Mayfield Civil War Fort
Manassas, United States
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 to attack Richmond. During this period, Union forces occupied the abandoned Confederate earthworks. <br><br>Manassas Junction became an important supply base for the Federals. On August 26, 1862, Confederate Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s troops briefly recaptured the junction, which they looted and burned. When a small Union force advanced on the junction the next day and was repulsed, the Mayfield fort may have seen action.<br><br>Despite another Confederate victory at the Second Battle of Manassas (August 28-30, 1862), Union forces held Manassas Junction for the rest of the war. The earthworks built to oppose an army of invasion now served as a base for an army of occupation.