American Public History Laboratory COMING TO MANASSAS: PEAtE, WAR, ANfJ THE MAKING OF A VIRGINIA COMMUNITY A Historic Resource Study for Manassas National Battlefield Park Manassas, Virginia National Park Service Cooperative Agreement No. 14~3-CA-3840-01-001 Dr. Linda Sargent Wood Chief Historian Dr. Richard Rabinowitz Principal Investigator and Project Director October 2003 American Public History Laboratory 588 Seventh Street Brooklyn, NY 11215 American Public History Laboratory ( iii COMING TO MANASSAS: PEACE, WAR, AND Tl-/£ MAKING OF A VIRGINIA COMMUNITY" Contents October 2003 Blackburn's Ford·........................................................................................................................................ 87 The Battle of First Manassas ..................................................................................................................... 88 Caring for the Dead and Wounded: Shallow Graves and Makeshift Hospitals ...................................... 96 Relic Gathering ........................................................................................................................................ 101 Confederates Winter in Manassas and Centreville ................................................................................ 101 The Battle of Second Manassas ............................................................................................................... 105 More Makeshift Hospitals and Community Loss ................................................................................... 107 Continued Unrest and Terror ................................................................................................................. 109 Black Military Experience ....................................................................................................................... 111 The Railroad and Military Strategy .. :..................................................................................................... 114 Conflict between Neighbors and between the Military and Civi/ians ................................................... 117 Relations between Blacks and Whites ..................................................................................................... 120 Life for African American Civilians ........................................................................................................ 121 Life for White Women .............................................................................................................................. 122 Confederate Defeat and Surrender .......................................................................................................... 124 CHAPTER IV: AFTER THE WAR: DEATH, REBIRTH, AND THE STRUGGLE FOR A NEW ORDER·················••.•·········································································· 126 A Landscape of Human Suffering and Environmental and Economic Ruin ........................................ 128 Reconstruction at the National Level ...................................................................................................... 130 Reconstruction Years Around the Manassas Battle Sites: Villages, Business Interests ...................... 134 The Agricultural Economy and the Labor System ................................................................................. 140 Labor Arrangements ........................................................................... '. .................................................... 143 Agricultural Recovery ............................................................................................................................. 145 Railroads ................................................................................................................................................... 150 Developing Manassas ................................ : ............................................................................................. 152 ~:~;;~:iro~;~;:;ii v::~i~:::::::::::::::::~:::::::::::::::::::::::~::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ~;: Manassas Becomes an Incorporated Town ........................... :, ................................................................ 165 Conclusion ....................................................... '. ................... :-::. ................................................................. J66 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................... 168 American Public History Laboratory COMING TO MANASSAS: PEACE, WAR, AND THE MAKING OF A VIRGINIA COMMUNITY ILLUSTRATIONS After page Fig. 1. James Robinson house, 1862 .......................................................................... 23 Fig. 2.The Stone House, 1862 ..................................................................................... 59 Fig. 3."Por_tici" plantation mansion, 1862 .............................................................. L 61 Fig. 4."Liberia" plantation home in wartime, 1862 ................................................. 84 Fig. 5. Braddock Road, Centreville, Virginia, 1862.~· ................................................ 105 .,, ... Fig. 6. Manassas Gap Railroad ............................. :•.................................................. 116 . .,,:: ,'- Fig. ?.Thornberry House, 1862 ................................................................................ 139 Fig. 8. George Round, leading citizen of post-war Manassas ............................... 153 Fig. 9. Jennie Dean, educator and religious leader ................................................ 163 -IV- American Public History Laboratory COMING TO MANASSAS: PEACE, WAR, AND THE MAKING OF A VIRGINIA COMMUNIIT Preface Manassas National Battlefield Park is located approximately twenty-five miles southwest of Washington, D.C., and sits within the Virginia counties of Prince · William and Fairfax. The 5,072-acre park preserves the sites of the first and sec­ ond battles of Manassas in the American Civil War. These battles took place within a community whose history has been largely unexplored. This report, un­ dertaken through a cooperative agreement between the National Pa,.rk Service and the American Public History Laboratory of Brooklyn, N.Y., represents the beginnings of a study of this community, rich and poor, slave and free, male and female, black and white. The report traces the history of the local community from the antebellum years, through the Civil War, and Reconstruction until the time when Manassas was incorporated as a town in 1873. It pays special atten­ tion to the impact of the war upon the local civilian population, including en­ slaved and free African Americans: Dr. RicharcfRabinowitz served as project di­ rector and principal investigator, Dr. Linda $argent Wood as chief historian, Robert T. Chase as research historian, and Lynaa B. Kaplan as project manager. The Study Area This study focuses on the area beyond the preserved battlefield itself, roughly comprising the terrain east and west between Gainesville and Centreville, and between Sudley and Manassas Junction north to south. Because this area strad­ dles the boundaries between Prince William and Fairfax counties, because the population was in flux during some of this period, and because much of it was not incorporated into municipalities for most or all of this time, it is often diffi­ cult to make definitive judgments, for example, about demographics, agricultural statistics, or political positions over time. The study looks most carefully at households and individuals close to the battlefield itself, but the larger story of economic and social change must take account of what was happening in Manas­ sas (which dominated the region after the focal period), and in Alexandria, the Shenandoah Valley, and in northern Virginia generally. On occasion, the study area has been labeled the "Manassas region," although that name would have -v- American Public History Laboratory · (vi COMING TO MANASSAS: PEACE, WAR, AND THE MAKING OF A VIRGINIA COMMUNITY Preface October 2003 been unfamiliar before that time came to dominate the region in the last years of the century. Conclusions and Limitations of the Study This is by no means an exhaustive analysis of the battlefield park area's history. Indeed, the study has only begun to uncover some of the rich history within the Manassas area. Much more researc_h needs to be done on the economic, political, and social characteristics of the community and the military events that helped circumscribe and influence its evolution, in order to make definitive judgments. For example, on the question of secession, more work needs to be done to un­ cover and analyze local political sentiment. Digging further into local correspon­ dence, public and private, and more reading of newspapers might provide fur­ ther important evidence. The same holds true for assessing the effects of the Con­ federate occupation of the community and periods of Union domination. Addi- . tional work also demands further examination of the Native American presence, the lives of African Americans, the use of slaves on local railroad work, the en­ listment of blacks in the Unic_:m Army, and the involvement of northerners and local individuals in Reconstruction politics. That said, the study establishes an overall account of a significant transformation of the region during the antebellum era. Through shifts in agricultural practice, the coming