Quailwood Manor House

Here follows an excerpt from the Fairfax Genealogical Society website:

This is the Mary Wilcoxson house, also known as Quailwood Manor. The Fairfax Family Cemetery is located in a wooded area on the property at 7733 Black Walnut Court in the Quailwood Estates off Wolf Run Shoals Road. The original plantation house still stands here at the intersection of Wolf Run Shoals Road and Quailwood Manor Drive.


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Here follows the inscription written on a roadside historical marker a couple miles away in Fountainhead Park:

Wolf Run Shoals
Strategic Crossing Point

During the Civil War, both Union and Confederate forces considered Wolf Run Shoals an essential crossing point on the Occoquan River through 1963. Confederate regiments camped on the south side of the shoals and posted pickets there from the winter of 1861–1862 until March 1862.

In December 1862, the Federal XI and XII Corps used the ford on their march from Northern Virginia south to Fredericksburg. In January 1863, the 2nd Vermont Brigade’s 12th and 13th Infantry camped on the north side of the ford. Because of increased Confederate partisan ranger activities under Captain John S. Mosby, the units were strengthened in March.

The Union Army of the Potomac’s II and VI Corps, as well as the Artillery Reserve, crossed the shoals as they moved north in June 1863 towards Pennsylvania and Gettysburg. General Joseph Hooker, who then commanded the army, ordered the 2nd Vermont Brigade to follow, thereby leaving the ford unguarded. This action enabled Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart and his cavalrymen to cross here just 48 hours later, early in the morning of June 27, on what would become his controversial ride to Gettysburg.

Colonel John S. Mosby’s Rangers made the last reported military use of this ford in April 1865.

(sidebar) Local resident Mary Willcoxon nursed young Vermont Lieutenant Carmi Marsh back to health at her nearby house. The grateful Marsh provided her with financial support in her later years, including her funeral expenses.

(sidebar) Wolf Run Shoals, a three-island ford that spans the Occoquan River here, has historic roots dating back to the Revolutionary War. In 1781, General George Washington ordered a road built for American and French wagons, cavalry, and cattle en route to Yorktown. Part of this road , now called the Washington-Rochembeau Wagon Route, lies directly in front of you and leads to the water’s edge. The shoal islands and the mill that once stood here, however, are now submerged in the Occoquan Reservoir.

Erected by Virginia Civil War Trails.


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More about this marker:
The marker has three photographs and a map. In the center is a photograph captioned “Co. A., 13th Vermont Infantry, at Wolf Run Shoals.” To the right of this photograph is a map by Brian McEnany and James Lewis showing the ford and the locations of the 12th and 13th Vermont infantry and their guns. In the sidebar on the lower left are portraits of “Mary Willcoxon and her son, William” and “Lt. Carmi L. Marsh, 12th Vermont Infantry.”


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Regarding Wolf Run Shoals:
The unpaved Wolf Run Shoals Road continues here from this marker down to the riverbank as a walking trail.

Wolf Run Shoal Road (the former Washington-Rochembeau Wagon Route) resumes on the Prince William County side of the reservoir. You can reach that section of the road from Davis Ford Road (PW County Route 663). Turn north onto Bacon Race Road (Route 610) and left on Wolf Run Shoals Road.


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Caption on Picture 5:
Regarding the caption, "Is this Mary Willcoxon’s House?" No, this is the Fairfax house. Buried about 100 yards up Wolf Run Shoals road on the right is the Fairfax-Buckley family cemetery. Buried there is Wellington Fairfax. He enlisted as a private at the age of 17 in Co. H, 15th Va Cavalry, then 43rd Battalion Cavalry of Mosby’s Rangers. This being his home ground, he would have been invaluable to Mosby in his raids of this area.

The Mary Wilcoxson house, where Lt. Marsh convalesced in January and February 1863, is today located at 7700 Wolf Run Shoals Rd., Fairfax Station, VA 2203. It is known as Quailwood and is about 2 miles up Wolf Run Shoals Road by the intersection with Devereau Manor Lane.