The Battle at Brawner Farm- Day 1 Second Manassas (August 28, 1862)

At 5:00 PM Brigadier General Rufus King’s Division of McDowell’s Corps was halted near Gainesville and ordered to head to Centreville following the Warrenton Turnpike eastward through the old Bull Run battlefield. Jackson had tried to attack Brigadier General John F. Reynolds Pennsylvania Reserves earlier in the day but they had turned off the Pike and headed toward Manassas Junction. At 3:00 PM a courier arrived to inform Jackson that Longstreet had reached Thoroughfare Gap. Jackson who had been up all night took a nap against a fence. While Jackson slept Jeb Stuart’s scouts informed Jackson’s staff that Rufus King’s Division was headed his way. They woke Jackson and he promptly mounted his horse, Little Sorrell, and rode across the Brawner Farm to a ridge to see for himself. He quickly rode back and approached two of his division commanders Brigadier General William Taliaferro and Major General Richard Ewell and said “Gentlemen, bring out your men.”

The first of two maps illustrating the action on the 28th at Brawner’s Farm is shown below. For the Confederates Taliaferro would strike first with part of his division with Colonel William Baylor’s Stonewall Brigade on the right and Brigadier General William Starke’s Louisianans on the left. The batteries of Captain George Wooding and Lieutenant Asher Garber were placed on Stony Ridge in front of Starke. Garber opened fire on the Union column causing King’s division to stop and seek cover.

A close up view of part of the map above is shown below.

Brigadier General John Hatch’s 14th Brooklyn Infantry was at the head of the Federal column. They were followed by Brigadier General John Gibbon’s Brigade from Indiana and Wisconsin. Gibbon had seen a team of horses moving in the tree line on Stony Ridge (Garber’s Battery) and had already ordered up Captain Joseph B. Campbell’s Battery B of the 4th U.S. Artillery. They quickly returned fire but were disadvantaged by Garber’s superior position and needed to move. Campbell repositioned his guns and once again returned fire. At the tail of the column Brigadier General Marsena Patrick’s Brigade scattered when several shells landed in their midst. Gibbon scouted the terrain but could not find General King. Unbeknownst to him King was at the tail of the column having suffered an epileptic seizure.

Gibbon found another brigade commander Brigadier General Abner Doubleday and told him he was going to storm the guns on the ridge. Gibbon assigned Colonel Edgar O’Connor’s 2nd WI the task. The 2nd WI drove back Starke’s Brigade only to then be charged by the Stonewall Brigade. The Stonewall Brigade had twice their number and overlapped their flanks. The 4th VA was able to enfilade the 2nd WI left flank. Gibbon ordered up the 19th IN to stabilize the left. Colonel O’Conner was killed at this point in the battle. Gibbon moved the 7th WI to support the right flank just in time as at that moment Stonewall Jackson was personally leading two or three brigades of Brigadier General Alexander Lawton’s Georgians in an attack on the Union right. Both lines slugged it out separated by less than a hundred yards. The maps below show the position of units later in the day.

A close up of the above map is shown below.

The rest of Lawton’s Brigade moved into position on Taliaferro’s left. Around 7:00 PM Brigadier General Isaac Trimble came into line on Lawton’s left. Gibbon countered this by moving Colonel Lysander Cutler’s 6th WI up from the Warrenton Turnpike. The 6th WI pushed back Trimble. At that moment Ewell was leading one of Lawton’s brigades to Trimble’s right flank. Some enthusiastic Georgians yelled out “Here is General Ewell boys!” Cutler’s Wisconsin men then leveled a volley in Ewell’s direction. A bullet shattered Ewell’s knee and tibia requiring it to be amputated above the left knee. Ewell was Jackson’s second division commander to be wounded this day. William Taliaferro had been seriously injured earlier.

Throughout the day Jackson had attacked in a piecemeal or sequential fashion giving Gibbon time to adjust. Gibbon with his single brigade had managed to hold off Ewell and Taliaferro’s Divisions. But now by 8:00 PM Jackson had superior numbers and was ready to launch another assault. Gibbon had a problem, King was still incapacitated, and Gibbon had no authority over the other brigade commanders that he now pleaded with for help. Marsena Patrick refused him. Hatch was sending men but was too far away to get there in time. That left only Abner Doubleday and his three small regiments. When he heard the firing at Brawner’s Farm Brigadier General John Reynolds, commanding the PA reserves, rode back to the sounds of the guns and he encouraged Doubleday to deployed his troops. Doubleday sent the 76th NY and 56th PA forward while his third regiment guarded Campbell’s artillery. The 76th NY arrived just as Lawton’ Brigades were charging the center of the line. The 56th PA arrived on the right as Trimble’s 21st GA and 21st NC attacked there. Lieutenant Colonel Fulton Sanders commander of the 21st NC was killed. Jackson attacked on his right as well moving up Major John Pelham’s guns to support the brigade of Colonel Alexander Taliaferro’s (uncle of the wounded Brigadier General William Taliaferro) Virginians west of the Brawner house. The 19th IN bent but did not break halting Taliaferro’s brigade while firing behind a fence killing Colonel Samuel Walker of the 10th VA. Darkness fell with both sides holding their ground despite heavy losses.

The Stonewall Brigade also lost Lieutenant Colonel Lawson Botts commander of the 2nd VA, and Colonel John Neff of the 33rd VA. Every field officer of the 7th WI was either killed or wounded. Gibbon’s Brigade had lost 725 men killed, wounded or missing. Doubleday’s Brigade took 253 casualties. Overall the Federals lost 1,025 men. Jackson lost 1,250 men. The Stonewall Brigade lost 340 of the 800 men engaged. By the time the battle ended King had now regained his faculties after the seizure and took active command. Initially King was inclined to hold his position but as he learned more of Gibbon and Doubleday’s heavy losses, at 1:00 AM he withdrew his division along with those of Reynolds and Ricketts toward Manassas. His commander Major General Irvin McDowell got lost in the dark on the way to Manassas. Pope learned of the battle around 10:00 PM and started issuing orders for his army to concentrate on the Bull Run Battlefield before he really knew where his forces were. He assumed that King and Ricketts would be blocking any movement Jackson could make to the west to join Longstreet, which was not true. Sigel’s I Corps was on Henry Hill on the Bull Run battlefield. Pope orders were: Phil Kearny to march his division of the III Corps to Bull Run during the night; Major General Joseph Hooker to follow Kearny there; Major General Jesse Reno’s IX Corps to March to Bull Run via the Warrenton Pike; and Major General Fitz John Porter’s V Corps to arrive via Centreville. Early in the morning of the 29th Gibbon arrived at Pope’s headquarters to inform him of events. He then ordered King to return to Gainesville and Porter to reverse course and follow King to Gainesville and attack Jackson’s right flank.

There is a small museum inside the Brawner Farmhouse and a loop walking trail. The loop trail largely consists of smaller markers intended to originally mark the locations of regiments during the battle. Many of them are weathered. The National Park Service does not intend to replace or restore them and is attempting to phase them out. On my most recent visit there during a yearly anniversary I could not locate the Jackson Strikes marker or the 6th WI marker, the 6th WI marker was there when I had visited there a few years earlier.

After we show some images of the farmhouse and museum, we will show a map of the loop trail and pictures along that trail. There was a group of reenactors present during my most recent visit in 2023.

Brawner Farmhouse and Museum