The Early Fight - An interesting insight into the Skirmish at Fairfax Courthouse - July 17, 1861

BobUSCT

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Apr 9, 2018
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Northfield, MN
On this date, a troop of the 2nd US Cavalry, under the command of Lt Charles H. Tompkins, accompanied by a small number of volunteers from Camp Union, fought in the Battle of Fairfax Courthouse. The courthouse was defended by a small Confederate company, the Warrenton Rifles, commanded by Captain John Q. Marr. In the ensuing skirmish, Captain Marr was killed, along with a Union private, and several men were wounded on each side. It is the first deadly battle of the Civil War. One of the Camp Union volunteers, Private Theodore Van Raden, NY 8th Infantry, Company E, was among the Union soldiers who briefly occupied the Courthouse. During this temporary occupation of the Courthouse, Theodore (my children's Great Great Great Uncle Teddy) captures the Great Seal of the County, used to officially seal county documents. This seal had been used by the county for over a century, and including by George Washington when he was a member of the county government before the Revolution. Uncle Teddy survived the war, and resumed life as a green grocer in New York City. Besides his membership in the GAR, Teddy rowed 4 man crew for the Atalanta Boat Club of New York, winning several US championships and competing for the United States against the best English crew teams in London in 1872. He was Commodore of the Atalanta Club and a member of the US Crew governing committee in his later years. Teddy brought the Great Seal home to New York and stored it until a year before his death in 1914, when he passed it to his grandson, soon to be a student at Harvard. This grandson, Captain Clifford West Henry, was mortally wounded in France (2 DSC, Croix de Guerre with Palm) in September 1918. The seal was kept by his parents until his mother returned it to Fairfax County representatives in a ceremony held in late 1941.

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I think there is a stone marker there commemorating the first casualty.
Lubliner.

Following a vote by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, the stone marker was removed and is in "storage." The two 12-pdr naval boat howitzers which flanked the marker have been transferred to the Park Service and are undergoing restoration for display at the Manassas Battlefield Park. A Federal infantry regiment had two boat howitzers at the battle. Unlike other markers/monuments being removed, this one didn't commemorate or glorify the Confederacy [to my perspective as a da*n Yankee]. It just marked one of the first skirmishes and the first casualty of the war, and was more of a commemoration of the tragedy of it all.

A few blocks down the street [Main and Oak Streets] is the Virginia state historical marker documenting the location of the design of the Confederate battle flag. The marker used to be located on Main Street, was removed during construction of a new apartment or condominium complex, and was reinstalled at a much less visible location on Oak Street, which is a side street off of Main.

Regards,
Don Dixon
 
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