This pencil drawing by famed artist Alfred Rudolph Waud (1828-1891) depicts a Union artillery piece and camp of 2nd United States Cavalry, Company B, led by Lieutenant Charles H. Tompkins, near Falls Church, Virginia on July 1, 1861. Exactly one month earlier, Tompkins led a chaotic reconnaissance on Fairfax Court House, in which several of his men were wounded or captured.
The inscription on the illustration, titled Falls Church, July 1st, 1861, Outpost, reads, “Tompkins cavalry camped in Trees on left.” The road must be the Leesburg Pike leading northwest into Falls Church. In the distance, you can see Fairfax Chapel, which was destroyed during the war. You can also see the outline of what looks like Sibley tents in the woods on the left. Falls Church changed hands several times throughout the spring and summer of 1861.
Spirit of '61 