At a meeting recently I heard that, as part of renovations being planned for Leesburg's historic district, that informational placards would be placed strategically to help tell stories from our past. To indicate to the reader (and teach at the same time) it is proposed that the markers be branded with an image of Leesburg's unique script issued at the start of the Civil War, now known as "Dog Money".

As our current President is apt to say, this indeed is a teachable moment, about, well a teachable moment.  I've found that the consultants the Town has hired for the renovation project, AECOM, very in tune commentary offered up by the concerned and indeed, in tune to the essence of what Leesburg is: a southern town, located to the north and west of our nation's capital, whose age and location has offered it opportunities few places could ever hope to claim. Hmmmm, the capital of the nation itself for a few days in 1812?  But that's another story.

Leesburg was a prosperous town at the start of the Civil War. In 1860 "The Democratic Mirror", one of two Leesburg newspapers (the other being the "Washingtonian") advertises the Leesburg Academy, a foundry, a marble shop and a wagon and machine factory and various professional services.  You could ride the train into Washington. 

Mere weeks after the battle of Fort Sumter and Virginia succession in April of 1861, a new town council was elected and seated in May. Headed by Mayor John Orr, this was clearly a decisive council, immediately authorizing $500 from town funds to be given to the Loudoun Guards, Company "C" of the 17th Virginia Infantry.

With t hat and other war preparations complete, the 1861 council then turned it's attention to a very pressing matter of local commerce. You couldn't make change in Leesburg for anything smaller than a $5 bill!  That would be a real problem today, but a near crisis in 1861 when a dollar truly was worth a dollar.  The minutes from the May 31st council meeting contains this statement:

"Whereas there is an almost total absence in this place of an amount small enough for change and there is a public neccesity for some measure to supply said want therefore."

The gist of the "therefore" is that the town would proceed to have it's own paper money printed. Legal, well according to the Town of Leesburg website, no.  Necessary?  Clearly.  Mayor Orr was to sign each note personally (at least initially until he got help from one Mr. Chamblin) and thousands of notes were quickly in circulation. My dollar note is numbered 4861 and was issued on August 16th. The notes were in denominations of one dollar, 50, 25 and 12 1/2 cents.

The series was clearly successful, the town website reports that about $93,500 worth were issued over the course of the war. And perhaps, especially during that first summer, highly lucrative. The council minutes from August 16th, 1861 show that $7,000 had been deposited into the town's bank account and further instructed Mr. Chamblin to purchase $3,000 in Loudoun County bonds.

I had more questions about Leesburg's dog money when I went to Balch Library that remain unanswered, despite reading through Mr. Birkby's carefully recorded council minutes and through the "The Democratic Mirror".  For example, I wanted to know, "whose dog modeled for the notes?" and "what is the cubical building behind the dog?", which is oddly reminiscent of today's county building at One Harrison Street.

The dissapointment of those unanswered questions was more than replaced by a realization of the courage of one John M. Orr. It was his name was on thousands of pieces of illegal script at a time when thousands of Federal troops were a few miles away, across the Potomac, anxious to teach the Rebels a hard lesson.