The Battle of Ox Hill
Aftermath: The Invasion of Maryland
The clash at Ox Hill ended the Second Manassas Campaign. A small force of 6,000 Union soldiers had battled to a stalemate a much larger Confederate force of 17,000 of whom about 10,000 were engaged. In little more than two hours, the Confederates lost 516 men killed, wounded and missing. Union forces lost at least 1,000 casualties and withdrew during the night to Jermantown and Fairfax Court House, leaving behind nearly 250 severely wounded. The next day Pope’s army escaped to the safety of Washington’s fortifications.
After the battle, Major General James Longstreet’s wing arrived at Chantilly. With Lee’s army now united, the Confederates held their position and rested on September 2, their camps sprawling from Ox Hill to Chantilly and beyond.
On September 3, Lee marched his army to Dranesville, then to Leesburg and the Potomac River fords. There, on September 4, the Army of Northern Virginia began crossing into Maryland.
The invasion of Maryland would draw the Union army out of Virginia and move the war to Union territory, where fertile fields could be foraged and where promise of further victories might bring European recognition and support for the Confederacy. The opposing armies would soon clash again in the bloody battles of South Mountain and Antietam (Sharpsburg).
Marker can be reached from West Ox Road (Virginia Route 608).
Courtesy hmdb.org
