In his latest book, The Civil War in Fairfax County: Civilians and
Soldiers, Charles Mauro has given voice to the heretofore silent
majority of the participants in the Civil War: the civilians. This
overdue study examines the full spectrum of men, women, slaves and
freedmen who lived in Fairfax County, Virginia, during this chaotic,
uncertain period. Drawn from the files of the Southern Claims
Commission, Mauro recounts the stories the civilians told the Commission
after the war to document their losses, lives and living conditions. The
citizens of Fairfax County found themselves occupying front row seats at
the most horrific show that this country has ever seen. Because of its
position just across the Potomac River on the doorstep of the city of
Washington, Fairfax County was heavily targeted by the Confederate army
and defended with equal determination by the Union army. Fairfax was the
first county in the South that the Union army invaded, and the last it
occupied as soldiers were mustered out of service after the Grand
Review. The Civil War in Fairfax County contains stories of the
devastation that both armies brought upon the civilians and their
property, as well as the daily strife caused by a war that pitted
neighbor against neighbor and family members against themselves. It
gives an important, fascinating and unprecedented look into the everyday
lives of the civilians who lived through the most tumultuous four years
in American history, in a county that was occupied by both the
Confederate and Union armies throughout the entire Civil War.
