Title: Manassas (Bull Run) National Battlefield Park [1953]
Creator: United States. National Park Service
Release date: June 4, 2021 [eBook #65498]
Language: English
Credits: Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
Cover: The Stone House. From a wartime photograph
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
March 3, 1849
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
DOUGLAS McKAY, Secretary
National Park Service
Conrad L. Wirth, Director
REPRINT 1953 U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1953 O-F—237985
1Here was fought the opening field battle of the Civil War and here a year later a Confederate victory led to Lee’s first invasion of the North.
Manassas National Battlefield Park commemorates two great battles of the War Between the States fought in the vicinity of Bull Run, a small stream in northern Virginia about 26 miles southwest of Washington, D. C. The military significance of the Manassas area lay in the junction of two railroads. The Orange and Alexandria Railway, which offered the only direct rail connection between Washington and Richmond, was joined there by the Manassas Gap Railroad, a direct route to the strategically important Shenandoah Valley.
The opening battle of the war found ill-trained citizen armies of the North and South engaged in a struggle for this strategic railroad junction. On an eminence, known as Henry House Hill, 6 miles north of Manassas, Confederate arms finally put to rout the Federal force. This victory, the English historian Fuller points out, was very important because it led “Southern politicians... to underestimate the fighting capacity of the enemy” and because it “so terrified Lincoln and his Government, that from now onwards until 1864, east of the Alleghanies, the defense of Washington became the pivot of Northern strategy.”
Approximately a year later, both armies, now composed of seasoned veterans, were locked in a bitter struggle on the same field. After heavy fighting, the Federal Army was forced back upon the defenses of Washington. Second Manassas stands with Chancellorsville as one of the two most significant Confederate victories of the war—in both cases the military result was invasion of the North. After Second Manassas came Antietam; after Chancellorsville came Gettysburg.
The Manassas campaign began shortly after the outbreak of hostilities in 1861. Twenty-four 2 days after the firing on Fort Sumter, Lee ordered the fortification of Manassas Junction, and 7 days later Beauregard took command of these defenses. Meanwhile, the North clamored for a quick move to capture Richmond and end the war. Forced on by this popular pressure, McDowell launched his drive on July 16 with an army composed chiefly of 3-months volunteers. He planned to attack the Confederate forces at Manassas while Patterson prevented a Confederate Army, under Gen. J. E. Johnston, from leaving Winchester and reinforcing Beauregard. Patterson’s failure to do his part contributed heavily to McDowell’s defeat.
Action began on July 18th, when a part of McDowell’s forces was repulsed at Blackburn’s Ford by Longstreet’s brigade. Finding the Confederates intrenched along Bull Run in about an 8-mile line, McDowell determined to turn their left flank at the Stone Bridge. On July 21, he made a feint attack on Evans’ men near the bridge and sent his main column around by Sudley Ford to strike the Confederate rear. Evans accidentally learned of the march and moved his small force to meet it. Reinforced by Bee and Bartow, he made a gallant stand on the hills north of the Warrenton Turnpike. The pressure of the Federal attack, however, was overwhelming. Burnside, Porter, and Heintzelman, later joined by Sherman, struck the small Confederate force and drove it back across the pike in disorder.
General Beauregard
General McDowell
General Jackson
General Pope
Gen. Thomas J. Jackson, marching from Mitchell’s Ford to support Bee, Bartow, and Evans, reached Henry House Hill before noon. Deploying his valley regiments behind the eastern crest of the hill, Jackson awaited attack from the victorious Federal forces. Behind the Robinson House, 400 yards north, Bee was striving to rally his disorganized troops. Pointing to Jackson’s line, he shouted: “Look! There stands Jackson like a stone wall! Rally behind the Virginians!” Bee’s men echoed the shout and formed on their colors. “Stonewall” Jackson had won his immortal name.
McDowell threw portions of four brigades against Jackson’s position in a daring offensive. At the height of the attack Ricketts’ and Griffin’s Federal batteries were advanced to Henry House Hill directly facing Jackson’s line. The guns were captured and recaptured in confused fighting, but the arrival of additional Confederate troops from Winchester turned the tide of battle. The desperate Confederate defense was changed to an attack, which routed the Union Army and forced it back upon Washington. The Federal strength of the battle was 35,732, losses 2,708; Confederate strength 31,810, losses 1,982.
