Honoring the Dead

Soon after the war concluded, Union troops stationed at nearby Fairfax Court House, many of whom had recently served on burial duty at the battlefield, recognized the need for a fitting memorial to the Federal dead of First Manassas. With the approval of their officers and the authorization of the government, and in one of their final acts before discharge, the soldiers erected the Bull Run monument. Construction took nearly three weeks and was completed in June 1865. It remains one of the oldest extant monuments on any Civil War battlefield. The formal dedication of the Bull Run monument took place on June 11, 1865. At the conclusion of the ceremony on Henry Hill, the group dedicated a similar monument near the Deep Cut to honor those that fell in the Second Battle of Manassas.

Sudley, Virginia · United States