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Title: A History of the Town of Fairfax

Author: Jeanne Johnson Rust

Release date: April 14, 2010 [eBook #31990]

Language: English

Credits: E-text prepared by Stacy Brown, Mark C. Orton, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF FAIRFAX ***

E-text prepared by Stacy Brown, Mark C. Orton,

and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team

(http://www.pgdp.net)

Transcriber's note:

The copyright on this work was not renewed.

A HISTORY

OF THE

TOWN OF FAIRFAX

Sketch by John H. Rust, Jr.

Jeanne Johnson Rust

1960

Illustrations by Paul R. Hoffmaster

FIRST EDITION

SECOND PRINTING

Copyright 1960, by Jeanne Johnson Rust

All rights reserved

Printed by Moore & Moore, Inc., Washington, D. C.

Designed by William M. Guillet

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 61-11281

To My Husband

and his favorite town—his birthplace.

MAP LEGEND

1.

Court House

Pages 29, 33, 57

2.

Duncan's Chapel

Pages 39, 43

3.

Payne's Church

Page 19

4.

Store Site

Pages 25, 31

5.

Ford Building

Page 25

6.

Rose Bower

Page 38

7.

Site of Willcoxon Tavern

Pages 24, 32, 48

8.

Rectory

Pages 25, 48

9.

Truro Church

Pages 20, 38, 61

10.

Coomb Cottage

Page 36

11.

Coomb Cottage Building No. 1

Page 36

12.

Coomb Cottage Building No. 2

Page 36

13.

Cooper Carriage House

Pages 37, 45

14.

Confederate Monument

Page 64

15.

Site of Ratcliffe Home

Page 32

16.

Ratcliffe Grave Yard

Page 32

17.

Earp's Ordinary

Pages 23, 45

18.

Willard Place

Page 55

19.

Blenheim

Page 24

20.

Ratcliffe Race Trace

Page 32

21.

D'Astre Place

Page 37

22.

Richardson House

Page 38

23.

Site of Judge Thomas House

Page 37

24.

Oliver Building

Pages 25, 44

25.

Farr Home

Page 22

CONTENTS

Introduction

6

I.

Jamestown

7

II.

Rebellion

10

III.

The Gentry and the Convicts

14

IV.

The Push Inward

17

V.

The Town

23

VI.

The Revolutionary War

26

VII.

The Court House

29

VIII.

Development of the Town

36

IX.

The Civil War in Fairfax

43

X.

Spies

53

XI.

Stealing of Important Papers

57

XII.

Reconstruction

61

Bibliography

68

Index

69

A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF FAIRFAX

When man reaches out into space to explore a new planet, his adventure will be comparable in many ways to that of the colonists who braved the space of water in the early seventeenth century to establish their proprietary rights on a strange continent called "America".

These colonists found themselves confronted with the need to feed, house and clothe themselves with unknown and untried materials reaped from a wilderness which hid their enemy, the red man, and housed the dread mosquito which carried the deadly malaria.

Proof of their danger lies in the history of the Jamestown Colony. Being attacked by red savages upon landing at the malaria infested Jamestown and inexperienced with survival under wilderness conditions, the colonists were reduced to eating their own dead before help finally arrived.

Strengthened in number and sustained by food and help brought by Lord de la Warr, the colonists eventually set up a government, bought peace with their enemy, and settled down to raise tobacco on the land to which they received proprietary rights. Later they expanded their holdings; developed their resources; improved their government; established churches, schools and colleges; gained their independence from their mother country; survived civil strife; and advanced their civilization.

I. JAMESTOWN

At Jamestown the colonists found that they could not succeed without expanding the Indian's agriculture. They found the savages of the Tidewater section growing corn, muskmelon, pumpkin, watermelon, squash, maypops, gourds and peas in their fertile well-organized gardens. Grapevines were cultivated at the edge of clearings and there were rich harvests of chestnuts, hickory nuts and acorns. Strawberries and other small fruits grew in abundance and mulberry trees stood near every village. Tobacco was grown to itself, in carefully prepared hills arranged in well-organized rows. It developed into a slender plant less than three feet tall and the short, thick leaves, when ripe, were pulled from the stalk and dried before a fire or in the sun. The colonists learned to grow and store the Indian foods for cold winters and they learned to earn their livelihood from the export of the tobacco they grew.

In the northern part of Fairfax County, the Indians grew corn. They fished, mined, and herded buffalo. In order to have sufficient grassland for their "cattle", or buffalo, the Indians deliberately set fire to the forests. They also burned their "old fields" that had once been cultivated for they found that grass grew voluntarily on them if the trees were kept down.

Maxwell in "The Use and Abuse of Forests by Virginia Indians" tells us, "Virginia, between its mountains and the seas was passing through its fiery ordeal and was approaching a crisis at the time the colonists snatched the fagot from the Indian's hand. The tribes were burning everything that would burn and it can be said of the Alleghanies that if the discovery of America had been post-poned five hundred years, Virginia would have been pasture land or desert."

This point is further illustrated by the Manahoac Indian's remark to Captain John Smith that he knew not what lay beyond the Blue Ridge except the sun, "because the woods were not burnt".

Although the settlement by colonists helped to slow down this burning process, it did not stop it altogether. The colonists cleared their land by burning also and when they had exploited one area moved on to another. (They did not burn as large areas as the Indians.) As other freemen came, they pushed upward and inward along the waterways to find unexploited land. This, of course, hastened the development of the Fairfax County area but it left acres of "old fields" going idle for want of a little fertilizer. Many ignorant overseers of large land holdings knew little of fertilization or replenishing the soil and they too, when they had exhausted one part of the proprietorship, moved on to another, which they cleared by burning. They gathered slaves from other plantations to help fell the trees and at night large groups of negroes gathered round the mound of burning trees and raised their voices in the spiritual singing that was characteristic of them. Sometimes the burning lasted for two or three days and laughter, song and wine were plentiful.

Fairfax County itself was gradually being occupied by men from two of the colonies: viz., Maryland and Jamestown. The Maryland colonists were English traders who, for one reason or another, had left their colony (1632) and taken up their residence among friendly tribes along the Virginia shore of the Potomac. The Maryland colonists preceded the Jamestown colonists by a few years.

The Jamestown colonists in their search for unused land had gradually started to move into Fairfax County around 1649. Word had spread that the area farther north (part of which is now known as Fairfax County) was the "land of opportunity" and wealthy land-holders began buying large units of five hundred to three thousand acres for speculation. Among these were the Masons, Draytons, Baxters, Brents, Vincents, Merriweathers, Fitzhughs, Hills, Dudleys and Howsings.

Most of these men were not ready to make their homes here, however, for this area was still infested with unfriendly Indians. Instead they hired indentured slaves who came from England, Scotland, Ireland, France, etc., who worked the land for a few years, earned their freedom and then became land owners in their own right. It stands to reason, therefore, that the society of the Fairfax County area at that time was necessarily crude. These indentures, though vigorous and having outstanding individuals among them, had the reputation of not being given to the amenities. Unfortunately, the men in well established areas south of the indentures did not have a realistic understanding either of the struggles and trials of these men who were pioneering the Indian infested areas farther north. This lack of understanding led to dissension and, in some instances, rebellion.

II. REBELLION

When the wealthy land-owners of the southern part of the colonized area started buying up land in lower Fairfax County for speculation, they did not buy out the title of the Doeg Indians, who occupied this area at that time. (The white man established no relations with the Doeg except to hold him off whenever possible). A series of murders were committed on the frontier by Doegs and in retaliation the colonists mistakenly killed Indians who were not Doegs. By 1675, through a series of hot-headed misunderstandings the Susquehannock Indians became involved and they struck whenever and wherever they could. Captain John Smith described the Susquehannocks as having booming voices, being seven feet tall and treading on the earth with much pride, contempt and disdain.

Although no records were kept at the time, we can assume that many homes were burned, women and children killed, etc. It is a known fact that thirty-six people were killed on the Rappahannock in one raid and that Indian retaliations of one nature or another caused the English settlements that had reached Hunting Creek to recede to Aquia, where they stayed for the next ten years.

Sir William Berkeley in order to help the frontiersmen, unwisely, and at great expense to the people, commanded a fort to be built at the mouth of each head river; e.g., one was built at Colchester on the Occoquan. These forts proved of no value, being made of mud and dirt. Other precarious forts were built in place of the mud ones. These proved useless too and the governor and gentry declined to do more.

Taking matters into their own hands, two hundred men (including men from the Fairfax County area) joined under the leadership of Nathaniel Bacon. They incited the Occannechi to massacre the Susquehannock. Then, having disposed of the worst enemy, they turned on the Occannechi and murdered them. The few Indians who survived stabbed at the colonists occasionally but gradually drifted into Pennsylvania taking the Doegs with them. The frontiersmen and governing gentry, however, still remained at odds and another cleavage began to appear. This one was centered around the men's livelihood—tobacco.

From the first, tobacco had been their staple product. It was Virginia's principal export crop. It was used as money. Salaries of ministers and civil officers were paid with it. Bounty for wolves and Indian scalps were offered in it and necessary equipment was bought with it.

However, due to English navigation laws forbidding the colonists to export to other countries, by 1682 England became over-supplied with tobacco and the planters soon began to feel the effect of this surplus. Growers began to go deeper and deeper into debt.

Major Robert Beverly and William Fitzhugh, young planter-lawyer from this area, concluded along with other prominent men that the solution lay in some type of crop control but England refused. She did not want to lose the two shillings tax on each hogshead of tobacco. She advised the colonists to wait until Thomas, Lord Culpeper, the titular governor of the colony returned to Virginia.

Lord Culpeper had received the titular grant to all of this area and a great deal more besides. He was happy in England, however, and not at all anxious to come to Virginia. He was 47 years old at the time and described as "able, lazy, unscrupulous".

While waiting for his return, the people became desperate. Taking hoes and farm tools, they roamed the countryside pulling up and cutting tobacco plants wherever they went. Some destroyed their own crops. The county militia was called out and plant cutting was brought under control but by this time 30,000 to 50,000 pounds of tobacco had been destroyed.

A few months later the people again became impatient and the government in Jamestown reacted by declaring the destruction of tobacco "open and actual rebellion". It promised a reward of 2000 lbs. of tobacco for information and promised to pardon the "squealer".

Finally, in December, Thomas, Lord Culpeper, departed from London and the arms of his mistress. He was briefed by the Privy Council before he left and as soon as he arrived in Virginia declared the offense to be treason. He had several planters executed as examples and granted amnesty to almost every plant cutter who would take the oath of loyalty to the king. There were approximately twenty men from this general area who took the oath.

In the meantime economic conditions improved for the colonists. The English began dumping their surplus tobacco upon the continent of Europe and the diminished colonial supply found a quick market.

As far as the Indian situation and forts were concerned, Lord Culpeper suggested that a small band of volunteer light horsemen be hired to range the woods of the heads of the rivers to protect the frontiersmen against surprise attack by the Indians. His suggestion was accepted by the Assembly and the "Rangers" were organized.

They were comprised of one lieutenant, eleven soldiers, and two Indians. They were supplied with horses and other necessities to range and scout the areas they served.

Lord Culpeper then proceeded to return to England where he was relieved as governor and his commission was turned over to Lord Howard of Effingham. It is rather ironic that neither Lord Culpeper nor Lord Fairfax, who inherited his estate and for whom the County and Town were named, cared particularly for Virginia. Lord Culpeper came under duress and returned as soon as possible to England. Lord Fairfax came, according to tradition, only after he had been disappointed in love in England and because his holdings demanded his attention. The people struggled on, however, and gradually the wealthy land owners began to move northward to occupy the tracts of land upon which their grandfathers had speculated.

