e Maryland
shore.

TOWNS AND VILLAGES.

_Leesburg._

Leesburg, a fine old town, the county-seat of Loudoun, lies at the
eastern base of Catoctin Mountain, 2-1/2 miles from the Potomac River
at Balls Bluff, and 3-7/8 miles west of Goose Creek. It is in the
northern part of the County, 40 miles northwest of Washington, 153
miles in a like direction from Richmond, the State capital, within a
few miles of the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains and the celebrated
Valley of Virginia, 12 miles from Point of Rocks, Md., and about 22
miles from historic Harpers Ferry, W. Va. It occupies a high and
healthy plain, the environs of which are waving and well cultivated
and delightfully variegated by hill and dale.

The town derives its name from the Lees, who were among the early
settlers of the County, and was established by act of the General
Assembly, in September, 1758, in the thirty-second year of the reign
of George II. Nicholas Minor, who owned sixty acres of land about the
court-house, had subdivided this tract and some of the lots had been
built upon prior to the passage of the act. This instrument
constituted "the Hon. Philip Ludwell Lee, Esq., Thomas Mason, Esq.,
Francis Lightfoot Lee (father of 'Light Horse Harry' of subsequent
Revolutionary fame), James Hamilton, Nicholas Minor, Josias Clapham,
AEneas Campbell, John Hugh, Francis Hague, and William West,
gentlemen," trustees for the newly established town. Prior to its
establishment it had borne the name Georgetown, bestowed in honor of
the then reigning English monarch.

[14]"In its birth and infancy the town was destined to win renown, for
it was first founded as a fort or outpost of the then struggling
colony of Virginia, as its narrow streets and close, little red brick
houses still testify, and for many years was the most westerly post of
the colony. At one time the entire town was enclosed by stockades...."

"Following its establishment the little fort became the principal
outfitting post for the British and colonial forces in the French and
Indian war. Tradition still fondly points to the stone house, famous
as the headquarters of General Braddock, who, it is claimed, passed
through the place on his last fatal march to the wilderness; but in
the light of thorough investigation this claim is found to be
unsubstantiated. While a division of his army, under command of the
eccentric old Sir Peter Halkett, did undoubtedly spend the night at
the plantation of N