Tenting Tonight on the Old Campground: Present-Day McLean During the Civil War, Part II

In the first installment on the Civil War history of McLean, I described how the area around Lewinsville and Langley became one large encampment for part of the Army of the Potomac from October 1861 to March 1862.  I sometimes drive down Dolley Madison Boulevard on my way to Chain Bridge and try to imagine the rows of tents and huts, laid out like city streets, and the blue clad soldiers drilling or sitting around campfires boiling coffee. Only a red light jolts me back to this century.

Camp Griffin, one of the Union encampments in the McLean area, occupied the historic Salona property and neighboring farms near Langley, including land where the CIA is now located.  During the time of the Civil War, Salona was owned by the Smoot family, who fled to Georgetown with slaves in tow when the Union Army arrived. The property once belonged to Confederate General Robert E. Lee's father and, according to several accounts, housed President Madison during his flight from British invaders in August 1814. (Today, the Salona property is privately-owned, but Fairfax County has a perpetual easement on 41 acres of the property and plans to develop a multi-use park there.) 

General "Baldy" Smith established his division headquarters at the Salona mansion.  According to Smoot family tradition, Salona also served as headquarters of General George McClellan, commander of the Army of the Potomac, from October 1,1861 to the following spring.  Correspondence from October 1861 indicates that McClellan had his headquarters in Lewinsville for a brief time.  He may have stayed at Salona, but for the most part, it appears that McClellan was based in Washington during the relevant time period.

Salona House, c. early1970s (courtesy of Virginia Department of Historic Resources).  Because the house is on private property, I was unable to get close enough to take a picture.

Field on the north side of the Salona property.  Photo was taken from Rt.123/Dolley Madison Blvd.

  

The famous First Vermont Brigade stayed at Camp Griffin starting in October 1861.  General Smith was instrumental in organizing this brigade, composed entirely of Vermont regiments (2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Vermont Volunteer Infantry).  The Vermont Brigade would go on to distinguish itself in several major battles, including the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cedar Creek.

The 2nd Vermont Volunteer Infantry at Camp Griffin (Library of Congress)

Camp Pierpont, located around Langley, was the winter quarters of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, which had been sent to Washington after the disaster at First Bull Run.  These troops were officially organized as a division of the Army of the Potomac under Brigadier General George A. McCall, a Pennsylvanian and commander of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps.  Following the Union victory at Dranesville, Virginia on December 20, 1861, Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin came to Camp Pierpont to congratulate the Pennsylvania troops who had participated in the battle.

Regimental colors of the 9th Pennsylvania Reserves (courtesy of Company A, 9th Pennsylvania Reserves reenactment unit) 

According to Jeffry Wert's book The Sword of Lincoln, it appears that the Army of Potomac's 1861-62 winter encampments, like Camp Griffin and Camp Pierpont, were miserable places.  The days were filled with rain, snow, and mud.  Christmas only made the men homesick.  The rank-and-file grew increasingly impatient with the army's inaction.  There had not been a major campaign since Bull Run the previous July. 

The living conditions in cramped quarters became a breeding ground for diseases like typhoid fever, diarrhea, and pneumonia, which spread quickly throughout the camps.  Not far from Langley, the Union Army took over the sandstone house at Benvenue, located around the corner from where I live, and converted it into a hospital.  Hospital tents were also erected on the Benvenue property, and a cottage behind the main house sheltered nurses.  It is not difficult to the imagine the stream of sick young men who suffered at Benvenue during winter camp.

Early morning at Benvenue on Churchill Rd. (private residence)

Fairfax County historic marker at Benvenue (for text of marker and other photos, go here)

Civilians in the Langley and Lewinsville experienced many hardships and depredations during the Union Army's occupation.  Northern soldiers cut down trees and dismantled fences and buildings.  They used the wood for fuel and for building huts and stables.  Troops and horses were quartered on local farms, and the constant wagon traffic cut roads through local fields.  The Lewinsville Presbyterian Church, founded in 1846, was converted into a stable.  The Union troops also confiscated cattle, as well as crops such as oats, corn and hay.  Some soldiers -- the usual bad seeds -- looted private property, taking furniture and other valuables.  When the Union Army moved out in March 1862, it left behind barren countryside and destroyed property.  I am sure that more than a few local residents were glad to see the massive encampment go.

