Before 1861, Fairfax County Courthouse was a gathering place where all levels of Virginia society met as court justices handled county business, settled debts, and held criminal hearings. Free African Americans registered there to obtain papers proving their freedom, while enslaved men, women, and children were bought and sold to satisfy debts, sometimes in front of the courthouse itself. In that setting, Fairfax County men voted there on May 23, 1861, to ratify the Ordinance of Secession. One week later, on June 1, the first engagement on Virginia soil took place there when Company B, 2nd U.S. Cavalry attacked nearby Confederate units. In early July, the U.S. flag was raised over the courthouse, but on July 22 it was replaced by the Confederate flag after Southerners reoccupied the grounds. In March 1862, the Confederate army evacuated northern Virginia and Federal forces occupied Fairfax Court House, while county court business moved to Bruin's Jail in Alexandria for the rest of the war. Lt. Col. Charles Cummings of the 16th Vermont Infantry, who used the courthouse and clerk's office for storage, wrote that the windows had been broken out and boarded up and the interior ripped out and the walls defaced. On June 27, 1863, a skirmish there between part of Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's command and the 11th New York Cavalry delayed Stuart on his ride north during the Gettysburg Campaign. Through 1865, thousands of Union soldiers stationed there strained supplies of food, firewood, and even water, making life difficult for both white and black residents. George Washington's will was removed from the courthouse for safekeeping in June 1861, but Martha Washington's will was left behind, taken by Lt. Col. David Thomson of the 82nd Ohio Infantry, later sold to J.P. Morgan, and not returned until 1915. After the war, court officials moved quickly to restore the building for court use. In the 1960s, its exterior was restored to the original 1800 architectural design, and in 1974 the courthouse, Fairfax County's oldest public building, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
