John Quincy Marr (May 27, 1825 – June 1, 1861) was a Virginia militia company captain and the first Confederate States Army soldier killed by a Union army soldier in combat during the American Civil War. Marr was killed at the Battle of Fairfax Court House in Fairfax, Virginia, on June 1, 1861.
Previously one of Fauquier County, Virginia's two delegates to the Virginia Secession Convention of 1861, Marr initially opposed Virginia's secession from the Union but ultimately supported it, as did Virginia voters shortly before Marr's fatal skirmish.
Early life and education Marr was born on May 27, 1825, in Warrenton, Virginia, the son of Catherine Inman Horner Marr (1797-1879) and John Marr, Esq. (1788-1848), who had married in 1816. The elder John Marr was the grandson of a French immigrant with the surname "La Mar." The elder John Marr had been a Commissioner in Chancery in the Supreme and County Courts, much like a court-appointed trustee in later times, as well as a justice of the peace.Walker, Charles D. Memorial, Virginia Military Institute: Biographical sketches of the Graduates and Eleves of the Virginia Military Institute Who Fell in the War Between the States. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1875. . Retrieved May 11, 2011. pp. 359–360 He owned enslaved black persons,1840 U.S. Federal Census for Leeds, Fauquier County, Virginia shows John Marr as owing 6 or 7 male and 7 female black slaves. The 1850 U.S. Federal census slave schedules for the family may have been misdigitized or missing. as would his widow and son John Q. Marr by 1860.Virginia's 1860 slave schedules for both Catherine "J" Marr and John "D" Marr of Fauquier County are referenced by ancestry.com, but not available online. The 1860 U.S. Federal Census for the Southwest Revenue District of Fauquier County shows Catherine as owning a 17 year old male and 45 and 19 year old female black slaves. The corresponding 1860 federal census slave schedule for John Q. Marr may have been misdigitized or missing.
Marr graduated second in the class of 1846 from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), though at least one account says Marr was first in the class. His father died on June 3, 1848, and his elder brother Robert Athelstan Marr (1823-1854) was a United States Navy officer.
Career After graduating from VMI in 1846, Marr taught there as an assistant professor of mathematics and tactics. He returned home in 1848 to care for his mother and sisters Sarah/Sally (1819-1895), Margaret (1830-1903), Frances (1835-1918) and Jane (1840-1927). His younger brothers Thomas Scott Marr (1830-1897) and James Ripon Marr (1832-1879) left home by 1850. The local judges gave him the same appointments held by his father; Marr also served a two-year term as sheriff of Fauquier County.Walker, 1875, p. 361
American Civil War After John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, Marr organized the "Warrenton Rifles" militia company.Captain Marr's company, the Warrenton Rifles, was still a unit of the "Virginia Army," even though the secession of Virginia was ratified by a popular vote on May 23, 1861. Governor John Letcher issued a proclamation transferring Virginia forces to the Confederacy on June 6, 1861, and Major General Robert E. Lee, commanding state forces, issued an order in compliance with the proclamation on June 8, 1861. United States. War Dept, Robert Nicholson Scott, et al. The War of the Rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate Armies Series I, Volume II. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1880. . Retrieved May 14, 2011. pp. 911–912. The company became Company K of the 17th Virginia Infantry Regiment when that regiment was organized on June 10, 1861. Wise, 1870, p. 17. The forces at Fairfax Court House were under the command of Lt. Col. Richard S. Ewell of the Provisional Army of the Confederate States. Even before the popular vote on secession in Virginia, the state had agreed that its separate force would cooperate with the Confederacy.
In early 1861, Fauquier County voters elected Marr as a delegate to the Virginia Secession Convention.Walker, 1875, pp. 360–361 Although initially opposed to secession, and called home by a "family affliction" during the deliberations, he later signed the ordinance of secession.Walker, 1875, p. 363All but one of the accounts that mention Marr's marital status say that he was unmarried or do not mention this aspect of his personal life. Poland Jr., Charles P. The Glories Of War: Small Battles And Early Heroes Of 1861. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2006. . pp. 42–43 says Marr had a wife and six children and a Cherokee mistress named Eliz Nickens with whom he had six more children. He also says that Marr had been mayor of Warrenton. None of the other references for this page confirm these details. Poland's detailed account relies at least in part on a private letter in the Warrenton Public Library for these personal details.
On May 5, 1861, Marr was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel in the Virginia forces, but he never received the commission because it was sent to Harpers Ferry by mistake.
Death On Saturday, June 1, 1861,The report of the Confederate adjutant general for the year ending September 30, 1862 notes the death of Captain Marr but gives the date as May 31, 1861. This can be reconciled in that the Union force left their base at 10:30 p.m. on May 31 and the battle took place on the "night" of May 31, albeit in the early morning hours of June 1, 1861. The entry in the report also states: first blood of the war. Walker, 1875, p. 366 a company of Union army cavalry on a scouting mission entered the streets of Fairfax Court House after driving back one Confederate picket and taking another prisoner. At that time, two companies of cavalry and Marr's Warrenton Rifles infantry company occupied the town. The Confederate cavalry began to retreat and cut off part of the Warrenton Rifles from those who faced the Union cavalry charge. Only about 40 men from the company were in a position to combat the Union cavalrymen.
