The northern Virginia battlefield where President Abraham Lincoln relieved his commanding general for stubbornly refusing his commands is among eight sites added to the state's landmarks registry.
The Unison Battlefield Historic District, encompassing 8,000 acres in Loudoun and Fauquier counties, is where Union and Confederate cavalry detachments fought between Nov. 1-3, 1862. The Union forces were led by Gen. George B. McClellan, who failed to execute a battle plan drawn up by Lincoln that sought to pin down Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Two days after the battle, Lincoln relieved McClellan for his refusal to more aggressively pursue Confederate forces. He was replaced by Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside.
The Unison Battlefield is among the best preserved Civil War battlefields in the nation, according to the state Department of Historic Resources. http://www.dhr.virginia.gov It features farmsteads, roads, fences and buildings.
The other additions to the state's landmarks registry are:
- The Freeman General Store, Fairfax County, built in 1859 and restored in the 1970s to its original likeness, based on Civil War-era photos. Historic Vienna Inc. continues to operate the store.
- Fire Station No. 5 in Roanoke, constructed a century ago, and operated until June 2010. It is now home to a nonprofit charitable organization.
- The Barrett-Chumney House, Amelia County, built in 1823 by Thomas Barrett. The house remains little changed today.
- The Sutherland House, built in the 1860s, is considered one of the most architecturally significant Civil War-era houses in Petersburg. It was built by George Washington Sutherland, a prosperous city grocer, and his wife.
- Cave Hill Farm, in Rockingham County, consisting of 158 acres. The site includes a two-story brick residence built in 1847 and an 1870 barn constructed on the stone remnants of a barn burned down during the Civil War.
- The Forestville Historic District, in Shenandoah County, a well-preserved mill settled by German immigrants at the crossroads of Routes 42, 614 and 767. It rose around a grist mill constructed in 1760 and grew amid the expansion of commercial wheat production.
- The John Miley Maphis House, also in Shenandoah County, a two-story frame house built in 1856 for a prosperous miller and merchant. The house is nearly unchanged and reflects the “hall-and-parlor” houses that were widespread in the Shenandoah Valley in the second half of the 19th century.
