What if the Confederates had held Alexandria?

A holiday-inspired pondering this time... In 1861, after the Secession of Virginia, Unionist troops occupied Alexandria and maintained control of it until the end of the US civil war. But what if Virginia had thought to strengthen Alexandria's defences before it seceded? What if the Union hadn't been able to seize it? How different might the course of the US Civil War have been? @HeX et al
 
Seems like a recipe for the confederates to lose a large chunk of men and materiel early in the war in the east. It's going to be a lot easier for the union army to cut their supply lines than for them to be able to sustain a threat that close to DC.
 
I see your point, except that, of course, DC is in Virginia, which seceded. What's to stop the Confederates being able to blockade into submission, as indeed they bombarded Fort Sumter early in the war? Genuine question, I know very little about the US and its history?
 
I see your point, except that, of course, DC is in Virginia, which seceded. What's to stop the Confederates being able to blockade into submission, as indeed they bombarded Fort Sumter early in the war? Genuine question, I know very little about the US and its history?
You are incorrect. The portion of DC (including Alexandria) that was VA was retroceded in 1846. DC was and is entirely north of the Potomac. Far more relevant would have been Maryland seceding. For this reason Lincoln imprisoned many Maryland secessionists and had federal troops all along the railway.
 
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