50 Years Ago: The 1st Manassas Centennial

Dad was 20 years old when he took the black and white photos below at the Centennial Reenactment of the Battle of 1st Manassas (or Bull Run - depending on which side of the creek you happened to have bivouacked on that morning back in 1861). It occurred to me while hiking around the battlefield this past winter that this year would kick off the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War. I happen to live just outside the boundaries of the Manassas National Battlefield. So it should be an interesting summer for me.

Tomorrow will mark the opening round of media hoopla associated with the 150th anniversary of the bombardment of Fort Sumter in SC. It all ready looks like we're headed for a heavily saturated Sesquicentennial Summer building toward July 21st. I don't mind. Dad was an amateur Civil War historian - a Buff - and I inherited no small degree of his fascination with the subject as well as his library. I suppose my Dad and I were probably genetically predisposed since three out of four of Dad's Great-Grandfathers served in the Confederate Army.

So I thought it would be interesting to try to figure out where Dad was standing back in 1961 when he took these photos. I talked to the NPS guy who wrote the above linked article. He happens to work at the battlefield. He pointed out where the reenactors were deployed along the crest of Henry Hill and where the the crowd of up to 55,000 (coincidentally that was just about the total number of combatants - North and South - back in 1861) were arrayed facing the N.E. slope of Henry Hill.

I walked around for several hours and just couldn't seem to figure it out. I later learned that I had misunderstood exactly where the grandstands were. Then I noticed a distinctive grouping of three cedars along a fence line over by the Robinson House. It looked exactly like the one in my Dad's photos from 1961. Looking further along the fence line the relative size and spacing remained consistent with my Dad's old photo. I didn't think it was possible for trees to have remained so unchanged for half a century but there it was.

Eventually everything fell into place when I found an old photo online taken from the opposite angle with which I was able to determine where my Dad had roamed. Most of the trees and tree lines were either gone or unrecognizable but that line of cedars hardly looks to have grown at all. I was even able to spot the visitor center and the equestrian statue of Stonewall Jackson hidden under the National Guard's camouflage netting in another of Dad's photos.

Modern View w/ Dad's 1961 Centennial Crowd Photo Inset (Taken from near the site of the Robinson House.)


Grandstand Visible to the Right of the Distinctive Group of 3 Cedars (Near the Right of Jackson's Line, Now Marked by a Line of Artillery Pieces.)


1961 Centennial View:


Modern View:

Wow, thanks for sharing.
My brother is a civil war buff too. He collects the books and maps. I had the opportunity to visit Gettysburg with him, so when I had questions about the battle and stuff, he knew the answers. Really informative that way.

Very cool.

Our local PBS station re-ran the entire Ken Burns Civil War documentary series this past weekend. I've seen it 3 or 4 times, now but still find it completely fascinating and learn something new every time I watch it.

Really fascinating. I visited Gettysburg once and it was a sobering experience to be in a place where so many men lost their lives. The first shot at Fort Sumter is on April 12th marking the 150th anniversary. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704529204576256863623381494.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Tedrick said:

Very cool.

Our local PBS station re-ran the entire Ken Burns Civil War documentary series this past weekend. I've seen it 3 or 4 times, now but still find it completely fascinating and learn something new every time I watch it.

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I watched a little of that too. Unfortunately, I discovered it after the battle of Fredericksburg was halfway over. It is neat to see those black and white photos. I play Disc Golf at Pratt Park, and 5 of our holes run along the edge of the ridge where the Union army stood...directly across from the town of Fredericksburg. There are 10' diameter 3' deep holes all along that ridge (canon placements?) Every time my disc lands into one I wonder what story that "hole" could tell. :yes:

It is ironic because there is a Disc Golf course at Bull Run too.

The National Geographic channel aired a new series called 'Civil Warriors' last night. Its premise was interesting: they found the descendants of individuals who were caught up in the War to see how it had affected them and their families down through the generations.

What I found a little off-putting was the use of historic photographs with live action footage CGI'ed into them. The Ken Burns' Civil War series was a lot less gimmick-riddled. I appreciate the manner in which Burns presented his interpretations with the reading of eyewitness accounts over slow pans of historic photos. He did a good job conveying the gravity of those momentous and horrific years.

One of the 'Civil Warriors' CGI set pieces used this 1862 photo (borrowed from Harry Smeltzer's excellent 'Bull Runnings' website) to illustrate a segment on the Battle of 1st Manassas:



Based on some of the discussion at the Bull Runnings website it would appear that this photo was taken from very near where my Dad took his long shots of the 1961 Centennial crowd - near the Robinson House site. If I understand the orientation correctly, this photo is panned much further right (West) than my Dad's photo. I think that dark shape along the horizon near the right edge of the photo may be the ruins of the widow Judith Carter Henry's house. She was the first civilian casualty of the first major battle of the Civil War - a dubious honor, to be sure. The reconstructed Henry House would have been just out of frame to the right in my Dad's photo.

Great stuff and wonderful photos! Thanks for sharing.

Great stuff. I too am a civil war buff. Just this Saturday, my wife and I went out to Balls Bluff battlefield near Leesburg and did a small tour, along with some wine tasting at nearby wineries (Tarara winery is friggin' awesome). Ball's Bluff is having a Sesquicentennial reenactment of the battle in mid October. FWIW, this is the only battle in US history where a U.S. Senator was killed in battle.

For those who haven't done so, go to Gettysburg and hire a licensed private guide at the Visitor's Center. He'll take the wheel of your car and take a car load of you around for a fixed price (up to 6 people in the vehicle for $55 for a two-hour tour) - one of the greatest historical bargains I've ever experienced (I've done it 3-4 times over the past 20 years).

