Conner House
Headquarters and Refuge
Built of locally quarried sandstone about 1820 and later expanded, the Conner House was used during the Civil War by the Confederacy and then by the United States. After the First Battle of Manassas on July 21, 1861, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, who with P.G.T. Beauregard had commanded the victorious Southern army, kept his headquarters here until November. From here, Johnston secured his position at Manassas Junction and control of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, the tracks of which ran just east of the house. Johnston evacuated the area on March 8-9, 1862, to defend Richmond.
In August 1862, the Conner House changed sides when Col. Lewis B. Pierce, 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry, used it for his headquarters and a hospital. On the night of August 26, Pierce lay ill here as Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s Confederate force approached from the southwest. Having captured Bristoe Station on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad line, Jackson ordered a rare night attack on the great Union supply depot at Manassas Junction. Gen. Isaac R. Trimble led the assault, brushing aside the Pennsylvanians when they opposed him in front of the house, and captured the depot easily. Within a few days, the Second Battle of Manassas raged nearby.
The Conner House was named for its last private owner, who operated a dairy farm in the first half of the 20th century. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.
Marker can be reached from Conner Drive east of Centreville Road (Virginia Route 28).
Courtesy hmdb.org
