Louisa County Virginia USGenWeb Archives History - Books .....Louisa County History From Historical Collections Of Virginia By Henry Howe 1845
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Alice Warner http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00015.html#0003503 April 3, 2008, 12:23 am

Book Title: Historical Collections Of Virginia By Henry Howe, 1845

Louisa, p. 358-359

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 $3000. 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 for 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 debut, 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 illustrius band of his compatriots.

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