The northern part of Loudoun County was a Unionist enclave in Confederate Virginia that remained a contested battleground for armies and factions of all stripes throughout the Civil War. Lying between the Blue Ridge Mountains, Harpers Ferry, and Washington, D.C., the Loudoun Valley provided a natural corridor for commanders on both sides, while its mountainous fringes were home to partisans, guerillas, deserters and smugglers. This detailed history examines the conflicting loyalties in the farming communities, the peaceful Quakers caught in the middle, and the political underpinnings of Unionist Virginia.

William Baylis (d.1754) lived in Prince William County, Virginia. Descendants moved to Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Missouri and elsewhere.

Time period covered is from the eighteenth to just before the mid- twentieth century.

Reprint of the 2d, augm. ed., 1969, published by Shenandoah Pub. House, Strasburg, Va.