Fortifying the Junction

— The Manassas Museum System —

Following Virginia's decision to secede from the Union in in April 1861, Southern troops began arriving here at the small village of Tudor Hall, which soon came to be known as Manassas Junction. This place, where the Orange & Alexandria and Manassas Gap railroads intersected, was quickly transformed from a quiet farming community into a military stronghold. Some 20,000 new recruits poured in from across Virginia and other Southern states.

Confederate leaders recognized the importance of holding Manassas Junction against an assault by Union forces. Possession of the junction meant control of the only continuous rail link between Washington, D.C. and the Confederate capital, Richmond, as well as the connection to the agricultural bounty of the Shenandoah Valley.

In June 1861, Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard took command of the troops defending Manassas. Seeking to utilize all available resources, he issued a proclamation to the people of Loudoun, Fairfax, and Prince William counties calling on them to contribute to the military preparations.

Some of the resources were human. Slaves from area farmers were sent to work alongside Confederate soldiers to construct a ring of defensive works around the Junction.

"We are expecting an attack every day on the Junction; ordered hands out to assist in throwing up a breast-work. Jack and our hands with others from the neighborhood start in the morning bright and early."

Diary entry of Amanda Virginia Edmonds of Fauquier County, Va., June 6, 1861.

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