On the 11th July, 1865, there appears the following:
"George K. Fox Jr., as Clerk of this Court having removed from the County the records of this Court, under an order of Court heretofore made, he is now ordered to return the said records to the Clerks office as soon as possible."[181]
These instructions were carried out by Mr. Fox. For over three years he had guarded his trust, without opportunity to return to Leesburg or see a member of his family during that time. He now found himself disfranchised; but between him and Charles P. Janney the new county clerk, who before the war had worked in his office, there was a strong friendship so that Mr. Janney appointed Mr. Fox his assistant, in which position he served until his reëlection as county clerk, which occurred as soon as the civil disabilities of the former Confederates were removed. He continued as county clerk until his death on the 14th of December, 1872, at the early age of forty years. How truly valued was he in Loudoun was shown at his funeral which is said to have been the largest the county had known to that time.
On the 2nd March, 1867, the Congress passed that indefensible Reconstruction Act which was to leave more bitterness in the South than the war itself, but, in all that followed, Virginia suffered less than other States of the old Confederacy. Under that act Virginia became Military District Number One and General John M. Schofield, formerly the head of the Potomac Division of the Federal Army, was given command. His choice was a most fortunate one for Virginia. Of him Richard L. Morton writes:
"He was conservative, just and wise; and it was due to his moral courage that Virginia was spared the reign of terror that existed in most of the Southern States during the Reconstruction period. His policy was to gain the confidence and support of the people of the State and to interfere as little as possible with civil authorities."[182]
[182] _The Negro in Virginia Politics_, 27.
General Eppa Hunton came to know him well and between the two men there developed mutual respect and friendship. Hunton, in his biography, has this to say of conditions under Schofield's rule:
"Fortunately for us the commanders in this district were good men--not disposed to oppress us--and we had for several years a fairly good military government in Virginia--our judges were military appointees; our Sheriff and all the officers in this State owed their appointment to the military Governor of Virginia. Our military judge was Lysander Hill. We had great apprehensions of him as our circuit judge when he took the place of Judge Henry W. Thomas, of Fairfax, but Hill turned out to be a first rate man and a fine judge. He was the best listener I ever addressed on the bench. His decisions were able and generally satisfactory. He certainly was not influenced in the slightest degree by politics on the bench--(Schofield) tried in every way to mitigate the hardships of our situation and gave us the best government that was possible under the circumstances."[183]