BGuthrie Photos: VA -- Manassas Natl Battlefield -- Chinn Ridge

VA -- Manassas Natl Battlefield -- Chinn Ridge:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. MANASC_151026_002.JPG: Short of Total Victory -- Second Battle of Manassas - Day Three - August 30, 1862 -- Nothing could stop them now: sweeping downhill from Chinn Ridge thousands of Confederates crossed Chinn Branch and began crashing through these woods. Ahead was Sudley Road - the road to the Stone House intersection, and the chance to cut off any Union retreat. At the last minute, regiments of Pennsylvania Reserves and U.S. Regulars came running full-tilt from Henry Hill, and took position along the road cut. From the hill behind them artillery started lobbing shells in this direction; Union small arms fire ripped through the trees. Here the Confederate counterattack lost momentum. The hour's fighting on Chinn Ridge had given the Union just enough time to establish this defense along Sudley Road. Confederates made repeated, disjointed assaults along the half mile line but could not quite break through. This was the Confederates' last opportunity to annihilate the Union Army, but darkness fell before they could concentrate their forces.
2. MANASC_151026_052.JPG: Chinn Ridge A Battle for Time: During the late afternoon of August 30, 1862, Union defenders staged a desperate battle against overwhelming numbers of Confederates. While the battle raged along Chinn Ridge, Union Maj. Gen. John Pope organized a new defensive line on Henry Hill and along the historic Manassas-Sudley Road. The paved path retraces the course of fighting here during the Second Battle of Manassas. Manassas National Battlefield Park preserves nearly 5,000 acres of historic land. History and nature converge here to create an absorbing visitor experience. In addition to historic structures, archaeological sites, and cultural landscapes, the park provides habitat for a wide variety of plants, birds, and other wildlife. Please enjoy your visit and help us protect the park for future generations.
3. MANASC_151026_057.JPG: Welcome to Manassas National Battlefield Park. In two fierce battles fought thirteen months apart, Union and Confederate armies clashed here over the same ground. Many of the key features of the battlefields survive today, including the Stone House, the Unfinished Railroad, and the historic road network. Begin your tour at the Henry Hill Visitor Center, which provides orientation to the battlefields and their many points of interest.
4. MANASC_151026_068.JPG: Chinn Ridge The massive Confederate counterattack appeared unstoppable. General James Longstreet's wing of the army - upwards of 28,000 troops - steadily pushed east toward Henry Hill. If the Confederates occupied that plateau, ironically the same ground on which the First Battle of Manassas had culminated the previous summer, they could cut off the Federals' line of retreat and possibly annihilate the Union army. Finally comprehending the magnitude of the crisis, General John Pope raced to save his command. Pope worked to establish a new defensive position and safeguard his avenue of escape. To gain time for his new line to take shape, the Federal commander ordered additional troops onto Chinn Ridge. Here a handful of Union brigades struggled to slow the Confederate advance and buy that time in blood. The Chinn Ridge Trail explores the ground on which some of the most sustained combat occurred during the Second Battle of Manassas. An exhibit at the trail's end addresses the action at First Manassas. The trail is wheelchair accessible. The Second Battle of Manassas Day Three August 30, 1862
5. MANASC_151026_080.JPG: Kemper's Brigade -- Second Battle of Manassas -- August 30, 1862 5:30 p.m. Kemper's Division, Right Wing (Longstreet) Army of Northern Virginia, CSA Kemper's Brigade Col. Montgomery D. Corse 1st Virginia - 11th Virginia 7th Virginia - 17th Virginia 24th Virginia "Above us, on a gentle rise, was a battery - the guns hidden from view by a dense curtain of smoke. Nothing could be seen but the flash of the guns. 'Form into line men! Forward! Charge that battery!' The veil of smoke slowly lifted, and we could see the muzzles of the guns. Then came a horrid roar and dull shock that seemed to shake the very earth, and then the dull thud of the balls as they tore through the bodies of our men. I looked around me. The ground was covered with the mangled dead and dying." - Pvt. Alexander Hunter, 17th Virginia Infantry
