Taming Rebel Hill

Burke native Glenn Curtis photographed the work in progress taming Rebel Hill and turning that stretch of Braddock Road into a four-lane divided highway. Research has not determined the exact time of construction by the Virginia Department of Transportation. Examination of aerial photos by the Fairfax County GIS & Mapping Services office narrowed the time to between March 1970 and March 1972.

Glenn H. Curtis

Glenn H. Curtis

Copyrighted material, not to be reproduced without permission of owner Glenn H. Curtis

Photograph

Bog Wallow Ambush on Braddock Road

Michael Mitchell's "The Bog Wallow Ambuscade" is an in-depth account of the December 4, 1861 ambush by New Jersey infantry of Georgia cavalrymen on Braddock Road. Mitchell draws on participant reports, maps, official Civil War records and newspaper articles to tell the compelling story. He begins by describing area conditions, combatant strategies and events leading up to the ambush. He rounds out the account by following several key participants in the days and years after the ambush. The earlier November 1861 skirmish at Oak Hill, which involved a few of the same participants and is described briefly, is presented in full detail in Mitchell's article "Oak Hill Kitchen Skirmish."

Michael S. Mitchell

"The Bog Wallow Ambuscade" article copyrighted material not to be reproduced without permission of owner, Michael Mitchell

Document

Historical Marker: Bog Wallow Ambush

The historical marker reads: "BOG WALLOW AMBUSH...On 4 December 1861, fifty-five men of the 3rd New Jersey Infantry, Col. George W. Taylor commanding, set an ambush nearby in retaliation for attacks on Union pickets. They stretched two telegraph wires across Braddock Road at the eastern end of a “perfect bog hole” to dismount riders. Near midnight, twenty-four Georgia Hussars cavalrymen, led by Capt. J. Fred. Waring, entered the trap from the west. A “sheet of fire” erupted from the tree line along the swamp's edge. The Confederates returned fire and escaped with four men wounded and one captured. Union losses were one killed, two wounded and one captured."

The marker is located at the intersection of Braddock Road and Dunleigh Drive. It commemorates the early Civil War action that occurred a short distance eastward on Braddock Road approaching Rolling Road. A spring-fed pond on the south side of the road is evidence of the water source that would have produced the swamp-like conditions.

Photo by John Browne

Transportation and roads

history of transportation byways

A teaching activity. A fill-in-the-blanks worksheet linking today's major roads and highways with their historic roots.

Mary Lipsey

2007

PDF

Map: Atlas of Fifteen Miles Around Washington

Published in 1878-1879 by G. M. Hopkins, this atlas mapped communities within a 15-mile radius of Washington, D.C. Separate editions were issued for Northern Virginia and for Prince Georges and Montgomery counties in Maryland. Each edition contained the same complete core set of maps along with additional features tailored to the covered area and its residents. The well designed and detailed maps are a trove of historical information, including the locations of homes and businesses along with the names of owners and residents. The 10 maps for Northern Virginia start at page 64 in this edition - "Atlas of Fifteen Miles Around Washington Including the County of Prince George Maryland" - hosted by Johns Hopkins University's JScholarship site. Three of the atlas maps cover parts of Braddock District: Lee District (p. 72) Falls Church District (p. 74-75) Providence District (p. 78-79)

Johns Hopkins University JScholarship, Maps and Atlases (https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/)

Johns Hopkins University JScholarship - see license and use restrictions at https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/bitstream/handle/1774.2/33000/license.txt?sequence=62

Camp Reports: Civilian Conservation Corps No. 2339C Camp

CCC No. 2399C Camp, also known as Army-3VA Camp, was located at the U.S. Army's Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County. A racially segregated unit, it was comprised of African Americans except for assigned Army Reserve officers and other leaders. The Camp's work on reforestation and fire control projects included road construction and firefighting in and near Braddock District. A significant but nearly forgotten contribution was construction in the 1930s of an access road through an extensive forest area bounded by Braddock, Rolling, Backlick and Old Keene Mill roads. Erased by suburban development, the road no longer appears on current maps. Today, that former forest has been replaced largely by the community of Springfield and Lake Accotink Park. Lake Accotink was originally created during World War I as a water source for Fort Belvoir.

Two camp inspection reports - for March 21, 1936 and March 8, 1938 - provide insights into the people, operations and life of CCC No. 2399C Camp, including:
--Location, size and description of camp and its facilities
--U.S. Army Reserve officers, camp leaders and personnel assigned
--Compensation
--Details about camp sanitation, medical services, motor vehicles and safety program
--Evaluation ratings on camp facilities, conditions, personnel and morale
--Food, meals and daily menus
--Mission, responsibilities, work projects and plans
--Sports and recreation
--Religious services
--Health, including deaths of camp personnel
--Education, including efforts to eliminate illiteracy

Courtesy of Mary Lipsey; obtained during her research of the CCC from the The National Archives and Records Administration.

Map: Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Road

This 1939 map shows the location of the road built by the CCC in the 1930s to provide access to what was then an extensive forest, likely for fire control. Marked by a triangular symbol enclosing the letter "C", the road connected Old Keene Mill Road (Rt. 644) and Backlick Road (Rt. 617). The road, used by fire equipment and also by residents as a shortcut, was erased by suburban development and no longer appears on current maps.

This map is a detail taken from a highway map of Fairfax County, Virginia. Symbols are explained in the separate map legend.

General Highway and Transportation Map, Fairfax County, Virginia, prepared by the Virginia State Highway Department and Virginia State Planning Board in cooperation with the Federal Works Agency, Public Roads Administration, 1939; provided by The National Archives and Records Administration.

Essay: Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

In a chance conversation with Mary Lipsey, Bill Sheads mentioned the CCC's work in the 1930s in building a road through what was then an extensive forest, likely for fire control access. The CCC's role was all but forgotten and the road, erased by suburban development, had disappeared from current maps. Mary's research has verified the road's construction and location and led to creation of the first historic marker to commemorate the CCC's contributions to Fairfax County.

Courtesy of Mary Lipsey

Essay: The CCC Road

Bill Sheads writes about the road built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s to open access to a large forested tract bounded by Old Keene Mill, Backlick, Braddock and Rolling Roads.

Created in 1933 by the federal government to combat the severe economic conditions of the Great Depression, the CCC provided jobs and training for the unemployed in public works projects across the nation. Many of these projects involved fire prevention, including fire roads like one in this essay.

Courtesy of Bill Sheads

Rebel Hill, Artist's Drawing

On March 29, 1962, The Washington Post reported testimony by Mrs. Z. C. Zefteris of Kings Park West about Rebel Hill on Braddock Road to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. Describing cars sliding off the steep road in icy conditions and the inability of women to walk up the hill to call for help, she is quoted: "They had to go up that hill on their hands and knees..."

Artist Chris Lipsey depicts what it might have been like for drivers in winter.

Courtesy Chris Lipsey

Copyrighted material, not to be reproduced without permission of owner