Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-08

A traveller might pass over the Washing
cn-Warrenton turnpike between the drowsy
almost stagnant-stream of Bull run and
the Manassas Gap branch OF the Southern
railroad without suspecting that some OF
Americas bloodiest history was made in the
fields upon his right and left. But, should
the traveller leave the pike at Groveton
Corners and stray about 800 yards north
across a rolling field, he would come upon
a rude monument of red-brown stone. in
scribed, in Memory of the Patriots Who
Fell at Groveton, August %. 20 and 80.
1862" He should then know that he stood
upon a central point OF the field wherein
was fought the second battle OF Bull Run,
an awful clash Of armed hosts, glorious or
melancholy according to the point of view.
Looking over the field and toward the pike
one could recall that forty years ago that
undulating plain, now green and yellow with
grass and golden rod, was magnificent with
surging, cheering legions. and grewsome
with dead and wounded men.
The rough but profoundly impressive
little shaft of stone stands In the shadow
OF cedars that have grown up since the
war, and close by the side Of a long.
row, canal-like trench, which because
OF the pine and cedar growth in its
bed and its eroded sides tells that 1t was dug
many years ago. 1t is an old railroad cut.
Before the civil war there was projected a
new railroad to run from point on the
Manassas Gap railroad southeast of Gaines
Vile, thence in northeasterly direction to-
ward LeeSburg, spanning Bull run at Sud
ley Springs. once popular health resort
The way was surveyed in part, cut, filled
and graded The work was abandoned
The line marks approximately the front Of
Jacksons corps of Lees army on the 10Th
and Both of August. 1862. Jackson's COM
msnd was here and there advanced south
east of the railway line, and here and there
drawn back TO the northwest of It, but In
general this old railway bed marked the
front OF Jacksons corps.
Fighting at the "Cut."
Jackson had raided in the rear Of the
Army Of Virginia and three corps Of the
Army Of the Potomac. united under COM
mand of General John Pope. Finally chal-
lenged to battle he took up his position
along the graded line. with his left flank
near Sudey and his right flank on the pike,
just west of Groveton. Longstreet's corps,
after arriving on the field via Thoroughfare
Gap, took position on Jackson's right and
forming line which swung round to the
south
About this cut at the monument men fell
by the hundred. With their ammunition
exhausted, brigades fought hand-to-hand
with bayonet, dubbed muskets and
etOieS-dcludIly lOuBnt with stones,
which were and are lying thick about the
Held. foung's branch. an insignificant
stream, cuts through tho Groveton field,
crosses and recrosses the pike runs through
the Chinn and Henry fields (the middle
ground in the first battle Of Bull Rum. and
then flows on till 1t mingles It's waters with
those of Bull run a few hundred wards
south OF the historic stone bridge. From
the monument one may look north to the
valley of Catharpin creek. Twenty miles
to the west the blue Bull Run mountains
bound the view. deep. wide break in the
range Is Thoroughfare Gap. an oft-trodden
highway between the Valley of Virginia
and the plain OF eastern Virginia New
Market and Manassas are to the south
Gainesville and Haymarket to the west
SentervlIle to the east Sudley to the north
These are names that were on eyerybody's
tongue forty years ago. The great field Is
only thirty miles west by south of Wash
iEston, but 1t Is not easy of access 1t Is
still and serene neighborhood today, a
sa4Iery or pastoral pictures.
The Two Battles.
There always was, and perhaps always
will be, degree of confusion in the public
mind regarding the designation and loca-
ton OF the battles Of the first and of the
second Bull Run, frequently called also the
hrst and second battles Of Manassas
Early IN the civil war the confederates
frequently referred to the engagement at
Blackburns ford and Lewis ford on Bull
Run. fought July 49, 1851, as the battle Of
Bull Run" The old dirt road between
Warrenton, Manassas and Alexandria used
10 cross Bull Run at Blackburn's ford and
II was there that Tyler's division OF Nc
Dowells army collded with Longstreet' s
brigade of Beauregard's army. Later the
confederates came to call the great engage
ment between Mcdowell and Beauregard
and Joseph E. Johnston, of July 81 1861
as the battle of Bull Run. The battle, or
series of battles, between Generals Pope
and Lee August 81 2S, 20 and 30, 1862 the
confederates called the Battle of Manassas.
In the north this battle was called the sec
ond Bull Run. Neither battle was fought
at Manassas, that village being five miles
south of the firing line in both. The stream
OF Bull run courses down the east edge Of
the battlefield. being one mile east of the
junction OF the Warrenton pike and Sudley
road. the central point in the first battle
and two miles east OF Groveton, the central
point in the second battle. The field of the
second battle was much more extensive
than that OF the first, and oVerlapped It on
the east.
Veterans who may so down to the bloody
ground Of the second battle will have little
difficulty in identifying the positions they
held. the fields they crossed or the roads
they traversed in 1862. Changes have been
few. The barns and dwellings which were
burned, or shot to kindling wood. have
been restored on the same sites. Around
trees that grow in the farm yards there
are piled heaps and tons of solid cannon
ball and ragged, rusty shell. In all the
oIu lar HI muses. lSiiCS VI tAie lay SoHsti-
tute the prevailing form OF mural decora-
ton. There are rusty. broken cavalry
sabers swords OF officers. rifles. muskets,
bayonets. canteenS. pistols. belts and
buckles all gathered from the fields and
woods. Bullets and buttons are continual
~ being brought to the surface OF the
ground.
II Is told by historian In the Century
that when the Groveton monument was
erected in 1868. three years after the bat
tie, the fields were stlll strewn with can
teens. camp utensils and broken accoutre-
ments OF all kinds. When a Star man
visited the fields quite recently. he picked
NJ In the railroad cut at the monument a