6. MANASC_151026_091.JPG: 73rd Ohio Infantry -- Second Battle of Manassas -- August 30, 1862 5:00 p.m. 2nd Brigade (McLean), First Division (Schenk) First Corps (Sigel), Army of Virginia, USA 73rd Ohio Infantry Col. Orland Smith "The enemy in our front, moving in concert with those on our flank, came out of the woods - their line masking and overlapping our own. The whole left of our brigade poured into them a murderous volley. The combat grew fierce indeed. But the contest was not long. On came the flanking column. We stood until the enemy had nearly gained our rear, and had opened fire upon our flank. Then we retired." - Samuel B. Hurst, Regimental Historian
7. MANASC_151026_093.JPG: Fight at the Fence Line Colonel Nathaniel McLean braced his men for the coming onslaught. The Union officer, a civilian attorney with no prewar military background, commanded 1,200 Ohioans on Chinn Ridge. The ground directly in front of this brigade was open at the time of the battle and McLean's men could see the approaching enemy. At this moment only the Ohioans stood between the Confederates and Henry Hill. The Confederate attack soon drew the attention of Federal artillery north of the Warrenton Turnpike. To avoid this raking cannon fire, some of the advancing troops crowded into the woods to your far left front. Rather than continue straight ahead into McLean's waiting guns, the weight of the Confederate attack now fell upon the Ohioans' left flank. McLean's line was caught in a devastating crossfire and quickly crumbled. In desperation McLean ordered two of his regiments to change front and reform at the fence line. By this point, Confederate forces were sweeping onto the Chinn farm. As they surged past the Chinn house, McLean's brave remnant rose and fired. Their concentrated volley struck the Confederates like a shock wave. For ten minutes, deafening musketry continued until overwhelming numbers forced the Ohioans back along the ridge.
8. MANASC_151026_105.JPG: There are idiots out there who put their dog poop in plastic bags and then dump the bags on the lawn.
9. MANASC_151026_108.JPG: Second Brigade -- Second Battle of Manassas -- August 30, 1862 5:15 p.m. Second Division (Ricketts) Third Corps (McDowell) Army of Virginia, USA Second Brigade Brig. Gen. Zealous B. Tower 26th New York - 88th Pennsylvania 94th New York - 90th Pennsylvania "The regiment rushed up on the double quick and the companies deployed as best they could, facing the enemy's line near the Chinn House. Very soon the Confederates advanced in many lines of battle. We at once opened fire on them, checking their advance. But the infantry fire was so very destructive that our men were at a loss how to return it effectively. It was just impossible to get the companies in order to successfully resist the Rebel advance." - John Vautier, 88th Pennsylvania Infantry
10. MANASC_151026_132.JPG: Defending the Cannon: As the Ohioans strived to delay the Confederates, Federal reinforcements rushed to Chinn Ridge in support. With these troops came the 5th Battery, Maine Light Artillery, under the temporary command of Lt. William F. Twitchell. The five guns unlimbered here atop the ridge, but the retreating Ohioans momentarily obstructed their field of fire. With the onrushing Confederates nearly upon them, the battery unleashed a thunderous volley of canister that "seemed to shake the very Earth. The blast caused the Confederate line to shudder. Colonel Frederick Skinner of the 1st Virginia Infantry rode into the maelstrom wielding his sword. Following his example, the Confederates swarmed the battery and captured four of the cannon. The fight swirled around the guns for the next thirty minutes. This stubborn pocket of resistance cost the Confederates many lives and valuable time. Meanwhile, Federal reserves assembled in the rear to stave off disaster. By the time the Confederate forces overcame Union opposition on Chinn Ridge, fresh Federal troops were waiting along Sudley Road and on the slopes of Henry Hill.
