Walking Manassas Battlefield.

I took some time yesterday morning to do some historical touring ---

You know me and history, if it is anywhere near by I just HAVE to check it out.

Of course, I could choose to check it out when the morning was already 91 degrees, hot and heavy with humidity.  That gave me a lot of food for thought into what both sides of soldiers went through when they clashed here in the first battle of Manassas, also known as Bull Run, July 21, 1861.

And soldiers wore wool.  And carried all of that stuff.

And I was in capris and a tshirt and running shoes ---dripping wet with sweat and heat within 10 minutes of getting outside of the airconditioned comfort of my car.

And mostly, those soldiers ---were hardly more than boys.

Imagine them facing off across open fields like this.

Or standing behind a cannon like this to aim at their opposition.

I walked from monument to monument, contemplating.

And imagined soldiers gathered beneath great shady tree limbs, not only to shade them from the brutal heat of a Virginia July, but it helped hide them in tall grasses so they were harder to be seen.

This battle happened so quickly that there was no time to build ramparts, they just used whatever terrain they could as protection – trees, bushes, fences and uneven ground became their trenches.

Farmland was invaded --

The story goes that Judith Henry, in her 80s and an invalid, refused to leave her bed as her home was occupied during the fighting at Bull Run.  She lost her life to cannon fire when soldiers aimed their artillery at the men shooting out from Judith’s upstairs windows.  She became collateral damage.  She is buried here in front of her house:

Henry Family Markers

Judith’s stone with her story, illegible.

I hiked trails following the fence line and came across these beautiful thistles waving tall in the welcoming breeze --

The bee liked the thistle too!

Heading toward the old stone house across the way

The old stone house stood through both Manassas battles, and was an icon known by soldiers from both sides.

Stone house during the war

Front of house with well --

So here I am, crawling over fences and around pieces of property a bit precarious – this angle of the house and the well is right at the corner of two busy crossroads on Lee Highway!

I finished my photos, and was waiting to cross at the light when a woman, stopped at the red light close to me in a burgundy minivan, rolls down her window and says “Are you Bonnie Hunter?!  I read on your blog that you were planning to be here today but I didn’t think I’d get to see you!” 

How funny is that?  We talked for the duration of her red light, and when it turned green I waved her on her way and I returned up the hill.

Who would think I’d have a drive by welcome at this intersection!?

Stonewall Jackson standing tall, keeping watch over those who gave their lives here.

It was just an amazing experience.  I will always take the opportunity to stop and reflect on those who gave everything, no matter which side of the war they were on.  They were someone’s son, someone’s brother, someone’s sweetheart, someone’s father ---so much was lost from both sides, and may we never forget.

Today I’m tapping these words out while sitting at the kitchen table of my friend Mary Koval ---we have plans to do some shopping this morning, getting ready for our weekend of fun coming up.  We’ve both got massage appointments out at Bedford Springs, a place I adore – so historic, and reminds me of the Pennsylvania version of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac – photos to come!

Enjoy your Thursday, everyone!  It’s the last one we will ever have in June 2014!

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