Civil War Illustrations

Fall's Church, Virginia, the Advanced Post of Our Army on the Potomac

Caption: Fall's Church, Virginia, the Advanced Post of Our Army on the Potomac.

Source: Illustration and text below from Harper's Weekly, August 3, 1861, page 490.

Fall's Church

On this page we illustrate Fall's Church, Fairfax County, Virginia, from a sketch by our special artist with General M'Dowell's corps d'armée. This is the most advanced post of our army in Fairfax County, and has been the scene of several picket skirmishes. Fall's Church was built in 1709, and rebuilt, as an inscription on the wall informs us, by the late "Lord" Fairfax, whose son, the present "Lord" Fairfax, is supposed to be serving in the rebel army. The title of Lord, we may observe, is still given to the representative of the family. The inscription on the old church reads as follows:

"Henry Fairfax, an accomplished gentleman, an upright magistrate, a sincere Christian, died in command of the Fairfax Volunteers at Saltillo, Mexico, 1841. But for his munificence this church might still have been a ruin."

Service was held in the old church two Sundays since – Rev. Dr. Mines, Chaplain of Second Maine Regiment, officiating, and most of the troops in the neighborhood being present.