A Day in the Life of the War: The 17th Virginia Skirmishes with Soldiers from New Jersey

This summer I have written a few posts tracing the movements of the 17th Virginia across Northern Virginia after the First Battle of Manassas. The regiment, part of General James Longstreet's brigade, marched from Centreville to Fairfax Court House, where the soldiers established Camp Harrison in early August 1861. The men of the 17th performed occasional picket duty along Longstreet's advanced line, which by the end of August extended to Falls Church and Mason's and Munson's Hills. The 17th Virginia got caught up in the endless series of skirmishing that took place along this part of the line, including an encounter with 3rd New Jersey on August 31. Although lasting less than ten minutes, this skirmish has received its fair share of attention, both in the OR and in Confederate memoirs.

Col. George W. Taylor, commander of the 3rd New Jersey (courtesy of Library of Congress).  Taylor would later be promoted to brigadier general and lead the First New Jersey Brigade during the Second Manassas Campaign.  He was mortally wounded on August 27, 1862 as he defended a section of the Orange & Alexandria Railroad.

Early in the morning of August 31, Col. George W. Taylor of the 3rd New Jersey set off with about 40 men to cut off the Confederate pickets who had been "extremely annoying to our outposts on the Little River turnpike and on the road leading from thence to Chestnut [Mason's] Hill." (OR, 1:5:1, 121.)* Taylor's men were forced to "cross a fence and a narrow cornfield." (OR, 1:5:1, 121.) A company of the 17th Virginia, however, was prepared and waiting. As Taylor reported to his commander, Brig. Gen. Philip Kearny:

While in the corn we were suddenly opened upon by a rapid and sharp fire, which our men, whenever they got sight of the enemy, returned with much spirit. Scarce two minutes elapsed when I found 3 men close to me had been shot down. The enemy being mostly hid, I deemed it prudent to order my men to fall back to the woods, distant about 30 yards, which I did. At the same time I ordered enough to remain with me to carry off the wounded, but they did not hear or heed my order except two. With these we got all off, as I supposed (the corn being thick), but Corporal Hand, Company I, who, when I turned him over, appeared to be dying. I took his musket, also the musket of one of the wounded, and returned to the woods to rally the men. I regret to say that none of them could be found, nor did I meet them until I reached the blacksmith-shop, three-quarters of a mile distant. (OR, 1:5:1, 121-22.)

Taylor was determined to retrieve his missing men from the cornfield. He quickly reinforced the part of his command under Capt. Leonard Regur with twenty-five soldiers from the picket line and sent the men to gather whatever dead and wounded they could find. Approaching the scene of the recent skirmish, Regur worried that the Confederate force had grown larger and turned his men around rather than enter the cornfield. In his report to Kearny, Taylor defended Regur's decision as "justified." (OR, 1:5:1, 122.)

The sentiment in the Confederate camp was one of victory.  Private Edgar Warfield of the 17th Virginia remembered the skirmish as a "brisk fight."  (Warfield, 61.)  He noted that the 3rd New Jersey was repulsed "with some little loss" to the Union side.  (Warfield, 61.)  In the meantime, General Jubal Early had arrived in the area with the 5th North Carolina and 24th Virginia to relieve the 17th Virginia.**  Early dubbed the the skirmish "a very sharp fight" in which a company of the 17th Virginia had "repulsed the enemy and inflicted a severe punishment on him."  (Early, 48.)

General Kearny, the Union brigade commander, apparently had a hard time just leaving the soldiers who had fallen near Mason's Hill.  Some time after the skirmish ended and Early's pickets had taken the place of the 17th Virginia, Early was told that "a flag of truce had appeared at the outside picket, where the fight had taken place in the early morning." Early rode to a home near the site of the skirmish.  As he recalled:

I . . . had the person bearing the flag brought to me blindfolded. He proved to be a Dr. Coxe, surgeon of the New Jersey regiment, a detachment of which had been engaged in the above named affair. He stated that he came on the part of Colonel Tyler [sic] of the 3rd New Jersey to get the bodies of several men who were missing, and that he was informed that General Kearney [sic], who commanded on that part of the line, had directed Colonel Tyler [sic] to send the party with the flag.  (Early, 49.)***

Early was at first unsure of what to do.  He informed the doctor "of the irregularity of the proceeding."  (Early, 49.)  However, "after some conversation in which I endeavored to leave him under the impression that we had a large force in the vicinity, I gave him permission to carry off the dead bodies, two of which he had picked up outside of my picket, and two others having been brought in to the picket before his arrival."  (Early, 49.)****  The burial party then arrived and retrieved the Union soldiers who had died in the morning's skirmish. 

This story reminded me of how small events in a big war can still leave a very lasting impression on participants. Of all the skirmishes Early and Warfield experienced in one way or another, they never seem to have forgotten the brief firefight around Mason's Hill and the efforts that the Union Army made to ensure that the 3rd New Jersey's dead received a proper burial. It is these seemingly inconsequential actions that marked time 150 years ago this month in Northern Virginia.

Notes

*The OR records the skirmish as taking place "at Munson's Hill, on Little River Turnpike, Va."  However, Munson's Hill was located next to the Leesburg & Alexandria Turnpike, not the Little River Turnpike.  Mason's Hill sat astride the Columbia Turnpike, which intersected with the Little River Turnpike farther to the south.  Mason's Hill was also known as "Chestnut Hill."  Given the description of the roads in Taylor's report, and his use of the name "Chestnut Hill," it appears that the OR misnamed the skirmish.  Confederate sources cited in this post confirm the location of the action as near Mason's Hill.

**Early stated that his regiments arrived "before light on the morning of the 31st of August," while Warfield remembered that the 17th Virginia was relieved by the two regiments  "[d]uring the night of August 31."  (Early, 48; Warfield, 61.)  Perhaps this discrepancy is due to a lapse in time before Early's men actually moved into position to relieve the 17th.  Alternatively, Warfield may have remembered the early morning darkness of the 31st as the night.

