BIO: Donald Sweig, who retired in 2002 after more than 27 years as the county historian for Fairfax County, holds a Ph.D. in American history from the College of William and Mary. This article is drawn from his earlier scholarly, statistical analysis of the Alexandria-to-New Orleans slave trade, which was awarded the Charles Thomson Prize by the National Archives of the United States, and The Organization of American Historians, and from his doctoral dissertation "Northern Virginia Slavery." He is an occasional contributor to The Connection Newspapers.