Editing Loudoun County, Virginia (section)

===19th century===
During the [[War of 1812]], important federal documents and government archives were evacuated from [[Washington D.C.|Washington]] and stored at [[Leesburg, Virginia|Leesburg]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.achp.gov/preserve-america/community/leesburg-virginia |title=Leesburg Virginia |publisher=ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION}}</ref> Local tradition holds that these documents were stored at [[Rokeby (Leesburg, Virginia)|Rokeby House]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rokeby House Becomes Nation's Capital |url=http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2008/jul/22/rokeby-house-becomes-nations-capital/ |access-date=August 7, 2020 |website=Connection Newspapers |date=July 22, 2008}}</ref>

[[President of the United States|U.S. president]] [[James Monroe]] treated [[Oak Hill (James Monroe house)|Oak Hill Plantation]] as a primary residence from 1823 until his death on July 4, 1831.<ref>[http://www.histarch.illinois.edu/highland/ashlawn5.html An Account of James Monroe's Land Holdings], by Christopher Fennell. Chapter V. Oak Hill Plantation, Loudoun County. Accessed November 18, 2016.</ref> The Loudoun County coat of arms and flag, granted by the English [[College of Arms]], memorialize the special relationship between [[Great Britain|Britain]] and the United States that developed through his [[Monroe Doctrine]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=County Flag {{!}} Loudoun County, VA - Official Website |url=https://www.loudoun.gov/178/County-Flag |access-date=August 2, 2022 |website=www.loudoun.gov}}</ref>

The [[American Civil War]] divided the county, which also saw fighting because of its strategic location (for a more in-depth account of the history of Loudoun County during the Civil War, see [[Loudoun County in the American Civil War]]). Both of Loudoun County's representatives to the [[Virginia Secession Convention]] in April 1861 favored continued Union. Moreover, fellow delegates elected [[John Janney]], a former Quaker and slave owner, to preside over that assembly, which ultimately voted to secede, as would Loudoun voters. In addition to Confederate cavalry and infantry units formed within the county, other Loudoun residents traveled to Maryland to join federal-oriented cavalry and border guard units. The [[Battle of Ball's Bluff]] took place near [[Leesburg, Virginia|Leesburg]] on October 21, 1861. Future jurist [[Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.]] was critically wounded in that battle along the [[Potomac River]]. Leesburg was occupied by Union troops in the spring of 1862 and months later recaptured by Confederates after the federals withdrew. Confederate [[Partisan (military)|partisan]] [[John S. Mosby]] based his operations in Loudoun and adjoining [[Fauquier County, Virginia|Fauquier County]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Loudoun County Burning Raid and John S. Mosby {{!}} History of Loudoun County, Virginia |url=https://www.loudounhistory.org/history/loudoun-cw-mosby-burning-raid/ |access-date=August 2, 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref>  During the [[Gettysburg Campaign]] in June 1863, [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] [[Major General|major general]] [[J.E.B. Stuart]] and [[Union Army|Union]] [[cavalry]] clashed in the battles of [[Battle of Aldie|Aldie]], [[Battle of Middleburg|Middleburg]], and [[Battle of Upperville|Upperville]]. By December 1863, Loudoun was held by Union forces, and was among the nine counties which elected delegates to the Virginia General Assembly at Alexandria. Loudoun voters elected and re-elected John J. Henshaw and [[J. Madison Downey]]<ref>https://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/dvb/bio.asp?b=Downey_James_Madison</ref> as their representatives to that body, and fellow delegates elected Downey as their Speaker. Loudoun voters elected and re-elected William F. Mercer to the upper body of that version of the Virginia General Assembly, and elected him to the [[Virginia Senate]] in the 1865-1867 session. They elected former delegates R.M. Bentley and [[William Hill Gray]] as their (part-time) delegates in the lower house in that session.<ref>Cynthia Miller Leonard, The Virginia General Assembly 1619-1978 (Richmond: Virginia State Library 1978) pp. 495-497, 501, 503</ref>