*** Warfield also recalled that the 3rd New Jersey "sent over a flag of truce for the purpose of getting their dead."  (Warfield, 61.) 

****The OR states that the nominal list of Union casualties "shows 2 killed and 3 wounded."  (OR, 1:5:1, 122.)

Sources

Aside from the OR, the following sources were useful in compiling this post:

Jubal Anderson Early & R.H. Early (ed.), Autobiographical Sketch and Narrative of the War Between the States (1912); Edgar Warfield, Manassas to Appomattox: The Civil War Memoirs of Pvt. Edgar Warfield, 17th Virginia Infantry (1996 ed.).

The Forgotten War: Fighting Between the Lines Around Bailey's Crossroads

Earlier this week, I discussed the Confederate capture of Munson's Hill around Bailey's Crossroads in Northern Virginia.  Standing in the Bailey's Crossroads area today, it is difficult to imagine the constant firefighting that erupted here following the Confederate advance.  Nothing remains of the rural landscape, except for an old, forgotten windmill at the intersection of Columbia Pike and VA-7.  And the ground where soldiers marched and died is now occupied by big box stores and apartment buildings.  Only a lone marker recalls the fighting that took place here.

By the end of August 1861, Longstreet's advanced elements at Munson's Hill were dug in only a few miles from the Union position around Hunter's Chapel (now the intersection of Columbia Pike and S. Glebe Rd.). Both sides threw out pickets well beyond the main line, which led to numerous encounters. General Jubal Early recalled that "[t]he pickets were constantly skirmishing with those of the enemy." (Early, 48-49.) Longstreet, still struck by the endless series of skirmishes many years later, wrote in his memoirs that "[w]e had frequent little brushes with parties pushed out to reconnoitre." (Longstreet, 59.)


"Munson's Hill, the Advance Post of the Rebel Army on the Potomac," Harper's Weekly, Oct. 5, 1861 (courtesy of sonofthesouth.net).  The soldiers in the foreground appear to be Union scouts or pickets.  The Confederate flag atop the earthworks on Munson's Hill is visible in the background.  This engraving was published after the Confederates had abandoned their advanced positions in Northern Virginia.

In the days that followed Longstreet's occupation of  the high ground near Falls Church and Bailey's Crossroads, the small-scale engagements between the two side became particularly heated. The Union Army began to probe the Confederate picket line almost immediately.  Longstreet's aide, Tom Goree, soon wrote to his uncle and sister that "[n]ot a day passes without several skirmishes." (Goree, 40.)

"Bailey's Cross Roads, Advanced Post of the United States Army, Opposite Munson's Hill," Harper's Weekly, Oct. 5, 1861 (courtesy of sonofthesouth.net).

Five straight days of action unfolded for the 2nd Michigan on August 28, 1861, when Brig. Gen. Israel Richardson sent Capt. Louis Dillman with 250 men to Bailey's Crossroads to "occupy and hold the same against the encroachments of the enemy's forces in that vicinity."* (Report of Capt. Dillman, OR, 1:5:1, 120.) Arriving at the crossroads from Hunter's Chapel at 11 a.m., Capt. Dillman threw out his pickets. The Confederates quickly opened fire on the soldiers at the crossroads. Skirmishing lasted all day and into the night, only stopping at around 10 p.m.

The next morning, Longstreet's soldiers greeted the Michigan boys with more gunfire.  The Union soldiers were slow to respond, and the Confederates sent a party of around 80 men to turn Dillman's right flank and cut him off from the main body of his regiment.  The Union pickets retreated, but Captain William Humphrey arrived with 40 men and drove the Confederate forces back.  The skirmishing lasted three more days and gradually decreased in intensity.  Casualties for the 2nd Michigan were light.  Dillman reported only one Union soldier as mortally wounded.**

While stationed at Bailey's Crossroads, a couple men of the 2nd Michigan had an opportunity to scout the Confederate position.  As Dillman told Richardson:

Two privates of Company D-J. Austin and P. F. Walworth-straying from camp, passed through the enemy's lines and up to within some forty rods of the rear of their earthwork on Munson's Hill. Seeing two rebels near, they watched their chance, each picked his man, fired, and brought him to the ground. They returned safely to camp. They report seeing about 500 men around the works. There were no tents in sight, but some twelve or fifteen wagons and two pieces of artillery were lying on the back of the hill.  They also report seeing a large number of field officers busy looking over their maps and charts. (OR, 1:5:1, 120.)

The 3rd Michigan was also engaged at Bailey's Crossroads for part of the same time period.  On August 30, Maj. Stephen Champlin of the 3rd Michigan spotted two companies of Confederates marching from Munson's Hill towards the Union picket line to the right of Bailey's Crossroads.  About 100 Confederates hit the Federal pickets, who fell back towards the cover of Dillman's command at the crossroads and a reserve force stationed halfway between Arlington Mill and Bailey's Crossroads along the Columbia Turnpike.***  Champlin took action to reverse the course of the skirmish, using both Dillman's command and soldiers from the 3rd Michigan.  As he reported to Richardson after the battle:

I directed Captain Dillman to march one company of his men on the table-land to his right to a point opposite the enemy in the woods and deploy them as skirmishers, advance them across the road, and engage the enemy on their flank, while I brought up and engaged the enemy's front with the reserve stationed half way to the mill. . . and also with a portion of Capt. [S.A.] Judd's command, stationed near Arlington Mill. The order was executed, and the enemy retreated before the skirmishers, and would not and did not wait an engagement. Our pickets were re-established, and the forces of both sides are again in the same position they respectively occupied this morning. (OR, 1:5:1, 119.)

All told, no Union soldiers were killed, and only one or two were slightly wounded.  Champlain saw the Confederates carrying away three men, who were either dead or wounded.