III. THE GENTRY AND THE CONVICTS

George Mason II had moved to Pohick in 1690 but his home was considered such an outpost that runaway slaves were returned there by Indians. In 1746 the fourth George Mason moved to his property on Dogue Neck and built Gunston Hall in 1758. By 1734 Captain Augustine Washington moved his family to his plantation on Little Hunting Creek. His home was destroyed by fire and he moved back to the north bank of the Rappahannock in 1739. In the spring of 1741 William Fairfax built Belvoir. After his daughter married Lawrence Washington in 1743, the original part of Mt. Vernon was finished.

Along with the gentry's influx into the county, however, there was also the influx of convicts. Heretofore this land had, as stated, been occupied mostly by indentured slaves. When these indentures achieved their freedom and became land-holders in their own right, they found they too needed help for harvesting the fields. England, recognizing this need and being anxious to rid herself of an undesirable element, began to export convicts to America. Benjamin Franklin called this "the most cruel insult that perhaps was ever offered by one people to another".

Robert Carter, in his first term as proprietary agent, made numerous grants to the Irish and Hugenots and they took a substantial number of these convicts who were gin fiends, beggars, murderers and arsonists. These cheaper servants after serving seven years became parasitic wanderers, creating hotbeds of undisciplined passion wherever they went.

They received credit for burning many warehouses, private homes, public buildings, churches and finally the Capitol itself in Williamsburg. Arson became epidemic in the Northern Neck.

All legislative efforts to abort this infiltration by convicts were stopped by the "greedy planter" who loved the cheapness of this labor and the practice of importation survived the Revolution.

Consequently, this area was comprised of gentry, indentures, convicts and slaves. Yet the homes of the former two were similar in many ways. Their houses were made of wood; their roofs were made of oak shingles. The walls were made of clapboard sealed on the inside with mortar made of oyster shell lime which gave the room a look of antiquated whiteness. Some houses were constructed of bricks made by the colonists themselves. Most houses consisted of only two rooms and several closets on the ground floor with two prophets chambers above. They built separate houses for the kitchen, for Christian servants, for Negro slaves, and several for curing tobacco. Each household gave the appearance of a small village. There were no stables. Cattle and horses were allowed to run in the woods.

Merchandise was supplied by traveling salesmen from England who took their loaded ships from creek to creek.

Due to the fact that most people lived on widely separated plantations there were very few schools. Sometimes a house was erected on one of the old fields which had outlived its usefulness and there the children of the plantation owner along with those of relatives and neighbors would attend school under the supervision of a tutor hired by the main family. These were called "Old Field Schools". They were made of logs held together by wooden pins. The roof was shingled with hand-hewn wood shingles and a large field stone fireplace was used to heat the room. There were few books available and the tiresome methods of teaching were heavily interspersed with strict discipline. School began at eight o'clock in the morning and a recess was taken at eleven. It opened again at one o'clock and closed at four o'clock in the afternoon.

Public school systems did not make their appearance until 1857. As a rule, the parish halls of the various churches were used to house the students.

The children of the poor learned from their parents the art of working in the fields. The wealthier families sent their eldest son to England to be educated and other sons were educated at the College of William and Mary which had been established in 1693.

Recreation was found in the form of wrestling, playing with quarter staff, cock fighting, and pursuing wild horses. Beverly gives us a lively description of the latter: "There is yet another kind of sport which the young people take great delight in and that is the Hunting of wild Horses which they pursue sometimes with Dogs and sometimes without. You must know that they have many Horses foaled in the Woods of the Uplands that never were in hand and are as shy as any Savage creature. These having no mark upon them belong to him that first takes them. However, the Captor commonly purchases these Horses very dear by spoiling better in the pursuit; in which case he has little to make him amends beside the pleasure of the Chace. And very often this is all he has for it, for the Wild Horses are so swift that tis difficult to catch them; and when they are taken tis odds but their Grease is melted, or else being old, they are so sullen that they can't be tamed." (Due to the capture of tame horses roaming the woods, the sport of capturing wild horses was eventually outlawed.)

IV. THE PUSH INWARD

At this time the northern and central parts of the County were sparsely settled due to the large tracts of land held by a few. King Carter, of course, had assigned most of the land to himself during his second tenure as proprietary agent. However, there were large tracts owned by William Fitzhugh, William Moore, Cadwallader Jones and Lewis Saunders, Jr., which consumed most of the land in and near the Town of Fairfax. Since men could only "seat" themselves on this land, most of the indentures went over into the valley where they could work land that belonged to them. Thus the development of this territory was delayed for years.

However, when King Carter found what seemed to be substantial deposits of copper in the northern part of the county, he and his sons opened up a pre-existing Indian trail which came from Occoquan, past the future site of Payne's church, near the future site of Fairfax Court House, where it veered west and continued towards Chantilly. Ox Road made accessible the area now known as the Town of Fairfax; became a deciding factor in the future placement of the Court House that was to serve this area; and created the original western part of The Little River Turnpike.

AT A GENERAL ASSEMBLY BEGUN AND HELD AT THE CAPITOL IN THE CITY OF WILLIAMSBURG, THE SIXTH DAY OF MAY, IN THE FIFTEENTH YEAR OF THE REIGN OF OUR SOVEREIGN LORD GEORGE II, BY THE GRACE OF GOD OF GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE AND IRELAND, KING, DEFENDER OF THE FAITH &c., AND IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD, 1742: BEING THE FIRST SESSION OF THIS ASSEMBLY. CHAP. XXVII. AN ACT FOR DIVIDING THE COUNTY OF PRINCE WILLIAM.

FOR the greater ease and convenience of the inhabitants of the county of Prince William, in attending courts, and other public meetings, Be it enacted by the Lieutenant Governor, Council and Burgesses, of this present General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the Authority of the same. That from and immediately after the first day of December now next ensuing, the said county of Prince William shall be divided into two counties: That is to say, all that part thereof, lying on the south side of Occoquan and Bull Run; and from the head of the main branch of Bull Run, by a straight course to the Thorough-fare of the Blue Ridge of mountains, known by the name of Ashby's Gap, or Bent, shall be one distinct county, and retain the name of Prince William county: And be one distinct parish, and retain the name of Hamilton parish. And all that other part thereof, consisting of the parish of Truro, shall be one other distinct county, and called and known by the name of Fairfax county.... And a court for the said county of Fairfax, be constantly held by the justices of that county, upon the third Thursday in every month, in such manner, as by the laws of this colony is provided, and shall lie by their commissions directed.

As people followed this road inward to seat land, a new parish was set up which was named "Truro" by King Carter. He expected the parish to be a mining district and named it after a borough of Cornwall, England, which was a shipping port for tin and copper ore.

Truro tried to provide meeting places for all and called upon a man by the name of Samuel Littlejohn, who seated land south of the future site of the Town of Fairfax, for help in supplying a place to worship for this particular area. Mr. Littlejohn complied by renting his tobacco barn for regular services.

He received 1000 lbs. of tobacco a year for its rent. The barn was fitted with six benches which ran the length of the house and two benches which stood at each end of the building. A Communion table and a reading desk with a small window on each side of the desk concluded the specified alterations. This was in 1765. The exact location of this barn has not been identified but it seems likely that it was in the vicinity of Edward Payne's home on middle ridge near the Ox road, where Payne's church was built in 1766. (The Virginia Army National Guard Nike Site is now located on part of Payne's land.)

At a meeting on February 3rd and 4th, 1766, the vestry resolved that a new church be built on the middle ridge near Ox Road ... on the land "supposed to belong" to Mr. Thomazen Ellzey, young planter-lawyer, "who being present consents to the same". (Mr. Ellzey owned a large tract of land including the Magner tract of which "Brecon Ridge" is now a part. According to local tradition, he gave the "glebe" land which consisted of 40 acres for the minister who was allowed to collect as salary whatever he could grow on the "glebe".) Vestrymen present these two days were "Mr. Edward Payne, Colo. George Washington, Capt. Daniel McCarty, Colo. George William Fairfax, Mr. Alexander Henderson, Mr. William Gardner, Thomas Withers Coffer, William Linton and Thomas Ford."

Edward Payne was to undertake to build the church for 579 lbs. of Virginia currency agreeable to a plan and articles drawn up by a Mr. John Ayres who was to be paid 40 shillings for his plan and estimates. These plans were to be modeled after the Falls Church.

Hearsay relates that "Edward Payne, vestryman and builder of the church, and Col. George Washington had an argument concerning the location of the church. A fist fight insued and Mr. Payne, who was a tall man but not as tall as Col. Washington, knocked Col. Washington down—it being the first and only time Washington was ever knocked down". The church was located according to Mr. Payne's judgment and records show it was accepted on September 9, 1768, as agreeably built according to plan, with the exception of the brick pediments over the door which were to be corrected by Mr. Payne.

The church was used for services until the time of the Revolution after which it was used only occasionally. Early in the last century the Baptists took possession of it as abandoned property, with the Court's permission, and upon the division of that denomination in 1840 the Jerusalem Baptist Church (new school) was organized in the building and continued to use it until 1862.

TRURO EPISCOPAL CHURCH

Photo by Ollie Atkins

At that time Federal troops camped in the vicinity tore the church down brick by brick and used the material to build chimneys and hearths for their winter quarters. A small frame Baptist church now covers part of the original foundation of Payne's church. A model of the original Payne's Church can be found in the design and construction of the present chapel at Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax.

During the development of the parish and its move northward and inward, the Court in 1752 ordered Lewis Ellzey, Hugh West Jr., James Hamilton, James Halley and others to view and mark a road to be cleared for the most convenient way from Alexandria to Rocky Run Chappell.

This road is now locally known as the old Braddock Road, named after General Braddock who presumably traversed it on his way to Ft. Duquesne. Although historians disagree on the authenticity of this route being taken by Braddock, around the road has grown a legend of "buried treasure".

The story goes that the road was impassable and the weather extremely inclement when Braddock and his men used it. They had to cut down trees and other growth to clear their way. Added to this was the fact that they were carrying a chest of gold coins, with which to pay the men. They had two cannons, which were proving extremely burdensome, and were constantly becoming bogged down in the mud.

Finally, having lost so much time due to the condition of the road and the heaviness of his cannons and gold, Braddock decided to lighten his load. Taking the gold coins, he stuffed the nozzles of both cannons with the coins and then buried the cannons near a spring on the road near Centreville. The story continues that the spring has since dried up and although many people, including the British, have searched for years for the "buried treasure", it has never been found.

Near the intersection of Ox Road and Braddock Road was a tract of land (the future site of George Mason College, the northern Virginia branch of the University of Virginia) which was owned by the Farr family. The large home on this tract of land was burned by Union forces during the Civil War in retaliation for a very brave act by the young fourteen year old Farr boy.

This young boy, knowing that Union troops were located at Fairfax Station waiting to attack the Court House, built a road block of logs across the Ox Road over which these troops had to pass. Hiding himself in the underbrush nearby, he fired so heroically upon the enemy troops, as they approached, that they assumed there was a large group of Confederates waiting for them and withdrew to Fairfax Station. When they learned of the hoax, they returned and burned the Farr home to the ground.

V. THE TOWN

Historically, the most important house in the town of Fairfax is the Ratcliffe-Logan-Allison House at 10386 Main Street. This little brick house was built in 1805 when the town was founded and the original half meets the specifications of the 1805 Virginia State Legislature. It is sixteen feet square, has a brick chimney, and is "fit for habitation." The Ratcliffe-Logan-Allison House is considered to be in "pristine" form and unchanged from its original condition except for an 1830 addition which is believed to have been built by the same brick mason.[1]

[1] The Richard-Ratcliffe-Allison House is listed on the Virginia Historic Landmarks Register and on the National Register of Historical Places. It belongs to the City of Fairfax and is an integral part of the founding of the town.

