At Fairfax Court House, the first Confederate officer to die falls and the first Medal of Honor is won

Second Lieutenant Charles H. Tompkins and his troop were scouting Fairfax Court House in Virginia when encountered Virginia troops. In the clash Captain John Quincy Marr, a 1846 V.M.I graduate became the first Confederate officer killed in the war.  Tompkins had dropped out of West Point's class of 1851, later enlisted as a cavalry private and became a veteran of frontier fighting. Though several of his superiors at the time considered him to have exceeded his orders, he was in 1893 awarded the Medal of Honor for his part in the action.  (By John Osborne)