Eighty-one residents of Rockingham County represent that "our County owns but few slaves, in comparison with many other portions of our state, and therefore the drain upon our laborers to fill up the ranks of our Army has been greater in proportion to our population." They further point out that "in addition to this fact, our County has been twice overrun by our enemies, who destroyed our fences, devastated our fields and robbed us of our property"; the federal troops also "deprived us of a part of what we had, by seducing many of our slaves from their owners and carrying them off." The petitioners submit, however, that "we are now called upon to furnish nearly one whole force of stout and able bodied slaves remaining in the County to work upon the fortifications of Richmond, a call, which if not arrested by the action of the Legislature, will further cripple and impair our ability to cultivate our lands, and to furnish aid to our Confederate armies." They therefore pray that "your honorable body, in consideration of the facts and reasons here presented, will amend the Law, so as to exempt from its operation the County of Rockingham."
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
