Freedom Hill Redoubt
Late-War Protection
Small batteries called redoubts were constructed during the Civil War as part of the outer defensive lines that encircled Washington, D.C. Late in the war, the one in front of you was built here on Freedom Hill (according to tradition, named for one of Fairfax County’s earliest free black communities, settled near here in the 1840s).
On New Year’s Day 1865, two 13th New York Cavalry troopers encountered a concealed force of thirty Confederates near Freedom Hill. One of the Federals escaped and spread the word, but patrols failed to capture any of the Confederates. Later that month, Federal authorities ordered the construction of the redoubt. Military dispatches and other official communications from the Freedom Hill redoubt confirm the fact that the fort saw no significant action during its brief lifetime.
A company of the 5th Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery Regiment was stationed here as part of a larger contingent assigned to protect the signal tower at the nearby Peach Grove Stockade. Freedom Hill’s fortifications also offered protection to couriers and patrols on Chain Bridge Road as they sought to elude Confederate Col. John S. Mosby’s Rangers.
The Freedom Hill redoubt was built to standard army design. A gun platform was located in the center, the earthen walls were lined with timber, and ditches ringed the exterior. The soldiers were not shielded from the weather, nor did the earthworks protect against anything but small arms fire.
Marker is on Old Courthouse Road (Virginia Route 677), on the right when traveling south.
Courtesy hmdb.org
