness for +the weak and a capability for self-sacrifice worthy of an ideal knight +of chivalry; and their indomitable will, which recognized no obstacle +as insuperable, was equalled only by their rugged integrity which +regarded dishonesty as an offense as contemptible as cowardice. For +many years they dwelt beyond the pale of governmental restraint, nor +did they need the presence of either courts or constables. Crimes +against person, property, or public order were of so infrequent +occurrence as to be practically unheard of. In moral endowments--even +if not in mental attainments--these sturdy pioneers of Loudoun were, +it must be admitted, vastly superior to many of those who followed +them when better facilities for transportation rendered the County +more accessible. + +Society before and for many years after the Revolution was easy, +agreeable, and somewhat refined. Traveling was slow, difficult, and +expensive. For society, the inhabitants were mainly dependent upon +themselves; the ties of social life were closely drawn. Books, +newspapers, and magazines were rare; men and women read less, but +talked more, and wrote longer and more elaborate letters than now. +"Cheap postage has spoiled letter writing." Much time was spent in +social visits; tea parties, and supper parties were common. The +gentlemen had their clubs and exclusive social gatherings, sometimes +too convivial in their character, and occasionally a youth of promise +fell a victim to the temptations of a mistaken hospitality. "Gaming +was more common among respectable people than at the present day." + + +CUSTOMS. + +Of leisure, all classes at all times had a superabundance, and it was +cheerfully devoted to mutual assistance without thought of recompense, +except in kind. If anyone fell behind through sickness or other +misfortune, his neighbors would cheerfully proffer their services, +often making of the occasion a frolic and mingling labor with +amusement. + +On days set apart for the pulling of flax and wheat-cutting, the +neighbors and their children assembled in happy mood and as cheerfully +applied themselves to their gratuitous tasks. While the men were +pulling the flax or reaping and shocking the wheat, the women at the +house were preparing the harvest-noon feast. The rough table, for +which the side and bottom boards of a wagon were frequently used, was +placed when practicable under the shade of a spreading tree in the +yard. The visitors contributed from their meagre store such additional +dishes, knives, forks, and spoons as were needed. Around the table, +seated on benches, stools, or splint-bottom chairs, with such +appetites as could only be gained from honest toil in the open field, +the company partook of the bounties set before them. These consisted, +in addition to the never-failing corn-bread and bacon, of bear and +deer meat, turkey, or other game in season, and an abundance of +vegetables which they called "roughness." The bread, styled +"jonny-cake," was baked on journey or "jonny" boards, about two feet +long and eight inches wide. The dough was spread over the boards which +were then placed before the fire; after one side was browned, the cake +was reversed and the unbaked side turned toward the flames. + +However strictly it might be abstained from at other times, a harvest +without whisky was like a dance without a fiddle. It was partaken of +by all--each one, male and female, drinking from the bottle and +passing it to his or her nearest neighbor. Drinking vessels were +dispensed with as mere idle superfluities. + +Dinner over, the company scattered, the elders withdrawing in a body +and seating or stretching themselves upon the ground. + +After the filling and lighting of the inevitable pipe, conversation +would become general. The news of the day--not always, as may be +imagined, very recent--was commented upon, and then, as now, political +questions were sagely and earnestly discussed. Stories, mainly of +adventure, were told; hairbreadth escapes from Indian massacre +recounted and the battles of late wars fought again beneath the +spreading branches of the trees. Meanwhile, the boys and girls +wandered off in separate and smaller groups, singing and playing and +making love much in the manner of today. + +Another amusement of those days, and one that did not fall into +disfavor for many years thereafter, was what was known as "shucking +bees." To these gatherings were invited both old and young. Stacks of +corn in the husk were piled upon the ground near the crib where the +golden ears were finally to be stored. Upon the assemblage of the +guests, those with proud records as corn-huskers were appointed +leaders, they in turn filling the ranks of their respective parties by +selection from the company present, the choice going to each in +rotation. The corn was divided into approximately equal piles, one of +which was assigned to each party. The contest was then begun with much +gusto and the party first shucking its allotment declared the winner. +The lucky finder of a red ear was entitled to a kiss from the girls. + +Supper always followed this exciting contest and after supper came the +dance. Stripped of dishes, the tables were quickly drawn aside and the +room swept by eager hands. Then came the struggle for partners and the +strife to be "first on the floor." Usually the violin furnished the +only music and the figures most in favor were the reel and the jig, in +which all participated with a zest and abandon unknown to the modern +ballroom. "They danced all night till broad daylight and went home +with the girls in the morning," some on foot and some on horseback, +practically the only means of getting there. + +"Dreadful prodigality" does not too extravagantly describe the +drinking habits of the people of Virginia in the latter half of the +eighteenth century. They consumed an enormous quantity of liquors in +proportion to their numbers, and drank indiscriminately, at all hours +of the day and night. West India rum was the favorite drink of the +people, because the cheapest, and was bought by the puncheon. Most +every cellar, especially in the Cavalier settlements, had its barrel +of cider, Bordeaux and sherry and Madeira wines, French brandies, +delicate Holland gins, cordials, syrups, and every sort of ale and +beer. Drunkenness was so common as to excite no comment, and drinking +after dinner and at parties was always hard, prolonged, and desperate, +so that none but the most seasoned old topers--the judges, squires, +and parsons of six-bottle capacity--ever escaped with their sea-legs +in an insurable condition. + +While a large proportion of the home-seekers that had settled in the +County immediately after the Revolution had received a rudimentary +education, and had lived among communities which may be said to have +been comparatively cultured, most of them were hardy, rough, +uncultivated back-woodsmen, accustomed only to the ways of the +frontier and camp. Many of them had served in the war of the +Revolution and all of them in the border wars with the Indians. Though +brave, hospitable and generous, they were more at ease beneath the +forest bivouac than in the "living-room" of the log-cabin, and to +swing a woodman's axe among the lofty trees of the primeval forest was +a pursuit far more congenial to their rough nature and active +temperament than to mingle with society in settled communities. Their +habits and manners were plain, simple, and unostentatious. Their +clothing was generally made of the dressed skins of the deer, wolf, or +fox, while those of the buffalo and elk supplied them with covering +for their feet and heads. Their log-cabins were destitute of glass, +nails, hinges, or locks. + +Education during the early settlements received but little attention +in Loudoun, and school-houses, always of logs, were scarcely to be +seen. Schools were sometimes opened at private houses or at the +residence of the teacher; but "book larnin" was considered too +impracticable to be of much value. + +While the standard of morality, commercial as well as social, was of a +high order, few of these settlers were members of any church. Many of +them, however, had been reared in religious communities by Christian +parents; had been taught to regard the Sabbath as a day of worship, +and had been early impressed with a sense of the necessity of +religious faith and practice. Some of the prominent citizens +encouraged these views by occasionally holding meetings in their +cabins, at which the scriptures and sometimes sermons were read and +hymns sung, but no prayers were offered. The restraining and molding +influence of these early Christian efforts upon the habits and morals +of the people was in every respect wholesome and beneficial. The +attention of the people was arrested and turned to the study and +investigation of moral and religious questions, and direction was +given to the contemplation of higher thoughts and the pursuit of a +better life. + +In the meantime, other elements were introduced which effected a +radical change in the habits of the people for both good and evil. The +first settlers lived in the country, in the woods and wilds, whose +"clearings" were far apart. Not one in ten of them had dwelt in any +town, or even visited one having as many as a thousand inhabitants. +And now there came the merchant, the lawyer, the doctor, and the +mechanic, who resided in the towns which began to grow and to take on +new life. Most of these had enjoyed superior advantages, so far as +related to education and that worldly wisdom which comes from +experience in older communities. Some of them had come from across the +ocean and others from the large American cities, bringing with them +manners, customs, furniture, and wares, of which the like had never +been seen by the oldest inhabitant. + +And thus were gradually introduced the methods and appliances of a +more advanced civilization. The pioneer and his wife, hearing of these +things, would occasionally "go to town" to "see the sights," and would +there discover that there were many useful and convenient articles for +the farm and kitchen which might be procured in exchange for their +corn, bacon, eggs, honey, and hides; and although the shrewd merchant +was careful to exact his cent per cent, the prices asked were little +heeded by the purchaser who was as ignorant of the value of the +commodities offered as he was delighted with their novelty and +apparent usefulness. + + +DRESS. + +The subject of dress is approached with reluctance and its description +diffidently essayed. But the task has seemed mandatory as the manners +of a people can not otherwise be fully understood. The stately, +ceremonious intercourse of the sexes, the stiff and elaborate walk of +Loudoun men and women of Colonial and post-Revolutionary times is +traceable almost solely to the costuming of that period. How could +ladies dance anything but the stately minuet, when their heads were +veritable pyramids of pasted hair surmounted by turbans, when their +jeweled stomachers and tight-laced stays held their bodies as tightly +as would a vise, when their high-heeled shoes were as unyielding as if +made of wood, and their trails of taffeta, often as much as fifteen +yards long, and great feathered head-dresses compelled them to turn +round as slowly as strutting peacocks? How could the men, with their +buckram-stiffened coat-shirts, execute any other dance, when their +elaborate powdered wigs compelled them to carry their hats under their +arms, and their swords concurrently required dexterous management for +the avoidance of tripping and mortifying falls? + +Children were laced in stays and made to wear chin supports, gaps, and +pads so as to give them the graceful carriage necessary to the wearing +of all this weight of stiff and elaborate costume, which was all of a +piece with the character of the assemblies and other evening +entertainments, the games of cards--basset, loo, piquet, and +whist--with the dancing, the ceremonious public life of nearly every +class of society, with even the elaborate funeral ceremonies, and the +sedulousness with which "persons of quality" thought it incumbent upon +themselves to maintain the distinctions of rank as symbolized in +costume. + +The tie-wig, bob-wig, bag-wig, night-cap-wig, and riding-wig were +worn by the gentleman of quality as occasion required. At times he +wore, also, a small three-cornered cocked hat, felt or beaver, +elaborately laced with gold or silver galloon. If he walked, as to +church or court, he carried, in addition to his sword, a gold or +ivory-headed cane, at least five feet long, and wore square-toed, +"low-quartered" shoes with paste or silver buckles. His stockings, no +matter what the material, were tightly stretched over his calves and +carefully gartered at the knee. If he rode, he wore boots instead of +shoes and carried a stout riding whip. About his neck was a white +cravat of great amplitude, with abundant hanging ends of lace. His +waist-coat was made with great flaps extending nearly down to the knee +and bound with gold or silver lace. His coat, of cloth or velvet, +might be of any color, but was sure to be elaborately made, with +flap-pockets, and great hanging cuffs, from beneath which appeared the +gentleman's indispensable lace ruffles. His knee-breeches were of +black satin, red plush, or blue cloth, according to his fancy. They +were plainly made and fitted tightly, buckling at the knee. At home, a +black velvet skull-cap sometimes usurped the place of the wig and a +damask dressing-gown lined with silk supplanted the coat, the feet +being made easy in fancy morocco slippers. Judges on the bench often +wore robes of scarlet faced with black velvet in winter, and black +silk gowns in summer. + +The substantial planter and burgher dressed well but were not so +particular about their wigs, of which they probably owned no more than +one, kept for visiting and for Sabbath use. They usually yielded to +the custom of shaving their heads, however, and wore white linen caps +under their hats. During the Revolutionary War wigs were scare and +costly, linen was almost unobtainable and the practice of shaving +heads accordingly fell rapidly into desuetude. Sometimes the burgher's +hat was of wool or felt, with a low crown and broad brim, turned up +and cocked. About his neck he wore a white linen stock, fastening with +a buckle at the back. His coat was of cloth, broad-backed, with +flap-pockets, and his waist-coat, of the same stuff, extended to his +knees. He wore short breeches with brass or silver knee-buckles, red +or blue garters, and rather stout, coarse leather shoes, strapped over +the quarter. He wore no sword, but often carried a staff, and knew how +to use it to advantage. + +Mechanics, laborers and servants wore leather-breeches and aprons, +sagathy coats, osnaburg shirts and hair-shag jackets, coarse shoes, +and worsted or jean stockings, knit at home. + +The dress of the women of these classes was shabbier still, their +costumes, for the most part, comprising stamped cotton and white +dimity gowns, coarse shift (osnaburg), country cloth, and black +quilted petticoats. In the backwoods and the primitive German +settlements the women all wore the short gowns and petticoats, also +tight-fitting calico caps. In summer, when employed in the fields, +they wore only a linen shift and a petticoat of home-made linsey. All +their clothing, in fact, was home-made. + +The ladies of quality, however, as has been intimated, dressed +extravagantly, frizzed, rouged, wore trains, and acted as fashionable +women have done from the immemorial beginning of things. + +The pioneers dressed universally in the hunting shirt or blouse, +sometimes fringed and decorated, and perhaps the most convenient frock +ever conceived. It fit loosely, was open in front, reached almost to +the knees, and had large sleeves, and a cape for the protection of the +shoulders in bad weather. In the ample bosom of this shirt the hunter +carried his bread and meat, the tow with which to wipe out the barrel +of his rifle, and other small requisites. To his belt, tied or buckled +behind, he suspended his mittens, bullet-pouch, tomahawk, and knife +and sheath. His hunting-shirt was made of dressed deer-skin--very +uncomfortable in wet weather--or of linsey, when it was to be had. The +pioneer dressed his lower body in drawers and leathern cloth leggins, +and his feet in moccasins; a coon-skin cap completing the attire. + +His wife wore a linsey petticoat, home-spun and home-made, and a short +gown of linsey or "callimanco," when that material could be obtained. +She wore no covering for the feet in ordinary weather, and moccasins, +coarse, "country-made" shoes, or "shoe-packs" during more rigorous +seasons. To complete the picture Kercheval, the historian of the +Shenandoah Valley, is here quoted: "The coats and bed-gowns of the +women, as well as the hunting-shirts of the men, were hung in full +display on wooden pegs around the walls of their cabins, so that while +they answered in some degree the purpose of paper-hangings or +tapestry, they announced to the stranger as well as the neighbor the +wealth or poverty of the family in the articles of clothing." + + * * * * * + +It is to be hoped that the desultory sketch furnished above will not +be found uninteresting despite its imperfections. Many details have +been omitted or neglected, but enough has been written to illustrate +in a general way the qualities for which our ancestors were most +distinguished, for which their characters have excited most comment +and perhaps deserved most praise. + +As a whole, they were a generous, large-hearted, liberal-minded +people, and their faults were far fewer than their virtues. The +yeomanry, in their own rude, rough-and-ready manner, reflected the +same sort of personal independence of character and proud sense of +individuality as the social aristocracy. + + +FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. + +Little can be learned of Loudoun's participation in the last great +French and Indian War (1754-1763). It had its beginning three years +prior to her admission into the sisterhood of Virginia counties, and +the services she must have rendered during that period are, of course, +accredited to Fairfax, of which county she was then a part. The few +existing or available records of the remaining six years of warfare, +as of the entire period, are imperfect and unlocalized and would +baffle the most experienced and persevering compiler. + +The only deductions that have seemed at all noteworthy are here +presented: + +The General Assembly of Virginia, on April 14, 1757, passed an act +providing for the appointment of a committee to direct the pay of the +officers and soldiers then in the pay of the Colony, of "the rangers +formerly employed, and for the expense of building a fort in the +Cherokee country," for the pay of the militia that had "been drawn out +into actual service, and also for provisions for the said soldiers, +rangers, and militia...." + +In the following schedule are given the names of Loudoun payees and +the amount received by each: + + L s. d. +To Captain Nicholas Minor 1 00 00 + AEneas Campbell, lieutenant 7 6 + Francis