Lieutenant Charles Henry Tompkins of the 2d U.S. Cavalry Regiment led the Union force of between 50 and 86 menWalker, 1875, p. 363 says Tompkins had 86 men. Poland Jr., 2006, p. 37, says there were about 50 men in the patrol; he says that Tompkins reported he had 51 men, although he notes that General Irvin McDowell reported that Tompkins had 75, Poland Jr., 2006, p. 82. Longacre, Edward G. Lincoln's Cavalrymen: A History of the Mounted Forces of the Army of the Potomac. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2000. . p. 18 uses the number of 75 men from McDowell's report for the size of Tompkins's force. who separated into two groups as they rode through the village. Captain Marr challenged the riders, asking "What cavalry is that?" These were his last words. Scattered shots were fired as the Union cavalry rode through and Captain Marr fell dead.
Marr was not in the immediate presence of any of his men on a dark night so soon after he fell, no one knew where he was or what may have happened to him.Wise, George. History of the Seventeenth Virginia Infantry, C. S. A.. Baltimore: Kelly, Piet and Company, 1870. . Retrieved May 13, 2011. p. 18 His body was found later in the morning.Walker, 1875, p. 364Donald Pfanz in Richard S. Ewell: a Soldier's Life, states that Lt. Col. Ewell challenged the riders with similar words, out of concern that they might be the Confederate horsemen, and was answered with a pistol shot which wounded his shoulder. Pfanz, Donald C. Richard S. Ewell: A Soldier's Life. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998. . p. 127. Other accounts of his wounding state that Ewell was wounded as he emerged from the hotel to find the Warrenton Rifles.
After Marr fell, first appeared former and subsequent Virginia governor and later major general William "Extra Billy" Smith, who had just resigned his seat in the U.S. Congress. He was from Warrenton and had helped raise the company. He took command in the absence of the company's leaders. Soon thereafter Lieutenant Colonel (later Lieutenant General) Richard S. Ewell, who had just been placed in charge of Confederate forces at Fairfax Court House, came upon the company. Lt. Col. Ewell had received a shoulder wound as he emerged from the village's hotel as the Union force first rode through the streets so he was bleeding as he took charge of the infantry company in the field and redeployed 40 of them.As noted earlier, Pfanz, 1998, p. 127 states that Ewell was wounded after he took charge of the Warrenton Rifles. Walker, 1875, p. 364 says that Ewell received a wound in the shoulder at the beginning of the fight. Ewell soon went off to send for reinforcements and Smith redeployed the men again in the same general area but in a less exposed position about 100 yards forward.Pfanz says that Ewell deployed the men behind stone walls. Pfanz, 1998, p. 127
After the Union cavalry rode through the village, they regrouped and returned through the village streets. A volley from the redeployed men of the Warrenton Rifles turned them back.Poland, 2006, p. 82 The Confederates fired additional volleys at the Federals as they tried to pass through town again on their way back to their base near Falls Church, Virginia. After a third failed attempt to ride past the Confederates, the Union men were forced to leave town toward Flint Hill in the Oakton area of Fairfax County to the north of the City of Fairfax with several wounded men.Wise. 1870, p. 19
Confederate casualties in the affair were one dead, four wounded (including Lt. Col. Ewell), one missing, according to their report. A later account states that only two were wounded, but five were captured.Poland, 2006, p. 40 The Union force lost one killed, four wounded (including Lt. Tompkins) and three missing, who had been taken prisoner. The Union soldier killed was identified as Private Saintclair.Moore, ed., Frank. The Rebellion Record: A Diary of American Events. 11 volumes. Volume 1, pp. 321–322. New York: G.P. Putnam, D. Van Nostrand, 1861–1863; 1864–68. . Retrieved May 13, 2011 Governor Smith later reported that Marr had apparently been hit by a spent round ball because he had a large bruise above his heart but his skin had not been penetrated.Poland, 2006, p. 42
Aftermath
Captain Marr's body arrived in Warrenton that evening. The following afternoon a large crowd attended a ceremony in the clerk's office yard before his burial in the Warrenton Cemetery.Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War, p. 433. New York: Facts On File, 1988. . "In a little remembered action at Fairfax Court House, Virginia, John Q. Marr was the only fatality, becoming the first martyr of the Confederacy to die in combat."A "Captain" Stephen Roberts, sometimes mistakenly identified as Christian Roberts, is mentioned in a few accounts as the first "armed Confederate officer" killed in the Civil War. He was killed by a small patrol of the Union 2d Virginia (U.S.) Infantry Regiment (later the 5th West Virginia Cavalry Regiment) led by Lt. Oliver R. West at Glover's Gap, Virginia (later West Virginia) on May 28, 1861. West and six men were sent to arrest certain local rebels who were suspected of cutting telegraph wires and tearing up railroad tracks about midway between Wheeling and Grafton, Virginia.