Today these skirmishes are for the most part forgotten sideshows of the Civil War.  But at the time, all eyes were fixed on Bailey's Crossroads.  As the New York Times reported on August 29, 1861,  "[t]he Washington Star has several rumors of engagements near Bailey's Cross-roads, and from other sources general rumors are current of skirmishes having taken place. There appears, however, to be nothing reliable."  The next day, the Times told readers that "[t]he reported engagements at Bailey's Cross Roads. . . appear, upon investigation, to have been simply affairs of pickets, with little if any bloodshed."  Nevertheless, rumors and speculation still abounded in the anxious capital city.  The paper reported that "[t]he movement is. . . regarded in some quarters as indicative of an immediate advance of our forces. . . ."   Union commander George McClellan, however, was still far from undertaking a major offensive against the Rebels forces in Virginia.

Notes

*Captain Dillman's report to Col. Richardson in the OR indicates that he left Hunter's Chapel on "Thursday, August 28."  However, in 1861, the 28th fell on a Wednesday, so either Dillman got the day of the week, or the date, wrong.  The Atlas to Accompany the Official Records indicates that the 2nd Michigan was in position around Bailey's Crossroads starting on August 28.  (See plate 5.)

A dispatch by a New York Times correspondent dated August 29, 1861 reports that "our picket forces advanced to Bailey's Cross-roads yesterday [August 28], and drove those of the Secessionists a mile and a half beyond, where, it is said the latter have taken possession of a commanding eminence, and are throwing up intrenchments [sic]. There was much firing during the day, but without fatal results."  However, no mention is made of the units engaged on the 28th.  A special dispatch published in the New York Times on August 29, 1861, indicates that an intense, all-day skirmish took place in Bailey's Crossroads involving the 5th Maine, the 37th and 38th New York, and "a New-Jersey regiment." The 2nd Michigan is not mentioned. 

**Owing to the lack of clarity in Dillman's report, his estimates of Confederate losses are a bit confusing.  On one day of fighting, he reported  "6 or 8 killed and wounded," and then noted that the enemy carried off  "some twelve men killed and wounded."  It is uncertain whether the sets of numbers should be added together, or whether the six or eight is to be counted among the twelve.  On another day of fighting, he noted that the Confederates "were seen to carry a number off the field."

***This action appears to be part of the same Confederate flanking movement described in Dillman's report to Richardson and discussed earlier in the post.

Sources

Aside from the OR and New York Times articles cited above, the following sources were useful in compiling this post:

Thomas W. Cutrer, Longstreet's Aide: The Civil War Letters of Thomas J. Goree (1995); Jubal Anderson Early & R.H. Early (ed.), Autobiographical Sketch and Narrative of the War Between the States (1912); Bradley E. Gernand, A Virginia Village Goes to War: Falls Church During the Civil War (2002); James Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox (1896); Charles P. Poland, Jr., The Glories of War: Small Battles and Early Heroes of 1861 (2004).

Longstreet Advances Closer to Washington: The Occupation of Mason's Hill & Munson's Hill

As I have discussed in previous posts, General James Longstreet stood at the vanguard of the Confederate advance through Northern Virginia in late summer of 1861.  During the end of August, Longstreet pushed a force of infantry beyond his picket line at Falls Church, Virginia and closer to the Union capital.*  Assisted by Col. J.E.B. Stuart's 1st Virginia Cavalry, the soldiers drove in Federal pickets and seized two prominences that dominated the surrounding countryside -- Mason's Hill and Munson's Hill.  The newly captured territory was only a handful of miles from the nation's capital.  As Longstreet later recalled, "[w]e were provokingly near Washington, with orders not to attempt to advance even to Alexandria."  (Longstreet, 59.)  From their new position, the Confederates had a full view of Washington, including the unfinished Capitol dome rising in the distance.  They also could observe the Union lines in Northern Virginia as far as Alexandria.

The soldiers set to work digging earthworks on Mason's and Munson's Hills. The heights swept the plains around Bailey's Crossroads, where the Leesburg & Alexandria Turnpike met the Colombia Turnpike.** As long as the Confederate forces were dug in atop these two hills, the Union Army dare not occupy territory closer to Falls Church and Annandale.

A view of Mason's Hill and Munson's Hill from an 1862 Union Army map, showing their proximity to Falls Church and Bailey's Crossroads (courtesy of Library of Congress).  Washington sits to the northeast (upper right of the map), about nine miles away.  The Leesburg & Alexandria Turnpike runs past Munson's Hill to Falls Church and beyond.  At the time this map was drawn, the Union was in control of this area and had erected forts, which are shown here. Today, historical markers are located near the site of  the Confederate positions on Mason's and Munson's Hills (see here and here).

The position at Mason's and Munson's Hills was normally held by a couple regiments of infantry, a battery, and Stuart's cavalry.  The infantry and artillery units rotated every few days, but Stuart's men remained a permanent fixture.  Longstreet remembered in his memoirs that because "the authorities allowed me but one battery. . . we collected a number of old wagon-wheels and mounted on them stove-pipes of different calibre, till we had formidable-looking batteries, some large enough of calibre to threaten Alexandria, and even the National Capitol and Executive Mansion."  (Longstreet, 60.)  According to Private Edgar Warfield of the 17th Virginia, Co.H, the soldiers had some fun with the stovepipe gun at the Union Army's expense.  As he related in his memoirs, "[i]t was a favorite trick to run it out into the center of the road and go through the motions of loading a gun and pointing it at the enemy, who promptly stampeded, under the impression that we had a piece of artillery with us." (Warfield, 60.)

