A Detour to Delaplane, Virginia: The First Bull Run Campaign and the Manassas Gap Railroad

This past weekend I decided to take the family for an outing in the countryside.  On Saturday morning we put the boys in their car seats, jumped into the SUV, and headed to Sky Meadows State Park in Fauquier County.  My wife and I first visited the park back in 2010.  The historic home of Mt. Bleak, located on the grounds of Sky Meadows, has several connections to Mosby's Rangers and the Civil War.  (I wrote a post about my previous visit here.)  Of course, I couldn't resist taking a little detour to another Civil War site on the way to Sky Meadows. 

Near the confluence of Goose Creek and Crooked Run we pulled off Rt. 17 and stopped at Delaplane.  This tiny hamlet, known as Piedmont Station during the Civil War, appears much as it did in the mid-nineteenth century.  The Manassas Gap Railroad reached the area in 1852.  The company decided to place a new station near the point where the railroad crossed the vital transportation link of the Dumfries-Winchester Road (now Rt. 17).  The town grew up around the station, and by the start of the Civil War, had become an important rail center in Fauquier County.  Piedmont Station was renamed Delaplane in 1874 and today is designated as a Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

Civil War Trails marker on Delaplane Grade Rd., just to the south of the old Manassas Gap Railroad line.  Today the tracks are part of the Norfolk Southern system. 

Piedmont Station played a key role in the First Bull Run Campaign.  Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, commander of the Confederate Army of the Shenandoah, received an urgent order on July 18, 1861 to join forces with Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard at Manassas Junction.  The general, worried that his volunteer army would take too long to march to Beauregard's assistance, opted instead to send his army by rail.  Johnston proceeded to Piedmont Station and oversaw preparations for the transportation of his men to Manassas Junction.

Close-up of the Civil War Trails marker.  (More information can be found here on the Historical Marker Database.)  The marker makes the claim that "[h]ere. . . trains were used for the first time in history to move troops to impending battle." 

Meanwhile, Johnston's army was on the move out of the Shenandoah Valley.  Gen. Thomas J. Jackson's brigade left the Winchester area around noon on July 18.  After marching all day and night, they passed through Ashby's Gap and stopped in Paris at two in the morning of July 19.  (Incidentally, I wrote about Paris and Jackson-related sites a few years ago.)  Jackson allowed his men a few hours of rest before they set out to complete the remaining six miles to Piedmont Station. They arrived at six in the morning.  Patriotic civilians greeted Jackson's troops at the station and offered them food and drink.  Jackson's men, likely basking in the glow of admirers, ate their breakfast and then boarded the train of freight and cattle cars for Manassas.  Progress was slow.  The 34-mile trip took an incredible eight hours.  Jackson, of course, would go on to earn the nickname "Stonewall" on the battlefield of Manassas on July 21. 

Two original railroad buildings dating to 1852.  These structures have been used as depots, warehouses, and stores.  The National Register of Historic Places Registration Form for Delaplane notes that "[t]he survival of these two large antebellum brick structures associated with the railroad is a rare occurrence in Virginia since few antebellum brick buildings of this scale can be documented anywhere else in Virginia."  (p. 16.)

Despite logistical difficulties, regiments from the brigades of Col. Francis Bartow and Gen. Barnard Bee followed Jackson over the course of the next day or so.  The brigade of Col. Arnold Elzey, under the temporary command of Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith, did not leave Piedmont Station until the early morning hours of July 21.  The men arrived at Manassas mid-day and marched quickly to the sounds of battle.  Elzey's troops smashed into the Federal right on Chinn Ridge and helped to secure the Confederate victory.

Another view of the antebellum railroad buildings, taken from Rokeby Rd.  The railroad line runs in front of the buildings.



Looking west down the old Manassas Gap Railroad tracks from Rokeby Rd. in Delaplane.  A Virginia State Historical Marker on Piedmont Station and First Manassas sits to the right.  (See here for text.)  The white SUV is traveling south on Rt. 17, the old Dumfries-Winchester Rd. 