The Confederates failed to follow up their victory. Instead, Johnston’s army settled itself at Centreville and Manassas. There they constructed fortified camps which were occupied until the spring of 1862, when the position was abandoned in an effort to counter the Union advance on Richmond from the Peninsula.
The Ruins of the Stone Bridge. From a wartime photograph.
After McClellan’s failure to take Richmond in the Peninsula Campaign, the Union forces covering Washington were consolidated under Pope and ordered to advance along the Orange and Alexandria Railway toward Gordonsville. At Cedar Mountain, on August 9, Pope’s advance met Jackson in the first battle of the campaign. Weeks of skirmish and maneuver followed, as Lee moved to defeat Pope before McClellan’s troops from the Peninsula could join him. Pope withdrew from the Rapidan to the Rappahannock, to which he held tenaciously. In one of the most daring exploits of the war Lee divided his forces and sent Jackson by a flank march to Manassas in the rear of the Federals. Here the Confederates seized the Union supply base on August 26. After a day of plenty for the poorly fed troops, the stores were destroyed, and Jackson withdrew northward across the Warrenton Turnpike to a concealed position in the woods near Groveton. Securely intrenched behind the embankment of an unfinished railroad, he looked southeast over the old battlefield of Bull Run. Lee, following Jackson from the Rappahannock with Longstreet’s wing of five divisions, reached Thoroughfare Gap at nightfall, August 28. A small Federal force had taken possession of the gap, but it was thrust out, and the way was clear for a reunion of the Confederate Armies.
Bewildered by news of the Confederate raid on his communications, Pope withdrew from the Rappahannock and began concentrating in the vicinity of Manassas Junction. On the 29th, he threw his whole force against Jackson. While the battle raged north of Groveton, Longstreet turned into the Warrenton Turnpike at Gainesville and, marching unopposed toward Groveton, joined Johnston and extended the Confederate line southward across the pike.
Early on the 30th, Pope, ignorant of Longstreet’s arrival, renewed the battle with a drive against Jackson’s line, which he thought was withdrawing. As the attacking column staggered under the raking fire of Confederate batteries, Jackson delivered a furious counterstroke. At this juncture Longstreet wheeled his line northeast, swept over Bald Hill, and drove on toward the pike. Only a resolute stand of Federal troops on Henry House Hill prevented Pope’s lines of retreat from being cut and enabled him to fall back eastward over Bull Run to Centreville. On September 1, Pope foiled a second Confederate attempt to cut across his line of retreat in a desperately contested action at Ox Hill (Chantilly) 4 and then retired to the defenses of Washington. Lee prepared to invade Maryland.
Administration—Museum Building
The Federal strength at the battle was approximately 73,000, losses 14,462. Confederate strength at the battle was approximately 55,000, losses 9,474.
Manassas National Battlefield Park was designated a Federal area May 10, 1940. The 1,670.74 acres of federally owned land in the park comprise portions of the two battlefields. Henry House Hill constitutes the most significant site within the park, providing a panoramic sweep of the whole battle area. Here are located the Administration-Museum Building and the equestrian statue of Stonewall Jackson. The historic Stone House, which served as a field hospital in both battles and is one of the most prominent landmarks on the field, is also preserved.
Other areas in Virginia of the Civil War period, which the National Park Service administers, are: Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, Richmond National Battlefield Park, Petersburg National Military Park, and Appomattox Court House National Monument.
A modern museum and battlefield markers are features of the park’s interpretive program. The museum, which is open daily from 9 a. m. to 5 p. m., presents exhibits in such a way as to develop the story of the battles in narrative sequence. Free leaflets, library facilities, and interpretive services are also available at the museum. Special tours can be arranged for organizations and groups if advance notice is given to the superintendent.
The park is situated in Prince William County, Virginia, 26 miles southwest of Washington, D. C. U. S. Nos. 29 and 211 intersect State Highway 234 at the park boundary.
Manassas National Battlefield Park is a part of the National Park System owned by the people of the United States and administered for them by the National Park Service of the United States Department of the Interior. Communications should be addressed to the Superintendent, Manassas National Battlefield Park, Manassas, Va.
MANASSES
NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD PARK
VIRGINIA
Drawn by E. F. Berry
Jan. 1949 NBP-MAN 7002