Evening star., 1902-02-17
FIELDS OF BULL RUN
BY GOVERNMENT PRO-
POSED
Center Of Country Made Historic by
Many Memorable Military
Operations.

Mr.. George Carr Round Of Manassas, Va,
has submitted to the. Secretary of War a
memorial in regard to the requirement by
the government of so much of the Bull Kun
battlefields as are occupied by monuments
to the dead and 80 much of the adjacent
country will enable the people of the
United States and tourists from abroad.
studying our history, to view the battle
fields without trespassing upon private
property" He says that whatever is done
in the premises should be done at once, so
that the old soldiers who may attend the
Grand Army encampment of 1872 may
visit the monuments and the two main
points of the battlefields without feeling
that they, as well as the United States gov
ernment. are trespassing on private rights
He explains that he does not propose new
military park, which matter smay. IN his
judgment. be Indefinitely postponed. The
object of his memorial. he says, can be ac-
complished by the purchase OF fifty acres
of land. but as the Henry farm Is com,
paratively small one only 12S acres, and
as the keeper of the monuments and
grounds would need a place to live and land
enough for small farming operations he
suggests the purchase Of about $50 acres
a maximum.
In his memorial Mr.. Round says in part:
Il think the land should be kept ex-
actly as it now is and substantially as IL
was before the war with the exception or
two or three convenient rOadWayS ana
some fencing of permanent character.
1.-The bill now pending before the House
of Repre- sentatives proposes to leave the
details to the Secretary Of War. II on con-
sideratfon YOU should find 1t possible to do
more than has been indicated then l sug-
gest from 80 to 100 permanent tablets, In
lieu of the wooden ones erected by the
Grand Army committee in 1892. These
tablets located on the grounds purchased
and along the public roads, would give all
the information ordinarily sought by vis-
itors.
Il also suggest two steel towers. one on
Henry Hill and another on Douglass Hill,
from which tourists could easily see the
two lines Of railroad and their junction at
Manassas: Fairfax Court House. Centre
vile Heights and the whole valley or Bull
Run from Sudiey to Union Mills; the bat
tlefields of Blackburns Ford and Chantilly;
the location of Ftz John Porter's column
and Of the two battles of BristoW Station;
Thoroughfare Gap. Hopewell Gap and the
whole length of the Bull Run range: to the
north could be seen the vicinity Of Balls
Buff. the outlines of the Potomac valley
and bevond the Sugarloaf mountain and
the adjacent hills of Maryland; to the
southwest would be seen Warrenton, the
outlines Of the Rappahannock valley and
far beyond the Blue Ridge for more than
q hundred mites. In fact, the whole strategy
of the campaigns Of 81 62 and 63 could
be read as from an open book. IL there Is
any other Fart Of the world where so many
military operations can be saen and studied
to advantage | do not know 1t.
Il believe the whole expense need not ex-
Ceed $4,000 and / think 1t could be fairly
well done for half that sum, the amount
named in Mr.. RiXey's bill The annual ex-
penditure need not thereafter exceed $2oO
or 500 for a keeper, who could be allowed
the of the land for grazing and cultl-
yation under reasonable restrictions.
PERSONALLY l should be opposed to the
erection of any new memorials by the
United States. The present monuments are
of course rude. but they were erected by
the veterans themselves. with such tools
as they had in camp. They speak to future
generations soldiers love for his defeat
ed and dead comrades. Let them stand
forever they are. To my mind they are
worth more than the most imposing mau-
soeums of marble and gold.
The inscription To the patriots who
fell at Bull Rum written, as 1t was, by
the chief of staff of the commanding gem
eral, is singuarly brief and appropriate.
Not a scintila of reflection on those who
fought against u.s. but rather. as prefer
to consider it, a prophecy of the time now
died for what they believed right will be
1T is true that since the monuments were
erected most of the Union dead have been
removed to Arlington, but they are not all
removed. The ploughman has frequently
revealed this fact, though now no distinc-
ton can be discerned between friend and
foe. The duty of the government, how
ever, Is clear, whether we consider It's duty
to the owners of the soil or it's duty to the
dead and living or it's duty to ITSELF