Alexandria

On the morning of May 24, 1861, Union forces captured Alexandria after Virginia's vote of secession became effective and they crossed the Potomac River to occupy the Virginia shore. Because of its strategic location on the Potomac just south of Washington, D.C., Alexandria was a prime Union occupation target. During the capture, James W. Jackson, an ardent secessionist and proprietor of the Marshall House, fatally shot Union Col. Elmer E. Ellsworth as Ellsworth removed a Confederate flag from the top of the hotel, and a member of Ellsworth's 11th New York Zouave regiment then killed Jackson. Both men became martyrs for their respective causes. Alexandria's transformation from a small southern town to a military district took a heavy toll as two-thirds of the population fled and large private homes, churches, and other public buildings were requisitioned to support the occupation. The city became headquarters for the U.S. Military Railroad and one of the largest Union army hospital centers in the East. One of the first national cemeteries, established by order of President Abraham Lincoln in February 1862, is on Wilkes Street. Alexandria remained under Union control through late 1865, making it the longest occupied territory of the Civil War, and many buildings that survived the four-year military occupation still stand today.

Alexandria, Virginia · United States