VA-C42 First Battle of Manassas Panic at Cub Creek Bridge

Marker text: FIRST BATTLE OF MANASSAS PANIC AT CUB CREEK BRIDGE

In the afternoon of 21 July 1861, after Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's and Brig. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard's Confederates defeated Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell's Union army, the bridge over Cub Run was jammed with retreating Federal soldiers as well as civilians who had come to watch the battle. Capt. Delaware Kemper's Confederate artillery fired a few parting rounds towards the bridge, and one shell burst directly overhead. The crowd panicked and upset a wagon, thereby blocking the bridge. The mob of civilians and soldiers splashed across the stream, and fled on foot to Alexandria.

Department of Historic Resources, 1999.