The Manassas Museum
Defending the Junction
During the 1850s two railroad lines, the Orange & Alexandria and the Manassas Gap, intersected at a small Prince William County village that became known as Manassas Junction. In 1861 more than 20,000 Confederate troops from across the South gathered in what is today downtown Manassas. Working alongside slaves requisitioned from local farms, they built a ring of earthen fortifications around the junction. Naval cannon captured in Norfolk were included in the defenses, manned by Confederate sailors.
The First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) was fought five miles northwest of here on July 21, 1861. Following their victory, Confederate forces occupied their fortifications over the winter of 1861-62, building the world’s first military railroad between Manassas and Centerville seven miles to the North.
When the Confederates evacuated Manassas Junction in March 1862, the site became a major Union supply base. It was destroyed by Southern troops under Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson on August 27, 1862, prior to the Second Battle of Manassas (August 28-30). The area remained under Union control for the rest of the war. Railroad operations were periodically disrupted by Confederate partisans under Col. John S. Mosby. Despite the desolation caused by the war, Manassas quickly recovered to become a prosperous agricultural and transportation center in the Northern Virginia Piedmont.
The Manassas Museum System includes the city’s only surviving Civil War earthworks—the Mayfield Confederate Fort, and the Union’s Cannon Branch Fort. Information on these and other historic sites is available at the Manassas Museum.
Marker can be reached from the intersection of Prince William Street and Main Street, on the right when traveling west.
Courtesy hmdb.org
