LOUISA.
Louisa was formed from Hanover in 1742: its mean length is
30, mean breadth 18 miles. The county is watered by the North
and South Anna Rivers and their numerous branches. The surface
is hilly; the soil, originally of middling fertility, has been injured
by injudicious agriculture. Several gold mines have been
opened in the county, but not worked with much profit: in 1840
the gold mined was worth $3,000. Pop. in 1840, whites 6,047,
slaves 9,010, free colored 376; total, 15,433.
Louisa C. H., 60 miles NW. of Richmond, on the line of the Louisa
rail-road, is a small village containing a few dwellings only.
There are no places of note in the county.
Louisa has been the scene of no important historical incident.
Its citizens bore their full share in the Indian and French war of
1755, and in the war of the revolution. Tarleton with his cavalry
passed up by the court-house in 1781, on his expedition into Albemarle:
and when Lafayette had united with Wayne at the Raccoon
Ford, on the Rapid Ann, and turned to pursue the British general
from whom he had been retreating, he made a forced and rapid
march across this county, from Brock's bridge on the North Anna,
to the Fluvanna line, in order to intercept the enemy. The road
which he opened for this purpose is still known as "the Marquis's
road;" passing southwesterly three or four miles above the Green
Spring. In the same year, two tories who had attached themselves,
as marauders, to the British army, were summarily hung by
one Holland and another man, near the Goochland boundary,
twenty-one miles south from Louisa C. H., with the countenance
and before the eyes of the neighboring people. Louisa first sent
Patrick Henry as a delegate to the House of Burgesses in 1765,
soon after his removal from Hanover; and she again elected him
in 1776-7, till he returned to his native county.
As the Virginia House of Burgesses had the merit of originating
that powerful engine of resistance—corresponding committees between
the legislatures of the different colonies—so Louisa had the
honor of furnishing the member, in the person of Dabney Carr,
Esq., who introduced the measure March 12th, 1773. The resolutions
adopted were entered upon the public journals, one of
which placed Mr. Carr on the standing committee of correspondence
and inquiry. Wirt says of him:
In supporting these resolutions, Mr. Carr made his début, and a noble one it is said
to have been. This gentleman, by profession a lawyer, had recently commenced his
practice at the same bar with Patrick Henry; and although he had not yet reached the
meridian of life, he was considered by far the most formidable rival in forensic eloquence
that Mr. Henry had ever yet had to encounter. He had the advantage of a person at
once dignified and engaging, and the manner and action of an accomplished gentleman.
His education was a finished one; his mind trained to correct thinking; his conceptions
quick, and clear, and strong; he reasoned with great cogency, and had an imagination
which enlightened beautifully, without interrupting or diverting the course of his argument.
His voice was finely toned, his feelings acute; his style free, and rich, and various;
his devotion to the cause of liberty verging on enthusiasm; and his spirit firm
and undaunted, beyond the possibility of being shaken. With what delight the House
of Burgesses hailed this new champion, and felicitated themselves on such an access to
their cause, it is easy to imagine. But what are the hopes and expectations of mortals!
"Ostendent terris hunc tantum fata, neque ultra.
Esse sinent—"
In two months from the time at which this gentleman stood before the House of Burgesses,
in all the pride of health, and genius, and eloquence—he was no more: lost to his
friends and to his country, and disappointed of sharing in that noble triumph which
awaited the illustrious band of his compatriots.
