Passing Through the Old Stomping Grounds, July 1864

Following Jubal Early's defeat at the gates of Washington in July 1864, the Army of the Potomac's VI Corps pursued the Confederates westward to the Shenandoah Valley. Among the Union ranks were men who had spent the first winter of the war at Camp Griffin near Lewinsville, Virginia. They belonged to various units, including the 5th Wisconsin, 7th Maine, 43rd New York, 49th New York, 49th Pennsylvania, and 77th New York, as well as the famed First Vermont Brigade. My ancestor, Pvt. William Baumgarten of Co. K, 102nd Pennsylvania also marched with them. He had only joined the army in March 1864, but had already seen his share of horrific combat during the Overland Campaign.

A stereoscopic view of the 43rd N.Y. at Camp Griffin (courtesy of Wikipedia).

July 20-21, 1864: The Valley to Goose Creek

After suffering defeat at Rutherford's Farm on July 20, Early withdrew up the Valley to Fisher's Hill. The Federal commander, Gen. Horatio Wright, considered the Confederate threat eliminated and ordered the VI Corps and the rest of his force to return to Washington. There the Union soldiers could rest, resupply, and await further orders. (OR, 1:37:2, 419-20.)

Gen. Horatio Wright took command of the VI Corps following Gen. John Sedgwick's death at Spotsylvania (courtesy of Wikipedia). He led his men to the defense of Washington and battled Early at Ft. Stevens.

The VI Corps, along with elements of the XIX Corps, set out during the evening of July 20 from their position near Berryville. The Second Division, including William and the 102nd Pennsylvania, took the lead position in the VI Corps' line of march. [1] Headquarters directed that "[t]he troops will be made to understand that their rations must last them until they reach Washington." (OR, 1:37:2, 406.) After wading across the Shenandoah River, the men pressed on through Snicker's Gap and marched the entire night in wet clothes, taking "brief halts for coffee." (Benedict 492.)

As the sun rose over the Northern Virginia countryside, the columns continued to snake along the turnpike. The tired men of the the 49th Pennsylvania decided to stop in Hamilton for breakfast. According to one diarist from the regiment, "the citizens waved the stars and stripes as we passed through the little village; our bands played and our colors were unfurled." (in Westbrook 213.)

In the afternoon the VI Corps marched through Leesburg and halted near Goose Creek. Here the soldiers rested their sore feet and camped for the night. Those lagging behind on the march were not so fortunate. As the diarist from the 49th Pennsylvania wrote that day, "[John] Mosby is reported in the rear, gobbling up stragglers." (in Westbrook 213.)

July 22, 1864: Goose Creek to Difficult Run & Environs

The wagon train got underway at 4 a.m. on July 22, followed by the VI Corps and the XIX Corps. The day's route took the troops along the Leesburg-Alexandria Turnpike (today's VA-7). Seeking to protect his columns, Wright ordered that "[t]he cavalry under Colonel [Charles Russell] Lowell. . . be kept well out to the front, flanks, and rear, and endeavor to break up the guerrilla parties in the line of march." (OR, 1:37:2, 412.)

The divisions filed past Dranesville, where the Lees burg-Alexandria Turnpike intersected the Leesburg-Georgetown Turnpike (today's VA-193). Both roads led towards Washington. To avoid any confusion among his commanders, Wright made clear in his orders that the two corps were to continue on the Leesburg-Alexandria Turnpike.  

After another long march through heat and dust, the Federal force halted for the night in the vicinity of Difficult Creek. Some of the troops progressed as far as Freedom Hill and Peach Grove Post-Office (today's Tysons Corner) before setting up camp.