The little brick house was the first structure completed when Richard Ratcliffe established his town named Providence (now Fairfax). Henry Logan bought the house and later sold it to Gordon and Robert Allison. They added a large parlor and bedroom to the house and built a stable in the backyard to take care of the horses of their paying guests and possibly those of the Alexandria-Winchester Stage Coach Line.

THE RATCLIFFE-LOGAN-ALLISON HOUSE

Photo by Ollie Atkins

Richard Ratcliffe's tavern at the northwest corner of the intersection of Chain Bridge Road and The Little River Turnpike was one of the larger houses in Fairfax. Caleb Earp operated a store in the basement of this tavern and the crossroads was known as "Earp's Corner" when George Mason recommended in 1789 that the court house be located at this juncture.

The tavern was extended westward by a Capt. Rizin Willcoxon and subsequently bought by the Allisons. An 1837 inventory shows there was a store, a cellar, a granary, a bar, kitchen, parlour, dining room, tailor's shop, sky parlour, and at least twelve bedrooms in the tavern.

Capt. Willcoxon, who was a relative and friend of Richard Ratcliffe, built the addition to the tavern out of bricks kilned by slaves. The foundation of the Willcoxon home on Route 237 was also built of bricks from the same kiln. This home was named "Blenheim." The name of Union soldiers who occupied the house during the Civil War can be found etched on the walls of its attic.

Although "Blenheim" is still standing today, the Ratcliffe tavern was torn down in the 1920's and the bricks and mantels were purchased by Col. Francis Pickens Miller who incorporated them into the large brick building which is now known as Flint Hill Private School.

RICHARD RATCLIFFE TAVERN

Progress began to embrace Fairfax in the 1900's but before the 1800's there was only a tavern, a store, a tannery, and several private homes located at "Earp's Corner."

Still standing today are the Truro Episcopal Church rectory, which was built as a home by Thomas Love and later sold to Dr. William Gunnell, the Ford Building and the Oliver Building, both of which were built by members of the Gunnell family.

These homes were representative of the times. Georgian architecture had begun to spread up and down the coast. Plaster and paneling had begun to replace lime walls. Beautifully carved mantels and staircases had made their appearance. Mahogany furniture upholstered in satin or brocade had replaced crudely constructed pieces. Portrait painters roamed the country. Tutors moved in to educate the children of the wealthy. Life was much safer and almost as conventional as country life in England.

VI. THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

While the rich progressed from rough shacks to Georgian homes, there was no such advance for the poor. There was not even any improvement in agricultural implements and the poor were finding it more and more difficult to compete with the large landholders and their scores of slaves.

They resented the tight band held over them by the mother country, who, they felt, neither understood their problems nor how to cope with them, as well as they did (e.g., the impractical way the English tried to fight the Indians during the French-Indian war).

Added to this was the constant pressure from the mother country for more money to exploit her domain, felt in the enforcement of the "Sugar Act", "Stamp Act", "Tea Act", and "Boston Port Act".

The smoldering embers of hate began to flare in the hearts of the radicals. The gentry hoped to keep the radicals under control for they felt the Virginia colony had less cause to fight than the other colonies. The colony of which they were a part was "the most populous, prosperous and important one of the thirteen." They had not felt the sting of taxes like their northern mercantile brothers nor the sting of poverty like their less fortunate southern brothers.

For example, when the "Stamp Act" was being considered. Richard Henry Lee applied for the position of stamp distributor. When a fight developed in the House concerning the "Stamp Act", Peyton Randolph, Edmund Pendleton, Richard Bland and George Wythe opposed Patrick Henry's resolutions bitterly.

The gentry in Fairfax seemed to be the exception for George Johnston, a prominent lawyer living between Alexandria and Mt. Vernon, backed Patrick Henry in his protest. George Mason wrote the Non-importation Resolutions in 1769, his Fairfax Resolves in 1774 and his famous Bill of Rights in 1776. George Washington, Fairfax planter, was, of course, Commander in Chief of the Continental Army and brought the country through to victory under the most difficult circumstances.

Large numbers of able-bodied citizens in the County served under Washington in the Revolution. An artillery company was formed out of the two militia companies in Fairfax and two later drafts took eighty-two more men. There were a few English sympathizers like the Fairfax family who did not take part but almost every influential family in the County fought on the side of Independence.

During this time Patrick Henry served as Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and in this capacity, appointed a Sheriff to serve the County of Fairfax. One of the most interesting documents in view at the Fairfax County Clerk's Office is the original of this command signed by P. Henry.

The County itself was touched by battle on two occasions: (1) The Continental Army under General Lafayette crossed the Potomac near Chain Bridge and (2) Rochambeau's Army of French allies came up through the County over the old King's Highway to Alexandria, where French transports awaited them.

The country prospered after the war but economic levels changed. The new rich who had prospered by government contracts during the war took the place of men who had lost their business along the coast line and of men whose homes had been ramshackled by English troops. Currency fell and prices rose. The farmer, who had by now turned to wheat instead of tobacco for his livelihood, was receiving high prices and seemed to be getting rich. However, his labor supply was extremely limited and he found it difficult to raise enough crops to supply his own needs. What labor he could find demanded extremely high wages and the products which the farmer needed came at extremely costly prices. In spite of difficulties, however, the farmer saw the need for a good road to Alexandria, where he could export his wheat. Thus the farmers of Fairfax, Alexandria, and Loudoun Counties joined together to build The Little River Turnpike, which was one of the first improved roads in the United States. This road was completed in 1806 and as stated before, tolls were collected for it at Earp's Ordinary. Another strong factor in the completion of this road was the establishment of the County Court House at the present site in the Town of Fairfax.

VII. THE COURT HOUSE

In 1618 Gov. Yeardley established the prototype of the county court by an order stating that "county courts be held in convenient places, to sit monthly, and to hear civil and criminal cases." It determined rates of local taxation, registered legal documents, licensed inns and exercised control over their prices, directed the building and repair of roads, and rendered judgments in both civil and criminal cases.

While Fairfax County was still a part of the colony, the first sessions of Court were probably held in Colchester, a thriving seaport town where large quantities of tobacco were exported. Charles Broadwater, John Carlyle, Henry Gunnell, Lord Thomas Fairfax, George Mason, and George Washington were among the Gentlemen Justices during the period of 1742 to 1776.

The first entry of the Court's minutes were made in 1742 at a session held in Colchester. This was an order removing the county records from Colchester to the new court house two miles north of Vienna. This court house, where the Fairfax Resolves were written, was called "Freedom Hill". Ambiguously, a gallows was constructed here and death sentences were carried out promptly. The court house remained at Freedom Hill for ten years when it was moved to Alexandria.

There are many theories concerning the move to Alexandria: Roads were poor and slow; there was still Indian hostility—the treaty of Fontainebleau did not come until 1762; there was pressure from the more influential citizens of Alexandria to move it to that city.

At any rate, the Court was moved to Alexandria in 1752 and there it remained until 1799. The gallows remained at Freedom Hill. When a death sentence was passed, the prisoner was taken out The Little River Turnpike from Alexandria to Annandale, thence along "Court House Road" to the gallows. Eventually the name "Court House Road" was changed to "Gallows Road", which name a portion of the road bears today.

During the forty-seven years court was held in Alexandria, the building fell into such disrepair that it finally became an unfit place in which to hold business, thereby speeding the acceptance of a proposal by George Mason and other influential residents that the Court be moved to Fairfax.

At that time there lived in Fairfax a man by the name of Richard Ratcliffe who held large tracts of land in this area. His holdings began at the Ravensworth line and swept over and through all the area that the Town of Fairfax now occupies, traveling on into what is now Loudoun County.

When plans became final to move the Court House from Alexandria to Fairfax, Richard Ratcliffe sold to Charles Little, David Stuart, William Payne, James Wren and George Minor, for one dollar, four acres of land "to erect thereupon an house, for holding the Pleas of the said County of Fairfax, a clerks office for the safe keeping of the records and papers of the said County, a Goal and all and every other building and machine necessary for the Justices of the Peace for the said County from time to time to erect for the purpose of holding the pleas of the said County, preserving the Records and publick papers, securing and safe keeping of prisoners and reserving good order and the publick peace but for no other use or purpose whatever and also the undisturbed use of and privilege of all the springs upon the lands of Him the said Richard Ratcliffe ...", dated June 27, 1799.

Records show that a Richard Ratcliffe came to this country from England in 1637 along with John Bristoe, Robert Turner, Henry Warren, Thomas Clarke and Robert Throckmorton—Lord of the Manor of Ellington. It is assumed that the descendants of Ratcliffe and Throckmorton worked their way into the vicinity of the future town of Fairfax for their names appear often in the records and newspaper clippings.

The Richard Ratcliffe who gave the land for the court house came here from Maryland. He was the son of John Ratcliffe of "Poynton" and "Doyne" Manors, Port Tobacco, Charles County, Maryland.

He married Lucian Bolling who was from one of the families who had moved into this area from the Jamestown Colony. Her father was Girard Bolling who was one of 18 children and descended from Thomas Rolfe.

Mr. Bolling was a planter and merchant who owned a store in Fairfax. Ratcliffe became associated with his father-in-law in the mercantile business and took over the business after Mr. Bolling died. In Ratcliffe's will he left "the brick store and land lot to his sons for the purpose of keeping store in or on if necessary".

He and his wife had five daughters and four sons. Penelope married Spencer Jackson. Nancy married Stephen Daniel. Jane married Thomas Moss, a future clerk of the court. Patsy married Richard Coleman. Lucian married George Gunnell. His sons were Robert, who was Deputy Sheriff in 1801, Charles, John and Samuel. Two of his sons were evidently a disappointment to him for in his will he speaks of Samuel "having conducted himself badly for several years past" his debts were to be paid by the executors, who were Robert and Charles Ratcliffe, Thomas Moss, Gordon Allison and Roger M. Farr. He also stated that two of his sons had received more than his daughters but he hoped his sons would do better and his daughters would understand.

The Ratcliffe home place, "Mt. Vineyard" will be recalled by older citizens in the town as the Rumsey place, which burned years ago. The family graveyard still exists today. It is located on Moore Street.

Besides owning a great deal of land and a mercantile business, Mr. Ratcliffe owned a race track on the east side of town. Its approximate location was east of Route 237, north of The Little River Turnpike and west of Fairview Subdivision. His personal property was valued at $4445.34. In his will the slaves were divided among his wife and children. Some of the slaves were valued as high as $600 each, while others were valued at a dollar.

In 1836, when Mr. Ratcliffe died and the town had to be surveyed in order for his estate to be divided, John Halley, the surveyor writes: "In laying off I commenced at the northwest corner of Rizin Willcoxon's Tavern House, Robert Ratcliffe having represented that that house was considered when built as being exactly on the corner of the lot on which it stands, and the side and gable ends of said house ranged with the streets. I have therefore taken the ...... of said house as a guide". The tavern was valued at $4000.00 at that time.

Robert Ratcliffe had evidently used the northwest corner of the tavern when in 1805 he laid off the town when An Act of the Assembly established a "Town at Fairfax Court House on the Land of Richard Ratcliffe by the name of Providence".

FAIRFAX COURT HOUSE

Photo by Ollie Atkins

Meanwhile, a red brick building had been erected for the court house. It had a gabled roof, an arcaded loggia and a cupola. In the cupola hung a very fine bell which had been imported from England. This bell rang to remind the citizens of church time, court, town meetings, etc.

The inside of the court house was beautifully paneled with walnut wainscoating and behind the Justice's chair the wall was paneled from floor to ceiling. There was a gallery for slaves and rows of hand carved wooden pews for freemen.

On the outside was a place for tying horses in the yard and nearby stood a well with the traditional "old oaken bucket". The inscription on the bucket read, "He who drinks therefrom will return to drink again!"

