At the risk of starting a controversial topic, has anyone on the board read the series of books about Unionists in Rockingham County? (http://www.vbmhc.org/vra/vrasales.shtml#vol1claimants)
I was in Harrisonburg Friday and saw a pamphlet on Rockingham Unionists, and the books written about them. They are based on the post-war Southern Claims Commission, which took statements and decided whether to reimburse loyal citizens for their losses during the war.
I quickly saw two problems with the pamphlet.
1. It said that the secession referendum of May 1861 was a sham. The pamphlet depicted that Unionists were intimidated from voting against secession and often prevented from voting at all.
2. It spoke of the confiscation of livestock, the burning of barns by soldiers, leading the reader to believe that the soldiers in question were Confederates, destroying property to spite the Unionist victims.

As to point 1, I went back and looked up the voting in Rockingham County in May 1861. There were 3012 votes in favor of secession, 22 against. Just out of curiosity, I went back to the results of the Presidential vote in November 1860, and found something interesting. The vote total in November was 1349 (Bell), 667 (Douglas), and 873 (Breckenridge) or a total of 2889 (Stauntonj Spectator 13 Nov 1860). With all the alleged intimidation of Unionist voters going on in Rockingham, there was a 5% INCREASE in voting in the May referendum.

As to point 2, the Southern Claims Commission dealt with those who had had property confiscated or otherwise suffered for their pro-Union sentiments, so property confiscated by Confederate forces would not have been subject to the SCC hearings (unless the property was confiscated simply because the owner was a known Unionist). In other words, I believe the soldiers burning the barns of Unionists and slaughtering their livestock addressed in the pamphlet would have been FEDERAL forces, who destroyed an enormous amount of property in Rockingham in October 1864. I have not read the books, and they are fairly pricey ($50 + S&H). Has anybody read these books? Is the pamphlet an acccurate representation of what is in the books?