July 23-26, 1864: Lewinsville, Langley, and Beyond

The next day, July 23, followed a similar pattern. The two corps began their march around 4 a.m. Before long, they would enter the tiny hamlet of Lewinsville (part of today's McLean). Their route took them past the battlefields where some of the men had fought J.E.B. Stuart in September 1861. They also moved over the very ground once occupied by Camp Griffin. Some of these soldiers had lived here during winter 1861-62 as part of Gen. William F. "Baldy" Smith's division. The diarist from the 49th Pennsylvania observed a few differences from those early days:

 [O]ld Camp Griffin has been changed into contraband farms, and our old parade ground is growing a crop of corn. . . . (in Westbrook 213.) [2]

Union Army map showing Lewinsville and vicinity (courtesy of Library of Congress). Wright's men took the road from Peach Grove P.O. (far left), through Lewinsville (center), to Langley (far right). There the VI and XIX Corps picked up the Leesburg-Georgetown Turnpike to Chain Bridge. Camp Griffin sat on the Mackall, Johnston, and Smoot properties and the surrounding land. Living in this area, I am moved to think that 150 years ago, my ancestor was marching past my very neighborhood on his way to Chain Bridge. How the world is small, even across time!

Wilbur Fisk of the 2nd Vermont even located his former campsite. As he wrote in a letter on August 8, 1864:

There was the same excavation that we had made for the floor of our tent, the same fire-place and chimney and the same log basement. There was my old bedstead made of barrel staves nailed to two poles, and there was my old stool, which I remember used always to be in the other boys' way and which was always a reproach upon my woeful lack of ingenuity. I found too, the identical cup which has served me with coffee many times -- a good one once, but now rusty and half filled with dirt; and there were many other things that I saw around that little spot, uninteresting to others though quite interesting to me. . . . .  An eventful  season of war and strife has passed since we left that ground, and many that were with us then have been laid low by rebel hands; but peace comes not yet. Our regiment was full and strong when it left Camp Griffin, but not one-tenth of those men are with us now. (in Rosenblatt 243-44.)

Continuing along the pike beyond Langley, the VI Corps headed in the direction of Chain Bridge. Some of the men entered familiar territory once again -- on the high ground near the bridge was where soldiers under Gen. Smith had established Camp Advance and started construction of defensive works in September 1861.

Proceeding down a steep hill, Wright's corps reached Chain Bridge, crossed the Potomac, and halted in a rough line stretching from from Battery Vermont to Fort Gaines and Tennallytown. The general immediately took steps to ensure that his corps received adequate supplies. He urged his commanders to "have the wants of their men supplied as rapidly as practicable." (OR, 1:37:2, 425.)

In the end, Wright spent very little time around Tennallytown. Instead of returning to the front before Petersburg, he was dispatched to deal with a new threat from Early. By the morning of July 26, the men were once again on the move. They broke camp and marched that day to Rockville. The campaign against Early was entering a new and prolonged phase.

Postscript

The march of the VI Corps through Lewinsville and Langley was a bittersweet homecoming for some. By summer of 1864, the war had taken a terrible toll, and many soldiers never lived to see the old campgrounds for a second time. Others had left the ranks due to wounds, disease, or the end of enlistment. The survivors also looked upon a landscape that had undergone a revolutionary transformation. In place of picket lines, drills, and military parades were contrabands, marking the transition from slavery to freedom. A return to the "stomping grounds" of 1861-62 symbolized just how far the war had progressed since those early days of relative calm and innocence, before the massive bloodletting and the fight for emancipation.

Notes

[1] Incidentally, William received a head wound in skirmishing around Snicker's Gap a few days before and may possibly have made the trip by ambulance. The exact timing and circumstances of William's wounding is somewhat uncertain based on available sources.

[2] By summer 1864, the contraband farm, Camp Wadsworth, sat on land where Camp Griffin was once located. (See my post here for more information.) Camp Beckwith, another contraband farm, sat north of the village of Lewinsville.


Sources

George Grenville Benedict, Vermont in the Civil War, Vol. 1 (1886); Butler County PAGenWeb, "Genealogical Inquiries" (contains excerpt on Wm. Baumgarten from 1889 book, Presidents, Soldiers and Statesmen, Vol. 1); John H. Niebaum, History of the Pittsburgh Washington Infantry: 102nd (Old 13th) Regiment Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers and Its Forebears, 1792 to 1930 (1931); Official Records, 1:37:1, 406-457 & 1:37:2, 272 et seq.; Emil & Ruth Rosenblatt, Hard Marching Every Day: The Civil War Letters of Private Wilbur Fisk (1992 ed.); Robert Westbrook, History of the 49th Pennsylvania Volunteers (1897).

