Fort Lyon, Civil War fortification in Fairfax County, US
Fort Lyon is a Civil War earthwork fort on Ballenger's Hill, south of Hunting Creek, in Fairfax County, Virginia. It held artillery positions arranged to control the Telegraph Road and the railroad lines running through the area below.
Union troops began building the fort in September 1861, following their defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run earlier that summer. It became one of many linked earthwork positions forming a defensive ring around Washington.
The fort was named after Nathaniel Lyon, the first Union general to die in the Civil War. His name appears on the site marker today, giving visitors a direct link to one of the earliest losses of the conflict.
The site sits on a hill, so sturdy shoes are a good idea, especially after rain when the ground can get slippery. From the higher ground, you can look out over the routes the fort was built to defend.
On June 9, 1863, the fort's ammunition magazine exploded, killing 25 soldiers on the spot. The disaster drew President Abraham Lincoln to visit the site in person, which gives a sense of how serious the event was considered at the time.
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