Brawner Farmhouse

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See the Second Manassas Battlefield Tour web page for a tour map.

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GETTING THERE

Brawner Farm is located at the end of a long driveway off of Pageland Lane. If coming from the Henry Hill Visitor Center, it is the second major intersection after turning left on Highway 29, the first being Groveton Road. From the parking lot you have a five-minute walk to the actual farm site down a paved sidewalk. Restrooms are located at the parking lot.

Paved path leads from the parking area to the Brawner Farmhouse

WHAT TO SEE

The Brawner Farmhouse has been converted into a museum dedicated to the Second Battle of Manassas (the First Battle of Manassas museum is located at the Henry Hill Visitor Center). A tour of the museum is self-guided, but a Ranger is on duty to answer any questions. The house is open daily from 9 AM to 5 PM. When closed, you can still walk around the property and take a hike on the Brawner Farm Loop Trail.

Most of the exhibits are nothing more than information panels about the battle. As is the case at the First Battle of Manassas museum, it is the light-animated battlefield map that is relied upon to be “the” source of information. The First Manassas map presentation is the best of its type that I have seen, and the map presentation at the Brawner Farmhouse is right up there with it. You can read all you want about the battle, but to really understand it you must see it played out on a map.

One exhibit room is dedicated to the archaeological digs done at Brawner Farm. In addition to finding Civil War relics, the archaeologists learned a lot about the people—free and slaves—who lived on the property over the years. A brochure about the subject is available.

The Brawners were tenant farmers who were renting the house and farm from Augusta Douglass. Narratives from the time describe the property as the Douglass Farm, not the Brawner Farm as it is now known. After the battle the house was heavily damaged, so the Brawners left—it wasn’t their problem.

A portion of the current house is thought to have been built in the early 1800s, but architects do not believe it is the house the Brawners lived in during the war. First off, a building foundation from an earlier structure sits under the current house, and second, no wood in the house has any embedded bullets. Thus, it is theorized that the original house was torn down after the battle, and the current house was moved to this location from someplace else. Subsequent owners added on to the structure after the war and up through the early 1900s. In 2007, the National Park Service removed the additions and restored the house to its post-Civil War appearance. Most of the materials used in the renovation are new, but some of the original flooring and window frames remain.

Tours of the battlefield at Brawners Farm are given multiple times each day (get the current tour schedule on the National Park Service’s Guided Tours web page for Manassas National Battlefield Park). A Ranger told me that half the time nobody shows up, so expect a light crowd. This is a much less popular area than Henry Hill. On my tour there was me and three people from one other group.

The tour is not of the house, but of the farm property where the fighting took place. About a half mile of walking is involved, all out in the sun. From the farmhouse you must walk up a small hill, and while this is easy for most people, be aware that the tour is not on flat terrain.

Confederate artillery exhibit seen on the Brawner Farm Tour

TRAILS

The Brawner Farm Loop Trail is a highly recommended 1.4-mile trail that is easy to hike. Essentially a long, narrow oval, the south side of the trail follows the Union infantry position on the first day of fighting, August 28, 1862, and the north side follows the Confederate positions. The western half of the trail is covered by the Ranger-guided tour mentioned above.

SCHEDULING YOUR TIME

The Brawner Farm museum takes no more than a half hour to go through, the tour about 45 minutes, and the trail can be hiked in an hour. I suggest at least visiting the museum and taking a tour if your schedule works out. Thus allow 1.5 to 2.5 hours for a visit to the farm.

EVENTS AT BRAWNER FARM

Brawner Farm was where the Second Battle of Manassas began on August 28, 1862. At the time, the Union Army was divided into the Army of Virginia under General John Pope and the Army of the Potomac commanded by General George McClellan. In July, President Abraham Lincoln ordered the two armies to merge in order to form a force of 150,000 men. However, it would take some time for McClellan’s army to move north from Richmond back to Washington. In the meantime, Confederate General Robert E. Lee, who’s Army of Northern Virginia numbered only 55,000, made plans to stop this merger by defeating Pope before McClellan could arrive.

At the start of August, Pope’s army was sandwiched between the Rappahannock and Rapidan Rivers just west of Fredericksburg, Virginia. The two rivers merged to the east of the Union position, forming a V-shape. Should Pope be attacked from the west, there would be no place to retreat—this was Lee’s plan. Unfortunately, Union soldiers captured some Confederates in possession of papers detailing the plan, and on August 18^th, Pope moved his entire army north, crossing the Rappahannock River and establishing a much better defensive position at Rappahannock Station. Manassas Junction, a major Union railroad junction where three rail lines came together, was still a good twenty-five miles away to the northeast, but the two were connected by the Alexandria and Orange Railroad, thus providing Pope with a supply line to Union territory.

To keep Pope isolated, Manassas Junction would have to be captured or destroyed. Under Lee’s command were General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, commander of the right wing of the Army of Northern Virginia, and General James Longstreet, commander of the left wing. On August 25^th, Lee decided to send Jackson on a 54-mile march north around the left flank of Pope’s army to Salem, where he could then follow the Manassas Gap Railroad line east to Bristoe Station, the next railroad station north of Rappahannock. Should this be accomplished, Pope would be cut off from supplies, telegraph communication, and reinforcements. This was a daring move because it split the Army of Northern Virginia into two, and if Pope sent his entire army northeast to Manassas, Jackson would be highly outnumbered.

Jackson was able to capture Bristoe Junction on the evening of August 26th. From there, it was a short march northeast to Manassas Junction, which proved to be no more difficult a target. Jackson captured, pillaged, and then burned the station to the ground the next day. He then retreated northwest and set up his men along the high ground at Stony Ridge and an unfinished railroad bed and waited for Pope.

As Lee anticipated, Pope sent his entire army after Jackson. However, when they arrived at Manassas Junction, nobody was there. Word came that Jackson was near Centreville, so Pope set out on the Warrenton Turnpike (today’s Highway 29 / Lee Highway) northeast to Centreville. This road ran just below Stony Ridge, which was located north of the Brawner Farm at the northwest corner of the present day Manassas National Battlefield Park. Troops situated on the ridge had a commanding view south towards the farm and the turnpike. On the evening of August 28^th, Jackson ordered an artillery battery positioned at the farm to open fire on a division of Union soldiers as they passed before them on the Turnpike. This was the start of the Second Battle of Manassas.

Next Stop: Battery Heights

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