Last updated: August 17, 2026
Person
Isaac Hite, Jr.
Collection of Belle Grove Plantation, Middletown, Virginia. Used with permission.
Quick Facts
Significance:
Plantation owner, Revolutionary War officer
Place of Birth:
Frederick County, Va.
Date of Birth:
February 7, 1758
Place of Death:
Frederick County, Va.
Date of Death:
November 24, 1836
Place of Burial:
Warren County, Virginia
Cemetery Name:
Hite Family Cemetery
Maj. Isaac Hite Jr. served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. He owned Belle Grove, a large slave labor plantation.
Isaac Jr. was born at his father's plantation in the colonial Shenandoah Valley. As a young man, Isaac saw his father organizing resistance to the British Parliament. Isaac Sr. hosted figures such as Peter Muhleberg and Jonathan Clark.
Isaac Jr. went to the College of William and Mary. He started his military service in the College Company. Later Isaac was an aide on the staff of Gen. Muhlenberg. Isaac wrote a first-hand account of the Siege of Yorktown. After the war, Gov. Patrick Henry made Isaac Jr. an honorary major in the Virginia Militia.
In 1783, he married Nelly Madison, sister of James Madison. Isaac’s father gifted the couple land that became Belle Grove Plantation. The Madisons gave them fifteen enslaved persons. The Hites built their manor house in 1797. They enslaved over 270 individuals from 1783 to 1851.