The peace testimony of Friends was constantly appearing in the minutes. Members were “spoken to” for attendance at muster; were “delt with” for purchasing substitutes and paying the muster tax. At first the Revolutionary War affected the Fairfax Meeting but little, however, before it was over some fifteen members had been disowned for joining the army. George Washington summed up the general attitude towards the Quakers then in his famous, “Leave the Friends alone for you cannot induce them to swear or fight for or against us. They are harmless, peaceful and industrious people who will produce bread and meat, and if they will not sell it to us, we will take it, if we need it; we need bread and meat as much as we need soldiers.”
During the Civil War soldiers of both sides were quartered in the Waterford Meeting House. When meeting was going on they stepped outside and some even came to meeting and as one writer said, “When they (the Southern soldiers) first came to Waterford they seemed to entertain a strong animosity against Friends—but becoming better acquainted, some of the soldiers acknowledged (that) Friends delt with them more fairly than any they had met on their march from the South, and their prejudices were removed.” It did seem strange to Friends to hold meetings with swords hanging along the walls. A very original account of captivity during _The War_ is given by William Williams. He and Robert J. Hollingsworth were imprisoned in Richmond for two Southerners likewise treated by the Federals. After much travel and hard work on the part of wife Mary and Friends the two were released, though not before suffering many real hardships.
Young Quaker men, being sympathetic with the Union, went North in great numbers during _The War_, many to Ohio; they obtained jobs and found a living away from Loudoun County and never came back to stay. It was this exodus which began the decline of the meeting at Waterford. Many Friends during the hostilities wished to travel to Baltimore in order to go to Yearly Meeting. To do so they had to run the blockade along the Potomac. Many ignored the guards at the river crossings, but many a one was turned back. Samuel M. Janney was questioned by General (Shanks) Evans after he was arrested for crossing the river during the early part of the war.