Mount
Zion Old School Baptist CHurch
Aldie, Virginia
#NC-08190-WP - Notecards
#PR-08190-WP - Open Edition Print
During the
Civil War, this simple red brick church served as a battleground,
hospital, prison, barracks and grave site. Confederate Major John
Singleton Mosby frequently rendezvoused at the church with his
rangers following raids throughout the region. Due to its strategic
location, Union troops also regularly used the church as a stopover.
On July 4,
1864, a detachment of 150 Union cavalrymen under the command of
Major William H. Forbes embarked on a three-day mission in search
of Mosby and his men. Mosby hastened to head off this patrol while
returning with an equal number of men from a raid at Point of
Rocks, Maryland. The two forces collided at Mount Zion Church
on the morning of July 6.
In his official
report, Mosby noted that his rangers "completely routed"
the opposition, killing or severely wounding about 80 men and
taking 57 prisoners. "My loss was 1 killed and 6 wounded
-- none dangerously," he wrote. A row of uninscribed fieldstone
markers in the Mount Zion Church cemetery identifies the final
resting place for 11 of the Union dead. Names found on other tombstones
include several of the original church members.
After the
war, regular services resumed at the church, continuing until
1980. Today, the Mount Zion Church Preservation Association solicits
funds to stabilize, preserve, and promote this historic site.
Text
© 1998 Terry White, Drawing © 1998 Bill Harrah
.
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