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Fair Oaks, Henrico County, Virginia

Central Virginia geography stubsUnincorporated communities in Henrico County, VirginiaUnincorporated communities in VirginiaUse mdy dates from July 2023

Fair Oaks is an unincorporated community located in Henrico County, Virginia. Fair Oaks Station was located on the Richmond and York River Railroad and played a role in the Peninsula Campaign in 1862 during the American Civil War. A major battle was fought nearby, known variously as the Battle of Fair Oaks or the Battle of Seven Pines.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Fair Oaks, Henrico County, Virginia (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Fair Oaks, Henrico County, Virginia
Brick Drive,

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N 37.530833333333 ° E -77.316111111111 °
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Brick Drive 40
23075
Virginia, United States
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Sandston, Virginia
Sandston, Virginia

Sandston is a census-designated place (CDP) in Henrico County, Virginia, United States, just outside the state capital of Richmond. The population as of the 2010 Census was 7,571. It was designated a Historic District by Henrico County in 2021. The Battle of Seven Pines took place nearby in 1862. It was second only to the Battle of Shiloh in its number of casualties up to that time. The battle was brutally fought and inconclusive, but had a profound impact on the trajectory of the war. After General Johnston's injury, President Jefferson Davis appointed Robert E. Lee as Commander of the Confederate Armies. Lee then initiated the Seven Days Battles, which drove the Northern forces into a retreat in late June. This was the closest the North had come to Richmond, Virginia in this offensive.During World War I, a number of homes were built in the area for both non-commissioned officers and enlisted men. After the war, an investment group headed by Oliver J. Sands bought the land and buildings as surplus property. The community was named Sandston after Oliver Sands, the president of the Richmond and Fairfield Railway, the electric street railway line which ran through Highland Springs and Fair Oaks to the National Cemetery at Seven Pines. The community was later served by the Fairfield Transit Company, which operated a bus barn extant at Seven Pines in 2005 and the earlier trolley car barn in Richmond on North 29th Street. The road from Richmond, through Highland Springs, to Seven Pines was named "Nine Mile Road" because of the distance of the streetcar/trolley line.Richmond International Airport is located in Sandston.

Battle of Seven Pines
Battle of Seven Pines

The Battle of Seven Pines, also known as the Battle of Fair Oaks or Fair Oaks Station, took place on May 31 and June 1, 1862, in Henrico County, Virginia, nearby Sandston, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. It was the culmination of an offensive up the Virginia Peninsula by Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, in which the Army of the Potomac reached the outskirts of Richmond. On May 31, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston attempted to overwhelm two Federal corps that appeared isolated south of the Chickahominy River. The Confederate assaults, although not well coordinated, succeeded in driving back the IV Corps and inflicting heavy casualties. Reinforcements arrived, and both sides fed more and more troops into the action. Supported by the III Corps and Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick's division of Maj. Gen. Edwin V. Sumner's II Corps (which crossed the rain-swollen river on Grapevine Bridge), the Federal position was finally stabilized. Gen. Johnston was seriously wounded during the action, and command of the Confederate army devolved temporarily to Maj. Gen. G.W. Smith. On June 1, the Confederates renewed their assaults against the Federals, who had brought up more reinforcements, but made little headway. Both sides claimed victory.Although the battle was tactically inconclusive, it was the largest battle in the Eastern Theater up to that time (and second only to Shiloh in terms of casualties thus far, about 11,000 total). Gen. Johnston's injury also had profound influence on the war: it led to the appointment of Robert E. Lee as Confederate commander. The more aggressive Lee initiated the Seven Days Battles, leading to a Union retreat in late June. Seven Pines therefore marked the closest Union forces came to Richmond in this offensive.