Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

Use microfilm copy, Botetourt County (Va.) Reel 198.

Preferred Citation

Botetourt County (Va.) Minutes of the Provisional Committee, 1861-1865. Local government records collection, Botetourt County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

This item came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Botetourt County.

Historical Information

Botetourt County was named for Norborne Berkeley, baron de Botetourt, the royal governor of Virginia from 1768 to 1770. It was formed from Augusta County in 1769, and part of Rockbridge County was added in 1785.

On 1970 December 15, a fire gutted the Botetourt County courthouse in Fincastle, Virginia. The court records were not burned but were heavily water damaged. Many of the court papers are extremely fragile today as a result of this water damage and some are not useable. Because of the near-loss of the Botetourt County records, the Virginia General Assembly passed the Virginia Public Records Act in 1975. The act mandated that deeds, wills, and other vital records be inventoried and microfilmed and copies of the film stored permanently in the Library of Virginia in Richmond for safekeeping. Counties could also choose to send court records to the Library of Virginia for storage and safekeeping as needed.

Throughout the Civil War, the principal responsibility for Virginia's indigent soldiers' families lay with the locality. The Virginia State Convention in 1861 gave the responsibility entirely to counties and incorporated towns and authorized whatever actions had already been taken. Acts of Assembly in 1862 and 1863 expanded the localities' powers to provide for their needy, and in 1863 some minimal state assistance was added in. At first relief was provided as money, but as the monetary system collapsed, relief was distributed in kind. Agents of the court maintained lists of eligible families, gathered goods for distribution and paid for them, and impressed supplies if necessary. Virginia was unique amongst the southern states in that it assigned the provisioning of needy families almost solely to the locality.

Scope and Content

Botetourt County (Va.) Minutes of the Provisional Committee, 1861-1865, record information about the county's efforts to supply its voluntary military units as well as for indigent soldiers' families. Included is information about committee members and officials, county bonds to raise money, tax monies collected, accounts paid out (including to whom paid and the amount, but rarely the reason why paid), and occasional specific information about soldiers, or a soldier's family, or a particular military unit, including the Botetourt Dragoons.

Arrangement

Volume entries date from 1861-1865 but are not in any kind of order. There is no index.

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Botetourt County (Va.). Circuit Court.
• Confederate States of America. Army. Virginia Cavalry Regiment, 2nd. Company C.

Subjects:

• Confederate States of America -- Economic conditions.
• Poverty. -- Virginia -- Botetourt County.
• Public welfare. -- Virginia -- Botetourt County.

Geographical Names:

• Botetourt County (Va.) -- History -- 19th century.
• Botetourt County (Va.) -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Equipment and supplies.
• Botetourt County (Va.) -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Accounts -- Virginia -- Botetourt County.
• Local government records -- Virginia -- Botetourt County.
• Military records -- Virginia -- Botetourt County.
• Minutes -- Virginia -- Botetourt County.
• Tax and fiscal records -- Virginia -- Botetourt County.