Today Delaplane sits almost untouched by time.  You'll find no Starbucks, McDonald's, or strip malls there.  It isn't hard to imagine Jackson's troops mounting the rail cars and starting their journey towards Manassas and fame.  Walking next to the tracks, I was reminded of the contribution that this village made to modern military history.  Railroads played an important part in the Civil War, and Johnston's operation at Piedmont Station stood near the very start of it all.  Although the means of transportation proved a little slower than Johnston may have liked, his actions at Piedmont Station demonstrated the value of harnessing railroad technology to military advantage.  That's big stuff for such a small place, and well worth a stop to look around and ponder.

Sources

William C. Davis, Battle at Bull Run (1985 ed.); Bradley M. Gottfried, The Maps of First Bull Run (2009); Joseph E. Johnston, Narrative of Military Operations (1874); National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, Delaplane Historic District (2003); Ethan Rafuse, A Single Grand Victory: The First Campaign and Battle of Manassas (2002).

The Johnston Family and Benvenue: A Story of Civilians and the War in Northern Virginia, Part II

A couple weeks ago I wrote about a family who lived in my neck of the woods during the Civil War.  John R. Johnston purchased the 198-acre property known as "Benvenue" in 1858.  Within a few years, sectional tensions began to mount in Northern Virginia.  Johnston voted for the Ordinance of Secession in May 1861, but was anything but a Southern firebrand.  He explained to his wife that he felt pressured to vote for secession because he feared what would happen to him if he were viewed as pro-Union.  As the contending armies mobilized, Johnston largely kept to himself and tried to avoid the conflict swirling about him.  Like so many other civilians in Fairfax County, however, Johnston would soon get caught in the tempest of war.

Since the start of September 1861, the Union division of Gen. William F. "Baldy" Smith had been encamped on the Virginia side of the Chain Bridge, only a few miles from Johnston's farm.  On October 9, 1861, Smith pushed his men westward through Langley and occupied the area around Lewinsville.  The Pennsylvania Reserves under Gen. George A. McCall crossed the river at Chain Bridge on the same day and marched to Langley.  Johnston's property sat right in the middle of the Union Army's advance.
 

Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock (courtesy of Old Pictures)

Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock commanded a brigade in Smith's division.*  As Hancock's men set up their camp, Johnston's home was seized for use as a hospital.  On October 10, Alfred Castleman, the surgeon of the 5th Wisconsin, noted in his diary:

We have had much trouble and vexation to-day in establishing medical headquarters for the regiments of our brigade, but after much ordering of us and changing of orders, we are at last to take charge of the stone house of Mr. Jno. N. Johnson, in which, and in the tents we are able to pitch, we hope to make comfortable all the sick of our brigade.  (Castleman 41-42.)**

J. Harry Thompson, the surgeon of the 43rd New York, later recalled:

The house of Mr. John R. Johnston was taken as a hospital and devoted with all its furniture, beds, bedding, carpets, linens, towling, kitchen and other utensils and all the material usually appertaining to a household to the care of the sick and wounded of General Hancock's brigade and in fact of Gen. Wm. F. Smith's division. . . . (J.H. Thompson Test., Johnston SCC file, 68.)

Alfred Castleman, surgeon of the 5th Wisconsin (courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Society)

A soldier-correspondent from the 49th Pennsylvania mentioned Johnston's house in a letter to his hometown paper:  "We occupy a fine country residence for Hospital purposes, which affords accommodation for 75 patients."  (Lancaster Daily Express, Dec. 17, 1861.)***   According to some sources, male nurses lived in a board and batten cottage behind the stone house.  (Hatch 87; Herrick 18.)  This building still stands today on the Benvenue property along Churchill Road in McLean. 

Around the same time the Union Army was converting his home into a field hospital, Johnston saw his farmland occupied by thousands of Union soldiers.  The Bucktails of McCall's division were some of the first men to arrive.  (S. Merchant Test., Johnston SCC File, 43-44.)  Their encampment formed a portion of the Pennsylvania Reserves' Camp Pierpont.  The 5th Wisconsin and 43rd New York from Hancock's brigade also established their camp at Benvenue.  (J.D. Crocker Test., Johnston SCC File, 28; S.J. Merchant Test., Johnston SCC File, 43-44; J.H. Thompson Test., Johnston SCC File, 62.)  The 6th Maine and 49th Pennsylvania -- the other two regiments in Hancock's brigade -- may likewise have encamped on Johnston's farm, although the evidence is less certain.  (J.D. Crocker Test., Johnston SCC File, 28; S.J. Merchant Test., Johnston SCC File, 43-44.)****  The regimental camps of Hancock's brigade belonged to Camp Griffin of Smith's division.

