Henry House Hill

The First Battle of Bull Run, called the Battle of First Manassas by Confederate forces, was the first major battle of the American Civil War. The battle was fought on July 21, 1861, in Prince William County, Virginia, just north of the city of Manassas and about thirty miles west-southwest of Washington, D.C. The Union Army was slow in positioning themselves, allowing Confederate reinforcements time to arrive by rail. Each side had about 18,000 poorly trained and poorly led troops. The battle was a Confederate victory and was followed by a disorganized post-battle retreat of the Union forces. Just months after the start of the war at Fort Sumter, the northern public clamored for a march against the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, which was expected to bring an early end to the Confederacy. Yielding to political pressure, Brigadier General Irvin McDowell led his unseasoned Union Army across Bull Run against the equally inexperienced Confederate Army of Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard, whose forces were camped near Manassas Junction. McDowell's ambitious plan for a surprise flank attack on the Confederate left was poorly executed although the Confederates, who had been planning to attack the Union left flank, found themselves at an initial disadvantage. Confederate reinforcements under Brigadier General Joseph E. Johnston arrived from the Shenandoah Valley by railroad, and the course of the battle quickly changed. A brigade of Virginians under a relatively unknown brigadier general from the Virginia Military Institute, Thomas J. Jackson, stood its ground, which resulted in Jackson receiving his famous nickname, "Stonewall". The Confederates launched a strong counterattack, and as the Union troops began withdrawing under fire, many panicked and the retreat turned into a rout. McDowell's men frantically ran without order in the direction of Washington, D.C. Both armies were sobered by the fierce fighting and the many casualties and realized that the war was going to be much longer and bloodier than either had anticipated. The First Battle of Bull Run highlighted many of the problems and deficiencies that were typical of the first year of the war. Units were committed piecemeal, attacks were frontal, infantry failed to protect exposed artillery, tactical intelligence was minimal, and neither commander was able to employ his whole force effectively. McDowell, with 35,000 men, could commit only about 18,000, and the combined Confederate forces, with about 32,000 men, also committed 18,000.

Manassas National Battlefield Park is a unit of the National Park Service located in Prince William County, Virginia, north of Manassas that preserves the site of two major American Civil War battles: the First Battle of Bull Run, also called the Battle of First Manassas, and the Second Battle of Bull Run or Battle of Second Manassas. It was also where Confederate General Thomas J. Jackson acquired his nickname "Stonewall". The park was established in 1936 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. More than 700,000 people visit the battlefield each year. The Henry Hill Visitor Center, on Sudley Road by the south entrance to the park, offers exhibits and interpretation regarding the First Battle of Bull Run, including Civil War-era uniforms, weapons, field gear and an electronic battle map. The center offers the orientation film Manassas: End of Innocence, as well as a bookstore. A recent find in 2014 unearthed bone fragments that led to the discovery of the skeletal remains of two Union soldiers in what is now thought to be a Surgeon's Pit. The remains were found among the bones of several other limbs in the pit. Carbon dating shows that the pair died during the Battle of Second Manassas, also known as Second Bull Run, in August 1862. The remains were moved on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, and transferred from the National Park Service to the US Army who will be burying them in Arlington National Cemetery.

The Second Battle of Bull Run or Battle of Second Manassas was fought August 28–30, 1862, in Prince William County, Virginia, as part of the American Civil War. It was the culmination of the Northern Virginia Campaign waged by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia against Union Maj. Gen. John Pope's Army of Virginia, and a battle of much larger scale and numbers than the First Battle of Bull Run (or First Manassas) fought on July 21, 1861, on the same ground. Following a wide-ranging flanking march, Confederate Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson captured the Union supply depot at Manassas Junction, threatening Pope's line of communications with Washington, D.C. Withdrawing a few miles to the northwest, Jackson took up strong concealed defensive positions on Stony Ridge and awaited the arrival of the wing of Lee's army commanded by Maj. Gen. James Longstreet. On August 28, 1862, Jackson attacked a Union column just east of Gainesville, at Brawner's Farm, resulting in a stalemate but successfully getting Pope's attention. On that same day, Longstreet broke through light Union resistance in the Battle of Thoroughfare Gap and approached the battlefield. Pope became convinced that he had trapped Jackson and concentrated the bulk of his army against him. On August 29, Pope launched a series of assaults against Jackson's position along an unfinished railroad grade. The attacks were repulsed with heavy casualties on both sides. At noon, Longstreet arrived on the field from Thoroughfare Gap and took position on Jackson's right flank. On August 30, Pope renewed his attacks, seemingly unaware that Longstreet was on the field. When massed Confederate artillery devastated a Union assault by Maj. Gen. Fitz John Porter's V Corps, Longstreet's wing of 25,000 men in five divisions counterattacked in the largest simultaneous mass assault of the war. The Union left flank was crushed and the army was driven back to Bull Run. Only an effective Union rear guard action prevented a replay of the First Manassas defeat. Pope's retreat to Centreville was nonetheless precipitous.Success in this battle emboldened Lee to initiate the ensuing Maryland Campaign.

