Mystery Solved: The Belle of the Battlefield, A Nurse Named Mollie Benson & the Flag of the Yancey Rifles 11th Alabama

Laura, I happened to be in the area yesterday and the Lewis house location is not an easy find, to say it is located at the Brownsville picnic location, is a stretch. The location is much closer to Rte. 66 than the picnic portico. You can still see a little of the original foundation, though a subsequent home was built on the site in the mid 1900s. The site of the foundation is a pit of undergrowth with a couple of trees thrown in.

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The last two pics posted look like close the intersection of Groveton Rd and Balls Ford Rd??? I see warehouses in the top right corner......That would put the house on the opposite side of I-66. Or is it off of Pageland Lane?
 
Where at on Pageland Lane??? Of Groveton Rd or off 29-211??? It's a long road
Sorry for the delay, life gets in the way.
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The location indicated now makes sense as to the warehouses seen in the background of your picture. All that area has changed drastically in the last 3-5 years. Massive amounts of light industrial development is now in place where Groveton Rd bisects Balls Ford Rd. About 2 years ago, I was driving on Groveton Rd towards the Dogan houses and right after the little left turn (don't blink or you'll miss it) onto Pageland Lane a coyote ran out in front of me. I almost hit it. If you stay on Featherbed Lane after the Dogan houses and take that all the way to 234 past the RR cut, there's plenty of turkeys to be seen. They walk across the gravel road in small flocks of a dozen at a time. The battlefield is full of deer too, way over populated with them. They're all over the place. The maintenance staff of the Park does a good job of cleaning up/removing the ones that are struck by vehicles.
 
The location indicated now makes sense as to the warehouses seen in the background of your picture. All that area has changed drastically in the last 3-5 years. Massive amounts of light industrial development is now in place where Groveton Rd bisects Balls Ford Rd. About 2 years ago, I was driving on Groveton Rd towards the Dogan houses and right after the little left turn (don't blink or you'll miss it) onto Pageland Lane a coyote ran out in front of me. I almost hit it. If you stay on Featherbed Lane after the Dogan houses and take that all the way to 234 past the RR cut, there's plenty of turkeys to be seen. They walk across the gravel road in small flocks of a dozen at a time. The battlefield is full of deer too, way over populated with them. They're all over the place. The maintenance staff of the Park does a good job of cleaning up/removing the ones that are struck by vehicles.
I certainly saw quite a few turkeys, the feathered kind.
 
One neat thing about the map shown above is that the areas shown in white are private property, not part of the Battlefield Park
It's hard to tell, but Tour Stop 11 (NOT on the park road but at the end of a trail) at far right is the site of the F. Lewis house "Portici" mentioned previously as a headquarters. Unfortunately we didn't take the time to hike down there to see it; besides, we were tired from all the walking we'd done along the Unfinished Railroad.
 
It's hard to tell, but Tour Stop 11 (NOT on the park road but at the end of a trail) at far right is the site of the F. Lewis house "Portici" mentioned previously as a headquarters. Unfortunately we didn't take the time to hike down there to see it; besides, we were tired from all the walking we'd done along the Unfinished Railroad.
Yep, Manassas BFP is one that involves a lot of hiking as noted by all the black dotted lines. If you get on the website of the park you can pull up the map shown above and zoom in/out at your preference.
 
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You know how sometimes you run across a story that is incomplete? Something that is uncertain or unknown? And you get to wondering if maybe, just maybe, it's possible to connect the dots and figure out the whole story. To find out exactly what happened? Don't you just love it when all the pieces come together? What does the 'Belle of the Battlefield' at Manassas have to do with a battle flag in an Alabama museum? It's way too late to give you all the details now, but please check back later to find out!

EDIT TO ADD: It's probably not that big a deal to anyone else, but I'm pretty excited. :D
One of the reasons I love this era, hobby and community, is the ability to share, not only knowledge, while learning, but to share artifacts picked up along the way.

Pictured below is the tarred wheel cap of John Gageby of Company B 1st Virginia Cavalry, he is purported to wear this at Manassas prior to obtaining more suitable headgear. He is buried in Shepardstown WV, but did survive the war.

I can't help but imagine that John rode by Ms. Dogan's house numerous times while in the environs of Manassas.

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A nice piece of artwork by Mr.T. I like the Mississippi rifle too. Don really knew his stuff when he painted his works.
 
View attachment 345333
You know how sometimes you run across a story that is incomplete? Something that is uncertain or unknown? And you get to wondering if maybe, just maybe, it's possible to connect the dots and figure out the whole story. To find out exactly what happened? Don't you just love it when all the pieces come together? What does the 'Belle of the Battlefield' at Manassas have to do with a battle flag in an Alabama museum? It's way too late to give you all the details now, but please check back later to find out!

EDIT TO ADD: It's probably not that big a deal to anyone else, but I'm pretty excited. :D
A little known fact, but not surprising, is that the Henry House Hill Monument was adorned with 'LIVE" 100 LB shells and only recently removed and deactivated, during a renovation of the monument. One of the shells exploded during the process and is located in the visitor's center.

I would never have learned this if not for this thread!

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A little known fact, but not surprising, is that the Henry House Hill Monument was adorned with 'LIVE" 100 LB shells and only recently removed and deactivated, during a renovation of the monument. One of the shells exploded during the process and is located in the visitor's center.

I would never have learned this if not for this thread!

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A nice piece of artwork by Mr.T. I like the Mississippi rifle too. Don really knew his stuff when he painted his works.
Don would get reenactors to gather and run them around until they were out of breath, sweaty and in complete disarray, then direct them as to how he wanted the picture to look. He would then take photos. He would dress up the main characters in uniforms that he had reproduced from originals, usually in his collection. Tim Sheads of S&S just sold the last of Don's ACW repros not long ago...…..
 
Don would get reenactors to gather and run them around until they were out of breath, sweaty and in complete disarray, then direct them as to how he wanted the picture to look. He would then take photos. He would dress up the main characters in uniforms that he had reproduced from originals, usually in his collection. Tim Sheads of S&S just sold the last of Don's ACW repros not long ago...…..
A reenactor friend Dave Jurgella with whom I worked on Glory and Last of the Mohicans said he had been one of Troiani's frequent models because he lived nearby in Maryland; he's the Union officer in this photo taken at the 135th Gettysburg in 1998:

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