Battles of Manassas • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments • Facts • The Armies
The Jackson Strikes wayside marker is on the Brawner Farm loop trail at Stop One on the Manassas Battlefield Driving Tour.
From the wayside marker:
Jackson Strikes
Brawner Farm: The Battle Begins
Union troops were approaching from the west, raising a long cloud of dust on Warrenton Pike. They did not suspect any Confederate infantry in the area and paid little attention to a lone cavalryman trotting back and forth along this ridge. The horseman was Confederate Maj. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson.
Though Maj. Gen. John Pope’s army had been hunting Jackson, Jackson had chosen the time and place to fight. He ordered up artillery to the left of the farmhouse and the Confederates started shelling the troops in the road.
Second Battle of Manassas
Day One
August 28, 1862
From the caption to the illustration in the upper right:
Walk the opposing battle lines to see how the fighting developed. Eyewitness accounts on troop location markers describe the point-blank musket fire. (Allow approximately 1 hour for the 1.2 mile loop trail.) For a shorter tour, walk fifty yards ahead where an exhibit gives the Union view of the battle.
From the caption to the map:
Instead of panicking, the Midwesterners turned to meet the attack. The 2nd Wisconsin scrambled into line on the far edge of Brawner’s orchard. The 19th Indiana emerged from the woods, where they had first taken cover, and were advancing upslope toward the Stonewall Brigade here at the fence line.
