s espoused the cause of the Confederacy, hundreds died in its
defense, and not a few, by their valor and devotion, won enduring fame
and meritorious mention in the annals of their government.

At home or in the ranks, throughout this trying period of civil
strife, her people, with no notable exceptions, remained liberal and
brave and constant, albeit they probably suffered more real hardships
and deprivations than any other community of like size in the
Southland. There were few Confederate troops for its defense, and the
Federals held each neighborhood responsible for all attacks made in
its vicinity, often destroying private property as a punishment.

Both armies, prompted either by fancied military necessity or malice,
burned or confiscated valuable forage crops and other stores, and
nearly every locality, at one time or another, witnessed depredation,
robbery, murder, arson, and rapine. Several towns were shelled,
sacked, and burned, but the worst damage was done the country
districts by raiding parties of Federals. Much of the destruction is
now seen to have been unnecessary from a military point of view.

Whole armies were subsisted on the products of Loudoun's fruitful
acres. Opposing forces, sometimes only detachments and roving bands,
but quite as often battalions, regiments, brigades, and even whole
divisions were never absent from the County and the clash of swords
and fire of musketry were an ever-present clamor and one to which
Loudoun ears early became accustomed.

Also, there were times when the main bodies of one or the other of
both armies were encamped wholly or in part within her limits, as in
September, 1862, when the triumphant army of Lee, on the eve of the
first Maryland campaign, was halted at Leesburg and stripped of all
superfluous transportation, broken-down horses, and wagons and
batteries not supplied with good horses being left behind;[30] again,
in June, 1863, when Hooker was being held in bounds with his great
army stretched from Manassas, near Bull Run, to Leesburg, near the
Potomac; and yet again, in July, 1863, when Lee's army, falling back
from Maryland after the battle of Gettysburg, was followed by the
Federal forces under General Meade, who crossed the Potomac and
advanced through Loudoun.

[Footnote 30: On the 5th day of September, to the martial strains of
"Maryland, My Maryland" from every band in the army, and with his men
cheering and shouting with delight, Jackson forded