Battle of Manassas!

 Happy Labor Day!  This morning I worked for a few hours. Then I went to Manassas with my roommate, Kara. This was my first time taking the tour of the Manassas Battlefield.  (Yes I know I live so close and it's sad that this is my first time, but hey now I've done it :)

 Look at those muscles on Stonewall /Greek God/Superhero Jackson.  Did he really look like that?! I don't think so. We had a good laugh about this one :)

 A cannon (and there was a whole line of cannons) showing where the Confederates would have been lined up for part of the 1st battle of Manassas.

 The Henry House! There was an old lady, Judith Henry, that lived in this house when the first battle of Manassas began and she refused to leave.  The confederates took over the house and the lady was killed by a Union bullet intended for a confederate soldier. 

 I can't believe I didn't take a picture of the outside of the house that this carving is in.  But it is in the Stone House, which was a field hospital for Union soldiers and later became a tavern.  The house was open to tour and we learned that some of the flooring was original. And two Union soldiers carved their names on the floor and on the baseboard.

Charles E. Brehm carved this one.

 Eugene P. Geer carved this one. Both were Union soldiers who were in the hospital almost exactly 150 years ago today. They walked on the exact same floors that we walked on today. Crazy.

The confederates took over the hospital and Brehm and Geer became POWs for a couple of days, then there was an exchange of prisoners and they went to a hospital with their units.  Brehm survived the war. Geer died about a month after he was returned to his unit. He was only 17 years old.

 The famous bridge that was demolished during the first battle of Manassas.  Then it was used by the Union army in the second battle of Manassas by placing wooden planks over the rubble so they could cross then destroyed it again so that the Confederates couldn't cross. (Obviously this is not either of those bridges, but it is the location of those bridges.) (I hope I am getting my facts straight about all of this stuff).

 Isn't the bridge beautiful?!

 A memorial in a cemetery for Confederate soldiers, who died at both of the battles at Manassas.

We also went to the Brawner Farm, where the second battle of Manassas began (and one of Kara's ancestors fought).  It was cool!

The battlefield at Manassas is beautiful! We only did a highlight tour but now that I know where it is and how cool it is and what else there is to do there, I will go back :)  We did more after the battlefield, but that will have to wait for another post...

P.S. I am really tired right now, so if this does not make any sense, that is why :)