Camp Beckwith

Camp Beckwith

1863

During the first years of the Civil War, thousands of enslaved people escaped to the District of Columbia in search of freedom. During May and June of 1863, as the number of contrabands grew, the Union Army decided to relocate the growing number of contrabands to camps outside of Washington City, making use of abandoned secessionist properties. The government created five camps that occupied property in either Arlington or Fairfax Counties. Two of these camps were located in today’s McLean near Langley and Lewinsville: Camp Beckwith and Camp Wadsworth. Camp Beckwith was a contraband camp that was established during 1863 in the Lewinsville area west of the Lewinsville Presbyterian Church. It made use of the abandoned secessionist property of at least Dr. William McVeigh and Susan Jackson, the widow of James W. Jackson. The contrabands were paid to work the land and were offered educational opportunities in camp schools.

Lewinsville area of today’s McLean, Virginia

Dranesville

In May of 1861, James W. Jackson fatally shot Colonel Elmer Ellsworth of the 11th New York Fire Zouaves who had just removed a large Confederate flag from atop Alexandria’s Marshall Hotel. Union corporal Francis Bromly immediately shot and killed Jackson. Ellsworth was the first federal officer to be killed in the war and Jackson was the first civilian casualty.