“Black Heth”

Black Heth Plantation in Chesterfield County near Midlothian was the home of Heth family. The building had collapsed by the 1920s, primarily due to the nearby mining operations weakening the supporting earth underneath it.

Harry Heth was a merchant in Richmond and Manchester, who, among other ventures, operated the Black Heth mines in Chesterfield County from 1795 until his death in 1822. Heth served as a tobacco inspector and as the founder of the Black Heth Mines, as well as a shipping agent and other business interests. An officer in the militia during the Revolutionary War, he was an ancestor of Henry Heth, who became a Confederate General during the Civil War. The original Heth had been a member of the Federalist Party, and an associate of Presidents George Washington, John Adams, and Chief Justice John Marshall.

During the War of 1812, Heth commanded a local militia unit, the Manchester Cavalry.

Ever a fan of the ladies, Capt. Heth heartily gave his thanks for the flag his regiment received from the ladies of Norfolk, Virginia when it went off to war.
The Manchester Cavalry was a short lived militia unit active from September 1814 until the end of the War of 1812 just a few months later. Whether they saw combat is unknown.