438 



MANASSAS JUNCTION. 



MARTIAL LAW. 



MANASSAS JUNCTION is the spot where 

 the Alexandria Kailroad unites with the Manas- 

 sas Gap Railroad. It is about half-way be- 

 tween the eastern spur of the Blue Ridge and 

 the Potomac below Alexandria, and commands 

 the whole country between. The position is a 

 succession of hills nearly equidistant from each 

 other. On the right, looking towards Washing- 

 ton, a wooded country stretches off towards 

 the head waters of the Occoquan, which can 

 be made almost impassable by felling trees. On 

 the left is a rolling table-land, easily command- 

 ed from the successive elevations xintil a coun- 

 try so rough and rugged is reached that it is a 

 defence to itself. In a military point of view 

 the key of the position is that which was chosen 

 at the outset for the centre of the Confederate 

 forces, and which was fortified in the strongest 

 manner. In front of the hills is a ravine so 

 deep and so thickly wooded, as to be almost 

 impassable except at two points, and those 

 through gorges easily defended by a handful 

 of men. It was of one of these points that an 

 officer of the Confederate army thus spoke : 

 " Here the Washington Artillery of New Or- 

 leans were at first encamped, and though only 

 half the battalion was then there, and we had 

 only one company of infantry to support us, we 

 slept as soundly under the protection of our 



tuns as if we had been in a fort of the amplest 

 imensions." 



The strength and advantages of this position 

 at Manassas are very much increased by the 

 fact that fourteen miles further on is a position 

 of similar formation, while the country be- 

 tween is admirably adapted to the subsistence 

 and intrenchment of troops in numbers as large 

 as they can easily be manoeuvred on the real 

 battle-field. Water is good and abundant ; for- 

 age such as is everywhere found in the rich 

 farming districts of Virginia, and the commu- 

 nication with all parts of the country easy. 



Here, overlooking an extensive plain, watered 

 by mountain streams which ultimately find 

 their way to the Potomac, and divided into 

 verdant fields of wheat, and oats, and corn, 

 pasture, and meadow, were the head-quarters 

 of the advanced forces of the Confederate army 

 of the Potomac. They were South Carolini- 

 ans, Louisianians, Alabamians, Mississippians, 

 and Virginians for the most part; the first 

 two, singularly enough, being in front. 



The fortifications constructed here ultimately 

 became of the most extensive kind, and the 

 numbers of troops in them during some months 

 of the year comprised the great mass of the 

 Confederate army. It was evacuated in the 

 next spring by means of the railroad to Rich- 

 mond, at a time when the country roads were 

 in snch an almost impassable condition as to 

 prevent all approach of the Union army. The 

 inactivity of the Confederate army after the bat- 

 tle of Bull Run, near Manassas, occasioned great 

 surprise in the Confederate States. The man- 

 ner in which it was regarded at Richmond in Au- 

 gust ensuing is authentically stated as follows : 



" Much criticism has been passed upon Gen. 

 Beauregard, and those who are believed to di- 

 rect the movements of the army, more particu- 

 larly respecting his failure to occupy or destroy 

 Alexandria and Washington City. Congress 

 called for information on this point, and the 

 President referred the inquiry to Gen. Beau- 

 regard, who, in his answer,, placed the blame 

 where it really belonged. He had been for 

 weeks almost beseeching the War Department 

 to supply him with the material needful to car- 

 ry on the war men, ammunition, provisions, 

 wagons ; but the quartermaster and commissa- 

 riat departments being in incompetent hands, 

 the day of battle came and found our generals 

 without the means of carrying the army for- 

 ward. Quite an acrimonious debate sprung up 

 in the House upon the reading of this answer, 

 in which Messrs. Miles and Chesnut, of South 

 Carolina, who had been in the staff of Gen. 

 Beauregard at Manassas, and had supported 

 him during that eventful day, found it necessary 

 to vindicate their great chief from the asper- 

 sions which certain members were disposed to 

 throw out against his military reputation. 

 Since the 21st July many circumstances -have 

 combined to keep the troops in a stationary 

 position. Rain had fallen in great quantities 

 and almost incessantly, rendering the roads 

 impassable for heavy wagon transportation 

 and the marching of large bodies of troops, and 

 there had been a great deal of sickness among 

 the soldiers ; probably twenty per cent, were 

 at one time unfit for duty." 



MANGUM, Hos. WILLIE PERSON, a United 

 States Senator, born in Orange County, N. C., 

 in 1792, died at his residence in Orange Coun- 

 ty, Sept. 21, 1861. He graduated at the Uni- 

 versity of North Carolina, in 1815. He was an 

 able lawyer, and was elected to the House of 

 Commons in his native State in 1818. In 1819 

 he was chosen Judge of the Superior Court, 

 and from 1823 to 1826 served as a Representa- 

 tive in Congress. In 1831 he was elected a 

 United States Senator, and continued to servo 

 for three terms. During President Tyler's ad- 

 ministration he was President of the United 

 States Senate. Since 1853 he had withdrawn 

 from political life, and it is probable his death 

 was hastened by depression, on account of the 

 loss of an only son, wounded at the battle of 

 Manassas. 



MARTIAL LAW was proclaimed at Balti- 

 more, St. Louis, Alexandria, and other cities, 

 during the year 1861. Various definitions have 

 been given of this law by writers. According 

 to one, " for all practical considerations, mar- 

 tial law and the suspension of the right to 

 habeas corpus, are one and the same thing." 

 Another writer considers martial law to be that 

 military rule and authority which exist in time 

 of war, and are conferred by the laws of war, in 

 relation to persons and things under and within 

 the scope of active military operations in carry- 

 ing on the war, and which extinguish or sus- 

 pend civil rights, and the remedies founded 



