Special Edition: Loudoun Virginia Rangers (June 20, 1862)
On June 20, 1862, Samuel C. Means was mustered into the United States Army at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, as a captain and the commanding officer of the Independent Loudoun Virginia Rangers. Mean's Rangers became the only organized body of troops from Virginia to fight for the Union. Means was born in Fauquier County, but moved to the Quaker settlement at Waterford in 1848. He bought a grist mill in 1859 and ran a store and warehouse with his brother Noble B. Means at Point of Rocks, Maryland. As a pacifist, Means refused to cooperate with Confederate authorities when war came in 1861, and “much of his personal property was seized, including large quantities of meal and flour, more than twenty horses, two wagons, and about forty hogs.” Shortly after a reward of $5,000 was offered for his capture, Means allied himself with Colonel John Geary’s Union forces in Maryland and became a guide for troops operating in northern Loudoun County.
In early 1862, Means was called to Washington, D.C. by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and offered a commission to raise an independent cavalry company of fellow “disaffected refugee Virginians.” After being mustered in, Means established his headquarters at Waterford and began recruiting. By July 1862, he had enrolled over fifty men, mostly from neighboring Quaker and German farming communities. Using Waterford as a base, the Loudoun Virginia Rangers “were engaged in scouting,” but had “few encounters with the enemy.” However, their initial baptism of fire did not go well as they suffered “heavy losses” in an ambush in August 1862 at the hands of Elijah White’s 35th Virginia Battalion (White's Comanches). These two groups, “raised in exactly the same area of Loudoun County,” were destined to have numerous encounters before the battlefields of the war shifted further south.
From: History of the Independent Loudoun Virginia Rangers by Briscoe Goodhart, published 1896.
Samuel C. Means, a prominent citizen and a successful businessman, owned and operated a splendid flour mill at Waterford, the largest in the county…. The Confederates had repeatedly made very complimentary offers to Mr. Means, to enlist his sympathy for their cause, but without success. They next tried a system of coercion, with the same results. Finally he was notified that he must support the Confederacy or else he would be compelled to leave the State, and if he left the State, it would be presumed he was an enemy to the Confederacy, and his property would be confiscated. To all their coaxing and threatening he emphatically said: "No, gentlemen; you are waging a cruel and malicious war…. I will never take up arms against the United States. I will not be guilty of such disloyalty to my country." The Confederates now determined to carry out their threats, and took a quantity of his flour for which they promised pay, but never paid. They also took some of his stock. The crisis had come.
Mr. Means went to Maryland about July 1, 1861, leaving his family behind. The Confederates took all his property that remained…. When Mr. Means left home he had no intention of going into the army, he so stated to his wife, and so wrote her after his arrival in Maryland…. Mr. Means made Point of Rocks his headquarters, attending to his private affairs…. The 28th Pennsylvania Infantry, in command of [Colonel John W. Geary] lay at Point of Rocks, Md., and the 6th Independent Battery, New York Artillery, lay at Brunswick. Mr. Means spent much of his time with these two commands. Col. Geary was formerly a large real estate owner of Loudoun, having owned a large interest in the Catoctin Furnace tract, opposite Point of Rocks. These commands made repeated raids into Loudoun during the fall and winter for the purpose of capturing bands of rebels that were scouting in the county and annoying Union people…. While Mr. Means probably had nothing to do with these raids, the Confederates accused him of their origin, and charged that the damage inflicted on the rebels was directly traceable to his hands. Consequently a reward of $5,000 was offered by the Confederate authorities in Richmond for the head of Samuel C. Means, whom they characterized as the renegade, Sam. Means…. A copy of the paper that contained the advertisement of a reward was sent to Mrs. Means from Richmond.During January, 1862, Mr. Means received a letter from the Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, requesting him to call at the War Department. At his arrival the Secretary offered him a commission, with the request that he would raise a command for the Union army…. During the month of March there was a forward move of the army all along the Potomac from Washington to Cumberland. Col. Geary crossed the Potomac with his regiment, the 28th Pennsylvania, at Harper's Ferry, with Mr. Means as guide, and took possession of Lovettsville and Waterford. This was the first time Mr. Means had returned to his home since he left it in July previous. He continued as guide to the army until May, when he returned to Washington and obtained a commission as captain, with instructions to recruit a company of cavalry to be known as the Independent Loudoun Guards. Capt. Means was mustered into the United States service as captain, by Col. Dixon S. Miles, at Harper's Ferry, June 20, 1862.
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