Re-enactors mark anniversary of Manassas battle

MANASSAS -- Loading and firing a musket is a nine-step process.

"Disciplined troops would be able to load and fire one every 15 or 20 seconds," said John Reid, a National Park Service employee who was acting as master of ceremonies for a Saturday-morning Civil War infantry demonstration at Manassas National Battlefield. "It takes nine steps to load, prime and ready it for firing."

The infantry demonstration was just one of a dozen Civil War re-enactments at the park this past weekend in honor of the 147th anniversary of the Battle of Second Manassas-Bull Run. The musket presentation included all nine steps, followed by actual firing.

"You can see how much smoke comes out," said the acting captain of the Union troops, representing Company C from Wisconsin. "That smoke would soon enshroud the field. You have to imagine thousands firing . . . and the deafening din."

Three branches of military fought this conflict -- infantry, cavalry and artillery -- which lasted three days and culminated in a "dramatic Confederate victory," said Greg Wolf, a Park Service employee who also acts as a re-enactor for the artillery detachment.

"Following battle," Wolf said, "Gen. Robert E. Lee . . . decides to take the battle north into Maryland." This was a complete turnaround from two months earlier, when Union troops had pushed into Richmond, he said. "So this was a significant battle" that turned the tide of Confederate military strategy from defensive to offensive, he said.

The size of the audience watching the re-enactments grew by dozens for the cavalry demonstration.

Almost all the re-enactors were volunteers; only a few were full-time government employees with the Park Service.

Cheryl K. Chumley is a staff writer for the News & Messenger in Woodbridge.