Visiting Gen. Hancock and the Fortifications on Mackall's Hill

A few weeks ago I wrote about Dr. Richard C. Mackall. By the time of the Civil War, this prominent Maryland-born physician had settled in Fairfax County. His 129-acre farm sat along the road from Chain Bridge to Lewinsville. As the Union Army pushed deeper into the Old Dominion at the start of October 1861, Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock established his headquarters at Mackall's home. Hancock's brigade, consisting of the 5th Wisconsin, 6th Maine, 43rd New York, and 49th Pennsylvania, belonged to William F. "Baldy" Smith's division. Hancock's regiments, along with the others in Smith's division, established Camp Griffin on the farms around Lewinsville. The Union Army arrested Mackall on suspicion of disloyalty. Hancock apparently secured Mackall's release, and the doctor returned afterwards to his childhood home in Maryland.

A war correspondent for the New York Times paid a visit to Hancock's headquarters not long after Smith's advance. His lengthy dispatch, found here, is well worth reading in its entirety. The reporter described Hancock's brigade as sitting at "the extreme western limits of our encampments." (N.Y. Times, Oct. 18, 1861.) The general was "on the outermost verge -- standing next to the foe, and in his front." (N.Y. Times, Oct. 18, 1861.) The correspondent made no secret of his admiration for the brigade commander:

The Germans say that "the future of every man is written on his face." If there is not honor and glory broadly written on the face of Gen. HANCOCK, I misinterpret the language of faces. He has a name that would make a man fight, whether he had or had not the will. He evidently has the will, and that is backed by the experience of Cerro Gordo, Molino del Rey, Contreras and Cherubusco.* I have no doubt that he will prove himself, when opportunity occurs, worthy of the post of honor and of danger in which the instinct of Gen. MCCLELLAN has placed him. (N.Y. Times, Oct. 18, 1861.)*

The article was not far off the mark, although perhaps I reveal my own biases!


Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock (courtesy of National Portrait Gallery)

The correspondent also observed how the war had dramatically transformed Mackall's property since the arrival of the Union Army:

Even around the outposts, that necessity which knows no law is fiercely predominant. The house in which Gen. HANCOCK has his quarters stands on the pinnacle of the knoll, or cone, I have described. It was originally one of the most comfortable and convenient of any hereabouts. The cone was covered with timber -- not the small, second growth of the surrounding country, but real ancestral oaks -- grand old monarchs of the last century's forests. On all the slope; that faced toward Miner's Hill,** and towards the supposed lurking-place of the enemy, the soldiers have cut away the trees, and turned them into an abattis. Around the house, and half-way up the slope, a deep rifle-pit has been dug, from which thousands of men could deal death upon an advancing line. On the lawn stand Parrott guns and howitzers, and limbers and caissons, and the smooth sod and the walks are tramped up by the picketed horses. It has evidently been the labor and the pride of years. Any one who had dug and delved, and planted and watched, with the hope and the prospect of enjoyment, can appreciate the feelings of one who sees all the labor of years thus cast down, as it were, in an hour. I could but think, as I saw the old trees prostrated, of the little home far away on the peaceful shores of the Hudson, and hope that it might neither witness the carnage nor the devastation of war. (N.Y. Times, Oct. 18, 1861.)

According to the Times, the Confederates were keeping their distance from the Union lines, but Hancock was unlikely to let them go unchallenged:

Since our army advanced, the enemy have been shy of showing themselves around Lewinsville. Occasionally [Romeyn] AYRES drops a shell where it is possible they may be, or [Thaddeus] MOTT sends to their late haunts a messenger by the mouth of his rifled Parrotts. But they don't respond. Whether they are shy or only sullen, neither AYRES' shell nor MOTT's conicals can determine. If they don't respond soon, it is possible that Gen. HANCOCK may look for them in person, accompanied by a few friends, and I shall hope to be present at the interview. (N.Y. Times, Oct. 18, 1861.)

Detail of 1862 Union Army map of Northeastern Virginia showing property of Dr. Richard C. Mackall along the road  to Lewinsville (courtesy of Library of Congress). The "knoll or cone" mentioned in the New York Times article was known locally as "Mackall's Hill." A present-day map of McLean showing the location of the former Mackall property (in red) can be found here. 

