Fairfax CH, June 1, 1861 - Battleground 7: Bull Run

Fairfax Courthouse, 1 Jun 61 [Curt Cabbage}

At about 3:00 a.m. on the especially dark early morning of June 1, 1861, one of the Confederate pickets, Private A. B. Francis, ran into the town of Fairfax Court House shouting that the enemy was upon them.[14] The other picket, B. F. Florence, had been captured. A few of the Prince William cavalry tried to form a battle line in the street while others ran for their horses. As the Union force arrived on the Falls Church Road, most of the Confederate cavalrymen fled, leaving four of the Prince William cavalrymen in the street to be taken prisoner. Captain Marr moved his men into a clover field west of the Methodist church where they had been camped, just off Little River Turnpike, and formed them into two battle lines. Fleeing Confederate cavalrymen from Prince William came upon them and in the dark, some of Marr's men fired at them, wounding one of their own cavalrymen in the process. The Rappahannock cavalrymen had few weapons and no ammunition so they also fled forthwith when the Union soldiers arrived.

According to several accounts, Captain Marr challenged the riders, asking something like "What cavalry is that?" These would have been his last words. Scattered shots were fired as the Union cavalry rode through and Captain Marr fell dead. Some other accounts say he was killed while scouting out a better position for his men a little distance away from their line and do not mention a challenge to the Union horsemen. Whether he had moved up to challenge the Union riders or to scout out a better position for his company as some accounts suggest, Marr was not in the immediate presence or line of sight of any of his men on the very dark night when he fell in the dense field. Soon, no one knew where he was or what may have happened to him. His body was found in the clover field later in the morning.

The Union force rode west through town firing some shots at random. According to many of the accounts of the battle, the Union troopers fired at a man emerging from the hotel in town, who happened to be Lt. Col. Ewell, and wounded him in the shoulder. Regardless of the exact location where Ewell was wounded, he was first Confederate field grade officer wounded in the war.

After the initial flurry of activity, the flight of the Prince William cavalrymen and the ride on through town by the Union force, the men of the Warrenton Rifles infantry company realized that Captain Marr was no longer present. As noted, Marr in fact was already lying dead in the clover field nearby, the first Confederate combat casualty of the war. Most historians have concluded that he was struck by one of the random shots fired by the Union horsemen on their first ride through town. The company was temporarily leaderless after Marr fell because the two lieutenants were on leave and Ewell had not yet arrived on the scene.

Former and subsequent Virginia governor and later major general William "Extra Billy" Smith, who had just resigned his seat in the U.S. Congress, then emerged with his rifle from the house where he was staying on his trip back home to Warrenton from Washington, D.C. Smith, at the time a 64-year-old civilian, was from Warrenton, had helped recruit the company and knew many of the men. So he took charge of the company despite his lack of military training or experience. Ewell soon arrived but Governor Smith had to assure the men that Ewell was who he said he was, the Confederate officer in command, before they would follow him. Ewell then placed the approximately 40 men of the Warrenton Rifles that he found at the edge of the clover field between the hotel and the courthouse (or the Episcopal Church). where they were able to turn the Union force back to the west with a volley as the cavalrymen approached the Confederate position on their return trip through town. The Virginians were not in a good position to defend themselves, however, and after Ewell presently went to find a courier to go for reinforcements, Smith moved the men to a more defensible position behind rail fences about 100 yards closer to the turnpike. Civilians, mostly sheltered in buildings, joined in the shooting at the Union horsemen. This may have contributed to Tompkins's inflation of the number of men his force had encountered.

After having been driven back once by a volley from the Warrenton Rifles and civilian volunteers, the Union force tried to come back through town again. The Warrenton men again forced them to retreat with another three volleys. During the exchange of fire, Lieutenant Tompkins had two horses shot from under him. One fell on him and injured his foot. The Confederates fired additional volleys at the Federals as they tried to pass through town again on their way back to their base at Camp Union near Falls Church, Virginia. After this third failed attempt to ride through town past the Confederates,[30] the Union cavalrymen were forced to leave town through fields toward Flint Hill in the Oakton area of Fairfax County to the north of the City of Fairfax and return to Camp Union by a longer route.

The Confederates initially reported casualties in the affair of one dead (Captain Marr), four (later reduced to two) wounded (including Lt. Col. Ewell) and one missing. A later Confederate account states that only two were wounded, but five were captured, which is in accord with the Union account which states five prisoners were taken and actually names them. The Union force reported one killed, four wounded (including Lt. Tompkins) and one missing. The Union soldier killed was identified as Private Saintclair. The Confederates stated that they took three prisoners and recent accounts agree. The Union force also had lost 9 horses killed and 4 wounded.