Farm Ford

Colonel William T. Sherman spent the morning searching for a place where his brigade could cross Bull Run and rejected the Stone Bridge because its narrow span was too exposed and rumors said it was mined. Looking upstream, he received unexpected help when a reckless Confederate officer, possibly Major Roberdeau Wheat, rode down from the bluff and stood in the creek taunting Union soldiers, revealing a shallow crossing. When Sherman was ordered across Bull Run to join the fighting on Matthews Hill, he used this shallow farm ford. His troops crossed single file and met no opposition because the Confederates had left to intercept the Union flanking column, but with no established road to or from the ford and steep terrain blocking the way, Sherman's artillery could not follow.

South Riding, Virginia · United States