The Detroit times., 1911-07-17

~ r.
MANASSAS, July l7.-There will be
more people on the battlefield of Bull
Run July 81 than there have been on
any day for half century.
All morning autos. buggies. carry
ais and farm wagons will wind up the
stony hill to Art Henry's sheep pas
ture. At noon two khaki-clad troops
OF United States cavalry will line up
at Mention. A fiashy band will send
splendid crashes OF music echoing In
10 the woods beyond. The crowd will
move outward and leave an open
space.
Then out upon the cropped turf
will walk other men. old men with
siivery heads. bowed shoulders and
faitering gait. Some will be dressed
In blue, with gold braid about their
felt hats. Others will be In gray. with
gray hats.
As they march out to confront each
other the spirit Of the crashing band
music viii get into their faded eyes.
Their stride will quicken and they
viii square up their shoulders. When
they stand toe to toe, the blue line
and the gray, they will not strike
that Is. not a battle or sham battle,
They will reach out their hands.
Blue brother will grasp gray broth
or by both hands. Then the band will
strike up new piece-"The reunited
States" II Is called. Up onto the FIR
ing line viii swing the camera battery.
The moving picture men will bend fur
iously over their cranks. The people
will cheer.
And some very old ladies In black
silk dresses and black silk gloves.
without any fingers In them. will cry.
Later the president OF the United
States Will make speech.
II will be the Manassas peace jubi-
lee ON the fiftieth anniversary OF the
battle OF Bull Run, the first great
struggle Of the civil war.
The HANDWRITING ceremony win
take place ON the very spot where
jackson stood like a stone wall" and
earned the soubriquet he carried un-
"a his tragic death.
Take the Warrenton pike straight
through Centerville to the stone
house, turn to the left and go up the
stony hill half mile. At the top IS
Art Henry's sheep pasture, and on
the pasture gate this sign:
HERE WAS FOUGHT
THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN
JULY II. 1861.
Admission Fifty Cents.
The place doesn't look. like a bat
tiefleld. Other great fields OF battle
look the part. Shiloh, Gettysburg.
Chfckhmauga and other battle sites
are national parks, flied with marks
and monuments OF war. But the Bull
Hun battlefield IL Just Art Henry,s
farm. You see Bull Run was a great
rebel victory,
The sheep Craze fundistuPbed and
shine.
Just across the gate OF Henry's
front yard Is little hollow. That
was the cul-de-sac before Ricketts,
battery, piled Ave deep with dead.
The woods beyond the pasture, where
the Manassas peace ~ jubilee picnic
dinner win be- eaten, masked Cannon
belphing IRE Into ranks OF weary
clerks and farmers sons-boys I'm
their teens. Two hundred yards from
the house the pasture rises to the
level Of the woods beyond. This was
the slight hill that Jackson held. and
over the crest OF which Johnson's
fresh troops. poured. driving the fed.
erals back into the valley where panic
and disaster overlook them. Z
Under the clump OF ash trees.
where Art Henry's Holsteins seek the
shade, the confederate general. Bea.
fell. Behind the house Is the spring
where hundreds OF fainting boys
dropped on their faces to quench their
burning thirst so years ago.
The SCARED trunk Of the old tree
by Art Henry's door bears witness to
AZ bullets.
Four bullets that day found their
billet In the body OF grandmother
Henry, as she lay bedridden in the
Henry house.
AZ dusk. on the night of the battle,
When the firing had ceased. con
federate lieutenant came upon a man
lying on his face In the Henry yard.
The mans shoulders were shaking
What's the matter7" asked the Of.
Hcer, $500 4 u
you have kiIied my mother" sob,
bed the man.
She died game The fourth bullet
that bit her knocked her out OF bed
but She was stiIl alive when they
picked her Hp.
Ar Henry tells the story with
GOOD deal OF pride IN that she showed
such tenacity Of hfe
Years ago Arthur Lee Henry gave
ifp cuifivntfug hts farm. At the time
81 The battle the sheep pasture OF To.
day was a cornneld For several
seasons after the war the place was
under cultivation. but there came 80
many visitors that the crops were
badly trampled. So Henry put the
place IA grass, bought sheep instead
IN lawn mowers and charged an adj
1,'18ion Zee Ia reimburse him for the
corn and potatoes ne might have
n'<et Il his farm hadn't been bat