Date
September 1, 1862
Union name of battle
Chantilly (after the Chantilly house/plantation, three miles west)
Confederate name of battle
Ox Hill (where the battle was fought)
Time
- Approx. 4:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. (skirmishing and forming for battle)
- Approx. 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. (Stevens’ attack followed by that of Birney’s brigade (of Kearny’s division).
Place
Ox Hill (southern slope of ridge), Fairfax County, Virginia
Weather
Hot with violent thunderstorm – heavy rain, strong winds from the south, frequent lightning
Campaign
Northern Virginia (Second Manassas) Campaign (June-Sept. 1862)
Union Forces
Army of the Potomac – IX Corps, 1st and 2nd Divisions; III Corps, 1st Division, 2nd Brigade (both corps attached to Pope’s Army of Virginia)
Confederate Forces
Army of Northern Virginia – Left Wing or Corps (Jackson)
Union Commanders
- Maj. Gen. Philip Kearny
- Brig. Gen. Isaac I. Stevens (Note: Stevens promoted to Maj. Gen. posthumously)
- Maj. Gen. Jesse L. Reno
Confederate Commanders
- Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson
- Maj. Gen. A. P. Hill
- Brig. Gen. Alexander R. Lawton
- Brig. Gen. William E. Starke
- Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart
Union Strength
Approximately 6,000 troops (with approximately 2,300 more arriving to hold the Union line at the close of combat)
Confederate Strength
Approximately 17,000 troops (approximately 10,000 engaged)
Union Casualties
Not less than 1,000 based on estimates of participants (actual number was not separated from 2nd Manassas totals)
Confederate Casualties
516 (506 from CS reports, plus 10 captured in Hill’s Division (unreported) according to R.R. Smith’s study. Also, an ordinance officer of D.R. Jones’ Brigade, Longstreet’s Wing, was captured later in the night when he mistakenly rode into Union lines while carrying orders.)
Results: Inconclusive
Inconclusive. A bloody stalemate. Union forces successfully defended their line of retreat from Centreville, thwarting Lee’s attempt to cut them off. The Federals retreated during the night to Jermantown and Fairfax Court House leaving the battlefield to the Confederates. On September 2, Gen. Pope’s army retreated to Alexandria and the defenses of Washington, D.C.
Significance
- Deaths of two Union division commanders, Generals Stevens and Kearny—killed in action.
- Violent thunderstorm and gale force winds make the Battle of Ox Hill (Chantilly) unique among Civil War battles
- Only major Civil War battle fought in Fairfax County
- Marked the end of the Northern Virginia (Second Manassas) Campaign and start of the Maryland Campaign.
The Battlefield Today
- Considered a “lost” battlefield by the American Battlefield Trust, Fairfax County’s Ox Hill Battlefield Park preserves only 4.9 acres—about 1% of the original battlefield of over 500 acres.
- The fight during the 1980s and 1990s for the preservation of this 4.9 acres was the spark that ignited the modern battlefield preservation movement – and specifically the formation of the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites (APCWS), then the Civil War Trust (CWT) which evolved into the American Battlefield Trust (ABT) and the battlefield preservation programs we know today.
- Site of the Kearny and Stevens Monuments, dedicated Oct. 2, 1915, by Union and Confederate veterans. Six court-appointed trustees own the monument lot. The surrounding park is owned and maintained by Fairfax County Park Authority
Location
4134 West Ox Road, Fairfax, VA, 22044 - near Fairfax Towne Center Shopping Center at the southwest corner of intersection of West Ox Road and Monument Drive
GPS
38o51’52”N, 77o22’10”W
Area
4.92 acres (includes 0.10 acre monument lot owned by the Trustees of the Kearny and Stevens Monuments)
Status
Cultural Resource Park, Fairfax County, open all year
Website: