Inclement weather: We follow the lead of Fairfax County Schools; if the schools are closed or activities canceled, our meeting is canceled.

Survey Saturdays - To inquire about or suggest future surveys, please email FCCPA at info@honorfairfaxcemeteries.org.

*Survey Saturdays meet in Conference room 214, upstairs in the VA Room of City of Fairfax Regional Library, 10360 North Street, Fairfax. We will do research in the morning using the Library’s extensive cemetery files. Anyone who wants to continue in the afternoon with an on-site survey of a cemetery, we may do so after a quick lunch near the library.

It is believed that, after the 1862 Battle of Chantilly during the Civil War, casualties from both sides were temporarily buried in the cemetery. There appear to be unmarked graves in the cemetery. Because the cemetery is locked surveyors found it difficult to adequately see and record information from the gravestones. The fenced area is much larger than the known graves.

Thomas N. Stewart and his wife Charlotte owned almost 400 acres. On the eve of the Civil War, they owned four slaves and had one building for them. In a deposition after the war, Thomas Stewart stated that he had been pressured to vote for secession. He told the commissioner: “I do it against my better judgment and with more reluctance than I ever cast a vote in my life.” He stated that after the Battle of Bull Run, Union General Schenck of Ohio used the Stewart home as his headquarters and that Thomas Stewart had been captured by South Carolinian Confederates and held for seven months.

Gilson Rozier (G.R.) and his wife Sarah Stewart Whaley were farmers. They owned a little over two hundred acres and owned one female slave age, 75. G.R. voted for secession. However, after the Civil War he described his wife Sarah as a Union sympathizer. The surveyors could not find any information about Charles C. Gheen.

Photos of Stewart Family Cemetery
County Survey Record

Thomas and John Cowling and their wives emigrated from England prior to 1844. John, who became a naturalized citizen in 1846, was a blacksmith, and Thomas, a farmer, was admitted as a citizen in 1844. Stephen Cowling, a farmer, also emigrated from England and came to Fairfax County in 1830. John Cowling, who served as Justice of the County Court and Conductor of the Election in 1859, voted for secession. After the Civil War in a Southern Claim, Stephen Cowling stated that during General Sherman’s grand review,” Gen. Gibbs’ Division has his tents in my yard.” Surveyors are unsure of the relationship between these Cowlings. In 1860, John Cowling was 59, Thomas was 60, and Stephen was 35.

The surveyors found no information about the Charles Duty family. They could be neighbors and/or relatives. Tragedy struck the family eight times with the deaths of their children. Their ages at death ranged from four days old to two years. The mother Ida, who died in 1918 was possibly a victim of the Spanish flu.

The Crump family were farmers and owned around 270 acres. They raised livestock and grew Indian corn, oats, wheat, rye, peas, beans, and Irish potatoes.

Photos of Summers Family Cemetery
County Survey Record

Philip Trammell was enlisted on October 1, 1863 by William. R. Smith at Scuffleburg in Fauquier County. He was captured November 11, 1863 at Aldie and sent to the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, DC. On January 27, 1864, he was brought to trial before a U.S. Army commission led by Major General Abner Doubleday.

Philip Trammell was accused of being a member of a band of guerillas known as Mosby’s Cavalry, which engaged in robbing and stealing property of private citizens and the U.S. Government. One night the cavalry entered Falls Church, plundered homes and captured citizens threatening to hang one.

During the trial, several citizens were questioned about the involvement of Trammell and swore it was he they saw that night. Trammell asked for one witness in his defense, who could swear that Trammell was in Herndon on said evening. One of Colonel Baker’s detectives indicated that the witness lived outside of the Union lines and therefore could not be brought to the trial.

On February 13, 1864 James Philip Trammell was found guilty and sentenced to be shot. On July 8, 1864 President Lincoln commuted the sentence to ten years in prison. Trammell was incarcerated at the penitentiary in Albany, New York. After the end of the war, Trammell’s mother pleaded to President Johnson and Trammell was paroled.