Among the first Justices of the Peace to serve in the new Court House after April of 1800 were James Coleman, David Stuart, Charles Little, William Stanhope, Richard Bland Lee, Robert F. Hooe, William Payne, Richard Ratcliffe, William Deneale, Humphrey Peake, Richard W. Poeh, Hancock Lee, William Gunnell, Richard M. Scott, Francy Adams, James Wiley, Augustine I. Smith, and James Waugh. These men formed a committee that took turns serving as Justices of the Peace. They were known as Gentlemen Justices and were appointed and commissioned by the governor until 1851.

In 1843 an agricultural journal was published at the Fairfax County seat. It was called the "Farmer's Intelligencer" and was edited and published by J. D. Hitt. The first issue which appeared on October 21, 1843, showed agitation for a revision of the Virginia constitution in advocating a more economical and simplified court procedure. It may or may not have been indicative of general feelings at the time, but from 1851 until 1870 Justices were elected by the voters of the County. Among these were Silas Burke, John B. Hunter, James Hunter, W. W. Ellzey, Minnan Burke, Ira Williams, M. R. Selecman, William W. Ball, John Millan, Nelson Conrad, T. M. Ford, David Fitzhugh, S. T. Stuart and Elcon Jones.

From 1870 to 1902 the County Court was presided over by a single judge elected by the state's legislature. During that time Thomas E. Carper, Richard Coleman, J. R. Taylor, J. F. Mayhugh and John D. Cross were among those who served. Governor Yeardley's order was abolished in 1902 by a constitutional convention and by 1904 the circuit courts took over the former work of the county courts. Their decline was brought about because they had become the symbol of opposition to a centralized government. Thomas Jefferson said, "the justices of the inferior courts are self-chosen, are for life, and perpetuate their own body in succession forever, so that a faction once possessing themselves of the bench of a county, can never be broken up...."

John Marshall said "there is no part of America where less disquiet and less ill feeling between man and man is to be found than in this commonwealth, and I believe most firmly that this state of things is mainly to be ascribed to the practical operation of our county courts".

William Moss served as Clerk of the Court from 1801 to 1833. From 1833 until 1887 F. D. Richardson, Thomas Moss, Alfred Moss, S. M. Ball, H. T. Brooks, W. B. Gooding, William M. Fitzhugh, D. F. Dulaney, and F. W. Richardson served as Clerks. F. D. Richardson who was born in 1800 and entered the Clerk's Office under William Moss in 1826 was either Clerk, Deputy Clerk or Assistant Clerk to the date of his death on October 13, 1880, a period of 50 years. His son, F. W. Richardson, born Dec. 16, 1853, went into the Clerk's Office when he was 18 years old (1871) and served as Deputy and Assistant Clerk until the death of his father in 1880, when he was elected Clerk of the County and Circuit Courts.

It is said that Ripley wrote in "Believe It or Not" that "'Uncle Tude' (F. W. Richardson) and his father had been Clerks of the Fairfax Courts continuously for one hundred and five years".

VIII. DEVELOPMENT OF THE TOWN

As the court house drew men to this area and the population increased, a school for girls was established on the property west of Truro Episcopal Church. Known as Coomb's Cottage, it was a finishing school for young girls and boasted a roster of approximately one hundred young ladies from both the north and the south.

The school was built and established by Dr. and Mrs. Baker, who were English. In addition to the main house (a white frame building west of the church), there were a number of other buildings. Two of these are located across Route 236 from the Church and are still standing today. One is a professional building, the other a private home. They were moved to their present location by Judge Love when he bought the original school property. (The school closed down during the Civil War and was never re-opened).

The present Truro Episcopal Rectory had been built as a home by Judge Love's father, Thomas R. Love, who later sold it to Dr. William Gunnell and built his home in the large grove of trees on the Layton Hall property, near the site of the present town hall. "Dunleith", as the large brick home was called, was destroyed by Union forces and replaced by an ordinary frame house after the war.

The Cooper Carriage house was built during this time by a Mr. Cooper who had come to Fairfax from the North. Mr. Cooper was a highly respected citizen and a very gallant Confederate soldier. He was wounded seven times. Cooper Carriage House is located east of the professional building which was a part of Coomb's Cottage.

Another house built before the Civil War was the home of Judge Henry W. Thomas which stood on the site now occupied by the large, pillared, grey stucco house belonging to Mrs. John Barbour. This house served as headquarters for the Union officers and afterwards as a hospital.

The old cedar posts on the porch of the frame part of this house were the original posts that held the gallery in the old court house. When some remodeling of the court house was done, Judge Thomas bought the posts. They were later removed to a white frame house which served as a tenement house for the Barbour estate. This house is still standing today and the porch roof is sustained by tapering posts, which are more delicate and slender than ones usually found on outside porches.

Also built during this era was the D'Astre place, which is the present home of Mr. A. B. McClure. This home was owned by a Frenchman who had the reputation for making wonderful wines. The vineyard of Niagaras, Delawares, Concords bear out the tribute. The runway from the cellar to the highway where the barrels were loaded is evidenced today by a road leading to a log house near the grape arbors. The tenement house, now owned by Mrs. Douglas Murray, boasts a concealed attic room, hidden behind a closet. Here Confederate soldiers picked off the Union troops as they marched past. The house was raided many times by Union troops but still managed to keep its secret.

Beyond the D'Astre place was the home of Charles Broadwater, which has recently been torn down for widening of The Little River Turnpike. When torn down, the well house revealed numerous musket balls from the war. The house itself was a study in architectural beaming. Each wall header was constructed of large hand-hewn oak timbers. Each timber had hand-hewn slots which received studs secured by wooden pegs.

The large colonial brick house at the corner of Sager Avenue and University Drive was possibly built during this era too. The land had been part of the Ratcliffe division, designated as Lot 26, and had passed from the Moss family to the Jackson family. Later, a Mr. Harry Fitzhugh, who taught school here, bought it and eventually sold it to Mr. F. W. Richardson.

The Draper house at the corner of Main and Route 237 was built in 1827 by Dr. S. Draper who occupied it until 1842, at which time a Mr. William Chapman bought it. The wide upstairs portico and two immense chimneys at each end of the brick house were characteristic of the houses built at that time.

The large white frame house belonging now to Mrs. Fairfax Shield McCandlish, Sr., and being located across from the Fairfax Post Office was built before 1839 and was owned and occupied by the Conrad family. They called it "Rose Bower". A son, Thomas Nelson Conrad, served as a Captain in the Confederate Army and at one time as a Rebel Scout. In 1859 it was bought by a Mr. Thomas Murray who later rented it to a lawyer by the name of Thomas Moore. Mr. Moore had married one of the young ladies who attended Coomb's Cottage—a Miss Hannah Morris from Oswego County, New York. Mr. Moore was to have the distinction of carrying the court records to Warrenton, when the war clouds gathered around Fairfax.

By 1843 Zion Church was founded under the leadership of the Reverend Richard Templeton Brown. He writes: "On the 8th of February last we had the pleasure of a new congregation at this very destitute place and prompt measures were adopted for the immediate erection of a plain and substantial church. The edifice has been commenced, and, if not entirely finished, will be used during the present year. Some of the most influential citizens of the place and neighborhood are interested in the work; the ladies also are zealously engaged; and we trust that, by the blessing of God, the Church at this place will exert a wide and purifying influence."

At that time there were five communicants and twelve families regularly connected with the church. Services were first held at the court house, but when for some reason it was forbidden, Mrs. Daniel Rumsey of "Mount Vineyard"; a Baptist lady, saying that she "could not see the Ark of the Lord refused shelter", offered her parlor in which the congregation met until the church was completed. She was the mother of Mr. William T. Rumsey, who gave the lot for the church and was one of its first vestrymen.

The church was completed and consecrated by Right Rev. William Meade, D. D. on June 28th, 1845, under the name of Zion Church.

In 1861, when Fairfax became involved in war, the church became a storehouse for munitions. It soon thereafter rapidly deteriorated and was finally torn down by Union soldiers to provide material for their winter quarters on a neighboring hillside.

In the meantime, the Methodists, it is thought, probably organized in this vicinity around 1800. The Rev. Melvin Steadman thinks they may have worshipped at Payne's church for a while or possibly at the Moss family's home. The first structure built by them, according to local tradition, was a log cabin which was built around 1822. By 1843 a more elaborate frame building had been built on land given by a Mr. Bleeker Canfield. Records show that the membership of the Fairfax Circuit fluctuated between a high of 604 in 1819 to a low of 332 in 1839. The black proportion usually made up a third of the total, sometimes more.

Around 1850 the church members found their sympathies divided and two churches were formed—a southern congregation and a northern congregation. The latter worshipped in a structure near the intersection of Routes 236 and 237 known as Ryland Chapel. This congregation existed until the 1890's.

The Southern church is first recorded in 1850 with 93 members. It reached a peak of 212 in 1852, dropped in 1854 and fluctuated around 125 until the war.

In 1846 the era of rail-roading began. Nurtured by Virginia State legislation, the Manassas Gap railroad was chartered in 1849. It was to run through the Town of Fairfax as shown by the plat below. Deep embankments where the railroad bed was laid can still be sighted today—one particular spot in the town lies east of the old Farr cottage (now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Dennis) on Route 237. These trenches served as embankments for various battles in this area but other than that have seen no service due to destruction by both sides during the Civil War.

Forerunner of the fabulous county fairs which were held for years at the county seat was the first fair held on October 16th and 17th, 1852, at the court house. It was sponsored by the Fairfax Agricultural Society. The officers of this organization were Richard M. C. Throckmorton, President; H. C. Williams, First Vice-President; W. W. Ball, Second Vice-President; Levi Burke, Third Vice-President; S. T. Stuart, Corresponding Secretary and F. D. Richardson, Recording Secretary and Treasurer.

Among the exhibitors who were awarded prizes were William Swink, Ruben Kelsey, Dr. W. P. Gunnell, Charles Kirby, Charles Sutton, James P. Machen, R. M. C. Throckmorton, Mrs. W. T. Rumsey, Mrs. E. V. Richardson, Mrs. Mildred Ratcliffe. Mr. Joseph Williams of "Ash Grove" exhibited corn of "enormous dimensions". The stalks measured 16 ft. 9 inches and the distance to the first ear was twelve feet six inches and to the second ear thirteen feet one inch.

It was also the custom at this time to send out notices of funerals. A typical notice was published in a local newspaper as follows:

"Yourself and family are respectfully invited to attend the Funeral of John R. Richardson from the Presbyterian Church to the Public Cemetery, this afternoon at 3:00 o'clock. Funeral services by Rev. John Leighton.

Palmyra, Friday, June 8, 1855"

By 1859 Providence had taken the name of "Fairfax" when Culpeper abandoned it, and being located in a border county was destined to be the scene of the very first skirmish of the Civil War.

Preceding this skirmish, the citizens of the Town of Fairfax had debated and appraised the act of seceding from the Union. When on April 17, 1861, the convention in Richmond adopted "The Ordinance of Secession" to repeal the ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America by the State of Virginia, and to resume all the rights and powers granted under said Constitution, the people in Fairfax came forth to vote.

In those days votes were taken orally and penned by the Clerk of the Court. One page of the voting on secession is still filed among the records of the Clerk of the Court of Fairfax County.

The picture below shows 21 out of 22 people in Fairfax voting in favor of secession. The one dissenter, (on this particular page), Henry T. Brooks, was later appointed Military Clerk of the Court of the County of Fairfax, when Union forces took over the Town.

IX. THE CIVIL WAR IN FAIRFAX

Among the representatives in Richmond in February of 1861 when Virginia was debating secession from the Union was a young man (35 yrs. old) by the name of John Quincy Marr.

