John D. Billings, The history of the Tenth Massachusetts battery of light artillery in the war of the rebellion

[112] the remaining distance of six miles to Warrenton, arriving there about 11 o'clock A. M., parking just outside the town. Our halt here was brief, however, for soon an order came for us to go on picket at a post three miles beyond the town, which we did, having a support of four or five thousand infantry accompany us.

Warrenton is the capital town of Fauquier County, and in 1860 was recorded as having a free population of 605. As we were marched around instead of through the town, much to the disgust of our Yankee curiosity, we could take no note of its interior. What we could see of its suburbs, however, was in its favor. A visit to the place in 1879, under more favorable circumstances, enables us to give some description of it. It is a ‘city set on a hill,’ and, therefore, can be seen for a long distance. Its present population is said to number 2,000. It has but one business street, perhaps one-fourth of a mile in length, which was innocent of all attempts at grading, being lowest in the centre and the receptacle of more or less rubbish. There are wretched attempts at sidewalks in spots, and horse-blocks, or their equivalent, are found in front of many of the stores and dwellings. Most of the buildings on this main street are unpretentious structures, many of them the typical Southern store, one story high, with pitched roof, and a piazza in front seemingly for the shelter of the loungers that are always to be found under it. Three or four churches, a courthouse, and a small jail behind the latter, of a somewhat rickety appearance, seeming hardly strong enough to hold securely the highly civilized type of criminal found in the Middle and Eastern States, comprise the public buildings. The court-house has been called ‘handsome’ in its day, but on what