Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1922-05-25

winch soon developed into panic ana
a rout. 1t was on that field that the
sobriquet "Stonewall" was first APP
piled to General Jackson.
Very early after the fighting, which
began at the stone bridge and between
the pike and Sudley, had developed
to the intensity and extent of a bat
tie, Union shell from Ricketts,
regular battery pierced the Henry house
and killed It's owner, Mrs. Judith
Henry, in her bed. She was old and
bedridden at the time. Soon after that
the house was in flames, and its de-
structiOn was FASTENED by more can.
non shot and shell. Mrs. Henry is
buried in the family graveyard, with
many of her kin, few yards behind
the house. Close to their tombstones
one might almost say among them
stands little brOwn-red stone
monument built by soldiers and dedi-
Gated a few days after the grand re-
view in Washington.
The soldiers set up on and around
the monument shells and cannon balls
which they picked up on the fields,
for then part of the country was
still Uttered with the debris of bat
tie and the country pitted with sunken
graves, which had been very shallow
in the making, and in many places the
skulls and skeletons of men, for the
most part men who had been killed
In the greater and heavier fighting Of
1862, were strewn over the ground.
Along the .Warrenton Pike.
On the Warrenton pike, one mile
west Of the Henry farm, Is Groveton.
Four houses and a blacksmith shop
were there in 1861 and 1862. The
houses were destroyed In the second
battle and three Of them were rebuilt
after the war. One Of these was the
Dogan house, and on the Dogan farm
much of the killing of the battle was
done. GrOvetOn was JaCksOn's right
and the Confederate center when Long
street joined him.
Before the war railroad, called the
Independent railroad, was projected
to run from the Manassas Gap rail-
road at GAINESVILLE to Leesburg. The
road was graded, hills were cut
through and fills made over low ground
and stone culverts built over the runs
and larger creeks. No ties or rails
had been laid, and when the war came
along all work stopped. 1t was along
this graded way that Jackson formed
his line for the second fight. The line
of the unfinished railroad Is preserved
today, though the "cuts" are grown up
in woods and the fills" are generally
overgrown with pines and .cedars. A
particular cut where troops, their am
munition expended, fought with
bayonets, dubbed muskets, and even
stones, is about a thousand yards
north of the Dogan house.
Dead Thick on the Field.
Mrs. DOgan came home after fight
ing ceased and the armies moved on to
fight at Chantilly. Dead men lay so
thick over that field that you couldn't
walk without stepping on them. They
Iuu uOl Dccl Dul leu. hel uuu bOuS
about shoveling dirt over them where
they lay, and the night before came
back with my children to where the
house stood II rained and the dirt that
had been thrown over these men had
been washed Off"
A reporter who inspected the field
at the close Of the war wrote the fol
lowing description Of tt:
From Alexandria to the battlefield
is one wide area Of desolation. Fences
are utterly swept away. Here and
there dilapidated house shelters q
few squalid inmates.
"Once q village Of rare beauty
perched upon a gentle slope Of high
ridge and commanding view Of fer
tile valleys for many miles war-swept
1t and its ruins lie about, invested with
all the saddening influences Of perfect
desolation.
1.-THE first Bull Run field Is distinct
ly marked with traces Of battle. Here
the shot and shell are thlckly strewn
the trees splintered and in many places
the forest looks as If having been
visited by q terrific storm.
1.-THE bones of soldiers Of both armies
are scattered over the fields, and one
may find skulls enough to build q
monument"
Ga,