the skin, something larger than a silver dollar, but
the skin was unbroken, and not a drop of blood was shed". The shock
of impact had stopped his heart.

Thus it was that the first Confederate officer, to be killed in
action with the enemy, lost his life in the Town of Fairfax.

On June 8th, 1861, Company B, 2nd United States Cavalry went out on
a scouting expedition. They entered the village of Fairfax where
they had a skirmish with the units in this vicinity. When the
company returned to camp, they realized that two of their members
had been captured. Soon they discovered that these two were to be
hanged the next morning. They mounted their horses, rode down to
Fairfax, found where the two men were imprisoned and rescued them.
The picture above is from the Pictorial War Record.

[Illustration: BRILLIANT EXPLOIT OF COMPANY B, SECOND CAVALRY, IN
THE RESCUE OF TWO OF THEIR COMRADES, WHO WERE TO BE HUNG BY THE
CONFEDERATES AT FAIRFAX, VA.]

In July of 1861 Fairfax housed a detachment of Confederates who had
been sent out to delay the Yankees who were on their way to seize
the Manassas Railroad Junction. This junction connected with another
line leading to a point near Richmond (the ultimate Yankee goal).
Unfortunately, when the Unionists under Hunter entered Fairfax, the
Confederate units fled, leaving large quantities of forage and camp
equipment behind. Hunter paraded his men, four abreast, with fixed
bayonets, through the streets of Fairfax. He even had the band play
the national anthem and other patriotic songs as the men marched
along. From here, they proceeded towards Manassas.

Everyone knows of the inglorious retreat of the Unionists from
their encounter with the Confederates at the first battle of
Manassas. Most people know, too, that spectators had followed the
Union troops out from Washington to watch the battle--that they were
dressed in fancy clothes and riding in everything from wagons to
fine horse-drawn carriages, expecting to applaud an easy Union
victory. What the spectators saw, however, was quite different from
their expectations.

A combined attack by Confederate forces around 3:45 in the afternoon
overwhelmed the Unionists, who fell back and retired. As they were
retreating in orderly fashion, Kemper's battery reached an
advantageous position on a rise of land and let go with its guns.
The first shot hit a suspension bridge and upset a wagon, which, in
its unwieldy position, served as a bar