Mayfield Civil War Fort

Quaker Guns

Some of the Confederate cannons placed at Manassas and nearby Centreville were for show only. These non-functioning cannon were intended to deceive Union soldiers who might turn their telescopes on the earthworks: “This was nothing other than huge mock ...

Mayfield Civil War Fort

Firepower

Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard, commander of the troops defending Manassas, had been one of the pre-war U.S. Army's outstanding artillerists. Fearing an imminent Union attack, he worked feverishly to obtain cannons for the fortifications and experienced crews to man them. Most ...

Mayfield Civil War Fort

Monster Manassas - How Strong a Stronghold?

The Mayfield earthwork, known in military engineering terms as a redoubt, was a circle of raised earth some 200 feet in diameter. It may have included a retaining wall of timbers and brush, and ...

Mayfield Civil War Fort

Unearthing the Past

Archeology is the detective work of history. Evidence recovered from the soil often provides valuable clues for learning how people lived, worked, and died, especially when documentary sources are scarce.

Excavations were conducted at the Hooe House site by ...

Mayfield Civil War Fort

The People and the Land

American Indians lived on the land long before white settlers and slaves came to this area. Living in nomadic hunter-gatherer groups, people called the Dogues and the Mannahoacs roamed the Northern Virginia Piedmont region. Archaeological evidence ...

Mayfield Civil War Fort

A Civil War Redoubt

This 11-acre historic park, part of the Manassas Museum System, contains one of only two surviving Civil War fortifications in the City of Manassas. The earthwork was built by Confederate troops in the Spring of 1861 as ...

Mayfield Civil War Fort

Manning the Fort

The life of Civil War soldiers in camp was one of boredom, fear, mischief, disease and even death. Thousands of young men, many of whom had never before left their family farms or urban neighborhoods, were crowded into ...

Mayfield Civil War Fort

The Changing Fortunes of War

After the First Battle of Manassas on June 21, 1861, Confederate forces continued to hold Manassas Junction until March 1862. They evacuated Manassas and moved south in order to counter Union Gen. George B. McClellan’s plans ...

Mayfield Civil War Fort

Firepower

Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard, commander of the troops defending Manassas, had been one of the pre-war U.S. Army's outstanding artillerists. Fearing an imminent Union attack, he worked feverishly to obtain cannons for the fortifications and experienced crews to man them. Most ...