Critique Welcomed Manassas Battlefield

[Brian Moore]

Last week I was on the East Coast of the US and for two nights I stayed in Manassas, which is about 25 miles southwest of Washington DC. I visited the Manassas Battlefield. It was bloody cold! The wind was blustery and the snow had frozen so it was hard sometimes to stay on one's feet.

Anyway, Manassas was the site of two (U.S.) Civil War battles: First Manassas and Second Manassas, also known as the the First Battle of Bull Run and the Second Battle of Bull Run. Both battles were fought over the same ground.

The years of the battles were 1861 and 1862. The South won both battles.

It was at Manassas that General Stonewall Jackson acquired his nickname.

Sigma DP1 MacKillop

 

[Pete Askew]

A super study, Brian and I especially like the shot with all the footprints in. Like ghosts from the past. The colours in the last are gorgeous.

 

[Dave Farnes]

Great set of pictures! Love the footprints in the first one and the third gives the scene a vast sense of scale.

 

[Brian Moore]

A super study, Brian and I especially like the shot with all the footprints in. Like ghosts from the past. The colours in the last are gorgeous.

Thanks Pete. Much appreciated!

Great set of pictures! Love the footprints in the first one and the third gives the scene a vast sense of scale.

Thanks Dave. Also much appreciated!

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Oh, it looks cold. Cold and desolate. Fine shots, Brian. Really fine. First and last are equals, as the Good Book probably says.

 

[Brian Moore]

Oh, it looks cold. Cold and desolate. Fine shots, Brian. Really fine. First and last are equals, as the Good Book probably says.

Cold indeed! Besides trying to remain upright on the ice as the wind gusted the tips of my fingers were sore from the exposure for a good ten minutes or so after I got back in the car. Frostbite was starting. Thanks for the comments, Rob!

 

[Milan Vjestica]

Very nice set Brian. The cold is but a minor irritant to a dedicated professional like yourself!

 

[Brian Moore]

Very nice set Brian. The cold is but a minor irritant to a dedicated professional like yourself!

That wasn't exactly my thought at the time, Milan. Anyway,...thank you for the comments.

 

[Beth Carter]

really nice set. my great aunt and uncle live south of that area. they farm on the battlefield where stonewall jackson lost his arm. i love visiting the battlefields. manasses is a great one to visit, there's so much to do there.

 

[Brian Moore]

really nice set. my great aunt and uncle live south of that area. they farm on the battlefield where stonewall jackson lost his arm. i love visiting the battlefields. manasses is a great one to visit, there's so much to do there.

Thanks Beth. Your relatives must farm at Chancellorsville, then. That's where Jackson was shot (and as a result lost his arm and ultimately died) by his own men who mistook his party for Union men. (As I was driving north on the I95 toward Manassas I saw the signs for Chancellorsville and the Wilderness battlefields. Regretting passing the exit for Chancellorsville I pulled off the 95 with the intent of visiting the Wilderness Battlefield. Drove a few miles west but saw no more sign posts. Not knowing how far west of me the battlefield was and facing a deadline to reach Manassas by late afternoon I ultimately abandoned the Wilderness reconnaissance and headed north again. Maybe I can get there and to Chancellorsville on my next visit.) Thanks again, Beth.

 

[Beth Carter]

they're over on wilderness battlefield. jackson was shot west of chancellorsville (he may have even been on wilderness battlefield land, but it was during the battle of chancellorsville) and the medical encampment where his arm was amputated was definitely in wilderness battlefield. there's a marker where his arm is buried, it's off of constitution hwy on wilderness battlefield and pretty hard to find unless you know where to look. the rest of jackson is buried elsewhere. i think the sign on constitution hwy says it's ellwood mansion and doesn't say anything about jackson's arm.

my relatives (my great aunt's family, her daughter, grandkids and great grandkids) are on orange plank rd and run miller's farm. the house is off of the official battlefield, but the battle extended well past the national park limits. they used to have a dairy farm for generations but the epa thought the poo run off from the cows was damaging the chesapeake bay (over 100 miles away) so they forced them to rethink their farming. they switched to agribusiness and have a small farm market, upick and agritainment (yes, that's apparently a real word now). they also supply fresh veggies to shenandoah national park lodges. the oldest great grandchild was thrown off of a tractor when he was 13. the tractor got caught up on a canon. luckily he wasn't injured.

 

[Brian Moore]

miller's farm

Thanks for the detail, Beth. How long has the farm they run been there? (And how long has it been run by your family members?)

 

[Beth Carter]

Thanks for the detail, Beth. How long has the farm they run been there? (And how long has it been run by your family members?)

i'm not sure how long they've been farming there, the farmhouse was built in the late 40's when the family changed the farm plot and sold some of the land off. my great aunt's daughter married into the millers in the 70's and she moved in. her parents (my great aunt and uncle) moved from delaware to virginia not long after, built a place next door to the sr. millers. my aunt ginny started a quilt shop on the farm. we used to vacation for a week down every summer and stay with my great aunt and help out with the miller kids with their dairy farm chores and explore the battlefield.

 

[Brian Moore]

the farmhouse was built in the late 40's

For some reason I want that to mean the 1840s! Thanks for the info Beth.

 

[Beth Carter]

For some reason I want that to mean the 1840s! Thanks for the info Beth.

no, it's a 1940's farm house, but it looks like it could have been the 1800's. unfortunately a lot of houses during the civil war were abandoned, taken over by the armies or destroyed.