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Each of these camps developed into veritable cities. Seven regiments encamped on Minor's Hill, establishing Camp Barnard, Camp Bettie Black, Camp Burnham, Camp Cameron, Camp Carl Schurz, Camp Cromwell, Camp Owen, among several smaller encampments. But in September 1862 a second calamitous loss in battle at Manassas forced the Union Army to retrench and pull its forces toward Washington to protect the capital.
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Ĭonfederate raids from Falls Church went as far east as Balls' Cross Roads-modern Ballston-and many events took place in the territory surrounding the base of the hill. It was a document "he certainly must prize," as one report put it.
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When it was occupied by Union troops they found his War of 1812 orders, signed by Secretary of State James Monroe, directing him to the defenses of Washington at Bladensburg. At the beginning of the war Colonel Minor, then said to be 80, fled his home for the safety of Virginia's interior. The Minor family were secessionist-meaning they were pro-Confederate, and supported Virginia's bid to leave the Union-and clandestinely supported the Confederate Army and its movements throughout the war. Each side insisted in loyalty from local residents, who found themselves living within the Confederate States of America, or the United States of America, as troops came and went and each side's military fortunes waxed and waned. The war was devastating for Falls Church and Minor's Hill, where Union and Confederate lines ebbed and flowed with abandon throughout the war. Minor's Hill's next brush with history occurred during the American Civil War. "At first I thought the world was on fire. The conflagration lit the nighttime skies at Falls Church, where a young refugee from Alexandria later recalled being awakened and taken outside to see Washington burn. Government officials, including President Madison and his wife Dolley, also fled the city.īritish troops torched Washington, burning it to the ground. At that time the Washington Navy Yard was an important fleet center, and its gunpowder was hurriedly moved across the bridges into Virginia, and brought to Falls Church for safekeeping, protected by a six-man guard dispatched by Colonel Minor. However, due to bureaucratic bungling among War Department officials they were not sent to help defend the approaches to Washington at Bladensburg, Maryland nor did many of them come armed.Īs events at the Battle of Bladensburg worsened, government officials began evacuating the city. Colonel Minor of Minor's Hill and his 700-man Virginia Militia 60th Regiment were summoned on Augfrom Falls Church to Washington, which they were assigned to defend. In 1814, during the War of 1812, a British fleet ascended the Potomac River to Washington, and a British army invaded the city from the east. Prior to this the hill did not have a formal name.Īn illustration of Minor's Hill in 1814 during the War of 1812 The hill was afterward settled by the Minor family. Įnglish colonists founded Falls Church in 1732, choosing as its location a place that was approximately one day's horseback ride from the Potomac River. The trail wound around the northern and eastern sides of Minor's Hill. The Indians used an important trail linking the Little Falls of the Potomac River with what is now the city center of Falls Church, where it entered the village as Little Falls Street. Minor's Hill was well known to local Native Americans in Northern Virginia prior to European colonization. The hill is occasionally identified as Minor Hill and Minors' Hill, and during the American Civil War often appeared in newspaper accounts and soldiers' letters as "Miner's Hill". Its location overlooks the City of Falls Church on the opposite side of Four Mile Run, 1.4 miles to its south. Mount Daniel (472 feet) is to its west, Mackey's Hill (171 feet) is to its north, and Upton's Hill (410 feet) is to its east. Its highest point occurs in Arlington.Ī local stream called Four Mile Run defines the hill's southern and southwestern extent. While generally conical in shape, the hill is broad and sprawling, and its summit is relatively flat and broad. Minor's Hill straddles the border of Arlington County and Fairfax County, Virginia. The hill is named after a man named George Minor who lived there at the time of the American Revolutionary War. Its summit rises to 459 feet (139 meters) above sea level which makes it the highest point in the county. Minor's Hill is a geographic eminence located in the western tip of Arlington County, Virginia.