Tracking the Confederates
— Gettysburg Campaign —
During the Civil War, signal stations served as early warning posts, observation points, and communication centers. On June 19, 1863, 10,000-15,000 Union troops commanded by Gen. John Fullerton Reynolds, I Corps, Army of the Potomac, marched along the Alexandria, Loudoun & Hampsire Railroad from Herndon here to Guilford Station. Reynolds made his headquarters at the Lanesville house, erected a signal station on the northwestern portion of the property - at 442 feet, one of the highest points between Washington, D.C. and Leesburg - and ran a telegraph wire to Fairfax Court House. The signal officer here constantly communicated with nearby signal stations attempting to locate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Gunfire echoed from the west as Confederate cavalry chief Gen. J.E.B. Stuart screened Lee's infantry from probing Federal cavalry at Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville. Lee slipped through the Blue Ridge Mountain gaps to the safety of the Shenandoah Valley, but U.S. Signal Corps nonetheless detected him as he began his second invasion of the North. On June 24, Reynolds' corps decamped in pursuit. The two armies met on July 1 in the little college town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where Reynolds died in the first day's fighting.| HM Number | HMBX |
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| Series | This marker is part of the Virginia Civil War Trails series |
| Tags | |
| Placed By | Virginia Civil War Trails |
| Marker Condition | No reports yet |
| Date Added | Saturday, October 11th, 2014 at 6:03am PDT -07:00 |
| UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 18S E 291889 N 4321645 |
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| Decimal Degrees | 39.01910000, -77.40385000 |
| Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 39° 1.146', W 77° 24.231' |
| Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 39° 1' 8.76" N, 77° 24' 13.86" W |
| Driving Directions | Google Maps |
| Area Code(s) | 571, 703 |
| Closest Postal Address | At or near 301-333 Vestals Gap Rd, Sterling VA 20164, US |
| Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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