WATERFORD, Va. - It's a Civil War story that you may never have heard of before about a cavalry unit from Virginia.
The Loudoun Rangers, mostly from Waterford and Lovettsville, never mounted more than 300 men. But, they stand out in a unique way. They wore Union blue, the only cavalry unit from a Confederate state to serve in the Union army.
Lee Stone, from Purcellville, the descendant of a Union soldier says a local miller named Sam Means formed the unit in Waterford where most of the citizens wanted to stay in the Union.
"He got the arrangement that he would operate independently near home, that they would always be in or near Loudoun County," he says.
The Loudoun Rangers clashed often with famed Confederate ranger John Singleton Mosby, known as the "Gray Ghost," who roamed freely through much of North Central Virginia. Local historian John Souders, whose great-great-grandfather rode with Mosby, says that differences lingered for a century.
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