Wilks 1 17 + James Willock 1 15 + John Owsley and William Stephens, 15s. each 1 10 + Robert Thomas 10 + John Moss, Jr. 4 + John Thomas, for provisions 5 + John Moss, for provisions 2 8 + William Ross, for provisions 2 + __ __ __ + 7 13 2 + +By a later act of the same body commissioners were empowered "to +examine, state, and settle the accounts of such pay, provisions, arms, +etc.," of the six counties from which they were appointed, "and all +arrears whatsoever relating to the militia." + +The following list of Loudoun beneficiaries, with the amounts +opposite, is reproduced in the identical form in which it was then +submitted: + + L s. d. +"1757. To Robert Adams, assignee of Stephen Thatcher, for + his pay, 5 12 6 + Do. do of Thomas Bond, for do., 4 10 + Thomas Gore, for a rifle gun impressed, 4 10 + Stephen Emorie, for dressing guns for militia, 13 + James Clemons, for a gun impressed, 4 10 + 1763. Captain Moss, for 60 days' pay at 6s., 18 + Lieutenant Gore, for do. at 3s., 6d., 10 10" + + +REPRESENTATION. + +_Colonial Assemblies._--General Assembly of 1758-'61, Francis +Lightfoot Lee and James Hamilton; General Assembly of 1761-'65, +Francis Lightfoot Lee and James Hamilton; General Assembly of October, +1765, Francis Lightfoot Lee and James Hamilton; General Assembly of +1766-'68, Francis Lightfoot Lee and James Hamilton; General Assembly +of May, 1769, Francis Peyton and James Hamilton; General Assembly of +1769-'71, Francis Peyton and James Hamilton (the latter vacated his +seat during the session of May 21, 1770, to accept the office of +coroner. He was succeeded by Josiah Clapham); General Assembly of +1772-'74, Thomas Mason and Francis Peyton; General Assembly of +1775-'76, Josiah Clapham and Francis Peyton. + + +_State Conventions._ + +Below will be found a compendium of Virginia conventions, with the +names of the delegates returned by Loudoun County. Few, if any, +counties of Virginia have had an abler or more influential +representation in the various State conventions. From the meeting of +the first to the adjournment of the last Loudoun has been represented +by fifteen of her wisest and most prominent citizens. + +_Convention of 1774._--Met August 1, 1774. Adjourned August 6, 1774. +Loudoun delegates: Francis Peyton and Thomas Mason. + +_Convention of March 20, 1775._--Met at Richmond, Monday, March 20, +1775. Adjourned March 27, 1775. Loudoun delegates: Francis Peyton and +Josiah Clapham. + +_Convention of July 17, 1775._--Met at Richmond, July 17, 1775. +Adjourned August 26, 1775. Loudoun delegates: Francis Peyton and +Josiah Clapham. + +_Convention of December 1, 1775._--Met at Richmond, December 1, 1775. +Adjourned January 20, 1776. Loudoun delegates: Francis Peyton and +Josiah Clapham. + +_Convention of 1776._--This convention met in the city of +Williamsburg, on Monday, May 6, 1776, and "framed the first written +constitution of a free State in the annals of the world." Adjourned +July 5, 1776. Loudoun delegates: Francis Peyton and Josiah Clapham. + +Previous conventions did not frame constitutions, but they directed +the affairs of the colony, and, in a measure, controlled the destinies +of her people. Like the convention of 1776, they were instead +revolutionary bodies. + +_Convention of 1788._--This convention met in the State House in the +city of Richmond, June 2, 1788, to ratify or reject the Constitution +which had been recommended to the States by the Federal Convention on +the 17th of September, 1787, at Philadelphia. Adjourned _sine die_ +June 27, 1788. Loudoun delegates: Stephen T. Mason and Levin Powell. + +_Convention of 1829-'30._--Assembled in Richmond on the 5th day of +October, 1829. Tenth District (Loudoun and Fairfax) delegates: James +Monroe, Charles Fenton Mercer, William H. Fitzhugh, and Richard H. +Henderson. + +_Convention of 1850-51._--Met at the Capitol in the city of Richmond, +on Monday, October 14, 1850. Adjourned _sine die_, August 1, 1851. +District of Loudoun delegates: John Janney, John A. Carter, and Robert +J.T. White. + +_Convention of 1861._--Met February 13, 1861. Adjourned _sine die_, +December 6, 1861. Loudoun delegates: John Janney and John A. Carter. +The former was elected President of the Convention. Both voted against +the ordinance of secession, April 17, 1861. Mr. Janney's resignation +as President of the Convention was tendered on November 14, 1861. + +_Convention of 1864._--(Restored Government of Virginia.) Met February +13, 1864. Adjourned _sine die_, April 11, 1864. Loudoun delegates: +John J. Henshaw, James M. Downey, and E.R. Gover. + +_Convention of 1867-'68._--Met at Richmond, Tuesday, December 3, 1867. +Adjourned April 17, 1868. Loudoun delegates: Norborne Berkeley and +George E. Plaster. + +_Convention of 1901-'02._--Met June 12, 1901. Adjourned _sine die_, +June 26, 1902. Loudoun and Fauquier district delegates: Henry Fairfax +and Albert Fletcher. + + +THE REVOLUTION. + +_Loudoun's Loyalty._ + +The story of the Revolution and the causes which led to that great +event are properly treated in a more general history than this +purports to be. If, in the few succeeding pages, it can be shown that +Loudoun County was most forward in resisting the arbitrary aggressions +of the British government and that the valor and patriotism she +evinced during the Revolution was equal to that of her sister +counties, who had suffered with her under the yoke of British +oppression, then the primary object of this sketch will be +accomplished. Her blood and treasure were freely dedicated to the +cause of liberty, and, having once entered the Revolution, she +determined to persevere in the struggle until every resource was +exhausted. + +Armed with flint-lock muskets of small bore and with long-barreled +rifles which they loaded from the muzzle by the use of the ramrod; +equipped with powder horn, charges made of cane for loading, bullet +molds and wadding, but bravely arrayed in home-spun of blue, and belted +with cutlass and broadsword by the side, cockade on the hat and +courage in the heart, her revolutionary soldiers marched to the music +of fife and drum into battle for freedom against the power and might +of the mother country. + + +_Resolutions of Loudoun County._ + +In 1877, the following article appeared in a Leesburg newspaper under +the caption "Loudoun County a Hundred Years Ago:" + + "Major B. P. Nolan, grandson of Burr Powell, has just put us + in possession of a verified copy of the proceedings of a + public meeting held at Leesburg, Loudoun County, on the + 14th of June, 1774, nearly one hundred and five years ago. + It is interesting, not merely for its antiquity, but as + showing the spirit of independence that animated the breasts + of our liberty-loving countrymen two years before the + Declaration of American Independence in 1776. The original + document was found among the papers of Col. Leven Powell, at + one time member of Congress from this district, who died in + 1810. His son, Burr Powell, forwarded a copy to R. H. Lee, + Esq., who in 1826 was about to publish a second edition of + his 'Memoirs of the Life of R. H. Lee,' of Revolutionary + fame." + + * * * * * + +The proceedings or resolutions follow: + + "PUBLIC MEETING IN LOUDOUN IN 1774." + + "At a meeting of the Freeholders and other inhabitants of + the County of Loudoun, in the Colony of Virginia, held at + the Court-House in Leesburg the 14th of June, 1774, F. + Peyton, Esq., in the Chair, to consider the most effectual + method to preserve the rights and liberties of North + America, and relieve our brethren of Boston, suffering under + the most oppressive and tyrannical Act of the British + Parliament, made in the 14th year of his present Majesty's + reign, whereby their Harbor is blocked up, their commerce + totally obstructed, their property rendered useless-- + + "_Resolved_, That we will always cheerfully submit to such + prerogatives as his Majesty has a right, by law, to + exercise, as Sovereign of the British Dominions, and to no + others. + + "_Resolved_, That it is beneath the dignity of freemen to + submit to any tax not imposed on them in the usual manner, + by representatives of their own choosing. + + "_Resolved_, That the Act of the British Parliament, above + mentioned, is utterly repugnant to the fundamental laws of + justice, in punishing persons without even the form of a + trial; but a despotic exertion of unconstitutional power + designedly calculated to enslave a free and loyal people. + + "_Resolved_, That the enforcing the execution of the said + Act of Parliament by a military power, must have a necessary + tendency to raise a civil war, and that we will, with our + lives and fortunes, assist and support our suffering + brethren, of Boston, and every part of North America that + may fall under the immediate hand of oppression, until a + redress of all our grievances shall be procured, and our + common liberties established on a permanent foundation. + + "_Resolved_, That the East India Company, by exporting their + tea from England to America, whilst subject to a tax imposed + thereon by the British Parliament, have evidently designed + to fix on the Americans those chains forged for them by a + venal ministry, and have thereby rendered themselves odious + and detestable throughout all America. It is, therefore, the + unanimous opinion of this meeting not to purchase any tea or + other East India commodity whatever, imported after the + first of this Month. + + "_Resolved_, That we will have no commercial intercourse + with Great Britain until the above mentioned act of + Parliament shall be totally repealed, and the right of + regulating the internal policy of North America by a British + Parliament shall be absolutely and positively given up. + + "Resolved, That Thompson Mason and Francis Peyton, Esqs., + be appointed to represent the County at a general meeting to + be held at Williamsburg on the 1st day of August next, to + take the sense of this Colony at large on the subject of the + preceding resolves, and that they, together with Leven + Powell, William Ellzey, John Thornton, George Johnston, and + Samuel Levi, or any three of them, be a committee to + correspond with the several committees appointed for this + purpose. + + "Signed by-- + + "John Morton, + Thomas Ray, + Thomas Drake, + William Booram, + Benj. Isaac Humphrey, + Samuel Mills, + Joshua Singleton, + Jonathan Drake, + Matthew Rust, + Barney Sims, + John Sims, + Samuel Butler, + Thomas Chinn, + Appollos Cooper, + Lina Hanconk, + John McVicker, + Simon Triplett, + John Wildey, + Joseph Bayley, + Isaac Sanders, + Thos. Williams, + John Williams, + William Finnekin, + Richard Hanson, + John Dunker, + Thomas Williams, + James Nolan, + Samuel Peugh, + William Nornail, + Thomas Luttrell, + James Brair, + Poins Awsley, + John Kendrick, + Edward O'Neal, + Francis Triplett, + Joseph Combs, + John Peyton Harrison, + Robert Combs, + Stephen Combs, + Samuel Henderson, + Benjamin Overfield, + Adam Sangster, + Bazzell Roads, + James Graydey, + Thomas Awsley, + John Reardon, + Henry Awsley, + Edward Miller, + Richard Hirst, + James Davis, + Jasper Grant." + + +_Revolutionary Committees._ + +The County Committee of Loudoun for 1774-'75 was composed of the +following members: + +Francis Peyton, +Josias Clapham, +Thomas Lewis, +Anthony Russell, +John Thomas, +George Johnston, +Thomas Shore, +Jacob Reed, +Leven Powell, +William Smith, +Robert Jamison, +Hardage Lane, +John Lewis, +James Lane, +George Johnston, + Clerk. + +The appended findings of this as well as a later committee exemplify +the work of these Revolutionary bodies. + + "At a meeting of the Committee of Loudoun County, held at + Leesburg on Friday, May 26, 1775.... + + "The Committee, taking into consideration the conduct of the + Governour relative to the powder which was, by his express + orders, taken secretly out of the publick Magazine belonging + to this Colony, in the night of the twentieth ult., and + carried on board the Magdaline schooner. + + "_Resolved, nemine contra dicente_, That his Lordship, by + this and other parts of his conduct which have lately + transpired, has not only forfeited the confidence of the + good people of this Colony, but that he may be justly + esteemed an enemy to America; and that as well his excuse + published in his Proclamation of the fourth instant, as his + verbal answer to the address presented him on that occasion + by the city of Williamsburgh, are unsatisfactory and + evasive, and reflect, in our opinion, great dishonour on the + General Assembly and inhabitants of this Colony, as from the + latter a suspicion may be easily deduced, that the + Representatives of the people are not competent judges of + the place wherein arms and ammunition, intended for the + defense of the Colony, may be safely lodged, and that the + inhabitants (unlike other subjects) can not, in prudence, be + trusted with the means necessary for their protection from + insurrection, or even evasion; so in the former a very heavy + charge is exhibited against the best men among us, of + seducing their fellow-subjects from their duty and + allegiance; a charge, we are confident, not founded in + reality, and which, we believe, is construed out of the + discharge of that duty which every good man is under, to + point out to his weaker countrymen, in the day of publick + trial, the part they should act, and explain, on + constitutional principles, the nature of their allegiance, + the ground of which we fervently pray may never be removed, + whose force we desire may never with reason be relaxed, but + yet may be subservient to considerations of superior regard. + + "The Committee being informed by some of the officers who + commanded the Troops of this County that marched on the + above occasion, that the reason of their marching no farther + than Fredericksburgh was, their having received repeated + requests from the Honourable Peyton Randolph, Esq., to + return home, assuring them that the peaceable citizens of + Williamsburgh were under no apprehensions of danger, either + in their persons or properties; that the publick treasury + and records were perfectly safe, and that there was no + necessity for their proceeding any further; three of the + other Delegates appointed to the Continental Congress, the + only civil power we know of in this great struggle for + liberty, being of the same opinion. + + "_Resolved, nemine contra dicente_, That under such + circumstances we approve the conduct of the said Officers + and Troops. + + "_Resolved, nemine contra dicente_, That we cordially + approve the conduct of our countrymen, Captain Patrick + Henry, and the other volunteers of Hanover County, who + marched under him, in making reprisals on the King's + property for the trespass committed as aforesaid, and that + we are determined to hazard all the blessings of this life + rather than suffer the smallest injury offered to their + persons or estates, on this account, to pass unrewarded with + its equal punishment. + + "_Resolved, nemine contra dicente_, That it be recommended + to the Representatives of this County, as the opinion of + this Committee, that they by no means agree to the + reprisals, taken as aforesaid, being returned. + + "_Ordered_, That the clerk transmit immediately a copy of + the preceding resolves to the Printers of the Virginia and + Pennsylvania gazettes, to be published. + +"By order of the Committee. + +"GEORGE JOHNSTON, _Clerk._" + +In session in Loudoun, May 14, 1776: + + "Richard Morlan being summoned to appear before this + Committee, for speaking words inimical to the liberties of + America, and tending to discourage a Minute-man from + returning to his duty; and also publickly declaring he would + not muster, and if fined would oppose the collection of the + fine with his gun: The charge being proved against him, and + he heard in his defense, the Committee think proper to hold + the said Morlan up to the publick as an enemy to their + rights and liberties; and have ordered that this resolution + be published in the Virginia _Gazette_. + +"CHRISTOPHER GREENUP, _Clerk._" + + +_Soldiery._ + +Loudoun, at the time of the Revolution, was one of the most densely +populated counties in the State. Her militia, according to the returns +of 1780 and 1781, numbered 1,746, which number was far in excess of +that reported by any other Virginia county. + +It is probable that a few Loudoun patriots served in Captain Daniel +Morgan's celebrated "Company of Virgina Riflemen," thus described by a +line officer of the Continental Army: "They are remarkably stout and +hardy men; many of them exceeding six feet in height. They are dressed +in white frocks, or rifle shirts, and round hats. These men are +remarkable for the accuracy of their aim; striking a mark with great +certainty at two hundred yards distance. At a review, a company of +them, while on a quick advance, fired their balls into objects of +seven inches diameter at the distance of two hundred and fifty yards. +They are now stationed on our lines, and their shot have frequently +proved fatal to British officers and soldiers, who expose themselves +to view even at more than double the distance of common musket shot." + +The Germans of Loudoun were intensely loyal to the cause of freedom, +many serving in Armand's Legion, recruited by authority of Congress +during the summer of 1777, and composed of men who could not speak +English. + + +_Quaker Non-Participation._ + +During the period preceding the Revolution, important offices had been +bestowed on the Friends or Quakers of Loudoun and they exercised a +decided influence in the government of the County. They, however, +withdrew participation in public affairs on the approach of war; and, +to the determination of the American patriots to throw off the yoke of +British tyranny, they opposed their principles of non-resistance, not +only refusing to perform military duty, but also to pay the taxes +levied on them, as on all other citizens, for the prosecution of the +War of Independence. + +This non-conformity to the military laws of the State from +conscientious motives, brought them into difficulty, as will be seen +in the annexed extract from Kercheval's _History of the Shenandoah +Valley_: + + "At the beginning of the war, attempts were made to compel + them to bear arms and serve in the militia; but it was soon + found unavailing. They would not perform any military duty + required of them, not even the scourge would compel them to + submit to discipline. The practice of coercion was therefore + abandoned, and the legislature enacted a law to levy a tax + upon their property, to hire substitutes to perform militia + duty in their stead. This, with other taxes, bore peculiarly + heavy upon them. Their personal property was sold under the + hammer to raise the public demands; and before the war was + over, many of them were reduced to great distress in their + pecuniary circumstances. + + "This selling of Quakers' property afforded great + opportunity for designing individuals to make profitable + speculations. They continued to refuse to pay taxes for + several years after the war, holding it unlawful to + contribute their money towards discharging the war debt. + This being at length adjusted, no