"General Hancock's Headquarters, Artillery in Foreground, Camp Griffin." (A special thanks to the staff at the Vermont Historical Society, who graciously agreed to provide me with a copy of this rare photograph from "A Very Fine Appearance": The Vermont Civil War Photographs of George Houghton by Donald H. Wickman) The Mackall  house sits atop Mackall's Hill in the distant background. At the time Houghton took the photograph, several trees were still standing on the rise. Wickman's book identifies the cannon and limber as possibly belonging to Ayres' Battery F, 5th U.S. Artillery.

Although Hancock and his men never saw much action while encamped near Lewinsville, in October 1861 all eyes were turned to Northern Virginia and the possibility of another major clash between the armies. Meanwhile, civilians like Mackall saw their lives and property radically transformed by the advancing troops. Today Mackall's farm is marked by nondescript commercial and residential development. But 152 years ago, a general destined for greatness at Gettysburg looked out from his perch on that same spot and contemplated his next move.

Notes

*Battles of the Mexican War that took place in 1847 during the U.S. campaign to capture Mexico City.
**Minor's Hill is an elevation located a few miles to the southeast of Mackall's Hill in present-day Arlington County.

Sources

Beth Mitchell, Fairfax County in 1860: Property Owners (original map book available at Virginia Room, City of Fairfax Regional Library) ("1860 Map"); N.Y. Times, Oct. 11, 1861; N.Y. Times, Oct. 18, 1861.

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.

General "Baldy" Smith's Soldiers Enter the Old Dominion State

Long-time readers of this blog may recall that I have devoted considerable attention to the Civil War history of present-day McLean, Virginia.  During the first winter of the war, two Union divisions encamped on the farmlands around Langley and Lewinsville.  As we near the 150th anniversary of various happenings in and around my adopted hometown, I thought readers might be interested in the origins of the Union Army's presence around here.

In some recent posts, I've discussed how the Confederates moved ever closer to the nation's capital during August 1861.  By the end of the month, Confederates were entrenched on the hills near Falls Church, where they could look across the river to Washington and the unfinished Capitol dome.  The Union commander of the Army of the Potomac, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, was well aware of the Confederates in his midst.  He had already started strengthening the initial defenses of Washington not long after taking charge of the army, but the Virginia side of the Chain Bridge -- around 10 miles from Falls Church and the Confederate line -- was not yet heavily fortified as September got underway.

The strategic situation would soon change.  As McClellan wrote in his memoirs:

On the 3d of Sept., while reviewing troops east of the Capitol, I received dispatches to the effect that the enemy had appeared in force opposite the Chain Bridge and towards Great Falls; also that they were probably on the point of advancing along their whole line. After giving the necessary orders at other points I rode to Gen. [William F. "Baldy"] Smith's headquarters at the Chain Bridge, and determined to move his brigade across the river during the night and to entrench a position on the Virginia side as the surest method of saving the bridge. (McClellan, 95.)

Smith prepared his men for the march to the Old Dominion State.  Starting late at night on September 3, and continuing into September 4, the Union soldiers slipped across the Chain Bridge and climbed the steep incline of the Leesburg & Georgetown Turnpike.  The regiments included the 2nd and 3rd Vermont, 19th Indiana, 33rd and 79th New York, and the 2nd and 5th Wisconsin.  Smith's men stopped a mile or so past Chain Bridge and encamped on high ground not far from Langley, Virginia.

Brig. Gen. William F. "Baldy" Smith (courtesy of Wikipedia).  Smith was born in St. Albans, Vermont in 1824 and graduated from West Point in 1845.  He was instrumental in organizing the famed Vermont Brigade of the Army of the Potomac in 1861.  Smith rose to become a division and corps commander. 

Some of the soldiers thought that McClellan was moving to pounce on the Confederates at Falls Church, but they soon learned that they would be clearing the land and building earthworks and forts.  The men immediately got to work constructing what were to become known as Ft. Marcy, northwest of Chain Bridge, and Ft. Ethan Allen, to the south.*  Both of these strongholds were built on the property of Gilbert Vanderwerken, who owned an omnibus line in Washington and had purchased over 1,300 acres of pastureland in Virginia for his horses.

