Courthouse Yard

Courthouse Yard. Witness to War’s Changes. In 1869, proud African American men from Leesburg lined up here to vote for the first time. This moment reflected the massive changes the Civil War brought to the United States. The scene was entirely different before the war when African Americans had lined courthouse steps, not to vote, but as people to be bought and sold. In May 1861, throngs of Confederate supporters celebrated here after the county voted to secede 1,626 to 726., The war came quickly to this community. On October 12 of that year more than 500 Union prisoners from the nearby Battle of Ball's Bluff were lined up here and taunted by locals. Over the next three years, Leesburg experienced the brutal seesaw of war. Union troops retreated past Court Square in 1862 and marched by again on their way to Gettysburg in 1863. Throughout the conflict, Confederate raiders like Elijah White and John Mosby and their Union pursuers made life here uncertain and dangerous. , Despite the chaos, whenever Union troops were in the vicinity, hundreds of enslaved families fled to their lines. After the January 1863 Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, approximately 250 Loudoun County African Americans, many of whom had trudged by Court Square while in bondage, enlisted and fought with the United States forces., (Sidebar): , Southern Inhospitality , During the first Union occupation of Leesburg, in March 1862, a newspaper reporter described Leesburg as a "perfect sneering nest of rebels." As the troops marched by the courthouse, residents "insulted soldiers in every way they thought safe... The ladies were the most outspoken."