He was a graduate and former professor of Virginia Military Institute. A tall, strong man with black hair and dark eyes, he was an affable, witty and popular lawyer.

While the convention at Richmond still hesitated, Marr returned home to Warrenton to raise a company of infantry, known as the "Warrenton Rifles", who were being made ready to uphold the secession.

Late in May in 1861 the "Warrenton Rifles", after having been to Dumfries, Fauquier Springs, Bristow Station and Centreville, found themselves bivouacked in the Methodist Church building (Duncan's Chapel) at Fairfax.

The village was under the command of Lt. Col. Richard S. Ewell, a veteran recently resigned from the United States Army, whose conversation was said to be so full of profanity "that an auditor declared it could be parsed". He had two mounted companies (one from Rappahannock County and one from Prince William County) who had "very few fire-arms and no ammunition".

Although Colonel Ewell was absent scouting on the day of May 31st, 1861, William (Extra Billy) Smith, who was a neighbor and good friend of Marr, arrived at Fairfax around supper time that evening. After chatting with Marr for a while, he retired to the Joshua Gunnell house (the Oliver Building) which was diagonally across from the Chapel.

In the meantime, Lt. Charles H. Tompkins, Co. B, 2nd U. S. Cavalry was riding with eighty men towards Fairfax Court House to reconnoiter the country in the vicinity of the court house.

Tompkins was an Indian type fighter and he made no attempt to seize the pickets who might warn Marr and his men. Instead, he and his men rode wildly up and shot at them. One guard rushing into the chapel shouted, "The enemy's cavalry are approaching". Marr hurried his men into the surrounding clover fields where they fell in rank.

Governor Smith, hearing all the racket, jumped out of bed and ran to join his friend, Marr. In his haste he left his coat behind and, it is rumored, even his shoes, which were placed outside the bedroom door to be polished by the old negro servant before morning.

Upon arriving at the clover field, he looked around for Marr but not finding him, asked one of his men, "Where is your captain?"

"We don't know, Sir," was the reply. Marr had disappeared and his men were in a state of confusion.

"Boys, you know me. Follow me!" urged the 63 year old governor.

Halfway to the courthouse more confusion arose when one of the young Riflemen challenged Col. Ewell, who, having returned to Fairfax, had been struck in the shoulder and was bare headed, bald and bleeding. "Extra Billy", coming to the rescue, introduced Col. Ewell, "Men, this is Lt. Col. Ewell, your commanding officer, a gallant soldier in whom you may place every confidence."

The half-company followed Ewell up to Main Street. Then turning the company over to Smith again, Ewell left to send a messenger for reinforcements from Fairfax Station.

"Extra Billy" assumed Tompkins and his men would return by the same way they had gone. He positioned the remains of the Riflemen around fence posts in front of Cooper's Carriage Shop.

At 3:30 A.M. they heard sounds of Tompkins and his men returning. When Tompkins reached almost to the carriage shop, "Extra Billy" and his men "let loose", causing Tompkins' men to "run off ingloriously, pulling down fences and making their escape through fields" while leaving the ground strewn with "carbines, pistols, sabers, etc."

Tompkins wrote that he ascertained at least 1000 of the enemy were in Fairfax, perceived that he was "largely outnumbered" and departed "in good order", having killed at least twenty-five "rebels".

Actually only Ewell and one private were injured. Col. Ewell was taken to "the brick tenement" to have his wound treated and in the confusion lost his shoulder epaulet. It was found there later and due to the importance and historical implication of this incident that it represented, the epaulet was cherished by people of the town for many years. It is now in the hands of the Clerk of the Court and Mrs. Thomas P. Chapman, the latter being a descendant of Col. Ewell.

Only one man was killed and that was Marr. He had been shot by a random bullet at the outset of the fracas. Jack, a colored servant of the Moore family, found him later in the morning, face down in the clover field, gripping his sword in his right hand. The "random, spent bullet" had probably been fired as far as three hundred yards away. Directly over Marr's heart was "a perfect circular suffusion of blood under the skin, something larger than a silver dollar, but the skin was unbroken, and not a drop of blood was shed". The shock of impact had stopped his heart.

Thus it was that the first Confederate officer, to be killed in action with the enemy, lost his life in the Town of Fairfax.

On June 8th, 1861, Company B, 2nd United States Cavalry went out on a scouting expedition. They entered the village of Fairfax where they had a skirmish with the units in this vicinity. When the company returned to camp, they realized that two of their members had been captured. Soon they discovered that these two were to be hanged the next morning. They mounted their horses, rode down to Fairfax, found where the two men were imprisoned and rescued them. The picture above is from the Pictorial War Record.

BRILLIANT EXPLOIT OF COMPANY B, SECOND CAVALRY, IN THE RESCUE OF TWO OF THEIR COMRADES, WHO WERE TO BE HUNG BY THE CONFEDERATES AT FAIRFAX, VA.

In July of 1861 Fairfax housed a detachment of Confederates who had been sent out to delay the Yankees who were on their way to seize the Manassas Railroad Junction. This junction connected with another line leading to a point near Richmond (the ultimate Yankee goal). Unfortunately, when the Unionists under Hunter entered Fairfax, the Confederate units fled, leaving large quantities of forage and camp equipment behind. Hunter paraded his men, four abreast, with fixed bayonets, through the streets of Fairfax. He even had the band play the national anthem and other patriotic songs as the men marched along. From here, they proceeded towards Manassas.

Everyone knows of the inglorious retreat of the Unionists from their encounter with the Confederates at the first battle of Manassas. Most people know, too, that spectators had followed the Union troops out from Washington to watch the battle—that they were dressed in fancy clothes and riding in everything from wagons to fine horse-drawn carriages, expecting to applaud an easy Union victory. What the spectators saw, however, was quite different from their expectations.

A combined attack by Confederate forces around 3:45 in the afternoon overwhelmed the Unionists, who fell back and retired. As they were retreating in orderly fashion, Kemper's battery reached an advantageous position on a rise of land and let go with its guns. The first shot hit a suspension bridge and upset a wagon, which, in its unwieldy position, served as a barricade for other vehicles. Other shots followed the first one and soldiers and spectators alike were seized with panic. Horses ran away, carriages overturned, women screamed and fainted, soldiers and spectators ran for their lives. It was every man for himself. "The roar of their flight was like the rush of a great river". Many of these people made their escape back through the Town of Fairfax, much to the amusement of citizens who had viewed Hunter's parade a few days before.

In the First Battle of Manassas the Confederate forces had trouble distinguishing their flag, the "Stars and Bars", from the Federal "Stars and Stripes". When the Confederate flag had been decided upon in Alabama in March of 1861, the people had voted to keep the red, white and blue colors and the blue canton. They had voted to use three (instead of thirteen) alternating stripes of red and white and to use stars to represent the states. This resulted in a flag so similar in appearance to the Union flag that Confederate forces, becoming confused, fired upon their own men.

General Beauregard stating that he "never wished to see the 'Stars and Bars' on another battlefield" designed a Battle Flag which consisted of a St. Andrew's Cross in blue with a white border along the sides, mounted on a field of red. Thirteen five pointed stars were placed on the blue stripes.

Flags of Gen. Beauregard's design were made by three Miss Carys (Constance, Hetty and Jennie) of this area and sent to Gen. Johnston, Gen. Beauregard and Gen. Van Dorn in October. The flags were accepted by these officers before massed troops of the Army in a ceremony at the fort on "Artillery Hill" in Centreville.

In December, a spectacular military display was held at Yorkshire, when Gen. Beauregard presented Battle Flags to various regiments of the Confederate Army.

On this occasion a new song, "My Maryland", by J. R. Randall, was played by the band. However, one of the first renditions of "My Maryland" had been given in Fairfax in September of 1861, by Miss Constance Cary and others, when they sang to soldiers of the "Maryland line".

On October 1, 1861, President Jefferson Davis with General Joseph E. Johnston, Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard and General Gustavus W. Smith met at the Willcoxon Tavern to confer regarding the success of the First Battle of Manassas. They decided that the Confederates were in no condition to take advantage of their success and begin an offensive against Washington. On Oct. 3, 1861, President Davis reviewed "a brilliant turnout" of troops at the court house.

There were two more skirmishes at the court house in November of 1861. By December of 1862 the town found itself under the command of an Unionist, Brigadier General Edwin H. Stoughton, who was living at the home of Dr. William Presley Gunnell (present Truro Rectory) when Mosby made his famous raid.

Here is the story in Mosby's own words, written to a friend in Richmond.

"I have already seen something in the newspapers of my recent raid on the Yankees, though I see they call me Moseley instead of Mosby. I had only twenty men under my command. I penetrated about ten miles in their line, rode right up to the General's Headquarters surrounded by infantry, artillery and cavalry, took him out of his bed and brought him off. I walked into his room with two of my men and shaking him in bed said, 'General, get up!' He rose up and rubbing his eyes, asked what was the meaning of all this. I replied, 'it means, sir, that Stuart's Cavalry are in possession of this place, and you are a prisoner!...' I did not stay in the place more than one hour.

We easily captured the guards around the town, as they never dreamed we were anybody but Yankees until they saw pistols pointed at their heads, with a demand to surrender...."

Stoughton was taken by Mosby to Culpeper and turned over to Fitz Lee, with whom Stoughton had attended West Point.

Mosby was disappointed in what happened—"Lee came out of his tent and welcomed General Stoughton ... as a long lost brother. He took him into the tent to give him a drink and left me out in the rain!"

Lincoln was so outraged with Stoughton that he dismissed him from the Army.

It is no wonder that Episcopal ministers who have inhabited the Gunnell home in the past have complained of the lights flashing on during the wee small hours of the night and of the stairs creaking. It is hard to tell whether Mosby's ghost is coming again for Stoughton or whether Stoughton's ghost is wandering through the house, wary of a second attempt to surprise him at night.

Mosby writes further about his raid: "Just as we were moving out of the town a ludicrous incident occurred. As we passed by a house an upper window was lifted and a voice called out in a preemptory tone and asked what cavalry that was. It sounded so funny that the men broke out in a loud laugh. I knew that it must be an officer of rank; so the column was halted and Joe Nelson and Welt Hatcher were ordered to search the house. Lt. Col. Johnstone of the Fifth New York Cavalry, was spending the night there with his wife. For some reason he suspected something wrong when he heard my men laugh and immediately took flight in his shirt tail out the back door. Nelson and Hatcher broke through the front door, but his wife met them like a lioness in the hall and obstructed them all she could in order to give time for her husband to make his escape. The officer could not be found, but my men took some consolation for the loss by bringing his clothes away with them. He had run out through the back yard into the garden and crawled for shelter in a place it is not necessary to describe. He lay there concealed and shivering with cold and fear until after daylight. He did not know for some time that we had gone, and he was afraid to come out of his hole to find out. His wife didn't know where he was. In squeezing himself under the shelter, he had torn off his shirt and when he appeared before his wife next morning, as naked as when he was born and smelling a great deal worse it is reported she refused to embrace him before he had taken a bath. After he had been scrubbed down with a horse brush he started in pursuit of us but went in the opposite direction from which we had gone."

Mosby's Rangers at this time were composed chiefly of young men from Fairfax and the adjoining counties, with some Marylanders. Among the men from Fairfax County were Franklin Williams, Richard Ratcliffe Farr, Capt. V. Beattie. The men had to arm, equip and supply themselves, so although they turned captured cattle and mules over to the Confederacy, they kept any horses they were able to find. They wore Confederate uniforms and through necessity on occasion captured overcoats. The "Jessie Scouts" of the Federal Army also wore the grey uniform in order to deceive the people and gain information.

An amusing illustration of the confusion and deception created by this occurred near Fairfax.

