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Capt. Samuel Carrington Means
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The Civil War and Waterford
Waterford
suffered greatly during the Civil War. In some ways it never recovered
from the physical, economic and psychological blows. Because the
large Quaker population remained loyal to the Union—and
steadfastly pacifist—it endured
repeated Confederate harassment and depredation. Many Quakers
fled to the northern states. Samuel Carrington Means, a Quaker
who owned the mill and a house on Bond Street during the war, was
finally provoked by rebel confiscation of his horses and supplies
to raise a cavalry unit to fight for the Union. His Loudoun
Rangers were
the only organized Union army unit from Virginia. But even Union
forces took their toll on this largely loyal corner of Loudoun
County. Both friend and foe were scorched during General Sheridan's "Burning
Raid" in 1864—designed to destroy anything of potential
value to the enemy.
After the war many former residents of Waterford stayed in the
north or moved to the Midwest—others followed them. Of
those who persevered in Waterford, few regained their former prosperity.
Commercial development in the village was further weakened in the
1870s, when the railroad pushed west of Leesburg but bypassed Waterford.
While local farmers benefited from the improved access to urban
markets, the rising tide of cheaper goods from large manufacturing
centers rendered much local cottage industry obsolete. New construction
in Waterford dried up. While much of America experienced a rise
in productivity and industry in this, the Gilded Age, Waterford
struggled to survive.
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Architecture 
