The National Park System, of which Manassas National Battlefield Park is a unit, is dedicated to conserving the scenic, scientific, and historic heritage of the United States for the benefit and enjoyment of its people.
Contents
[THE FIRST DAYS OF THE WAR] 1 [CONFEDERATES LOOK TO MANASSAS DEFENSES] 3 [THE FEDERAL ARMY MOVES TOWARD MANASSAS] 5 [MCDOWELL TESTS THE CONFEDERATE RIGHT] 7 [FIRST BATTLE OF MANASSAS] 8 [Morning Phase—The Fight at Matthews Hill] 11 [Afternoon Phase] 13 [Effects of First Manassas] 17 [WINTER’S LULL] 18 [PRELIMINARY OPERATIONS TO SECOND MANASSAS] 19 [POPE CONCENTRATES BEHIND THE RAPIDAN] 20 [LEE’S OPERATIONS ALONG THE RAPIDAN AND RAPPAHANNOCK] 21 [SECOND BATTLE OF MANASSAS] 26 [First Phase—Bristoe and Manassas, August 27] 26 [Second Phase—Groveton, August 28] 27 [Third Phase—Main Battle, August 29-30] 27 [Fourth Phase—Chantilly, September 1] 36 [Results of Second Battle of Manassas] 37 [THE WAR AFTER SECOND MANASSAS] 38 [GUIDE TO THE AREA] 39 [THE PARK] 46 [HOW TO REACH THE PARK] 47 [ADMINISTRATION] 47 [RELATED AREAS] 47 [VISITOR FACILITIES] 47
Wartime photograph of the Stone House, which still stands as the most conspicuous landmark of both the First and Second Battles of Manassas. Courtesy National Archives.
Manassas National Battlefield Park preserves the scene of two of the famous battles of the Civil War. The first shall be ever memorable as the opening engagement of that great conflict, while the second, fought approximately a year later, paved the way for Lee’s first invasion of the North. In each instance Confederate arms won signal success and dangerously threatened the National Capital.
The Civil War was perhaps the most dramatic and significant event in the history of the United States as an independent nation. It was the climax of a half century of social, political, and economic rivalries growing out of an economy half slave, half free. In the race for territorial expansion in the West, in the evolution of the theories of centralized government, and in the conception of the rights of the individual, these rivalries became so intense as to find a solution only in the grim realities of civil strife.
It was on the great battlefields of this war, stretching from the Mexican border to Pennsylvania, that these differences were resolved in a new concept of national unity and an extension of freedom. In the scope of its operations, in the magnitude of its cost in human life and financial resources, the war had few, if any, parallels in the past. Its imprint upon the future was deep and lasting, its heroic sacrifice an inspiring tribute to the courage and valor of the American people.