Paintings of the Manassas National Battlefield Park
I enjoy the calm and quiet beauty of nature at the Manassas National Battlefield Park as well as the solemn reminders of the historical events that occurred there. I also love the views of Bull Run Mountain from the park. These things inspired me to paint a few landscapes of the park.
In my first landscape, I wanted to paint one of the cannons that line the park where they were used in the First Battle of Bull Run. The park is the site of two Civil War battles, the First Battle of Bull Run and the Second Battle of Bull Run.
The First Battle of Bull Run was the first major battle of the Civil War. Many people expected a swift Union victory in the battle and some civilians even came to to picnic and watch the Union army crush the Confederate forces. The battle ended up being a victory for the Confederate army and a sign that the war was going to be long and bloody. It was at this battle that General “Stonewall” Jackson received his nickname.
In this second painting, I’ve depicted the Henry House. The house was right in the middle of the Battle of Bull Run. An 84-year old widow, Judith Henry, was bedridden in the house and died when Union army, unaware that there were civilians in the house, fired artillery on the house. Judith Henry was the only civilian casualty of the First Battle of Bull Run.
For my third landscape, I painted the another view of the Henry House. I painted how the land around the house looks in the fall, when the tall grass that grows around the park turns a golden brown. I used watercolor blooms to give a hint of soft clouds on a quiet a calm day. In both this view and the one in the previous painting, you can see the Bull Run Mountains off in the distance.
Here’s a video of the view that inspired me to paint the above landscape:
It’s fascinating to be able to drive down Sudley Road or 29 past the park and realize that I’m driving on roads that existed at the time of the Civil War. It’s wonderful to be able to so much history near where I live. And while the park was the site of two horrible and very deadly battles and is a sobering reminder of some of the worst times in United States History, the park is also a calm and beautiful place where people are able to take in nature while running, riding horses, or flying kites. If you haven’t been to the park and are near enough to visit, I’d definitely recommend that you do.
Learn more about the other landscape paintings in this collection: