On the 2nd Manassas Trail: Locating Kettle Run at the Battle of Bristoe Station

On the evening of August 26, after passing around Pope’s right flank via Thoroughfare Gap, Jackson’s wing of the army struck the Orange & Alexandria Railroad at Bristoe Station and before daybreak August 27 marched to capture and destroy the massive Union supply depot at Manassas Junction. This surprise movement forced Pope into an abrupt retreat from his defensive line along the Rappahannock River. On August 27, Jackson routed a Union brigade near Union Mills (Bull Run Bridge), inflicting several hundred casualties and mortally wounding Union Brig. Gen. G.W. Taylor. Ewell’s Division fought a brisk rearguard action against Hooker’s division at Kettle Run, resulting in about 600 casualties. Ewell held back Union forces until dark. During the night of August 27-28, Jackson marched his divisions north to the First Manassas battlefield, where he took position behind an unfinished railroad grade.

From Gerry Boehm, correspondent of Civil War Librarian:
This hot summer day in late August I joined the a small troop accompanying J. Michael Miller, our guide to Bristoe Station. We walked along a nearly dry creek bed, a feeder to Broad Run, south of Broad Run and north of Kettle Run. As pathfinders we sought out the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, hoping to see the battle flag of the 5th New Jersey beyond, but alas the regiment passed before we arrived. The 115th Pennsylvania, in the fog of war mistakingly shot into the 5th New Jersey's ranks. As we moved up aside the railroad toward Bristoe Station, I thought I could smell fresh Forno Brand coffee from New Orleans, either fresh off the campfire from this morning's breakfast or from the nearby homes of Bristoe Station. While on the excursion I walked beside the proud father of a VMI Cadet as we sought to locate where the 8th Louisiana had protected the Dement's Maryland (CSA) Artillery.

A poignant detail presented by Miller, our guide, was that General Hooker finally arrived at Bristoe Station to find an abandoned field hospital. Amoung the wounded was a dying German immigrant who moaned, "Oh! How hard it is to die, when I have been in this land only three months." As the son of German immigrant parents myself, these words suddenly brought me back to the present to pen my recollections of a most memorable battlefield tour. For those who missed the 2:00 PM tour or any of the other Prince William County tours of the Kettle Run Battlefield on Saturday, August 29th, in commemoration of the 147th Anniversary of the Battle of Kettle Run and Second Manassas, on behalf of the Civil War Librarian, I commend to you an excellent article by our brigade leader, Mr. J. Michael Miller, who penned an excellent and extensive article on this often overlooked affair, titled, "The Battles of Bristoe Station" in Volume 26, Issue 2 of the Blue and Gray Magazine. The killing fields of this battle had much to do with sealing General Pope's fate at Second Manassas and the sacrafices here must never be forgotten.

Introductory Text: Ohio State University
Pencil Sketch: Alfred Waud, Northern Virginia CC
Top Image (Boehm): Assault Path of 5th New Jersey
Middle Image (Boehm): Assault Path of the 115th Pennsylvania, 70th and 72nd New York
Bottom Image (Boehm): Line of 8th Louisiana at Kettle Run

News---Preservation: Restoration of Railroad Cut and Brawner Farm at the Second Manasas Battlefield

The National Park at Manasas announced that it has accomplished the restoration of the Railroad Cut. This part of the Second Manasas battlefield (August 28, 29, 30, 1862) is famed for Stonewall Jackson's stout defense against multiple, vigorous Federal attacks. Previously, the Brawner Farm buildings were rehabilitated; the farm was the site of the collision between the Iron Brigade and the Stonewall Brigade August 28.

For those somewhat familiar with the battlefield park, the Railroad Cut is about a half mile north of the Vistors Center, and the Brawner Farm is about two miles west. The Visitors Center is located on the First Manasas' Henry Hill site. To accommodate the Railroad Cut's rehabilitation the walking trails around the Railroad Cut had been closed for over a year.

Checking the Manasas NMP's 2008 calendar, there are no anniversary events planned; although CWL suspects that there will be walking tours scheduled. With the Pennsylvania Reserves reenactment units, CWL camped on Stuart's Hill for the past two years and did living history of the Brawner Farm. If readers plan to take the walking tours, then use tick repellent. Believe me, burning ticks off with a cigar is not a memory I cherish from the living history event. Though come to think of it, that was probably authentic; but, I did not get a 'period rush' from it.

