Manassas

After the gun show, I went to Manassas National Battlefield to see what there was to see. I still hadn't been there after all this time living in Harpers Ferry, and I'd always meant to find the time. Well today I found it.

Manassas, or Bull Run, was the sight of two vicious battles in the Civil War (often referred to around here as The War of Northern Aggression). Fought primarily on July 21, 1861, it was the first major land battle of the armies in Virginia. Just 25 miles away from Washington DC, the cannons could clearly be heard by the citizens in the Capitol. As it was expected by many Yankees to be the battle that put an end to the rebellion, lots of people rode out to watch the fighting and have picnic lunches. Most of them wound up fleeing with the remnants of the beaten Federal army as the victorious Confederates swept the field clean of bluecoats and carried the day. 60,680 men participated, and 4,700 became casualties. Needless to say, the war did not end. Buoyed by their victory, the South pressed on and slapped the Union forces around for the next year. But the slaughter wasn't nearly as bad as the second battle fought there thirteen months later.

On August 28, 1862, the Confederates came back again and attacked Union troops in Manassas again. The last time, both Northern and Southern troops had been green, untested soldiers who weren't very good at killing. But by the second battle, they'd learned well and the casualty count was much,much higher--over 22,000 men were killed or wounded this time. And like the last time, the majority of the casualties were Union troops. Robert E. Lee was in command now, and he went on to capture 14,000 more Union troops at Harpers Ferry on his way to the bloodbath at Antietam. The madness would go on for another three years.

Today, it's a peaceful place.

Here's a line of cannon adjacent to the old Henry farmhouse. The guns are in the position occupied by Union General Ricketts, a veteran of the western Indian Wars. Ricketts engaged Stonewall Jackson's forces across the field while the house was occupied by elderly bedridden widow Judith Henry. Unfortunately for her, the house was also occupied by Confederate sharpshooters, who used it to pour a devastating fire down on Ricketts' gun crews. Lacking infantry to send after them, Ricketts turned his cannon on the house and the widow Henry was killed.







Here's a line of guns in the position held by Jackson's forces. It was here that Jackson earned the name "Stonewall" when he refused to break and run in the face of a Union attack as many of the other Confederates were doing. But when the other Southern troops saw Jackson holding his place "like a stone wall", they rallied behind him and the tide turned.



And here's the Old Stone Bridge over Bull Run. After the first Union defeat in 1861, the Confederates blew it up to deny it's use to Union forces. After the Confederates left, the Yankees rebuilt the bridge, which was probably a good thing for them because they wound up retreating across it again 13 months later.


If you like history and you're in the area, visiting Manassas National Battlefield is a good way to spend a few hours. There are many miles of walking trails to various markers and structures, and much of it can be accessed by car as well. These days most people seem to have forgotten the carnage that took place here less than 150 years ago. But an in-person visit and an up close view of the actual fields of battle brings it all back and makes it real.