Amid the commotion, their prime target fled the house and evaded capture.
White and his men realized this, and not wanting to spoil the plan, they got hold of Robert Hollingsworth, a local Quaker schoolmaster, instead.
Innocent civilian captives
These two unionists, Williams and Hollingsworth, were innocent compared to the two captured secessionists, Ball and Belt. They were “charged with horse stealing and burning some products” during their attempt to escape from arrest. The accusation of Means against Ball was that the latter was responsible for their ambush at the Waterford Baptist Church.
Anger and mostly fear stirred the townsfolk. Both unionists and secessionists in the county pleaded for these men to be released before it could escalate to retaliation. But White stood his ground and refused to release his prisoners. He, however, let them go for three weeks on parole and sent Williams and Hollingsworth to convince the Union to let Ball and Belt go. “If they can’t do that, they’ll have to come back,” Rizzo recounted.
Unfortunately, Williams and Hollingsworth were unsuccessful in their mission, and at the end of their parole, they headed back to White’s encampment.
“At this point, Samuel Means and the Loudoun Rangers said they didn’t have to go back,” Rizzo continued, “but the two (Williams and Hollingsworth) choose [otherwise] because they gave their word to White [saying] that they will be back in three weeks’ time.”
When they returned, White informed the two unionists that they would be marched to Castle Thunder in Richmond and held there, where “they’re going to be treated like the rest of the prisoners of war.”
Efforts to set the four prisoners free
Both their families came and worked together to set these prisoners free. Most notable was Williams’ wife, who went around Virginia to gather signatures from unionists and appeal to the United States. She even traveled to the White House in the fall of 1863 to talk to and convince then-President Abraham Lincoln to let the innocent union captives go in exchange for the freedom of the federate prisoners.
“And he did,” Rizzo perked. “He (Lincoln) wrote a note saying to the head prisoners to help this request out if possible, but the head of the prison, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, countermanded the request.” Stanton refused to grant the request, concerned that “copycats” would transpire in the future.
So the disappointed Mrs. Williams returned to Waterford with her husband’s guaranteed freedom. Nevertheless, at this point, the issue has already gotten enough attention that secessionists have started appealing to their side of the government. They submitted an appeal to the Secretary of War, and even Henry Ball wrote his own, saying not to take prisoners on his account.
Fortunately, Ball’s letter had a good impact on the case. The two prisoners in Castle Thunder were eventually released on the condition of taking an oath in exchange for their travel permits. Finally, after months of the debacle, Williams and Hollingsworth returned home.
“They’re able then to walk back home and in dramatic fashion, William Williams and Robert Hollingsworth arrived back to Waterford—looking beleaguered, longer beards, Williams even had smallpox from prison—but they make it back to Waterford on Christmas Day 1863,” Rizzo said.
He continued: “When word was getting out in early December that the two Unionists were out of prison, then Stanton relented and the two secessionists were released from Fort Delaware and they return home just before the New Year to Loudoun County.”
***
Rizzo’s story showed that “people get caught up in war, even if you’re not directly involved in it,” especially if you’re living in an area like Loudoun County, “where you’re near the Potomac River—you have varying degrees of belief in the war, for or against; you will have enemies.”
“Sometimes, you might bring it upon yourself [to have] a notable secessionist who may have led troops. Sometimes you might be a schoolmaster caught in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Rizzo said as he concluded his story. You’d still be at war in one way or another, and it doesn’t take breaks for anybody.
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