Brigadier General Edward Ord left Camp Pierpont at 6:00 AM on the 20th with about 5,000-5,500 men from the 1st PA Rifles (the Bucktails), 6th PA Reserves, 9th PA Reserves, 10th PA Reserves, 12th PA Reserves, 1st PA Reserve Cavalry, and Battery A of the 1st PA Light Artillery under Captain Hezekiah Easton. Brigadier General John Reynolds brigade trailed behind at Colvin Run Mill along Difficult Run to protect the return route to Camp Pierpont. Ord’s instructions were to drive back the enemy’s pickets from their advanced position and to procure a supply of forage.
With his men foraging on Gunnell’s farm Ord sent part of his force west toward Dranesville. When they reached the area near the intersection of the Georgetown Pike and Leesburg Pike they encountered advanced pickets from Stuart’s force coming north on the Centreville Road (modern day Reston Avenue). Stuart would command 1600-2500 men from the 1st KY, 6th SC, 10th AL, 11th VA, cavalry from the 1st NC and 2nd VA, and the Sumter Light Artillery from GA.
Union forces originally had advanced beyond the intersection of the two Pikes and had placed 2 cannon on a hill near a church. Seeing the Confederates advancing toward Drane’s Hill and realizing the importance of the position Ord quickly moved his four cannons to Drane’s Hill where they deployed. The Bucktails (1st PA rifles) occupied the large brick Thornton house and opened fire on the Rebels from its interior (see maps below).
The next three pictures show the view from the marker on Drane Hill looking down toward Reston Avenue (Centreville Road), Stuart would have been advancing toward the camera.
This was the first time Stuart would command infantry in battle and he would be outmatched by Ord, an artillery officer in the pre-war army. Ord expertly placed his guns on the high ground where they decimated Stuart’s artillery. Two of the Georgia artillerists were beheaded by a single shot, while another round destroyed a caisson. On the left of the Centreville Road as the Confederate infantry deployed the 1st KY fired into the backs of the 6th SC. While to the right of the road the Colonel of the 10th AL John Forney was wounded and its Lieutenant Colonel James Martin was killed.
With his artillery taking heavy losses, his infantry bogged down in the woods south of the Pike, and reports that a large Union force (Reynolds) was moving to assist Ord, Stuart began to collect his wagons. The 11th VA covered the retreat back down the Centreville Road. Ord could not get his men to counter-attack, as the Rebels were retreating, and returned to Camp Pierpont. Stuart brought his wounded back to the Frying Pan Meeting House.
After defeats in the east at Manassas and Balls Bluff the Northern press called Dranesville “the first Federal victory south of the Potomac.” The battle was covered extensively in newspapers in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh given that the victors were all members of the First Pennsylvania Reserves. Casualties for the Union- 1st PA Rifles- 23; 6th PA Reserves- 16; 9th PA Reserves- 27; 10th PA Reserves- none; 12th PA Reserves- 1; Battery B, 1st PA Light Artillery- 1; total- 68. Casualties for the Confederates- 1st KY- 28; 6th SC- 69; 10th AL- 68; 11th VA- 21; Sumter Artillery- 18; total- 204.
The list of those who were killed from the marker on Drane Hill is shown below.
Not much remains of the battlefield today with the exception of the interpretation shown below.
Located on Drane Hill
The picture below was taken at the junction of Georgetown Pike and the Leesburg Pike looking west toward Leesburg where many homes in the town of Dranesville were once located.
At the Dranesville Tavern
Other sites in Herndon related to the Battle of Dranesville.
The Day brother’s homes
Both brothers were arrested around the 27th of November 1861 by a Cavalry Company in General McCall’s Division, at Drainesville Virginia and were brought to Washington and imprisoned in the Old Capitol Prison. They were charged with having been open and unrelenting secessionists and that they in August participated in the ambush of Federal pickets at Lowe’s Flats, near Drainesville, Virginia and murdered two of them, wounding one. They were also charged with committing upon the dead bodies such acts of inhuman and sacrilegious nature.
Mayfield- Dr. William B. Day’s house- 11700 Leesburg Pike
Dr. William B. Day’s grave in the Day family cemetery in Vienna- 38.9520294, -77.2880942. The picture below is from the findagrave website. There does not appear to be any way to access the cemetery without trespassing on private property.
Ivy Chimney- Dr. John T. Day’s house- 11706 Leesburg Pike
Dr. John T. Day’s Grave- Chesnut Grove Cemetery, 831 Dranesville Road, Herndon- 38.9835587, -77.3786392
Thomas Coleman’s grave- Dranesville United Methodist Church formerly the Liberty Church- 1089 Liberty Meeting Court, Herndon, VA. Coleman was a member of the Dranesville home guard who was mortally wounded when trying to ambush Union Cavalry returning to their base after apprehending other members of the home guard involved in the Lowes Flats ambush.
Bloomfield- 12000 Leesburg Pike
Bloomfield is one of the last remaining late-period pre-Civil War brick farmhouses in northwestern Fairfax County. The two-story house was constructed for Martha Mead Carper. During the Civil War, both Union and Confederate soldiers camped on the property at various times.
Source
Dranesville: A Northern Virginia Town in the Crossfire of a Forgotten Battle, December 20, 1861 by Ryan T. Quint