The Sully Farms

The Sully Farms. "Alone in Dixie". , At the time of the Civil War, the farms of Sully and Little Sully (no longer standing) were the homes of the Barlow and Haight families respectively. These families, connected by marriage, had come to Virginia from Dutchess County, New York, and found themselves Unionists in a secessionist neighborhood. After the men fled to avoid capture, the women of Sully operated both farms for most of the war. Maria Barlow wrote to family members in New York that "we out here alone in Dixie have no appointed place of worship no gathering together for any purpose but fighting. … If any place sinks from weight of sin surely Virginia must.", On September 1, 1862, Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson fought Federal Gen. John Pope's retreating army at the Battle of Ox Hill (Chantilly), five miles east of Sully, after the Second Battle of Manassas. The farms were reportedly used as hospitals. In December 1862, Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry, returning from his "Christmas Raid" on Burke Station, stopped here and rested his men. Stuart, as well as Gens. Wade Hampton and Fitzhugh Lee, ate breakfast in the house and left Union wounded behind in Maria Barlow's care., As the war continued, Confederate partisans fought on Sully lands. Confederate Col. John S. Mosby frequented the farms here, searching for supplies but also hoping to capture the men of the family. Neighbor Henry Ryer, reminiscing about the raids, called Mosby a "regular dare-devil.", (sidebar) Henry Lee I patented the 3,000 acres that became Sully in 1725. His grandson, Richard Bland Lee, built the present Federal-style house in 1794, served in the Virginia House of Delegates, and was also the first Congressman from Northern Virginia. Richard Bland Lee was the brother of the Revolutionary War Hero "Light Horse" Harry Lee and the uncle of Robert E. Lee. Sully remained in the Lee family until 1838.