On September 1, 1862, Colonel Thomas Munford, commander of the Confederate 2nd Virginia Cavalry with 163 men, was ordered to Leesburg to destroy a body of Union cavalry, the locally raised Independent Loudoun Virginia Rangers, who were harassing southern sympathizers in the vicinity. On September 2, 35 men of the Loudoun Rangers and 125 troopers of Cole’s Maryland Cavalry occupied Leesburg and posted pickets on all roads into town. Arriving undetected, Munford determined that the Federals held the town and that the two forces were about equal, then divided his command so that half would descend on the town from the north while he led the other half in from the east. Charging down Edwards Ferry Road, his men surprised and scattered Federal pickets as the courthouse was overrun. Cole, fearing that citizens would aid the Confederates in a street battle, retreated north along King Street to Mile Hill, where he formed a line of battle on the west side of the road facing Leesburg, while Munford’s troopers halted below them amid wheat stacks on the east side. Seeing what appeared to be a small Confederate force, Cole ordered a counterattack, but at that moment Munford’s trap closed as Confederate horsemen charged the Federal rear with a rebel yell. In the bitter melee, both sides fired pistols and used sabers, but the Federals, shaken by the unexpected attack, broke and fled west toward Waterford, pursued for six miles. Munford lost two dead and six wounded, while his men killed 11, wounded about 20, and captured 47 Federals; the Loudoun Rangers suffered one dead, six wounded, and seven captured. Two days later, Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia began entering Leesburg on its way to Maryland, in a campaign that ended with the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862.