Beautiful Confederate Civil War Virginia Vibrant Brass Wreath Belt Buckle, Sword For Sale

Beautiful Confederate Civil War Virginia Vibrant Brass Wreath Belt Buckle, Sword
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Beautiful Confederate Civil War Virginia Vibrant Brass Wreath Belt Buckle, Sword:
$4698.00

\"UN-TouchedBeautiful Confederate Civil War Virginia Vibrant WreathStyle Belt Buckle / Plate

Leesburg Virginia playeda large roll in The Civil War

Leesburg and the Civil War: \"Aperfect sneering nest of Rebels\" (1861-1865)

Leesburg was aprosperous southern town of about 1,700 at the outbreak of the Civil War. Itwas strategically (or uncomfortably) near the border, located just two milessouth of the Potomac River, which then divided the United States from theConfederate States of America. LoudounCounty\'s two delegates to the Virginia SecessionConvention in April 1861, Leesburg attorney John Janney (whom the conventionelected its president) and John Armistead Carter, voted against secession. TheOrdinance of Secession passed nonetheless by a vote of 88 to 55. The next monthLeesburg men overwhelmingly ratified the Ordinance with a vote of 400 to 22.

By war\'s end, Leesburgchanged hands about 150 times over the course of the war, and had suffered notonly from the frequent raids and combat in its streets but also thedisintegration of civil authority. The following items highlight Leesburg\'svaried and precarious experience during the four years of hostilities.

CitizensEnlist (April-May, 1861)

Many Leesburg menjoined the cause of the Confederacy. The Potomac Greys (Company H, 8th VirginiaInfantry) and the Leesburg Cavalry (Company K, 6th Virginia Cavalry) weremainly Leesburg men, while the Loudoun Artillery and the Loudoun Guard (CompanyC, 17th Virginia Infantry) drew men from all over Loudoun County, includingLeesburg. Northwest of Leesburg many Germans and Quakers in Lovettsville andWaterford, areas that had opposed secession, formed Loudoun\'s only Union unit,the Loudoun Rangers.

\"DogMoney\" (May 1861)

During the Civil War,the Town of Leesburgissued its own currency in small denominations, known locally as \"DogMoney\" because it had a picture of a dog on it. At that time banks wereprohibited from issuing banknotes in denominations of five dollars or less, andsilver coins were becoming scarce.

On 31 May, 1861, Leesburg Town Council adopted an ordinanceauthorizing an initial printing of $18,500 in denominations of $1.00, 50¢, 25¢,and 12½¢. By the end of the war the total amount authorized was around $93,500.

Technically, the noteswere illegal. The act authorizing Virginiacities and towns to issue money was not passed until 29 March 1862, almost ayear after Leesburg began issuing its money. The notes were unconstitutionalunder the Federal and Confederate Constitutions, which prohibit states fromprinting paper money. However, when the Town Council authorized the first issueof currency, Virginia had just seceded fromthe United Statesand had not yet joined the Confederacy; as far as Virginians were concerned, nohigher constitution applied. Even after Virginiajoined the Confederacy, the Confederate Government did nothing to repress stateor municipal currency.

Battle of Ball\'s Bluff (21 October 1861)

After the Union defeatat Manassas,Leesburg was occupied for much of the autumn of 1861 by Confederate troopsunder the command of Colonel Nathan \"Shanks\" Evans. Evans commandedthe 8th Virginia Infantry, which included Leesburg\'s own Company H, the PotomacGreys, three Mississippi infantry regiments, and a company of RichmondHowitzers. Union movement on the Maryland side of the Potomac caused Evans tofear an attack, and, without orders, temporarily evacuate Leesburg on the nightof 16 October. After a reprimand from his commanding officer, General P.G.T.Beauregard, Evans and his troops were back in Leesburg by 19 October.

The evacuation ofLeesburg had been observed by the Union.General George McClellan, torn between wanting \"a slightdemonstration\" to test the mettle of the Confederates and fearing a trapin Evans\' evacuation, ordered a reconnaissance mission on 20 October, testingwestward towards Leesburg from Dranesville. Simultaneously, McClellan orderedBrigadier General Charles Pomeroy Stone to conduct a bombardment of thesupposed Confederate position at Edwards Ferry. When there was no reaction toeither maneuver, General Stone sent Captain Chase Philbrick of the 15thMassachusetts Infantry to determine enemy position; the inexperienced captainmistook a stand of trees for an unguarded camp.

This \"camp\"became the target for the raid on the morning of the 21st by 300 men of the15th Massachusettsunder Colonel Charles Devens. When the Union raiding party discovered noencampment where Philbrick had reported, Devens requested new orders ratherthan retreat. His new orders came with 350 reinforcementsand instructions to expand the raid into a reconnaissance towards Leesburg.Colonel Edward Dickinson Baker, a serving U.S. Senator from Oregon, who arrivedat General Stone\'s camp mid-morning on the 21st, was sent to evaluate thesituation. On his way to the Potomac, Bakermet one of Devens\' messengers, who reported that the enemy had been engaged.Baker ordered as many Union troops as he could locate to cross the river to Virginia, but there wereinsufficient boats to provide for efficient transport. In total, approximately1,720 Union troops crossed from Maryland into Virginia.

