Dedication of the Monument on the Battlefield of Bull Run Virginia 15 July 1865--Two Battles that of July 21 1861 and that of August 29 1862 Were Fought Between the Confederates and Federals in the Plain Traversed by the Small River Called Bull Run which Crosses the Main Road from Washington to Richmond a Few Miles North of Manassas Gap. The Scene of the First Conflict One of the Earliest of the War in Virginia Would Now Scarcely Be Recognised As a Battlefield. Four Years Have Obliterated Nearly All the Marks of the Struggle and the Relic-Hunter Only Now and Then Finds in the Grass a Memento of the Event. Very Few Shot and Shell Remain Upon the Surface the Trees Are Hiding the Blotches on Their Trunks Made by Bullets and the Only Bones that Are Found with Few Exceptions Are Those of Horses which Visitors Have Not Thought of Sufficient Importance to Be Carried Away. Some of the Fences Have Been Rebuilt and Corn is Planted in Many Places While the Rapidly Growing Bushes Hide Nearly All the Originalfeatures of the Field. A Monument Has Now Been Erected on Each of the Bull Run Battlefields. These Monuments Are of Chocolate-Coloured Sandstone Thirty Feet High and Were Erected by the Officers and Men of General Gamble's Separate Cavalry Brigade Camped at Fairfax Courthouse. The Monument on the First Bull Run Field is Situated on the Hill in Front of the Memorable Stone House on the Spot Where the 14th Brooklyn 1st Michigan and 1st and 2nd Maine Were Most Hotly Engaged and Where Ricketts and Griffin Lost Their Batteries. The Shaft is 27 Ft. High and Bears Upon Its Top a Hundred-Pound Shell. On the Pedestal at Each Corner is a Shell of Similar Size. On One Side of the Shaft is Inscribed to the Memory of the Patriots Who Fell at Bull Run July 21st 1861 and on the Reverse Erected June 10th 1865. The Monument at Groveton is Similar in Its Proportions Bearing the Inscription to the Memory of the Patriots Who Fell at Groveton August 29

Keywords: