Following its disastrous defeat at the First Battle of Manassas on July 21, 1861, the Union Army retreated toward Centreville late in the afternoon with Confederate forces in pursuit. Thousands of Union soldiers converged simultaneously at the narrow Cub Run suspension bridge, located near the present-day Lee Highway bridge span. Confederate Capt. Delaware Kemper of the Alexandria Light Artillery deployed two guns in the turnpike on the hill less than a mile west of the bridge, and ardent secessionist Edmund Ruffin fired the first shot, causing a wagon to overturn and block the bridge. As a well-directed barrage of gunfire rained down on the bridge, panicked Union troops fled, throwing away weapons, haversacks, and anything else that slowed them down. Unable to ford the stream, they also abandoned wagons, ambulances, and artillery pieces. While pursuing the Union Army, the Confederate 8th South Carolina Infantry captured U.S. Congressman Alfred Ely of N.Y. He had journeyed out with other northern politicians and Washington, D.C. residents to watch what they confidently believed would be the Union victory that would end the war. Most of the civilians observed the battle from Centreville Heights, but a small number of politicians and newspapermen ventured beyond Cub Run to the field hospital area at Mrs. Spindle’s house. In the race to safety, they abandoned their carriages at Cub Run, further clogging the road, impeding the retreat, and adding to the panic.
