Mount Zion Old School Baptist Church (Aldie)
An historic church and graveyard along the Old Carolina Road

Established in1851 and intended as a place of worship, Mount Zion Church, in its tranquil setting in Loudoun County, belies a turbulent history.

It served as a barracks, battleground and burial place during the Civil War. As Confederate Partisan Ranger Colonel John Singleton Mosby’s fame grew in this area, the federal government resolved to destroy his base of support. As Federal patrols scoured the countryside, Mount Zion Church served as a stopover for the Union troops. In 1864, one of these stopovers became the scene of one of Mosby’s most famous fights.

On July 4, 1864, Union troops under the command of William H. Forbes of the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, along with the 13th New York Calvary, took 150 men on a three-day mission through "Mosby’s Confederacy," as the area was known. On July 6, Union troops halted near Mount Zion to fix dinner. Mosby was advancing down the turnpike when he encountered Forbes' pickets and a battle ensued, resulting in at least 105 Union soldiers killed, wounded, or captured. Mosby lost one man.

The Church burial grounds are the final resting place for twelve Union cavalrymen killed in action, thirteen Confederates who died after the War, and sixty-three African-Americans who were slaves or freed men buried prior to 1865.

After the war, regular services resumed at the church and continued until 1980. Since then the church’s trustees have agreed to turn it over to Loudoun County as a historic site honoring the many events which took place here as part of Loudoun County’s rich Civil War history. (Courtesy of the Loudoun County Government web site)

See also St. Louis, VA