Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1922-05-25
TO MAKE BULL RUN
BATTLEFIELD PARK
Will Be Kept as Memorial to Sol,
dierS Who Died In Con-
f|iCts There.
Feeling Has Long Been Strong That
Scene of Early Clash of Arms
Should Be Preserved-Close
to National Capital.

Bull Run is to be made a battlefield
park as memorial to the soldiers
who fought on that field The Lee
highway, being developed as one of
the great east and west automobile
roads, passes through the fields, that
highway taking unto itself as one Of
its sections the old WarrentOn Civil
war roads of Virginia.
Efforts have been made for 20 years
to have the government take over the
fighting ground of Bull Run and care
for it after the manner of the fields
of Gettysburg and Antietam, or to
buy the ground on which stand two
simple little monuments that were
set up on particularly tragic parts
of the battlefelds by Union troops in
1865. The proposal that the Bull Run
battlefelds should be held by the ma
ton as a battlefield park has been
urged by organizations Of Union and
Confederate veterans and by many
other patriotic associations, but there
has always been sufficient Indifference
or hostility on the part of congress
to thWart the plan.
First Battle OF Manassas.
1t is about % miles from Washington
by wagon road to the eastern edge
of the bloody zone Of the battlefield
of the first Bull Run, or the first
battle of Manassas. That is about
the distance to the picturesque old
red stone bridge which spans the his
toric creek. 1t is this old Bull Run
stone bridge that the Washington to
banks of the stream, at the bridge and
below and above it, began the fight
ing on Sunday morning, July p, 1861,
which developed into the battle. The
pike, after crossing the bridge, passes
west, with the land rising gradually
to a ridge on each side of it. This is
the land that was wet with the blood
of men and sprinkled with cOrpses.
Two or three old houses can be seen
on these rising slopes. A mile of
travel westward from the bridge brings
you to q crossroads. 1t is the juno
tiOn Of the Warrenton pike and q dirt
road which leads from the Potomac
river and the town of Dumfries to
Leesburg and the mountains of the
west. In the northeast angle of tfle
roads, and close beside them Is an
old stone house. In the annals of the
Civil war that old house is denominat-
ed "the stone house" The other
battlefield houses, are named for their
owners, but this little house is often
mentioned merely as "the stone house"
1t might have been without tenant
at the time of the battle, or being a
stone house, and very conspicuous In
the battle zone, the soldiers thought
that "stone house" was the most fit
ting name to call 1t.
Bloody Fighting Ground.
On the other side of the road and
on wide level" beyond the crest
of the slope Is a gray frame house
with few broken locust trees around
it. That is the Henry house, which
stands on the Henry farm. The slope
from the pike up to that house and
the fiat field around it was the scene
of the principal collision between the
Union and Confederate forces In the
first battle of Bull Run, and 1t was
also fighting ground in the second bat
tie, something more than year later,
the bloodiest and most death-blighted
field of the second battle being on the
Dogan farm. about a mile to q mile
and half west.
The main line of the Confederates
was on the Henry farm in the fight
Ing of 1861, and 1t was the farthest
point Of the Union advance in their
march westward from the stone bridge
and south from Sudley springs. 1t