Evening star., 1935-07-21
By John p. COwan.

Ileuelo 10 parJlclpaCe In the
IL observance of the seventy
fourth anniversary of the first major
conflict in the war between the
States.
Today's pilgrims will follow the
same route oil that curious civilian
caravan that janlmed the roads on
that other Sunday, July 21-in 1851,
Today's pilgrims may endure the
same intense heat and enjoy the in
viting shade of some of the same
ancient oaks, hut they will escape the
choking dust, the blockade of COM
missary wagons, the sulkiness of Army
mules, the whims of runaway horses.
They will view historic environs
which have changed less in the lapse
of years than any other noted battle
ground in America. Survivors will
tell you that the landscape of the
Manassas plains today has every ap-
pearance of that on the morning of
the big f1ght-the same roads, the
same cultivated fields, the same lines
Of fences, the same patches of scrub
oak and pine and many of the same
farm houses.
Unlike many historical shrines,
Bull Run is unspoiled. Gettysburg
with its monuments statues, eques-
trian memorials and tombstones, looks
like vefitable graveyard, and wood
land and thickets have grown up
which have changed the entire aspect
of the undulating harvest fields
fragrant orchards and romantic viii
lage lanes in which the armies fought.
At Antietam SpottSylvania and
Chickamauga the same is true.
But Bull Run field reflects back
faithfully the vista Of the COS.
I EFT us join the anniversary pilgrim
age-not to study the scene of the
troop movements or recount the story
Of the battle. for that is an old tale.
Let us rather have a chat with a
veteran of one of the Federal regi-
ments that bore a conspicuous part
IN the engagements veteran who
has spent half his life in Washing
ton and has made many excursions
to the field. noting how little the
countryside has changed in nearly
three-quarters of a century.
After we have talked with him our
Journey out through Fairfax County
to Prince william will have an added
interest. We are not so much con-
cerned about the armies-we've had
that in our history books-but since
we 20 as spectators today, our chief
interest lies in what those spectators
IN July, 1861, saw and did. And how
they behaved!
On the soldiers roll in the office
of the doorkeeper of the House of
Representatives we find DR.. Hosea B.
Moulton, late of Company B, I'd
Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteer
Infantry, which at Bull Run was at
tached to Burnside's Brigade, Hun
ter's Division, in the flank movement
which precipitated the battle.
Although he Is in his ninety-third
year. DR.. Moulton enjoys excellent
health. His eyesight is keen and
years Of listening to speeches in Con-
gress has not damaged his hearing.
His interest in public affairs, in
veterans legislation and the efforts
Of the Government to perpetuate his
toric battlef1elds has often taken him
from Washington, and his chief de-
light is to return at every oppor-
tunity to the sacred ground where so
many of his boyhood comrades made
the supreme sacrifice, notably at Bull
Run and Gettysburg.
A native of Concord, VT, DR.. Moul-
ton enlisted in the I'd New Hamp-
shire when only 10. His Army service
took him on his first long journey
from home, and his impressions of
his battle grounds are as vivid in his
memory today as in the times when
he wore Uncle Sans blue and car
ried an Army musket. Just as indel-
IDLY fixed in his mind are the recol-
lections Of subsequent visits to those
scenes Of strife.
Let him describe Bull Run today,
with respect to its appearance in
the SOS:
s"THREE hills, which are embraced
in the area of four or five mod
erately sized farms with two high
ways intersecting in the center at
right angles and small stream called
Youngs Branch, which entwines all
these farms and flows into Bull Run
this Is the battlefield.
unlike any other place where large
armies were maneuvered in battle. it
is the only one I know Of where the
movements of the troops are visible
from all points of the field. In other
great engagements the lay of the land
Is such that the combatants see little
besides that portion of the engagement
in which their own units are in
action. Even the troops on Little
Round Top. at Gettysburg, with their
advantage of wide view, were un-
able to discern the operations on the
extreme right of our line.
But in both the first and the Sec
ond battles at Bull Run the action
was visible to the great majority of
the soldiers on both sides.
In the opening war time those
farms in Prince William County we're
well cultivated. Along the streams
and ravines there were thickets and
patches of pine and one or two con-
siderable stretches of fine oak woods.
but these did not obstruct the vision.
"The greatest change is in the
hard-surfacing Of the old Warenton
turnpike, which runs west from Gen.
terville across Bull Run and straight
through the battlefield. A new bridge
spans Bull Run. but the old stone
bridge, famous in two memorable re-
treats OF the Union Army, is still
there, and seems unchanged except
that its arch was rebuilt after the
had blown it UP in
March, 1862.
THE old brownstone house at the
of the Warrenton pike
and the Sudley-B -Brentsville road ap-
pears just as 1t did on the day of the
fight. The house was built by an
1rishinan named Breton in 1906
100 years ago.