Unison Battlefield Historic District, Loudoun & Fauquier Counties.
The 8,000 acres comprising the Unison Battlefield Historic District
stretch between the villages of Philomont and Unison (Loudoun Co.) and Upperville
(Fauquier Co.). The district features historic farmsteads, roads, fences, and buildings in one
of the best preserved Civil War battlefields in the nation. Here, Union and Confederate
cavalry detachments fought between November 1 and 3, 1862. As a result of the battle,
Union Gen. George B. McClellan failed to execute a battle plan drawn up by
President Abraham Lincoln. His plan directed McClellan to confine or attack Gen.
Robert E Lee’s infantry in the northern
Shenandoah Valley or block and attack Lee’s army if it marched east across
McClellan‘s front line from the valley toward Culpeper County. McClellan
failed to carry out the plan after Confederate Gen. J. E. B. Stuart‘s cavalry
successfully delayed Union Brig. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton‘s cavalry, which
was leading McClellan‘s Army of the Potomac during the Battle of Unison.
On November 5, an exasperated Lincoln, who had failed in repeated attempts to
motivate McClellan to aggressively pursue Confederates, finally sacked
the general and replaced him with Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside.