Written by the same Georgia physician who wrote "Little Giffen", this poem does much to explain why Virginia's decision to cast her lot with the Confederacy was so crucial to the success of the secession movement. As "the mother of states and statesmen," the Old Dominion held a singular and almost mystical place in the hearts and history of the young republic. Virginians considered themselves the keepers of the flame of libery lit by George Washington almost a century earlier and as the natural inheritors of the knightly traditions of the early English explorers and settlers.

The "Spottswood" referred to in the poem is Alexander Spottswood, colonial governor of British North America from 1710 to 1722, who mounted the famous "Knights of the Golden Horseshoe" expedition to explore Virginia beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains.

"The Virginians of the Valley"

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Last modified 16-April-2001