Although Warrenton was spared the ravages of major battles during the war, control of the town changed hands 67 times, and many homes and churches housed soldiers or were used as hospitals. Warrenton was home to several notable Confederates, including Col. John Singleton Mosby, the “gray ghost of the Confederacy.” The Old Jail, in use during the war, includes a Mosby exhibit. The Warren Green Hotel, rebuilt after a fire in 1876, was where Gen. George B. McClellan bade farewell to his troops on Nov. 16, 1862, when he was relieved of his command. The “California Building,” built by William “Extra Billy” Smith from profits made in the California Gold Rush, later housed Mosby’s law practice after the war; Smith was twice governor of Virginia and a general in the Civil War. At 118 Culpeper St. stood the home of Capt. John Quincy Marr of the Warrenton Rifles Co., the first Confederate officer killed in the war; he died on June 1, 1861, at Fairfax Court House and is buried in the Warrenton Cemetery. That cemetery also contains Mosby’s grave near a monument to 600 Confederate unknown soldiers, and a map on the caretaker’s cottage identifies the location of all Confederate graves. At 67 Waterloo St. was the home of Gen. Eppa Hunton, who was captured at Sailor’s Creek, imprisoned at Fort Warren, and after the war served as a U.S. Congressman and Senator. The Presbyterian Church at 4th and Main Streets still shows the outline of bricks used to repair an opening cut to accommodate wagons when Federal troops used the ground floor as a stable and the upstairs sanctuary as a hospital. Mosby lived after the war at 173 Main St. The railroad depot, now a rails-to-trails park, was a hub of activity during the war and the site of an attempt on Mosby’s life after the war when he fell into disfavor for befriending Ulysses S. Grant.
