Ox Hill Battlefield Park

Ox Hill Battlefield Park is a site in Fairfax, Virginia, where the Battle of Ox Hill (Union name Battle of Chantilly) was fought during the American Civil War. It was the only major battle of the war fought in Fairfax County. The battlefield is now a public park adjacent to suburban developments and the Fairfax Towne Center shopping center, and is maintained by the Fairfax County Park Authority.

The most prominent feature is a pair of monuments to the two Union generals killed during the battle, Isaac Stevens and Philip Kearny. Stevens was fatally shot within the area of the present-day park while Kearny was killed just to the west. There are also two Virginia historical markers placed near the park entrance commemorating the battle and aftermath.

The park is located at 4134 West Ox Road, in Fair Lakes near Route 50, on the corner of West Ox Road (State Route 608) and Monument Drive (which was presumably named for the Kearny and Stevens memorial). It is only 4.8 acres (0.019 km2), about 1.5% of the roughly 300 acres (1.2 km2) where the battle was fought. The rest of the battlefield has been developed with apartments, office buildings, and similar urban construction. Nevertheless, the remaining plot does hold important portions of the battle area.

Read more about Ox Hill Battlefield Park:  Battle, History of The Park, Events

Famous quotes containing the words hill, battlefield and/or park:

    Who knows but this hill may one day be a Helvellyn, or even a Parnassus, and the Muses haunt here, and other Homers frequent the neighboring plains?... It was a place where gods might wander, so solemn and solitary, and removed from all contagion with the plain.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    Fighting is like champagne. It goes to the heads of cowards as quickly as of heroes. Any fool can be brave on a battlefield when it’s be brave or else be killed.
    Margaret Mitchell (1900–1949)

    Linnæus, setting out for Lapland, surveys his “comb” and “spare shirt,” “leathern breeches” and “gauze cap to keep off gnats,” with as much complacency as Bonaparte a park of artillery for the Russian campaign. The quiet bravery of the man is admirable.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)