History and Comprehensive Description of Loudoun County, Virginia   By: James William Head (1883-)

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