Sometime in October 1861 Johnston moved his wife and three children to the safety and security of Georgetown, D.C.  (M. Johnston Test., Johnston SCC File, 13.)  The exact timing is uncertain given contradictory accounts in the Southern Claims Commission (SCC) file.  Surgeon Thompson indicates that Johnston's wife and children went to Georgetown only after their house was taken for use as a hospital.  (J.H. Thompson Test., Johnston SCC File, 63.)   According to testimony from a neighbor, however, Marcia Johnston only learned that the Union Army was advancing during the course of her flight to Georgetown.  (J. Burke Test., Johnston SCC File, 38.)  In any event, her husband remained behind on the farm.  The Union Army permitted him to travel "at his pleasure" to Georgetown, and Johnston visited his family about once every two weeks.  (M. Johnston Test., Johnston SCC File, 16.)*****

The presence of so many Union soldiers had a devastating impact on Johnston's farm.  Potatoes and cabbage disappeared not long after the troops arrived.  Looking for an alternative to salt pork and hardtack, the solders also shot and skinned all of Johnston's pigs.  Teams of soldiers cut down acres of timber and ripped apart fencing.  They hauled the wood away by the wagon load for use in campfires and the construction of huts.  The soldiers also took all of Johnston's hay and corn to feed to their horses and mules.

The old stone farmhouse likewise sustained damage.  Thompson remembered that by the time Hancock's brigade left several months later, the house was "to all intents and purposes, practically destroyed."  (J.H. Thompson Test., Johnston SCC File, 68.)  The soldiers even left inscriptions on the attic rafters that are still visible to this day.

For all the destruction going on around him, Johnston apparently remained on good terms with the Union soldiers.  His wife remembered that "[s]oon as the Union troops came, he became their friend and they treated him kindly."  (M. Johnston Test., Johnston SCC File, 19.)  Union officers even traveled to Georgetown with Johnston.  Castleman considered Johnston "a loyalist."  (Castleman 42.)  The surgeon made the doubtful claim that "every article [Johnston] had to dispose of was bought and paid for, at high prices, by the soldiers."  (Castleman 42.)  In fact, Johnston was told to get receipts for the property if he wanted to get paid, and his farm manager later testified that Johnston was not paid compensation at the time.  (S.J. Merchant Test., Johnston SCC File, 43.)

Johnston gained some name recognition on the Northern homefront.  A rise on the backside of his farm was known as "Johnston's Hill."  The Union soldiers encamped near Langley and Lewinsville, including the Pennsylvania Reserves and the Vermont Brigade, often held military reviews and parades on the flat ground in front of the hill.******  The name "Johnston's Hill" appeared frequently in news stories about the camps.  In one account, Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin reviewed the Pennsylvania Reserves at Johnston's Hill following their victory at Dranesville in December 1861.  (Phila. Press, Dec. 30, 1861.)

The Union soldiers remained on Johnston's farm throughout the winter of 1861-62.  On March 10, 1862, Gen. George B. McClellan set the Army of the Potomac in motion upon receiving intelligence that the Confederates had evacuated their position around Centreville.  The Pennsylvania Reserves and Smith's Division struck camp and joined the army's general movement to the west.

Johnston surely breathed a sigh of relief as tens of thousands of Federal troops marched away from his farm and neighborhood.  Other Union soldiers would later pass through the area or perform picket duty there, but Johnston never again saw massive encampments like those he experienced during the first winter of the war.  In early September 1862, units from Gen. Franz Sigel's corps took hay and potatoes from Johnston's farm and provided him with the receipts to prove it.  (Receipt, Co. K, 1st Ohio Light Artillery & Receipt, 68th N.Y., Johnston SCC File, 3-4.)

In November 1862 Johnston finally went to Georgetown to join his family.  He died three weeks later, on December 11, at the young age of thirty-five.  (The cause of death is unknown.)  Johnston was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown.  Johnston's widow only returned to Benvenue in the summer of 1865, where she saw first-hand the dramatic impact that the war had on her family's farm.

