Built of locally quarried sandstone about 1820 and later expanded, the Conner House served both the Confederacy and the United States during the Civil War. After the First Battle of Manassas on July 21, 1861, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, who with P.G.T. Beauregard had commanded the victorious Southern army, kept his headquarters there until November. From there, Johnston secured his position at Manassas Junction and control of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, whose tracks ran just east of the house. Johnston evacuated the area on March 8-9, 1862, to defend Richmond. In August 1862, the house changed sides when Col. Lewis B. Pierce of the 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry used it for his headquarters and a hospital. On the night of August 26, Pierce lay ill there as Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s Confederate force approached from the southwest. After capturing Bristoe Station on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad line, Jackson ordered a rare night attack on the great Union supply depot at Manassas Junction. Gen. Isaac R. Trimble led the assault, brushed aside the Pennsylvanians when they opposed him in front of the house, and captured the depot easily. Within a few days, the Second Battle of Manassas raged nearby. The house was named for its last private owner, who operated a dairy farm in the first half of the 20th century, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.