part of our citizens pay + their public demands with more punctuality (except their + muster fines, which they still refuse to pay)." + + +_Loudoun's Revolutionary Hero._ + +John Champe, the tall and saturnine sergeant-major of Lee's celebrated +partisan legion, was a resident of Loudoun County. Readers of Lee's +"Memoirs of the War" will recall the account of Champe's pretended +desertion from the Continental armies. This perilous adventure was +undertaken for the threefold purpose of capturing the traitor Arnold, +saving the life of the unfortunate Andre, and establishing the +innocence of General Gates, who had been charged with complicity in +Arnold's nefarious intrigue. His investigations secured the complete +vindication of Gates; but, failing in his other attempts, he drifted +with the Red Coats to North Carolina, where he deserted their ranks +and rejoined the American forces under General Greene. + +That officer provided him with a good horse and money for his journey, +and sent him to General Washington. The commander-in-chief +"munificently anticipated every desire of the sergeant, and presented +him with a discharge from further service, lest he might, in the +vicissitudes of war, fall into the enemy's hands; when, if recognized, +he was sure to die on a gibbet." His connection with the army thus +abruptly, though honorably, severed, with no little regret we are to +suppose, he straightway repaired to his home near Leesburg. + +In after years, when General Washington was called by President Adams +to the command of the army organized to defend the country from French +hostility, he inquired for Champe, with the avowed purpose of placing +him at the head of a company of infantry. Lieutenant-Colonel Lee, +through whom the inquiry had been made, dispatched a courier to +Loudoun County in search of Champe. There he learned that the intrepid +soldier and daring adventurer had removed to Kentucky, where he soon +afterward died. + +Some interesting anecdotes concerning Champe are related in a portion +of Captain Cameron's private journal, published in the British United +Service Journal. Champe was assigned to his company, a part of +Arnold's British legion, upon his arrival in New York. + + +_Army Recommendations._ + +The following list of militia officers were "recommended by the +gentlemen justices of the county Court for Loudoun County, Virginia, +to the Governor for appointments from March, 1778, to December, 1782:" + + [22]"March, 1778: James Whaley, Jr., second lieutenant; + William Carnan, ensign; Daniel Lewis, second lieutenant; + Josias Miles and Thomas King, lieutenants; Hugh Douglass, + ensign; Isaac Vandevanter, lieutenant; John Dodd, ensign. + May, 1778: George Summers and Charles G. Eskridge, colonels; + William McClellan, Robert McClain and John Henry, captains; + Samuel Cox, major; Frans Russell, James Beavers, Scarlet + Burkley, Moses Thomas, Henry Farnsworth, John Russell, + Gustavus Elgin, John Miller, Samuel Butcher, Joshua Botts, + John Williams, George Tyler, Nathaniel Adams and George + Mason, lieutenants; Isaac Grant, John Thatcher, William + Elliott, Richard Shore and Peter Benham, ensigns. 1778, + August: Thomas Marks, William Robison, Joseph Butler and + John Linton, lieutenants; Joseph Wildman and George Asbury, + ensigns. 1778, September: Francis Russell, lieutenant, and + George Shrieve, ensign. 1779, May: Joseph Wildman, + lieutenant, and Francis Elgin, Jr., ensign. 1779, June 14: + George Kilgour, lieutenant, and Jacob Caton, ensign. 1779, + July 12: John Debell, lieutenant, and William Hutchison, + ensign. 1779, October 11: Francis Russell, captain. 1779, + November 8: James Cleveland, captain; Thomas Millan, ensign. + 1780, February 14: Thomas Williams, ensign. 1780, March: + John Benham, ensign. 1780, June: Wethers Smith and William + Debell, second lieutenants; Francis Adams and Joel White, + ensigns. 1780, August: Robert Russell, ensign. 1780, + October: John Spitzfathem, first lieutenant; Thomas Thomas + and Matthew Rust, second lieutenants; Nicholas Minor, Jr., + David Hopkins, William McGeath and Samuel Oliphant, ensigns; + Charles Bennett, captain. 1780, November: James Coleman, + Esq., colonel; George West, lieutenant-colonel; James + McLlhaney, major. 1781, February: Simon Triplett, colonel; + John Alexander, lieutenant-colonel; Jacob Reed, major; John + Linton, captain; William Debell and Joel White, lieutenants; + Thomas Minor, ensign; Thomas Shores, captain; John Tayler + and Thomas Beaty, lieutenants; John McClain, ensign. 1781, + March: John McGeath, captain; Ignatius Burnes, captain; Hugh + Douglass, first lieutenant; John Cornelison, second + lieutenant; Joseph Butler and Conn Oneale, lieutenants; John + Jones, Jr., ensign; William Taylor, major first battalion; + James Coleman, colonel; George West, lieutenant-colonel; + Josiah Maffett, captain; John Binns, first lieutenant; + Charles Binns, Jr., second lieutenant, and Joseph Hough, + ensign. 1781, April: Samson Trammell, captain; Spence + Wiggington and Smith King, lieutenants. 1781, May: Thomas + Respass, Esq., major; Hugh Douglass, Gent, captain; Thomas + King, lieutenant; William T. Mason, ensign; Samuel Noland, + captain; Abraham Dehaven and Enoch Thomas, lieutenants; + Isaac Dehaven and Thomas Vince, ensigns; James McLlhaney, + captain; Thomas Kennan, captain; John Bagley, first + lieutenant. 1781, June: Enoch Furr and George Rust, + lieutenants; Withers Berry and William Hutchison (son of + Benjamin), ensign. 1781, September: Gustavus Elgin, captain; + John Littleton, ensign. 1782, January: William McClellan, + captain. February, 1782: William George, Timothy Hixon, and + Joseph Butler, captains. 1782, March: James McLlhaney, + captain; George West, colonel; Thomas Respass, + lieutenant-colonel. 1782, July: Samuel Noland, major; James + Lewin Gibbs, second lieutenant, and Giles Turley, ensign. + 1782, August: Enoch Thomas, captain; Samuel Smith, + lieutenant; Matthias Smitley, first lieutenant; Charles + Tyler and David Beaty, ensigns. 1782, December: Thomas King, + captain; William Mason, first lieutenant, and Silas Gilbert, + ensign." + +[Footnote 22: Abstract from Court Order Book G., pages 517-522.] + + +_Court Orders and Reimbursements._ + +Needy families of the Revolutionary soldiers of Loudoun were supplied +with the necessaries of life as per the following orders: + + "1778, November 9th: John Alexander to furnish Elizabeth + Welch, her husband being in the army. + + "1778, Nov. 15th: George Emrey to furnish the child of Jacob + Rhodes, said Jacob being in the Continental army. William + Douglass to furnish Mary Rhodes, her husband being in the + army. George Summers to furnish William Gilmore, his son + being in the army. + + "1778, Dec. 14: Leven Powell to furnish Andrew Laswell. + + "1779, Feb. 8th: Samuel Triplett to furnish the wife of Hugh + Henderson. Josias Clapham to furnish Ann Philips. + + "1779, March 8th: Farling Ball to furnish the widow of + Joseph Collens and the wife of William Eaton. William + Stanhope to furnish Ann Barton. + + "1779, April: John Lewis, Gent, to furnish the wife of + Shadrack Reeder. Hardage Lane to furnish Sarah Gilmore, wife + of William, whose son is in the army. William Ellzey to + furnish wife of Shadrack Reeder. Josias Clapham appointed to + apply to the Treasurer for 500 pounds to be placed in the + hands of John Lewis, Gent, to supply the necessaries of life + for those who have husbands or children in the Continental + army. + + "1779, May: Farling Ball to furnish Edward McGinnis and + William Means. John Alexander to furnish Ann Bartan. + (William Stanhope to furnish Ann Barton, July 1779.) + + "1779, August: Robert Jamison to furnish Conard Shanks, + whose son is in the army. Jonathan Davis to furnish Mary + Stoker. Pierce Bayly do. wife of Joel Coleman. + + "1780, March: John Tyler do. Jemima Coleman. + + "1780, July: Simon Triplett to furnish Jemima Coleman, wife + of Joel, not exceeding two barrels of flour and 200 pounds + of Pork. + + "1780, September: John Alexander to furnish Ann Barton one + barrel of corn and fifty pounds of Pork. Josias Clapham do. + Catherine Henderson, widow of Adam Henderson. William Cavans + to furnish Ann Richards, her husband being in the army, and + Isabella Collens, widow of Joseph. + + "1780, November: Wm. Bronough do. Sarah Russell, wife of + Samuel. + + "1781, April: William Owsley to supply Hannah Rice & two + children, the family of James Rice, who died in the + Continental army. + + "1781, May: Adam Vincel to supply Mary Tritipoe, wife of + Conrad, her husband being in the army. + + "1781, Sept.: Joseph Thomas to supply the widow of David + Hamilton (a soldier who was killed in the Continental army). + + "1782, Jan.: John Tyler, Gent, to furnish the family of + Cornelius Slacht (he being an 18 months' draft). + + "1782, Feb.: John Lewis, Gent, to furnish Eleanor Wilcox (a + soldier's wife). + + "1782, March: William Douglass to furnish Eleanor Wilcox, + agreeable to an order of the last Court directed to John + Lewis, Gent, the said Lewis declining." + + "Treasurer to pay sundry persons for furnishing supplies as + per their several accounts: + + "1778, May 12: William Ellzey, Esq., L3 8s. 9d., on account + of wife of John Stoker and L2 10s. ditto for wife of + Shadrack Reeder. Wm. Douglass, L50 14s. 6d. as per acct. + + "1778, June 9: Andrew Adam, L13 5d., for Margaret Hill + (service). + + "1778, Aug. 10: Farling Ball. L4 16s. 9d. John Alexander, + L5. + + "1778, Sept. 14: Leven Powell, Gent, L6 1s. William Douglass, + Gent, L47 7s. John Tyler, L3 19s. 6d. + + "1778, Sept. 15: Farling Ball, Gent, L1 17s. 6d. + + "1778, Nov. 9: Andrew Adam, L16 15s. + + "1778, Nov. 15: Daniel Losh, L24 6s. 9d. Geo. West, Gent, L3 + 10s. Farling Ball, ditto, L2. + + "1778, Dec. 14: Joshua Daniel, Gent, L9 15s. John Orr, L7, + 16s. + + "1779, Feb. 9, Farling Ball, L18 13s. 9d. Wm. Douglass, L53 + 9s. 1d. Chas. Binns, L3 on acct. of widow of Hamilton. + + "1779, April: John Alexander, L68 15s. Daniel Losh, L10 37s. + William Douglass, Gent, L28 16s. Andrew Adam, L17 13s. Wm. + Ellzey, L24 2s. + + "1779, May: Geo. West, Gent, L42 14s. + + "1779, June: Andrew Adam, L12 3s. 6d. John Orr, L43 16s. Wm. + Douglass, L18 16s. Farling Ball, Gent, L175 5s. + + "1779, July: John Alexander, L18. + + "1779, August: Jacob Tracey, L20 for nursing and burying + Sophia Harris, the wife of a continental soldier. + + "1779, Oct: Pierce Bayly, Gent, L10. Simon Triplett, L43, + 9s. 10d. Robert Jamison, L30. Jonathan Davis, L32 10s. + Farling Ball, L61 10s. 6d. Wm. Douglass, Gent, L51 15s. + + "1779, John Orr, Gent, L93 8s. 3d. Leven Powell, Gent, L69 + 10s. Wm. Stanhope, Gent, L4 4s. + + "1780, Jan.: Jonathan Davis, Gent, L50. Wm. Stanhope, Gent, + L4 4s. + + "1780, February: Thomas George, L206. Israel Thompson, L119 + 2s. George Emrey, L46 19s. + + "1780, March: Hardage Lane, Gent, L83 8s. + + "1780, April: Thomas George, L15. Farling Ball, Gent, L99 + 6s. Wm. Douglass, Gent, L69 10s. + + "1780, June: John Tyler, Gent, L40. Pierce Bayly, Gent, L20. + + "1780, August: John Orr, Gent, L500. Wm. Douglass, Gent, + L44. + + "1780, November: Thomas George, L221. Farling Ball, L50. + George Tyler, Gent, L8. George Emrey, Gent, L163 12s. + + "1781, March: John Orr, Gent, L431 16s. Wm. Cavans, L120. + + "1782, Feb.: John Orr, as per acct., for furnishing Mary + Butler, a soldier's wife, with necessaries." + + +_Close of the Struggle_. + +On the 25th of November, 1783, the British army evacuated New York. +The independence of the United States had been acknowledged by the +British Government and the war was ended. During the following month +most of the Continental troops from Loudoun returned to their homes, +many of them to spend the remainder of their days in hard-earned +peace. + + +WAR OF 1812. + +_The Compelling Cause._ + +Following the Revolution, a number of new towns sprang into being, +educational institutions multiplied, the population of the County +steadily increased, and the people were industrious, enterprising, and +happy. + +A second difficulty, however, soon interrupted this tranquillity, and +the quarrel between the two governments was referred to the +arbitrament of the War of 1812, fought by the United States against +England for maritime independence. + +The honor of the new republic was assailed on the high seas by the +insistence of Great Britain of a right to search American vessels for +fugitive British subjects. A doctrine which America regarded as +established by the Revolution, to wit, that a citizen of a foreign +country could voluntarily surrender his native citizenship and swear +allegiance to another government, was disputed by Great Britain, who +held that "once an Englishman was to be an Englishman always." Upon +this ground American vessels were held up on the ocean by English +men-of-war and searched to such an extent that within the eight years +of forbearance over 6,000 men were taken from the ships of the United +States and forced into the British navy. + +This audacious conduct thoroughly aroused the indignation of the +American people, in which resentment it is supposed the people of +Loudoun warmly concurred. Seeing that bloodshed was necessary in +order to maintain the national honor, and spurred by urgent +petitions, President Madison recommended to Congress a declaration of +war, which was accordingly promulgated June 18, 1812. + + +_State Archives at Leesburg._[23] + +When the British were on their way from Bladensburg to Washington, in +August, 1814, James Monroe, then Secretary of State, had been for +several days with General Winder, reconnoitering the enemy, and +watching the movements of both armies. Knowing the weakness of the +American forces, he believed Washington to be in great peril. He +dispatched a letter to President Madison, advising the removal of the +official records. Stephen Pleasanton, then a clerk in the State +Department, made immediate preparation for the removal of the books +and papers in that department. He had linen bags hastily made and +placed in them the State archives, which were then loaded in wagons +and hauled across the chain bridge, over the Potomac, to the grist +mill of Edgar Patterson, two miles above Georgetown. Not feeling sure +of their safety there, he had them reloaded on wagons and conveyed to +Leesburg, where they were placed in an unoccupied building,[24] the key +of which was given to a recently ordained clergyman, named Littlejohn. +There they remained until the last hostile Briton had reached +Baltimore, when they were carefully hauled back to Washington.[25] Thus +we saved the precious documents of the revolutionary war, as well as +our state archives, and thus does Leesburg boast, with abstract +truthfulness, that for a little more than two weeks it was the Capital +of the United States. + +[Footnote 23: Anonymous.] + +[Footnote 24: Perhaps the most precious of these documents was the +Declaration of Independence, which it has been asserted, was deposited +here.] + +[Footnote 25: Mrs. A.H. Throckmorton, in an interesting narrative to +which allusion is made elsewhere in this volume, differs with the +authority here quoted as to the disposition of these important papers. +She says: "For one night they remained in the court-house here +(Leesburg) and were then carried several miles out in the country to +the estate of "Rockeby," now owned by Mr. H.B. Nalle,... and securely +locked within the old vault and remained out of reach of the enemy for +two weeks."] + + +THE MASON-McCARTY DUEL. + +The duel, February 6, 1819, between Armistead T. Mason and John M. +McCarty, both residents of Loudoun County, was the second "affair of +honor" to be settled on the now famous field of Bladensburg. They were +cousins, who became enemies during Mason's brief term in the United +States Senate. Mason, known as "The Chief of Selma," was a graduate of +William and Mary College and the commander of a cavalry regiment[26] in +the war of 1812. He later became brigadier general of the Virginia +militia. He married and took up his residence at Selma plantation, +four miles north of Leesburg. Wishing to make it possible for the +Quakers of Loudoun to contribute their share toward the support of the +army, Mason introduced in the Senate a bill to permit, in case of +draft, the furnishing of substitutes on payment of $500 each. For this +McCarty branded him a coward, and thence sprung a succession of bitter +quarrels, the real basis of which was a difference of political +opinions. The details of both sides of the feud were published weekly +in the Leesburg "Genius of Liberty," and later were issued in pamphlet +form as campaign material. + +[Footnote 26: Many of the Germans of Loudoun served in this regiment +which participated in the Battle of Baltimore.] + +Mason's side was defeated. He earnestly wished to avoid a duel, but +McCarty continued to provoke him, with the hope of compelling him to +fight. This he finally decided to do. He left his home without +revealing his intentions and on reaching Washington made his final +preparations with great deliberation. "The Chief of Selma" fell +February 6, 1819, his heart pierced by the ball of his antagonist. He +was but 32 years of age. His body was borne to Leesburg, where it was +buried in the Episcopal churchyard, with an imposing Masonic ritual. +The grief of his slaves was painful to witness. His only child became +an officer in the United States army, and was mortally wounded in the +battle of Cerro Gordo. + + +HOME OF PRESIDENT MONROE. + +"Oak Hill," the country seat of James Monroe, ex-President of the +United States and author of the world-famed Monroe Doctrine, is +situated near Aldie, in Loudoun County, on the turnpike running south +from Leesburg to Aldie, about nine miles from the former and three +from the latter place. + +The main building, with an imposing Grecian facade, was planned by +Monroe while in the presidential chair, and its construction +superintended by William Benton, an Englishman, who served him in the +triple capacity of steward, counselor, and friend. The dimensions are +about 50 by 90 feet; it is built of brick in a most substantial +manner, and handsomely finished; has three stories (including +basement), a wide portico fronting south, with massive Doric columns +thirty feet in height, and is surrounded by a grove of magnificent +oaks, locusts, and poplars, covering several acres. It has been said +that prior to his inauguration he occupied a wooden dwelling of humble +pretensions standing within a stone's throw of its palatial progeny. +Monroe's term of office expired March 4, 1825, and soon after the +inauguration of his successor he retired to "Oak Hill," which +immediately became, like Monticello and Montpelier, although to a +lesser degree, a center of social and political pilgrimages. + +The financial affairs of its owner were seriously embarrassed from the +first, and he labored in vain to obtain justice from the country he +had served so long and so well, at heavy pecuniary cost and loss. His +old friend, Lafayette, now once more prosperous, sent an offer of +assistance with a delicacy and generosity which did him honor. A +little was done at last by Congress, but not enough, and the day came +when "Oak Hill" was offered for sale. + +While residing here, the post of regent of the University of Virginia, +which was instituted in 1826, was accepted by Mr. Monroe as not +inconsistent with his view of the entire retirement from public life +becoming an ex-President. Associated with him in the discharge of his +duties as regent, as in so many long years of patriotic toil, were +Jefferson and Madison. + +When the State of Virginia called a convention for the revision of her +constitution, Mr. Monroe consented to become a member. He took an +active interest in the affairs of his own neighborhood, discharging +the duties of a local magistrate. + +Mrs. Monroe died at "Oak Hill" on September 23d, 1830, and after her +departure the old man found his lonely farm life insupportable. He had +previously visited much with his daughters, and he now went to live +with Mrs. Gouverneur, in New York. He wrote to Mr. Madison, April 11, +1831: + + * * * * * + +"It is very distressing to me to sell my property in Loudoun, for +besides parting with all I have in the State, I indulged a hope, if I +could retain it, that I might be able occasionally to visit it, and +meet my friends, or many of them, there. But ill health and advanced +years prescribe a course which we must pursue...." + + +GENERAL LAFAYETTE'S VISIT.