Purcellville is a town in Loudoun County, Virginia. The population was 8,929 according to the 2020 Census. Purcellville is the major population center for Western Loudoun and the Loudoun Valley. Many of the older structures remaining in Purcellville reflect the Victorian architecture popular during the early twentieth century.
John Singleton Mosby, also known by his nickname "Gray Ghost", was a Confederate army cavalry battalion commander in the American Civil War. His command, the 43rd Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, known as Mosby's Rangers or Mosby's Raiders, was a partisan ranger unit noted for its lightning-quick raids and its ability to elude Union Army pursuers and disappear, blending in with local farmers and townsmen. The area of northern central Virginia in which Mosby operated with impunity became known as Mosby's Confederacy. After the war, Mosby became a Republican and worked as an attorney, supporting his former enemy's commander, U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant. He also served as the American consul to Hong Kong and in the U.S. Department of Justice.
The Battle of Dranesville was a small battle during the American Civil War that took place between Confederate forces under Brigadier General J. E. B. Stuart and Union forces under Brigadier General Edward O. C. Ord on December 20, 1861, in Fairfax County, Virginia, as part of Major General George B. McClellan's operations in northern Virginia. The two forces on similar winter time patrols encountered and engaged one another in the crossroads village of Dranesville. The battle resulted in a Union victory.
The Battle of Upperville took place in Loudoun County, Virginia on June 21, 1863 during the Gettysburg Campaign of the American Civil War.
The Loudoun Valley is a small, but historically significant valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains located in Loudoun County in Northern Virginia in the United States.
John W. Mobberly, also known as John Mobley or Morbly, was a Confederate guerrilla who operated in the Loudoun Valley and Between the Hills region of Loudoun County, Virginia during the American Civil War. He also served as regular soldier in Elijah V. White's 35th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, nicknamed the "Comanches." Mobberly is sometimes reported as serving under John Mosby, although this is not grounded in fact. His legacy is surrounded in controversy as Federal soldiers and Union sympathizers in Loudoun County accused him of committing war atrocities, including slave-rustling, while pro-Southern Loudoun residents claimed him to be a hero, second only to Mosby in local popularity.
Loudoun County, Virginia, was destined to be an area of significant military activity during the American Civil War. Located on Virginia's northern frontier, the Potomac River, Loudoun County became a borderland after Virginia's secession from the Union in early 1861. Loudoun County's numerous Potomac bridges, ferries and fords made it an ideal location for the Union and Confederate armies to cross into and out of Virginia. Likewise, the county's several gaps in the Blue Ridge Mountains that connected the Piedmont to the Shenandoah Valley and Winchester were of considerable strategic importance. The opposing armies would traverse the county several times throughout the war leading to several small battles, most notably the Battle of Ball's Bluff.
The 43rd Virginia Cavalry Battalion, also known as Mosby's Rangers, Mosby's Raiders, or Mosby's Men, was a battalion of partisan cavalry in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. Noted for their lightning strike raids on Union targets and their ability to consistently elude pursuit, the Rangers disrupted Union communications and supply lines.
The Skirmish at Miskel Farm, also known as the Fight at Miskel Farm or Gunfight at Miskel Farm, was a skirmish during the American Civil War. It took place April 1, 1863, near Broad Run in Loudoun County, Virginia, between Mosby's Rangers and the 1st Vermont Cavalry as part of Mosby's operations in Northern Virginia. The 2nd Pennsylvania surprised and attacked the Rangers, who were bivouacked on the farm of Thomas Miskel. The Rangers successfully defended the attack and subsequently routed the 2nd Pennsylvania, inflicting heavy casualties and taking many prisoners.
The Battle of Unison or Battle of Union refers to a series of American Civil War cavalry skirmishes in Loudoun County, Virginia, between October 31 – November 2, 1862, between the Confederate forces of J.E.B. Stuart and various units of the Union Army of the Potomac. Although driven from the field in individual engagements, Stuart accomplished his mission to delay the enemy and screen the movements of the retreating Army of Northern Virginia.
The Battle of Loudoun Heights was a small cavalry skirmish during the American Civil War between John Mosby's Rangers and Major Henry A. Cole's 1st Potomac Home Brigade Maryland Cavalry on January 10, 1864, in Loudoun County, Virginia. Cole's Cavalry successfully defended a night raid against their camp on Loudoun Heights. The fight was one of the first engagements in which Union forces held their own against Mosby's vaunted partisans.