Photograph: Manasas National Military Park

News: Digital Digging for 2nd Manassas Campaign

Aerial photographs from 1937, when superimposed on current aerial photographs have revealed a star shaped fort in an undeveloped field in Fairfax County, Virginia. Also, parts of the Chantilly/Ox Hill battlefield, can be studied even though it was bulldozed for a strip mall a few years ago.

Fought on September 1, 1862, CWL views it as day four of the Second Battle of Manassas. It is treated as such by John Hennessey in his well regarded study, Return to Bull Run. Divisions under the direction of Maj. Gen. Philip Kearny and Maj. Gen. Isaac Stevens thwarted troops under the direction of Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson. About 1,300 Union and 800 CSA causalites were suffered in the farm fields and during an tremendous rain storm with huge bolts of lightning.

Jackson's troops were making a nearly successful turning movement of the Federal right. If achieved R. E. Lee may have a achieved the battle of annihilation for which he longed.

Here's the link for the Washington Post story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2007/08/01/AR2007080102407_pf.html

For more on the Second Manassas Campaign:
Return to Bull Run: The Campaign and Battle of Second Manassas, John J. Hennessy

For more on the Battle of Ox Hill/Chantilly:
Tempest at Ox Hill: The Battle of Chantilly, David A. Welker

He Hath Loosed the Fateful Lightning: The Battle of Ox Hill,September 1, 1862, Paul Taylor

CWL --- Brawner's Farm: Manassas Inaugural Event, August 25th, 26th

My understanding of 2nd Bull Run is that it is a four day battle:
August 28th, Brawner's Farm: Iron Brigade vs. Stonewall Brigade
August 29th, The Unfinished Railroad: Pope vs Jackson
August 30th, The Unfinished Railroad & Chinn's Ridge: Pope vs. Jackson &
Longstreet
September 1st, Chantilly/Ox Hill

In July 2002, as my daughter was being oriented to George Washington University in D.C., I drove down the road to Manassas National Battlefield Park. In the morning I hiked the plateau from the Stone Bridge to Henry Hill House. In the afternoon I walked the Iron Brigade's route to Brawner's Farm and climbed around the railroad bed's famous 'cut' where Jackson's men stoned Federal soldiers. Last year, I had the privilege to camp, as a reenactor, in the Manassas Battlefield Park. The Pennsylvania Reserves reenactment group encamped on Stuart's Hill and I with several other hardy souls marched to Chinn Ridge.

Of course, after reading several books on 1st and 2nd Manassas since the 1960s, my ideas changed whenever I walk the ground. The Iron Brigade had to march uphill to reach the Stonewall Brigade. Longstreet's Assault did not roll over a flat Virginia plateau, but went up and down dry gullies with thickets that broke up the ranks. I had mentally pictured Longstreet's Assault as being similar to the Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble Assault at Gettysburg. No so in the least bit.

This August, I'll again march in the steps of the soldiers. As a Civil War infantryman and as a Signal Corps officer I'll be with my unit, encamped on Stuart's Hill but marching to Brawner's Farm. John Reid, NPS Ranger at Manassas National Military Park sent the following remarks to Pennsylvania Reserve event co-coordinator Joe Sodomin.

". . . the demonstrations [are] concentrated at Brawner Farm, and we are looking to really inaugurate the site with its renovated house and the grounds where the first combat of the second battle occurred with a grand finale to the summer. We are expecting 120 from the Stonewall Brigade and the 3rd U.S. and 3rd Maine (who will portray the 19th Indiana and the 2nd Wisconsin); with your 40 Pennsylvanians [Pennsylvania Reserve Division, a reenactment group,] we can really represent Brawner with both Black Hat and Doubleday's reinforcement to Gibbon (56th Pennsylvania). This is shaping to be the largest single event we have ever contemplated here, let alone presented! The troops will be like "sardines in a barrel" but we have enough room at Stuart's Hill and Brawner for camp bivouacs and demonstrations."