A Fond Farewell to Lewinsville & Langley! Off to Farmwell!

My wife and I just closed on a house in Ashburn, Virginia this past Monday. We are very excited to get more space and to live a little farther from the chaos "inside the Beltway"! Ashburn (Farmwell and Farmwell Station during the 1860s) is situated in Loudoun County, a place steeped in Civil War history. The Battle of Ball's Bluff took place not more than 20 minutes from our doorstep. Armies also marched through the county before Antietam and Gettysburg. And don't forget that Loudoun was part of Mosby's Confederacy. In other words, Civil War buffs would find a lot to like about calling the county home. (If you enjoy wineries, there are plenty of those to explore as well!)

I hope to get more involved with the Loudoun County Civil War Roundtable. After all, I won't have to drive nearly as far to attend their monthly meetings. They tend to have a really strong line-up. I also look forward to living closer to a few of my friends with an interest in the war, including fellow blogger Craig Swain and Army of the Potomac expert extraordinaire Todd Berkoff. I trust that both will help me learn more about the area during the war! (Craig, I am counting on you to bring me up to speed on that Civil War-era road network. . . .)

As much as I am looking forward to a new home, I will also miss McLean (Lewinsville and Langley during the war). I've lived here for over five years now, and as readers know, I have spent a lot of time peeling back the layers of McLean's Civil War history. I've written and lectured about Camp Griffin and Camp Pierpont, which served as 1861-62 winter quarters for two Union divisions. I've taken a look at the "Battle of Lewinsville," a fascinating little fight that involved the likes of Isaac Stevens, J.E.B. Stuart, and John Mosby. I also got to know my Civil War-era neighbors, families such as the Mackalls, Means, and Johnstons. More recently, I've become obsessed with the contraband camps that were located in the McLean area from 1863 onward.  

Looking down from the crest of Johnston's Hill, right around the corner from my former home in McLean. Union Army units, including the Pennsylvania Reserves, held parades at the base of Johnston's Hill during the first winter of the Civil War. (See this post, where I discuss the location.)

The surviving landmarks are everywhere around me. I drive past Salona (Baldy Smith's HQ) and the Langley Ordinary (George A. McCall's HQ) on my daily commute. Benvenue, the location of Winfield Scott Hancock's brigade hospital, is an everyday sight on my early morning walks.  Although not as well known as other places like Henry Hill or Dunker Church, all of these landmarks represent a very real tie that my former community has across time to the Civil War.

You may be wondering what this all means for the future direction of the blog, if anything. I still have many stories about McLean in the pipeline and don't plan on giving them up, just because I am moving to another part of Northern Virginia. The same goes for other sites in Fairfax. The endless array of topics accumulating on my to-do list long ago outpaced my ability to keep up. Apparently four years wasn't enough time to cover it all! At the same time, I am looking forward to exploring some hidden corners of Civil War history in my new "neighborhood." So I suppose that what it comes down to is that this is a blog covering all of Northern Virginia (and sometimes DC) and will remain that way.

In the end, I will miss my former community, and my involvement with the history scene here. A special thanks goes out to the McLean Historical Society, which invited me to give lectures and to serve on the board. I've enjoyed living in McLean and learning about what our ancestors did here. Now I turn to a new chapter as I head west down State Route 267 and establish a home in another location so important to Northern Virginia's Civil War history.

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 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").