Editing King George County, Virginia (section)

==History==
King George County was established in 1720 when land was split from [[Richmond County, Virginia]]. The county is named for [[George I of Great Britain|King George I]] of [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n174 175]}}</ref> It was substantially reorganized in 1776 and 1777, with land swapped with both [[Stafford County, Virginia|Stafford]] and [[Westmoreland County, Virginia|Westmoreland]] counties to form the modern boundaries.

In the early decades, [[Planter class|planters]] cultivated [[tobacco]], a labor-intensive commodity crop, depending on the labor of both indentured servants from Britain and enslaved Africans. Gradually slaves became the primary laborers, as fewer indentured servants arrived. Later mixed crops were introduced, as the land had gotten exhausted from tobacco cultivation. The county and state were dominated by slavery.

On March 16, 1751, [[James Madison]], the fourth [[President of the United States]], was born at [[Belle Grove (Port Conway, Virginia)|Belle Grove]] plantation, the childhood home of his mother, [[Eleanor Conway Madison|Eleanor Rose "Nellie" Conway]]. Like other women, she returned home to her mother for assistance when bearing her child. The plantation is located in [[Port Conway, Virginia|Port Conway]] in southern King George County. Nellie Conway was the daughter of its owner, Francis Conway, for whom the town of Port Conway was named. [[William "Extra Billy" Smith]], twice elected governor of Virginia, was born at [[Marengo, Virginia]] in 1797.

On May 1, 1861, during the [[American Civil War]], [[Confederate States of America|Confederates]] installed [[artillery]] at Mathias Point in order to blockade the [[Potomac River]]. On June 27, the steamer ''Thomas Freeborn'' bombarded Mathias Point in an effort to drive away the soldiers who were manning the weapons. Confederate soldiers fired back from Mathias Point, striking and mortally wounding Commander [[James H. Ward]] of the ''Freeborn.'' He was the first [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] [[naval]] officer to die in the Civil War.
[[Image:King George County landscape.jpg|thumb|left|Landscape in King George County]]

After assassinating President [[Abraham Lincoln]], [[John Wilkes Booth]] and [[David Herold]] tried to elude [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] [[cavalry]] and crossed into the Virginia county by boat from [[Maryland]] on April 21, 1865. Booth and Herold landed at the mouth of Gambo Creek, before meeting with [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] agents, who guided their passage to [[Port Conway, Virginia|Port Conway]]. From there they crossed into [[Port Royal, Virginia|Port Royal]], in [[Caroline County, Virginia|Caroline County]].