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The Battle of Fairfax Court House was the first land engagement of the American Civil War, when a Union scouting party clashed with the local militia in the village of Fairfax Court House, Virginia on June 1, 1861. It saw the first death in action of a Confederate officer, and the first wounding of a Confederate officer of field grade. The Union had sent a regular cavalry unit under Lieutenant Tompkins to estimate enemy numbers in the locality. At Fairfax Court House, they surprised a small Confederate rifle company under Captain Marr, and took some prisoners. Marr rallied his unit, but was killed, and command was taken over by a civilian ex-governor of Virginia, William "Extra Billy" Smith, who forced the Union to retreat. The engagement is judged to have been inconclusive. The Union did not gain the intelligence it was seeking, and had to delay its drive on Richmond, thus enabling the Confederates to build-up their strength at Manassas in advance of the much-bigger battle there, the following month. Tompkins was criticised for exceeding his orders, though these orders were somewhat imprecise. ==Background== On April 15, 1861, the day after the U.S. Army surrendered Fort Sumter in the harbor Charleston, South Carolina to Confederate forces, President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to reclaim federal property and to suppress the rebellion begun by the seven Deep South states which had formed the Confederate States of America (Confederacy).〔Long, E. B. ''The Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac, 1861–1865.'' Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971. . p. 59.〕 Four Upper South States, including Virginia, refused to furnish troops for this purpose and began the process of secession from the Union with the intent of joining the Confederacy.〔Hansen, Harry. ''The Civil War: A History''. New York: Bonanza Books, 1961. . p. 48〕 On April 17, 1861, the Virginia Secession Convention began in Richmond, Virginia for the purpose of considering the secession of Virginia. A majority of the delegates immediately passed an ordinance of secession and authorized the governor to call for volunteers to join the military forces of Virginia to defend the state against Federal military action.〔Scharf, John Thomas. (''History of the Confederate States Navy From Its Organization to the Surrender of Its Last Vessel'' ). New York: Rogers & Sherwood, 1887, p. 39. . Retrieved February 1, 2011〕 Virginia Governor John Letcher appointed Robert E. Lee as commander in chief of Virginia’s army and navy forces on April 22, 1861 at the grade of major general.〔 On April 24, Virginia and the Confederate States agreed that the Virginia forces would be under the overall direction of the Confederate President pending completion of the process of Virginia joining the Confederate States.〔 These actions effectively took Virginia out of the Union despite the scheduling of a popular vote on the question of secession for May 23, 1861.〔Long, 1971, p. 60.〕〔Detzer, David. ''Dissonance: The Turbulent Days Between Fort Sumter and Bull Run''. New York: Harcourt, 2006. ISBN 978-0-15-603064-9 (pbk.) p. 49.〕 The popular vote of May 23, 1861 ratified the secession of Virginia. Virginia Governor Letcher issued a proclamation officially transferring Virginia forces to the Confederacy on June 6, 1861.〔United States War Dept., Robert Nicholson Scott, et al. ( ''The War of the Rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate Armies'' ) Series I, Volume II. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1880. . Retrieved May 14, 2011. p. 911-912.〕 Major General Lee, as commander of the state forces, issued an order in compliance with the proclamation on June 8, 1861.〔 On May 31, 1861, about 210 Virginia (soon to be Confederate) soldiers, occupied Fairfax Court House, about west of Washington, D.C.〔Modern highway driving distance between Fairfax City and Washington, DC is about .〕 These were 120 cavalrymen in two companies, the Prince William cavalry and the Rappahannock cavalry, which then had about 60 men each, and about 90 infantrymen in a company known as the Warrenton Rifles.〔Poland, Jr., Charles P. (''The Glories Of War: Small Battle And Early Heroes Of 1861'' ). Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2006. ISBN 978-1-4184-5973-4. p. 249. Retrieved May 10, 2011. pp. 35–36〕 Fairfax Court House was a village with about 300 inhabitants and the county seat of Fairfax County, Virginia.〔Poland, Jr., 2006, p. 36〕 Confederate Lt. Col. Richard S. Ewell, who had recently resigned as a captain of cavalry in the United States Army was in command of this largely untrained and ill-equipped force.〔 He had only just arrived in town and met a few officers but had not been introduced to the enlisted men.〔 Captain John Q. Marr commanded the Warrenton Rifles.〔 On the night of May 31, 1861, only two pickets were posted on the road east of town because little threat of attack from Federal forces who were no closer than away was expected.〔 The small Virginia force had taken this advanced position to help protect against the discovery of the build up of Confederate forces at Manassas Junction, Virginia, a railroad junction about farther to the south.〔Longacre, Edward G. ''Lincoln's Cavalrymen: A History of the Mounted Forces of the Army of the Potomac''. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2000. ISBN 0-8117-1049-1. p. 17〕〔Davis, William C. ''Battle at Bull Run: A History of the First Major Campaign of the Civil War''. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1977. ISBN 0-8071-0867-7. p. 33〕 On the same day, Brigadier General David Hunter gave verbal orders to Lieutenant Charles Henry Tompkins of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry Regiment to gather information about the numbers and location of Confederate forces in the area. Hunter's instructions about entering Fairfax Court House were vague but he seemed to encourage a probe into town to discover more information.〔 At about 10:30 p.m. on the night of May 31, 1861, Tompkins led a Union force of between 50 and 86 regular army cavalrymen, dragoons and a few volunteers from Camp Union at Falls Church, Virginia, on the ordered reconnaissance mission in the direction of Fairfax Court House.〔Walker, Charles D. (''Memorial, Virginia Military Institute: Biographical sketches of the Graduates and Eleves of the Virginia Military Institute Who Fell in the War Between the States'' ). Philadelphia: J. P. Lippincott & Company, 1875. . Retrieved May 11, 2011, p. 363 says Tompkins had 86 men. Poland, Jr., 2006, p. 37, says there were about 50 men in the patrol; he says that Tompkins reported he had 51 men, although he notes that General Irvin McDowell reported that Tompkins had 75, Poland, Jr., 2006, p. 82. Longacre, 2000. p. 18 uses the number of 75 men from McDowell's report for the size of Tompkins's force. Eicher, David J. ''The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War,'' p. 74. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. ISBN 978-0-684-84944-7. p. 74 says Tompkins had 50 cavalry troopers and 25 dragoons with him. Tompkins had reported he also had a few volunteers with his force.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Fairfax Court House (June 1861)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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