Philip and Elizabeth (maiden name unknown) were married in Washington, DC on August 13, 1867. In 1900 they were living in Falls Church with three out of their eight adult children and one grandchild.

Larger image of marker

See Civil War Honor Roll for new profile of Civil War veteran James Philip Trammel and recently added list of Civil War Veterans Buried in Fairfax County.

Program
KEYNOTE: Glenn Wallace, Documenting historic Monocacy Cemetery
CEMETERY PRESERVATION: Mary Lipsey, FCCPA President
LIVING HISTORY: Jon Vrana & Jenee Lindner as the Willcoxons
CEMETERY TOUR: Willcoxon/Farr Family Cemetery

Blenheim is a Greek Revival brick farmhouse built in 1859 by Albert Willcoxon on his 367-acre farm. More than 100 signatures, artworks and poetic inscriptions - evidence of the house’s occupation by Union soldiers during the Civil War - adorn its walls. Blenheim was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

A donation of $10 will be requested of attendees

For more information, please contact:
FCCPA president Mary Lipsey at christopherlipsey@verizon.net
FCCPA director Paul Kohlenberger at PaulKohl@msn.com

Download FCCPA Conference 2013 flyer

Saturday, March 23, 2013, 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Please meet at the cemeteries at the times and locations indicated - carpooling is encouraged!
Rain or Shine (except in case of severe weather)

This field trip is co-sponsored by the Fairfax County Cemetery Preservation Association, Inc. (FCCPA), who will serve as our hosts and will be making the presentations, and the Fairfax Genealogical Society (FxGS).

Andrew Chapel Cemetery
The tour will begin at 9:30 at Andrew Chapel Cemetery which is located at the corner of Trap Road and Route 7, Vienna, Virginia (address 9201 Leesburg Pike). Andrew Chapel Cemetery was established in 1854. The grave markers reflect almost every type imaginable. After demonstrations and a brief history of a few buried there, we will take a lunch break.

Lunch Break
Lunch will be on your own, but a list of recommended eating places in the vicinity will be provided.

Lewinsville Presbyterian Church Cemetery
Our tour with history presented about a few of the persons buried as well as further demonstrations will resume at 1:00 at Lewinsville Presbyterian Church Cemetery located at 1724 Chain Bridge Road, McLean, Virginia. This is a historic cemetery used for burials as early as 1838.

A $5 donation to FCCPA for the trip is suggested and may be donated to their representative at one of the cemetery sites.

If you have questions about the site visits, Mary Lipsey is the FCCPA contact person and may be reached at christopherlipsey@verizon.net or (703) 321-2824.

Please sign up for this field trip at FxGS meetings or classes or notify Susan Krumhaus at fieldtrips@fxgs.org by March 15. If you sign up and need to cancel, please let Susan know no later than a week prior to the trip date if possible. A final count is needed in advance for planning purposes.

Biography
Son of Joseph and Catherine Wiley;
Enlisted 3/8/62 at Occoquan, Pr. Wm. Co., by Capt. Hoopert, for war;
Involved in Battle of Chantilly, Fairfax County 9/1/62;
Joined and advanced to 2nd Sgt., Co. K, 19th Georgia Infantry;
Captured 12/13/62 at Fredericksburg;
Wounded several times - postwar roster states he was severely wounded;
Treated at Chimborazo General Hospital, Richmond, VA, and Pettigrew General Hospital, Raleigh, NC;
Surrendered 4/30/65 at High Pt., NC;
Paroled 5/1/65 at Greensboro, NC;
Married Mary Elizabeth Lee; Fairfax County, 6/21/67;
On list of ex- confederates living in Fairfax County 1898, age 58;
Member of John Q. Marr Camp United Confederate Veterans;
Vice President of the Lorton Valley Democratic Club 1888;
Commission of Revenue- Fairfax County Treasurer for 24 yrs.;
Trustee of Fairfax Cemetery Association (formerly: Fairfax Ladies Memorial Assoc.) 1914;
In his will, requested that his Confederate Cross of Honor and his Mexican Dollar “handed me by Capt. I.A. Roe at our surrender…near High Point, N.C. be kept in the family as long as there is one living.
(Adapted from Brothers and Cousins Confederate Soldiers and Sailors of Fairfax County, VA by William Page Johnson):

The following was published in the September 13, 1907 Fairfax Herald along with sketches of the other Fairfax County officials.