I think my favorite battlefield visit in this area is Antietam. It's wonderfully preserved and you can do a self-driving tour at your own pace. Certain locations are stunning for their visual impact (e.g., Sunken Road, Burnside Bridge). It's not overly large and can be combined with a visit to nearby Harper's Ferry.

finnbow said:

Great stuff. I too am a civil war buff. Just this Saturday, my wife and I went out to Balls Bluff battlefield near Leesburg and did a small tour, along with some wine tasting at nearby wineries (Tarara winery is friggin' awesome). Ball's Bluff is having a Sesquicentennial reenactment of the battle in mid October. FWIW, this is the only battle in US history where a U.S. Senator was killed in battle.

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Ball's Bluff is a difficult battlefield to tour involving some very rugged terrain. You really need a canoe and climbing gear to properly explore the entire arena due to the cliffs along the river and the Potomac itself. You'd also need to do some serious trespassing through all the new development around the battlefield to really see it all. That tiny cemetery is evocative, though, isn't it? I seem to recall that that is the smallest National Cemetery in the country. I remember visiting there years ago, before all the development, on a foggy day in the fall. It was so quiet and still that my imagination got the better of me.

Did you stop by Fabbioli Cellars? One of the best in Virginia, IMO.

I think my favorite battlefield visit in this area is Antietam. It's wonderfully preserved and you can do a self-driving tour at your own pace. Certain locations are stunning for their visual impact (e.g., Sunken Road, Burnside Bridge). It's not overly large and can be combined with a visit to nearby Harper's Ferry.

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Antietam is beautiful and sad. Have you ever attended the Memorial Illumination which is done after dark in December? It will break your heart. They cover the battlefield with one candle for each of the 23,000 American casualties suffered on that day - the bloodiest in American history.

I found the Bloody Angle at the Spotsylvania Courthouse Battlefield an especially moving locality to visit, as well. But my most memorable Civil War related experience was a visit to the Jackson Shrine in Guiney, Va., along the RR just south of Fredericksburg. It was probably due to the skill of the NPS historian who conducted the tour and recounted Stonewall Jackson's last moments. It also might be that everything was left just as it was the moment he died down to the stopped clock at the bedside. But there were several grown men in our group who were literally crying. My wife, a Northerner, with absolutely no sympathy for "The Cause" was moved, as was I.

Guiney, Va. is doubly significant for me since it is where my G. G. Grandfather settled after getting married in 1860. It was known as Guiney Station back then. He was a carpenter in his mid twenties who probably worked for the RR. He barely had time to start a family - just one son born in 1861. He enlisted in the 47th Va. in Apr. 1862, marched down to the Peninsula and caught a fever on that miserable rainy retreat from Yorktown, Va. He died sometime in the later part of May at Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond. I assume he is buried in one of the countless unmarked graves there. I doubt he ever fired a shot.

thanks for posting. Very interesting. The City of Fairfax, where I have lived most of my life, is rich with history of the civil war era.

I had a cousin with the same name as mysely who fought on the Union side, was wounded and given a small pension.

TheRed1 said:

Ball's Bluff is a difficult battlefield to tour involving some very rugged terrain. You really need a canoe and climbing gear to properly explore the entire arena due to the cliffs along the river and the Potomac itself. You'd also need to do some serious trespassing through all the new development around the battlefield to really see it all. That tiny cemetery is evocative, though, isn't it? I seem to recall that that is the smallest National Cemetery in the country. I remember visiting there years ago, before all the development, on a foggy day in the fall. It was so quiet and still that my imagination got the better of me.

Did you stop by Fabbioli Cellars? One of the best in Virginia, IMO.

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We did stop at Fabbioli. Though not a fan of fruit wines, their Raspberry Merlot is an awesome dessert wine (with chocolate). We brought a half bottle home for a special occassion.

As for Balls Bluff, we drove in through the surrounding housing development to the battlefield, arriving about 9:30 in the morning. As we got out of the car, a retiree volunteer who just arrived to give tours later that day (starting at 11:00) offered to give us a free private tour through the battlefield - awesome. They're now cutting down the trees that have overgrown the central part of the battlefield in the past century to bring it back to its original state during the war, in preparation for the reenactment in October.

Antietam is beautiful and sad. Have you ever attended the Memorial Illumination which is done after dark in December? It will break your heart. They cover the battlefield with one candle for each of the 23,000 American casualties suffered on that day - the bloodiest in American history.

I found the Bloody Angle at the Spotsylvania Courthouse Battlefield an especially moving locality to visit, as well. But my most memorable Civil War related experience was a visit to the Jackson Shrine in Guiney, Va., along the RR just south of Fredericksburg.....

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I've never been to the memorial lumination or the July 4 orchestra concert, though I've heard about them for years. I've stayed away due to crowd concerns, but I may have to do it. The Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania/Wilderness area is rich in Civil War history and an awesome place to visit.

FYI, a couple of local Civil War historians held a discussion on the WashPost yesterday and shared some interesting snippets of local Civil War history.

http://live.washingtonpost.com/civil-war-a-local-perspective.html

Having lived in Va for years, particularly near the Manassas battlefield, I have walked it several times. My first apartment in Fredericksburg was on Sunken Rd. In my backyard was part of the original wall that the Conferderates stood behind while mowing down the Union troops in the Battle of F-Burg. One of the interesting things about Va. is you can hardly pick up a rock that did not hold some importance during either Colonial times or during the Civil War.

Thanks for posting! I love history!

I almost brough up it being the 150th starting this year..

I was reading up last week about the re-enactments in Manassas this year and plan to attend at least a day or two.

Some very cool pictures, and really great seeing that field 50 years apart.