[27] + +The greatest social event in the history of Leesburg was the visit of +General Lafayette, August 9, 1825. The great Frenchman, accompanied by +President John Quincy Adams, had visited ex-President Monroe at "Oak +Hill," from which place the august procession, headed by two troops of +cavalry, made the eleven mile journey to Leesburg. Lafayette, the +President, the ex-President and the chairman of the Town Council, rode +in the first carriage, drawn by four white horses. On reaching +Leesburg, they were greeted by six companies of militia, among them a +few old soldiers of the Revolution. At the firing of the national +salute, Lafayette descended from his carriage and shook hands with +those veterans and heroes. + +[Footnote 27: This account of General Lafayette's visit, save for a few +minor alterations and one or two supplementary facts, is from the pen +of Mrs. A. H. Throckmorton, of this County, having formed part of an +historical sketch of Leesburg contributed by her to the old Richmond +_Times_, July 19, 1902.] + +Standing on his front porch, Dr. McCabe, the town's Mayor, delivered +an address of welcome to which Lafayette responded. Across the street +at Osborne's Hotel[28] a reception was tendered him, after which the +distinguished visitor was driven through the principal streets of the +town. On reaching the court-house square, then, as now, a large +inclosure shaded by giant trees, Lafayette, on alighting from the +coach, kissed a tiny maiden upheld in the arms of her negro nurse. The +little girl was Mrs. Wildman, who after reaching a venerable age +departed this life in the summer of 1901. + +[Footnote 28: A fine stone mansion, still standing, and the residence +of the late Colonel John H. Alexander, during his lifetime one of the +foremost lawyers of the State.] + +Lafayette passed up an avenue formed on the right by boys and girls +and the young ladies of Leesburg Female Academy, and on the left by +the youths of the Leesburg Institute. The former wore white, with blue +sashes, and their heads were tastefully adorned with evergreens. They +held sprigs of laurel with which they strewed the great guest's +pathway. The lads wore red sashes and white and black cockades. + +One of them pronounced an address of welcome, and was amply rewarded +by a grasp of the hero's hand. As Lafayette ascended the portico of +the court-house a little girl stepped forward, holding a wreath of +laurel, and said: + + Hail Patriot, Statesman, Hero, Sage! + Hail Freedom's friend, hail Gallia's son, + Whose laurels greener grow in age, + Plucked by the side of Washington. + + Hail, champion in a holy cause, + When hostile bands our shores beset; + Whose valor made the oppressor pause, + Hail, holy warrior, Lafayette? + +She, too, was honored by a grasp of Lafayette's hand as well as a +kiss. After an oration by Ludwell Lee, the distinguished party +returned to the hotel where they were entertained by a delegation of +the ladies of the village, while another delegation superintended the +spreading of a banquet on court-house square. Two hundred persons +participated in this banquet. The numerous toasts were remarkable for +loftiness of thought and elegance of diction. President Adams launched +the following sentiment: + +"The living records of the war of Independence like the prophetic +books of the Sibyl, increasing in value as they diminish in numbers." + +Lafayette toasted General Bolivar, "who has felt true patriotism, and +understood true glory." Another toast was "To the memory of +Washington, fresh as the passing moment, lasting as eternity." + +It is estimated that 10,000 persons witnessed the festivities. +Lafayette, after a brief sojourn at the plantation of Ludwell Lee, +departed for a visit to Madison at "Montpelier," and Jefferson, at +"Monticello." + + +MEXICAN WAR. + +Scarcely a generation had passed, during which the whole country +passed through several years of financial distress, when the United +States became involved in a brief successful war with Mexico, caused +chiefly by the resistance of that country to the "annexation of +Texas." But it is not within the scope of this sketch to follow the +history of that foreign struggle. It is sufficient to say that the +people of Loudoun favored most heartily the annexation of Texas, and +responded, indirectly of course, to the small quota of men and money +required by the Government. + +The entire United States force employed in the invasion of Mexico was +composed of 26,690 regulars and 56,926 volunteers, not including those +serving in the navy. The losses of men by death from disease and +wounds were about 11,000, and the number killed in battle, about +1,500. The cost in money amounted to $150,000,000. The gain consisted +of the cession of extensive territory stretching to the Pacific Ocean, +several thousand miles of valuable sea coast and an immense bound of +the United States into international power. In the accomplishment of +this general result Loudoun sent many of her sturdiest sons, who +served from the State in various bodies throughout the war. + + +SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR. + +_Loudoun County in the Secession Movement._ + +The election of Lincoln and attendant success of the Republican party +revived the determination of the South to secede from the Union. + +Just at this juncture the prosperity of Loudoun was unprecedented, and +the threatened dissolution was a serious menace to her progress. +General trade had recently been greatly stimulated, and the resources +of the County were being daily multiplied. + +Following the resolute lead of the other southern States, the +legislature of Virginia, on January 14, 1861, authorized a State +convention to consider the advisability of secession, and the members +elected in pursuance thereof met in the capitol, at Richmond, at 12 +o'clock a.m., on Wednesday, the 13th day of the February following. They +constituted what was perhaps the ablest body of men that ever +assembled in the State, and the friends and foes of secession were +alike represented. The delegates from Loudoun were John Janney and +John A. Carter, both of whom had represented her in the constitutional +convention of 1850,51. + +Roll call was followed by the election of a permanent chairman, Mr. +Janney, of Loudoun, receiving a majority of the whole number of votes +cast. Two of the members were then designated a committee to wait upon +the president of the convention to inform him of his election and +conduct him to his seat. Whereupon he addressed the convention as +follows:[29] + +[Footnote 29: The unabridged publication in this work of Mr. Janney's +speech of acceptance has seemed specially appropriate. It is the plea +of a Loudoun man for conservative action boldly put forth at a time +when men's passions were inflamed almost beyond human credulity, and +while he himself was the presiding officer of a body which had met to +decide the destiny of the Old Dominion and whose deliberations were to +be watched with breathless interest by the people of both +hemispheres.] + + "_Gentlemen of the Convention_: I tender you my sincere and + cordial thanks for the honor you have bestowed upon me by + calling me to preside over the deliberations of the most + important convention that has assembled in this State since + the year 1776. + + "I am without experience in the performance of the duties to + which you have assigned me, with but little knowledge of + parliamentary law and the rules which are to govern our + proceedings, and I have nothing to promise you but fidelity + and impartiality. Errors I know I shall commit, but these + will be excused by your kindness, and promptly corrected by + your wisdom. + + "Gentlemen, it is now almost seventy-three years since a + convention of the people of Virginia was assembled in this + hall to ratify the Constitution of the United States, one of + the chief objects of which was to consolidate, not the + Government, but the Union of the States. + + "Causes which have passed, and are daily passing, into + history, which will set its seal upon them, but which I do + not mean to review, have brought the Constitution and the + Union into imminent peril, and Virginia has come to the + rescue. It is what the whole country expected of her. Her + pride as well as her patriotism--her interest as well as her + honor, called upon her with an emphasis which she could not + disregard, to save the monuments of her own glory. Her + honored son who sleeps at Mount Vernon, the political mecca + of all future ages, presided over the body which framed the + Constitution; and another of her honored sons, whose brow + was adorned with a civic wreath which will never fade, and + who now reposes in Orange county, was its principal + architect, and one of its ablest expounders--and, in the + administration of the government, five of her citizens have + been elected to the chief magistracy of the Republic. + + "It can not be that a Government thus founded and + administered can fail, without the hazard of bringing + reproach, either upon the wisdom of our fathers, or upon the + intelligence, patriotism, and virtue of their descendants. + It is not my purpose to indicate the course which this body + will probably pursue, or the measures it may be proper to + adopt. The opinions of today may all be changed to-morrow. + Events are thronging upon us, and we must deal with them as + they present themselves. + + "Gentlemen, there is a flag which for nearly a century has + been borne in triumph through the battle and the breeze, and + which now floats over this capitol, on which there is a star + representing this ancient Commonwealth, and my earnest + prayer, in which I know every member of this body will + cordially unite, is that it may remain there forever, + provided always that its lustre is untarnished. We demand + for our own citizens perfect equality of rights with those + of the empire States of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, + but we ask for nothing that we will not cheerfully concede + to those of Delaware and Rhode Island. + + "The amount of responsibility which rests upon this body can + not be exaggerated. When my constituents asked me if I would + consent to serve them here if elected, I answered in the + affirmative, but I did so with fear and trembling. The + people of Virginia have, it is true, reserved to + themselves, in a certain contingency, the right to review + our action, but still the measures which we adopt may be + fraught with good or evil to the whole country. + + "Is it too much to hope that we, and others who are engaged + in the work of peace and conciliation, may so solve the + problems which now perplex us, as to win back our sisters of + the South, who, for what they deem sufficient cause, have + wandered from their old orbits? May we not expect that our + old sister, Massachusetts, will retrace her steps? Will she + not follow the noble example of Rhode Island, the little + State with a heart large enough for a whole continent? Will + she not, when she remembers who it was who first drew his + sword from the scabbard on her own soil at Cambridge, and + never finally returned it, until her liberty and + independence were achieved, and whence he came, repeal her + obnoxious laws, which many of her wisest and best citizens + regard as a stain upon her legislative records? + + "Gentlemen, this is no party convention. It is our duty on + an occasion like this to elevate ourselves into an + atmosphere, in which party passion and prejudice can not + exist--to conduct all our deliberations with calmness and + wisdom, and to maintain, with inflexible firmness, whatever + position we may find it necessary to assume." + +The proceedings were dignified, solemn, and, at times, even sad. +During the entire session good feelings prevailed to a remarkable +degree. For these harmonious relations credit is principally due the +secessionists. Very often their actions were regarded with suspicion +by their opponents who, at such times, pursued a policy of obstruction +when nothing was to be gained thereby. But they were given every +privilege and shown every consideration. + +On April 17, 1861, the convention, in secret session, passed the +ordinance of secession by a vote of 88 to 55 on condition that it +should be submitted to the people for their approval or rejection at +an election to be held the 23d of May for that purpose. Loudoun's +delegates voted solidly against the measure. + +In the convention opinions varied as to whether peace or war would +follow secession. The great majority of the members, as of the people, +believed that peaceful relations would continue. All truly wished for +peace. A number expressed themselves as fearing war, but this was when +opposing secession. Yet in nearly all the speeches made in the +convention there seemed to be distinguishable a feeling of fear and +dread lest war should follow. However, had war been a certainty +secession would not have been delayed or defeated. + +There was warm discussion on the question of submitting the ordinance +to the people for ratification or rejection. Many, both before and +after the passage of the ordinance, favored its reference to the +people in the vain hope that the measure would in this way be +frustrated. They declared that, in a matter of such vital importance, +involving the lives and liberties of a whole people, the ordinance +should be submitted to them for their discussion, and that secession +should be attempted only after ratification by a direct vote of the +people on that single issue. + +Affecting and exciting scenes followed the passage of the ordinance. +One by one the strong members of the minority arose and, for the sake +of unity at home, surrendered the opinions of a lifetime and forgot +the prejudices of years. This was done with no feeling of humiliation. +To the last they were treated with distinguished consideration by +their opponents. + +Shortly after the convention began its deliberations a mass meeting +was held in Leesburg, where the secession sentiment was practically +unanimous, for the purpose of adopting resolutions to be sent to that +important body recommending the immediate passage of the ordinance of +secession. The citizens were addressed by Col. J.M. Kilgore and +others. + +The vote in Loudoun for the ratification or rejection of the ordinance +of secession, while not close, was somewhat spirited and marked by +slight disturbances at the polls. In practically every precinct +outside the German and Quaker settlements a majority vote was cast in +favor of secession. + +No county in the State eclipsed Loudoun in devotion to the principles +on which Virginia's withdrawal from the Union was based, and the +courage displayed by her in maintaining these principles made her the +acknowledged equal of any community in the Southland. + + +_Loudoun's Participation in the War._ + +A discussion in this volume of the great Civil War and its causes has +at no time been contemplated, and vain appeals addressed to surviving +Confederate soldiers and Government record keepers long ago +demonstrated the impracticability of a thorough account of the part +borne by Loudoun soldiers in that grand, uneven struggle of 1861-'65. +Their exact numbers even can not be ascertained as the original +enlistment records were either lost or destroyed and duplicates never +completed. + +It may with truth be said that the extent of the service rendered by +Loudoun in this, as well as preceding wars, will never be fully known +or adequately appreciated. However, certain it is that thousands of +her sons espoused the cause of the Confederacy, hundreds died in its +defense, and not a few, by their valor and devotion, won enduring fame +and meritorious mention in the annals of their government. + +At home or in the ranks, throughout this trying period of civil +strife, her people, with no notable exceptions, remained liberal and +brave and constant, albeit they probably suffered more real hardships +and deprivations than any other community of like size in the +Southland. There were few Confederate troops for its defense, and the +Federals held each neighborhood responsible for all attacks made in +its vicinity, often destroying private property as a punishment. + +Both armies, prompted either by fancied military necessity or malice, +burned or confiscated valuable forage crops and other stores, and +nearly every locality, at one time or another, witnessed depredation, +robbery, murder, arson, and rapine. Several towns were shelled, +sacked, and burned, but the worst damage was done the country +districts by raiding parties of Federals. Much of the destruction is +now seen to have been unnecessary from a military point of view. + +Whole armies were subsisted on the products of Loudoun's fruitful +acres. Opposing forces, sometimes only detachments and roving bands, +but quite as often battalions, regiments, brigades, and even whole +divisions were never absent from the County and the clash of swords +and fire of musketry were an ever-present clamor and one to which +Loudoun ears early became accustomed. + +Also, there were times when the main bodies of one or the other of +both armies were encamped wholly or in part within her limits, as in +September, 1862, when the triumphant army of Lee, on the eve of the +first Maryland campaign, was halted at Leesburg and stripped of all +superfluous transportation, broken-down horses, and wagons and +batteries not supplied with good horses being left behind;[30] again, +in June, 1863, when Hooker was being held in bounds with his great +army stretched from Manassas, near Bull Run, to Leesburg, near the +Potomac; and yet again, in July, 1863, when Lee's army, falling back +from Maryland after the battle of Gettysburg, was followed by the +Federal forces under General Meade, who crossed the Potomac and +advanced through Loudoun. + +[Footnote 30: On the 5th day of