Jackson’s Route

In 1861, small farms surrounded Bull Run, and small roads served as the main transportation routes to the Warrenton Turnpike, Sudley Road, and the Manassas Gap Railroad. The road here follows part of a nineteenth-century farm lane connecting the Weir family’s Liberia Plantation and the Lewis family’s Portici Plantation. Along this road, General Thomas J. Jackson led his First Virginia Brigade to the Battle of First Manassas on July 21, 1861. The brigade included the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 27th, and 33rd Virginia regiments. Most Confederate soldiers who fought that day marched northward into battle from the vicinities of Blackburn Ford and Manassas Junction. Jackson’s brigade had arrived at Manassas Junction by train on the morning of July 20, and Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard deployed them between Blackburn’s and Mitchell’s Fords. On July 21 at 9 a.m., Beauregard sent Jackson’s brigade north in response to increased gunfire, and Jackson hurried his men toward Federal soldiers near Henry Hill. About one mile before reaching Henry Hill, the soldiers passed the Pringle House, Ben Lomond, where brigade surgeon Dr. Hunter McGuire designated the house as a hospital for casualties of the intensifying battle. Wounded soldiers were carried from the battlefield to the makeshift hospital along this road. Corporal C.A. Fonerden of the 27th Virginia Infantry later recalled the brigade being ordered to double-quick for about five miles, running through choking red dust, desperately thirsty, and worn and weary as they rushed to Henry Hill.

Sudley, Virginia · United States