1861–1865
chapter 4 of 8
Civil War and Occupation
Union occupation of Alexandria
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Places featuring this era
Ser Amantio de Nicalao · via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 811 Prince Street
Italianate residence built 1854 by merchant John Bayne; later occupied by the Fowle family of shipbuilders. NRHP-listed 1986.
320 South Washington Street 320 South Washington Street
Founded in 1863 by formerly enslaved Black congregants; one of the earliest independent Black Baptist churches in the South. NRHP-listed …
1001 South Washington Street 1001 South Washington Street
Burial ground established in 1864 for African Americans who fled slavery to Union-occupied Alexandria; rediscovered in 1987. NRHP-listed …
Ser Amantio di Nicolao · via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 2823 King Street
Garden cemetery established 1856 on the western edge of Alexandria; among its interments are several mayors and Confederate veterans. …
APK · via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 Jones Point Park
Frame lighthouse built 1855 at the south boundary stone of the original District of Columbia; one of the few surviving Potomac River inland …
Bridge on Orange & Alexandria Railroad · Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division · http://www.loc.gov/item/2012649966/ Jamieson Avenue at Hooff's Run
1851 stone arch railroad bridge, in continuous use since the eve of the Civil War. NRHP-listed 2003.
John W. Cross · via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.5 3737 Seminary Road
Episcopal theological seminary founded in Alexandria in 1823 and relocated to its present hilltop campus in 1827. Occupied by Union forces …
1200 North Quaker Lane 1200 North Quaker Lane
The first high school in Virginia, founded 1839 by Bishop William Meade of the Episcopal Diocese on a 100-acre campus west of Old Town. …
Seminary Hill (off Seminary Road, near St. Stephens Road) Seminary Hill (off Seminary Road, near St. Stephens Road)
Layered Seminary Hill site that was the country estate "Muckross" of Burke & Herbert Bank co-founder Arthur Herbert, the Civil War earthwork …
Placeholder illustration of Fort Ward. Seed placeholder — KingSt.com, 2026. To be replaced with archival photograph. 4301 West Braddock Road
Earthwork fort raised in 1861 as part of the ring of Union fortifications around Washington; the fifth-largest of the Civil War defenses of …
Placeholder illustration of Alexandria National Cemetery. Seed placeholder — KingSt.com, 2026. To be replaced with archival photograph. 1450 Wilkes Street
One of the original fourteen national cemeteries established in 1862, interring Union dead from the Civil War, including United States …
Placeholder illustration of Louverture Hospital Site. Seed placeholder — KingSt.com, 2026. To be replaced with archival photograph. 219 South Payne Street
Union Army hospital established in February 1864 for U.S. Colored Troops and Black civilian refugees in occupied Alexandria. Named for …
People of the era
Arthur Herbert
b. 1829 · d. 1919
Co-founder of Burke & Herbert Bank (1852), Confederate officer in the 17th Virginia Infantry, and longtime master of "Muckross" on Seminary Hill. Born at Carlyle House; died on the …
Freedmen of the Contrabands Camp
founded 1861
Collective entity representing the several thousand formerly enslaved people who fled to Union-occupied Alexandria during the Civil War, settling in camps at Shuter's Hill, around …
G. W. Custis Lee
b. 1832 · d. 1913
Eldest son of and ; Confederate major general; later president of Washington and Lee University succeeding his father.
Harriet Jacobs
b. 1813 · d. 1897
Formerly enslaved author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) who, with her daughter Louisa, worked among formerly enslaved people living in and around Union-occupied …
Robert E. Lee Jr.
b. 1843 · d. 1914
Third son of and ; Confederate captain. Author of the 1904 memoir *Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee*, an essential primary source for Lee biographers.
U.S. Army (Civil War)
founded 1775
The Federal land army that occupied Alexandria from May 24, 1861 through 1865 and constructed the Defenses of Washington, including and . Used as a collective entity here for …
W. H. F. "Rooney" Lee
b. 1837 · d. 1891
Second son of and ; Confederate major general of cavalry; later U.S. Representative from Virginia.
