Battles of Manassas • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments • Facts • The Armies
The Defending the Cannon wayside marker is on the Chinn Ridge trail on the Manassas National Battlefield. The Chinn Ridge trailhead is at Stop 10 on the Manassas Battlefield Driving Tour.
From the wayside marker:
Defending the Cannon
5th Maine Battery
Picture Longstreet’s advance – gray lines of Confederates as far as you can see, driving Ohio troops from the rail fence across the field toward this position. Here four gun crews from Maine were trying to load and fire faster than they ever had in their lives.
As Confederates surged into close range, the connoneers switched from shell to canister. Like a giant shotgun, the barrage perforated the first line of assault, but reinforcements quickly filled the gaps. Confederates were soon cutting their way through the battery.
Second
Battle of Manassas
Day Three
August 30, 1862
From the caption to the left side panel:
Slashing with his sword, Colonel Skinner killed two cannoneers before a Union bullet tore through his side. Skinner survived his wound and later remarked, “I hated to kill these brave men.”
From the caption to the inset photo:
Lieutenant Colonel Frederick G. Skinner, 1st Virginia Infantry, C.S.A.
From the caption to the drawing on the right:
The fight to recapture the guns lasted forty-five minutes – enough time for Federal reserves to take position below Henry Hill.There, along the Sudley Road cut, Federals hoped to avert total defeat. (An exhibit this side of Sudley Road gives the Confederates’ perspectives of the Union’s last-ditch defense.)
