BGuthrie Photos: VA -- Fairfax County Courthouse

VA -- Fairfax County Courthouse:

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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[1] FFAX_140816_002.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[2] FFAX_140816_012.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[3] FFAX_140816_018.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[4] FFAX_140816_023.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[5] FFAX_140816_030.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[6] FFAX_140816_037.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[7] FFAX_140816_038.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[8] FFAX_140816_041.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[9] FFAX_140816_044.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[10] FFAX_140816_048.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[11] FFAX_140816_052.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[12] FFAX_140816_058.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[13] FFAX_140816_059.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[14] FFAX_140816_064.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[15] FFAX_140816_067.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[16] FFAX_140816_069.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[17] FFAX_140816_082.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[18] FFAX_140816_085.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[19] FFAX_140816_088.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[20] FFAX_140816_092.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[21] FFAX_140816_096.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[22] FFAX_140816_100.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[23] FFAX_140816_102.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[24] FFAX_140816_109.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[25] FFAX_140816_121.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[26] FFAX_140816_122.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[27] FFAX_140816_130.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. FFAX_140816_041.JPG: This stone marks the scene of the opening conflict of the war of 1861–1865, when John Q. Marr, captain of the Warrenton Rifles, who was the first soldier killed in action, fell 800 feet south, 46 degrees West of the spot. June 1, 1861. Erected by the Marr Camp, C.V., June 1, 1904.
2. FFAX_140816_058.JPG: Fairfax County Courthouse War on the Courthouse Grounds At different times, Union and Confederate forces occupied the Fairfax County Courthouse at this important crossroads. The flag of each side flew from its cupola during the war, and the building suffered damage. On April 25, 1861, the Fairfax Riflemen (CS) were organized here, and on May 23, voters here ratified the Ordinance of Secession, 151 to 8. Before dawn on June 1, Lt. Charles Tompkins led the 2nd New York Cavalry in an unsuccessful attack on three Confederate units here. Capt. John Quincy Marr, Warrenton Rifles, died -- the first Confederate officer killed in the war. The courthouse changed hands that summer, when Gen. Irvin McDowell raised the U.S. flag atop it on July 17. The Confederate flag replaced the Stars and Stripes five days later during the Union retreat after the First Battle of Manassas. On October 3, following a conference of Confederate leaders in the courthouse, President Jefferson Davis reviewed 30,000 troops here. When the Confederates evacuated northern Virginia in March 1862, Union Gen. George B. McClellan launched his campaign to capture Richmond from his headquarters nearby on March 14. In December, Lt. Col. Charles Cummings, 16th Vermont Infantry, took "peaceable possession" of the clerk's office and the courthouse, which was used for storage. He wrote that "windows were broken out and boarded up and the inside ripped out and the walls defaced. The green was trodden up, encamped upon and besmeared." On March 9, 1863, Lt. John S. Mosby and his Rangers stole into a nearby Union camp and night and kidnapped Gen. Edwin H. Stoughton in the war's most audacious act here. "We are just encamped in the public square of the court house which is full of large shade trees and make it an excellent and beautiful camping ground." – Lt. Col. David Thomson, 82nd Ohio Infantry, March 1862 Fairfax County's most prized document, George Washington's will, was removed from the courthouse for safekeeping in June 1861, but Martha Washington's will was left behind. Taken by Lt. Col. David Thomson, 82nd Ohio Infantry, and later sold to financier J.P. Morgan, the will was not returned until 1920. After the war, county officials quickly voted to put the courthouse "in suitable condition" for holding court. In the 1960s, the building's exterior was restored to the original 1800 architectural design. The courthouse, Fairfax County's oldest public building, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
3. FFAX_140816_067.JPG: Fairfax Court House Built in 1800 This building, designed by James Wren, served as the first permanent courthouse of Fairfax County. Dedicated May 1985 by Fairfax County Chapter, National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution
4. FFAX_140816_069.JPG: Beneath this plaque lies the Fairfax County Time Capsule to be opened June 29, 2076, The Tricentennial of the Commonwealth of Virginia
5. FFAX_140816_100.JPG: Fairfax Court House Built 1800 Old Town Fairfax This building is on the National Register of Historic Places. George and Martha Washington's wills were recorded here and still remain in this complex. Confederate President Jefferson Davis reviewed strategy in the tavern across the street with his generals on October 1 and 2, 1861.
6. FFAX_140816_122.JPG: Old Fairfax Jail Built in late 19th Century Old Town Fairfax The original "gaol" (1802) burned down in 1884. The Alexandria jail was used until this building was completed. The last jailer, Mr. William F. Lowe, and his family lived in the front quarters of this building until 1954. The structure is of the Italianate architecture.
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Wikipedia Description: Fairfax, Virginia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The City of Fairfax is an independent city forming an enclave within the confines of Fairfax County, in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Although politically independent of the surrounding county, the City is nevertheless the county seat.

Situated in the Northern Virginia region, Fairfax forms part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines Fairfax and the city of Falls Church with Fairfax County for statistical purposes.

The population was 21,498 at the 2000 census. Many surrounding communities and developments have a Fairfax postal mailing address.

While the City is an enclave within the County of Fairfax, a small portion of the County comprising the courthouse complex and a small area nearby is itself an enclave within the city.

History:

The area the City of Fairfax now encompasses was settled in the early 1700s by farmers from Virginia's Tidewater region. The Fairfax County courthouse was established at the corner of Old Little River Turnpike (now Main Street) and Ox Road (now Chain Bridge Road) on land donated by town founder Richard Ratcliffe. The small town in the vicinity of the courthouse was then known as Earp's Corner, and in 1805 was designated the Town of Providence by an act of the Virginia General Assembly (although people continued to informally refer to it as Fairfax Court House).

In a celebrated incident in the town in March 1863, Mosby's 43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry, better known as Mosby's Rangers, disguised and with stealth and cunning, awakened in bed and captured an embarrassed Union General Edwin H. Stoughton along with two Union Captains, 30 prisoners, and 58 horses without firing a shot. The town was officially renamed the Town of Fairfax in 1874, and became an independent city in 1961 (upon which it acquired its current name, the City of Fairfax). In 1904, a trolley line was built connecting Fairfax with Washington, D.C.
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Directly Related Pages: Other pages with content (VA -- Fairfax County Courthouse) directly related to this one: [Display ALL photos on one page]:
- 2005_VA_Fairfax_Courthouse: VA -- Fairfax County Courthouse (5 photos from 2005)
- 1997_VA_Fairfax_Courthouse: VA -- Fairfax County Courthouse (8 photos from 1997)
- 1865_VA_Fairfax_Courthouse_Hist: VA -- Fairfax County Courthouse -- Historical Images (1 photo from 1865)
Same Subject: Click on this link to see coverage of items having the same subject: [Civil War] [Government]
2014 photos: Trips this year: three Civil War Trust conferences (Winchester, VA, Nashville, TN, and Atlanta, GA), Michigan to visit mom in the hospice before she died and then a return trip after she died, and my 9th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including Las Vegas, Reno, Carson City, Sacramento, Oakland, and Los Angeles). Ego strokes: Paul Dickson used one of my photos as the author photo in his book "Aphorisms: Words Wrought by Writers". Equipment this year: I mostly used my Fuji XS-1 camera but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000. Number of photos taken this year: just over 470,000.
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