THE WAR YEARS: 1861-1865
As events in the winter of 1860 and the spring of 1861 carried the
nation into the crisis of civil war, Fairfax County aligned itself
with Richmond rather than Washington. Thus, at the State's convention
on secession in May 1861, the Fairfax County delegation voted to
ratify the secession ordinance.[83] The consequences of this action
were prompt in coming and far-reaching in their effects, for with the
commencement of military operations in Northern Virginia it became
impossible to carry on the normal processes of county government.
Fairfax Court House (the Town of Providence) was outside the ring of
fortifications which were built on the Virginia side of the Potomac to
protect the National Capital. Inside this line, stretching in a great
arc from Alexandria, through the vicinity of The Falls Church, to
Chain Bridge, Union Army commanders exercised military authority and
administered justice through provost courts.[84] Outside this area the
authority of the General Assembly of Virginia nominally remained in
effect, and the justices of the courts and the sheriffs of the county
continued to hold their positions under the laws of the seceded state.
Serious difficulties in the transaction of public business soon
appeared throughout Fairfax County, where patrolling and skirmishing
outside the ring of permanent fortified positions were daily
occurrences. This was recognized in an ordinance adopted by the
Secession Convention providing that when the court of any county
failed to meet for the transaction of business or the public was
prevented from attending the court "by reason of the public enemy",
the court of the adjoining county where such obstructions did not
exist had jurisdiction of all matters referrable to the court or the
clerk of the court where normal business had ceased.[85]
As Virginia armed, troops of the Confederacy placed themselves in
positions to repel invaders, and in May 1861, a company of the
Warrenton Rifles established a camp at Fairfax Court House. On the
morning of June 1, 1861, a body of Union cavalry rode through the
town, and in the confused exchange of fire which followed, a Captain
of the Rifles, John Quincy Marr, became the first officer casualty of
the war.[86]
A month later, the tide of Union forces under McDowell swept past the
courthouse on the way to its rendezvous at Bull Run, and back again to
the safety of the fortified positions along the Potomac. In the wake
of their victory at Bull Run, troops of the Confederacy established an
outpost at Fairfax Court House to watch for signs that the Union Army
might resume the offensive by moving against the Confederate
earthworks near Centreville.
This outpost did not see any fighting for the time being, but it
provided the site for what later was regarded as one of the decisive
moments of the war. In September 1861, General Beauregard had
established his headquarters at Fairfax Court House, and urgently
pressed the newly-formed government of Confederate President Jefferson
Davis for reinforcements with which to sweep into Pennsylvania and
Maryland and, hopefully, to carry the Federal capital itself. A
meeting was arranged at Beauregard's headquarters in which Davis,
Generals Beauregard and J. J. Johnston, and certain of their trusted
staff officers considered this plan. Their decision was to adopt a
defensive posture and protect the borders of Virginia rather than take
the offensive and invade the North. As events turned out, this
decision had consequences of the greatest effect, for it was not until
Lee marched out of the Valley on the road to Gettysburg in 1863 that
there was another opportunity for the Confederacy to carry the war to
the soil of the northern states.[87]
In the spring of 1862, the Confederate army retired from Fairfax Court
House, and soon after that its line of fortifications at
Centreville--the most extensive system of field fortifications in
military history up to that time--was abandoned. As the Union armies
took the initiative in their repeated efforts to reach Richmond, the
crossroads at Fairfax Court House had key importance in the
communication and supply systems of these forces.
From 1862 to the end of the war, Union troops remained in control of
the crossroads and the courthouse. Contemporary photographs of the
building show it being used as a lookout point and station for
patrols. Other descriptions indicate that the courthouse was
loopholed,[88] the furnishings were removed, and the interior
generally was gutted so that only the walls and roof remained.[89] For
all practical purposes, the courthouse and its related buildings were,
in the years 1863 and 1864, a military outpost and minor headquarters
in the Union army's system to protect its supply and communications
lines from the irregular troops who kept hostilities constantly
smoldering in Northern Virginia. Throughout the western part of
Fairfax County, and in Loudoun, Fauquier and Prince William Counties,
lived many who gave the appearance of innocent farmers during the
daylight hours, but who changed into Confederate uniforms at night and
on weekends to ride against isolated outposts or supply points of the
Union army or destroy vulnerable bridges and communications centers.
The operations of these guerilla bands kept thousands of Union troops
pinned down on rear area security guard duty, and preoccupied the
forces assigned to Fairfax Court House. The difficulty of their task
under the circumstances that prevailed in Northern Virginia was
dramatized in the famous Confederate raid on Fairfax Court House by
men under the command of Col. John S. Mosby when, on the night of
March 8, 1863, the Confederate commander with about 30 men captured
and carried off 33 prisoners, including Union Brigadier General Edwin
H. Stoughton, and a large number of horses and quantity of supplies.
Throughout 1863, 1864 and the spring of 1865 hardly a night went by
without some cries of alarm and shots being fired because of the
activities of the Confederate irregulars. Yet they took a substantial
toll from the wealth and welfare of the very people they claimed to
represent, for the Union troops soon learned more efficiency in their
rear area operations, and increased the restrictions on movement of
civilian traffic. The transaction of personal business in normal ways
became virtually impossible. The historian, Bruce Catton, has assessed
the activities of the guerilla bands as follows:
The quality of these bands varied greatly. At the top was John S.