The Confederates, taking full advantage of their position on the high ground, erected signal stations on Mason's and Munson's Hills. Officers from General Wade Hampton's Legion sent messages at night from across the Potomac to Munson's Hill. The Confederates also hatched a clever scheme to relay messages to Munson's Hill from Washington. An ex-Maryland legislator, E. Pliny Bryan, was sent to rent a room in Washington from which Munson's Hill could be seen. As described by E.P. Alexander, who at the time was active in Confederate intelligence gathering and signal work:

[Bryan] was to take the bearing of the hill by compass from his window, and communicate it to us by an agreed-upon advertisement in a daily paper, which we received regularly. This would give us the bearing on which to turn our powerful telescope, loaned for the purpose by a Charleston gentleman, and in position on Munson's Hill. Then we would identify his window by finding a coffee-pot in it, and by motions of the coffee-pot, and opening and shutting the blinds, etc., he would send his messages, and we would reply, if necessary, by a large flag and by firing guns. (Cummins 93.)

The plan was on the verge of being executed in September 1861, when the Confederates abandoned their advanced positions.

Looking at the Confederate earthworks on Munson's Hill down the Leesburg & Alexandria Turnpike from Bailey's Crossroads, September 1861 (courtesy of Virginia Historical Society).  The Confederate flag atop Munson's Hill was seen from as far away as Washington.  This sketch was drawn by Union soldier Robert Knox Sneden. 

At the end of August, the Confederates raised the Stars and Bars on Munson's Hill.  The New York Times informed its readers that the large flag "was visible with a glass from the top of the shiphouse at the Navy-yard" in Washington.  A similar flag was raised from Mason's Hill.  The presence of the Confederates so close to Washington, flying their flag defiantly and in plain view from the capital, caused consternation among Washingtonians and in the Union ranks. 

In September 1861, Longstreet moved the headquarters of his advanced forces to Home Hill  in Falls Church.  At the time of the Civil War, Home Hill was owned by John Bartlett, a transplant from New York.  The property is now called the Lawton House and is located on Lawton Street, just off of VA-7.  The photograph above shows Home Hill today.

Historical marker in front of Home Hill, recalling Longstreet's stay at the property. 

During this time, the Union Army relied on aerial reconnaissance by Professor Thaddeus S.C. Lowe, who ascended in his balloon from Ft. Corcoran, Ball's Cross Roads, and Chain Bridge to observe the Confederate positions on the two hills.  According to Confederate General Jubal Early, Lowe kept a balloon up "almost constantly." (Early, 49.)  Confederate gunners atop Munson's Hill found Lowe an inviting target and fired shots at his balloon. Luckily for Lowe, they missed their mark. 

With the armies so close to one another, and tensions running high, fighting was bound to erupt in the no-man's land between the lines. In the next installment, I examine the skirmishing that took place around Munson's Hill and Bailey's Crossroads at the end of August and start of September 1861.

Notes

*According to an August 29, 1861 letter from Longstreet's aid, Tom Goree, to his uncle and sister, this advance likely took place around August 27.
**Bailey's Crossroads was spelled "Bailey's Cross Roads" at the time of the Civil War.

Sources

Edmund H. Cummins, "The Signal Corps in the Confederate States Army," Southern Historical Society Papers, Vol. XVI, at 93 (1888).

Thomas W. Cutrer, Longstreet's Aide: The Civil War Letters of Thomas J. Goree (1995).

Jubal Anderson Early & R.H. Early (ed.), Autobiographical Sketch and Narrative of the War Between the States (1912).

Bradley E. Gernand, A Virginia Village Goes to War: Falls Church During the Civil War (2002).

Frederick Stansbury Haydon, Military Ballooning During the Early Civil War (1941).

James Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox (1896).

Charles P. Poland, Jr., The Glories of War: Small Battles and Early Heroes of 1861 (2004).

"Special Dispatch from Washington," dated Aug. 31, 1861, New York Times, Sept. 1, 1861 edition.

Lee A. Wallace, Jr., 17th Virginia Infantry, from the Virginia Regimental History Series (1990).

Edgar Warfield, Manassas to Appomattox: The Civil War Memoirs of Pvt. Edgar Warfield, 17th Virginia Infantry (1996 ed.).

Jeffry D. Wert, General James Longstreet: The Confederacy's Most Controversial Solider (1994).

A Railroad-Related Site in Old Town Alexandria

Last Sunday while my family and I were visiting friends in Alexandria, I had the opportunity to check out another fascinating Civil War-related site in Old Town. My friend, Dave King, had mentioned the Wilkes Street Tunnel to me on a few occasions. Built in the 1850s, the tunnel connected the Orange & Alexandria Railroad (O&A R.R.) with the wharves and warehouses at the busy port of Alexandria. It is one of two 19th century railroad structures still remaining in Alexandria. The railroad tracks are long gone, but the tunnel has been preserved and is now part of a trail for bicyclists and runners. Dave and I visited the site at the corner of Wilkes and Royal Streets on our way to the main drag on King Street.

Looking down Wilkes Street towards the tunnel.  Note the dark pavement which likely marks the location of the railroad bed that has since been filled in.  (Unless otherwise noted, all photos are courtesy of Dave King, who was kind enough to take pictures for me because I was caught without my camera!)

A closer view of the west side of the Wilkes Street Tunnel, showing the descent below street level. 

One of three historical markers on the brick wall leading to the tunnel.  This marker discusses the various Alexandria railroads.  The marker concerning the Wilkes Street Tunnel, including its Civil War history, is faded and barely readable.

A marker showing the U.S. Military Railroad roundhouse in Alexandria, which was actually located at Duke and S. Henry Streets.

The O&A R.R. was chartered by the Virginia General Assembly in 1848 in an effort to stimulate trade with western Virginia.  Construction began in 1850, and in May 1851, the railroad christened the Alexandria section of track with an inaugural run between the north end of Union Street to the Wilkes Street Tunnel.  By 1854, the O&A R.R. extended to Gordonsville, Virginia, where it connected with the Virginia Central Railroad.  That same year, the O&A R.R. received permission from the General Assembly to run from Charlottesville to Lynchburg, Virginia.   In 1860, the railroad finally reached Lynchburg, where it joined the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad.  The company paid the Virginia Central for the use of track rights between Gordonsville and Charlottesville. 

