564 
PLACES OP MILITARY INTEREST IN THE UNITED STATES. 
running through Thoroughfare Gap to Manassas Junction is reached, 
and an afternoon train may be taken which will bring one back to Wash¬ 
ington by dinner time. A clear idea is thus gained of the railway, which 
played such an important part in the result of both the first and second 
battles. The distance covered in making this circuit is about fifteen 
miles, but it can be managed in one day, as trains run conveniently. 
Anyone wishing to make a complete study of the Bull Run battles, 
had better, before visiting the actual scenes of the fighting, read the 
accounts of those battles published in the North American Review; a 
concise and accurate history of both battles, and the strategy which 
lead up to them, will also be found in The Campaigns in Virginia, 
1861-62 , by Dr. Miller Maguire. The country in the vicinity of Bull 
Run has undergone but little change during the last thirty years, ex¬ 
cept in the renewal of the forests, which, during the American War, 
were much cut down not only for defensive purposes but also to supply 
fuel to the many thousands of soldiers from both armies who were 
continually quartered in this neighbourhood. Much of the timber then 
destroyed has now re-grown, although the trees are greatly stunted 
from their original size and the undergrowth has become so dense as 
to be practically impenetrable for military operations. 
