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Ox Hill improvements complete
Much to the satisfaction of local history buffs, the site of the only major Civil War battle fought in Fairfax County is finally being preserved as a historic park.Members of the Chantilly Battlefield Association, led by Chantilly resident Ed Wenzel, and other Civil War historians lobbied hard as development encroached on the battlefield little by little.
But their dream of an Ox Hill Battlefield Park will be realized with a ribbon-cutting on Sept. 1 that is expected to draw uniformed men representing both sides.
“This was a fight against all odds to preserve the battlefield,” said John McAnaw, president of the Bull Run Civil War Round Table. “Civil War buffs consider this a big victory.”
President Abraham Lincoln had just made John Pope commander of the Union Army when it was defeated by the Confederates on the Rappahannock River, according to park historians.
The Northerners retreated to Centreville and, as Maj. Gen. Thomas Stonewall Jackson tried to cut them off, the Union army met the Confederates in a surprise attack in late August 1862 near what is now Monument Drive in Fairfax.
Park historians say about 516 Confederates and possibly up to 1,000 Union troops died in the battle, which came to a draw after a Sept. 1 thunderstorm made it impossible to fight.
Much of the battlefield has already been paved over with residential buildings and retail development like the Fairfax Towne Center.
But the portion of the battlefield where Union Gens. Isaac Stevens and Philip Kearny were reportedly killed during the struggle still remains. Stones mark those spots today.
"At least we've saved what we have left," said Michael Rierson, a former Park Authority archaeologist who has been working on the project.
Visitors to the 4.8-acre park being developed by the county's Park Authority will be able to enjoy a trail that loops around the property, interpretive historical markers and benches.
The park was designed so it has to be mowed only once a year, making the field look a little overgrown as it was during the Civil War, Rierson said.
After the battle, the Confederates – headed in the direction of Washington, D.C. – turned around and went up toward Maryland where Antietam was fought several days later, Rierson said.
"This battle could have very well changed the course of the war," he said.
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