"A party of Federal soldiers dressed in grey, rode up to a worthy old farmer and after a short conversation asked him whether he was a 'Unionist' or a 'Secessionist'. The unsuspecting citizen told them he was a 'Secessionist', whereupon the Federals carried off all of his horses that were in sight.

A short while thereafter a party of Confederates rode up, wearing the blue overcoats which effectually (?) concealed their grey uniforms and propounded a similar question. Hoping by his protestations of loyalty to recover his lost property he told them he was a 'Union man', whereupon they too took such horses as they could find.

CONFEDERATE HORSEMEN SCOUTING BETWEEN ANANDALE AND FAIRFAX.

SKETCHED BY A. R. WAUD.

Finally a party came along dressed partly in blue and partly in grey, and asked the same question. Eyeing them critically for a moment and remembering his past unfortunate experience, he replied:

'Well, gentlemen, to tell you the truth, I am nothing at all and d——d little of that.'"

The fact that the Yankees had an abundance of horses is illustrated by the following article found in the Pictorial War Record (March 18, 1882).

"Some people will no doubt be astonished to learn that large fortunes had been made every year from the commencement of the war out of the dead horses of the Army of the Potomac. The popular idea is that when Rosinante yields up the ghost he is buried in some field, or left to moulder into mother earth in the woods somewhere. Not so. He has made his last charge, and gnawed his last fence rail, but there is from $20.00 to $40.00 in the old fellow yet.

A contract for the purchase of dead horses in the Army of the Potomac in the year 1864 was let for that year to the highest bidder, at $1.67 per head, delivered at the factory of the contractor. During 1863, $60,000.00 was cleared on the contract, and that year it is thought $100,000.00 was made on it. The animals die at the rate of about fifty per day at the lowest calculation.

At the contractor's establishment they are thoroughly dissected. First the shoes are pulled off; they are usually worth fifty cents a set. Then the hoofs are cut off; they bring two dollars a set. Then comes the caudal appendage, worth half a dollar. Then the hide—I don't know what that sells for. Then the tallow, if it is possible to extract tallow from the army horse, which I think extremely doubtful, unless he die immediately after entering the service. And last, but not least, the shinbones are valuable, being convertible into a variety of articles that many believe to be composed of pure ivory, such as candle-heads, knife-handles, etc. By this time the contractor gets through the "late-lamented" steed, there is hardly enough of him left to feed a bull-pup on.

Hereafter, kind reader, when you see a dead "hoss", don't turn up your nose at him, but regard him thoroughly, as the foundation for a large fortune in a single year. He may, individually, be a nuisance, but 'there is that within which passeth show'—$100,000.00 a year."

Horses, supplies, good fighting men and pickets were important to the Confederates. So were spies. Mosby was aided greatly by two young ladies who resided in Fairfax. One was Laura Ratcliffe and the other was Antonia Ford.

X. SPIES

Little is known of Laura Ratcliffe's activities but she was often called "Mosby's pet" and was the heroine subject of many poems dedicated to her by Mosby and J. E. B. Stuart. She was devotedly attached to the Confederate cause and sought every opportunity to become possessed of the secrets and movements of the Union Forces. She is reported to have been a maiden lady of great intelligence and high accomplishments and was very well spoken of by people who knew her. She resided near Fairfax during the entire war, communicating with Mosby whenever he came through this section, and it is a mystery that she succeeded in eluding the vigilance of Union Scouts.

Not so fortunate was her contemporary, Antonia Ford, who spent many months in Old Capitol Prison, as the result of a raid made on her home after Mosby's successful capture of Stoughton. Union officers felt so strongly that she had had a part in this affair that her home was ordered searched and they found a commission from J. E. B. Stuart which read as follows:

"TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

KNOW YE:

That reposing special confidence in the patriotism, fidelity and ability of Antonia J. Ford, I, James E. B. Stuart, by virtue of the power vested in me as brigadier general in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States of America, do hereby appoint and commission her my honorary aide-de-camp, to rank as such from this date.

She will be obeyed, respected and admired by all true lovers of a —— nature. Given under my hand and seal at the headquarters of the Cavalry Brigade at Camp Beverly the 7th October, A. D., 1861, and the first year of our independence.

(signet ring seal)

(signed) J. E. B. Stuart

(X true copy)

(signed) L. L. Lomax"

Antonia was an attractive, young, dark-haired lady, charming to talk with, witty, and well received in both Washington and Virginia Society.

Extracts from a pamphlet written by Alice M. Coates read:

"In the advance of Federal Troops to Bull Run, some of the Federal officers stopped overnight with Mr. Ford at Fairfax.

His daughter, Antonia, a heroic young lady of 22 intensely loyal to the South, listened at the keyhole and heard the plans proposed. Next morning she asked for a pass to visit a sick aunt, a few miles South, which was granted.

She immediately reported these plans to the Southern troops."

Antonia aroused no suspicion on this venture in August of 1862, but only after March 8, 1863, was she questioned and by March 17th, Major Willard of the Union Army arrived to take Antonia to the Old Capitol Prison.

Although Major Willard was quite a few years older than Antonia, he had been to the Ford home quite frequently as a visitor and had found Miss Ford most charming. She, in turn, had been attracted to him.

How wretched this Union officer must have felt when he was given the responsibility of personally arresting her and her father and taking them to prison.

He fulfilled his duty, however, and then dedicated himself to securing her release and before many months had passed Antonia and her father were free again. Evidently they harboured no hard feelings towards Col. Willard, for they, at a later date, smuggled him through Confederate lines when they were taking him back to Washington by wagon after one of his frequent visits to their home.

In March of 1864 Col. Willard and Antonia were married. Seven years later Antonia died (some think due to malnutrition suffered from her stay in prison) and left one son, Joseph.

This son lived with his grandmother at Fairfax until his marriage when he built the beautiful large home on the original Willard estate, which now includes Layton Hall Subdivision, University Drive extended, the Belle Willard School, the Joseph Willard Health Center. (His father before him owned the Willard Hotel in Washington).

Joseph and his wife lived a life of luxury, traveling abroad and entertaining in their large spacious home. The fireplace in their dining room is framed with beautiful blue and white tiles which they bought in Holland on their wedding trip abroad.

Many of the schools, churches, and private homes in this area are landscaped with American and English boxwood which the Willards grew as a hobby. When the land was bought for development, hundreds of boxwood bushes became dispersed throughout the town and its environs.

Joseph Willard became a lieutenant-governor of Virginia and an Ambassador to Spain during the administration of Woodrow Wilson. He had married Belle Layton Wyatt from Middlesex County who was a distinguished hostess. Their home became the scene of many brilliant affairs.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943 attended the wedding of Mrs. Willard's grand-daughter, Belle Wyatt Roosevelt, to John Palfrey of Boston. Secret service men swarmed around the Willard home and a special ramp was built from the flag-stone walk at Truro Episcopal Church onto the sill of the church door, so the President could attend the wedding in his wheel-chair.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy (Fairfax Chapter) dedicated the chimes in the cupola of the Fairfax Methodist Church to Antonia Ford, commemorating a small Southern girl who left a heritage of unselfish love and devotion to the South in general, and to the Town of Fairfax, in particular.

XI. STEALING OF IMPORTANT PAPERS

During the time that the Union Army occupied Fairfax a group of Blenkers Dutch held the court house in the spring or autumn of 1862. They had been recruited in Pennsylvania from the most ignorant and reckless German characters and could not understand a word of English.

Due to the Blenkers Dutch, many important papers at the court house were stolen or destroyed. These men broke open the safe and used wills, deeds, or anything that came into their hands to keep their fires going. It was only by luck that the will of Martha Washington was saved.

A Lt. Col. Thompson who was in command walked in on the men burning papers and made them stop. Reaching down to see what they were burning, he picked out a paper at random. Finding it to be the will of Martha Washington, he put it in his pocket and either mailed it to his daughter or gave it to her after he returned home.

[Illustration]

Years later the people of Fairfax learned that the will had been sold by Miss Thompson to J. P. Morgan and they set out to recover it. In the Fairfax County Historical Society Year Book, 1952-53, is an interesting account of the correspondence between Mr. Morgan's son and the citizens of the Town, the Governor of Virginia, and others. The will now rests beside that of George Washington in a glass enclosed case in the Clerk's Office of Fairfax Court House.

It is also well known that Washington's will barely escaped being burned in the fire at Richmond, where it had been sent for safe keeping. When Union forces took possession of Richmond, they went to the state library and scattered papers all over the floor, taking what they wanted. They overlooked Washington's will, however, and Mr. Lewis, who was Secretary of the Commonwealth, picked it up and kept it until after the war, when Mr. O. W. Huntt was sent by the County of Fairfax to Richmond to retrieve the will.

Later on, at the Centennial, copies of Washington's will were evidently sold amidst much criticism from a metropolitan newspaper, for we find a letter from Mr. Richardson, Clerk of the Court, explaining—

"Mr. Andrew Jackson some years ago being a resident of this place made a complete copy of the will (Washington's) and had it certified by the Clerk and published as such. He was assisted in this by the Honorable W. W. Corcoran of Washington, D. C., and these are the copies sold at the Centennial."

XII. RECONSTRUCTION

As the reconstruction period came after the war, Fairfax found herself in a very destitute position. Most of her churches had been burned, her fields destroyed by constant skirmishes, her homes used as headquarters or hospitals by Union soldiers. The Willcoxon Tavern, Duncan's Chapel and doubtless other places had been used as stables for Union horses. Deflation closed in; the people again found themselves having to "pick up the pieces".

Zion Church had been used as a storehouse for munitions for a while and had then been torn down by Union soldiers to provide material for their winter quarters. In February, 1867, Rev. W. A. Alrich was sent to undertake reorganizing the Church. He found eighteen communicants for whom he held services in the court house. He reported "a deep interest manifested in religious matters, and a willingness to make every sacrifice for the sake of the Master and his cause. The people, in their impoverished condition, are making an earnest effort to rebuild their Churches."

Bishop Whittle visited on December 13th, 1869, and there were fourteen persons attending services at the Court House. He reported the new church as being under roof but completion delayed for lack of funds. He wrote, "I think there is no congregation in the Diocese more deserving of help than this, where the people have shown such a determination to help themselves."

By 1872 the second Zion Church had been completed. By December of 1876 the church had been furnished and freed from debt. Its frame building had been erected on the foundation of the original church at a cost of about $2,000.00. In 1882 the present Rectory property was purchased.

Among the families who formed the congregation after the war were the Bakers, Balls, Chichesters, Fairfaxes, Fitzhughs, Fergusons, Gunnells, Hunters, Mosses, Ratcliffes, Ryers, Stuarts, Terretts, Towners, Burkes, Coopers, Loves, Rumseys, Moores, Fords, Bowmans, Keiths, Thorntons, Bleights, Moncures, Ballards, and McWhorters.

The Methodist Church in the meantime found its strength in the southern church's Fairfax Circuit and began to replace the first Duncan's Chapel which had been used by both Confederate and Union forces and was believed to have been finally burned and destroyed by Union troops. In 1882 the local board purchased the lot adjoining Duncan Chapel and built a nine room parsonage. Both of these buildings are used today for official county business.

In 1882 the widely scattered rural membership was hampered by severe winters, bad roads, severe epidemics (diphtheria) and in 1888 Rev. O. C. Beak wrote of the general business depression in this area which caused the church to suffer "from removals". (The Methodist Church did not reach its "Golden Age" until the 1900's.)

The following map of the 1887's shows a black school located next to the Fairfax Cemetery. Church services for the black people were evidently held here too, for older residents of the town speak of sitting on the opposite side of the road listening to the hymns pouring forth from the little schoolhouse.