“The office of County Treasurer has been filled for many years by Mr. Robert Wiley. Like Andrew Jackson he has so impressed himself upon the hearts and affections of people that many of his friends will probably continue to vote for him long after his spirit shall have passed ‘beyond the clouds.’ He was a gallant Confederate soldier, and is a perfect reservoir of interesting war reminiscences.”

Obituary
(From Confederate Veteran, Vol. XL)

The death Robert Wiley, of Fairfax, Va., February 13, 1932, terminated the fine career of a very unusual man. Born in that county in 1840, and educated in the schools of Washington City, he had just obtained his majority when he promptly responded to the call that rang throughout the South. He was on duty as a scout in 1861 and 1862, and in March of the latter year enlisted as a private in Company K, of the 19th Georgia Regiment. That was a fighting regiment in whose record was written a long list of bloody battles. In all of them the young Virginian participated, except when incapacitated by wounds. He was wounded three times in the Seven Days struggle; again at Olustee, Fla., and again so severely at Drury’s Bluff as to be laid aside for several months. Weakened by his wounds, he felt he should not accept, and, therefore, he declined, promotion when it was offered. In after years he was never entirely free from suffering due to the injuries he had received on the battle field.

Possessing a keen intellect, attractive manners, unfaltering courage and high moral standards, and, in addition, possessing a rare gift of making friends, he won the respect and admiration of the officers whom he followed and the men with whom he served. There was no soldier more devoted to the Confederate cause and no veteran more devoted to its memories. He retained in a marked degree the warm and vivid recollections of the events and comrades with whom he had been associated, and was always happy when he could turn from the affairs of the present to recall and discuss the experiences of what was to him the never-forgotten past.

In the midst of the troubles incident to rebuilding the social and economic structure which the war had shattered, he found time to assist in creating a veteran organization in his country, which was called Marr Camp in honor of Capt. John Quincy Marr, who was killed at Fairfax Court House, June 1, 1861, in the opening conflict of the war. Soon Mr. Wiley was chosen Commander of the Camp, and several years before his death he had the distinction of being chosen Commander for life. He survived nearly all of the 150 members who had been carried on its roll.

As a citizen, he was held in the same high esteem he had enjoyed as a soldier. His neighbors looked to him for dependable leadership and service. They placed him in various offices which he filled with notable fidelity and success. Finally he was elected to the important position of County Treasurer, and re-elected for 6 successive terms, and in his 75th year he voluntarily retired from that position which he had held for nearly a quarter of a century.

Equal to his strong faith in the righteousness of the cause for which he fought was his unwavering religious faith. As a member and steward of the Methodist Church, he was a shining example of devout and active Christian life.
Such in bare outline, stretching over 10 decades, was the stainless and conspicuously useful career of a splendid soldier and citizen. No trace of fear or misgiving as to the future marred its peaceful close. To his death was like: “The shepherd serenely leading home his flock/ Under the planet at the evening’s end.”

Poem dedicated to Robert Wiley, who performed the valiant service in the battle of Olustee, Fl., which inspired this poem.
(From Confederate Veteran, Vol. XXXVI)

THE HERO OF OLUSTEE
By Alfred Mickelson
“Ammunition! Ammunition!“ Cried the fightin’ Rebel chief,
“We must have it, and right quickly, or our stay on earth is brief,
Where’s the man who’ll run the gauntlet, get the cartridges we need?
God in heaven, help me pick him, help me pick a man with speed.”

From the ranks a Virginia laddie, who had fought the whole war through,
Came and stood before his Colonel, looked at with eyes of blue;
And those eyes they sparkled bravely as, “I’ll go,” he simply said,
And he left his Colonel smiling, as between the lines he sped.

