Opening Shots
"Look Out for Your Left!"
Confederates were spread out along this ridge - 1100 men commanded by Col. Nathan "Shanks" Evans. At first light, Federals east of Stone Bridge sent a cannon shell screaming overhead. Skirmishers from both sides opened a sporadic musket fire.
After two hours Colonel Evans became suspicious; no Federal attack had developed. Then an officer flagged a message from the signal post near Manassas Junction: "Look out for your left! You are turned!"
Leaving a small force here to guard the bridge, Evans shifted his badly outnumbered troops toward Matthews Hill, a mile west. There he hoped to blunt the Federal flank attack.
Marker can be reached from Lee Highway (U.S. 29), on the right when traveling west.
Courtesy hmdb.org
