First and Second Bull Run on 5,000 Preserved Acres
6511 Sudley Road, Manassas, VA 20109
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Park entry is free; the Henry Hill Visitor Center is free to enter.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Visitor center paved; battlefield trails are mostly gravel and grass with some hills
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1936 · NRHP 1966 · First Major Civil War Land Battle · Stonewall Jackson Nickname Origin · Two Major Battles On Same Ground
On July 21, 1861, Union and Confederate armies met along Bull Run creek in Prince William County, Virginia, in the first major land battle of the American Civil War. The First Battle of Bull Run produced the largest single-day American military casualty count to that date — more than 4,800 killed, wounded, captured, or missing across both sides. Confederate Brigadier General Thomas J. Jackson received his nickname Stonewall during the fighting on Henry Hill.
Thirteen months later, on August 28-30, 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee and Union General John Pope fought the Second Battle of Bull Run across much of the same ground. The three-day battle ended in a major Confederate victory and led directly to Lee's first invasion of the North, which ended at Antietam in September.
The Stone House, located at the intersection of the Warrenton Turnpike and Sudley Road, served as a Union field hospital during both battles. Visitors during the war carved their names and unit designations into the second-floor floorboards; the inscriptions survive and are visible during seasonal tours.
The Henry House, the home of 84-year-old Judith Carter Henry, was destroyed during the First Battle. Henry, bedridden, was the only civilian killed in the engagement. The structure visitors see today is a 1870 rebuilding by her family.
The battlefield was acquired by the federal government beginning in 1936 and transferred to the National Park Service. The park was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. The park has been the subject of multiple development disputes, most prominently a 1988 plan to build a regional shopping mall on the Stuart's Hill section, which was defeated and the land added to the park.
Sources
The most consistent paranormal tradition at Manassas concerns the 5th New York Volunteer Infantry, known as Duryee's Zouaves. The regiment took its name and distinctive North African-styled uniforms from the French Zouaves who in turn took theirs from the Zwawa people of Algeria. On August 30, 1862, during Second Manassas, the 5th New York was struck by a Confederate flanking attack at Chinn Ridge that killed or wounded a large portion of the regiment within minutes — one of the highest single-engagement loss rates of any Union unit during the war.
Visitors and seasonal park staff have reported seeing figures in red pantaloons, white leggings, and the soft cap of the Zouave uniform moving along the wood line at the western end of the battlefield, almost always near dusk. The Washington Post documented several such accounts in a 1989 feature on battlefield folklore. The figures are described as moving with purpose rather than menacingly, fitting the residual-haunting pattern in which observed scenes appear to replay rather than interact.
The Stone House attracts a separate cluster of reports, including the smell of black powder and, less commonly, the smell of burning material on still days. Seasonal interpretive staff have reported house lights observed in the upper windows during after-hours rounds. The Stone Bridge area, where Federal troops crossed Bull Run on the morning of July 21, 1861, generates reports of phantom drumming and the distant sound of marching feet.
Manassas is one of the most-visited battlefields in the National Park system, and the volume of personal experience accounts is correspondingly large. Park staff treat the folklore in archival rather than promotional terms, and the NPS does not host paranormal investigations on the property.
Notable Entities
A one-mile self-guided walk over the ground where the First Battle of Bull Run was decided on July 21, 1861. The trail passes the Henry House site, the Stonewall Jackson equestrian statue, and the marker where Confederate General Bee gave Jackson his nickname.
Park ranger interpretive tours offered seasonally, walking key positions of both First and Second Manassas. The Stone House, which served as a field hospital during both battles, is open seasonally.
A 12-stop self-guided auto tour of the August 1862 battle, covering Brawner Farm, the Unfinished Railroad, Chinn Ridge, and Stuart's Hill.
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