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 the Potomac at Edwards’ Ferry (Loudoun County), where the river was broad but shallow, near the scene of Evan’s victory over the Federals in the previous October, and where Wayne had crossed his Pennsylvania brigade in marching to the field of Yorktown, in 1781.]

General Early, after the short and bloody battle of Monocacy, and following his invasion of Maryland and demonstration against Washington, recrossed the Potomac at White’s Ford, July 14, 1864, and, resting near Leesburg, on the 16th marched to the Shenandoah valley by way of Leesburg and Purcellville, through Snicker’s Gap of the Blue Ridge, with Jackson’s Cavalry in advance.

Pitched battles and lesser engagements were fought at Edwards’ Ferry, Balls Bluff, Snickersville (now Bluemont), Leesburg, Middleburg, Aldie, Hamilton, Waterford, Union, Ashby’s Gap, and other points in the County.

During Stonewall Jackson’s investment of Harper’s Ferry in September, 1862, guns were put in position on Loudoun Heights, supported by two regiments of infantry, and a portion of Jackson’s own immediate command was placed with artillery on a bluffy shoulder of that mountain.

The following military organizations were recruited wholly or in part in Loudoun County and mustered into the Confederate service:  8th Virginia Regiment (a part of Pickett’s famous fighting division), Loudoun Guard (Company C, 17th Virginia Regiment), Loudoun Cavalry ("Laurel Brigade"), and White’s Battalion of Cavalry (the “Comanches,” 25th Virginia Battalion).  Mosby’s command, the “Partisan Rangers,” also attracted several score of her patriotic citizenry.

The sons of Loudoun, serving in these and other organizations, bore a distinguished part on every crimsoned field from Pennsylvania to the coast of Florida.