Soldiery.

Loudoun, at the time of the Revolution, was one of the most densely populated counties in the State.  Her militia, according to the returns of 1780 and 1781, numbered 1,746, which number was far in excess of that reported by any other Virginia county.

It is probable that a few Loudoun patriots served in Captain Daniel Morgan’s celebrated “Company of Virgina Riflemen,” thus described by a line officer of the Continental Army:  “They are remarkably stout and hardy men; many of them exceeding six feet in height.  They are dressed in white frocks, or rifle shirts, and round hats.  These men are remarkable for the accuracy of their aim; striking a mark with great certainty at two hundred yards distance.  At a review, a company of them, while on a quick advance, fired their balls into objects of seven inches diameter at the distance of two hundred and fifty yards.  They are now stationed on our lines, and their shot have frequently proved fatal to British officers and soldiers, who expose themselves to view even at more than double the distance of common musket shot.”

The Germans of Loudoun were intensely loyal to the cause of freedom, many serving in Armand’s Legion, recruited by authority of Congress during the summer of 1777, and composed of men who could not speak English.

Quaker Non-Participation.

During the period preceding the Revolution, important offices had been bestowed on the Friends or Quakers of Loudoun and they exercised a decided influence in the government of the County.  They, however, withdrew participation in public affairs on the approach of war; and, to the determination of the American patriots to throw off the yoke of British tyranny, they opposed their principles of non-resistance, not only refusing to perform military duty, but also to pay the taxes levied on them, as on all other citizens, for the prosecution of the War of Independence.

This non-conformity to the military laws of the State from conscientious motives, brought them into difficulty, as will be seen in the annexed extract from Kercheval’s History of the Shenandoah Valley: 

“At the beginning of the war, attempts were made to compel them to bear arms and serve in the militia; but it was soon found unavailing.  They would not perform any military duty required of them, not even the scourge would compel them to submit to discipline.  The practice of coercion was therefore abandoned, and the legislature enacted a law to levy a tax upon their property, to hire substitutes to perform militia duty in their stead.  This, with other taxes, bore peculiarly heavy upon them.  Their personal property was sold under the hammer to raise the public demands; and before the war was over, many of them were reduced to great distress in their pecuniary circumstances.

“This selling of Quakers’ property afforded great opportunity for designing