each; 5,989, but two; 4,474, but three; 3,807, but four; 3,233, but five each. These figures show that about one-fifth of her slaveholders owned but a single slave, and that of three-fifths of them, each owned five or less. Those owning six each were 2,824; those seven, 2,393; those eight, 1,984; those nine, 1,788. The owners of from ten to fifteen each were 5,086; from fifteen to twenty were 3,088; from twenty to thirty were 3,017; from thirty to forty were 1,291; from forty to fifty were 609; from fifty to seventy were 503; from 70 to 100 were 243; from 100 to 200 were 105; from 200 to 300 were but eight, and from 300 to 500 but one.
The distribution of slaveholders, slaves and free negroes among the seven natural grand divisions of Virginia in 1860, is suggestively presented in the following table, showing numbers of slaveholders and of negroes (slave and free) in Virginia in 1860, by grand divisions of the State, and number of counties in each grand division:
| Counties. | Slaveholders. | Slaves. | Free Negroes. | ||
| 1. | Tidewater, | 30 | 14,862 | 149,018 | 28,646 |
| 2. | Midland, | 25 | 17,841 | 190,489 | 15,746 |
| 3. | Piedmont, | 14 | 9,182 | 88,600 | 5,206 |
| 4. | Blue Ridge, | 3 | 331 | 1,248 | 99 |
| 5. | The Valley, | 17 | 6,235 | 41,376 | 5,803 |
| 6. | Appalachia, | 18 | 2,444 | 13,211 | 1,465 |
| 7. | Trans-Appal’a, | 41 | 1,522 | 6,797 | 1,081 |
| Totals, | 148 | 52,128 | 490,865 | 57,374 |
The following table presents the same facts for the portions of the State in 1860 that were organized into the State of West Virginia, December 31, 1862, and admitted into the Union as a State, June 19, 1863:
| Counties. | Slaveholders. | Slaves. | Free Negroes. | ||
| 1. | The Valley, | 2 | 967 | 5,610 | 797 |
| 2. | Appalachia, | 9 | 1,132 | 6,060 | 922 |
| 3. | Trans-Appal’a, | 39 | 1,506 | 6,706 | 1,054 |
| Totals, | 50 | 3,605 | 18,376 | 2,773 |
These tables furnish a key to many of the political and military happenings in Virginia during the civil war. They show that the slave population of Virginia was mainly confined to the region east of the Appalachian mountains. In Tidewater, where slavery was first planted within the limits of the Union, there were