An even closer view of the opening of the west side of the Wilkes Street Tunnel.

The interior of the Wilkes Street Tunnel. The City of Alexandria refurbished the tunnel in 2007-08 and added the steel beam reinforcements overhead. (See here for more details on the project.)

The O&A R.R. figures prominently in the history of the Civil War. Following the invasion of Virginia in May 1861, the Union seized control of the railroads in Alexandria, including the O&A R.R. The O&A R.R., which generally fell under Federal control close to Washington and north of the Rappahannock River, played a critical role in moving supplies for the Union Army, and Alexandria became the hub. A steady flow of U.S. Military Railroad trains passed through the Wilkes Street Tunnel on their way to and from the wharves along the Potomac. The Confederates controlled and operated other portions of the railroad. During the course of the war, sections of the railroad fell into and out of Union hands, or were abandoned when the armies moved elsewhere. Manassas Junction, where the O&A R.R. and Manassas Gap Railroad met, played a key part in both the First and Second Manassas Campaigns.

The east side of the Wilkes Street Tunnel.

U.S. Military Railroad construction workers in front of the Wilkes Street Tunnel (courtesy of Ft. Ward Museum and Historic Site)

Once again, Alexandria does not disappoint.  What I think is going to be just another run to get ice cream with friends and family, turns into yet another historical discovery.  Although the Wilkes Street Tunnel is a small and out-of-the-way site, it is a place well worth visiting.  Trust me.  You will feel the past all around you as you walk through the tunnel and emerge on the banks of the Potomac.

Note on Sources:

For more information on the early history of the Wilkes Street Tunnel, check out this page from the website of Historic Alexandria.

Alexandria: 1861-1865, in the Images of America Series, by Charles A. Mills and Andrew L. Mills contains many period photographs of the railroad in Alexandria during the Civil War.

Information on the O&A R.R. can be found on this extremely detailed site run out of Northern Virginia Community College.

A Time of Skirmishing: Pohick Church, August 18, 1861

Leafing through my volume of the OR covering the summer and fall of 1861 after First Manassas, I am struck by the number of skirmishes that took place across Northern Virginia. Pick a place, and chances are, something happened there during the last half of 1861. Locations that are better known today for strip malls, soccer fields, and housing developments were the scene of minor but intense clashes between small Union and Confederate forces. 

This upcoming Thursday marks the 150th anniversary of the cavalry skirmish at Pohick Church in Fairfax County involving troopers from the 1st New York Cavalry Regiment.  Pohick Church, about twelves miles south of Alexandria, sat near two roads leading in the direction of Fairfax and Centreville. The Confederates, worried about a Union flanking movement along these roads, always made sure to to guard the area around the church.  The stage was set for an encounter.

Company C of the 1st New York Cavalry left Philadelphia for Washington City on July 22, 1861, the day after the disastrous Federal defeat at Manassas.  The 1st New York Cavalry, also known as the "Lincoln Cavalry," was organized by Carl Schurz, a former German revolutionary of 1848 and confidant of President Lincoln.  Company C, led by Captain William H. Boyd, was comprised of men from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Nine other companies were raised in New York City, and four of them were composed entirely of Germans, Poles, and Hungarians.  The two remaining companies came from Grand Rapids, Michigan and Syracuse, New York.

Company C initially encamped on Capitol Hill, but at the start of August, the troopers left Washington and moved across the Long Bridge to Alexandria  The men settled at Camp Elizabeth on the western side of the town.  The unit reported to Brig. Gen. William B. Franklin, who would later serve as a corps commander in the Army of the Potomac.

On the morning of August 18, 1861, Franklin ordered Boyd  "to proceed on a scout down the Mount Vernon road and vicinity of Accotink, to capture, if possible, 27 cavalry of the enemy."  (OR, Series 1, Vol. 5, Part 1, p. 113.)  The wording of the order is a bit strange and begs the question of why 27? -- presumably an earlier reconnaissance had reported precise numbers of the enemy in that direction.  Boyd set out at 10 a.m. with 46 men, as well as Lt. William Hanson, a Lt. Gibson of Franklin's staff, and Dr. Herrick, a surgeon.

An 1862 sketch of Pohick Church by Union soldier Robert Sneden (courtesy of Virginia Historical Society).   Pohick Church was founded sometime prior to 1724 and served as the first permanent church in colonial Virginia north of the Occoquan River.  The structure standing during the Civil War, and still standing today, was completed in 1774.  George Washington, who supervised the construction, worshipped at Pohick Church.  For more information on the church's history, see here.

The scouting party moved in the direction of Accotink, "interrogating all pedestrians and examining all houses and outbuildings on our way thither." (OR, 1:5:1, p. 114.) At Accotink, Boyd learned that Confederate cavalry had been seen a bit farther west at Pohick Church. Company C rode immediately in the direction of the church. One of the company's advance pickets came rushing back to the main body, shouting to the men that a whole Confederate army was up ahead. This misinformation caused a "stampede" among the men. (OR, 1:5:1, p. 114.) Soon, "another of the advance came on, and his excited manner tended to quicken the pace of the retreating men." (William Harrison Beach, The First New York (Lincoln) Cavalry, from April 19, 1861 to July 7, 1865, p. 36 (1902)). A third picket raced back to inform Boyd, who was now in the rear, that "he had been near enough the rebels to see them all" and that in fact, "[t]here were no more of them than there were in their own company, and he felt sure that our men could whip them." (Beach, p. 36.)

Detail of 1862 Union map of Northeastern Virginia, showing Accotink, Pohick Church, and the surrounding area.  Alexandria is located off the map to the northeast, or upper right.  The full map can be found here (courtesy of Library of Congress).

