Minor's Hill
Encyclopedia
Minor’s Hill is a geographic eminence located in the western tip of Arlington County, Virginia
. Its summit rises to 459 feet (139 meters) above sea level.
. While generally conical in shape, the hill is broad and sprawling, and its summit is relatively flat and broad. Its highest point occurs in Arlington.
A local stream called Four Mile Run
defines the hill’s southern and southwestern extent. Mount Daniel (472 feet) is to its west, Mackey’s Hill (171 feet) is to its north, and Upton’s Hill
(410 feet) is to its east. Its location overlooks the City of Falls Church on the opposite side of Four Mile Run, 1.4 miles to its south.
The hill is occasionally identified as Minor Hill and Minors’ Hill, and during the American Civil War often appeared in newspaper accounts and soldiers’ letters as “Miner’s Hill”.
Minor’s Hill was well known to local Native Americans
in Northern Virginia prior to European colonization. The Indians used an important trail
linking the Little Falls of the Potomac River with what is now the city center of Falls Church, where it entered the village as Little Falls Street. The trail wound around the northern and eastern sides of Minor’s Hill.
English colonists founded Falls Church in 1732, choosing as its location a place that was approximately one day’s horseback ride from the Potomac River
. The hill was afterward settled by the Minor family, who established an estate and built a fine home. Prior to this the hill did not have a formal name.
War of 1812
In 1814, during the War of 1812
, a British fleet ascended the Potomac River to Washington, and a British army invaded the city from the east. Colonel Minor of Minor’s Hill and his 700-man Virginia Militia 60th Regiment were summoned on August 23, 1814 from Falls Church to Washington, which they were assigned to defend. However, due to bureaucratic bungling among War Department officials they were not sent to help defend the approaches to Washington at Bladensburg, Maryland
nor did many of them come armed.
As events at the Battle of Bladensburg
worsened, government officials began evacuating the city. At that time the Washington Navy Yard
was an important fleet center, and its gunpowder
was hurriedly moved across the bridges into Virginia, and brought to Falls Church for safekeeping, protected by a six-man guard dispatched by Colonel Minor.
Government officials also fled the city, including President James Madison
, who came to Minor’s Hill looking for his wife, Dolley—a friend of the colonel’s wife—before hurrying downhill into Falls Church.
Mrs. Madison, separated in the chaos of that night from her husband, fled to the safety of Colonel Minor’s home on Minor’s Hill, and spent two nights there.
British troops torched Washington, burning it to the ground. The conflagration lit the nighttime skies at Falls Church, where a young refugee from Alexandria later recalled being awakened and taken outside to see Washington burn. “At first I thought the world was on fire. Such a flame I have never seen since."
The Civil War
Minor’s Hill’s next brush with history occurred during the American Civil War
. The war was devastating for Falls Church and Minor’s Hill, where Union and Confederate lines ebbed and flowed with abandon throughout the war. Each side insisted in loyalty from local residents, who found themselves living within the Confederate States of America
, or the United States of America, as troops came and went and each side’s military fortunes waxed and waned.
The Minor family were secessionist—meaning they were pro-Confederate, and supported Virginia’s bid to leave the Union—and clandestinely supported the Confederate Army and its movements throughout the war. At the beginning of the war Colonel Minor, then said to be 80, fled his home for the safety of Virginia’s interior. When it was occupied by Union troops they found his War of 1812 orders, signed by Secretary of State James Monroe
, directing him to the defenses of Washington at Bladensburg. It was a document “he certainly must prize,” as one report put it.
Confederate raids from Falls Church went as far east as Balls’ Cross Roads—modern Ballston—and many events took place in the territory surrounding the base of the hill. But in September 1862 a second calamitous loss in battle at Manassas forced the Union Army
to retrench and pull its forces toward Washington to protect the capital. Seven regiments encamped on Minor’s Hill, establishing Camp Barnard, Camp Bettie Black, Camp Burnham, Camp Cameron, Camp Carl Schurz, Camp Cromwell, Camp Owen, among several smaller encampments. Each of these camps developed into veritable cities.
During the war Union troops built a tall observation tower
atop Minor’s Hill, and also ascended from the hill in hot-air balloons to gain better views of Confederate movements in Fairfax County. Several photographs and drawings survive which depict the tower, as well as military parades and also several of the military camps. The only full-color lithograph created in the Falls Church area during the Civil War depicts Camp Owen, the camp of the 11th Rhode Island Infantry Regiment. It shows approximately 100 tents, in ten neat lines of ten tents each, as well as regimental headquarters tents. Of particular interest: a line of wooden huts may be seen—the same huts described in letters written by the soldiers who constructed them. The wood was removed from surrounding farms. (The lithograph is reprinted in black and white in the book, A Virginia Village Goes to War--Falls Church During the Civil War
by Bradley E. Gernand, on page 180, but also is published in full color as the glossy cover of the book. The original lithograph now resides in the Virginia Room of the Mary Riley Styles Public Library in Falls Church.)