Mosby's courageous soldiers led by a minor genius, highly
effective in partisan warfare. Most of the groups, however, were
about one degree better than plain outlaws, living for loot and
excitement, doing no actual fighting if they could help it, and
offering a secure refuge to any number of Confederate deserters
and draft evaders.... The worst damage which this system did to
the Confederacy, however, was that it put Yankee soldiers in a
mood to be vengeful.[90]
During the years when normal business at the courthouse was suspended
and the county officials who held authority from the General Assembly
were dispersed, some of the county's records were removed from the
courthouse for safekeeping, and some were not.[91] In either case they
were subject to the risks of loss and damage. Some were carried off
and in later years have been brought to light as the descendents of
Union and Confederate soldiers have found them in places where they
had been put for safekeeping.
The jail building ceased to be used for its original purpose, and,
during the latter months of the war, the jail of Alexandria County
(now Arlington County) was utilized for Fairfax County's
prisoners.[92]
The effort to provide a legitimate successor to the secession
government in Richmond started in the Wheeling Conventions of May and
June 1861, from which came the Unionist government of Francis H.
Pierpont.[93] The admission of West Virginia to the Union in December
1862[94] left Governor Pierpont in control of only those parts of
Northern Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley, and Chesapeake Bay that were
occupied by Federal troops. Within this area, the Pierpont
administration collected taxes and attempted to supply the essential
services of civilian government. Closer touch with these problems was
possible after June 1863, when Governor Pierpont moved his government
to Alexandria.
On January 19, 1863, a new County Court for Fairfax County was
convened pursuant to a proclamation by Governor Pierpont which
directed that the place for the court's sessions should be changed
from Fairfax Court House to the Village of West End[95] near
Alexandria. Here, in January 1863, the Court met in a structure known
as Bruin's Building. The minutes of this and other sessions which
followed recite many of the same problems and disputes that always had
occupied the time of county courts--dockets of minor criminal and
civil cases, petitions to higher levels of government, determination
of minor civil disputes, issuances of permits and licenses, and
appointment of public officials.[96]
Certain items in the minutes of this January 19, 1863 meeting
documented the strains created by the wartime conditions: a petition
to the Secretary of War prayed that the "Bruin Building" in the
Village of West End be placed at the court's disposal; the Deputy
Commissioner of Revenue was directed to discharge the duties of the
Commissioner until the latter, currently a prisoner in Richmond, could
return to his duties; payments were approved for wagonowners who had
hauled books, papers and records to the courthouse from various points
in Fairfax and nearby counties. One item of particular interest
stated:
The fact having been brought to the notice of the Court that
degradations were being committed upon the Mt. Vernon Estate, the
Court, under the Chancery powers vested therein, appointed
Jonathan Roberts, the present Sheriff, Curator, to take charge of
all property in Fairfax County, Va. belonging to the heirs of
John A. Washington, dec.[97]
After the cessation of fighting in April 1865, Governor Pierpont moved
his government from Alexandria to Richmond. However, without the
presidential support which Lincoln had provided during his lifetime,
the Pierpont administration found it increasingly difficult to carry
on effective government as the years immediately after the war saw
numerous plans for reconstruction competing for favor. The situation
was further complicated by the fact that in February 1864 the Pierpont
administration had sponsored a constitutional convention which had
adopted a new constitution for Virginia, and that this constitution
had nominally gone into effect in Alexandria and Fairfax counties.[98]
A complex legal problem regarding the succession of governmental
authority thus was added to the formidable task of reconstructing
Fairfax County's economy and physical facilities.
This task was made difficult because many of the records of the County
had been scattered or destroyed during the fighting. Records were
searched out and retrieved whenever their places of safekeeping were
known, a process requiring years of effort. Some record books were
never found. The accounts of how the wills of George and Martha
Washington were recovered are frequently cited to illustrate the
difficulties of reassembling Fairfax County's records.
