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| Remains of Fort Jackson, at the long Bridge.1 |
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| Marine Artillery-man at Manassas. |
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City with Alexandria.
Other fortifications, as we have observed, extended along the line of Arlington Hights, and guarded every approach to positions which commanded the National Capital and Georgetown.
The main Confederate army, under the command of Beauregard, supposed to have been a little less than McDowell's in number (forty-five thousand), was at and near Manassas Junction, then considered one of the strongest military positions for offense or defense between Washington
and Richmond.
It is about half way between the eastern range of the Blue Ridge and the Potomac at Alexandria, and was connected by railway with Richmond and the fertile Shenandoah Valley, as we have observed.
The main portion of the army was on an elevated plateau in the crotch formed by the Occoquan River and its main tributary, Bull's Run.
The bed of each stream, canal-like, was cut through horizontal strata of red stone, making it difficult for an attacking army to approach the Confederate works.2 A succession of broken, wooded hills around the plateau, composed strong natural fortifications; and Beauregard's engineers had cast up formidable artificial ones there.
Among these, the most noted was the Naval Battery, composed of the heaviest Dahlgren guns,
which the insurgents seized at the Gosport Navy Yard, and manned by seamen, commanded by officers of the National Navy who had abandoned their flag.
1 this is from a sketch made by the author at the close of April, 1865, and shows the embankments of Fort Jackson on the right, and the remains of the pickets, with the railway, in the foreground. On the left is a public house of entertainment, and just beyond it is seen a portion of the long Bridge. The Capitol is seen in the distance.
2 The C. S. A. and the Battle of Bull Run: by Major J. G. Barnard.
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