The Thoroughbred, a horse breed synonymous with racing, traces through all modern lines to three stallions imported into England from the Middle East in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. English Thoroughbreds began arriving in North America in 1730, and Diomed, brought to Virginia in 1798, significantly shaped American Thoroughbred breeding chiefly through his son Sir Archy. In Brunswick, Ralph Wormeley briefly owned and raced Sir Archy circa 1807, while James J. Harrison of Diamond Grove Plantation on the Meherrin River owned Sir Archy offspring including Sir Charles and Timoleon, both 19th century stars as sires and racers, and also led the effort to develop a United States studbook like the English volume. In early 19th century southern Virginia, racing and horse breeding reached an economic and social peak, with numerous racetracks in the region, including Diamond Grove, Lawrenceville, and Charlie Hope, and by 1830 county races were held twice yearly in spring and fall for four days alongside gala balls, home parties, fox hunts, and excursions. During the Civil War, Confederate quartermasters and Union raiders took crops, livestock, and thousands of horses for their troops, and together with the devastated postwar economy this caused the local horse industry to decline. Many racehorses foaled in America, including Secretariat, Man O’War, and Seabiscuit, descended from Sir Archy.