September, to the martial strains of +"Maryland, My Maryland" from every band in the army, and with his men +cheering and shouting with delight, Jackson forded the Potomac at +Edwards' Ferry (Loudoun County), where the river was broad but +shallow, near the scene of Evan's victory over the Federals in the +previous October, and where Wayne had crossed his Pennsylvania brigade +in marching to the field of Yorktown, in 1781.] + +General Early, after the short and bloody battle of Monocacy, and +following his invasion of Maryland and demonstration against +Washington, recrossed the Potomac at White's Ford, July 14, 1864, and, +resting near Leesburg, on the 16th marched to the Shenandoah valley by +way of Leesburg and Purcellville, through Snicker's Gap of the Blue +Ridge, with Jackson's Cavalry in advance. + +Pitched battles and lesser engagements were fought at Edwards' Ferry, +Balls Bluff, Snickersville (now Bluemont), Leesburg, Middleburg, +Aldie, Hamilton, Waterford, Union, Ashby's Gap, and other points in +the County. + +During Stonewall Jackson's investment of Harper's Ferry in September, +1862, guns were put in position on Loudoun Heights, supported by two +regiments of infantry, and a portion of Jackson's own immediate +command was placed with artillery on a bluffy shoulder of that +mountain. + +The following military organizations were recruited wholly or in part +in Loudoun County and mustered into the Confederate service: 8th +Virginia Regiment (a part of Pickett's famous fighting division), +Loudoun Guard (Company C, 17th Virginia Regiment), Loudoun Cavalry +("Laurel Brigade"), and White's Battalion of Cavalry (the "Comanches," +25th Virginia Battalion). Mosby's command, the "Partisan Rangers," +also attracted several score of her patriotic citizenry. + +The sons of Loudoun, serving in these and other organizations, bore a +distinguished part on every crimsoned field from Pennsylvania to the +coast of Florida. + +Garnett's Brigade, to which the 8th Virginia regiment was attached, +was led into action during the memorable charge on the third day of +the battle of Gettysburg. The brigade moved forward in the front line, +and gained the enemy's strongest position, where the fighting became +hand to hand and of the most desperate character. It went into action +with 1,287 men and 140 officers, and after the struggle, of this +number, only about 300 came back slowly and sadly from the scene of +carnage. General Garnett, himself, was shot from his horse while near +the center of the advancing brigade, within about twenty-five paces of +the "stone fence," from behind which the Federals poured forth their +murderous fire. + + +_The Loudoun Rangers_ (_Federal_). + +This volunteer organization consisted of two companies of disaffected +Virginians, all of whom were recruited in the German settlements +northwest of Leesburg. Company A, at the outset, was commanded by +Captain Daniel M. Keyes, of Lovettsville, who later resigned on +account of wounds received in action. He was succeeded by Captain +Samuel C. Means, of Waterford. Company B's commander was Captain James +W. Grubb. The total enlistment of each company was 120 and 67, +respectively. All the officers and privates were of either German, +Quaker, or Scotch-Irish lineage, the first-named class predominating. + +The command was mustered into the Federal service at Lovettsville, the +20th day of June, 1862. Its historian, Briscoe Goodhart, a member of +Company A, in his _History of the Loudoun_ (Virginia) _Rangers_, has +said that it "was an independent command, organized in obedience to a +special order of the Honorable Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, and +was at first subject to his orders only, but subsequently merged into +the Eighth Corps, commanded at that time by the venerable Major +General John Ellis Wool...." + +The "Rangers," as the name implies, were scouts and, in this highly +useful capacity, served the enemies of their State with shameless +ardor. But, as a body, they fought few engagements and none of a +decisive nature. Their first and, perhaps, sharpest encounter happened +in and around the old Baptist Church at Waterford. + +The following absolution or justification is offered in the preface to +the above-quoted work: + + "As the name of their organization indicates, they came from + a State which was arrayed in arms against the authority of + the National Government. No Governor, or Senator, or Member + of Congress guarded their interests; nor was any State or + local bounty held forth to them as an allurement. Their + enlistment in the Union Army--their country's army--was the + spontaneous outgrowth of a spirit of lofty patriotism. + + "As they saw their duty they were not lacking in moral + courage to perform that duty; and with no lapse of years + shall we ever fail to insist that the principles for which + the Rangers contended were eternally right, and that their + opponents were eternally wrong." + +Far from being a well-ordered command with a clearly defined _modus +operandi_, the two companies were poorly drilled, imperfectly +accoutred, only aimlessly and periodically active, and, moreover, were +on the point of dissolution at the outset. + +Operating, for the most part, independently and in detached parties +the command offered no serious menace to citizens or soldiery, though +the latter were sometimes harassed and annoyed by them. + +Mosby, who had greatly desired and often essayed their capture, was +finally given the opportunity for which he had eagerly waited. +Learning that the Rangers were encamped near Millville, W. Va. +(Keyes' Switch, as it was then called), he dispatched Captain Baylor +with a detachment of horse to that point. + +Major Scott who, in 1867, wrote _Partisan Life With Mosby_, has this +to say of the fight which followed: "He (Baylor) took the precaution +to pass in between Halltown (where there was a brigade of infantry) +and the camp. When within fifty yards of the Loudoun Rangers the order +to charge was given. Two of them were killed, four wounded, and 65 +taken prisoners, together with 81 horses with their equipments. The +rest of the command sought refuge in the bushes. The only loss which +Baylor sustained was Frank Helm, of Warrenton, who was wounded as he +charged among the foremost into the camp." + +The day of the capture General Stevenson, commanding at Harper's +Ferry, and under whose orders the Rangers had been acting, sent the +following message to General Hancock at Winchester: + +Harper's Ferry, _April 6, 1865._ + + Mosby surprised the camp of the Loudoun Rangers near Keyes' + Ford and cleaned them out. He made the attack about 10 + a.m.... + +John D. Stevenson, +_Brigadier-General._ + +When Major-General Hancock, so distinguished in the Federal Army, +heard of Baylor's exploit he laughed heartily and exclaimed: "Well, +that is the last of the Loudoun Rangers." + +As indeed it proved to be! + + +_Mosby's Command in its Relationship to Loudoun County._ + +From January, 1863, until the close of the war Colonel Mosby's +partisan operations were mostly confined to the counties of Loudoun +and Fauquier, this rich, pastoral country affording subsistence for +his command and the Blue Ridge a haven to which to retreat when hard +pressed by the superior numbers that, from time to time, were sent +against him. Here he planned and executed most of the daring coups +that were to win for him international fame.[31] Here also his men +were dispersed and reassembled with marvelous facility--one of +countless manifestations of his great original genius. "They would +scatter for safety, and gather at my call like the Children of the +Mist," was what he wrote in after years. Of all his methods this has +been the least clearly understood. The explanation that he has offered +in his _War Reminiscences_ can be only partially complete; for he +could not, with propriety, point to his personal magnetism and daring +as the dominant influences, though he must have known that to an +extraordinary extent they were responsible for this almost +unparalleled devotion. "The true secret," he says, "was that it was a +fascinating life, and its attractions far more than counterbalanced +its hardships and dangers. They had no camp duty to do, which, however +necessary, is disgusting to soldiers of high spirit. To put them to +such routine work is pretty much like hitching a race horse to a +plow." + +[Footnote 31: In alluding to the famous "greenback raid" (October 14, +1864), in which a party of Rangers entered a train of the Baltimore +and Ohio Railroad, near Kearneysville, capturing, among other +officers, Majors Moore and Ruggles, Federal paymasters, with their +funds, Lieutenant Grogan, of the Rangers, has said that the command, +the next day, "met at Bloomfield, in Loudoun County, and examined into +the condition of our sub-U.S. Treasury, and finding there a net +surplus of $168,000, the same was divided among our stockholders +($2,000 each) and circulated so freely in Loudoun that never +afterwards was there a pie or blooded horse sold in that section for +Confederate money."] + +Many of his followers were recruited in Loudoun County. A few before +the advent of Mosby had pursued peaceable vocations; but the command +consisted in the main of men who had seen active service in the +cavalry and infantry regiments, but tiring of the routine and +discipline of the camp had returned to their homes in Loudoun and +adjoining counties. At times he had with him dauntless spirits who had +been incapacitated for infantry duty by reason of wounds received in +action, some of these carrying crutches along with them tied to their +saddle bows. At another time he enrolled several experienced fighters +who had been absent from their regiments without leave ever since the +first battle of Bull Run--a period of nearly two years. + +With this promiscuous following, which at no time exceeded one hundred +men, he instituted a long unbroken series of successful strategems, +surprises, and night attacks, harassing the communications of the +Federal armies, confusing their plans by capturing dispatches, +destroying supply trains, subjecting their outposts to the wear and +tear of a perpetual skirmish, in short, inflicting all the mischief +possible for a small body of cavalry moving rapidly from point to +point on the communications of an army. + +He believed that by incessant attacks he could compel the enemy either +greatly to contract his lines or to reinforce them, both of which +would have been of great advantage to the Southern cause. By assuming +the aggressive, a rule from which he not once departed, he could force +the enemy to guard a hundred points, leaving himself free to select +any one of them for attack. + +But the theories, purposes, and methods of this peer of partisan +leaders is best explained by himself. Simply and unostentatiously, but +withal convincingly, expressed, they give to the man and his deeds the +unmistakable semblance of fairness and legitimacy. These, together +with his masterly defense of partisan warfare, follow in modified and +disconnected form: + + "The military value of a partisan's work is not measured by + the amount of property destroyed, or the number of men + killed or captured, but by the number he keeps watching. + Every soldier withdrawn from the front to guard the rear of + an army is so much taken from its fighting strength. + + "I endeavored, as far as I was able, to diminish this + aggressive power of the army of the Potomac, by compelling + it to keep a large force on the defensive. I assailed its + rear, for there was its most vulnerable point. My men had no + camps. If they had gone into camp, they would soon have all + been captured.... A blow would be struck at a weak or + unguarded point, and then a quick retreat. The alarm would + spread through the sleeping camp, the long roll would be + beaten or the bugles would sound to horse, there would be + mounting in hot haste and a rapid pursuit. But the partisans + generally got off with their prey. Their pursuers were + striking at an invisible foe. I often sent small squads at + night to attack and run in the pickets along a line of + several miles. Of course, these alarms were very annoying, + for no human being knows how sweet sleep is but a soldier. I + wanted to use and consume the Northern cavalry in hard work. + I have often thought that their fierce hostility to me was + more on account of the sleep I made them lose than the + number we killed and captured." + + * * * * * + + "My purpose was to weaken the armies invading Virginia, by + harassing their rear. As a line is only as strong as its + weakest point, it was necessary for it to be stronger than I + was at every point, in order to resist my attacks.... It is + just as legitimate to fight an enemy in the rear as in + front. The only difference is in the danger. Now, to prevent + all these things from being done, heavy detachments must be + made to guard against them." + + * * * * * + + "The line that connects an army with its base of supplies is + the heel of Achilles--its most vital and vulnerable point. + It is a great achievement in war to compel an enemy to make + heavy detachments to guard it...." + + * * * * * + + "Having no fixed lines to guard or defined territory to + hold, it was always my policy to elude the enemy when they + came in search of me, and carry the war into their own + camps." + + * * * * * + + "These operations were erratic simply in not being in + accordance with the fixed rules taught by the academies; but + in all that I did there was a unity of purpose, and a plan + which my commanding general understood and approved." + + * * * * * + + " ... while I conducted war on the theory that the end of it + is to secure peace by the destruction of the resources of + the enemy, with as small a loss as possible to my own side, + there is no authenticated act of mine which is not perfectly + in accordance with approved military usage. Grant, Sherman, + and Stonewall Jackson had about the same ideas that I had on + the subject of war." + +Though all his engagements were reported to Stuart till the death of +that great cavalry leader, in May, 1864, and afterward to General +Robert E. Lee, Mosby was allowed the freedom of untrammeled action in +the sense that the operations of his command were left to his +individual discretion. + +The following militant verses were published in a Southern magazine, +soon after the war, and won immediate popularity: + + _Mosby at Hamilton._ + + BY MADISON CAWEIN. + + Down Loudoun lanes, with swinging reins + And clash of spur and sabre, + And bugling of battle horn, + Six score and eight we rode at morn + Six score and eight of Southern born, + All tried in love and labor. + + Full in the sun at Hamilton, + We met the South's invaders; + Who, over fifteen hundred strong, + 'Mid blazing homes had marched along + All night, with Northern shout and song, + To crush the rebel raiders. + + Down Loudoun lanes with streaming manes + We spurred in wild March weather; + And all along our war-scarred way + The graves of Southern heroes lay, + Our guide posts to revenge that day, + As we rode grim together. + + Old tales still tell some miracle + Of saints in holy writing-- + But who shall say why hundreds fled + Before the few that Mosby led, + Unless the noblest of our dead + Charged with us then when fighting. + + While Yankee cheers still stunned our ears, + Of troops at Harper's Ferry, + While Sheridan led on his Huns, + And Richmond rocked to roaring guns, + We felt the South still had some sons, + She would not scorn to bury. + + +_Battle of Leesburg_[32] ("_Ball's Bluff_"[33]). + +"After the first battle of Manassas, Col. Eppa Hunton had been ordered +to reoccupy Leesburg with his regiment, the Eighth Virginia. A little +later Col. William Barksdale's Thirteenth Mississippi, Col. W.S. +Featherstone's Seventeenth Mississippi, a battery, and four companies +of cavalry under Col. W.H. Jenifer were sent to the same place, and +these were organized into the Seventh Brigade of the Confederate Army +of the Potomac, which, early in August, was put under command of +Brig.-Gen. Nathan G. Evans, who had been promoted for his brave +conduct July 21st. General Beauregard's object in locating this strong +force at Leesburg was to guard his left flank from a Federal attack by +way of several good roads that led from the fords of the upper +Potomac, near that town, directly to his Bull Run encampment; to watch +the large Federal force that McClellan had located on the opposite +side of the Potomac; to keep up a connection with the Confederate +force in the lower Shenandoah Valley by a good turnpike that led from +Leesburg across the Blue Ridge, and to save for his army the abundant +supplies of the fertile County of Loudoun. + +"On the 15th of October (1861) General Banks' division of the Federal +army was located at Darnestown, Md., about fifteen miles due east from +Leesburg, with detachments at Point of Rocks, Sandy Hook, +Williamsport, etc.; while the division of Brig.