NORTHERN VIRGINIA’S AGRICULTURE IN THE 1870’S
By 1870, Virginia farmers were beginning to recover from the recent war which had completely disrupted normal agricultural activity. The effects of the war had been felt keenly in Northern Virginia where the conflict had not been marked by many of the major battles but had nevertheless afflicted the area with four years of constant raiding and skirmishing. The resultant toll of horses, mules, cattle, and livestock and the dearth of farm machinery were major handicaps facing the farmer, as were his lack of capital with which to purchase supplies and equipment from outside his area and the general shortage of labor.[46] These shortages were overcome slowly. Some materials for beginning to rebuild the war damage were readily available from military supplies immediately after the close of hostilities; and, in this respect, Northern Virginia was fortunate to be within a few miles of the Union Army supply depots in Alexandria and Washington, D.C. But, as the confused era of reconstruction set in, the farmer was thrown mainly on his own resources of land and labor to rebuild his fortunes.
Poor as his prospects might seem to be, the Northern Virginia farmer had certain advantages that farmers in other parts of the state lacked. The farmland was by no means barren or exhausted, although it had been worked steadily during the previous decade when all efforts turned to producing the maximum amount of food for subsistence and no thought could be given to maintaining or enhancing the fertility of the soil.[47] Also, Fairfax County farmers had relatively easy access to the produce markets of Washington and Baltimore, both by water and overland transportation.[48]
Figure 4. Hopkins’ Atlas Map, 1879.
Moreover, agriculture in Northern Virginia had not been dominated by the plantation system since the mid-eighteenth century. By 1870, even the great landholdings which had been carved out of the original proprietary grants had given way to a third generation of farms, still smaller in size and more diversified. While the owners of these Northern Virginia farms had, in many instances, owned slaves before the war, their dependence on this source of labor was not as critical as in other parts of Virginia—notably, the regions where tobacco was king. Thus, when the “great political convulsion which culminated in the disruption of the labor system of the State”[49] compelled Southern farmers generally to rebuild their system with different forms of labor and land tenure, Fairfax County farmers found themselves able to adjust to the new circumstances with relative ease once they were able to acquire tools and livestock. At this time, as before the war, they benefited greatly from the presence among them of a group of thrifty and industrious farm families who migrated from New York and New Jersey, bringing with them new energy, 21 new capital, and new methods of farming from the diversified agricultural regions of the North.[50]
In addition, there was abroad in Virginia in 1870 a strong spirit for revival of its agriculture, looking not only to securing the advantages which scientific husbandry could bring through restored fertility of the soil but also to realization of the Jeffersonian dream of a strong, stable, and independent class of American yeomanry owning and working its own land.[51] Soon after the commencement of reconstruction, organizations patterned after the various scientific farming societies of the 1830’s began to appear and agricultural newspapers, such as The Southern Farmer, resumed publication and circulation in Northern Virginia. These two sources called strongly for Virginia farmers to change their traditional ways of farming for modern methods and modern farm implements.[52] As the 1870’s advanced, these sources were joined by the State Government, which provided a certain amount of assistance for modernization of Virginia agriculture.[53]
MOSBY’S LIEUTENANT
It was in this setting that Fountain Beattie became the owner of Green Spring Farm in June 1878 when he purchased the 339-acre tract through a commissioner’s deed approved by the County Court.[54]