Nomination Form
Located atop a 70-foot-high cliff overlooking the Potomac River in Prince William County, the Civil War features that make up the Cockpit Point Confederate Battery consist of four individual batteries, forming the best preserved of several Confederate fortifications associated with the Southern blockade of Washington, D.C. Brig. Gen. Isaac Trimble, C. S. A., probably built the battery in the fall of 1861. On November 14, 1861, a sailing schooner loaded with firewood tried to slip past Cockpit Point. The batteries fired on it and three rounds found their mark. The sailors dropped anchor and then swam for the Maryland shore. A dozen Confederates rowed out and set the schooner afire, but soon afterward a group of Massachusetts soldiers extinguished the blaze and towed the ship to safety. The Confederate guns then dueled Union cannon on the Maryland shore, killing only a pig and a mule. The Cockpit Point Confederate Battery is listed in the Virginia Landmarks Register under the Civil War Properties, Prince William County Multiple Property Documentation form.
[VLR Listed Only; NRHP Determination of Eligibility, 8/8/1989]
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia
