Chapter 3

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.

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."