John Quincy Marr

John Quincy Marr (May 27, 1825 – June 1, 1861) was a Virginia militia company captain and the first Confederate soldier killed by a Union soldier in combat in the American Civil War. Marr was killed at the Battle of Fairfax Court House (June 1861), Virginia on June 1, 1861. He had been a delegate to the Virginia Secession Convention and ultimately supported secession of Virginia from the Union after initially opposing it.

Early life
John Q. Marr was born on May 27, 1825 in Warrenton, Fauquier County, Virginia. He was the son of Catherine Inman Horner Marr and John Marr, Esq., who was the grandson of an immigrant from France who had the surname "La Mar." The elder John Marr was a Commissioner in Chancery in the Supreme and County Courts, much like a court-appointed trustee in later times, and a justice of the peace.

John Quincy Marr graduated second in the class of 1846 from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI). After completing his studies, he became an assistant professor of mathematics and tactics until he returned home after the death of his father in 1848 out of a sense of duty to his mother and sisters. The courts gave him the same appointments held by his father. He also served a two-year term as sheriff of Fauquier County.

After John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, Marr organized the "Warrenton Rifles" militia company. In early 1861, he was elected a delegate to the Virginia Secession Convention. Although initially opposed to secession, and called home by a "family affliction" during the deliberations, he later signed the ordinance of secession.

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, a company of Union Army cavalry on a scout 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 men 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. His body was found later in the morning.

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 raised 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. 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. 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. 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.

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. 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. 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.

Aftermath
Captain Marr's body arrived in Warrenton that evening and he was buried the next afternoon in the Warrenton Cemetery after a ceremony in the clerk's office yard before a large crowd of mourners.

Charles Henry Tompkins received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Fairfax Court House (June 1861). His was the first action of a Union Army officer in the American Civil War for which a Congressional Medal of Honor was awarded, although it was not awarded until 1893. His citation reads: "Twice charged through the enemy's lines and, taking a carbine from an enlisted man, shot the enemy's captain." No other account referenced on this page states that Tompkins himself shot Captain Marr.

A monument to Captain Marr was erected on June 1, 1904 near the front of the courthouse where it remains today. It reads: "This stone marks the scene of the opening conflict of the war of 1861–1865, when John Q. Marr, captain of the Warrenton Rifles, who was the first soldier killed in action, fell 800 feet south, 46 degrees West of the spot. June 1, 1861. Erected by the Marr Camp, C.V., June 1, 1904."

Later death of Private Henry L. Wyatt
Many authors have stated that Private Henry L. Wyatt of the 1st North Carolina Volunteers, later the 11th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, the only Confederate soldier killed at the Battle of Big Bethel, Virginia on June 10, 1861 was the first Confederate soldier killed in combat in the Civil War. This is only correct to the extent a distinction is made between the first officer killed, Captain John Quincy Marr, and the first enlisted man killed, which Private Wyatt appears to have been.