Battles of Manassas • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments • Facts • The Armies
The Jackson Opens Fire wayside marker is just outside the Brawner Farm interpretive Center at Stop One on the Manassas Battlefield Driving Tour.
From the wayside marker:
“My command was advanced…until it reached a commanding position near Brawner’s house. By this time it was sunset; but as [the Union] column appeared to be moving by, with its flank exposed, I determined to attack at once.”
-Confederate General Thomas J. Jackson, 1862
Jackson Opens Fire
Observing a column of tired, unsuspecting Federal troops marching eastward on the Warrenton Pike (U.S. Rte. 29 today), General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson chose to reveal his position and draw the Union Army of Virginia into battle on ground favoring the Confederates. The Federals raced for cover along the roadside as Confederate shells burst overhead. The Battle of Second Manassas had begun.
Two divisions of Jackson’s hardened infantry swarmed from the wooded ridge behind the house but met unexpected stiff resistance from six Union regiments that advanced from the turnpike. Confederate division commanders William Taliaferro and Richard Ewell were severely wounded in the intense, close range firefight that continued until darkness fell. The fight at Brawner’s Farm ended in stalemate leaving Jackson frustrated by his troops’ inability to break the Union line.
Second Battle of Manassas
Day One
August 28, 1862 6 p.m.
