Confederate Earthworks

After the Battle of Ball’s Bluff on October 21, 1861, Confederate infantry earthworks were most likely built in front of this area as part of the defenses of Leesburg, which stood on the front lines of the American Civil War and on the Potomac River frontier. For the Confederates, the river was an international boundary between two nations at war, making Leesburg an important point to defend. Under Gen. D.H. Hill, the Confederates continued work on several preexisting forts to discourage another Federal attack from Maryland, including Fort Evans, Fort Johnson on Catoctin Ridge west of Leesburg, and Fort Beauregard on a ridge overlooking Tuscarora southeast of town. Additional outer works augmented these forts and sheltered the troops guarding Leesburg. Although records for this particular work are lacking, it stands on a spur extending 600 yards from Fort Evans to protect the approach to the fort from the southeast. Surveys conducted early in the 21st century located at least twelve platforms where soldiers’ huts may have stood. In early March 1862, the Confederates withdrew from Leesburg, and Union Col. John Geary’s 28th Pennsylvania Infantry occupied the town and the fortifications. The earthworks around Leesburg soon fell into disuse and deterioration, but much of Fort Evans, as well as traces of Fort Johnson and other works along Edwards Ferry Road, survived.

Leesburg, Virginia · United States