Summer day 150 years ago remembered at Manassas Battlefield

It was a sweltering summer morning, the air heavy with humidity, when men from across the country gathered on farmland near Bull Run.

Some of the land was owned by a freed black man, Jim Robinson. The rest by an infirmed widow, Judith Henry, who was cared for by her family and a slave.

The average age of the men was 21. They were young and had only been part of the army for a matter of weeks. Some prayed. Others boasted. Some were hoping for a fight while others were dreading the idea of either shooting or being shot.

“While people far from the battlefield might romanticize the fighting to come, those who were here saw what this war would be,” said Edward L. Ayers, historian and president of the University of Richmond.

One hundred and fifty years to the day, it was again a hot and steamy summer morning when thousands gathered at the Manassas National Battlefield Park Thursday morning to remember the First Battle of Manassas/Bull Run and reflect on what that battle meant to this country.

Ayers, the keynote speaker, continued to set the scene.

“The Robinson and Henry farms were covered with dead and dying. The stench of fallen horses and men filled the air,” Ayers said. “You need to imagine a place of unbelievable noise, with the cannon roaring and biting and killing for hour upon hour, with men and horses screaming, with smoke obscuring every line of vision, with the relentless musket fire making it sound as if the woods were burning all around them.”

When the battle was over that afternoon, more than 5,000 of those young men were dead, wounded or missing. Also dead was 85-year-old Judith Henry, killed by a cannon blast to her house.

What was also over was any notion – on either side – that the Civil War would be settled quickly and painlessly.

“The brief Civil War imagined in 1861 would stretch on longer than people thought they could bear, bring consequences greater than they could have imagined on that hot July morning 150 years ago,” Ayers said. “We have inherited the national unity and the end of slavery that war eventually brought.”

The opening ceremony at the battlefield marked the beginning of a four-day observance of the 150th anniversary which will include re-enactments on Saturday and Sunday on farmland near the national park along with events planned within the city of Manassas and in Prince William County.

Along with state and local dignitaries, about 3,000 tickets for the ceremony were handed out, said Bill Justice of the National Park Service.

Mindful of the extreme heat, many wore hats or covered their heads with umbrellas. The National Park Service provided water. It was needed. The temperature was in the mid 90s, with humidity making the air 100-degrees or more.

“Lives would never be the same again. This land will never be the same again,” said the Rev. Dennis Lipke of nearby Sudley United Methodist Church that served as one of the many makeshift hospitals after the battle.

In another acknowledgement to the local impact of the battle, retired Army Col. Richard Robinson and other descendents of Jim Robinson, led the Pledge of Allegiance.

“On July 21, 1861, this land was the site of a very savage and vicious battle. Thousands died in just a few hours,” said Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell.

McDonnell described Virginia as the “battleground upon which the fate of the union of America itself depended.”

A total of 122 major battles were fought in Virginia, “but it all started here 150 years ago today at the First Battle of Manassas,” McDonnell said.

He also pointed out that another location in Virginia, Appomattox Courthouse, was also the place where the Civil War ended.

McDonnell said that he believed the Civil War-related events planned throughout the state over the next four years will tell the complete story.

“Much will be learned about the cause, tactics and legacy of the war. After it’s done, I believe it will make us a better, stronger and united people,” he said.

“We all know that the legacy of the Civil War still has the potential to divide us today. But, I say we must not let that happen. But instead, grow stronger together as a United States,” McDonnell said.

“This is where American democracy began its baptism by fire; where the grueling four-year journey that shaped the nation truly began in earnest,” said Jonathan Jarvis, director of the National Park Service.

“The Civil War decided once and for all the questions of slavery, of union and disunion,” Jarvis said. “There would be no more argument that we would be one nation. Before the war, people said the plural, ‘United States are.’ After the war, they used the singular, ‘the United States is.

“We are defined not by what divides us but by what joins us together,” he said.

“Let’s never forget the sacrifices of those young soldiers, Union and Confederate, who fought and died on these fields or by their families on the homefront,” said State Sen. Charles Colgan, D- Manassas. “And let’s never forget the struggles and hardships faced by the African-Americans both freed and enslaved before, during and after the war.”

Several speakers also reminded those gathered to remember the struggles and sacrifices of today’s military.

The ceremony ended with a moment of silence for the country’s military and the playing of taps. All rose, those wearing hats removed them and many placed a hand over their heart.

It was a somber ending for a somber commemoration.

Staff writer Aileen M. Streng can be reached at 703-530-3907.