Learning that his troopers had a fighting chance, Boyd rallied his men, who wheeled around and rode back towards the Confederate cavalry force, about 20 in number.  When he caught site of the enemy along the road, the captain ordered his men forward, and they "shouted, cheered, and charged."  (OR, 1:5:1, p. 114.)  The Union cavalrymen rode towards the enemy, firing their revolvers as they went.  The Rebels got off one volley and fell back.  Company C pursued the retreating Confederates down three separate roads just beyond Pohick Church, but as Boyd reported to Franklin after the skirmish, the enemy cavalrymen "were well mounted, had very superior horses, and were enable to outfoot us."  (OR, 1:5:1, p. 114.) 

Company C experienced light casualties.  Trooper Jacob Erwin was killed and two others were missing after being thrown from their horses.  Erwin is supposedly the first Union volunteer cavalryman killed in the Army of the Potomac. (Beach, p. 37.)  The OR contains no Confederate account of the encounter, and Boyd was not certain of the enemy casualties.  No prisoners were taken.  (The Southern cavalry unit also remains unidentified in the sources I have reviewed.)  Boyd took home a lesson from the skirmish at Pohick Church. As he reported to Franklin,  "[i]t is my opinion that had we some infantry with us we would have been able to outflank them and taken some prisoners." (OR, 1:5:1, p. 114.)

A regimental historian also recalled:

The men of this company never in the four years that followed forgot the lesson of their first fight [at Pohick Church]. In a fight of cavalry against cavalry the advantage is with the party that moves first. It is difficult to withstand the impetus and momentum of a well-directed cavalry charge. There was always a stimulus in a lusty and hearty cheer. The men of the regiment learned that in a charge, the sabre was more effective than the revolver or the carbine. (Beach, p. 37.)

Company C gathered Erwin's body and returned to camp at Alexandria.  The cavalrymen's performance did not go unnoticed.  A few days later, on August 22, Maj. Gen. George B.McClellan praised the men of Company C at a review of Franklin's troops.  By the middle of September, the remainder of the 1st New York Cavalry was in the field around Washington, but Company C would have the honor of being the first to fight.

Note on Additional Sources:

The Glories of War: Small Battles and Early Heroes of 1861, by local historian Charles P. Poland, Jr. has a discussion of the focus of the armies on Pohick Church.

For more information on the 1st New York Cavalry, see the Civil War in the East website (here) and the New York State Military Museum website (here).

The Falls Church During the Civil War

Earlier this week I discussed the 17th Virginia's movement into Falls Church, Virginia in August 1861. Falls Church figures prominently in the Civil War history of Northern Virginia. The village of Falls Church grew up around The Falls Church, an Episcopal congregation founded by the colonial General Assembly in 1732. A few Saturdays ago I loaded my twin boys into the SUV and headed to Falls Church to check out the historic church while my wife went shopping. 

By the time of the Civil War, The Falls Church was already a site rich in history.  The first Falls Church was erected in 1733.  The name derived from the proximity of the church to the falls on the Potomac River.  A road in front of the church led to the ferry just below Little Falls, close to today's Chain Bridge.  At the start of the 1760s, the vestry, or governing body of the church, voted to have a brick church erected to replace the decaying wooden structure.  In 1763, George Washington was elected one of the two church wardens charged with overseeing construction of the new church.  The brick structure, which exists today, was finished in the fall of 1769.  During the American Revolution, The Falls Church was used as a recruiting station for the Fairfax militia.

The south side of The Falls Church at the time of the Civil War. This photograph was likely taken during the winter of 1861-62 (courtesy of Library of Congress).

The same view of the south side of The Falls Church today.

The Civil War descended on the village and quickly disrupted the life of the largely secessionist congregation. Even before the war, services at The Falls Church were poorly attended, with most locals choosing other churches in the area, and the war dispersed many worshippers. The rector of The Falls Church, the Rev. Richard Templeton Brown, was an ardent secessionist who spent the early days of the war away from his congregation in another part of Fairfax. Falls Church changed hands a few times during the summer of 1861, but at the end of September 1861, the village fell into Federal hands and would remain under Northern control until the end of the war. 

The west side of The Falls Church during the winter of 1861-62. Photographer Matthew Brady is sitting in the foreground (courtesy of Library of Congress).

View of the west side today.

The Union Army occasionally used The Falls Church for worship services and funerals, and in February 1862, the 18th Massachusetts even held an event at The Falls Church to commemorate George Washington's birthday.  However, by and large, the war was not kind to The Falls Church.  At various times, the Union Army requisitioned the building for use as a stable and a hospital.  The young men who died from disease were often buried in the churchyard.  The Federal troops tore up the floors and removed the pews, pew boxes, and railings.  They also scrawled graffiti over the interior walls and carried away religious artifacts. In January 1863, A. Ball, a native serving as a Union surgeon and medical director in Fairfax Station, wrote an impassioned plea to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to prevent The Falls Church from being dismantled for bricks.  Ball's forceful intervention was successful, and the building still stood at war's end.

An interior view of The Falls Church during the Civil War.  Graffiti is plainly visible on the walls.  The three religious tablets containing the Creed, Ten Commandments, and Lord's Prayer (l-r) were clearly damaged by the time this photograph was taken (courtesy of Library of Congress).

A 2004 marker commemorating Union soldiers, both known and unknown, buried in the yard of The Falls Church.  A volunteer research team has identified 25 Union soldiers buried at The Falls Church.  These soldiers came from New York regiments, including the 14th N.Y., 21st N.Y., 23rd N.Y., 80th N.Y. and 144th N.Y.

A similar marker dedicated to Confederates who were buried in the churchyard, including men from the 3rd Tennessee and 2nd South Carolina.

Marker dedicated to a sole unknown Confederate soldier whose remains were supposedly removed and re-interred in another location.  All three burial markers are located at the front of the churchyard along U.S. 29/South Washington Street.