Useful Link for Events in the Commonwealth

The Virginia Sesquicentennial Commission has published a list of Civil War events being held across Virginia this summer and beyond.  The Commission has already started to include events for 2011.  The upcoming commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War is sure to offer many meaningful opportunities to learn more about the conflict that cost over 600,000 American lives and radically transformed the United States.  As we go about our busy lives, I hope that we will find the time to remember the Civil War and the impact that it had on Virginia and the rest of the country.  Attending Civil War-related events is a perfect way to do so.

Chain Bridge: Commuting Through History, Part II

Crossing Chain Bridge, I have frequently glanced up at the expansive sky, spreading out over the river and trees below.  The view is more open than the during the Civil War, when wooden beams crossed overhead.  In1861, the skies over Chain Bridge witnessed some interesting episodes in early military aviation.

The Union and Confederate Armies both used balloons for reconnaissance purposes during the Civil War.  President Lincoln established the Balloon Corps, under the Union's Bureau of Topographical Engineers, in the summer of 1861.  Professor Thaddeus S.C. Lowe, a balloonist who had demonstrated his technology before Lincoln, was given permission to procure necessary equipment and personnel.

Thaddeus S.C. Lowe (Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum)

Union Brigadier General Fitz John Porter was convinced of the military value of Lowe's balloons and in September 1861, persuaded Major General George B. McClellan, commander of the Army of the Potomac, to approve a plan for aerial reconnaissance of Confederate positions in Falls Church, Virginia from a vantage point at Chain Bridge. The balloon ascended on September 10 and evidently proved its usefulness. Brigadier General William F. "Baldy" Smith, commander of the defenses around Chain Bridge, pushed for further ascensions.  On September 13, Smith himself went up with Lowe at Chain Bridge to survey Confederate troop movements across the Potomac.  Several days later, on September 24, Smith used balloon observation from a site at Fort Corcoran, near Aqueduct Bridge, to direct artillery fire on Falls Church from Smith's batteries around Chain Bridge, three miles distant.  Direction was relayed from the balloon to the artillery position by means of telegraph and signal flag.  This episode marked the first artillery fire direction with aerial observation in American history.

One of Lowe's balloons, the Intrepid (Library of Congress)

On October 12, 1861, Lowe was working on the construction of balloons in Philadelphia when he was asked to report to General Smith near Lewinsville, Virginia.  Arriving in Washington that same day, he was ordered to leave immediately for Smith's headquarters. With balloon in tow, Lowe and his men set out at night through the streets of Washington, trying hard not to get tangled in the telegraph wires overhead.  When they reached Chain Bridge about 3 a.m., they found the road crowded with artillery and cavalry headed to Virginia.  Rather than wait for the bridge to clear, Lowe had his men climb the trestles and mount the stringers -- only eighteen feet wide and 100 feet above the swift-moving Potomac -- where they towed the balloon over the bridge.  Lowe directed the management of the ropes.  As he described it, "the scene was novel, exciting, and not a little dangerous."

Lowe and his men were exhausted when they reached Lewinsville at dawn on the 13th, about a mile from Smith's headquarters.  Unfortunately, a strong wind began blowing, and attempts to fasten the balloon were unsuccessful.  The balloon broke free of its moorings and floated eastward all the way to Delaware, where it was found by a farmer with suspected Confederate sympathies.  Unionist neighbors prevailed over local secessionists, and the balloon was returned to the Union Army.  Surprisingly, the balloon had suffered little damage.

When crossing Chain Bridge, I can't help but think of the band of Balloon Corpsmen who struggled to get the balloon across the Potomac as they balanced on wooden beams, only to lose their precious cargo on the opposite shore a few hours later.  I wonder how Smith reacted, but we know that Lowe survived to conduct future reconnaissance missions, including during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign near Richmond.