Several years after the Civil War, Marcia Johnston filed a claim with the SCC in the amount of $5,754.  She even claimed $120 for rent of Benvenue as a hospital between October 1861 and March 1862.  Unfortunately, the Commissioners found "no sufficient justification" for Johnston's vote in support of secession despite evidence of his loyalty, and the claim was denied.  (Johnston SCC File, 73.)

Johnston's tale resonates with me on a personal level.  After all, I live on the very land that used to belong to his farm, and Benvenue is a short walk away.  But Johnston's story also has a relevance that extends beyond the immediate community of McLean.  Civilians in Fairfax County and elsewhere in Northern Virginia (or elsewhere in the South, for that matter) saw their lives transformed directly by the presence of the armies.  Johnston was one of those ordinary citizens who suffered through extraordinary times.  As a young man, he had purchased a new farm near Langley and set out to improve his lot.  Johnston surely had hopes and dreams for the future.  A few short years later, the forces of war descended on Johnston's property, disrupted his livelihood, deprived him of privacy, and upended his family life.  We are reminded that war was hell of a different kind for civilians, but hell nonetheless.

Notes

*Hancock's brigade originally consisted of the 5th Wisconsin, 43rd New York, 47th Pennsylvania, and 49th Pennsylvania.  At some point in the fall of 1861, the 47th Pennsylvania was replaced by the 6th Maine.  (Jordan 36-37; McClellan 455.)

**Castleman misspelled Johnston's name and also used the wrong middle initial.

***A special thanks to John Hennessy, who sent me a copy of this article. 

****Jonathan D. Crocker, one of Johnston's neighbors, testified to the SCC that aside from the 5th Wisconsin, "a Penna. and a New York regiment were camped" on Johnston's farm, along with "some batteries."  According to Crocker, all of these units were from Hancock's brigade.  Other testimony confirms that the New York regiment was likely the 43rd New York.  The Pennsylvania Regiment could have been the 49th Pennsylvania, or less likely, the 47th Pennsylvania before its transfer to another brigade in Smith's division.  Samuel J. Merchant, Johnston's farm manager, testified that aside from the Bucktails and the 43rd New York, the "9th Penna." and "a Maine regiment" camped on the Johnston farm.  He later referred to the "9th Penna." and the "5th Maine" as part of Hancock's brigade.  The "9th Penna." likely means the 49th Pennsylvania; the 9th Pennsylvania was not part of Hancock's brigade.  An alternative theory is that the 9th Penna. was the 9th Pennsylvania Reserves of McCall's division.  Moreover, there was no 5th Maine under Hancock. Instead, Merchant must have meant the 6th Maine or even the 5th Wisconsin.  Merchant's testimony was taken in 1877, so his recollection of the exact regiments may have been flawed due to the passage of time.

*****It is unclear whether Johnston resided in the main house on his property or in some other structure.

******Johnston's Hill is located along and to the east of the upper part of Pine Hill Road in McLean.  The parade ground was roughly located on the site of the present-day Madison of McLean townhouse community along Madison McLean Dr. off of Rt. 123. (See here for a map.)  I plan to explore the story of the parade ground in a future post.

Sources

Alfred L. Castleman, The Army of the Potomac, Behind the Scenes: A Diary of Unwritten History (1863); Winslow R. Hatch, Old Roads and New Insights: Adventures in Discovery (1985); Carole L. Herrick, Images of America: McLean (2011); Historical Marker Database, "Benvenue;" "John Richards Johnston," at findagrave.com; David M. Jordan, Winfield Scott Hancock: A Soldier's Life (1988); Lancaster Daily Express, Dec. 17, 1861; George B. McClellan, Report on the Organization and Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac (1864); Phila. Press, Dec. 14, 1861; Phila. Press, Dec. 30, 1861; Southern Claims Commission File for Marcia Johnston, #22121, available at fold3.com ("Johnston SCC File"); J.R. Sypher, History of the Pennsylvania Reserves Corps (1865); Wisconsin Historical Society, "Alfred Lewis Castleman," Dictionary of Wisconsin History.