When, in the fall of 1861, Beauregard's Confederate troops withdrew
from Fairfax County, the will of George Washington was secretly
removed from the courthouse by the court clerk, Alfred Moss, and taken
to Richmond. Here it was placed for safekeeping with the Secretary of
the Commonwealth of Virginia. Following the cessation of hostilities,
it was returned to Fairfax County.[99]
Martha Washington's will was not removed from the courthouse to
Richmond, but remained there during the time Union troops occupied the
building as a patrol point. As might be expected, cabinets were broken
open and papers scattered. One day, late in 1862, a troop of soldiers
from New England was in the building and engaged in shoveling out the
debris from the floor. A Union lieutenant named Thompson grew curious
about these papers and interrupted the work long enough to examine
some of them. He picked up the will of Martha Washington and,
recognizing it, took it with him. Following the war, the will next was
heard of in 1903 in England where a descendant of Lt. Thompson sold
it to J. P. Morgan. The sale was reported to the Commonwealth Attorney
of Fairfax County who wrote Mr. Morgan seeking the return of the will,
but no answer was ever received. After Mr. Morgan's death, the County
sought to obtain the will from his son. Negotiations were unsuccessful
until court action was begun by the County. Finally, one day before
the matter was to be argued before the United States Supreme Court,
the will was returned.[100]
NOTES FOR CHAPTER IV
[83] Thomas Chapman, Jr., "The Secession Election in Fairfax County,
May 23, 1861", _Yearbook of the Historical Society of Fairfax County_,
IV (1955) 50.
[84] Robert Anderson, "The Administration of Justice in the Counties
of Fairfax, Alexandria (Arlington) and the City of Alexandria (Part
II)", _The Arlington Historical Magazine_, II (October 1962) 10-11.
[85] Ordinance 67, passed by the Virginia Convention, 26 June, 1861,
cited by Anderson, "Administration of Justice", p. 10.
[86] Governor William Smith, "The Skirmish at Fairfax Court House",
_The Fairfax County Centennial Commission_, (Vienna, Virginia: 1961)
p. 4. Because of the confusion in the Confederate ranks, no officer
took charge, and so Governor Smith ordered the Confederate troops to
return the fire of the Federal soldiers.
[87] The Fairfax Court House meeting, which took place in Gen.
Beauregard's headquarters near the courthouse, has been the subject of
controversy in the memoirs of those involved. See, for example,
Jefferson Davis, _The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government_,
(New York: Yoseloff, 1958), I, 368, 448-452, 464; Alfred Roman,
_Military Operations of Gen. Beauregard_, (New York: Harper & Bros.,
1884), I, 137-139.
[88] _Washington Post_, April 10, 1921.
[89] _Alexandria Gazette_ and _Fairfax News_, October 17, 1862.
[90] Bruce Catton, _A Stillness at Appomatox_, (New York: Cardinal
Giant Edition, Pocket Books, Inc., 1958), pp. 318-319.
[91] Two items from the _Alexandria Gazette_ in July 1862 illustrate
the problems regarding these records. The edition of July 12, 1862
printed a letter to the newspaper stating that records of Fairfax
County had lately been found in Warrenton, having been removed there,
it was supposed, by lawyers. The new sheriff of the County took
possession of these records. The edition of July 23, 1862 reported
that the new County Court of Fairfax held its July term in the Clerk's
office, the courthouse not being in condition for that purpose, and
that one of the court's actions was to order that application be made
for a new seal, the old one not being found.
[92] Fairfax County Court Minute Book, 1863-1867, p. 130. This order
was entered November 25, 1864, and was rescinded by a subsequent order
entered November 22, 1865. Minute Book, 1863-1867, p. 289.
[93] The Unionists in northern and western Virginia met twice in
conventions held at Wheeling. In May 1861 a convention of some 400
so-called delegates from the counties in these regions met to consider
their stake in the State's constitutional crisis, but took no action
since Virginia had not yet ratified the secession ordinance. A second
convention at Wheeling was held in June 1861, and organized a Unionist
government for the State which claimed the authority of the General
Assembly (which it asserted had forfeited its authority by rebellion)
and other constitutional officials. Francis H. Pierpont served as
governor of this Unionist government of Virginia.
[94] The Congressional approval of West Virginia's admission occurred
in December 1862, but it was not until June 1863 that President
Lincoln proclaimed the admission of the new State and approval of its
constitution.
[95] Fairfax County Court Minute Book, 1863-1867, p. 2.
[96] _Ibid._ Minutes of a meeting of the court on January 19, 1863.
[97] _Ibid._ The practical effect of this order has been questioned,
however, since Mt. Vernon was sold out of the Washington family in
1859 to the Mt. Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union, and the
Washingtons had, by 1863, moved to Fauquier County, leaving neither
relatives or property in Fairfax County. Interview with Judge James
Keith, April 1972.
[98] As described in William Hemphill, Marvin Schlegel and Sadie
Engelberg, _Cavalier Commonwealth: History and Government of
Virginia_, (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1957), 339-340, this constitution
contained various new provisions, such as the abolition of slavery and
denial of suffrage to all men who held office under a Confederate
government.
[99] Eugene E. Prussing, _The Estate of George Washington, Deceased_,
(Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1927) pp. 39-40. "Martha Washington's
Will and the Story of its Loss and Recovery by Fairfax County,"
_Yearbook of the Historical Society of Fairfax County, Virginia_, II
(1952-53) 40-62.
[100] "Martha Washington's Will," p. 61.