McClellan's Reaction to Lewinsville: Looking for Victory Where You Can Find It

In light of Thursday's post on the Civil War history of McLean, I thought readers might be interested in General George McClellan's take on the first skirmish in Lewinsville, Virginia on September 11, 1861.  I recently came across this interesting telegram sent on the day of the battle by McClellan to President Lincoln, Secretary of War Simon Cameron, and General-in-Chief Winfield Scott:

Gen'l Smith made reconnaissance with two thousand men to Lewinsville, remained several hours & completed examination of the ground. When work was completed & the command had started back the enemy opened fire with shell, killing two men & wounding three.

Griffin's battery silenced the enemy's battery. 

Our men then came back in perfect order & excellent spirits.  They behaved most admirably under fire.

We shall have no more Bull Run affairs. 

Interesting how McClellan reacted to this small skirmish.  After the utter defeat of First Bull Run, it is not surprising that the commanding general was looking for any way to reassure himself and his superiors that the Army of Potomac was capable of something.  And the concluding line is classic -- a boastful promise to McClellan's bosses that he will not let them down.  Before long, he would be in trouble for moving too slowly.  As Lincoln once quipped, if McClellan wasn't going to use his army, he would like to borrow it for a time.  It's easy to have no more Bull Runs when you are paralyzed by inaction!

Lewinsville, Langley, and the Union Army: Present-Day McLean During the Civil War, Part I

Last April I moved across Northern Virginia from Alexandria to McLean.  I knew little about local McLean history aside from the fact that President James Madison had passed through the area while fleeing the British in 1814.  Slowly, additional stories began to emerge.  On a walk one day last year, I discovered a former Union hospital just around the corner from my house.  More recently, one of my best friends, who also happens to be a neighbor, pointed out another significant local site, hidden off Route 123 behind acres of trees.  After more research, including a Sunday afternoon trip to the McLean Community Center, I pieced together the interesting role that McLean played in the early days of the Army of the Potomac. 

At the time of the Civil War, the hamlets of Langley and Lewinsville and the surrounding countryside constituted what is now the area of McLean.  (Today, "Langley" has become synonymous with the CIA, whose sprawling headquarters complex is located there.) These villages were not far from the strategic crossing of the Potomac at Chain Bridge and began to see increased Union Army activity during the second half of 1861. 

Military Action at Lewinsville

On September 11, 1861, Union Brigadier General William F. "Baldy" Smith sent about 2,000 soldiers from Chain Bridge to conduct reconnaissance around Lewinsville.  They clashed with over 300 Confederate troops under the command of then-Colonel James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart, who would become one of the Confederacy's most famous cavalry leaders.  Heavy artillery dueling ensued as the Union force fell back towards Washington. Both sides claimed victory, and casualties were light.  Only two soldiers, both Northern, died in the battle.

On September 25, a Union force of around 5,000 set off for Lewinsville as part of a foraging and reconnaissance expedition.  They encountered Confederate troops that had advanced from Falls Church. After an intense exchange of artillery fire, the Rebels pulled back from Lewinsville.

"Bringing in the Federal Wounded after the Skirmish at Lewinsville, Virginia -- From a Sketch by Our Special Artist," The Illustrated London News, October 12, 1861 (Emory University online collection)  

Unfortunately, there is little written about these skirmishes.  The absence of historical markers interpreting the battles at Lewinsville is also a noteworthy oversight in a region located along Northern Virginia's Civil War Trails.  At some point in the future, I hope to have a more detailed post dedicated to these military actions, once I find the time to get to local libraries and archives!  I would also like to see if we can't get a marker or two placed in McLean along the Civil War Trails.

General Jeb Stuart (Library of Congress)

General William F. "Baldy" Smith (Library of Congress)

Union Occupation

As noted in a previous post, "Baldy" Smith sent soldiers from his division across Chain Bridge on the night of September 3-4.  These troops began construction of Fort Marcy, just east of Langley.  Smith's troops finally seized Lewinsville on October 9, 1861.  Major General George McClellan's Report on the Organization and Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac notes that as of October 15, Smith's division was posted at Mackall's Hill (between Langley and Lewinsville), while Brigadier George A. McCall's division was situated at Langley.  Before long, Union soldiers established encampments in the fields and woods around present-day McLean.  Eventually, 20,000 troops would be quartered across a five-mile area stretching from Langley to Lewinsville during the October 1861 to March 1862 time frame.  Many of these soldiers would be organized into the IV Corps of the Army of the Potomac and sent farther south as part of the Peninsula Campaign in the spring of 1862. 

I plan to explore additional aspects of McLean's Civil War history in future posts.  I would like to get out my camera and take some photos of sites near my home this weekend.  Here's to hoping my neighbors don't call the police on me!  Coming next, "Tenting Tonight on the Old Campground: Present-Day McLean During the Civil War, Part II."

Addendum, December 13, 2010

After additional research in connection with subsequent entries, the section on the military actions at Lewinsville has been revised.  For additional information, see here.

Chain Bridge: Commuting Through History, Part I

Like many DC area commuters, I breathed a sigh of relief to learn a little over a week ago that all lanes of Chain Bridge were finally re-opened.  While I welcomed the potential for a much shorter commute, I also knew that I would occasionally miss those times stuck in traffic while crossing the bridge.  During such delays I often had time to study the still-wooded hills overlooking the river, to marvel at the Potomac rolling turbulently over large boulders, and to glance down at the site of the old Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal at the DC end of the bridge.  I imagine that the view was not much different during the Civil War, with the exception of a few multi-million dollar homes peeking through the trees on cliffs above the river.

Chain Bridge today, looking toward the Virginia side (courtesy Craig Swain, Historical Marker Database)

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Chain Bridge was one of the key Potomac River crossings into Washington from Virginia.  (The other two were Aqueduct Bridge, near the current Key Bridge, and Long Bridge, around the site of the 14th Street Bridge today.)  The bridge was originally constructed in 1797 by Georgetown merchants who wanted to compete with the port of Alexandria.  The bridge enabled them to transport goods directly from Virginia into Georgetown.   In 1808, a chain suspension bridge was built at the site -- this bridge became known as the "Chain Bridge," but the name stuck and carried over to subsequent bridges.  The original Chain Bridge collapsed and in 1852 was replaced by the crossbeam structure that existed at the time of the Civil War. 

Chain Bridge during the Civil War, C&O Canal visible below (Library of Congress)

Chain Bridge and the Defenses of Washington

Virginia officially seceded from the Union on May 23, 1861.  Now, just across the Potomac, lie enemy territory of the Confederate States of America.  Federal troops did not waste much time in reacting to the threat.  On May 24, 1861, they marched into Northern Virginia and seized key areas, including Alexandria.  Chain Bridge played a role in this occupation. According to the May 25, 1861 edition of the New York Herald: 

The troops quartered at Georgetown, the Sixty-ninth, Fifth, Eighth and Twenty-eighth New York regiments, proceeded across what is known as the chain bridge, above the mouth of the Potomac Aqueduct, under the command of General [Irvin] McDowell. They took possession of the heights in that direction.

Major General George B. McClellan (National Archives)

During the early days of the war, Washington lacked a major system of defensive fortifications. The disastrous Federal defeat at First Bull Run in July 1861 would provide the necessary impetus to improve the protection of the Federal capital.  Following Bull Run, Major General George B. McClellan assumed command of the disorganized Union troops around Washington, soon to be known as the Army of the Potomac.  One of his first tasks was to survey the state of Washington's defenses, including those at Chain Bridge:

In no quarter were the dispositions for defense such as to offer a vigorous resistance to a respectable body of the enemy, either in the position and numbers of the troops or the number and character of the defensive works. Earthworks . . . looked upon the approaches to the Georgetown Aqueduct and Ferry, the Long Bridge, and Alexandria, by the Little River turnpike, and some simple defensive arrangements were made at the Chain Bridge. With the latter exception not a single defensive work had been commenced on the Maryland side. There was nothing to prevent the enemy shelling the city from heights within easy range, which could be occupied by a hostile column almost without resistance.

George B. McClellan, Report on the Organization and Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, New York: Sheldon & Company (1864) (personal collection)

McClellan immediately set to work building the defenses around Washington.  Needless to say, the Union commander recognized the strategic importance of the approaches to Washington by way of Chain Bridge. On the night of September 24, 1861, the soldiers of Brigadier General W.F. "Baldy" Smith's division crossed Chain Bridge and began construction in Virginia of what would become Fort Marcy and Fort Ethan Allen.  When completed, these imposing forts dominated the region around Chain Bridge and the Leesburg & Georgetown Turnpike.  Fort Marcy had a perimeter of 338 feet, with emplacements for 18 guns, while Fort Ethan Allen had a perimeter of 736 yards with emplacements for 36 guns.