11. MANASC_151026_157.JPG: Third Brigade -- Second Battle of Manassas -- August 30, 1862 5:30 p.m. Second Division (Ricketts) Third Corps (McDowell) Army of Virginia, USA Third Brigade Col. John W. Stiles 12th Massachusetts - 83rd New York 13th Massachusetts - 11th Pennsylvania "Our boys dropped like tenpins before an expert player. Ten feet to my left the tall sergeant of Company F sank down in a heap, shot squarely through the head. Franks went down with a bullet through the face. Stevens was swearing like mad, shot through the thigh. A man I did not recognize dropped just in front. I heard the bullets chug into his body; it seamed half a dozen struck him. I shall never forget the look on his face as he turned over and died." - Pvt. George D. Paine, 13th Massachusetts
12. MANASC_151026_159.JPG: Death of Fletcher Webster: Colonel Fletcher Webster fell mortally wounded near here, leading his regiment in support of the cannon on Chinn Ridge. The colonel, son of the famous orator and statesman Daniel Webster, commanded the 12th Massachusetts Infantry -- a regiment he organized at the outbreak of war in 1861. The unit was forever called the "Webster Regiment" after his death. Shot through the right arm and chest, Webster lay helpless as the Union position collapsed and Confederates overran the guns. A member of the 8th Virginia Infantry stopped to offer water to the fallen colonel. Webster asked the enemy soldier to return his wallet to his family. The Southern soldier survived the war and honored the request. "If a fight comes off, it will be today or tomorrow & will be a most dreadful & decisive one. This may be my last letter, dear love, for I shall not spare myself..." -- Col. Fletcher Webster in a letter to his wife, written on the morning of his death
13. MANASC_151026_178.JPG: In memory of Colonel Fletcher Webster who here fell August 30, 1862 while gallantly leading his regiment the 12th Mass. Volunteers. This memorial was dedicated Oct. 21, 1914 by survivors of his regiment and Fletcher Webster Post, G.A.R. of Brockton, Mass. He gave his life for the principles laid down by his father Daniel Webster. "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable" This boulder was taken from the Webster place, Marshfield, Mass.
14. MANASC_151026_182.JPG: Texas Remembers the valor and devotion of her soldiers who participated in the battle of Second Manassas, Virginia - August 28-30, 1862. On this field Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia won the decisive battle of the Northern Virginia Campaign against Union Maj. Gen. John Pope's Army of Virginia. Arriving on the second day, August 29th, Confederate Maj. Gen. James Longstreet's wing took position opposite Pope's left-flank late that afternoon. Brig. Gen. John Bell Hood's Texas Brigade saw its first combat of the engagement advancing into the Union line at Groveton. Their position untenable, the Brigade withdrew the following morning. Misinterpreting Confederate maneuvers as a retreat, Gen. Pope ordered another attack on Gen. Stonewall Jackson's position on August 30th. With the help of Gen. Longstreet's artillery the Union attack was repulsed. Gen. Longstreet's five divisions then counterattacked in one of the largest simultaneous mass assaults of the war. Hood's Texas Brigade led the advance with the entire wing pivoting on the brigade. In the ensuing combat Hood's Texas Brigade overwhelmed the 5th and 10th New York Zouaves at Groveton and drove off a brigade of Pennsylvania reserves, their efforts climaxed with the capture of Kern's Pennsylvania Battery. Although the terrain and stubborn Union resistance on Chinn Ridge ultimately broke the tactical integrity of the unit, the Texas Brigade contributed significantly to the collapse of the Union left flank which forced Pope's retreat that night and opened the way for Lee's invasion of Maryland.
15. MANASC_151026_189.JPG: Texas Units engaged in The Battle of Second Manassas, VA Brig. Gen. John Bell Hood's Brigade 1st Texas Volunteer Infantry Regiment 4th Texas Volunteer Infantry Regiment 5th Texas Volunteer Infantry Regiment 18th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment Hampton's Legion, South Carolina (8 Infantry Companies) Texas units formed the major portion of Hood's Brigade, thus it was commonly known as the Texas Brigade, but the 18th Georgia, Hampton's Legion, and later the 3rd Arkansas were integral parts of the brigade. Texas remembers and honors her sons and those of her sister states who fought with them. They sleep the sleep of the brave.
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