On April 17, 1861, the Virginia legislature produced the ordinance of succession. On May 23, 1861, Virginians approved the measure for succession and the morning after the move union troops came from Washington, D.C. to occupy the town of Alexandria, Virginia, in order to create a buffer zone between the United States Capital and the Confederate Army. The Union occupied the City of Alexandria longer than any other Confederate city during the war.
In addition. Alexandria was the site of the first casualties in the war after the fall of Fort Sumter. The consistent occupation of Alexandria by the Union Army soared the city of the destruction other cities in Virginia, such as Petersburg and Richmond endures.