Gun emplacement at Fort Marcy (Library of Congress)

On the DC/Maryland side, Chain Bridge was protected in the immediate vicinity by an unfortified field gun battery at the northern end and Battery Scott, on the heights above the bridge.  Four major batteries also covered the Chain Bridge approaches from emplacements around present-day Foxhall and Chain Bridge Roads, N.W. and Sibley Memorial Hospital.

Battery Martin Scott, Harper's Weekly, August 24, 1861 (Chain Bridge is visible in the background)

Lower battery at Chain Bridge, Harper's Weekly, August 24, 1861

A strong garrison was posted at the bridge throughout the remainder of the war.  Two large iron gates were placed at the center of the bridge, with slits for skirmishers and pickets to fire through.  The troops in and around Chain Bridge never saw any real action aside from shots allegedly fired by Confederate pickets.

Knowing the Civil War history of Chain Bridge, I am reminded that at one point in time, it wasn't so easy to cross the Potomac and enter Washington from Virginia.  Lucky for me things have changed, or I would be late to work on a daily basis!

Note on Sources:

For more detailed information on the forts and batteries around Chain Bridge, an excellent source is Mr. Lincoln's Forts: A Guide to the Civil War Defenses of Washington by Benjamin Franklin Cooling III and Walton H. Owen II.

Another view of Chain Bridge, complete with contingent of Union soldiers (Library of Congress)

Addendum, April 13, 2011

Further research has indicated that the article cited above from the New York Herald likely mistook the Aqueduct Bridge for the Chain Bridge.  According to Ethan Rafuse's A Single Grand Victory, nearly all the New York regiments cited by the Herald crossed into Virginia via the Aqueduct Bridge.  The other Federal routes of advance on May 24, 1861 consisted of a thrust over the Long Bridge and a river invasion at Alexandria. 

The photograph of Ft. Marcy from the Library of Congress was identified as such by the National Park Service. (See here).  However, the Library of Congress online Civil War collection identifies the subject as Ft. Lincoln, another of the defenses of Washington. (See here.) Mr. Lincoln's Forts also indicates that this photograph was taken at Ft. Lincoln.

Addendum, September 2, 2011

Further research has revealed that Smith's men crossed the Potomac on September 3-4, 1861.  The September 24 date noted above is likely erroneous, although often cited in many secondary sources. See my post from September 2, 2011, which describes in more detail Smith's movement into Virginia.

 

Interesting Article on Interpretive Traditions Regarding the Civil War

I thought readers might find this article from Civil War Times interesting, particularly in light of yesterday's posting on Lost Cause symbols in Alexandria.  Historian Gary Gallagher discusses the various interpretive traditions concerning the Civil War.  He argues that the Union Cause tradition is the most underappreciated interpretation in today's America.  I tend to agree. We have gone from one extreme (Lost Cause) to the other (Emancipation), while neglecting the ultimate importance of preserving the Union.  Recently, I watched Ken Burns' The Civil War and had the same reaction to the curious comment by Professor Barbara Fields on the issue of saving the Union. 

Pause to ask yourself a few questions.  They show the importance of Union to understanding and interpreting the Civil War and its consequences. What would have become of slaves in the Confederate states if the Union had not been preserved?  What would have been the world-wide impact if America's great experiment in representative democracy had failed?  Would the United States have become the global military and economic power it is today?  Let's give the Union Cause tradition the place it deserves in America's remembrance of the Civil War.

Old Glory flies once again over Fort Sumter, April 1865 (Library of Congress)

Symbols of the "Lost Cause" in Alexandria

Alexandria, a charming town outside of Washington, DC, is known as much for its chic boutiques and fine restaurants as for its colonial past.  Just below the surface, however, lie reminders that this town was once inhabited by Confederate sympathizers who resented Union occupation during the Civil War and sought to commemorate the so-called "Lost Cause" in the years following Appomattox.  One of the most striking symbols of this past is the statue of a Rebel soldier located at the intersection of S. Washington and Prince Streets.  The Sons of Confederate Veterans led the effort to erect this memorial to Alexandria's Confederate dead.  Dedicated in 1889 by Governor Fitzhugh Lee, nephew of Robert E. Lee and a former major general of cavalry in the Army of Northern Virginia, the statue defiantly faces away from the nation's capital.  An 1890 act of the Virginia House of  Delegates prohibited the statue from being moved to another location.

