(First Manassas) On July 21, 1861, two armies of a divided nation clashed for the first time on the fields overlooking Bull Run creek. At day’s end nearly 900 young men lay lifeless on the fields of Matthew’s hill, Henry hill and Chinn Ridge. Ten hours of heavy fighting swept away any notion the war’s outcome would be decided quickly. Daybreak on July 22 found the defeated Union army back behind the bristling defenses of Washington.
(Second Manassas) In August 1862, Union and Confederate armies converged a second time on the plains of Manassas. The Battle of Second Manassas, covering three days, resulted in 3,300 dead and brought the Confederacy to the height of its power. The war’s final outcome was yet unknown, and it would be left to other battles to decide whether the sacrifice at Manassas was part of the high price of Southern independence, or the cost of one country again united under the national standard.
