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On a cool, damp December day I treated my children to a visit to Ox Hill Battlefield Park.  I had never visited this site before and many locals either don’t even know it exists or have forgotten.  Perhaps the most significant thing about this particular battlefield is that is almost disappeared.

The battle took place on September 1, 1862 as Stonewall Jackson’s  troops attempted to cut off the Union retreat from the Second Battle of Manassas back to the safety of Washington, DC. 

The battle took place over about 500 acres in between West Ox Road, Route 50 (Lee-Jackson Memorial Highway), Fairfax County Parkway and Fair Lakes Parkway.  Today about 4.8 acres of that is preserved as Ox Hill Battlefield Park.

The park is located at 4164 West Ox Road, Fairfax, VA.

 

 

 

 

In the 1980s, this mostly undeveloped part of Fairfax County began to see heavy development.  In the process, land that had been mostly untouched was rapidly turned into townhouses, condos and shopping malls.  The development was proceeding rapidly, but in 1987 one developer purchased what today is the park and wanted to move the memorials that had been placed in 1915 for the two fallen Union Generals.  They also unearthed the remains of a Confederate soldier and removed it from the site.  This resulted in resistance from the locals and eventually the creation of the battlefield park.

 

 

Until recently, there was not much to see at the battlefield.  On September 1, 2008 (the 146th anniversary of the battle), Fairfax County re-opened the park and I am pleased to say it is wonderful.  The Battle of Ox Hill was the only major Civil War engagement that occurred in Fairfax County.  Much of the county was quickly overrun by the Union army due to the close proximity to the capital, Washington.  Consequently most of the opposition in the county was in the form of quick raids (mostly thanks to the work of local informants) instead of full scale battles.

 

Here at Ox Hill (Ox Hill is the high ground where Route 50 and West Ox intersect), Stonewall Jackson and his troops intercepted Union troops as they were retreating to the safety of their capital city (Washington, DC).  In the ensuing battle, which took place for two hours in the rain through woods and farmland, approximately 1000 Union troops and 500 Confederate troops died.  The battle was actually significant in that in forced the Union out of Virginia and set the stage for Lee’s invasion of Maryland (the only invasion that the C.S.A. attempted).  Sixteen days later, the two nations would meet at the Battle of Sharpsburg, MD in what became the bloodiest single day in U.S. history.

The park itself is very nice.  I was pleasantly surprised by what a nice job they had done with this park.  The parkland is like an oasis from the shiny, modern, noisy development that surrounds it.  There is a small parking area that can be accessed from West Ox Road (at the intersection of Monument and West Ox).  From the parking area a nicely bricked path winds through the central area of the battlefield (known as the cornfield).

At the parking lot is a covered display explaining the battle, it’s significance and where the battle fit in the big picture of the war.  As the path winds though the park, nice signs have been erected explaining the battle.  They really did a good job with the informational signs and the fences that were erected along the lines of the original fence lines to help you visualize the cornfield.  The path makes a loop through the park beginning and ending at the parking lot.

 

 

After the war ended, this land was owned by John Ballard (a member of Mosby’s Rangers).  Upon his death he left the land for monuments to be erected to Confederate or Union troops that died in the battle.  In 1915, two monuments were erected to honor the two Union Generals who died in the cornfield.  There are plans to erect two more monuments, one for the Confederate soldiers and one for the Union soldiers who fought here.

 

 

 

The park is free, peaceful and poignant.  If you are ever near the park (across the street from Fairfax Town Center and down the street from Fair Oaks Mall), I would recommend a stop. My pictures start at the parking area and proceed clockwise through the park (following the order of the signage).

 

 

 

 

 

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