Confederate Statue on S. Washington Street, Old Town

But there are other, more hidden signs, that tourists and residents walk past every day without ever taking notice.  Before eating at Jackson 20 the other day, I paused to snap a picture of a marker affixed to the Hotel Monaco on King Street.  The hotel is located on the site of the Marshall House, where on May 24, 1861 Union Col. Elmer E. Ellsworth of the 11th New York "Fire Zouaves" was shot to death by innkeeper James Jackson after having torn down the Stars and Bars flying from the roof.  Jackson in turn was killed on the spot by one of Ellsworth's men.  In the immediate aftermath of Ellsworth's death, the young colonel and friend of Lincoln became a martyr for the Northern cause.  The South exalted Jackson as a defender of property rights in the face of Yankee aggression. 

The marker on the Hotel Monaco, placed by the Sons and Daughters of Confederate Veterans, salutes Jackson as "the first martyr to the cause of Southern independence."  (The date the marker was affixed is uncertain, although it has survived the change in ownership from Holiday Inn to Hotel Monaco.)  I shouldn't have been surprised to find this memorial, but I was.  Even an incident like the murder of Ellsworth survived the war to stir passions and drive Southerners to honor the alleged "heroics" of an innkeeper who used excessive and deadly force to deal with the removal of a simple flag.

Killing of Ellsworth and the Marshall House as depicted in an 1861 edition of Harper's Weekly

Marker commemorating the death of James Jackson at the corner of King and Pitt Streets

The problems with the Lost Cause mythology are numerous and are well documented in the literature of Civil War memory.  At the same time, the placement of such markers and monuments in the aftermath of the Civil War helped the United States to begin the process of reconciling, however ironic that may seem.  Within a reunited nation, Southerners were allowed to honor their "Lost Cause," veterans, and war dead.  The North would look the other way and erect its own monuments.  Unfortunately and tragically, the African American experience, and civil rights for freed slaves and their descendants, were neglected in a rush to "bind up the nation's wounds."  It would take over a hundred years to truly bind those wounds, and even then, they are sometimes still very close to the surface.

So, what to do with these markers and monuments?  After all, these tributes are part of history, and when properly explained and placed in context, they tell a powerful story of how previous generations of Americans remembered and dealt with civil conflict.  They also stand in some instances to honor war dead, even if the soldiers died for the wrong reasons.  Rather than remove such vestiges of a past that some would rather condemn and forget, these monuments and markers of the Lost Cause should be viewed critically next to sites that represent other aspects of the Civil War-era experience in Alexandria.  The Freedom House Museum, located in a former slave pen on Duke Street, features exhibits on slavery in Alexandria and beyond.  The City of Alexandria runs the Alexandria Black History Museum, and the Alexandria National Cemetery contains the graves of over 200 U.S. Colored Troops who gave their lives in service to the Union.  (See here, here, and here).  Fort Ward Museum, on the outskirts of Old Town, explains what life was like for Union soldiers stationed in one of the numerous forts in Northern Virginia guarding the area around Washington.  Alexandria can tell a story about all Americans affected by the Civil War.  All that we need to do is look, listen, and reflect.

Good News on the South Mountain Battlefield Preservation Front

Here is an article that readers may find interesting concerning preservation of South Mountain battlefield, the site on an important engagement during the 1862 Antietam Campaign.  Hopefully the National Park Service will approve the application.  And shame on the Washington County Commissioners.

According to the park manager for the South Mountain battlefield park, such a listing would go a long way towards getting protection against encroachments from power lines and cell phones towers.  The park would also be eligible for more grant money, not a bad thing in these lean times.  This listing could even further the efforts of the Civil War Preservation Trust, which included South Mountain on its list of Most Endangered Battlefields.