Soldiers from the Minor’s Hill camps built their lodgings using wood they took from area farmers—they dismantled miles of wooden fencing; barns; even homes. Farmers felt these deprivations severely.
By the middle of the war Minor’s Hill was bound into the military telegraph network. A line connected it with Fort Ethan Allan at Chain Bridge (three miles, with connections to Washington via Fort Corcoran, using four wires), and to Hall’s Hill in eastern Arlington County (two miles, using one wire). Upton’s Hill was also connected to Fort Ethan Allan (five miles, with connections on to Washington using six wires), so it was firmly and securely bound into the communications network, probably by the summer of 1863, when the camps closed and the soldiers were transferred south and west to other theaters of the war.
The Modern Era
After the civil war the residents of Falls Church and Minor’s Hill rebuilt, and prospered. By 1891, when a Washington Evening Star newspaper reporter visited, Falls Church was neat and tidy. Ascending Minor’s Hill he could see “almost a bird’s-eye view of Falls Church, which nestles cozily at its base.” He could also clearly see the shaft of the Washington Monument and the Episcopal Seminary in Alexandria. Local residents told him that in winter, when leaves were off the trees, the Soldier’s Home in northern Washington, D.C. could also be seen. These views are not available today due to the hill’s tree cover.
On the eastern side of the hill the reporter came across the ruin of the old brick mansion of George Minor, the hill’s original owner. His family was splintered by the war, and lost much. The home site was now owned by others.
From then through the 1940s the hill remained pastoral. During the 1950s, however, a great wave of development spread west from Washington, and by the 1960s the entire hill was developed for housing. A public park on Williamsburg Boulevard at Powhatan Street commemorates the hill’s name, and helps preserve it as a place name.
Arlington County, Virginia
Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The land that became Arlington was originally donated by Virginia to the United States government to form part of the new federal capital district. On February 27, 1801, the United States Congress organized the area as a subdivision of...
. Its summit rises to 459 feet (139 meters) above sea level.
Location
Minor’s Hill straddles the border of Arlington County and Fairfax County, VirginiaFairfax County, Virginia
Fairfax County is a county in Virginia, in the United States. Per the 2010 Census, the population of the county is 1,081,726, making it the most populous jurisdiction in the Commonwealth of Virginia, with 13.5% of Virginia's population...
. While generally conical in shape, the hill is broad and sprawling, and its summit is relatively flat and broad. Its highest point occurs in Arlington.
A local stream called Four Mile Run
Four Mile Run
Four Mile Run is a stream in northern Virginia that starts near Interstate 66, at Gordon Avenue in Fairfax County and proceeds southeast through Falls Church to Arlington County in the U.S. state of Virginia...
defines the hill’s southern and southwestern extent. Mount Daniel (472 feet) is to its west, Mackey’s Hill (171 feet) is to its north, and Upton’s Hill
Upton's Hill
Upton’s Hill is a geographic eminence located in western Arlington County, Virginia. Its summit rises to above sea level. - Location :Upton’s Hill straddles the border of Arlington County and Fairfax County, Virginia. The hill is generally conical in shape with its summit lying astride Wilson...
(410 feet) is to its east. Its location overlooks the City of Falls Church on the opposite side of Four Mile Run, 1.4 miles to its south.
The hill is occasionally identified as Minor Hill and Minors’ Hill, and during the American Civil War often appeared in newspaper accounts and soldiers’ letters as “Miner’s Hill”.
History
Prehistoric and Colonial ErasMinor’s Hill was well known to local Native Americans
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
in Northern Virginia prior to European colonization. The Indians used an important trail
Trail
A trail is a path with a rough beaten or dirt/stone surface used for travel. Trails may be for use only by walkers and in some places are the main access route to remote settlements...
linking the Little Falls of the Potomac River with what is now the city center of Falls Church, where it entered the village as Little Falls Street. The trail wound around the northern and eastern sides of Minor’s Hill.
English colonists founded Falls Church in 1732, choosing as its location a place that was approximately one day’s horseback ride from the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...
. The hill was afterward settled by the Minor family, who established an estate and built a fine home. Prior to this the hill did not have a formal name.
War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
, a British fleet ascended the Potomac River to Washington, and a British army invaded the city from the east. Colonel Minor of Minor’s Hill and his 700-man Virginia Militia 60th Regiment were summoned on August 23, 1814 from Falls Church to Washington, which they were assigned to defend. However, due to bureaucratic bungling among War Department officials they were not sent to help defend the approaches to Washington at Bladensburg, Maryland
Bladensburg, Maryland
Bladensburg is a town in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 7,661 at the 2000 census.Bladensburg is from central Washington, DC...
nor did many of them come armed.