-Gen. C.P. Stone, +composed of six companies of cavalry, three of artillery, and the +infantry brigades of Gens. W.A. Gorman and F.W. Lander and Col. E.D. +Baker, was located at Poolesville, eight miles north of east from +Leesburg. The object in this disposition of so large a force was, not +only to guard the right of the big Federal army that General McClellan +was gathering at Washington, but especially to cover the important +approaches from the northwest to Baltimore and the Federal city, +particularly those from the lower Shenandoah Valley and northeastern +Piedmont, Virginia. + +[Footnote 32: Virginia Military History, by Jedediah Hotchkiss.] + +[Footnote 33: Also called "Battle of Harrison's Island" and "Battle of +Conrad's Ferry."] + +"On October 19th, McCall's Federal division advanced to Dranesville, +on the road to Leesburg and about 15 miles from that place, 'in order +to cover the reconnoissance made in all directions the next day;' and +later, Smith's Federal division advanced along a parallel road to the +west, acting in concert with General McCall, and pushed forward strong +parties in the same direction and for the same purpose. About 7 p.m. +of the 19th, Stone's advance opened a heavy cannonade on the +Confederate positions at Fort Evans, on the Leesburg pike, and at +Edwards' Ferry, and at the same time General Evans heard heavy firing +in the direction of Dranesville. At midnight General Evans ordered his +whole brigade to the front, along the line of Goose Creek, 3 miles +southeast of Leesburg, where he had a line of intrenchments, to there +await an expected attack from General McCall, the next morning, +Sunday, October 20th, as it had been reported that the Federal advance +was moving in force from Dranesville toward Leesburg. Evans' scouts +captured McCall's courier bearing dispatches to General Meade, +directing him to examine the roads leading to Leesburg. The Federal +batteries kept up a deliberate fire during the day, but no assault was +made. + +"On the morning of the 20th the Federal signal officer on Sugar Loaf +Mountain, in Maryland, reported 'the enemy have moved away from +Leesburg.' This Banks wired to McClellan, whereupon the latter wired +to Stone, at Poolesville, that a heavy reconnoissance would be sent +out that day, in all directions, from Dranesville, concluding: 'You +will keep a good lookout upon Leesburg, to see if this movement has +the effect to drive them away. Perhaps a slight demonstration on your +part would have the effect to move them.' McClellan desired Stone to +make demonstrations from his picket line along the Potomac, but did +not intend that he should cross the river, in force, for the purpose +of fighting. Late in the day Stone reported that he had made a feint +of crossing, and at the same time had started a reconnoissance from +Harrison's Island toward Leesburg, when the enemy's pickets retired to +intrenchments. That 'slight demonstration' brought on the battle of +Ball's Bluff on Monday, October 21st. On the morning of the 21st, +McCall retired from Evan's front to his camp at Prospect Hill, 4 miles +up the river from the Chain bridge. From his point of observation, at +the earthworks called 'Fort Evans,' to the eastward of Leesburg, +overlooking the fords at Conrad's and Edwards' ferries and Ball's +Bluff, Evans, at 6 a.m. on the 21st, found that the enemy of Stone's +division had effected a crossing at Edwards' Ferry and at Ball's +Bluff, 4 miles above. He promptly sent four companies from his +Mississippi regiments and two companies of cavalry, under the command +of Lieutenant-Colonel W.H. Jenifer to the assistance of Captain Duff, +to hold the enemy in check until his plan of attack should be +developed. Colonel Jenifer immediately engaged the Federal advance and +drove it back toward Ball's Bluff. + +"The force that had crossed at Harrison's Island, about midnight of +the 20th, was part of the command of Colonel Baker, some 300 men under +Col. Charles Devens, of the Fifteenth Massachusetts. Its object was to +capture a Confederate camp that had been reported to be about a mile +from the river. This force advanced to an open field surrounded by +woods, where it halted until it could be joined by a company from the +Twentieth Massachusetts, which had been left on the bluff, on the +Virginia side, to protect the Federal return. Devens, at daybreak, +pushed forward with a few men to reconnoiter, and, in person, went to +within sight of Leesburg. Thinking he had not been discovered Devens +determined to remain and sent back to his brigade commander, Colonel +Baker, for reinforcements. The latter consulted his division +commander, General Stone, and obtained permission to either withdraw +Devens or to send over reinforcements to him. He promptly directed +Devens to hold his position and said that he would support him in +person with the rest of his brigade. The boats and flats that had been +provided for crossing the Potomac from the Maryland shore to +Harrison's Island and from the latter to the Virginia shore were +entirely inadequate, and it was nearly noon before Devens' regiment of +625 men was closed up on the Virginia shore. + +"Convinced at about 10 a.m. that the main Federal attack would be at +Ball's Bluff, four miles northeast of Leesburg, Evans ordered Colonel +Hunton with the Eighth Virginia[34] to the support of Colonel Jenifer, +directing him to form the line of battle immediately in the rear of +Jenifer's command, and that the combined force should then drive the +enemy to the river, while he, General Evans, supported the right of +the movement with artillery. This movement was made soon after noon +and the opposing forces at once became hotly engaged, the Confederates +advancing on the Federals, who held a strong position in front of the +woods. Learning, at about this time, that an opposing force was +gathering on his left and that he would soon be vigorously attacked by +a body of infantry that appeared in that direction and by a body of +dismounted cavalry that had deployed in his front, and apprehensive of +being flanked, Devens retired his regiment to an open space in the +woods, in front of the bluff, and prepared to receive an attack. To +ascertain about reinforcements Devens went back to the bluff about 2 +p.m., where he found Colonel Baker, who directed him to form his +regiment on the right of the position that he proposed to occupy, +while Baker placed 300 of the Twentieth Massachusetts on the left and +advanced in front of these his California regiment, with two guns, +supported by two companies of the Fifteenth Massachusetts. At about +the same hour General Stone ferried a strong force across the river at +Edwards' Ferry to make a demonstration on Evans' right, leaving +Colonel Baker in command at Ball's Bluff. Stone then telegraphed to +McClellan: 'There has been a sharp firing on the right of our line, +and our troops appear to be advancing there under Baker. The left, +under Gorman, has advanced its skirmishers nearly one mile, and, if +the movement continues successful, will turn the enemy's right.' + +[Footnote 34: The regiment in which were several companies of Loudoun +soldiers.] + +"At about 2.30 p.m., General Evans, having the advantage of a +concealed, shorter, and inner line, seeing that the enemy was being +constantly reinforced, ordered Colonel Burt, with the Eighteenth +Mississippi, to attack the Federal left, while Hunton and Jenifer +attacked his front, holding the attack at Edwards' Ferry in check by +batteries from his intrenchments. As Colonel Burt reached his +position, the enemy, concealed in a ravine, opened on him a furious +fire, which compelled him to divide his regiment and stop the flank +movement that had already begun. At about 3 p.m., Featherstone, with +the Seventeenth Mississippi, was sent at a double-quick to support +Burt's movement. Evans reports: 'He arrived in twenty minutes and the +action became general along my whole line, and was very hot and brisk +for more than two hours, the enemy keeping up a constant fire with his +batteries on both sides of the river. At about 6 p.m. I saw that my +command had driven the enemy to near the banks of the river. I ordered +my entire force to charge and drive him into the river. The charge was +immediately made by the whole command, and the forces of the enemy +were completely routed, and cried out for quarter along his whole +line. In this charge the enemy was driven back at the point of the +bayonet, and many were killed and wounded by this formidable weapon. +In the precipitate retreat of the enemy on the bluffs of the river, +many of his troops rushed into the water and were drowned, while many +others, in overloading the boats, sunk them and shared the same fate. +The rout now, about 7 o'clock, became complete, and the enemy +commenced throwing his arms into the river.... At 8 p.m. the enemy +surrendered his forces at Ball's Bluff, and the prisoners were marched +to Leesburg.' + +"During this action, Colonel Barksdale, with nine companies of the +Thirteenth Mississippi and six pieces of artillery, was held to oppose +Stone's movement from Edwards' Ferry and also as a reserve. After the +engagement, Evans withdrew all his brigade to Leesburg, except +Barksdale's regiment, which he left in front of Edwards' Ferry. + +"Each of the combatants had about 1,700 men engaged in this action. +The Confederates had no artillery in the fight, while the Federals +had three light guns. Shortly after the action became general, Colonel +Baker, passing in front of his command, was killed by a sharpshooter, +which so demoralized the Federals that the surviving officers +conferred and decided to retreat. This was opposed by Colonel Milton +Cogswell, of the Forty-second New York, who had succeeded Colonel +Baker in command. He said a retreat down the bluff and across the +river was now impossible, and that they must cut their way through the +Confederate right to Edwards' Ferry. He promptly gave orders to that +effect, and moved to the front, followed by the remnants of his own +two companies and a portion of the California regiment, but not by the +others. He was quickly driven back and the whole Federal command was +forced to the river bluff in great disorder. Just then two companies +of the Forty-second New York landed on the Virginia shore. These +Colonel Cogswell ordered up the bluff and deployed as skirmishers to +cover the Federal retreat, while he advanced to the left with a small +party, and was almost immediately captured. Colonel Devens escaped by +swimming the river. + +"On the morning of the 22nd, Colonel Barksdale informed General Evans +that the enemy was still in force at Edwards' Ferry. He was ordered to +carefully reconnoiter the Federal position, learn its strength and +make attack. This he did, at about 2 p.m., and drove a superior force +from an intrenched position to the bank of the river, killing and +wounding quite a number of men. At about sundown, the Federals, having +been reinforced and holding rifle-pits, Barksdale withdrew to Fort +Evans, leaving two companies to watch his front. The enemy recrossed +the Potomac during the night. Evans reported his loss, in the thirteen +hours of fight, on the 21st, as 36 killed,[35] 117 wounded, and 2 +missing, from a force of 1,709. Among the killed was the brave Colonel +Burt. The Federal losses were returned at 49 killed, 158 wounded, and +694 missing. General Evans claimed the capture of 710 prisoners, 1,500 +stands of arms, 3 cannon and 1 flag. + +[Footnote 35: The Confederate soldiers who fell in the battle of Ball's +Bluff are buried in Union Cemetery, on the northern border of +Leesburg. Their resting place is marked by an imposing marble shaft, +in honor of the comrades of "the lost cause," "wherever they lie." +Many of the Union soldiers who perished at Ball's Bluff lie buried +where they fell. Their mournful little cemetery was recently acquired +by the Federal government and its approaches and environs greatly +improved. The battlefield is still one of the chief points of interest +to visitors to central Loudoun.] + +"Evans called on Longstreet for reinforcements when he reported his +battle of the 21st, thinking that 20,000 Federals were in his front. +Colonel Jenkins, with the Eighteenth South Carolina cavalry and +artillery was dispatched from Centreville in the afternoon of the 22d, +and marched toward Leesburg, through mud and a driving rain, until +midnight, when the infantry went into bivouac; but Captain C.M. +Blackford's cavalry and four guns of the Washington artillery hurried +forward all night and came in sight of Leesburg about daylight of the +23d. That morning, finding his men much exhausted, General Evans +ordered three of his regiments to fall back to Carter's mill, a strong +position on Goose Creek, about 7 miles southwest from Leesburg, and +join Jenkins, who had been halted at that place, leaving Barksdale +with his regiment, two pieces of artillery and some cavalry, as a rear +guard near Leesburg, and Hunton, with his Eighth Virginia and two +pieces of artillery, on the south bank of Sycoline Creek, 3 miles from +Leesburg, and sending his cavalry well to the front toward +Alexandria." + + +_Munford's Fight at Leesburg._[36] + +"Having driven Pope's army to a secure position behind the defences of +Washington, General Lee turned northward to the Potomac and began the +first Maryland campaign. + +"While this movement was in progress Stuart covered the front toward +Washington. He had learned that an irregular body of cavalry under a +certain Captain Means was harassing the citizens in the vicinity of +Leesburg, and on the 2d of September (1862) he sent Colonel Munford, +with the Second Virginia Cavalry, to that point. On approaching +Leesburg, Munford learned that it was occupied by Means' company and +that he was supported by about two hundred men under Major Cole, of +Maryland. Munford's regiment numbered only about one hundred and sixty +men, but, approaching Leesburg by an unexpected direction, he effected +a surprise, and after a heavy skirmish completely routed Means' party +and pursued him to Waterford, a distance of seven miles. He captured +forty-seven prisoners, and killed or wounded twenty." + +[Footnote 36: _Life and Campaigns of Maj.-Gen. J. E. B. Stuart._] + + +_Battle at Aldie._[37] + +"Early on the morning of the 17th of June, 1863, Colonel Munford, with +the 2d and 3rd Virginia Cavalry, moved from Upperville through +Middleburg, and having established his picket posts east of Aldie, +crossed over to Snicker's Gap road and proceeded with these two +regiments to procure corn at the house of Franklin Carter, about a +mile distant. He expected to encamp that night in the vicinity of +Aldie. + +"Colonel Williams C. Wickham, with the 1st, 4th, and 5th Virginia +Cavalry, the remaining regiments of the brigade, had moved from +Piedmont through Middleburg, and was about to place his men in camp at +Dover Mills, near Aldie. + +"The 5th regiment, Col. Thomas L. Rosser, which arrived some little +time after the 1st and 4th, was directed by Colonel Wickham to pass +beyond Dover Mills, and select a camp nearer Aldie. In so doing +Colonel Rosser encountered the enemy, who was rapidly driving back the +pickets established by Colonel Munford. + +"The force of the enemy making this attack was the 2d cavalry +division, commanded by Gen. D.M. Gregg, and accompanied by +Major-General Pleasonton. General Kilpatrick's brigade, consisting of +the 2d New York, 1st Massachusetts, 6th Ohio, and 4th New York +regiments, supported by the 1st Maine Cavalry from Col. J.J. Gregg's +brigade, and by Randol's battery, appears to have done all the +fighting. The two other brigades of General Gregg's division were +closed up within supporting distance. + +[Footnote 37: _Life and Campaigns of Maj.-Gen. J. E. B. Stuart._] + +"The arrival of Rosser's regiment was most opportune. By an immediate +sabre charge he drove back the enemy's advance upon their main body in +the town of Aldie. Having relieved the pressure on the pickets, Rosser +stationed his sharpshooters, under Capt. R.B. Boston, on the right +of the Snickersville road, where a number of haystacks afforded some +protection, and held the remainder of his small regiment ready for +their support. Colonel Munford, in the meantime, arrived in person and +stationed Lieut. William Walton, of the 2d Virginia Cavalry, with the +reserve picket, fifteen men, behind a stone wall on the left of the +Snickersville road with orders to hold his position against any odds +until the 2d and 3d regiments could come to his assistance. In the +meantime, and while Colonel Wickham was stationing the 1st and 4th +regiments and Breathed's battery to dispute any advance on the +Middleburg road, Rosser, single-handed, had met and repulsed two +charges which were made upon Captain Boston's squadron; and believing +that he could be maintained there with advantage, had ordered Boston +to hold his position at all hazards. The result proved that this +disposition was unfortunate, for during the subsequent heavy fighting +Boston was so far advanced as to be beyond the reach of support and he +and his squadron were captured. + +"During all this time there was no force on the left of the +Snickersville road, except the picket posted by Munford behind the +stone wall. Munford, therefore, moved Rosser's regiment and the 4th +Virginia Cavalry, with one gun from Breathed's battery, so as to +command this road, leaving Colonel Wickham with the rest of the guns +and the 1st Virginia Cavalry on the Middleburg road. + +"In the meantime the enemy pressed heavily on Lieutenant Walton. He +had repulsed two mounted charges, but being outflanked by dismounted +men, had been withdrawn about fifty yards behind a house and orchard, +in which position he commanded the only opening through which the +enemy could attack. Here three distinct charges were met and repulsed +in counter-charges by the 5th Virginia Cavalry, by the 3d squadron of +the 4th regiment, led by Lieut. A.D. Payne, and by the 2d and 5th +squadrons of the same regiment, led by Capt. W.B. Newton. These were +the only squadrons of this regiment present at this battle, the 1st +and 4th squadrons having been detailed early in the day to accompany +General Stuart. In each of these charges the enemy had suffered +severely at the hands of Lieutenant Walton's sharpshooters, who poured +volleys into their flanks as they passed him in advancing and +retiring. + +"As Walton's party was, however, evidently small, the enemy determined +to dislodge him, and was preparing a considerable force for another +attack, when the 2d and 3d Virginia Cavalry reached the field. Two +squadrons of sharpshooters were at once dismounted and placed on the +left of the road--the squadron from the 2d regiment under Captains +Breckinridge and Graves, that from the 3d regiment under Capt. George +D. White. Their line was advanced to the stone wall from which +Lieutenant Walton had been withdrawn. Colonel Munford now felt that +his position was secure against an attack of cavalry, and there was +nothing he more desired than that the enemy should wear himself out +against it. His flanks were secured by Little River and its +tributaries. The enemy must necessarily attack his front. The road by +which it was approached was worn, as it ascended the hill, into deep +gullies, which compelled an attack in column of fours and prevented +the enemy from spreading out his front. Munford's strong party of +sharpshooters commanded the road. They were stationed in an enclosed +field, with a stone wall in their front, a post and rail fence on +their right, and another fence on their left. The fences to the rear +were thrown down, so as to give the cavalry access to the field. +Munford felt that unless his cavalry failed in their duty, his +dismounted men were perfectly secure. + +"The 2d Virginia Cavalry, led by Lieut.