Short answers, pulled from the story.
The House of Burgesses approved the river location for the town on the 2nd of May 1749. A public vendue auction to lay out street lanes and town lots was conducted on the 13th of July 1749.
Captain Philip Alexander II moved to the area around 1746, and his estate formed the basis for the new town. The petitioners named the town Alexandria in honor of Philip's family to resolve a dispute over the site location.
Union Army troops occupied Alexandria on the 24th of May 1861 shortly after the Battle of Fort Sumter. The city remained under military occupation until the end of the Civil War with five military prisons operating within its borders.
By the fall of 1863 the population of Alexandria had exploded to 18,000 people representing an increase of 10,000 residents in just 16 months. This growth occurred as escaped African American slaves poured into the city seeking safety behind Union lines.
Jim Morrison of The Doors attended George Washington High School in the 1950s along with Cass Elliot and John Phillips of The Mamas & The Papas. Jim Morrison lived at 310 Woodland Terrace from 1959 to 1961 while attending the school.