Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/23

Rh 35,058, or less than one-fortieth of the whole. The basis of her white population was mainly English and Scotch, with Germans (mainly in the Valley), French Huguenots (mainly in Midland), and some Irish. Her negroes were mostly the descendants of imported Africans, but among them were numbers that had been sold into her borders from Northern States previous to the emancipation of slaves in those States. The condition of her people was, as a whole, as happy and contented as could be presented by any of the States of the Union. Cultivable lands were plentiful and comparatively cheap. Nearly all articles needed to supply human wants were abundant and held at reasonable prices. Labor was well paid, especially that of a skilled character. The great body of the people was prosperous and steadily improving in circumstances. Kindly relations existed throughout the commonwealth, not only between the races, but between the rich and the poor. The laws were respected and justly and ably administered by an incorruptible judiciary, from the gentlemen justices of the peace of the counties up to her distinguished judges of the circuit courts and the court of appeals. Crimes affecting persons and property were rare, and the churches of the leading religious denominations of the country, the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians and Episcopalians, this order representing their comparative numbers, were everywhere distributed, well attended and cared for by able and zealous preachers of the Gospel. She was among the first of the States to establish asylums for the insane and an institution for mutes and the blind.

While Virginia did not have in 1860 a public school system under State control, as she now has, she made ample provision for all those desiring to be educated. In nearly every neighborhood throughout the State were private schools, generally well taught, to which all had access, the State paying the tuition of all who asked such assistance. Academies and preparatory schools, most of them classical and taught by well-educated gentlemen, were found in all parts of the State. Many of these, conducted by men of high social standing and with numerous assistants, were not only locally patronized but drew large numbers of pupils from other States, especially those of the South and Southwest. Her military institute, attended by appointed students from every