Many places had different names back during the 1800s. For example, the Longfellow Middle School area was built on the farm of Charles Kirby, which Kirby Road and Park were named after. Kirby sent four sons to the Civil War, two died. The Longfellow area was also a campground to thousands of soldiers, north and south, during the war. Minor’s Hill, another encampment, housed thousands of Union soldiers. Minor’s Hill is located on Williamsburg Boulevard, near Haycock Elementary School.

Another hotbed of activity was what we now call “Seven Corners.” Several forts and cannons lined this area. Several thousand Union soldiers occupied the forts and the town of Falls Church, which had voted for leaving the United States.

Many of the places that we know today were named for people or farms back then. Haycock Elementary was named for Haycock farm, and Mr. Haycock, who in 1860 voted against leaving the Union.

For those of you who go to St. James, you are standing on what many historians believe is the longest continuous battlefield of the Civil War. The battle of the Peach Orchard, which was only a minor skirmish, is thought to have happened in and around Mary Riley Styles and the St. James Church area of Falls Church. It raged on for six months which was a major feat for battles during the war, starting in September of 1861. The soldiers were taking shots at each other in violent raids, mooning each other, yelling , being hectic and creating a sense of restlessness between the troops.

In mid-1862, a New York soldier reported what was going on near the Falls Church area: “The cannoning makes things tremble around here like blazes. The wounded have been coming in (and) amputations have been performed here this afternoon... this is the biggest dance of the war yet.”

But what the area is probably most notable for in local history is Thaddeus Lowe. At what is now a car dealership on Route seven, near Seven Corners, he set up the first air balloon. On Sept. 24, 1861, Lowe “directed aerial bombardment of Falls Church by Union troops... firing near Chain Bridge” local historian Bradley Gernand said in a recent book. George Armstrong Custer visited the site with Lowe. With this, he was the first in history to direct artillery fire from the air. The Union artillery fired over Falls Church to an enemy fort in the area of the Falls Church McDonalds.

Lewinsville, of the McLean area, saw its fair share of fighting as well. Three skirmishes occurred there, costing several lives. All three battles happened during September of 1861. Each battle involved hundreds of Confederate soldiers facing a larger enemy, and each time the Confederates won. The third battle occurred near the residential area of the McLean Hamlet, this brings many things into perspective for area residents and students in McLean.

The writer of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” Julia Ward Howe, visited a review of 70,000 U.S. soldier in Falls Church. After this experience, she went back to Washington, D.C. and wrote the famous song.

George Custer, James Longstreet, J.E.B. Stuart and George McLellan were some of the notable soldiers to visit or be stationed near Falls Church.