The Manassas National Battlefield grounds were expanded Wednesday, one day before the 150th anniversary of a bloody Confederate victory there. Two parcels of land, totaling about 54 acres, are being added to the 5,000-acre grounds, thanks to preservation efforts by the Civil War Trust and the National Park Service.
The 44-acre Stonewall Memory Garden, a donation worth $1.125 million, now comes under the ownership of the Civil War Trust, with an agreement that the land will eventually change hands to the National Park Service. The parcel of land was the site of a skirmish at the opening of the Second Battle of Manassas, where Union Gen. Fitz-John Porter’s troops were forced to retreat under Confederate fire.
The 10-acre Smith and Gray Tracts, acquired last year for $570,000 by the Civil War Trust will now be handed over to the National Park Service.
Every day, 30 acres of Civil War battlefield are lost to development, said Mary Koik, a spokeswoman for the trust.
“Think about why these battles where fought where they were in the first place,” she said. “They were fought across crossroads. … Today, that crossroad might be a major interstate.”
The First and Second Battles of Manassas represent key points in Civil War history, making the battlefields a top priority among preservationists.
The First Battle of Manassas, or First Bull Run as it was known in the north, signaled to the nation that the conflict would be drawn out and bloody.
“It was a loss of innocence,” Koik said. “It was the largest battle fought in American history up to that point.”
The battle was a Confederate victory, with commander Thomas J. Jackson earning the nickname “Stonewall” for a defensive stand at the head of Virginia troops. Prominent Washington civilians had gone to the scene to witness what they expected to be a decisive Union victory, and scattered back to the city in a panic after the reversal.
The battle of Second Manassas, 13 months later, was another Confederate success that opened the door to the invasion of Maryland by Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army.
The land donation coincides with a weekend of commemorative events and a re-enactment at the battlefield. Despite warnings of scorching temperatures, 25,000 tickets to the re-enactment have been sold so far and more than 8,700 Civil War re-enactors are registered to participate this weekend, organizers said.