As events at the Battle of Bladensburg
Battle of Bladensburg
The Battle of Bladensburg took place during the War of 1812. The defeat of the American forces there allowed the British to capture and burn the public buildings of Washington, D.C...
worsened, government officials began evacuating the city. At that time the Washington Navy Yard
Washington Navy Yard
The Washington Navy Yard is the former shipyard and ordnance plant of the United States Navy in Southeast Washington, D.C. It is the oldest shore establishment of the U.S. Navy...
was an important fleet center, and its gunpowder
Gunpowder
Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...
was hurriedly moved across the bridges into Virginia, and brought to Falls Church for safekeeping, protected by a six-man guard dispatched by Colonel Minor.
Government officials also fled the city, including President James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
, who came to Minor’s Hill looking for his wife, Dolley—a friend of the colonel’s wife—before hurrying downhill into Falls Church.
Mrs. Madison, separated in the chaos of that night from her husband, fled to the safety of Colonel Minor’s home on Minor’s Hill, and spent two nights there.
British troops torched Washington, burning it to the ground. The conflagration lit the nighttime skies at Falls Church, where a young refugee from Alexandria later recalled being awakened and taken outside to see Washington burn. “At first I thought the world was on fire. Such a flame I have never seen since."
The Civil War
Minor’s Hill’s next brush with history occurred during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. The war was devastating for Falls Church and Minor’s Hill, where Union and Confederate lines ebbed and flowed with abandon throughout the war. Each side insisted in loyalty from local residents, who found themselves living within the Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
, or the United States of America, as troops came and went and each side’s military fortunes waxed and waned.
James Monroe
James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...
, directing him to the defenses of Washington at Bladensburg. It was a document “he certainly must prize,” as one report put it.
Confederate raids from Falls Church went as far east as Balls’ Cross Roads—modern Ballston—and many events took place in the territory surrounding the base of the hill. But in September 1862 a second calamitous loss in battle at Manassas forced the Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
to retrench and pull its forces toward Washington to protect the capital. Seven regiments encamped on Minor’s Hill, establishing Camp Barnard, Camp Bettie Black, Camp Burnham, Camp Cameron, Camp Carl Schurz, Camp Cromwell, Camp Owen, among several smaller encampments. Each of these camps developed into veritable cities.
During the war Union troops built a tall observation tower
Observation tower
An observation tower is a structure used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision. They are usually at least tall and made from stone, iron, and wood. Many modern towers are also used as TV towers, restaurants, or churches...
atop Minor’s Hill, and also ascended from the hill in hot-air balloons to gain better views of Confederate movements in Fairfax County. Several photographs and drawings survive which depict the tower, as well as military parades and also several of the military camps. The only full-color lithograph created in the Falls Church area during the Civil War depicts Camp Owen, the camp of the 11th Rhode Island Infantry Regiment. It shows approximately 100 tents, in ten neat lines of ten tents each, as well as regimental headquarters tents. Of particular interest: a line of wooden huts may be seen—the same huts described in letters written by the soldiers who constructed them. The wood was removed from surrounding farms. (The lithograph is reprinted in black and white in the book, A Virginia Village Goes to War--Falls Church During the Civil War
A Virginia Village Goes to War--Falls Church During the Civil War
A Virginia Village Goes to War—Falls Church During the Civil War is a community-owned book describing events in and around Falls Church, Virginia during the American Civil War.-Origin:...
by Bradley E. Gernand, on page 180, but also is published in full color as the glossy cover of the book. The original lithograph now resides in the Virginia Room of the Mary Riley Styles Public Library in Falls Church.)
Soldiers from the Minor’s Hill camps built their lodgings using wood they took from area farmers—they dismantled miles of wooden fencing; barns; even homes. Farmers felt these deprivations severely.
By the middle of the war Minor’s Hill was bound into the military telegraph network. A line connected it with Fort Ethan Allan at Chain Bridge (three miles, with connections to Washington via Fort Corcoran, using four wires), and to Hall’s Hill in eastern Arlington County (two miles, using one wire). Upton’s Hill was also connected to Fort Ethan Allan (five miles, with connections on to Washington using six wires), so it was firmly and securely bound into the communications network, probably by the summer of 1863, when the camps closed and the soldiers were transferred south and west to other theaters of the war.
The Modern Era
After the civil war the residents of Falls Church and Minor’s Hill rebuilt, and prospered. By 1891, when a Washington Evening Star newspaper reporter visited, Falls Church was neat and tidy. Ascending Minor’s Hill he could see “almost a bird’s-eye view of Falls Church, which nestles cozily at its base.” He could also clearly see the shaft of the Washington Monument and the Episcopal Seminary in Alexandria. Local residents told him that in winter, when leaves were off the trees, the Soldier’s Home in northern Washington, D.C. could also be seen. These views are not available today due to the hill’s tree cover.
On the eastern side of the hill the reporter came across the ruin of the old brick mansion of George Minor, the hill’s original owner. His family was splintered by the war, and lost much. The home site was now owned by others.
From then through the 1940s the hill remained pastoral. During the 1950s, however, a great wave of development spread west from Washington, and by the 1960s the entire hill was developed for housing. A public park on Williamsburg Boulevard at Powhatan Street commemorates the hill’s name, and helps preserve it as a place name.