law on the secessionist town. Leaving a small garrison at Leesburg, Geary set out the following day to pursue the retreating Confederates. By the 15th, Geary's men had traversed the county and reached Upperville, and all of Loudoun County was under Federal occupation. Two weeks later, E.V. White's Confederate cavalry challenged Geary's force near Middleburg. In the engagement, Federals brought out the newly developed coffee mill gun, a forerunner to the modern machine gun. The results were devastating—the Confederate line was cut to pieces after being fired upon from 800 yards, and those not immediately cut down retreated, unsure of what had just hit them. The gun, however, was deemed to unsafe to operate and never used widely in the war. Skirmish at Loudoun Heights - February 27, 1862 Skirmish at Lovettsville - February 28, 1862 Skirmish at Wheatland and Waterford - March 7, 1862 Skirmish at Middleburg - March 26–28, 1862 Skirmish at Loudoun Heights - May 27, 1862 General Robert E. Lee's Maryland Campaign: September 1862 Following the victory at the Second Battle of Manassas, General Lee elected not to attack the Union army behind its fortifications around Washington D.C., but to instead take his army into Loudoun County to obtain forage and reorganize for his planned invasion of Maryland. Fighting broke out in the county in advance of the army's arrival as Confederate cavalry cleared the area of Federal resistance. The army stopped over briefly in Leesburg from September 4–6 where it underwent its reorganization, before crossing over the Potomac to Maryland at Cheeks Ford and Conrad's Ferry. On the 9th, General John G. Walker was dispatched back to the county with order to take Loudoun Heights as part of the plan to capture Harpers Ferry. Walker occupied the Heights from September 13–15, before crossing the river into Harpers Ferry following its capture. Battle of Mile Hill, September 2, 1861 Battle of Harpers Ferry, September 12–15, 1862 Skirmish at Leesburg - September 15, 1862 McClellan's return to Virginia: October - November 1862 Following the bloody fight at the Battle of Antietam, J.E.B. Stuart set out from Williamsport, Maryland north towards Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and then southeast to encircle McClellan's army for the second time in less than a year in order to reconnoiter their strength and movements. On October 10 he crossed back into Virginia at White's Ford, where he briefly skirmished with his Federal pursuers, bringing with