and only 2% had more than 20. 71% of farmers in the county owned no slaves. John Brown's Raid Ties between Loudoun and the American Civil War began with the involvement of the county in the suppression of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, just from its border, in 1859. The county militia was called into service, and two companies were sent to Harpers Ferry and later Charles Town to assist with the capture, trial and execution of Brown. The crisis brought to light the inadequacy and ill preparedness of the county militia. Subsequently, the county increased drilling, appropriated new arms and uniforms and raised new units. As early as November 4 the first new unit, the Volunteer Corps (from Hillsboro, the closest town to Harpers Ferry), was formed, and by early December two additional units, the Loudoun Guard and Leesburg Civic Guard, had been raised. These units, in addition the militia units called up by Governor Henry Wise, remained active patrolling the county's northern borders, especially the mountains and river crossings, until they were absorbed into state service in 1861. The sectional crisis The election of 1860 Prior to the growing division between North and South leading up to the Civil War, Loudoun County politics was firmly Whig in nature. Despite that party's collapse in the 1850s, Loudoun remained true to its principles and was strongly for the preservation of the Union. When the presidential election of 1860 came, Loudoun overwhelmingly supported John Bell and the Constitutional Union Party, who received 2,033 of the 2,942 votes cast in the county. Coming in a distant second was the Southern Democratic nominee John C. Breckinridge with 778 votes. Stephen Douglas, the Northern Democrat, received a scant 120 votes, and Abraham Lincoln received 11 votes despite not even being on the ticket. The 11 votes came from the precincts of Lovettsville, Waterford and Purcellville. Since the ballot was not then secret, those voting for Lincoln supposedly came to the polls armed. Even after Lincoln's election, Loudoun was still committed to the Union. On December 10, days before South Carolina's secession, a public meeting was held at the court house in Leesburg about the increasing sectional tensions. Attendees of the meeting elected a council of nine of Loudoun's most prominent citizens to draft a preamble and set of resolutions about the county's position in the crisis. After deliberation the council submitted the preamble,