By 1882 the people began to look forward again throughout the entire nation. The telephone had been invented in 1876. Better news service of the papers followed the founding of the Associated Press. The foundation for the fine art of American printing was being laid. It was one of the most vigorous artistic and intellectual periods.

In Fairfax telephone service was started in 1887. Offices were located in Alexandria, Annandale, Fairfax Court House, Centreville, Gainesville, Haymarket and Thoroughfare. The price of a message to Alexandria was 15 cents, to any other point 10 cents; there was no charge for the answer. Messages were limited to five minutes. The first phone in Fairfax was installed in the Willcoxon Tavern. Here the town people could go to make or receive calls.

Captain S. R. Donohue set up a newspaper office at the west corner of Sager Avenue and Payne Street. He had operated a paper of his own in Alexandria called "The Alexandria Times". When he moved to Fairfax, he brought his printing press with him. This press, which was the first in Fairfax, had to be hand-operated by two men and can still be seen today in the present Fairfax Herald Building.

On Oct. 1, 1890, the people of Fairfax held one of the most spectacular affairs that the town has seen. The occasion was the erecting of the Confederate monument at the town cemetery. As Captain Ballard who headed up the affair proclaimed, the "purpose was to collect together the remains of the Confederate soldiers who, in defense of a common cause, found sepulchre upon Fairfax soil, and to erect a monument to the memory of the Confederate dead."

Two thousand people were to come in all types of conveyances—from the best Washington had to offer down to the backwoods ox cart. Some were even to walk as far as thirty miles to pay tribute to their fellow man.

The town was appropriately decorated for the occasion. Large American flags hung suspended across the streets. Red, white, and blue buntings were artistically draped across the fronts of houses, archways, and gates.

R. E. Lee Camp, Confederate Veterans of Alexandria, turned out with a long line of men, bringing with them Lee Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans. They were the two principal organizations present along with Marr Camp of Fairfax County. Members of other Confederate Veterans Camps came from all over the state—some singly and some in groups. The soldier organizations made their headquarters with Marr Camp just south of the Court House. Here the column was formed for the parade.

At the top of the hill on the Fairfax Station Road, Schroeder's full brass band, dressed in colorful uniforms with the bright yellow instruments reflecting the sun, waited for the columns of soldiers to form. The hundreds of people who had come to witness this historic occasion, in their enthusiasm to view everything, delayed the parade for one and a half hours.

Finally, the people were persuaded to make room for the lines to form and the proud procession began. First came the vivid brass band playing its lively military music. Next came Judge D. M. Chichester as Chief Marshal. He was assisted by Capt. J. O. Berry, Dr. W. D. McWhorter, and Benjamin Simpson, Esquire. Then followed the columns of veterans. The procession led from the top of the hill at the court house, turned left up The Little River Turnpike and then proceeded to the town cemetery.

Here on a crest stood the monument made of Richmond granite. It covered the remains of two hundred heroes. As the people gathered respectfully near the monument, the Rev. J. Cleveland Hall opened the service with a prayer. Capt. Ballard then gave the presentation speech. Gov. William Fitzhugh Lee made appropriate response on behalf of the Ladies' Memorial Association. The Honorable James L. Gordon, who was poet of the day, rendered an "eloquent poem".

The assemblage then returned to the court house which had been decorated with flags and flowers. Here they heard Senator John W. Daniel, General Eppa Hunton, Gen. M. D. Corse, Col. Arthur Herbert, and Col. Berkley. Afterwards, they were served a delicious dinner by the ladies, who also held a fair inside the court house to help raise money for the monument. (It cost $1200.00).

Although we do not have a picture of this occasion, through the courtesy of The Honorable Paul E. Brown, Judge of the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, we are able to show a picture of the commemoration of the Marr monument, which took place in June of 1904 and was probably similar in many ways.

Social life continued and in 1891 a Phantom Ball was given by Messrs. Joseph E. Willard, C. Vernon Ford, Charles and Fay Kilbourne, and Dr. W. P. Malone. Miss Helen Moore was listed among the guests.

In 1892 when the town was chartered, there were two hundred people living at Fairfax Court House. There were three white churches—one Episcopal, one north and one south Methodist. There were two black churches. There was a school for white and a school for black, three or four stores, a newspaper office, a number of comfortable old homes, an old-fashioned tavern, and an undertaker's shop. The bell at the Court House called three to four hundred people to business, to law, and to religion.

Today, approximately 14,000 people live at Fairfax Court House. There are seven white churches—Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, and Christian Science. There are two black churches. There are three schools for elementary students, one junior high school, and one senior high school, and construction will begin soon for a college. There are three shopping centers, several apartment buildings, a medical center, two large telephone buildings, a library, and a bank. Extensive additions have been made to the original court house and an eight acre tract of land has been purchased on South Payne Street for the future Town Hall.

Fairfax is just one small example of the results of colonization. Through the trials and tribulations endured by the Jamestown and Maryland colonists, a community was carved out of a wilderness. Through perseverance and courage the colonists built and held on to a civilization. They created homes, schools, churches, and established an independent stronghold on a new continent. It was not easy. Neither will the conquest of a new planet be easy but certainly a wonderful heritage has been left by those who went before.

As a visitor to Fairfax County in 1798 wrote—

"There is a compound of virtue and vice in every human character; no man was ever yet faultless; but whatever may be advanced against Virginians, their good qualities will outweigh their defects; and when the effervescence of youth has abated, when reason asserts her empire, there is no man on earth who discovers more exalted sentiment, more contempt of baseness, more love of justice, more sensibility of feeling, than a Virginian."

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bull Run Remembers by Joseph Mills Hanson

Deed Books and Will Books in Clerk's Office of the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, Virginia

Fairfax County, Virginia—1907

Fairfax County, Virginia, Yesterday ... Today ... Tomorrow—1952.

Flags of America by W. H. Waldron

Gentlemen's Magazine

Historic Fairfax County by Columbus D. Choate

Historic, Progressive Fairfax County in Old Virginia—1928

Historical Society of Fairfax County, Va., Inc. Yearbook—1951

Historical Society of Fairfax County, Va., Inc. Yearbook—1952-1953

Historical Society of Fairfax County, Va., Inc. Yearbook—1954

Historical Society of Fairfax County, Va., Inc. Yearbook—1955

Historical Society of Fairfax County, Va., Inc. Yearbook—1956-1957.

History of Fairfax County by Elizabeth Burke

History of Truro Parish in Virginia, by Rev. Philip Slaughter, D.D., and edited by the late Rev. Edward L. Goodwin.

Landmarks of Old Prince William by Fairfax Harrison—Vol. I, II

Manassas (Bull Run)—1953

Memorials of Virginia Clerks (1888). Compiled by F. Johnston, former clerk of Roanoke County.

Mosby and His Men by Crawford

Mosby's Rangers by Williamson

Pictorial War Record

The Alexandria Gazette

The Fairfax Herald

The Falls Church Echo

The March of Democracy by James Truslow Adams, Vol. I, II, III.

The Memoirs of Col. John S. Mosby, edited by Charles Wells Russell.

Townsmen Brochure—1945

Virginia Cavalcade

Willards of Washington by Garnett Laidlaw Eskew

The author is indebted to the following people for their help in compiling the foregoing information:

Mr. Ollie Atkins

The Honorable Paul E. Brown

Mr. W. Lindsay Carne

Mrs. Thomas Casey

Mr. Thomas P. Chapman, Jr.

Mrs. H. N. Clark

Mr. Courtland H. Davis

The Rev. Raymond W. Davis

Miss Barbara Duras

Mrs. H. John Elliott, Jr.

Mrs. Earl W. Emerson

Mr. Wilson M. Farr (deceased)

Mr. W. Franklin Gooding

Mr. Alex Haight

Mr. Charles Patton Henry

History Committee of the Fairfax Methodist Church

Mr. F. Wilmer Holbrook

Mr. J. Kenneth Klinge

Mrs. Doreen H. LaFalce

Mrs. Thomas B. Love

Mrs. F. S. McCandlish, Sr.

Mr. and Mrs. F. S. McCandlish, Jr.

Mrs. Douglas Murray

Mrs. Charles H. Pozer

Mrs. Barbara Ritchie

Mr. John W. Rust (deceased)

