Qualla: Battle of Fairfax Court House (1861)

Battle of Fairfax Court House (1861): Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Aurbanski, CC BY 3.0. It was after three in the morning and the night was so dark that Captain John Quincy Marr lost sight of his own company. The Confederate cavalry pickets had just come tearing into Fairfax Court House, shouting that Union horsemen were on the road. Marr, commanding the small Warrenton Rifles infantry company in the town, ran out into the clover field beyond the courthouse to look for a better defensive position. A few minutes later somebody fired a shot. Marr fell in the dense grass and no one saw him go down. By the time his men realized he was missing it was too late to look. He had become the first Confederate soldier killed in action in the American Civil War. The date was June 1, 1861. The Battle of Bull Run was still six weeks away. The war's name for itself was not yet decided.

Image: Aurbanski | CC BY 3.0

Battle of Fairfax Court House (1861): A Vague Order

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mathew Benjamin Brady, Public domain. The day before the action, Brigadier General David Hunter at Union headquarters in Washington gave verbal orders to Lieutenant Charles Henry Tompkins of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry Regiment to gather information about Confederate strength south of the Potomac. Hunter's instructions abou...

Image: Mathew Benjamin Brady | Public domain

Battle of Fairfax Court House (1861): Three Charges Through the Town

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mathew Benjamin Brady, Public domain. Tompkins's cavalry hit the Falls Church Road into Fairfax around three a.m. on June 1. Most of the Prince William troop scattered without much resistance, leaving four of their own to be captured in the street. Tompkins's horsemen rode west through the town, firing at random as t...

Image: Mathew Benjamin Brady | Public domain

Battle of Fairfax Court House (1861): Civilians at the Fence

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mathew Benjamin Brady, Public domain. Ewell then went to find a courier to send for reinforcements. William Smith, ex-governor and now self-appointed tactical commander, moved the Warrenton company about 100 yards to a more defensible position behind a line of rail fences closer to the turnpike. Civilians from the ho...

Image: Mathew Benjamin Brady | Public domain

Battle of Fairfax Court House (1861): What Followed

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mathew Benjamin Brady, Public domain. When the Confederates finally searched the clover field after dawn, they found Marr lying dead. He had been shot through the chest by a ball that nobody could be sure had been aimed at him. He was thirty-five years old, a Virginia Military Institute graduate, and the first of mor...

Image: Mathew Benjamin Brady | Public domain