The Northern Virginia Campaign, also known as the Second Bull Run Campaign or Second Manassas Campaign, was a series of battles fought in Virginia during August and September 1862 in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. Confederate General Robert E. Lee followed up his successes of the Seven Days Battles in the Peninsula campaign by moving north toward Washington, D.C., and defeating Maj. Gen. John Pope and his Army of Virginia. Concerned that Pope's army would combine forces with Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac and overwhelm him, Lee sent Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson north to intercept Pope's advance toward Gordonsville. The two forces initially clashed at Cedar Mountain on August 9, a Confederate victory. Lee determined that McClellan's army on the Virginia Peninsula was no longer a threat to Richmond and sent most of the rest of his army, Maj. Gen. James Longstreet's command, following Jackson. Jackson conducted a wide-ranging maneuver around Pope's right flank, seizing the large supply depot in Pope's rear, at Manassas Junction, placing his force between Pope and Washington, D.C. Moving to a very defensible position near the battleground of the 1861 First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas), Jackson successfully repulsed Union assaults on August 29 as Lee and Longstreet's command arrived on the battlefield. On August 30, Pope attacked again, but was surprised to be caught between attacks by Longstreet and Jackson, and was forced to withdraw with heavy losses. The campaign concluded with another flanking maneuver by Jackson, which Pope engaged at the Battle of Chantilly on September 1. Lee's maneuvering of the Army of Northern Virginia against Pope is considered a military masterpiece. Historian John J. Hennessy wrote that "Lee may have fought cleverer battles, but this was his greatest campaign."

The Stone House, Manassas National Battlefield Park, is a two-story stone structure in Prince William County, Virginia. It was built as a stop on the Fauquier and Alexandria Turnpike in 1848. During the American Civil War, The Stone House served as a hospital during the First and Second Battles of Manassas. Today the Stone House is owned by the National Park Service as a contributing property to the Manassas National Battlefield Park, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Robinson House sits at the bottom of Henry Hill, near Bull Run in Virginia. The house was named for the family of James "Gentleman Jim" Robinson, a free African American, who built the house. The Robinson family, descendants of Gentleman Jim, owned and occupied the house and a large portion of the land around it from the 1840s until 1936. The National Park Service acquired this parcel as part of their effort to commemorate two major battles of the American Civil War, the First and Second battles of Bull Run (also known as First and Second Manassas) which occurred about one year apart. Both battles were Confederate victories. However, Robinson House managed to survive virtually unscathed.

Stone Bridge crosses Bull Run at the eastern entrance of the Manassas National Battlefield Park in Prince William County, Virginia. The original bridge, built in 1825, was destroyed when Confederate forces evacuated Northern Virginia in March, 1862. In 1884, a new bridge, apparently similar to the original design, was built on the site of the old bridge. Modern day U.S. Route 29 crosses Bull Run on a bridge built in the late 1960s downstream of this one.

Groveton is an extinct unincorporated Civil War era village in Prince William County, Virginia. The village is located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 29 (Lee Highway) and Groveton Road on land that is now part of Manassas National Battlefield Park, a National Park Service property. The only remnant of the village is the L. Dogan House, a small, white frame structure, and the nearby Groveton Confederate Cemetery that contains the remains of over 260 Confederate soldiers.

Bull Run is a census-designated place (CDP) in Prince William County, Virginia. The population was 14,983 at the 2010 census.

Sudley Springs is an unincorporated community in Prince William County, in the U.S. state of Virginia.

Ben Lomond, also known as Ben Lomond Plantation, is a historic plantation house located at Bull Run, Prince William County, Virginia. It was built in 1837, and is a two-story, five-bay, red sandstone dwelling with a gable roof. The house has a central-hall plan and one-story frame kitchen addition. One-story pedimented porches shelter the main (north) and rear (south) entries. Also on the property are the contributing frame two-story tenant's house, brick pumphouse, and a bunkhouse dated to the early 20th century; and a meat house, dairy, and slave quarters dated to the late-1830s.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.The house is owned by the County and is open for tour as a Civil War-period historic house museum.

Sudley is a census-designated place (CDP) in Prince William County, Virginia, United States. As of the 2010 census, Sudley comprises what in the 2000 census were the Sudley and West Gate CDPs. Sudley's population including West Gate was 16,203 at the 2010 census, and excluding West Gate was 7,719 at the 2000 census. Sudley contains the Splash Down Waterpark. Residents of Sudley are represented in the Virginia House of Delegates by Danica Roem.