Ruins at Manassas Junction.

[Robert Gray]

Ruins at Manassas Junction, Va. after its evacuation by Confederates, March 1862.
The object in the foreground is a railroad turntable.

Photo credits:
National Archives (NARA-533283)
Library of Congress (LC-DIG-cwpb-03748)
Library of Congress (LC-DIG-ppmsca-33462)

 

[G Low]

Ruins at Manassas Junction, Va. after its evacuation by Confederates, March 1862.
The object in the foreground is a railroad turntable.

Photo credits:
National Archives (NARA-533283)
Library of Congress (LC-DIG-cwpb-03748)
Library of Congress (LC-DIG-ppmsca-33462)

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What building was that in the back ground with the tall chimneys on pic #3

 

[G Low]

Ruins at Manassas Junction, Va. after its evacuation by Confederates, March 1862.
The object in the foreground is a railroad turntable.

Photo credits:
National Archives (NARA-533283)
Library of Congress (LC-DIG-cwpb-03748)
Library of Congress (LC-DIG-ppmsca-33462)

View attachment 523382

View attachment 523384

View attachment 523385

Looks similar to Atlanta after the confederates left…

 

[G Low]

Atlanta

 

[Robert Gray]

What building was that in the back ground with the tall chimneys on pic #3

I have no idea. There don't seem to be any surviving photos of the area taken before it was burned.

 

[gc45]

Interesting that history prevails large on these small areas of destruction; where today we destroy entire cities. This junction looks small by todays standards but in it's day held a lot of importance to the railroad system.
Great photo, thanks for sharing.

 

[frontrank2]

My gr gr grand uncle was in the 6th Wisconsin Infantry and wrote a letter to his wife in March of 62 from Centreville, Va. In it he mentions the Quaker Guns and this torn up railroad.

 

[USS ALASKA]

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Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[nc native]

I've seen these pictures in books with different captions. It was supposedly showing the aftermath of Jackson's destruction of Pope's supply depot before Second Manassas. Now, I guess I get the real story behind these photographs.

 

[Robert Gray]

I've seen these pictures in books with different captions. It was supposedly showing the aftermath of Jackson's destruction of Pope's supply depot before Second Manassas. Now, I guess I get the real story behind these photographs.

The 1862 date is from the records at the Library of Congress where the original negatives are preserved. I don't believe there are any photos that specifically show the aftermath of Jackson's raid.

 

[TJodter]

Text From Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War Illustrated:

Early in March, 1862, the rebel army, under Gen. Johnson, evacuated Centreville and Manassas, (their Northern line,) and commenced a retreat towards Richmond. It was orderly and well conducted for several days, but as the last trains were leaving, some of the soldiers fired a bridge south of the junction, supposing that all the trains had gone. Two, however, had not left, and these were at once fired, together with the surrounding buildings, used by the Railroad Company for depot, machine and repair shops, &c. Everything was destroyed, except half a dozen cars, which contained flour and some camp equipage of a South Carolina Brigade, and which for some reason escaped the conflagration. The old wooden turn-table was uninjured, and is a fair sample of the old fashioned equipage of the Orange and Alexandria Road, at that period. A few mud huts, and about fifty broken down wagons, and the usual debris of a winter's camp, were the sole remnants of the rebel army, which, like the Arabs, had folded its tents, and silently stolen away. Manassas Junction was but a level plain, as seen by the photograph, and with neither natural or artificial works of any strength, the fortifications at that time consisting only of rude mud banks.

Plate 9. Ruins at Manassas | Smithsonian Institution

www.si.edu

 

[TJodter]

Quote from Dennis Hogge's book, Mathew Brady's First Manassas: A Biography and Battlefield Tours:

The tall chimney stacks and foundations in the left background are believed to have been the location of the tallow factory, and running off to the left of the factory are sections of stockyard fencing. A large herd of beef cattle had been sent to Manassas Junction by the Confederate States Government to feed the army in winter camps.

 

[Robert Gray]

I have no idea. There don't seem to be any surviving photos of the area taken before it was burned.

The following was posted by TJodter:

Quote from Dennis Hogge's book, Mathew Brady's First Manassas: A Biography and Battlefield Tours:

The tall chimney stacks and foundations in the left background are believed to have been the location of the tallow factory, and running off to the left of the factory are sections of stockyard fencing. A large herd of beef cattle had been sent to Manassas Junction by the Confederate States Government to feed the army in winter camps.