History and Comprehensive Description of Loudoun County, Virginia by James William Head
page 143 of 250 (57%)
page 143 of 250 (57%)
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and is hereby repealed and made void.
DERIVATION OF NAME. Loudoun County was named in honor of Lord Loudoun, a representative peer of Scotland, who, the year before its establishment, and during the French and Indian war, had been appointed captain-general and governor-in-chief of the province of Virginia, and commander-in-chief of the British military forces in the Colonies. His military avocations, however, prevented him from entering upon the duties of the gubernatorial office, and it is believed that he never visited the colony of Virginia. Dinwiddie continued in the control of its affairs, while Loudoun turned his attention to military matters, in which his indolence, indecision, and general inefficiency were most conspicuous and disastrous. Franklin said of him: "He is like little St. George on the sign-boards; always on horseback, but never goes forward." Until his early recall to England, contemporaneous writers and brother officers mercilessly criticised Loudoun "whom a child might outwit, or terrify with a pop-gun." Hardesty's Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia contains the following succinct account of the public services rendered by this noted Scotchman: "John Campbell, son of Hugh, Earl of Loudoun, was born in 1705, and succeeded his father in the title in November, |
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