ny 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, 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]

Fountain Beattie was the son of Colonel Robert Beattie and Pauline
White Beattie of Chilhowie in Washington County, Virginia. In 1861, he
enlisted in the First Virginia Cavalry at Abingdon and there made the
acquaintance of John S. Mosby. They became good friends, and when
Mosby received his separate command, he took Beattie with him.[55]
During the next three years, Beattie rode with Mosby in campaigns that
cro