CHAPTER XV
CIVIL WAR
It was a happy, prosperous, and contented Loudoun that the sun shone down upon in 1850. In politics the county was predominantly Whig and in the growing national issues of States' rights, slavery and secession, her sentiment clung to the preservation of the Union; but the seeds of dissension had been sown. The repercussions of John Brown's insane raid on the nearby Harper's Ferry arsenal on the 16th October, 1859, were particularly severe in Loudoun. The madness of it all profoundly shocked the community and seemed to strike at the foundations of existing society, law, and order. Yet a dogged adherence to that Union, which Virginia had been so instrumental in building, persisted. Little doubt was felt concerning the right of a sovereign State to withdraw from what had been a wholly voluntary confederation, but sentiment and a deep feeling of expediency strongly opposed such action. Elsewhere in the State the tendency toward secession was stronger. As the fateful days passed, Virginia was torn between conflicting views. It is probable that the ranting of the extreme abolitionists in the North drove more Virginians toward secession, and that against their will, than the most persuasive arguments of its fieriest advocates.
The Legislature of 1861 recognized the peril of decision in favor of either side, and the gravity of attendant consequences to be so great, that it wisely decided to refer the issue to the people themselves. On the 16th January of that year it therefore authorized that a convention be called, to be made up of delegates elected from every county, for the express purpose of deciding upon Virginia's course. Thereupon such delegates, having been duly elected, the convention met in Richmond on the 13th February, 1861, Loudoun being represented by John Janney, at that time and until his death in 1872, a leader of her Bar, and John A. Carter. Both opposed secession and voted against it in a convention in which it was apparent that its proponents held a majority. Nevertheless, Mr. Janney was elected permanent chairman by a majority of the delegates—a great personal tribute to the man and evidence of the respect in which he was held. Both those who favoured and those who condemned withdrawal from the Union were given ample opportunity to expound and urge their views. When the ominous vote was cast in secret session on the 17th April, 1861, eighty-five of the delegates favoured and fifty-five opposed an ordinance of secession; but their action was conditioned upon the majority decision being referred back to the people of Virginia for approval or rejection. Both Janney and Carter voted against the measure but even while the convention was in session a mass meeting, convened in Leesburg, passed resolutions advocating the proposed ordinance. How great a change had taken place in the sentiment of the county, during those early and fateful months of 1861, is shone in the following table of the results in Loudoun of the election of the 23rd May in which the ordinance of secession was overwhelmingly ratified there:
| Precincts | For Secession | Against |
| Aldie | 54 | 5 |
| Goresville | 117 | 19 |
| Gum Spring | 135 | 5 |
| Hillsboro | 84 | 38 |
| Leesburg | 400 | 22 |
| Lovettsville | 46 | 325 |
| Middleburg | 115 | 0 |
| Mt. Gilead | 102 | 19 |
| Powells Shop | 62 | 0 |
| Purcellville | 82 | 31 |
| Snickersville | 114 | 3 |
| Union | 150 | 0 |
| Waterford | 31 | 220 |
| Waters | 26 | 39 |
| Whaleys | 108 | 0 |
| —— | —— | |
| Total | 1626 | 726 |
The great mass of the American people, North and South, neither expected nor wanted war. The overwhelming tragedy of it all lay in the nation being caught and carried on in a flood of events beyond its imagination or control and these, with sinister assistance from fanatics and trouble-makers on both sides, brought on the devastating deluge.
With Lincoln's call for volunteers, Virginia rallied to resist what she believed to be a threat of hostile armed invasion. The die was cast.
It is not the purpose of this book to attempt a detailed account of the war-epoch in Loudoun. Much of her story during those dreary years already has been recorded by other writers. The full narrative deserves, and sometime undoubtedly will have, a volume to itself.
Inasmuch as fate had made it a border county, it was inevitable that intense factional bitterness should exist and that much fighting should take place within its boundaries; but no major engagements occurred there. Loudoun at least was spared the terrible slaughter that destiny staged in Tidewater, the Valley and north of the Potomac.