Qualla: The Stone House, Manassas National Battlefield Park

The Stone House, Manassas National Battlefield Park: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Phil, CC BY 2.0. Two soldiers carved their names into the floorboards of the Stone House on August 30, 1862, while waiting to be looked at by Confederate surgeons in what had become, for the second time, a field hospital. Charles Brehm signed his name in full - Brehm Aug 30. E. P. Geer did not finish - he ran out of room or strength and left only E.P. Ge. Brehm survived the war and lived until 1909. Geer did not live to see the end of 1862. The carvings are still in the floor. The Stone House is still at the same crossroads where it was built in 1848 as a turnpike tavern, and the two Battles of Manassas - First Bull Run in 1861 and Second Bull Run in 1862 - swept around it back and forth.

Image: Phil | CC BY 2.0

The Stone House, Manassas National Battlefield Park: The Turnpike Tavern

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The Fauquier and Alexandria Turnpike Company was chartered in 1808 to build a 28-mile toll road from Fairfax Court House to Fauquier Court House - the modern town of Warrenton. The hope was to draw trade away from Fredericksburg and toward Alexandria. Six toll gates were spaced a...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

The Stone House, Manassas National Battlefield Park: First Manassas, July 21, 1861

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Phil, CC BY 2.0. On the morning of July 21, 1861, Union General Irvin McDowell sent his army across Bull Run to attack the Confederate left at Sudley Ford. The fighting passed directly across the Stone House crossroads. Union forces pushed Confederates off Matthews Hill to the north and briefly h...

Image: Phil | CC BY 2.0

The Stone House, Manassas National Battlefield Park: Confederate Occupation and Return

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Billy Hathorn, CC BY 3.0. After the Union army broke and ran on the afternoon of July 21, the Confederates recaptured the Stone House and found 36 Union prisoners and about 100 rifles inside. Confederate forces continued to hold the building, using it intermittently as quarters and as a hospital, until Ma...

Image: Billy Hathorn | CC BY 3.0

The Stone House, Manassas National Battlefield Park: The Carvings and the Renovations

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Charles Brehm of the 5th New York Infantry survived the war and lived to 1909. E. P. Geer, also of the 5th New York Infantry, did not survive 1862. Both men's carvings - Brehm Aug 30 and E.P. Ge - remain visible in the floorboards of the upstairs room where they waited for treatm...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

The Stone House, Manassas National Battlefield Park: What You See Today

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit RebelAt|~ (The Rebel At) ~, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Stone House is unoccupied today but is the visual anchor of the Manassas National Battlefield Park, which protects 5,000 acres of the two Bull Run battlefields. It sits at the intersection of the Warrenton Turnpike, now Route 29, and Sudley Road, now Route 234 - the exact cro...

Image: RebelAt|~ (The Rebel At) ~ | CC BY-SA 3.0