In the early morning hours of 1 June 1861, a detachment of Co. B, Second Cavalry, entered the Town of Fairfax Court House and engaged the Warrenton Rifles in the first land conflict of organized military units in the Civil War. The skirmish resulted in the death of Capt. John Quincy Marr, who was struck by a stray bullet, the first Confederate officer killed in the Civil War. Marr's body was found at daybreak near this location.