ng with a shock of the surrender, experienced a terrible dread of
the incoming armies. The women had been enthusiastic for the
Confederate cause; their sacrifices had been incalculable, and to many
the disappointment and sorrow following defeat were more bitter than
death. The soldier had the satisfaction of having fought in the field
for his opinions and it was easier for him to abide by the decision of
arms.

But the terms of peace had scarcely been signed when the great popular
heart of the State swelled with generous and magnanimous rivalry in an
effort to repair the past. The soldiers who had fought and striven
under the successful banners of the Union came back with no bitterness
in their hearts, with no taunts on their lips. The war-worn exiles of
the Southern army, long before formal permission had been given by
either the State or Federal Government, were summoned home and
received with open arms and affectionate greetings by both the Union
and States-rights men. The people of the entire State seemed to
remember with sorrowful pride the noble men who had died gallantly in
the ranks of either army. Over their faults was thrown the mantle of
the sweet and soothing charities of the soldier's grave; and, on all
sides, there was manifested unstinted admiration for the valor with
which they had borne the dangers and privations of the war.

RECONSTRUCTION.

_After the Surrender._

If the era of Reconstruction which followed the tragic drama of civil
war lacked the fierce element of bloodshed, it was none the less
painful and protracted. It was a gloomy period through which the
people of Loudoun, in common with other communities of the Southland,
were compelled to pass, and there was no appeal and no alternative
save submission.

The conditions in the South in this decade were radically different
from those in the North. As a result of the war, the markets of the
South were destroyed, investments in slaves were lost, and land
improvements deteriorated. The close of the war found the planters
bankrupt, their credit destroyed, and agriculture and all business
paralyzed by lack of working capital. Vast areas of land went out of
cultivation, the reported acreage of farm land in all the Southern
States was less in 1870 than in 1860, and the total and average values
of land everywhere decreased.

The paroled Confederate soldier had returned to his ruined farm and
set to work to save his family from extreme want. Fo