Bristoe Station Battle 145th Event
Will Be  Oct. 10-12 At New Park
By Kathryn Jorgensen
(October 2008 Civil War News)

BRISTOW, Va. — The Battle of Bristoe Station 145th anniversary will be commemorated at the new battlefield park the weekend of Oct. 10-12.

Federal commander James Owens of Co. D, 1st Minnesota, who is chairman of the event committee, says one of the main reasons to have the event is “we want to make people aware of the park and that it is open to the public.” Bristoe Station Battlefield Heritage Park was dedicated last fall.

Reenactors from Owens’ 1st Minnesota, Sykes’ Regulars, 1st Maine Cavalry and the Stonewall Brigade planned the anniversary event.

On Saturday morning, while demonstrations are being given for spectators, two columns of Confederate and Union soldiers, who camped offsite Friday night, will converge on the battlefield and recreate the initial battle assault. Owens says they will arrive at approximately the historical time that troops met there in 1863.

Living history activities will continue all day. Torchlight guided camp tours will be given from 7 to 9 p.m.

Owens had hoped that more reenactors would take part in the park’s first major event, considering it is a new event and a new site, but he expects about 250 participants.

The reenactors will be helping preserve and interpret the park with their registration fees ($25 by Oct. 1 for U.S. and $40 after and walk-on; Confederate registration is closed).

Money left over after rations, insurance and other expenses will go to the park’s fund for a reproduction 3-Inch Ordnance Rifle. Owens says the gun will be placed on the site where five guns of McIntosh’s battery were captured after the unsuccessful Confederate attack on the Federal Second Corps.

 Additional funds are being raised through a raffle that will run through the winter. The prizes are a defarbed 1861 Springfield with bayonet scabbard, sling and tools, a gift certificate for a period civilian shirt, an 8-inch model of a 3-Inch Ordnance Rifle with a Confederate officer standing next to it and a copy of Keith Rocco’s The Soldier’s View.

Union troops under Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren defeated Lt. Gen. Ambrose O. Hill’s forces on Oct. 14, 1863.

What is now the battlefield park nearly became a housing development a few years ago. However, Centex Homes negotiated with the Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) and Prince William County to donate 127 acres for a park in exchange for rezoning of the remainder of its 341-acre tract to allow higher density in its New Bristow Village development.

An additional five acres were purchased after that and in 2006 the CWPT transferred all of the acreage to the county which manages the heritage park.

The site includes the core battlefield and portions of the Aug. 27, 1862, Kettle Run battlefield from the Second Manassas Campaign. Mississippi and Alabama regimental cemeteries dating to the late summer and fall of 1861 are also on the county land.

The park has foot and equestrian trails and interpretive signs.

For information about the 145th event go to www.1stminnd.org/bristoe. Battlefield park information is at www.visitpwc.com.