The Future of Salona: Preserving a Local Civil War Site

This past Thursday the Salona Task Force held a public meeting on the future of the historic Salona property in McLean, Virginia.  By my own estimate, a few hundred interested citizens came to the event at the McLean Community Center.  The meeting gave the Task Force the opportunity to showcase various proposals for the development of the site and to solicit feedback from the community.

Readers may recall that the Salona house was the site of Union General William F. "Baldy" Smith's headquarters from October 1861 to March 1862.  Regiments from the Vermont Brigade of Smith's division stayed on the surrounding land, which was part of Camp Griffin.  And the property's historic significance is not limited to the Civil War.  President James Madison likely spent the night at Salona when the British attacked and burned Washington during the War of 1812. 

Fairfax County acquired a perpetual conservation easement on a 41.5-acre section of Salona in 2005.  The easement protects the historic property, while at the same time permitting limited recreational use on ten acres.  A couple of years ago, the county released a draft master plan for Salona.  This document tried to be all things to all people.  The proposed plan called for two rectangular athletic fields, a 100-space parking lot, a dog park, a playground, a picnic area, educational and environmental features, historical interpretation, and trails.

The Salona house, adjacent to the proposed park land.  The 7.8-acre residential core of Salona is protected by a perpetual easement granted to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 1971.  Salona is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register.

A photograph of Salona by George Houghton, taken when the house was being used as Baldy Smith's headquarters (courtesy of Vermont Historical Society).

 

A view of the meadowland at Salona from Rt. 123.

Not surprisingly, in 2011 Fairfax decided to kick the issue to a Task Force, which was charged with reaching out to the community and developing recommendations for the park.  The Task Force includes representatives from every conceivable interest connected with Salona.  Members hail from the McLean Citizens Associations, McLean Youth Athletics, the Greater McLean Chamber of Commerce, the Fairfax County History Commission, the Northern Virginia Conservation Trust, the conservation grantors (DuVal family), and the surrounding neighborhood.

A Fairfax County historical marker on Salona was installed in 2010.  (See here for more information.)

The Task Force has an unenviable job.  A split has developed in the community between the local youth sports movement and preservation-minded citizens.  The proponents of the athletic fields apparently have gained quite a following.  In fact, their on-line petition has garnered nearly 1,200 signatures.  At the public meeting the other day, the soccer dads and moms came out in full force with their uniform-clad children in tow.

Granted, McLean's population is growing, and kids need a place to play sports.  However, Salona is not the place for athletic fields (or dog parks, for that matter).  The property is one of the last surviving parcels of open land in McLean.  The meadows fronting Rt. 123 look much like they did 150 years ago.  The historic home sits nearby.  The conservation easement represents a tremendous opportunity for the county to prevent the disappearance of a historically significant piece of land. 

Any plans for Salona must preserve the sense of place that makes the property so special.  Walking in the new Salona park should carry visitors to another time and allow for an exploration of the site's storied past.  Two athletic fields and a large parking lot would do anything but that.  Some critics likely see no point in preserving old meadows.  But that argument misses the point.  Preservation goes beyond just protecting an important structure like the Salona house, but takes into account historic viewsheds.  The scenic features at Salona are an integral component of the property from a historical standpoint; the county's final plans should respect and maintain that landscape.

At Thursday's meeting, the Task Force took a unique approach to educating the public about the possible uses for Salona.  Each room at the community center featured exhibits on a variety of proposals for the park's development.  Task Force members and community groups were on hand to discuss these options with the public.  Attendees also had the opportunity to complete opinion forms that the Task Force will use when assessing the community's views. 

If anything, the meeting demonstrated that historic preservation goals can work hand-in-hand with some of the proposed plans for Salona.  The Fairfax County Public Schools, for example, would like to use Salona as a living classroom for science and history education.  One firm has proposed the construction of a multi-purpose building using the latest in green technology.  The small, discrete structure, which would resemble a farm outbuilding, could function like a museum on the history of Salona.  Interpretive trails installed across the property make sense, as do occasional living history encampments.  Other ideas, such as developing a self-sustaining farm at Salona, seem a bit of a stretch.  And the proposed athletic fields, although technically consistent with the terms of the easement, run counter to the spirit of properly honoring Salona's past.  Overall, however, the community's use and enjoyment of Salona need not be at odds with historic preservation.