-Col. J.W. Watts, now charged the +advancing enemy, who had penetrated beyond the position of the +sharpshooters. The heads of the columns met in the narrow road in a +hand-to-hand sabre fight. While this was in progress, Capt. Jesse +Irving threw down the fence on the right of the road, and, bringing his +squadron to the front, opened fire on the enemy's left flank. Capt. W.W. +Tebbs executed a similar movement on the left of the road, while the +sharpshooters were all the time firing into the enemy's rear. Their +attack was completely broken, and their leading squadron almost +destroyed. Another support moved up during the confusion, but was met +and repulsed by Colonel Rosser. In this fight Lieutenant-Colonel Watts +was wounded and permanently disabled. The command of the 2d regiment +devolved on Major Cary Breckinridge, who moved the regiment off to the +right to reform, carrying with him Col. Louis P. De Cesnola and the +colors of his regiment, the 4th New York Cavalry. + +"During all this time Captain Boston, of the 5th Virginia Cavalry, had +been holding the haystacks far in advance of his friends, where +Colonel Rosser had placed him with such stringent orders. He was +beyond the reach even of a recall, but had been doing his utmost to +aid in the fight. He was now charged by the 6th Ohio Cavalry, under +Lieutenant-Colonel William Stedman; and after losing three of his +officers, including his junior captain, and a third of his men killed +and wounded, he surrendered to the odds brought against him. + +"The Federal cavalry were determined to carry the position if +possible, and another charge was speedily organized. This was met by +the 3d Virginia Cavalry, led by Col. T.H. Owens, who took the road, +supported on his right by the 2d regiment and on his left by the 5th. +The sabre was the weapon used, and the enemy was again driven back. +Colonel Munford pronounced this the most spirited charge of the day. +Colonel Owens, however, pressed his success too far. He drove the +enemy almost to the village of Aldie, where he was charged by a fresh +regiment and driven back, losing many of the prisoners he had taken +and some of his own men. Major Henry Carrington, of the 3d regiment, +was captured at this point. Colonel Munford says in his report: + +"'Captain Newton, having rallied his small command and a good many +men from other commands, was again ready to relieve Colonel Owens as +he fell back, and by a timely charge repelled another effort to flank +him. As the enemy came up again the sharpshooters opened upon him with +terrible effect from the stone wall, which they had regained, and +checked him completely. I do not hesitate to say that I have never +seen as many Yankees killed in the same space of ground in any fight I +have ever seen or on any battlefield in Virginia that I have been +over. We held our ground until ordered by the major-general commanding +to retire, and the Yankees had been so severely punished that they did +not follow. The sharpshooters of the 5th were mostly captured, this +regiment suffering more than any other.' + +"Colonel Munford reported the capture of 138 prisoners. The number of +killed and wounded is unknown. His own total loss was 119, of which +the 5th Virginia Cavalry lost 58, mostly from Captain Boston's +squadron." + + +_Duffie at Middleburg._[38] + +"On this same afternoon (June 17, 1863) events of considerable +importance occurred at Middleburg, where Stuart had established his +headquarters for the day. + +"Early in the morning Col. A.N. Duffie, with the 1st Rhode Island +Cavalry, had crossed the Bull Run Mountain at Thoroughfare Gap. His +orders directed him to encamp at Middleburg on the night of the 17th +and to proceed the next day toward Noland's Ferry, extending his march +to the west as far as Snickersville. These orders seem to have +contemplated a somewhat extended scout by this regiment on the left +flank of General Gregg's division--a hazardous movement in the +presence of an enterprising enemy. Colonel Duffie reached Thoroughfare +Gap at 9.30 a.m. and was somewhat delayed in crossing the mountain by +the picket from Chambliss' command. By 11 o'clock, however, he was +fairly on his way to Middleburg. At 4 o'clock p.m. he struck the +pickets which Stuart had established for his own safety outside the +town and drove them in so quickly that Stuart and his staff were +compelled to make a retreat more rapid than was consistent with +dignity and comfort. Having with him no force adequate to contest the +ground with Duffie's regiment, Stuart retired toward Rector's Cross +Roads. Munford was notified of his danger, and directed to withdraw +from Aldie and Robertson and Chambliss were ordered to move +immediately upon Middleburg. + +[Footnote 38: _Life and Campaigns of Maj.-Gen. J. E. B. Stuart._] + +"The only hope for Duffie's regiment now lay in an immediate advance +upon Aldie, where he might have created considerable commotion by +attacking the rear of the 1st Virginia Cavalry on the Middleburg road. +But he did not know this and his orders were positive, requiring him +to encamp for the night at Middleburg. He therefore made the best of +his situation by dismounting one-half of his regiment behind stone +walls and barricades, hoping that he might be able to hold his +position until reinforced from Aldie, whither he sent Capt. Frank +Allen to make known his situation at brigade headquarters. Captain +Allen reached Aldie, after encountering many difficulties, at 9 +o'clock p.m. He says in his report: + +"'General Kilpatrick informed me that his brigade was so worn out that +he could not send any reinforcements to Middleburg, but that he would +report the situation of our regiment to General Gregg. Returning, he +said that General Gregg had gone to state the facts to General +Pleasonton, and directed me to remain at Aldie until he heard from +General Pleasonton. I remained, but received no further orders.'" + + * * * * * + +"Thus Colonel Duffie was left to meet his fate. At 7 o'clock in the +evening he was attacked by Robertson's brigade. His men fought bravely +and repelled more than one charge before they were driven from the +town, retiring by the same road upon which they had advanced. +Unfortunately for Duffie this road was now closed by Chambliss' +brigade, which surrounded him during the night and captured, early the +next morning, the greater part of those who had escaped from +Robertson on the previous evening. Colonel Duffie himself escaped +capture and reached Centreville early in the afternoon with four of +his officers and twenty-seven men. He reports the loss in his regiment +at 20 officers and 248 men. This, however, was an exaggeration of the +calamity, for other officers besides himself had taken to the woods +and succeeded in making their way back to the Federal lines, on the +18th and 19th." + + +_The Sacking of Loudoun._ + +FEDERAL OPERATIONS AGAINST MOSBY IN LOUDOUN COUNTY. + +Mosby's unrelenting aggressiveness caused the Northern generals much +annoyance and perplexity. Consequently many ingenious traps were laid +for him, but to no purpose. Into some he walked with unsuspecting +boldness, though contriving to fight his way to safety again, and +usually, in so doing, inflicting greater loss on the enemy than would +be sustained by his own command. + +These reiterated and, at times, disastrous failures having +demonstrated the futility of all covert attempts, General Grant, and +later, General Sheridan, felt driven to the adoption of measures that +were destined to entail much suffering and loss on the guiltless and +non-combatant element of Loudoun's population. Under date of August +16, 1864, Grant despatched the following arbitrary order to General +Sheridan: + + "If you can possibly spare a division of cavalry, send them + through Loudoun County to destroy and carry off the crops, + animals, negroes, and all men under fifty years of age + capable of bearing arms. In this way you will get many of + Mosby's men. All male citizens under fifty can fairly be + held as prisoners of war, and not as citizen prisoners. If + not already soldiers, they will be made so the moment the + rebel army gets hold of them." + +Sheridan straightway ordered all the cavalry of the Eighth Illinois, +then the best regiment of its kind in the Army of the Potomac, to +concentrate at Muddy Branch, preparatory to beginning operations +against Mosby in Loudoun County. In his orders to General Auger he +told that officer to exterminate as many as he could of "Mosby's +gang." + +The command broke camp at Muddy Branch August 20, and crossed the +Potomac with 650 men, the special object of the scout being, as stated +in orders to Major Waite, "to break up and exterminate any bands or +parties of Mosby's, White's, or other guerillas which may be met." + +Viewed in the light of a communication from Sheridan to Halleck, dated +November 26, 1864, this expedition seems not to have been even +moderately successful. In it he said: "I will soon commence work on +Mosby. Heretofore I have made no attempt to break him up, as I would +have employed ten men to his one, and for the reason that I have made +a scape-goat of him for the destruction of private rights. Now there +is going to be an intense hatred of him in that portion of this +Valley, which is nearly a desert. I will soon commence on Loudoun +County, and let them know there is a God in Israel...." + +In his determination to rid himself of his troublesome enemy, +Sheridan, the next day, issued the following orders to Major-General +Merritt, commanding the First Cavalry Division: + + "You are hereby directed to proceed to-morrow morning at 7 + o'clock with the two brigades of your division now in camp + to the east side of the Blue Ridge via Ashby's Gap, and + operate against the guerillas in the district of country + bounded on the south by the line of the Manassas Gap + Railroad as far east as White Plains, on the east by the + Bull Run range, on the west by the Shenandoah River, and on + the north by the Potomac. This section has been the hot-bed + of lawless bands, who have, from time to time, depredated + upon small parties on the line of army communications, on + safeguards left at houses, and on all small parties of our + troops. Their real object is plunder and highway robbery. To + clear the country of these parties that are bringing + destruction upon the innocent as well as their guilty + supporters by their cowardly acts, you will consume and + destroy all forage and subsistence, burn all barns and mills + and their contents, and drive off all stock in the region + the boundaries of which are above described. This order must + be literally executed, bearing in mind, however, that no + dwellings are to be burned and that no personal violence be + offered to the citizens. The ultimate results of the + guerilla system of warfare is the total destruction of all + private rights in the country occupied by such parties. This + destruction may as well commence at once, and the + responsibility of it must rest upon the authorities at + Richmond, who have acknowledged the legitimacy of guerilla + bands. The injury done this army by them is very slight. The + injury they have indirectly inflicted upon the people and + upon the rebel army may be counted by millions. The Reserve + Brigade of your division will move to Snickersville on the + 29th. Snickersville should be your point of concentration, + and the point from which you should operate in destroying + toward the Potomac. Four days' subsistence will be taken by + the command. Forage can be gathered from the country through + which you pass. You will return to your present camp, via + Snicker's Gap, on the 5th day." + +In addition to Merritt's three brigades, Colonel Stagg was ordered to +send out four regiments. + +[39]"The Federals separated into three parties, one of which went along +the Bloomfield road and down Loudoun in the direction of the Potomac; +another passed along the Piedmont pike to Rectortown, Salem, and +around to Middleburg, while the main body kept along the turnpike to +Aldie, where they struck the Snickersville pike. Thus they scoured the +country completely from the Blue Ridge to the Bull Run Mountains. + +"From Monday afternoon, November 28th, until Friday morning, December +2nd, they ranged through the beautiful Valley of Loudoun and a portion +of Fauquier county, burning and laying waste. They robbed the people +of everything they could destroy or carry off--horses, cows, cattle, +sheep, hogs, etc.; killing poultry, insulting women, pillaging houses, +and in many cases robbing even the poor negroes. + +"They burned all the mills and factories, as well as hay, wheat, corn, +straw, and every description of forage. Barns and stables, whether +full or empty, were burned. + +"At Mrs. Fletcher's (a widow), where the hogs had been killed for her +winter's supply of meat, the soldiers made a pile of rails upon which +the hogs were placed and burned. They even went to the Poor House and +burned and destroyed the supplies provided for the helpless and +dependent paupers. On various previous occasions, however, the Alms +House had been visited by raiding parties, so that at this time there +was but little left, but of that little the larger portion was taken. + +[Footnote 39: _Mosby's Rangers_, by James J. Williamson.] + +"Colonel Mosby did not call the command together, therefore there was +no organized resistance, but Rangers managed to save a great deal of +live stock for the farmers by driving it off to places of safety." + + +_Home Life During the War._ + +In Loudoun, as everywhere in every age, the seriousness of war was not +fully realized until the volunteer soldiery, following a short season +of feverish social gayety, interspersed with dress parades and +exhibition drills, had departed for their respective posts. +Immediately and with one accord those left behind settled themselves +to watch and wait and work and pray for the absent ones and the cause +they had so readily championed. + +When few slaves were owned by a family the white boys, too young for +service in the army, worked with them in the fields, while the girls +busied themselves with household duties, though, at times, they, too, +labored in the open. In families owning no slaves the old men, +cripples, women, and children were forced to shoulder the arduous +labors of the farm. + +Stern necessity had leveled sexual and worldly distinctions, and +manual labor was, at times, performed by all who were in the least +physically fitted for it. All classes early became inured to +makeshifts and privations, though they managed in some unselfish +manner to send, from time to time, great quantities of clothing, +meats, and other supplies to the soldiers in the field and their +wounded comrades in the army hospitals. + +The intense devotion of Loudoun women to the Confederate cause was +most irritating to a certain class of Federal officers in the armies +that invaded Northern Virginia. They seemed to think that through +their military prowess they had conquered entrance into Southern +society, but the women repulsed them at every turn and quite +effectually checked their presumptuous advances. + +The women of all classes played and sang Confederate airs on every +occasion, and, though ordered by the military authorities to desist, +with consummate daring they usually persisted until a guard of +soldiers had been detailed to enforce the order. The Federal officers +who acted in a gentlemanly manner toward the non-combatants were +accused by their rude fellows and by ruder newspaper correspondents of +being "wound round the fingers of the rebel women," who, they were +sure, had some cherished object in view. + +The women, without question, had much the harder task. The men, in +active service in the field, were reasonably sure that their families +were safe at home and, in the feverish excitement of war, felt no +concern for themselves, while, on the other hand, the women lived in +hourly dread of direful news from the front, and, moreover, were +burdened with labors and cares more irksome and harassing than had +ever been borne by the absent males. + +The music and songs that were popular just before and during the war +attest the vacillating temper of the people. Joyous airs were at first +heard, these growing contemptuous and defiant as the struggle +approached, then stirring war songs and hymns of encouragement. But as +sorrow followed sorrow until all were stricken; as wounds, sickness, +imprisonment, and death of friends and relatives cast an +ever-lengthening shadow over the spirits of the people; as hopes were +dashed by defeat, and the consciousness came that, perhaps, after all +the cause was losing, the iron entered into the souls of the people. +The songs became sadder, while in the churches, where the doctrines of +faith and good works were earnestly propounded, little else was heard +than the soul-comforting hymns and the militant songs of the older +churchmen. The promises were, perhaps, more emphasized and a deeply +religious feeling prevailed among the home-workers for the cause. + + +_Pierpont's Pretentious Administration._ + +On December 7, 1863, the legislature of the "Restored Government of +Virginia" held its first meeting in the chambers of the city council +at Alexandria, which municipality became the seat of a Union +administration in the Old Dominion, after Governor Pierpont's removal +from Wheeling, W. Va., where, by unqualified political trickery, he +and his unauthorized following had effected the establishment of a new +Union commonwealth out of the ruins of Confederate Virginia. Six +senators were present, representing the counties of Norfolk, Accomac, +Fairfax, Alexandria, and _Loudoun_, and the city of Norfolk. Prince +William, Northampton, Alexandria, _Loudoun_, and Norfolk counties were +represented by seven delegates. J. Madison Downey, of Loudoun, was +elected speaker of the house of delegates. + +This tiny mouth-piece of Virginia Unionists had naturally few +important, or even ordinary, questions of legislation to decide. The +most important was a provision for the amendment of the State +constitution with relation to its bearing on the slavery question. +"Everybody," said Governor Pierpont in his message, "loyal or +disloyal, concedes that slavery in the State is doomed. Then acting +upon this concession, call a convention of loyal delegates, to alter +the State constitution in this particular, and declare slavery and +involuntary servitude, except for crime, to be forever abolished in +the State." + +A new constitution which should supercede that of 1851 and express the +Union sentiments of the Potomac legislators, was accordingly drafted. +Nominations of delegates to the constitutional convention were made in +January, 1864. By the terms of the act relative thereto, any voter in +the State who had not adhered by word or act to the Confederacy since +September 1, 1861, might be chosen a member of the convention; all +"loyal" citizens, who had not given aid or comfort to the Confederacy +since January 1, 1863, possessed the right to vote. + +Elections were held January 22, 1864. Very little interest was +manifested by the people, as was evidenced by the ridiculously small +vote everywhere polled. _Loudoun's_ nominees, Dr. J.J. Henshaw, J. +Madison Downey, and E. R. Giver, were elected by a mere handful of +voters. + +The convention met at Alexandria February 13, 1864, with fifteen[40] +delegates present from twelve counties. Le Roy G. Edwards, of +Portsmouth, was elected president and W.J. Cowing, secretary. A number +of radical changes in the old constitution, framed by legitimate +authority in ante-bellum days, were consummated during the two months' +session of this convention. + +[Footnote 40: It should be noted that Loudoun County furnished three of +this number.] + +The Alexandria government held sway very nearly two years. The +legislature met for its second session December 5, 1864, and +re-elected J. Madison Downey, of Loudoun County, speaker of the house +of delegates. + +The Pierpont government was not in itself of great importance. Its +influence extended to only a dozen counties and three cities and, +"under the shadow of bayonets, it was the rule of a few aliens in the +midst of a generally hostile population. Men at the time and since +have laughed at its legitimist pretenses." It would have been +summarily dismissed by the people but for the protection afforded it +by the Federal armies. Thus it appears that the "Restored Government +of Virginia" was not based upon the consent and approval of the +governed. Yet, suited to a policy of expediency and aggression, it +was, with quivering and unseemly eagerness, recognized as the legal +government of the State by the