Manassas

I've always heard that Manassas is a difficult place to tour and I'd agree with them to a point. As the pictures show there is a ton of traffic through the heart of the battlefield. It seems if you stay off the Warrenton Turnpike (currently Lee Highway US 29) and the Sudley Road (currently state highway 234) you should be fine. These two pictures show the Warrenton Turnpike and it was somewhat difficult to get on and off this highway. Luckily people did allow us on and off when we needed, primarily because they were facing bumper to bumper traffic and thus allowing one more car space wasn't the end of the world. Unfortunately there are not many side roads in the park so you will be on these two main roads a lot for touring. When Mike and I left the park in April we took a side road near the Stone Bridge to get back towards Leesburg and it eventually turned into a gravel road. It was pretty weird to be that close to all that traffic and be on a gravel road.

2nd Manassas Monuments

These three monuments are all New York monuments. Fittingly they are along NY Ave, which is just south of the Groveton Cemetery and west of Young's Branch and Chinn Ridge. They would have been along the Union left flank on August 30, 1862 and were attacked by Longstreet's corps.

The 5th New York, Duryee Zouaves, suffered brutal losses in briefly holding this ridge. The park brochure claims a loss of 123 men killed. The monument puts the killed at 124, plus 223 wounded, out of just 462 men in action. This loss occurred in five minutes along this ridge, which the monument claims as the greatest loss of life in any single regiment in any battle of the war.
Near the 5th New York's monument is the 10th New York, National Zouaves, monument. A complete breakdown of casualties is not given on the monument except to say that they lost a third of the regiment, including 31 killed or mortally wounded.
Along the Warrenton Turnpike just west of NY Ave is the monument to the 14th New York State Militia, 84th New York Volunteers, also known as the Brooklyn regiment. It does not detail what the regiment did that day or its losses, except to say that during its service it lost about 600 men killed and wounded. That is somewhat odd because regiments usually list losses much more exactly on monuments.

Iron Brigade at 2nd Manassas

One of the reasons I wanted to stop at Manassas is because it is where the Iron Brigade (and yes I know there are something like 5 different Iron Brigades, but I'm referring to the brigade that eventually consisted of the 2nd, 6th, and 7th Wisconsin, 19th Indiana and 24th Michigan) first proved its mettle. They were part of the forces looking for Stonewall Jackson's suddenly disappearing force. And near dark on August 28, 1862 they found it the hard way. Both sides stood close together and traded volleys, with neither side really gaining an upper hand. It would not be the last time these two famous forces faced each other on a battlefield. A good book on the first fight of the Iron Brigade is Alan Gaff's "Brave Men Tears: The Iron Brigade at Brawner's Farm." There is also a good book on how the Stonewall Brigade and the Iron Brigade ended up facing each other quite a few times, it is Jeffry Wert's "A Brotherhood of Valor"

We didn't end up getting to walk around this area much as the sun was starting to set and we still had a long drive to Petersburg ahead of us that day. The first picture is Battery B, 4th US Artillery's position near Brawner's Farm. And the nearby plaque that helps explain what the battery did here.
Along the tree line in front of the guns is a marker to the 76th New York, which formed on the right of the Iron Brigade.

Railroad Cut at 2nd Manassas

During my April road trip to Maryland and other nearby sites Mike and I also stopped at Manassas. I had earlier mentioned our visit but had not posted pictures because to better tell the story of the battle my pictures would also have to come from an October 2004 trip. At the time of my first post I did not want to overlap two groups of pictures, but now I've come to the conclusion that its better to overlap than have nothing.

These pictures were taken along the railroad cut. Only the second picture was from the April 2007 trip.

Here is dad in the cut in front of Archer's Brigade. The tablet, with a time of 5:30 PM on August 29, reads:
"As my leading files entered the railroad cut, I saw the enemy advancing up it from the left. I ordered the 1st Tennessee to fire, which it did with great effect. This first fire was answered by a furious assault upon my whole front. For 20 minutes or more we gallantly resisted the attack until other troops came up in time to save me from being flanked."