The ball is now in the Task Force's court to make the appropriate recommendations for Salona.  Following Thursday's meeting, and months of input from community groups, the Task Force is well positioned to find a solution, however difficult that may be.  Members are well aware of the need to develop Salona in a way that comports with the property's historical significance.  Doing the right thing may not be popular with everyone, but Salona's future depends ultimately on our respect for the past.

The Johnston Family and Benvenue: A Story of Civilians and the War in Northern Virginia, Part I

This blog has covered a lot of ground on the Civil War history of present-day McLean, Virginia.  Many of my posts have focused on the two sprawling Union Army encampments located there from October 1861 to March 1862.  In one of my earliest posts on Camps Griffin and Pierpont, I discussed the 18th-century stone house known as "Benvenue," located right down the street from my own home.  The brigade of Windfield Scott Hancock took over the dwelling for use as a hospital in the fall of 1861.  I decided to research more about the hospital and stumbled upon a wealth of material on the owner of Benvenue and his family.  Their tale offers a glimpse at just how severely the war impacted civilians in and around the area which comprises modern-day McLean.

In 1858, John R. Johnston purchased the 198-acre Benvenue property from the estate of the late Commodore Thomas ap Catsby Jones.  Johnston paid $9,500 for the farm, which sat along the road from Langley to Lewinsville in Fairfax County.  (The American Farmer, 121.)  The new owner moved his wife and children to the property and began farming.*  Johnston employed Samuel Merchant to manage Benvenue.  Merchant, who had known Johnston for about 20 years, lived with the family on the farm.  (S. Merchant Testimony, Johnston SCC File, 51.)

Johnston began making improvements to the land, including the construction of wooden fences.  By 1861, he had around 150 acres under cultivation.  (J. Crocker Testimony, Johnston SCC File, 26.)  Johnston grew corn and hay, as well as garden vegetables like potatoes and cabbage.  He also raised cows and hogs on the farm. 

The Benvenue house (c. 1757) along present-day Churchill Road in McLean. The modern-day road roughly follows Benvenue's driveway.  Commodore Jones took the name "Benvenue" from a plantation in Louisiana where he recovered from his wounds following the 1814 Battle of New Orleans. The house now sits on private property.

Detail from an 1862 Union Army map of Northeastern Virginia showing the location of the Johnston farm on the road from Langley and Lewinsville (courtesy of Library of Congress).  Note the misspelling of Johnston's name.  Benvenue sat around four miles from the Chain Bridge over the Potomac River.  Fairfax County has published an 1860 map of land ownership overlaid on a 1981 map of the county.  (See here.)  Johnston's property can be seen on grid squares 30-2 and 21-4.  The Benvenue farm sat on land that is now occupied by the McLean Community Center, Dolley Madison Library, and several residential neighborhoods, including my own housing development.

Only a few years after the Johnstons moved to Benvenue, regional tensions mounted between North and South.  In April 1861, the Virginia Secession Convention approved an Ordinance of Secession and submitted it to a popular referendum.  On May 23, Johnston and his neighbors headed to the polls in Lewinsville to vote on the question of secession.  Johnston and 38 others cast their votes in favor of secession, but in the end, a majority of residents (86 votes) rejected the Ordinance.  Out of the fourteen precincts in Fairfax County, Lewinsville was one of only three to vote against secession.  State-wide, the Ordinance passed by an overwhelming majority.  Virginia left the Union and joined the nascent Confederate States of America.

Johnston's wife, Marcia, later testified before the Southern Claims Commission (SCC) that her husband was a loyal Union man.   She explained that Johnston only voted for the Ordinance "because of the pressure of the times" and that "[h]e often expressed to me his regrets for having done so."  (M. Johnston testimony, Johnston SCC File, 19.)  In fact, Marcia claimed that "[a]t the time he voted it did not appear that Union people would be protected, and he voted for the Ordinance for fear of the consequences that might follow if he did not."  (M. Johnston Testimony, Johnston SCC File, 19.)  

