Civil War history, alive in Dranesville VA

Embracing 2011 as the sesquicentennial anniversary of the American Civil War, a group of history buffs organized by the Smithsonian Resident Associate (SRA) program visited the site of the Dec. 20, 1861, clash in Dranesville between Brig. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart’s Confederates as they protected a foraging expedition and Brig. Gen. E.O.C. Ord’s Union forces that encountered them. It was early in the war, and both sides sustained losses. In "the fog of war," some of the Confederates died from friendly fire, according to SRA military historian Ed Bearrs. Ultimately Stuart's troops fled south towards Centreville via a road now known as Reston Avenue.

If they were to follow the same route today, they would pass between a Fairfax County fire station and a 7-Eleven.

Ironically, the one-time battleground is now occupied by a parking lot for Dranesville Church of the Brethren, a pacifist congregation descended from The Church of the Brethren that started in Germany in 1708. The church’s roots are in the Reformation tradition that believed in adult baptism. Because Brethren immersed believers three times in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, they were given the name "Dunkers."

Brethren in the U.S. first arrived in Pennsylvania, then migrated south and west. At the Civil War battle of Antietam, the heaviest fighting swirled around the Dunker Church. The Brethren farmers nursed soldiers on both sides.

The war ended 40 years before the Dranesville church was organized, but farmers in the area likely tended the wounded at Dranesville, too. Both sides incurred casualties. The two forces met as the Confederates foraged for feed to supply their livestock during the first winter in the Civil War. Outnumbered 4-1 and fearing the arrival of Union reinforcements from the east side of Difficult Run, Stuart fled from the area of the churchyard, situated on a knoll and now overlooking a 7-Eleven on Leesburg Pike (Route 7).

Bearrs, a former chief historian for the National Park Service, said the highest ground between Tysons Corner and Leesburg, then as now, was where the Georgetown and Leesburg Pikes converged about a half mile east of Dranesville Tavern. From there, Leesburg Pike continued west, just as it does for commuters today.

Bearss’s tour, which started early on Saturday, July 16, continued to Ball’s Bluff near Leesburg, the site of the bloody rout of Col. Edward Baker’s Union forces by Brig. Gen. Nathan G. Evans’ forces. Baker, a U.S. Senator, lost his life in this battle on Oct. 21, 1861. Bearss talked about the political ramifications of the Confederate victory, which emboldened the South just as the war began.

From Leesburg, the tour continued to the Monocacy National Battlefield, where the 1864 Battle of the Monocacy was fought. It was also known as the Battle that Saved Washington. Although Union forces under Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace lost this battle on July 9, 1864, their efforts delayed Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early’s advance on Washington long enough for the city’s defenses to be bolstered.

The Smithsonian Resident Associate Program, a division of the Smithsonian Institution, offers opportunities for education and fun to people of all ages in the Washington area. Its next event in Loudoun County is on Aug. 20: “Strategic Civil War Crossings of the Upper Potomac.” Participants will ford the Potomac River to follow the steps of Lee’s forces into Maryland. Cost is $165 for general admission or $119 for Smithsonian members. 

http://residentassociates.org/ticketing//tickets/reserve.aspx?performanceNumber=222897

Dranesville Church of the Brethren conducts a candlelight peace service on Dec. 18, the Sunday closest to Dec. 20, to commemorate the loss of life in the Battle of Dranesville.

http://www.dranesvillebrethren.org/