In December 1865, a group of local citizens petitioned the U.S. Government to obtain compensation for the destruction to The Falls Church caused by the Union Army.  Even without proof of damages, the government acknowledged its responsibility and awarded around $1,300 dollars to repair The Falls Church.  The church was reopened in 1866 following its restoration, and services were held there periodically until the congregation reorganized in 1873.  Today, the simple beauty of The Falls Church survives, but a few markers serve as a reminder of a time when war disrupted the everyday life of a Northern Virginian congregation.

For additional information:

The Falls Church website contains a history of the church.

A Virginia Village Goes to War: Falls Church During the Civil War, by Bradley E. Gernand contains many fascinating accounts of The Falls Church during the war years.

The Falls Church is located at 115 East Fairfax Street in Falls Church, VA, near the intersection of VA-7 and U.S. 29.  Two historical markers on The Falls Church (see here and here) are situated near the intersection of E. Fairfax Street and U.S. 29.

The 17th Virginia in Fairfax and Falls Church, August 1861

As I wrote in my last post, the 17th Virginia arrived in Fairfax Court House on August 10, 1861 during heavy rains.  According to Private Edgar Warfield of Company H, that first night "the camp ground was completely soaked."  (Edgar Warfield, Manassas to Appomattox: The Civil War Memoirs of Pvt. Edgar Warfield, 17th Virginia Infantry, p. 58 (1996).)  Warfield soon became sick, but he was not alone.  In just over a week's time, Thomas Goree of General Longstreet's staff wrote to his mother:

It is truly to be regretted that we have now so much sickness in our army.  The cause no doubt is owing to the damp rainy weather we are now having and have had since the battle of Manassas.  It has been raining and is raining now, nearly all the time.  And it makes those who have recovered from the measles relapse into a kind of typhoid fever.  Many deaths occur daily from this horrible disease. (in Thomas W. Cutrer, Longstreet's Aide: The Civil War Letters of Thomas J. Goree, p. 34 (1995).)    

Goree reported that Longstreet's brigade, including the 17th Virginia, was "comparatively healthy," with about 400 to 500 on the sick list, "and some of them seriously ill." However, the enemy was "suffering as much, or more, from sickness, than we are."

A few days after arriving in Fairfax, Warfield's company was sent about ten miles forward to the village of Falls Church.  Here, the soldiers performed picket duty in close proximity to the Union lines.  Warfield remembered that "we were very much amused in the morning listening to the roll call of the company of the enemy in front of us as it was called off by the sergeant." (Warfield, p. 59.)

Taylor's Tavern, Falls Church, VA, during the Civil War (courtesy of Library of Congress).  The tavern, built in the 1850s, was located along the Leesburg & Alexandria Turnpike (VA-7), just to the west of today's Seven Corners.   Before First Manassas, the area around Falls Church was under Union control.  On June 24-25, 1861, Professor Thaddeus S.C. Lowe made the first aerial reconnaissances in U.S. military history from a balloon floating above Taylor's Tavern (see historic marker here).

Duty along the advanced picket line proved a little more interesting than camp life in Fairfax.  Not long after arriving in Falls Church, a handful of men from Company H, accompanied by a scout from Texas known simply as "Fort," beat back a handful of Federal pickets around Taylor's Tavern to the east of the village.  Goree recounted to his mother on August 19 that Confederate pickets at Falls Church "have a skirmish with the picket of the enemy nearly every day."  (in Cutrer, p. 35.)  Warfield remarked that "[w]e felt it almost our bounded duty to have a little fight every day at the Peach Orchard on Munson's Hill" just outside Falls Church.  (Warfield, pp. 59-60.)  Goree also mentioned a "very fine peach orchard just beyond Falls Church over which the two pickets fight nearly every day." (in Cutrer, p. 35.)

Goree headed to that peach orchard one day looking for fruit and encountered a couple of Union soldiers.  Goree ordered them to halt, but seeing that he was without a musket, the two men took off for the Union lines.  The staff officer, who was alone, felt that the two well-armed enemy soldiers "could have shot me with all ease had they not been so cowardly."  (in Cuter, p. 35.)

The men of the 17th spent their days back in Fairfax "performing ordinary camp duties" and dealing with the monotony and hardship of army life.  (Warfield, p. 59.)  As the days passed during the dreary month of August,  Goree told his mother that the men were "becoming very impatient to move forward." (in Cutrer, p. 35.)  He added, with a bit of exaggeration, that the soldiers were "fearful that if we delay too long, we will not be able to quarter this winter in Philadelphia."  (in Cutrer, p. 35.)  Unfortunately for the anxious soldiers in the Confederate Army at Fairfax and Falls Church, swift action was not the name of the game.

Other sources consulted:
Bradley E. Gernand, A Virginia Village Goes to War: Falls Church During the Civil War (2002); Lee A. Wallace, Jr., 17th Virginia Infantry, from the Virginia Regimental History Series (1990); Jeffry D. Wert, General James Longstreet: The Confederacy's Most Controversial Solider (1994).

Longstreet and the 17th Virginia Advance to Centreville and Fairfax

This spring and summer I have written a number of posts about the17th Virginia Infantry during the early months of the Civil War.  This regiment was composed of men from Fairfax and other areas of Northern Virginia that are familiar to me and many readers of this blog.  I felt that the 17th offered a good way to tell the story of locals who were called to defend the very region where they lived and worked before the war arrived on their doorstep.  Over the next few weeks and months, I will occasionally explore life in the 17th Virginia during the period of relative calm between July 1861 to March 1862.  This narrative will fit nicely with my previous posts about the Union regiments that were quartered around present-day McLean at the same time.

Shortly after the Confederate victory at the Battle of First Manassas, General P.G.T. Beauregard ordered General James Longstreet to advance his brigade to Centreville from its position along Bull Run.  Longstreet's brigade, consisting of the 17th Virginia, as well as the 1st Virginia, 11th Virginia, and 5th North Carolina, established camp near the town.  In a reorganization of the Confederate Army of the Potomac on July 25, Beauregard reassigned the 5th North Carolina to another brigade and sent the 7th Virginia to join the 17th Virginia and the other regiments of Longstreet's brigade.