Lincoln administration. + + +_Emancipation._ + +A significant event of the war was the issuance by President Lincoln +of his celebrated emancipation proclamation. This highly important +measure, promulgated on New Year's day, 1863, sounded the death-knell +of slavery, an institution that, in the South, had seemed commercially +indispensable. + +The tidings spread rapidly through Loudoun producing, however, no +change in the amicable relations existing between the white and +colored races. In all sections of the South some apprehension was at +first felt lest the negroes be tempted by Federal rewards to +insurrection and the state militias be required to suppress outbreaks. + +The people of Loudoun, of course, shared in these early misgivings, +but here, as elsewhere, the negroes, as a whole, manifested no outward +signs of disaffection. History must record to their credit and praise +that while actual warfare was being waged on the soil of Loudoun they +quietly awaited the final issue of the fiery struggle. + +Entire communities of women and children were left in their charge, +while all able-bodied white men were away on the battlefield, and the +trust was faithfully kept. Instances of criminal acts were so rare +that at this period none are recalled, and while this fidelity is +proof of the peaceable character of the negro, it is also evidence for +their owners that slavery had produced no personal hostilities between +the two races in Loudoun County, and that the treatment of the negro +by his owner under the law had been such as to maintain between them +personal attachment and mutual confidence. Many negroes accompanied +their owners to the seat of war, not to take part in battle, but to +serve in semi-military duties without exposure to danger. Some of them +marched in Maryland and Pennsylvania with the armies of Lee, +voluntarily returning, although they might have remained in the free +States without hindrance. They are still proud of the conduct of their +race in those days of anxiety and peril. + +The proclamation of President Lincoln was regarded in Virginia as a +strictly political war measure, designed to place the cause of war +distinctly upon the sole question of slavery for an effect to be +produced upon foreign countries and with the purpose of making use of +negroes as soldiers in the Federal army. The issue of negro freedom +had not been distinctly made until this proclamation created it. +Hitherto it had been understood that, at the furthest, the Federal +authorities would insist only on restriction of slavery to the limits +where it already existed and a gradual emancipation upon payment of +the value of slaves held at the beginning of the war. But now it was +settled that the United States proposed to enforce by arms an +instantaneous emancipation without compensation. + + +_Close of the War._ + +The half-clad and impoverished southern armies, after four years of +valiant fighting, were no longer able to withstand the superior +numbers that had confronted them with merciless regularity in every +important conflict of the war, and, in April, 1865, the struggle +ceased with the complete subjugation of the Southland. + +All that the States-rights supporters had prophesied would be +accomplished if unresisted; all that the Unionists had indignantly +denied to be the objects of the war was accomplished: the South was +conquered, State sovereignty repudiated, the slaves were freed, and +the recognition of negro political equality forced upon the nation. + +Neighborhood strifes and animosities had been engendered in every +village and hamlet, and in nearly every household mothers wept for the +lost darlings asleep in their unmarked graves. The women and children, +hearing with a shock of the surrender, experienced a terrible dread of +the incoming armies. The women had been enthusiastic for the +Confederate cause; their sacrifices had been incalculable, and to many +the disappointment and sorrow following defeat were more bitter than +death. The soldier had the satisfaction of having fought in the field +for his opinions and it was easier for him to abide by the decision of +arms. + +But the terms of peace had scarcely been signed when the great popular +heart of the State swelled with generous and magnanimous rivalry in an +effort to repair the past. The soldiers who had fought and striven +under the successful banners of the Union came back with no bitterness +in their hearts, with no taunts on their lips. The war-worn exiles of +the Southern army, long before formal permission had been given by +either the State or Federal Government, were summoned home and +received with open arms and affectionate greetings by both the Union +and States-rights men. The people of the entire State seemed to +remember with sorrowful pride the noble men who had died gallantly in +the ranks of either army. Over their faults was thrown the mantle of +the sweet and soothing charities of the soldier's grave; and, on all +sides, there was manifested unstinted admiration for the valor with +which they had borne the dangers and privations of the war. + + +RECONSTRUCTION. + +_After the Surrender._ + +If the era of Reconstruction which followed the tragic drama of civil +war lacked the fierce element of bloodshed, it was none the less +painful and protracted. It was a gloomy period through which the +people of Loudoun, in common with other communities of the Southland, +were compelled to pass, and there was no appeal and no alternative +save submission. + +The conditions in the South in this decade were radically different +from those in the North. As a result of the war, the markets of the +South were destroyed, investments in slaves were lost, and land +improvements deteriorated. The close of the war found the planters +bankrupt, their credit destroyed, and agriculture and all business +paralyzed by lack of working capital. Vast areas of land went out of +cultivation, the reported acreage of farm land in all the Southern +States was less in 1870 than in 1860, and the total and average values +of land everywhere decreased. + +The paroled Confederate soldier had returned to his ruined farm and +set to work to save his family from extreme want. For him the war had +decided two questions--the abolition of slavery, and destruction of +State sovereignty. Further than this he did not expect the political +effects of the war to extend. He knew that some delay would +necessarily attend the restoration of former relations with the +central government, but political proscription and humiliation were +not anticipated. + +No one thought of further opposition to Federal authority; the results +of the war were accepted in good faith, and the people meant to abide +by the decision of arms. Naturally, there were no profuse expressions +of love for the triumphant North, but the people in general manifested +an earnest desire to leave the past behind them and to take their +places and do their duty as citizens of the new Union. Many persons +were disposed to attribute their defeat to the will of the Almighty. +Others believed that fate, destiny, or Providence had frowned upon the +South, and this state of mind made them the more ready to accept as +final the results of the war. + +Such was the state of feeling in the first stage, before there was any +general understanding of the nature of the questions to be solved or +of the conflicting policies. News from the outside world filtered +through slowly; while the whole County lay prostrate, breathless, +exhausted, resting. Little interest was evinced in public questions; +the long strain had been removed, and the future was a problem too +bewildering even to be considered yet awhile. The people settled down +into a lethargy, seemingly indifferent to the events that were +crowding one upon another, and exhibiting little interest in +government and politics. + +There was a woeful lack of good money in the County and industry was +paralyzed. The gold and silver that remained was carefully hoarded, +and for months none was in circulation except in the towns. The people +had no faith in paper money of any description and thought that +greenbacks would become worthless in the same way as had Confederate +currency. All sense of values had been lost, which fact may account +for the fabulous and fictitious prices obtaining in the South for +several years after the war, and the liberality of appropriations of +the first legislatures following the surrender. + +With many persons there was an almost maddening desire for the things +to which they had once been accustomed, the traders and speculators +now placing them in tempting array in the long-empty store window. + +People owning hundreds of acres of land often were as destitute as the +poorest negro. The majority of those having money to invest had bought +Confederate securities as a patriotic duty, and in this way much of +the specie had been drawn from the County. + +Nearly all the grist-mills and manufacturing establishments had been +destroyed, mill-dams cut, ponds drained, and railroad depots, bridges, +and trestles burned. All farm animals near the track of the armies had +been carried away or killed by the soldiers, or seized after the +occupation by the troops. Horses, mules, cows, and other domestic +animals had almost disappeared except in the secluded districts. Many +farmers had to plough with oxen. Farm buildings had been dismantled or +burned, houses ruined, fences destroyed, corn, meat, and other food +products taken. + +In the larger towns, where something had been saved from the wreck of +war, the looting by Federal soldiers was shameful. Pianos, curios, +pictures, curtains, and other household effects were shipped North by +the Federal officers during the early days of the occupation. Gold and +silver plate and jewelry were confiscated by the "bummers" who were +with every command. Abuses of this kind became so flagrant that the +Northern papers condemned the conduct of the soldiers, and several +ministers, among them Henry Ward Beecher, rebuked the practice from +the pulpit. + +The best soldiers of the Federal army had demanded their discharge as +soon as fighting was over, and had immediately left for their homes. +Those who remained in the service in the State were, with few +exceptions, very disorderly and kept the people in terror by their +robberies and outrages. + +Land was almost worthless, many of the owners having no capital, farm +animals, or implements. Labor was disorganized, and its scant product +often stolen by roving negroes and other marauders. The planters often +found themselves amid a wilderness of land without laborers. + +From this general gloom and despair the young people soon partially +recovered, and among them there was much social gayety of a quiet +sort. For four years the young men and young women had seen little of +each other, and there had been comparatively few marriages. Now that +they were together again, these nuptials soon became more common than +conditions seem to have warranted. + +This revival of spirits did not extend to the older people, who were +long recovering from the shock of grief, and strain of war, much that +had made life worth living being lost to them forever. + + +_Conduct of the Freedmen._ + +Nearly every slaveholder, returning home after the fall of the +Confederacy, assembled his remaining negroes and formally notified +them of their freedom, and talked with them concerning its entailed +privileges, responsibilities, and limitations. The news had, of +course, reached them through other channels, but they had loyally +awaited the home-coming of their masters, to whom they looked for a +confirmation of the reports. Steady employment at a fixed wage was +offered most of them, and, except in the vicinity of the towns and +army posts, where they were exposed to alien influences, the negroes +usually chose to remain at their work. + +Many were satisfied with the old slavery quarters while others, for +the taste of freedom that was afforded, established homes of their own +at near-by points. There were two things which the negroes of the +South felt must be done before they could be entirely free: They must +discard their masters' names and leave the old plantations if only for +a few days or weeks. + +Among the most contented and industrious there was much restlessness +and neglect of work. Hunting and fishing and frolics were the order of +the day. Nearly every man acquired, in some way, a dog and gun as +badges of freedom. It was quite natural that the negroes should want a +prolonged holiday for the enjoyment of their new-found freedom; and it +is really strange that any of them worked, for there obtained an +almost universal impression--the result of the teachings of the negro +soldiers and Freedmen's Bureau officials--that the Government would +support them in idleness. But in the remote districts this impression +was vague. The advice of the old plantation preachers held many to +their work, and these did not suffer as did their brothers who flocked +to the towns. + +Neither master nor freedman knew exactly how to begin anew and it was +some time before affairs emerged from the chaotic state into which the +war had plunged them. The average planter had little or no faith in +free negro labor, yet all who were now able were willing to give it a +trial. The more optimistic land-owners believed that the free negro +could in time be made an efficient laborer, in which case they were +willing to admit that the change might prove beneficial to both races. +At first, however, no one knew just how to work the free negro; +innumerable plans were devised, many tried, and few adopted. + +The new regime differed but little from the old until the fall of +1865, when the Freedmen's Bureau, aided by the negro soldiers and +white emissaries, had filled the minds of the credulous ex-slaves with +false impressions of the new and glorious condition that lay before +them. Then, with the extension of the Bureau and spread of the army +posts, many of the negroes became idle, neglected the crops planted in +the spring, and moved from their old homes to the towns or wandered +aimlessly from place to place. + +Upon leaving their homes the blacks collected in gangs at the +cross-roads, in the villages and towns, and especially near the +military posts. To the negro these ordinary men in blue were beings +from another sphere who had brought him freedom, a something he could +not exactly comprehend, but which, he was assured, was a delightful +state. + +Upon the negro women often fell the burden of supporting the children, +to which hardship were traceable the then common crimes of foeticide +and child murder. The small number of children during the decade of +Reconstruction was generally remarked. Negro women began to flock to +the towns; how they lived no one can tell; immorality was general +among them. The conditions of Reconstruction were unfavorable to +honesty and morality among the negroes, both male and female. + +Their marriage relations were hardly satisfactory, judged by white +standards. The legislatures in 1865-1866 had declared slave marriages +binding. The reconstructionists denounced this as a great cruelty and +repealed the laws. Marriages were then made to date from the passage +of the Reconstruction Acts. As many negro men had had several wives +before that date they were relieved from the various penalties of +desertion, bigamy, adultery, etc. Some seized the opportunity to +desert their wives and children and acquire new help-meets. While much +suffering resulted from the desertion, as a rule, the negro mother +alone supported the children better than did the father who stayed. + +Negro women accepted freedom with even greater seriousness than did +the men, and were not always, nor easily, induced to again take up the +familiar drudgery of field labor and domestic service. To approximate +the ease of their former mistresses, to wear fine clothes and go often +to church were their chief ambitions. Negro women had never been as +well-mannered, nor, on the whole, as good natured and cheerful as the +negro men. Both sexes, during Reconstruction, lost much of their +native cheerfulness; the men no longer went singing and shouting to +their work in the fields; some of the blacks, especially the women, +became impudent and insulting in their bearing toward the whites. + +As a result of certain pernicious alien influences there soon +developed a tendency to insolent conduct on the part of the younger +negro men, who seemed convinced that civil behavior and freedom were +incompatible. With some there was a disposition not to submit to the +direction of their employers, and the negro's advisers warned him +against the "efforts of the white man to enslave" him. Consequently, +he very often refused to enter into contracts that called for any +assumption of responsibility on his part, and the few agreements to +which he became a party had first to be ratified by the Bureau. As he +had no knowledge of the obligation of contracts, he usually violated +them at pleasure. + +The negroes, massed in the towns, lived in deserted and ruined houses +or in huts built by themselves of refuse lumber. They were very +scantily clothed and their food, often insufficient and badly cooked, +if cooked at all, was obtained by begging, stealing, or upon +application to the Bureau. Taking from the whites was not considered +stealing, but was "Spilin' de Gypshuns." + +The health of the negroes was injured during the period 1865-1875. In +the towns the standard of living was low, sanitary arrangements were +bad, and disease killed large numbers and permanently injured the +negro constitution. + +Following the military occupation of the State the negroes, young and +old, were seized with an overmastering desire for book learning. This +seeming thirst for education was not rightly understood at the North; +it was, in fact, more a desire to imitate the white master and obtain +formerly forbidden privileges than any real yearning due to an +understanding of the value of education. The negro hardly knew the +significance of the bare word, but the northern people gave him credit +for an appreciation not yet altogether true even of whites. + + +CONCLUSION. + +No occurrences of extreme historic value mark the career of Loudoun +since the days of Reconstruction, and the seemingly abrupt conclusion +to which the reader has now arrived is not thought incompatible with +the plan of this work, which in no single instance has contemplated +the inclusion of any but the most momentous events. Besides, existing +conditions have received protracted mention in the preceding +descriptive and statistical departments where appear evidences of the +County's present vast wealth and resources, numberless charms and +recent marvelous development. + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History and Comprehensive Description +of Loudoun County, Virginia, by James W. Head + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY AND COMPREHENSIVE *** + +***** This file should be named 17485.txt or 17485.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/4/8/17485/ + +Produced by Mark C. 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