The men called their new home, "Camp Advance." The name likely originated from the fact that the brigade had moved so far forward into Virginia. (Zeller, 43.)  However, according to another account, "the somewhat formidable title of 'Camp Advance' was given, under the impression that the movement meant a speedy advance upon Richmond." (Benedict, 91-92.)

Smith's men suffered from the endless rain at the start of September. As Alexander Campbell of the 79th New York wrote to his wife on September 6, "[i]t has been damp and dissegreable [sic] weather." (Johnston, 39.) The misery for some soldiers was compounded by the lack of adequate shelter. Both the 2nd Vermont and 5th Wisconsin, and perhaps other regiments, waited about two weeks until they received tents.   

"Gen. Smith's Brigade--from Fort Marcy. Chain Bridge, Va.," by Arthur Lumley, Sept. 1861, sketch for Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper (courtesy of New York Public Library Digital Gallery).  Based on the caption and date, this sketch appears to depict Camp Advance, or a portion of it.  Smith was a brigade commander in September and was still encamped close to Ft. Marcy.  In October 1861, as a division commander, Smith pushed his soldiers to a position that would likely have been farther west than is seen in this sketch.  This view from Ft. Marcy to the encampments beyond is from the western side of the fort.  The Potomac River and Leesburg & Georgetown Turnpike are visible to the right of the sketch.

Close up of above sketch, showing wagons moving down the turnpike with the Potomac River beyond the tents to the right.  This part of the pike is today's VA-123.

Aside from digging entrenchments and felling trees, the men at Camp Advance spent their days on picket duty or on scouting missions in the surrounding countryside.  Occasionally, the soldiers on reconnaissance brought back Confederate prisoners, horses, and contraband.  The men assigned to picket duty also confronted possible dangers, as the Confederates were equally as curious about the Union men who had encamped just over the Chain Bridge and also sent scouting parties to the area.

Detail from an 1862 Union Army map showing the area around Chain Bridge, Ft. Marcy, Ft. Ethan Allen, and Langley (courtesy of Library of Congress).  The encircled portion of the map represents the approximate position of Camp Advance based on the sketch above and first-hand accounts of soldiers from the regiments encamped there.  Today, the area around the camp and Ft. Marcy is bisected by the GW Parkway.

On September 10, President Lincoln, General McClellan, Secretary of War Simon Cameron, and Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin rode out from Washington to pay a visit to the soldiers at Camp Advance.  The men were thrilled to see Old Abe and McClellan, and many soldiers rushed to shake hands with the dignitaries in their presence.  The very next day, some of the men would be tested in battle for the first time.  But for now, they were just happy to have the monotony of camp life broken by a visit from such esteemed guests.

Note

*In his A Report on the Defenses of Washington to the Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army, Brevet Major General John Gross Barnard notes that Smith crossed Chain Bridge on September 24, 1861 and began building the two forts.  (p. 14.) The reference to the 24th shows up in several sources, including the well-known work on the defenses of Washington, Mr. Lincoln's Forts.  However, this date is contradicted by numerous primary and secondary sources, which indicate that Smith entered Virginia on September 3-4 and set to work on the forts shortly thereafter.  Perhaps Barnard slipped a "2" before the "4," accidentally, and the mistake stuck!

Sources

Annual Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Wisconsin for the Year Ending September 30th, 1863 (1863); John G. Barnard, A Report on the Defenses of Washington to the Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army (1871); George Grenville Benedict, Vermont in the Civil War, Vol. 1 (1886); Civil War in the East (website with army and unit information); The Civil War Letters of Forrest Little (website); Benjamin Franklin Cooling III & Walton H. Owen II, Mr. Lincoln's Forts: A Guide to the Civil War Defenses of Washington (2010 ed.); Terry A. Johnston, Jr., "Him on the One Side and Me on the Other" (1999) (collection of soldiers' letters);George B. McClellan, McClellan's Own Story (1887); NRHP Nomination Form for Ft. Ethan Allen;  Second Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry (website with soldiers' letters); Kerry A. Trask, Fire Within: A Civil War Narrative from Wisconsin (1995); Vermont in the Civil War (website with unit information); Paul G. Zeller, The Second Vermont Volunteer Infantry Regiment, 1861-1865 (2002).