In 1869, African American men from Leesburg voted here for the first time, a striking change from the years before the Civil War when African Americans were brought to the courthouse steps to be bought and sold. In May 1861, Confederate supporters celebrated here after the county voted to secede 1,626 to 726, and on October 12 of that year more than 500 Union prisoners from the nearby Battle of Ball's Bluff were lined up here and taunted by locals. Over the next three years, Leesburg experienced the brutal seesaw of war as Union troops retreated past Court Square in 1862 and marched by again on their way to Gettysburg in 1863, while Confederate raiders such as Elijah White and John Mosby and their Union pursuers made life uncertain and dangerous. Despite the chaos, whenever Union troops were nearby, hundreds of enslaved families fled to their lines, and after the January 1863 Emancipation Proclamation took effect, about 250 Loudoun County African Americans enlisted and fought with United States forces.