Samuel Carrington Means (August 5, 1827 – March 2, 1891) was the founder and first captain of the Loudoun Rangers , a Union Army unit from Virginia that served during the American Civil War .
7-643: The Loudoun Rangers , also known as Mean's Rangers for their commander, Samuel C. Means , was a partisan cavalry unit raised in Loudoun County, Virginia , that fought for the Union during the American Civil War . The Rangers have the distinction of being the only unit raised in present-day Virginia to serve in the Union Army . The Loudoun Rangers were formed in the spring of 1862, when
14-400: A detachment of Mosby's Rangers raided their camp at Castleman's Ferry and captured the better part of the command. The Rangers were officially mustered out of service the following month. Samuel C. Means Means was a successful gristmiller and businessman from Waterford, Virginia , with several ties through his business to Point of Rocks, Maryland , where he was station master for
21-624: The B&;O Railroad . After the secession of Virginia in May 1861, Confederate authorities began to court him over the use of his mill (the largest in Loudoun County ). An erstwhile Quaker with considerable interests in loyal Maryland , Means was a unionist and would have none of it. Consequently, the Confederates issued warrants for his arrest forcing Means to flee to Maryland on July 1, 1861, leaving his family behind. Subsequent to his fleeing,
28-726: The Confederate government seized all his property and assets in Virginia, including 28 horses, 42 hogs, 2 wagons all the flour and meal at his mill. When Union forces under John Geary invaded Loudoun in March 1862, Means served as a scout for the force. For his service, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton issued him a captaincy with permission to raise a company of cavalry for border service in Loudoun and Maryland. The resulting Loudoun Rangers served as partisans in Loudoun for much of
35-769: The Rangers were absorbed into regular service, leading to Means' departure. Daniel Keyes subsequently took his place as leader of the outfit. During the final years of the war the Rangers were attached to the Union army in the Shenandoah Valley and took part in the Valley Campaigns of 1864 under General Phillip Sheridan . As the war in the valley came to an end, the Rangers returned to their partisan role and were eventually effectively broken up in April 1865 when
42-479: The Union Army first occupied Loudoun County as part of its campaign in the Shenandoah Valley. Returning with the army was local unionist Samuel Means, who had been run out of the county the previous year by local Confederates. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton issued Means orders to raise a company of men to serve as an independent command, of which he would be captain, for special service in Loudoun and along
49-638: The Virginia-Maryland border. Recruiting operations were established in the northern Loudoun Valley , an area of strong unionist sentiment, eventually leading to the formation of 2 companies. For the first two years of service the Loudoun Rangers served as partisans, often in conjunction with Cole's Maryland Cavalry (1st Potomac Home Brigade) fighting their confederate counterparts, such as White's Comanches , Mosby's Rangers and John Mobberly 's renegade band in and around Loudoun. In 1864
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