Census captures changes in Stafford after the Civil War

Fredericksburg and Stafford to its terminus at Aquia Landing. From there, steamboats moved passengers to Washington and Baltimore.

an independent wagon driver, Robert Jennings, and others who were farm hands, factory workers and housekeepers.

BY DAVID S. KERR

In capturing the “before and after” of the Civil War in Stafford County, nothing quite illustrates the stark differences than the U.S. Census conducted in 1860 and then again in 1870.

In 1860 Stafford was one of the largest and most prosperous communities in Virginia. The population was 8,555 – large by standards of the time. It had a thriving agricultural economy, and the occupations shown in the Census reflected a dynamic community.

There were several doctors, a bank president, a judge, lawyers, storekeepers, dressmakers and seamstresses. There were also ministers, innkeepers, wheelwrights (men who made and repaired wagon wheels), coopers (barrel makers) and blacksmiths. However, by far the most common vocation was farmer.

Stafford in 1860, much as it is today, was a major thoroughfare. The Richmond Fredericksburg and Potomac (RF&P) railroad ran from Richmond through

There were some unusual listings in the 1860 Census reports. Edward Piperbring, born in Prussia, was listed as a candy maker. John Cox was a musician and listed himself as a professional fifer. Stafford was also home to a future novelist, Emma Garrison. She was 22 years old in 1860, listed as an “authoress” and already writing for various periodicals. She would later write several popular romance novels.

But, in 1860, Stafford, like the rest of the South, had a sinister side to its character –slavery.

Of that relatively large population listed in 1860, 3,314 were slaves. That’s 38% of the population. Under the U.S. Constitution, slaves were counted as three-fifths of a person for representation purposes in Congress but otherwise weren’t recorded by name in the Census. They were property.

To prove just how intertwined slavery was in Stafford life, well over 30 white men listed their jobs as “overseer.” In other words, their job was to supervise the slaves.

That’s not to say African Americans didn’t leave a mark on the Census report. There were a number of freemen, including a self-employed boatman named Robin Daggs,

But, what a difference a decade made. Five years after the Civil War, Stafford was devastated. By the time the 1870 Census was computed, the county was a shell of its former self. Its population, thanks in part to the flight of African Americans out of the county after emancipation, as well as many whites looking for a new start somewhere else, had fallen by 25%.

The musician was gone, and so was the candy maker. Emma Garrison had married and moved to Washington. She would keep writing until her death at the turn of the century. Farming was still the principal occupation. However, much of it in the years after the Civil War was subsistence level: People grew what they needed to eat with very little left over.

The eastern part of the county was particularly devastated. The Union Army had a ravenous appetite for wood – for its trains, steamboats and construction – and left few trees standing. Some accounts described the region as a wasteland.

Still, there were bright spots. There were a few mill operators, doctors, plasterers (indicative of new construction) and grocers. Also, several African Americans were listed as owning farms. That was a major change in their status. They were also listed as working as blacksmiths, wheelwrights and coopers. Stafford, however, was not what it once was. Its economy was broken and stagnant. It would take years for it to revive economically and it wouldn’t recover its pre-war population until the middle of the 20th century.

David Kerr is a Stafford resident and an adjunct professor of political science at VCU. He worked on Capitol Hill and for various federal agencies for many years.