Francis Asbury Dickins, a Washington attorney, used the home as a summer residence until the outbreak of the Civil War, when it became his year-round residence.[2] All three of the Fitzhugh estates were protected by orders from both sides throughout the war.[3]
Joseph L. Bristow, an American politician from Kansas, purchased Ossian Hall in 1918 and died there on July 14, 1944.
On September 3, 1959, Ossian Hall was burned as a training exercise for the Annandale Fire Department.[3]