Heaton's Crossroads, also known as the Purcellville Wagon Raid, was an American Civil War skirmish that took place between Federal cavalry under Brig. Gen. Alfred N. Duffié and Confederate infantry under Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge on July 16, 1864, near present-day Purcellville, Virginia in Loudoun County as part of the Valley Campaigns of 1864. The action was tactically inconclusive.
The 35th Virginia Cavalry Battalion, also known as White's Battalion, White's Rebels and the Comanches, was a Confederate cavalry unit during the American Civil War raised by Elijah V. White in Loudoun County, Virginia in the winter of 1861-62. The battalion was initially raised as border guards along the Potomac River below Harpers Ferry but were ultimately mustered into regular service as part of the Laurel Brigade. Despite this, they continued to play a conspicuous role in the ongoing partisan warfare in Loudoun throughout the war. The battalion was particularly notable during the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign, when it played a prominent role in the Battle of Brandy Station and subsequently conducted a series of raids on Union-held railroads and defensive positions in Maryland and Pennsylvania. The 35th was the first Confederate unit to enter Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
The action at Mount Zion Church was a cavalry skirmish during the American Civil War that took place on July 6, 1864. The skirmish was fought between Union forces under Major William H. Forbes and Confederate forces under Colonel John S. Mosby near Aldie in Loudoun County, Virginia as part of Mosby's Operations in Northern Virginia. After successfully raiding the Union garrison at Point of Rocks, Maryland, Mosby's Rangers routed Forbes's command, which had been sent into Loudoun County to engage and capture the Rangers. The fight resulted in a Confederate victory.
The Fight at Aldie was a small cavalry skirmish between Confederate forces under Major John S. Mosby and Union forces under Major Joseph Gilmore and Captain Franklin T. Huntoon in Aldie, Virginia, on March 2, 1863, as part of Mosby's Operations in Northern Virginia during the American Civil War. The fight which resulted in a Confederate victory was significant in that it was the first action of Mosby's Rangers within their operating territory in the central Loudoun Valley. In the fight Mosby and his men displayed many characteristics that would become their hallmark including the attack on numerically superior force while inflicting disproportionate casualties to those received.
The Second Battle of Dranesville, also known as the Ambush at Anker's Shop, was a small cavalry skirmish that took place between Confederate forces under Colonel John Mosby and Union forces under Captain James Sewall Reed east of Dranesville, Virginia in Loudoun County near present day Sterling on February 22, 1864 as part of Mosby's operations in Northern Virginia in the American Civil War. After successfully defending a raid into "Mosby's Confederacy" by Cole's Maryland Cavalry, the following day Mosby led his Rangers against a second raid by Reed. The action resulted in a Confederate victory.
The Affair at Glenmore Farm was a small cavalry skirmish that took place October 16, 1862 in Loudoun County, Virginia between Confederate forces under First Lieutenant Frank Myers and Union forces under General John Geary during the American Civil War. The skirmish resulted in a Union victory.
The Burning Raid was a Union raid conducted in the Loudoun Valley of Loudoun and Fauquier counties in Virginia in 1864 during the American Civil War. It was aimed at destroying the forage on which Confederate partisans operating in the area, specifically Mosby's Rangers, subsisted as well as at breaking the will of the citizens of the area for supporting the partisans.
Timeline of Fauquier County, Virginia in the Civil War
The Warrenton Junction Raid was a surprise attack by Confederate guerrilla warriors on a Union cavalry detachment during the American Civil War. The raid took place near a railroad junction in Virginia's Fauquier County, less than 10 miles (16 km) from the town of Warrenton. Confederate Major John S. Mosby led the attack against about 100 men from the Union's 1st (West) Virginia Cavalry. At first, the raid was very successful, as many of the Union soldiers surrendered to the rebels. The remaining portion of the surprised force was surrounded in a house, and two of their leaders were wounded. The house was set on fire, and the Union soldiers surrendered. As Mosby's men rounded up prisoners and horses, a detachment of the 5th New York Cavalry surprised the rebels and rescued most of the captured Union soldiers. After a short fight, more men from the 5th New York, and the 1st Vermont Cavalry, joined in the pursuit of Mosby's fleeing rebels.
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