In mid-afternoon on August 28, 1862, Union soldiers from General Rufus King's division rested along Pageland Lane awaiting orders to continue marching south seven miles to Manassas Junction. Late that afternoon, orders directed King to return to the Warrenton Turnpike, modern Route 29, and proceed east toward Centreville to locate and defeat "Stonewall" Jackson, who was operating in the Union rear with half the Confederate army. After the head of King's column reached the village of Groveton, Jackson revealed his presence by sending out artillery to fire on the moving column. Brigadier General John Gibbon's brigade then turned to fight a fierce twilight battle near the Brawner farmhouse, beginning the three-day Battle of Second Manassas. When Jackson's artillery opened fire, King and his aides were having a picnic meal beside a pond near the road intersection, and in the excitement King suffered an epileptic seizure, leaving his four brigades thrown into battle without an overall commander.