Longstreet's aide-de-camp, Thomas Goree, seemed pleased with the new surroundings.  He wrote his mother in an August 8 letter that "Centreville is a very high, healthy place, with a plenty of good water. I believe that I never before saw a place so well supplied with good springs."  (in Thomas W. Cutrer, Longstreet's Aide: The Civil War Letters of Thomas J. Goree, p. 32 (1995).)    Longstreet, however, may have disputed Goree's description of Centreville as "healthy"-- he spent the last week of July recovering from illness that kept him confined to headquarters.

Centreville during the war.  This photograph was taken in the spring of 1862, after the Confederates had moved out (courtesy of N.Y. Public Library Digital Gallery).

The 17th and the rest of Longstreet's men spent the days in Centreville drilling.  Goree felt that Longstreet "has about the best Brigade in the service."  The young staff officer told his mother that it was "truly a splendid looking sight to see our brigade out in the evening on drill with our splendid band of music."  The drills frequently "attract[ed] a large crowd of spectators."  Around August 9, the brigade even took part in a grand review for Prince Jerome Napoleon, a cousin of French Emperor Napoleon III, who had passed through the Union lines at Alexandria.  The boys from Fairfax and other rural counties in Northern Virginia surely never could have imagined that one day they would be parading for European royalty on the fields near Centreville. 

The encampment at Centreville was short lived.  On August 10, acting on orders from Beauregard, Longstreet took his brigade to Fairfax Court House, farther to the east.  This movement was part of a general advance that Beauregard ordered "to prevent any coup de main from [Union Gen. George] McClellan."  (Beauregard to Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, Aug. 11, 1861, Manassas, VA, in Alfred Roman, The Military Operations of General Beauregard in the War Between the States, 1861-1865, p. 473 (1884).)  The general believed that from his new positions, "we could at any time concentrate our forces for offensive or defensive purposes."  He even suggested to General Joseph E. Johnston, his superior, that "by a bold move, we could capture the enemy's advance forces at Annandale; and, should he come out to their support, give him battle—with all the chances in our favor."  Johnston, always cautious and inclined to remain on the defensive, never endorsed such a plan.

The march to Fairfax from Centreville was relatively short, but the soldiers baked in the summer heat during the ten mile march.  Edgar Warfield, a private from Alexandria with Co. H ("Old Dominion Rifles"), 17th Virgina, remembered later that the regiment "arrived . . . during a heavy downpour of rain." (Edgar Warfield, Manassas to Appomattox: The Civil War Memoirs of Pvt. Edgar Warfield, 17th Virginia Infantry, p. 58 (1996).)  The 17th Virginia picked a spot to the east and south of Fairfax Court House and established what soon became known as "Camp Harrison."  Longstreet and his staff were quartered in a large house nearby.  The 17th Virginia settled once again into the dull routine of camp life, although not without an occasional moment of excitement. 

Up Next: The 17th Virginia at Fairfax and Falls Church.

A Note on Sources

Aside from the sources cited above, the following books were useful in compiling this post:

Lee A. Wallace, Jr., 17th Virginia Infantry, from the Virginia Regimental History Series (1990).

Jeffry D. Wert, General James Longstreet: The Confederacy's Most Controversial Solider (1994).

Update on the Langley Ordinary, Site of General George McCall's HQ

Back in February of this year I wrote about the Civil War-era sites in Langley, Virginia, not far from the entrance to the CIA.  Over the past year I've dedicated a lot of space on this blog to the happenings in Langley during the war.  The Pennsylvania Reserves established Camp Pierpont around Langley in October 1861 and remained there until March 1862.  The commander of the division, Brig. Gen. George A. McCall, set up his headquarters at the Langley Ordinary.  As part of my walking tour of Langley, I stopped to look at the Ordinary, which is located on private property, and discovered that a recent windstorm had blown two massive trees onto the roof of the building.  The damage looked extensive, and I was concerned that the structural integrity of the historic structure was in jeopardy.

The Langley Ordinary in February 2011, showing the damage caused by a winter wind storm.

A few months later, I received an email via Facebook from the wife of Scott Bates.  Scott works for Bartlett Tree Experts and wanted to know if he could use some of my material on the Langley Ordinary for his company newsletter.  I talked with Scott and learned that Bartlett had successfully removed the two trees from the roof of the Ordinary.  Scott informed me that the trees had crashed through the attic and the second floor ceiling.  When Scott went to inspect the damage, he saw graffiti that Union soldiers had scrawled on the ceiling when the property was used as a hospital. 

Close-up of view of one of the fallen trees (courtesy of Scott Bates).

An all-terrain crane on the site of the Langley Ordinary.  The extensive damage to the roof can be seen in this photograph (courtesy of Scott Bates).

Scott and his crew faced a daunting challenge in removing the trees without further damaging the Langley Ordinary.  The team even created a gravel road to bring an all-terrain crane onto the property for the project.  After five days, the work was completed.  However, I still wondered what would become of the building.

Renovated front of the Langley Ordinary.

The renovated Langley Ordinary from across Georgetown Pike (VA-193).  The repaired section of the roof is clearly visible from this view.

A few months later, I nearly wrecked my car when I saw the renovated Langley Ordinary.  The new owners, who purchased the home from the Potomac School, have repaired the roof.  They also removed or repainted the yellow siding and took off the shutters.  I have not yet seen photographs or prints of the Langley Ordinary during the 19th century, so I am unsure how faithful the renovations are to the original look.  At the very least, the overall structure of the historic property has remained the same as before this past winter's damage.  No word on what has become of the graffiti on the interior.  The outcome I most feared, however, never came to pass, and this historic property still stands as a testament to the Civil War history of Langley.