(Kiosk Panel): Ox Hill Battlefield Park & Interpretive Trail
This small park is the last remnant of Fairfax County's only major Civil War battlefield. The Battle of Ox Hill, also known as the "Battle of Chantilly," lasted but a few hours on the afternoon of September 1, 1862. Here, some 6,000 Union troops encountered and attacked about 17,000 Confederates of General Stonewall Jackson. It was a "beastly, comfortless conflict" fought during a ferocious thunderstorm.
As darkness fell and the fighting ceased, hundreds of soldiers lay dead and more than a thousand were wounded or missing. Two of the most promising generals in the Union army, Isaac Stevens and Philip Kearny, were among the slain. The bloody stalemate frustrated the Confederate attempt to intercept and destroy General John Pope's Union army as it retreated toward Washington following the Battle of Second Manassas (Bull Run).
Interpretive Trail
Follow the loop trail through this surviving portion of the battlefield. Visit the wayside markers labeled 1-9 and learn how the battle progressed and its aftermath. Read soldiers' descriptions of the action, discover how generals Stevens and Kearny fell, view the monuments and learn the fate of the wounded.
(Kiosk Panel): Who Fought Here: The Generals
Brig. Gen. Isaac I. Stevens, USA:
· Born North Andover, Massachusetts, 1818 · West Point 1839 · Corps of Engineers
· Mexican War, wounded, 1847 · Post war, US Coast Survey · Resigned US Army, 1853
· Appointed first governor of Washington Territory by President Franklin Pierce, 1853
· Director, Northern Pacific Railroad survey, 1853
· US Commissioner for Indian Treaties, 1853-56
· Washington congressional delegate, 1856-60 · Colonel, 79th New York Volunteers, 1861
·Brigadier general, Port Royal expedition, South Carolina coast, 1861-62
· Commanded 1st Division, IX Corps at Second Manassas, 1862
· Killed at Chantilly (Ox Hill), 1862
· Buried, Newport, Rhode Island
Life of General Isaac I. Stevens, Hazard Stevens, 1900
Brig. Gen. Alexander R. Lawton, CSA:
· Born Beaufort District, South Carolina, 1818 · West Point 1839 · Resigned US Army, 1841
· Graduated Harvard Law School, 1842 · Practiced law at Savannah, Georgia
· President, Augusta & Savannah Railroad · Served in both houses of Georgia legislature
· At outbreak of Civil War, seized Fort Pulaski on the Georgia coast for the Confederacy
· Appointed brigadier general, Confederate Army, 1861
· Commanded Georgia brigade in the Seven Days Battles and at Second Manassas, 1862
· Commanded division at Ox Hill, 1862 · Badly wounded at Sharpsburg (Antietam), 1862
· Commanded Quartermaster General's department, 1863, until end of war
· Returned to Savannah and law practice · Member, Georgia legislature, 1870-75
· Led Georgia delegation to Democratic National Convention, 1880 and 1884
· Appointed Minister to Austria by President Grover Cleveland, 1887
· Died 1896, buried in Savannah, Georgia
Generals in Gray, Ezra J. Warner, 1964
Maj. Gen. Philip Kearny, USA:
· Born into wealth and status, New York City, 1815 · Law degree, Columbia College, 1833
· Commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, 1st Dragoons, US Army, 1836
· Attended French Cavalry School at Saumur, 1839 · Fought with Chasseur's d'Afrique, Algeria, 1840
· Resigned US Army, 1846, but returned to fight in Mexico, 1847
· Lost left arm at Battle of Churubusco, 1847 · Brevetted major for gallantry
· Duty in California, 1851 · Resigned US Army 1851, traveled the world, lived in Paris
· Served in the Army of France, an ally of Italy in its war with Austria, 1859
· Fought at Magenta and Solferino, Italy, 1859
· Received France's highest decoration, The Cross of the Legion of Honor, 1860
· Brigadier general, New Jersey Brigade, Army of the Potomac, 1861
· Commanded 1st Division, III Corps in the Peninsula Campaign, 1862
· Major general at Second Manassas, 1862 · Killed at Chantilly (Ox Hill), 1862
· Buried in New York City, re-interred at Arlington National Cemetery, 1912
The Civil War Letters of General Philip Kearny, William B. Styple, 1988
Maj. Gen. Ambrose Powell (A.P.) Hill, CSA:
· Born Culpeper, Virginia, 1825 · West Point, 1847 · Served in Mexico, 1847
· Resigned US Army and entered Confederate service as colonel, 13th Virginia Infantry, 1861
· Major general, Seven Days Battles before Richmond, 1862
· Commanded "Light" division under Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain and Second Manassas, 1862
· At Ox Hill, held Confederate right flank, 1862
· Timely arrival at Sharpsburg (Antietam) repelled Burnside's attack and saved Lee's army, 1862
· Fought at Fredericksburg, 1862 · Wounded at Chancellorsville, 1863
· As lieutenant general, led Confederate Third Corps at Gettysburg, 1863
· At Bristoe Station, impetuous assault cost his corps thirteen hundred casualties, 1863
· Fought in Wilderness Campaign, 1864, and at Petersburg, 1864-65
· Killed at Petersburg, 1865 · Buried in Richmond, Virginia
Generals in Gray, Ezra J. Warner, 1964
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