Thick the bullets of the Yankees whistled through the Southern air,
And the Colonel, as he watched him, offered up to heaven a prayer,
For the enemy was advancing, and their bullets fell like sleet,
But the boy flew faster onward in this race with grim defeat.

In his breast his heart was leaping, in his eye there stood a tear,
And his lips they trembled, quivered, but ‘twas not from fright or fear,
For he knew success for Dixie rested on his shoulders sight,
And he must not fail or falter, or the Yanks would win the fight.

At last he found the cartridges, took as many as he could pack,
And between the raging Battle lines he started to go back,
And his comrades, when they saw him with his load of shot and shell,
Cheered the brave Virginia laddie and let loose the Rebel yell.

Pitilessly the Yankees fired, loudly did their cannons bark,
But it seemed that Heaven watched him, and bullets missed their mark.
And at last he staggered safe behind his lines, and there he fell,
But his mission was completed and he had performed it well.

Though he was not crowned with laurel and his deed in history told,
And as hero of Olustee no reward was his gold,
His reward was when in victory the flag of Dixie waved,
And he knew that those few cartridges – had the day for Dixie saved.

Documents & Sources
1. Brothers and Cousins Confederate Soldiers and Sailors of Fairfax County, VA by William Page Johnson, II; pp.171
2. Confederate Veteran,Vol. XL, Nashville, TN, page 267. “Obituary”
3. Confederate Veteran, Vol. XXXVI, Nashville, TN, page 322. “The Hero of Olustee.”
4. Fairfax Herald, Sep 13, 1907, “Sketch of Fairfax County Officers”
5. Echoes of History, II:5, page 69 Photograph of the last of Marr Camp #73
6. Roll of Marr Camp #173, United Confederate Veterans, (Fairfax, VA.) 1880 – 1930 located in Fairfax VA Library Virginia Room
7. Robert Wiley grave marker, Fairfax City Cemetery, Section 1, lot 8, photo taken by Austin Morgan, Jan 2013,

Larger image of marker
Newpaper photo - Robert Wiley at last Marr Camp reunion
Researched and written by Austin Morgan

To commemorate the Civil War Sesquicentennial and honor the memories of our veterans, FCCPA has compiled a database of veterans buried or memorialized in our cemeteries.

Included are veterans in cemeteries in Fairfax County as well as Fairfax City and Falls Church City, which were part of Fairfax County during the Civil War and through half of the 20th century.

The database identifies 454 veterans. It is accurate to the best of our knowledge but is not considered complete. Rather, the database is a strong beginning that we hope to improve and expand with further research as well as corrections and additions from its users. To submit these, please contact FCCPA through this website and limit suggested additions to cemeteries in Fairfax County, Fairfax City and Falls Church City. We would appreciate source information and/or documentation for any additions or corrections.

FCCPA’s Civil War Honor Roll section currently profiles 25 of these veterans. Several more are mentioned in articles in the Current Projects section about the cemeteries where they are buried.

View or download the database
Civil War Veterans Buried in Fairfax County and the Cities of Fairfax and Falls Church, Virginia

You will need Adobe Reader to view the database. It is a free program and can be downloaded here. The database is searchable using Adobe Reader’s search feature.

When it was surveyed, the cemetery was very overgrown. Without knowing there was a cemetery there, visitors would assume it was just woods and a thicket. Three markers were found in the foliage. Nellie J. Pearson’s marker, found leaning against a tree, was the only stone with an inscription. There appear to be more than twelve burials there.

Boy Scout Troop 1983 cleaned up the cemetery, led by Eagle Scout candidate Grady Moran. The clean-up uncovered several more field stones which once might have been head or foot stones.

The 1920 census records indicate that Nellie Pearson and her family lived with her father Lewis J. Hunt, who operated a farm on six acres. Lewis’ father spelled the last name “Huntt.” Nellie, the only heir of Lewis J. Hunt, inherited her father’s land upon his death in 1933. Nellie died in 1942 and her husband Maurice died in 1955.

Photos of Pearson/Hunt Family Cemetery
County Survey Record