At the other end of the social scale were the white convicts of which, as we have seen, Loudoun had long had her share or more. There has been preserved an advertisement of 1777 by Sam Love, a justice of the peace:
"Ran away from the subscriber, in Loudoun County, two convict servants, David Hinds, an Irishman, about 35 years of age, 5 feet, 6 or 8 inches high, pitted with small pox, hath a wart or pear on his chin, hath short, black, curled hair, had on when he went away a country cloth jacket and breeches, yarn stockings, country linen shirt, old shoes and felt hat almost new,--George Dorman, born in England, about 20 years of age, 5 feet, 6 or 7 inches hight, had on when he went away nearly the same clothing as Hinds, they both had iron collars on when they went away, its expected they will change their clothing and have forged passes. Whoever brings the said servants home shall have Two Dollars reward for each if taken ten miles from home, and in proportion for a greater or less distance, as far as 50 miles, including what the law allows.
[Illustration: From the Loudoun-Fauquier Magazine
But negroes and convicts were not the only class in Loudoun deprived of liberty. Early in 1776 the unfortunate prisoners of war began to arrive. Of a number of "Highland Prisoners taken by Captain James and Richard Barren in the Ship Oxford," the following were sent to Loudoun by the Committee of Safety at its session on the 24th June 1776:
Donald McLeod John Gunn Donald Keith Murdock Morison John McLeod Hugh McKay William Kelly John Forbas Alexander McIntosh William Robinson John McLeod, Jr. John McKay[111] Peter Robinson
The next year a much larger contingent made its appearance. The Hessian prisoners taken at the Battle of Saratoga were divided into parties which were sent to different parts of the Colonies. A numerous band was sent to Noland's Ferry where a camp for them was established and, it is said, some of their number were employed in building the Noland mansion there, thus fixing the long disputed date of its construction. Briscoe Goodhart says that few of these prisoners were returned to Europe after the war but that, for the most part, they settled in Loudoun and in Frederick and Montgomery counties, Maryland, in all of which were many of German descent and that the former Hessian prisoners became useful and industrious citizens in their new homes.[112]