Collection open for research.
Physical characteristics and conditions affect use of this material. Photocopying not permitted. Some materials may require special handling.
George R. Head Collection, 1814 - 1901 (M 0105), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.
Robert and Carol Johnson, Roseville, MN
2014.0140, 2014.0166
Laura Christiansen, 25 July 2016
George R. Head (1822-1894) was a prominent political, business, and military leader of Leesburg, Virginia. The son of George Head (1783-1870) and Mary Gover Head (1785-1823), he was one of six children from this marriage. After Head's mother's death in 1823, his father married Hannah J. Gover (1799-after 1870). Both Head and his father served in the 57th Regiment of the VA Militia. In 1848, Head married Sarah Virginia Gover (1823-before 1878), and the couple had six children, four who survived to adulthood: Ann 'Nannie' Head (1849- after 1880), William Head (1852 - 1892), Rosellar Head Johnson (1853 - 1885), and Susan Virginia Head (1855 - 1912). He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Active in public life, Head served as a Justice of the Peace and as a member of the Leesburg Town Council beginning in 1858. He also established himself in business as a whitesmith or tinsmith, producing a number of goods including guns. In March 1861, he placed an advertisement in The Mirror announcing that he had just received "a fine lot of Colt's Revolvers which will be sold at reduced prices."
Upon the occurrence of John Brown's raid of the government armory and arsenal at Harpers Ferry on 16 October 1869, Charles B. Tebbs, among many others in Loudoun County, participated in raising a volunteer company 'The Loudoun Guard' for the protection of the border. This company, ostensibly attached to the 57th Regiment (Loudoun County), Virginia Militia, was accepted into state service at Leesburg on 22 April 1861, under the command of Captain Tebbs. Head served as First Lieutenant. On 24 April 1861, the Loudoun Guard was ordered to proceed to Alexandria, Virginia, where it was officially mustered into service on 23 May 1861, by Major George W. Brent (1821-1872) as part of the newly organized 17th Regiment Virginia Infantry. The next day the Loudoun Guard was sent to Manassas Junction and nearby Camp Pickens, where Captain Tebbs remained in command of the Loudoun Guard until June when he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and reassigned to the 8th Virginia Regiment. On June 29, 1861, Head was appointed Captain of Company C of the 17th Virginia Infantry Regiment, one of ten companies in the newly formed unit.
As Captain, Head oversaw daily duty rosters, correspondence, and requisition records for Company C dating between 1861 and April 1862. He also managed payroll, funds, and supplies for the company. He was noted for his actions on 18 July 1861 at Blackburn's Ford just before the First Battle of Manassas. In his report of the action Colonel Montgomery D. Course noted "gallant conduct" of Head and four other officers "who were actively and fearlessly employed during the engagement" where "the fire was hottest." After this engagement the 17th Virginia was stationed at Camp Harrison near Fairfax Courthouse. The Regiment was reorganized at Yorktown, Virginia in April 1862 during the Siege of Yorktown. On 23 April 1862, Head narrowly avoided being struck by an exploding shell whole on duty at Dam Number 4. There is no record of Head incurring an injury during this incident. On 28 April 1862, Head was re-elected Captain of Company C, but resigned his commission shortly after his election.
In September of 1862 he was recommended for an appointment to the Ordinance Department. Created by the General Assembly of Virginia on 25 January 1861, the Virginia Ordinance Department was leased to the Confederate Government and took charge of maintaining the Richmond Armory and manufacturing arms for the war effort. Head served the Ordinance Department in Lynchburg and at the Virginia Armory in Richmond until the end of the War. In January 1864 Head was sent to Lynchburg to investigate issues with the manufacture of "Williams Guns", a breech loading rapid fire canon first deployed by the Confederacy at the Battle of Seven Pines on 31 May 1862. Head confirmed the guns were defective.
Following the end of the Civil War, Head returned to Leesburg and established a business manufacturing stoves. He continued to be active in politics, serving as a Magistrate for the 8th District in 1868, as Mayor of Leesburg from 1869-1884 and as a Town Councilman for more than 40 years. Head was an active Democrat, and was Chairman of the Loudoun County Democratic Committee from 1892-1894. He was regularly nominated as a candidate for the House of Delegates, winning elections in 1879 and 1890. In 1885 and 1886 he was appointed to serve as Leesburg's Postmaster by President Grover Cleveland (1837-1908). Head was active in the Clinton Hatcher Camp of Confederate Veterans and in fraternal organizations. He was a Mason and was elected as a Grandmaster of the Oddfellows in 1869. His death was recorded in the 1 February 1894 edition of The Mirror with an obituary entitled "A Valuable Citizen Passes Away." Head is buried in Union Cemetery.
The George R. Head collection consists of materials created or collected by Captain George R. Head (1822-1894) of Leesburg, Virginia. The collection includes family correspondence and papers, military correspondence and records, publications, currency and ephemera. The collection also contains artifacts including a canteen, haversack, holster, belt and buckles used by Head during the American Civil War. A 2005 inventory of documents, typed transcriptions of selected letters and documents in the collection, and research related to George R. Head's confederate military service accompanies the collection.
Family correspondence and papers are arranged chronologically and date from 1847-1897. Correspondence includes letters to and from family members and from Head's fellow Odd Fellows and Masonic Lodge members. Of note are letters sent by Head to his wife Sarah Gover Head during June and July of 1862. Other Loudoun county correspondents include George Head's brother Reverend Nelson Head (1811 -1902), George W. Janney (1821-1873), and Edward Nichols (1847-1923). Family papers contain a handwritten funeral announcement for Lydia Head (fl. 1775 -1832), paternal grandmother of George R. Head and epitaphs drafted for his wife Sarah Virginia Gover and for her father, Samuel Gover, Jr. (1795-1875).
The bulk of the collection relates to Head's military service, first with the 57th Regiment, Virginia Militia, at the outset of the Civil War as 1st Lieutenant in the Loudoun Guard and later as Captain of Company C, of the Virginia 17th Infantry Regiment. Included are daily rosters, correspondence, and requisition records for the Company C dating between 1861 and April 1862 when Head resigned his commission. In September of 1862 he was recommended for an appointment to the Ordinance Department. Correspondence and records from Head's Ordinance Department service are included in the collection. Letters relating to the Head's investigation of inherent problems with Williams Guns are of particular note. Other Civil War era materials include pamphlets, currency, and other ephemera such as postal covers. Artifacts in the collection also relate to Head's military service. Included are a canteen, haversack, holster, belt, belt buckles, and five buttons used or worn by Head during the American Civil War. The canteen is particularly unique. The design is similar to other tin drum canteens issued by the Confederacy in 1861; however, Head's canteen features a hand-drawn image of the seal of Virginia including the motto Sic Semper Tyrannis and the figures of Virtus and Tyrannus. Two small leather coin purses are also in the collection.
Civil War Research Collection, 1859-1865 (SC 0095); Loudoun County Military Records (M 015); Preservation Society of Loudoun County Cemetery Committee Records, 1990 (M 006); Leesburg Civil War Collection, 1861-1865, (M 075); Town of Leesburg, Virginia Records, 1813- present; Clinton Hatcher Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans Collection (M 025).