Bull Run & Manassas

The battlefields of Bull Run 1861 & Manassas 1862 overlap one another.  The ground is mainly reserve & kept fairly close to the original condition, though as usual there are probably more woods now than then.  The one visitors centre serves both.  Bull Run is pretty well covered by a short walking tour of the main point of action on Henry Hill, while Manassas extends over a much greater area & requires a drive around.  Both the battlefields are mainly rolling hills & mostly open ground.  Very different from the western battlefields. 

The Union did well initially & pushed the Rebs back past Henry Hill where the retreating Rebs met reserves coming up & they made a new line of defence in the trees & on the ridge above.

This is the view from the Reb's new position.  The Union guns were on the ridge each side of the farmhouse.  The artillery duel was at 300m range.  The Union failed to break this position & withdrew.

Bull Run at Sudley Ford.

Manassas was a more complex affair going on for 3 days.  Jackson set up behind an unfinished railway cut that made a ready made defensive position as bait to fix the Union for Longstreet to hit in flank.  Pope, the Union commander took the bait.  Jackson's men held on in the face of repeated Union attacks as Longstreet took far too long to prepare to attack.   But once Longstreet finally got moving, the Union position was hopeless.  New York Zouaves put a brave defence on the left of the line to buy some time for retreat & prevent total disaster, but it was a decisive Rebel victory.  It served to stoke the over-confidence in the Confederate command leading to the disaster at Antienam.

A small section of the railway cutting position has been cleared back close to original situation.  The cut runs along the top of the ridge in front of the trees.

The cut is eroded & overgrown now, but was then plenty deep enough to make the Rebs immune from artillery fire & be ready to pop up & blast any attackers.

We enjoyed the return to a less crowded place after the mayhem of Gettysburg, though the presence of two very busy roads intersecting in the middle of the battlefield is a nuisance & major safety issue.  We had to forgo the last station of the tour because of the traffic building up late in the day on the Lee Hwy.