Some of Johnston's neighbors likewise testified to his loyalty, as did J. Harry Thompson, a surgeon from the 43rd New York who was encamped on Johnston's farm.  Thompson recalled speaking with Johnston about his vote to approve the Ordinance.  Johnston told the surgeon that he had voted for secession "under strong family pressure, but that he believed it was all wrong and that it would result in the destruction of the South. . . ."  (J.H. Thompson Testimony, Johnston SCC File, 63.)  The farmer had apparently "tried to convince his brothers against it but was unsuccessful."  (J.H. Thompson Testimony, Johnston SCC File, 63.)  

As the Union and Confederate armies mobilized in the months before Bull Run, tensions mounted in Northern Virginia.  Johnston tried to avoid trouble and carry on as usual.  His neighbor, George F.M. Walters, remembered that Johnston was a "quiet man" who "did not take an active part in either side." (G.F.M. Walters Testimony, Johnston SCC File, 32.)  Early in the war, Johnston's brother, who had enlisted with the Confederate forces, visited Johnston at his farm with several other soldiers.  Johnston ordered them away and "told his brother he never wanted him to come there again -- that he wanted nothing to do with such men." (G.F.M. Walters Testimony, Johnston SCC File, 31-32; see also J. Burke Testimony, Johnston SCC File, 38-39.) 

Jonathan Crocker, a farmer in Lewinsville, recalled that Marcia had the reputation "of a strong Union woman," although Walters wasn't sure he "ever heard Mrs. Johnston's sentiments spoken of." (J. Crocker Testimony, Johnston SCC File, 25; G.F.M. Walters Testimony, Johnston SCC File, 33.) Originally from Georgetown, D.C., Marcia had three first cousins in the Union Army. Early in the war, Confederate soldiers arrested Crocker's 72 year-old father. According to testimony before the SCC, Marcia tried to secure the release of Crocker's father, but to no avail. (J. Crocker Testimony, Johnston SCC File, 25.) His father later died in Culpeper while still in Confederate hands.

Of course, we may never know exactly how the Johnstons felt on the question of secession and Unionism.  Southerners who filed claims with the SCC were motivated in part by financial self-interest.  They also had an incentive to select witnesses who were most likely to back their statements of loyalty to the Union.  All of these considerations mean that SCC testimony does not always reflect the complete truth.  John Johnston's vote for the Ordinance certainly raises some suspicions, although it is not unrealistic to think that Johnston faced peer pressure from his brothers and some of his neighbors to support secession and that he feared what might happen to his family if he went against the tide.  Once the fighting began, he just wanted to be left alone.

Johnston, however, could only do so much to keep his wife and children away from civil war.  By September 1861, the Union Army began to probe towards Lewinsville, right past Johnston's front door.  On September 11, and again on September 25, the armies clashed in and around the small village.  Johnston surely feared for his family's safety as he heard the boom of artillery and the crack of musket fire from his farmhouse.  But the most dramatic impact of the war was yet to come.

Notes

*The precise date of the move is uncertain.  In her testimony to the Southern Claims Commission, John's widow, Marcia Johnston, noted that the family came to Benvenue two years before the start of the war, or in 1859.  (M. Johnston Testimony, Johnston SCC File, 21.)  A neighbor, Jonathan Crocker, recalled that the Johnstons arrived there "some two or three years before the war."  (J. Crocker Testimony, Johnston SCC File, 23.)  Given that the property was purchased in 1858, either Marcia remembered the wrong date, or the Johnstons moved to Benvenue some time after the land deal. 

*According to SCC and 1860 Federal Census records, Johnston and his wife likely had two small children at the time they moved to Benvenue.  A son, George, was born around 1856, and a daughter, Eliza, was born around 1858.  The couple had another son, John, who was born at Benvenue in 1860.  He died at age four.

Sources

1860 U.S. Census Schedule for Fairfax County, Va., available at ancestry.com; The American Farmer: A Monthly Magazine of Agriculture and Horticulture, Vol. XIV (1858); Brian A. Conley, Fractured Land: Fairfax County's Role in the Vote for Secession, May 23, 1861 (2001); Winslow R. Hatch, Old Roads and New Insights: Adventures in Discovery (1985); Carole L. Herrick, Images of America: McLean (2011); Historical Marker Database, "Benvenue;" Southern Claims Commission File for Marcia Johnston, #22121, available at fold3.com ("Johnston SCC File").