With the decline of Dumfries, however, Bel Air became increasingly isolated and its road became nearly impassable. Although various people tried living there after the Ewells and Weemses went away, the "old time society was gone, with none to take its place." Bel Air passed through several different owners through the remainder of the 19th century and it stood empty for long periods of time. As evidenced by miniballs, a union belt buckle and other artifacts unearthed during a 1974 archaeological excavation, Bel Air was occupied by union troops during the Civil War. The artifacts were found at the location of the slave cabin, where troops were apparently quartered during the winter of 1863–1864. A more notable connection to the Civil War, though, is that Confederate General Richard S. Ewell, who succeeded Stonewall Jackson in command, was the son of Thomas Ewell and grandson of Jesse Ewell, whose silver-hilted rapier he wore into battle. Richard visited Bel Air throughout his life, including several years before the war when he served as the best man at a wedding between his cousin, the "beautiful Fannie Weems," and his friend, Robert Tansill, a United States Marine who would later resign his commission to serve as a colonel in the Confederate States Marine Corps. In 1885, George Carr Round, a prominent Manassas attorney and member of the Virginia General Assembly, began an ambitious and costly restoration of Bel Air, which had suffered through long periods of abandonment. To help restore the mansion to its colonial-era appearance, Round enlisted the help of Dr. Jesse Ewell (1802–1897), who grew up at Bel Air between 1805 and 1820. Ewell was born in Dumfries to Lt. Jesse Ewell (fourth child of Col. Jesse Ewell), but as he suffered from malaria in his infancy, he was moved to the "good air" of Bel Air to live with his grandparents. Despite his advanced age, Dr. Ewell, who had not seen Bel Air in 60 years, apparently maintained clear recollections of the plantation and his forebears. At considerable expense, about one fourth of the stone and brick walls had to be torn down and relaid. The floors and roof were leveled up and down. The entire lathing and plastering and much of the woodwork had to be removed, as well as rubbish appearing to date from colonial times. The only material change made to the house, however, was the addition of a door and window to the dungeon as it was converted into a root cellar.