Redoubt at Farr's Cross Roads (Historical Marker)

Here follows the inscription written on this trailside historical marker:

Redoubt at Farr's Cross Roads
George Mason University History Trail

Just before you is an early American Civil War earthen fortification, known in military terms as a redoubt. It was hastily constructed by Confederate forces in the spring of 1861 in anticipation of the war's first major land battle, First Manassas/Bull Run. Its purpose was to monitor and inhibit Union troop westward movement, providing early-warning for the bulk of the Confederate Army positioned in the west along the Bull Run.

The redoubt was positioned here because of the strategic location at the intersection of two well-used roads and on "high" ground, this being the second highest natural point in Fairfax County. Circular in nature with an 80 foot diameter, the distance from the top of its parapet (wall) to its floor is 3 feet.

Ironically, this early-warning position for Confederate forces would later serve the same purpose for the Federal forces in the protection of Washington City.

Colonel Robert Rodes' 5th Alabama Volunteer Infantry constructed the redoubt in June 1861. The following military units occupied and modified the redoubt during the war:

-- June/July 1861: Fifth Alabama Infantry (Rodes' Regiment), Ewell's Brigade
-- July 18-19, 1861: Sixteenth New York Infantry (Davies' Regiment), Miles Brigade, Fifth Division enroute to Centreville and the Battle of First Manassas
-- September 18, 1861: Twenty-seventh Virginia Infantry, Jackson's Brigade
-- March 9, 1862: First New Jersey Infantry following Confederate forces withdrawal from Centreville and Northern Virginia
-- November 1862 to May 1863: Various Union cavalry units
-- 1863 to 1865: Thirteenth New York Cavalry, Sixteenth New York Cavalry, Second Massachusetts Cavalry of the Twenty-second Corps, and later the First Separate Brigade, Defenses of Washington City

This site was preserved by Mother Nature's forests and leaf cover for more than 160 years. It lay virtually unseen until it was located by artifact hunters in the 1950's, and was subsequently preserved and interpreted in 2020-2021.

[Photo Caption:]
The sketch above was created by George Mason alumnus Nathan Loda and depicts what this area and the redoubt may well have looked like in June 1861. The sketch depicts the Farr family home and farmland, the original Farr's Cross Roads, the campsite of the Fifth Alabama Infantry, the redoubt, and the farm road that runs vertically to the left of the redoubt and was reinforced with a trench line to provide additional protection for the redoubt and its occupiers. Traces of this farm road still exist.