After tryingunsuccessfully to break out of their position on the river bank, the Unionretreat began late in the afternoon, with the Confederates holding the highground of the bluff. The result was chaos and confusion. The Unionsuffered 223 dead, including 166 soldiers who drowned and Colonel Baker, 226wounded and 553 captured soldiers. The Confederacy suffered 36 dead, 117wounded and 2 captured soldiers. Confederate cavalry corporal Elijah V. White,a Loudoun County farmer, engineered the capture of 350 of the Union soldiers.Union prisoners were held on the courthouse lawn, and wounded from both sideswere placed in homes and public buildings.

The Battleof Ball\'s Bluff was the largest battle of the war fought in Loudoun County.The engagement, numerically small in both total combatants and losses incomparison with other battles of the war, had lasting impact in the politics ofhow the war was conducted. Outrage over Union losses at Ball\'s Bluff, Manassas, and Wilson\'sCreek led to the creation of the Congressional Joint Committee on the Conductof the War. Confederate Leesburg, on the other hand, celebrated the victory.

The Northern VirginiaRegional ParkAuthority preserves much of the battlefield and the national cemetery at Ball\'sBluff Battlefield Regional Park. Self-guided toursand trail maps are available, as well as volunteer-guided tours on theweekends.

ConfederateForts (Winter, 1861-1862)

After the Battle of Ball\'s Bluff,General Hill oversaw the completion of Forts Evans, Johnston and Beauregard onthe hills surrounding Leesburg. Many Leesburg residents, including anti-warQuakers and slaves, assisted in the construction. FortEvans was built between Leesburg andthe river; it still stands on a hill behind Battlefield Shopping Centeron private property. Fort Johnston, built on Leesburg Mountainwest of town, also still exists on private property. Fort Beauregardwas built southeast of town, but its exact location is unknown.

On 6 March, Hill wasordered to evacuate Leesburg and destroy all forage in the surroundingcountryside as he went. Two days later, Fort Johnstonfell to Union troops under the command of Colonel John Geary. George Fox, theClerk of Court, hastily evacuated the county\'s records to Lynchburg; he returned with them, undamaged,in August 1865. Leesburgers were not overjoyed by the presence of their newoccupiers, who imposed martial law. One Union solder referred to them as\"a perfect sneering next of Rebels,\" and wrote \"The people werethe bitterest in their hatred of Northern mudsills of any we had met.\"

From Second Manassas to Antietam(September 2-6, 1862)

After a stunningvictory at the Battle of Second Manassas at the end ofAugust 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee planned to take the war ontonorthern soil. On 2 September 1862, his advance troops, the 2nd VirginiaCavalry, under command of Colonel Thomas Munford, found Leesburg occupied bythe Loudoun Rangers, and Cole\'s Cavalry, from Maryland. Munford\'s troops drove the Uniontroops out to a mile north of town — Mile Hill — where the Union troopssuffered heavy casualties, and eventually retreated to Maryland.

Two days later, Leearrived with the rest of his troops. Lee himself stayed at the home of HenryTazewell Harrison (205 North King Street), a distant relative, where he had hishands, which had been injured at Second Manassas,examined by Leesburg\'s Dr. Samuel Jackson. During his stay, Lee visited hisfriend John Janney. On the morning of the 5th, Lee met with Generals StonewallJackson, J.E.B. Stuart, and James Longstreet in the Harrison Hall dining room.Later that day, the Confederate troops crossed the Potomac River at White\'sFord into Maryland.Stuart and his cavalry returned through Leesburg in mid-October.

The Shelling(September 17, 1862)

The same day GeneralsLee and McClellan faced off at the Battle of Antietam, Union Lieutenant ColonelJudson Kilpatrick, with the 2nd New York Cavalry and 4 cannon, faced offagainst members of Confederate Captain Elijah V. White\'s 35th BattalionVirginia Cavalry on the hill where Edwards\' Ferry Road and East Market Streetnow meet. The town was shelled and White was seriously injured during theskirmish, after which both sides withdrew.

GeneralEarly\'s Army Passes Through (June 13-16, 1864)

After ConfederateGeneral Jubal Anderson Early\'s Shenandoah Valley campaigns during the summer of1864, which culminated in the Battle of Monocacy on 7 July near Frederick,Maryland and even closer threats on Washington itself at Forts Stevens andDeRussy on 11-12 July, Early pulled back to Leesburg. He crossed into Loudounat White\'s Ford on the 13th, and encamped his army north of town for two days.On his way back to the Shenandoah Valley, where he continued to challenge Unionforces into October, Early marched his troops south on King Street and west outof town on Market Street — Leesburg Turnpike — on the 16th. They were followedin close pursuit by Union General H.C. Wright\'s 6th Corp and General GeorgeCrook\'s 19th Corp, both of which also passed through Leesburg. Fighting alsooccurred later that afternoon at Hamilton and Purcellville further west on theLeesburg Turnpike.

Mosby\'sRangers (January 1863 - April, 1865)

If the Union LoudounRangers, who frequented Leesburg during the war years, were not warmly welcomedby the majority of Leesburgers, the same cannot be said for Confederate ColonelJohn Singleton Mosby\'s Rangers, the 43rd Battalion of Virginia Cavalry. TheRangers often came to town to visit Pickett\'s Public House, now part of the Loudoun County Courthouse Complex. Federalraiding parties often came to Leesburg in search of them. On 29 April 1864,members the 2nd MassachusettsCavalry under command of Colonel Charles Russell Lowell, supported by auxiliaryinfantry, arrived from the east via Leesburg Turnpike, hoping to find someRangers. They surprised the Rangers at Pickett\'s. In the ensuing skirmish, someRangers were wounded or captured, while others fought their way out.

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