Mr. Glenn W. Saunders

Mr. Roy A. Swayze

Mr. Byron E. Wales

INDEX

by

John H. Gano

A

Adams, Francy, 34

Alabama, 47

Alexandria, 4, 21, 27, 28, 30, 64

Alexandria Times, 64

Alexandria-Winchester Stage Coach Line, 23

Allison, Gordon, 31

Allison, Robert, 23

Alrich, Rev. W. A., 61

Annandale, 30, 51, 64

Aquia, 10

"Artillery Hill", 48

Ashby's Gap, 18

"Ash Grove", 41

Associated Press, 63

Ayers, John, 19

B

Bacon, Nathaniel, 11

Baker family, 62

Baker, Dr. & Mrs., 36

Ball family, 62

Ball, S. M., 35

Ball, WM. W., 34, 41

Ballard family, 62

Ballard, Capt., 64, 65

Baptists, 20, 39, 67

Jerusalem Baptist Church, 20

Barbour, Mrs. John, 37

Baxter family, 9

Beak, Rev. O. C., 62

Beattie, Capt. V., 50

Beauregard, Gen., 47, 48

Belvoir, 14

Berkeley, Sir Wm., 11

Berkley, Col., 65

Berry, Capt. J. O., 65

Beverly, Maj. Robt., 11, 16

Bill of Rights, 27

Bland, Richard, 27

Bleight family, 62

Blenheim, 4, 24

Blenkers Dutch, 57

Blue Ridge, 18

Bolling, Girard, 31

Bolling, Lucian, 31

Boston Port Act, 27

Bowman family, 62

Bowman, Gen., 21

Braddock, Gen., 21

Braddock Road, 21

Brecon Ridge, 19

Brent family, 9

Bristoe, John, 31

Bristow Station, 43

Broadwater, Chas., 29, 37

Brooks, Henry T., 35, 42

Brown, Judge Paul E., 65

Brown, Rev. R. J., 38

Bull Run, 18, 54

Burke, 62

Burke, Levi, 41

Burke, Minnan, 34

Burke, Silas, 34

C

Camp Beverly, 54

Canfield, Bleeker, 39

Carlyle, John, 29

Carper, Thos. E., 34

Carter, Robert, 15, 17, 18

Carys, Misses Constance, Hetty, Jennie, 48

Catholic Church, 67

Centennial, 60

Centreville, 21, 43, 48, 64

Chain Bridge, 28

Chain Bridge Road, 23

Chantilly, 17

Chapman, Mrs. Thos. P., 45

Chapman, William, 38

Charles County, MD, 31

Chichester family, 62

Chichester, Judge D. M., 65

Christian Scientist Church, 67

Circuit Court of Fairfax, 65

Civil War, 22, 24, 36, 37, 39, 41, 43-54

Clark, Thos., 31

Coates, Alice M., 54

Coffer, Thos. W., 19

Colchester, 11, 29

Coleman, James, 34

Coleman, Richard, 31, 34

Coomb's Cottage, 4, 36, 37, 38

Confederate Monument, 4, 64

Conrad, Thos. Nelson, 34, 38

Continental Army, 28

Cooper family 37, 62

Cooper Carriage House, 4, 37, 45

Corcoran, W. W., 60

Cornwall, England, 19

Corse, Gen. M. D., 65

Country Club Hills, 24

Courthouse Road, 30

Cross, John D., 34

Culpeper, 13, 41, 49

Culpeper, Thomas Lord, 11, 12

D

Daniel, Sen. John W., 65

Daniel, Stephen, 31

D'Astre Place, 4, 37

Davis, Jefferson, 48

de la Warr, Lord, 6

Deneale, Wm., 34

Dennis, Gordon, 41

Doeg Indians, 10

Dogue Neck, 14

Donohue, Capt., S. R., 64

Doyne Manor, MD, 31

Draper, S., 38

Drayton family, 9

Dudley family, 9

Dulaney, D. F., 35

Dumfries, 43

Duncan's Chapel, 4, 43, 44, 61, 62

"Dunleith", 37

E

Earp, Caleb, 23

Earp's Corner, 23, 24

"Earp's Ordinary", 4, 24, 45

East Street, 24

Ellzey, Lewis, 21

Ellzey, Thomazen, 19

England/English, 10, 16, 25, 28, 36, 55

Episcopal Church, 66, 67

Ewell, LCol/Gen. Richard S., 43-45

F

Fairfax family, 62

Agricultural Society, 41

Cemetery, 62

Col. George Wm., 19

County, 7-11, 17, 18, 27, 28, 30, 34, 42, 44, 50, 65, 67

Court House, 4, 17, 28, 29, 32, 33, 38, 39, 41, 44, 57, 60, 61, 63, 64, 66, 67

Herald, 64

Lord, 13, Thos., 29

Post Office, 38

Resolves, 27, 29

Station, 22, 45, 65

"Store", 4, 25, 31

Town, 6, 17, 18, 19, 23, 27, 28, 30, 31, 40-42, 44, 46, 51, 55-57, 61, 64

William, 14

Fairview Subdivision, 32

Falls Church, 19

"Farmer's Intelligencer", 34

Farr, 14-year-old son, 22

Home, 4, 22, 41

Richard Ratcliffe, 50

Roger, M., 31

Fauquier Springs, 43

Ferguson family, 62

Fifth N. Y. Cavalry, 49

Fitzhugh family, 9, 62

David, 34

Harry, 38

Wm. M., 11, 17, 35

Flint Hill School, 24

Fontainebleau, 30

Ford family, 62

Antonia, 52-56

Building, 4, 25

C. Vernon, 66

Thomas, 19

T. M., 34

Fort Duquesne, 21

Franklin, Benjamin, 14

"Freedom Hill", 29, 30

French-Indian War, 26

G

Gainesville, 64

Gallow's Road, 30

Gardner, Wm., 19

Gentlemen Justices, 34

George II, 18

George Mason College, 21

"Glebe Land", 19

Gooding, W. B., 35

Gordon, James L., 65

Greenway Hills, 24

Gunnell Family, 25, 62

George, 31

Henry, 29

Joshua, 44

Dr. Wm. P., 34, 36, 41, 48

Gunston Hall, 14

H

Hall, Rev. J. Cleveland, 65

Halley, James, 21

John, 32

Hamilton, James, 21

Parish, 18

Hatcher, W., 40

Haymarket, 64

Henderson, Alexander, 19

Henry, Patrick, 26-28

Herbert, Col. Arthur, 65

Hill family, 9

Hitt, J. D., 34

Hooe, Robert, 34

Howard, Lord of Effingham, 13

Howsing family, 9

Huguenots, 15

Hunter family, 62

Gen., 46, 47

James, 34

John, 34

Hunting Creek, 10

Hunton, Gen. Eppa, 65

Huntt, O. W., 60

I

Indians, 7-9, 11, 12, 30

Manahoac, 8

Occannechi, 11

Susquehannock, 10, 11

Irish, 15

J

Jackson, Andrew, 60

Family, 38

Spencer, 31

Jamestown Colony, 5-7, 9, 12, 31

Jefferson, Thos., 35

"Jessie Scouts", 50

Johnston, Gen. J. E., 48

George, 27

Johnstone, LCol., 49

Jones, Cadwallader, 17

Elcon, 34

K

Keith family, 62

Kelsey, Ruben, 41

Kemper Battery, 47

Kilbourne, Chas. & Fay, 66

King's Highway, 28

Kirby, Chas., 41

L

Ladies' Memorial Assn., 65

Lafayette, Gen., 28

Layton Hall, 36, 55

Lee Boulevard, 4

Fitz, 49

Hancock, 34

Richard Bland, 34

Richard Henry, 27, 34

R. E. Confederate Camp, 64

Gov. Wm. Fitzhugh, 65

Leighton, Rev. John, 41

Lewis, Mr., 60

Lincoln, Pres., 49

Linton, Wm., 19

Little, Chas., 30, 34

Little Hunting Creek, 14

Littlejohn, Samuel, 19

Little River Turnpike, 4, 17, 23, 24, 28, 30, 32, 37, 65

Logan, Henry, 23

Lomax, L. L., 54

London, 12

Loudoun County, 28, 30

Love family, 62

Judge, 36

Thos. R., 25, 36

Lutheran Church, 67

M

Machen, James P., 41

Magner Tract, 19

Main Street, 23, 38, 44

Malone, Dr. W. P., 66

Manassas, 46, 47

First Battlefield, 48

Railroad, 40, 46

Manor, "Doyne", 31

Marr, Camp (Vets), 64

Capt. John Q., 43, 44

Monument, 66

Marshall, John, 35

Maryland Colonists, 8, 31, 50

Mason family, 9

Mason, George, 14, 23, 27, 29, 30

Maxwell, 8

Mayhugh, J. F., 34

McCandlish, Mrs. Fairfax Shields, 38

McCarty, Capt. Daniel, 19

McWhorter family, 62

Dr. W. D., 65

Meade, Rt. Rev. Wm., 39

Merriweather family, 9

Methodist Church, 39, 43, 56, 62, 66, 67

Middlesex County, 55

Millan, John, 34

Miller, Col. Francis P., 24

Minor, George, 30

Moncure family, 62

Moore family, 62

Helen, 66

Street, 32

Thos., 38

Wm., 17

Morgan, J. P., 57, 59

Morris, Mrs. Hannah, 38

Mosby, John S., 48-50;

Moss family, 38, 39, 62

Alfred, 35

Thos., 31, 35

Wm., 35

Mount Vernon, 14, 27

Mount Vineyard, 32, 39

Murray, Mrs. Douglas, 37

Thos., 38

"My Maryland", 48

N

National Register of Historical Places, 23

Negro Slaves, 15

Nelson, Jos., 49

Non-Importing Resolutions, 27

Northern Neck, 15

O

Occoquan, 11, 17, 18

Old Capitol Prison, 54

"Old Field Schools", 15

"Old Oaken Buckets", 34

Oliver House, 4, 25, 44

Ordinance of Succession, 42

Oswego County, N. Y., 38

Ox Road, 17, 19, 21, 22

P

Palfrey, John, 56

Palmyra, 41

Payne's Church, 4, 17, 19, 21, 39, 43

Edward, 19, 20

Street, 64, 67

Wm., 30, 34

Peake, Humphrey, 34

Pendleton, Edmund, 27

Pennsylvania, 57

"Phantom Ball", 66

Pictorial War Record, 46, 51

Poeh, Richard W., 34

Pohick, 14

Port Tobacco, MD, 31

Potomac, 28

"Poynton" Manor, 31

Presbyterian Church, 41, 67

Prince William County, 18, 43

Privy Council, 12

Providence, 23, 33, 41

R

Randall, J. R., 48

Randolph, Peyton, 27

"Rangers", 12

Rappahannock County, 43

River, 14

Ratcliffe family, 62

Chas., 31

Division, 38

Graveyard, 4, 32

Home, 4, 32

Jane, 31

John, 31

John of Poynton, 31

Laura, 52, 53

Lucian, 31

Mildred, 41

Nancy, 31

Patsy, 31

Penelope, 31

Racetrack, 4, 32

Richard, 22, 24, 30, 31, 33, 34

Robert, 31, 32, 35

Samuel, 31

Tavern, 24

Ratcliffe-Logan-Allison House, 23

Ravensworth, 30

Rebel Scout, 38

Revolutionary War, 20, 26-28

Richardson,

Mrs. E. V., 41

F. D., 35, 41

F. W., 35, 38, 60

House, 4

John R., 41

Richmond, 42, 43, 46, 48, 60, 65

"Ripley's Believe It Or Not", 35

Rochambeau, Gen., 28

Rocky Run Chappell, 21

Rolfe, Thos., 31

Roosevelt, F. D., 55

Belle Wyatt, 55

Rose Bower, 4, 38

Rumsey family, 62

Mrs. Daniel, 39

Place, 32

Wm. T., 39, 41

Ryer family, 62

Ryland Chapel, 39

S

Sager Avenue, 38, 64

Saunders, Lewis, Jr., 17

Schroeder's Band, 65

Scott, Richard M., 34

Second US Cavalry, 44, 45

Selecman, M. R., 34

Simpson, Benjamin, 65

Smith, Augustine I., 34

"Extra Billy", 44, 45

Gen. Gustavus W., 48

Capt. John, 8, 10

Sons of Confederate Vets, 64

Spain, Ambassador To, 55

Stamp Act, 27

Stanhope, Wm., 34

Stars and Bars, 47

Steadman, Rev. Melvin, 39

Stoughton, Brig. Gen. E. H., 48, 49

Stuart family, 62

David, 30, 34

J. E. B., 49, 53, 54

S. T., 34, 41

Sugar Act, 27

Sutton, Chas., 41

Swink, Wm., 41

T

Taylor, J. R., 34

Tea Act, 27

Terrett family, 62

Thomas, Judge Henry W., 4, 37

Thompson, LCol. (USA), 57

Thornton family, 62

Thoroughfare, 64

Throckmorton, Lord of Ellington, 31

Richard, 41

Robert, 31

Tidewater, 7

Tobacco, 11, 19, 29

Tompkins, Lt. Chas. H., 44, 45

Towner family, 62

"Truro", 19

Episcopal Church, 4, 20, 21, 25, 36, 38, 56, 61

Parish, 18, 19

Rectory, 4, 25, 48

Turner, Robert, 31

U

United Daughters of the Confederacy, 56

University Drive, 38, 55

V

Van Dorn, Gen., 38

Vienna, 4, 29

Vincent family, 9

Virginia, 26, 42, 43

Va. Historic Landmark Register, 23

VMI, 43

Va. National Guard, 19

Va. State Legislature, 23, 40

W

Warren, Henry, 31

Warrenton, 4, 38, 43

Rifles, 43

Washington, D. C., 4, 54, 60, 64

Capt. Augustine, 14

George, 19, 20, 27, 29

Laurence, 14

Martha, 57

Wills, 58, 59, 60

Waugh, James, 34

West, Hugh Jr., 21

West Point, 49

Whittle, Bishop, 61

Wiley, James, 34

Willard Estate, 55

Hotel, 55

Joseph, 56, 66

Major, 54, 55

Belle Willard School, 55

Joseph Willard Health Center, 55

Willcoxon, Capt. Rizin, 24

Tavern, 4, 32, 48, 61, 64

William & Mary, 16

Williamsburg, 15, 18

Williams, Franklin, 50

H. C., 41

Ira, 34

Joseph, 41

Wilson, Woodrow, 55

Wines, Niagara, Delawares, Concords, 37

Wren, James, 30

Wyatt, Belle Layton, 55

Wythe, George, 27

Y

Yeardley, Gov., 29, 34

Yorkshire, 48

Z

Zion Church, 38, 39, 61, 62

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Table of Contents

A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF FAIRFAX

Jeanne Johnson Rust 1960

To My Husband

MAP LEGEND

CONTENTS

A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF FAIRFAX

I. JAMESTOWN

II. REBELLION

III. THE GENTRY AND THE CONVICTS

IV. THE PUSH INWARD

V. THE TOWN

VI. THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

VII. THE COURT HOUSE

VIII. DEVELOPMENT OF THE TOWN

IX. THE CIVIL WAR IN FAIRFAX

X. SPIES

XI. STEALING OF IMPORTANT PAPERS

XII. RECONSTRUCTION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

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